Active Waiting

We are in advent. We are preparing for the coming of Christ. Not so much a preparation of the celebration of a birthday but the promised coming of our Lord. The radical indwelling of Jesus into our world to transform it into the kingdom of God.

I have been thinking about the Spirit of the Age, the Spirit of this age.  

The Spirit of the age flows like history. The spirit of the age is influenced by people and events. Strong personalities probably have more influence than others but ultimately the spirit of the age is an amalgamation of the contribution of every single person on the planet.

So I have been thinking about the zeitgeist, the Spirit of the age, and the spirit of this age, and things are pretty messed up! In this age, in this time it seems as it always has that the failings of some, has consequences for the many. Do you know there is no such thing as private sin? When you fail to live as you should many more than you are affected.

Jesus was once summoned by a blind man who wanted to see. Jesus was questioned about who sinned him or his parents. Jesus said it wasn’t that.

But the idea that this man was being punished by God was founded in Hebrew scripture, both in the book of Deuteronomy and Exodus where Moses receives the Ten Commandments.

⁴ Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. ⁵ Do not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the Lord your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents’ sins even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. ⁶ But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

  It’s my understanding that God gave the law for the benefit of humanity. And when we transgress the law the consequences are the natural ones that come from bad decisions.

It seems to me that we live in a time where bad decisions abound!

Even when the system works according to the set rules past sins still have their effects.  August 9 Michael Brown was shot dead by Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department. Michael Brown was unarmed.

On Monday the grand jury met and found no grounds to bring charges against Officer Wilson. I trust the decision of the Grand Jury. They had the pertinent information. I trust that they made the right decision. But when they made that decision Ferguson blew up. Massive riots broke out and many businesses were burned to the ground by protestors. There is a protest march underway right now.  120 miles from Ferguson to Jefferson City the capitol of Missouri.

White people are shaking their heads. “He was a thug.” “He just robed a convenience store.”

The retort to that is always: “that doesn’t deserve a death penalty.”

White people generally see the situation as a bad guy who was being bad had a confrontation with a cop and got shot. A tragic situation but one that was definitely avoidable.

Now think about it from the perspective of a people who come from a background of slavery. They come from a perspective of entrenched institutional racism. They come from the perspective that jails are filled with people that look like them and not so much like Darren Wilson.

They see members of their own community dying from gun violence at a much higher rate than the white community.

Then they see one of their young men gunned down by a white police officer who doesn’t get into any legal trouble over it. Those who swore an oath to protect and serve are also pulling the trigger.  From that perspective it seems that the world is a very unsafe place to live.

The facts are the facts. The grand jury determined that Officer Wilson was justified. But the sins of our society have led to the spirit of this age where the Black community cannot trust the system of their own government and that has led to this violence.

Currently, the Spirit of the age is a bad one.

The current spirit of our age seems to me to be bad.

This reminds me of what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

¹⁰ Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength. ¹¹ Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil. ¹² We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens. ¹³ Therefore, pick up the full armor of God so that you can stand your ground on the evil day and after you have done everything possible to still stand.

What is happening is evil. But our enemy is not flesh and blood. When store get looted and burned. That is bad. When people get shot, that is bad. When one group of people speaks evil against another people, that is bad.

People are saying that race relations are the worst they have been for a long time. But our task is not to add to the failings and the sin of the past but to stand firm and work toward the kingdom of God that Jesus initiated when he was born in a stable 2000 and some years ago.

The promise (that which is to come but is not yet here)

The lesson (look around you. Incarnational faith. In the body.)

Holy Spirit working through us should be the prevailing spirit of the age. But we have to put feet to our prayers. We have to put sweat into our prayers

Army Song, Marine Song.

Are God’s people getting shouted down? By the humanists, the atheists, and those who are against God?

The thing is, many of the protesters in Ferguson are also Christians. We just say “to heck with them”?  

The point: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. We can have complete confidence in God.

The word of God is the only lasting thing. Our divisions will not last. If we persist in our divisions we are further from God rather than closer. Paul says in Colossians

¹⁰ and put on the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge by conforming to the image of the one who created it. ¹¹ In this image there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all things and in all people.

¹² Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

This is what heaven looks like. And Jesus is bringing it with him.

So stay ready ‘cause God wins!

The Holy Spirit, the active, empowering nature of our God lives and moves in you. When we have confidence in God’s word and live it out. The spirit of the age increasingly becomes the very Spirit of God.

So how is it with you today? Are you ready to receive Jesus when he comes? Staying ready means staying in God’s will. If you don’t know what that is like try this: the next time you want to tell someone to go to hell, instead show them what Heaven is like. Then repeat the process. 

Courage!

This is the beginning of the Advent season. The season we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. But it is more than preparing for a holiday. It’s more that preparing to be spiritual on a day that has been overly commercialized by our culture. It is about looking forward to what God has in store and preparing our lives to live into his kingdom. That may require some changes if we are honest with ourselves.

We believe that Jesus was born to save the world. We believe that Jesus came not to condemn but to save. We believe that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. Therefore we believe that we are living between times. We live in a time where God’s kingdom has been initiated in this world but has not yet come to completion. We also believe that we are called to partner with God in the name of Jesus Christ to bring about the redemption of the world. If we are honest with ourselves, that may require us to make some changes.

My wife teases me sometimes for my lack of comfort in making changes. I tend to think that I deal with change well and my wife just shakes her head and points to the evidence to the contrary and I have to admit that I am rather uncomfortable with change. Why on earth would you want to change to position of the furniture in the living room?

The room didn’t change. We can still sit down.

Why change when you don’t have to?

But change happens. When change is necessary, it must happen. So we step out it faith trusting that God goes before us to prepare the way. God’s Kingdom is our aim. But the path to get there can seem very uncomfortable.

 The darkness that is in front of us can be terrifying.  The unknown can be too much to handle.  We fear failure; we fear losing what we have; perhaps we fear punishment; and many of us fear death.

Remember the lion from the Wizard of Oz?

“Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? Courage! What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the Sphinx the Seventh Wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage!...What puts the ape in ape-ricot? What have they got that I ain’t got? (courage) You can say that again!” –The wizard of Oz (1939) Screenwriters Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf.

The gift of courage was already in the lion it just needed to be summoned and brought to the surface.

I believe that the lack of courage is one of the greatest hindrances to realizing our own God-given potential and fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. Our own potential is rooted in the gifts and talents that God has given us.  God intends for us to grow in maturity, use what he has given us to the fullest for his glory and live into the kingdom of God.

I like to use the term “lack of courage” more than “fear.” If we fear something we have to do something we have to eliminate the source of fear or flee from it. Having courage means doing the thing that needs to be done. It’s going the extra mile. It’s putting yourself in a vulnerable position for the greater good. Courage means you can confidently serve God with your whole being for the Kingdom of God. You could be perfectly content and living without fear but that does not mean you living according to God’s purpose for you. Avoidance of discomfort is not our highest aim.

It doesn’t say this in the Bible but it can be said of Jesus that he came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. What do you think?

It seems to me that if we are comfortable and content that we have buried our talent.

This parable is another one of those that I misunderstood the first several times I read it. Last week we read about the bridesmaids who would not share their oil with those who didn’t have enough.  They were lifted up as the example.

This week we read about the landowner who takes away from those who have nothing and gives to those that already have in abundance.  This, again, seems contrary to what we believe about Jesus and his message.  But again, this is not about resources.  This parable is about being faithful with what we have.

The three servants in the story were entrusted with 1, 3, and 5 talents (measures) of money. The ones entrusted with 3 and 5 invested the money and eventually doubled their investment. The one with 1 talent feared the landowner and buried it.

The expectation of the landowner was that his servants would manage his resources in such a way that there would be growth.

When Jesus left his disciples he gave them the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…and teaching them.

The expectation of our master is that we baptize new Christians and teach them to be disciples. Our master expects growth!

The landowner in the parable came back and asked for an account of what his servants did with the resources he entrusted them with. He was pleased with the servants whom returned 3 and 5 talents. But the one who buried the 1 talent out of fear he was very displeased. He took the talent from him and cast him out.

The resources that God has given us are meant for the primary purpose of preparing the world for the kingdom of God. That means our time, our skills, our money, our attention and everything else we have is on loan from God to do his will. We will be accountable to God on how we have used what he has given us to fulfill his purpose.

Have you been blessed in this life? Know that you are not blessed without a purpose. God does not bless you to leave it with you. God expects you to bless someone else; to pass the blessing along. God does not invest in savings accounts God puts his resources into doing His work.

God is the creator God who is still creating. God calls us to get on board with him. If we choose to take what he has given us, bury it because we lack to courage to join the battle and do nothing, well then, it seems reasonable that God will but resources in the hands of another. It seems reasonable that God will equip the willing. Not that we are being punished when he takes away, it’s more to do with a refusal to act according to God’s plan.

There are needs in our community. HELP ministries needs drivers to take folks to doctor appointments. There are people in our neighborhood who need rides to the grocery store. The homeless shelter needs us St. Paul Church to host the shelter one day a month. The food pantries in town need us to donate. How is this part of making disciples? Jesus called us to feed the hungry and to heal the sick. If our neighbors can’t clear the hurdle of day to day living then they won’t be able to hear us when we tell them the good news about Jesus Christ.

So how is it with you today? Are you willing to summon the courage that is already in you to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ? 

The Light Inside You

I have to admit that this is not one of my favorite parables of Jesus.  It always seemed a mean of the wise not to share their oil with the others. It seems contrary to the Christian message.  We should give to those who are in need.

5 of the virgins were prepared. They had enough oil.  The other five were unprepared and asked if the others would share.  They would not.

So when you need a lamp. I would say a flashlight nowadays. You should have batteries and a backup set.  If you don’t, don’t go expecting me to share mine.  Is that the message? That you should hoard batteries? That’s what it seemed like to me and so I usually read past that parable and went on to something else.

But this parable has nothing to do with sharing resources. But has everything to do with bringing honor and praise to God. It is impossible to bring honor and praise to God if you don’t even acknowledge him. It is impossible to acknowledge him if you don’t know him.

Do you know God? Do you want to know God?

The light of God’s love is shining and all you need do is to seek it and God will reveal it. When you start on that intentional path of spiritual growth you will find purpose and direction in your life. Spiritual growth happens in a lot of different ways and can mean a lot of different things but Spiritual growth has something to do with focus.  Spiritual growth is a God thing first and last. Spiritual growth is what happens when God gets ahold of you and lives in you.  Spiritual growth is not a program or a class; spiritual growth is growing up in God. Spiritual growth is stepping out of darkness and into the light.

We can learn all there is to humanly know about God and there will be no spiritual growth if we choose to stay in the dark.

We can choose to believe a narrow set of things about God, about Jesus and about church.  But God is bigger than any ideas about God.  I had very positive (although very limited) experiences with the church as a child. But for some reason as a young adult I started to have less positive feelings about it. As I look back it was probably because my life choices didn’t match up with what I perceived to be the opinion of the church. When I expected to be judged for my lifestyle choices that is what I felt. After my first son was born and Diane and I were living in the upstairs of her grandmother’s house the church was the one place we found love in a world that seemed terribly harsh and dangerous. 

When I sought love and nurturing that is what I found.

The church is the best human manifestation of the ascended Christ but it is still human. God’s light shines despite our failures. We are the walking wounded looking for healing. We are beggars looking for bread. We are the dying looking for eternal life. When we focus on what we are looking for we will find it.

The problem is that we might look for the wrong things sometimes. You ever see a wounded chicken in a chicken coup? The other chickens will peck and peck at the wound. The wound will be made worse. The wounded chicken dies apart from the flock.

When we are focused on the wrong things wounds are made worse. When we focus on the wounds, the hunger and the death that is all we will see.  When we focus on the healing, the nourishment and life we have in Jesus, God is glorified!

Our focus should always be on glorifying God not on the failure to do so.  Honoring and praising God for what God is doing in our midst is the focus of our worship and our work.  Our lives are dedicated to doing as Jesus taught and teaching others to do the same. Our lives should be the light that lights the way for his return.

In our Gospel lesson Jesus tells this parable about the 10 virgins.

The wedding Ceremony

Avoid circumstances that will diminish your ability to bring glory to God.

Your oil is your ability to do that.

How does it diminish?

1.       Not having your spiritual house in order (sin).

2.       Condemning others for sin (log in your eye).

3.       Downplaying others sin (Millstone?)

But avoiding the wrong is the point of bringing glory to God!  What will set you on the path of bringing honor and praise to God?

1.       Receive forgiveness for your own failures

2.       Let God guide you in the course you know is right

3.       Love and forgive others despite their failures.

We could focus on the 5 virgins who were unprepared to receive the bridegroom. We could use this as a cautionary tale but as we prepare for the Christmas season I suggest we focus on the 5 who were prepared and do the same.

Our lamps our full of oil. We have the ability to light the way for our returning Lord. Let’s light our lamps and look with anticipation to his coming. 

What We Shall Be

This is All Saints Sunday. What is a saint? It’s someone who has exemplified the Christian life. It is someone who has been set apart. It is someone who has become holy.  We don’t have a way of criteria where people are formally named as saints. Even in those systems, I have come to learn that saint does not equal a perfectly lived life. It ultimately means a trust in God with one’s life.  How does one become holy and set apart? By having faith in Jesus Christ.

What is All Saints day?  It is a day to celebrate the communion of saints as we remember those who have died.

I brought this picture of my grandparents. Were they perfect? Yes, as grandparents go. I couldn’t have asked for any better.  Did they have flaws? Yes but they are getting harder to remember as the years roll on. They had faith in Jesus Christ and I look forward to seeing them again in the life to come.

Some of you brought photographs this morning. How did you choose which picture to bring? Was it because of the accomplishments of the person in the picture? Was it because they lived a flawless life?  Was it something else? What do you feel when you remember the person you hold in your heart? What do you remember? What do you let go of?

The reason you brought the picture is your own definition of a saint. Many of you did not bring a picture but you hold someone in your heart this morning. Perhaps you lit a candle in their memory. You hold them in your heart this morning on All Saints Day.

We have so many memories and stories of those that we have loved and lost in this life. But if you could boil it down to one word, one reason, one idea, one feeling, what would that word be?

If you would like, please share the word that comes to mind about the person you are remembering today…

All good things.

We have a promise. We will be made new.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians “ⁱⁿ an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the final trumpet. The trumpet will blast, and the dead will be raised with bodies that won’t decay, and we will be changed. ⁵³ 

We will be changed. But what shall we be?

Paul says we will have a body that won’t decay. But that is a little less information about eternal life than is satisfying isn’t it?  What I want to know is what life is like when we cross from this life into the next. And more importantly what will it be like when Jesus returns?

Let’s look at what Jesus says.

In the beginning of Chapter 5 of the Gospel according to Matthew we have a series of statements from Jesus.  They are traditionally called the Beatitudes. Do you know what beatitude means? It means the state of great joy, or supreme blessedness.

As you heard me read earlier the passage of scripture is repetitious in the phrase blessed are the… Blessed are those who…

Poor in spirit

Mourn

Who are meek

Who hunger and thirst for righteousness

Are pure in heart

The peacemakers

The persecuted

This is not a fun list of attributes. This is a list that represents a life that from the outside seems difficult and uncomfortable at best. But Jesus says they are blessed, that they are set apart for God.

Because our God is a God of reconciliation and transformation.

Because our God can bring life out of death.

God can fix what is broken and heal what is wounded.  

God has provided a way for you to have that healing. God has provided a way to have life that never ends and it is found in Jesus Christ.

But are you willing to let God transform you?

The love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ that reconciles us to God is the only path to blessedness. And while we live this life we have been gifted with the church. The Church is intended to be the body of Christ on earth.  The problem with the church is that it is filled with people who are broken and looking forward to being made whole again.  But we are a people set apart for God. By God’s grace we have become his children. We have taken on the mission to make disciples for him. To know Christ and to make him known.

Sometimes we forget to show love. Sometimes we forget to show mercy. But then sometimes we get it right. Sometimes by God’s grace we can be used to pass on a blessing to another. When we recognize our own brokenness and our own woundedness, we begin to forgive others for theirs and carry one another’s burdens.

When we learn that we cannot stand on our own, that we need someone else to lean on that ultimately we have to admit that we are powerless in this life, then God can truly move into your spirit and teach and guide you.  

This is what it means to be poor in spirit. Blessed… are those who are poor in spirit. Why? Because theirs is the kingdom of God. This is the definition of freedom and this leads to faith in Jesus Christ it is the definition of salvation.

And that’s what we are about. The kingdom of God, where we will be comforted. We will inherit the earth. We will be satisfied when we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We will be shown mercy. We will see God. We will be called the children of God!

Rejoice and be gland because your reward is great in heaven.

So how is it with you today? We have given only a little piece of time to accomplish His work on this earth. We celebrate those who have gone before us on this All Saints Day, this is a day of remembrance with joy, a celebration that there is life beyond life, and that death is not the end of life. Something that Jesus Christ accomplished for us.

What shall we be?  What will it be like in the resurrection? I don’t know but we know it will be blessed and supremely joyous.

A Family Album

Family Albums are not the same as they used to be.  Photographs in vast collections put into plastic pages sat on a bookshelf ready to be pulled down and studied again and again.  We look and laugh at the out of date cloths and hair-styles of previous decades. The filters and the embellishments that we try to paint our past with are all ripped down as photographic evidence is preserved for all to see.

Some of you may still print all your pictures and put them into books but it seems that Facebook has become our new default family album.  We see pictures in almost real time from all over the world where ever our friends and family are and are posting pictures. It’s nice but it doesn’t fulfill the same purpose as a family photo album.  When you look at a photo album you remember.  You remember the person you were, the person you wanted to become and the person you have always been. You see pictures of loved ones that have left this world and with loving pain you say goodbye again and again when we look at a family photo album.  It helps us to remember.

Family photo albums are a good crash course on family history for new members of the family.  When a new spouse joins a family a mandatory trip through the old pictures gives them some context as to what they are getting themselves into.  It is the story of your family. For many families the story starts here [holds up the bible]. The story starts here and is a streaming thread of God’s grace all the way to you and beyond. Many families can trace their family story back to this story.  The good news today is that you don’t have to be a direct biological descendant of anyone in this book to make this a part of your family history.

This is the first addition family album of the family of God. The family of God is all those whom God loves and has invited God in. The family of God is all those whom God loves and has invited God in.  The first part is already taken care of. God loves everybody. The only thing left is for us to invite God into our lives. We know God because God has come to us and revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ who has freed us and rescued us by his life and his sacrifice. Even if you woke up tomorrow dazed and confused not remembering who our earthly family is. This remains your family album. Your name is written in the book of life as one who belongs to God. You will always be remembered, and you will always live on when you are in God’s family.

With that said some are blessed with an earthly family of those related by genetics. Some are blessed with an earthly family related by their common adoption by God as sons and daughters. I didn’t really recognize the blessing of my brothers and sisters in Christ as a kid. There were my parents, my siblings and my cousins and aunts and uncles. That was my family. I appreciated my family most when I was unable to see them. The first significant time I spent away from my family was in Basic training from around Memorial Day to the end of July 1990.I was very aware of the date and how much longer we had until we got to go home. I could not leave I had limited communication with my family. Those 10 weeks were not easy. I did not have the choice to leave.  I volunteered but I was bound by the law to stay and obey. I was in bondage and I missed my freedom. Those 10 weeks passed very slowly.  The same period of time now passes like a whisper. Here and gone without adequately noticing it. Which form of bondage as worse?  The kind I could see or the daily distractions that keep me from fully appreciating what I have?

Moses’ argument with God. – The passage we explored from Exodus (33:12-33) is indicative of this we strain and struggle but God is constant.  God will not conform to us. God will not be controlled by us. Moses goes through this monologue of almost complaint that God has led him into something that he is not ready for.  Moses says “if you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

The Lord replied, “My Presence will go without, and I will give you rest.”

That was true even before all of Moses’ worry. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t bring our worries to God, because that is how we get through them and past them.  When we speak our worries to God and God proves to be constant and steadfast we begin to find our freedom from worry. We have many invisible chains that keep us restricted.  We have the ability to grow in Christ to break those invisible chains because we are free from the more obvious chains that hold people back.  We speak the predominant language in the land we live. There is no imminent threat of war coming to our homes. Our daughters are not being sold into slavery.  Adults have the universal right to vote. This is not true everywhere. What would Jesus have us, his followers do about that?

Jesus intent was to set people free (Ref. Luke 4:18) "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free”. When you understand this, the Gospel lesson for today becomes clear. He wanted freedom for everyone even those who were trying to trap him.

Let’s look at intent. It says in v. 15, “Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.” That was the goal. But why?  Just before this passage Jesus two parables that strongly suggest that those who thought they were the favored ones of God have been getting it wrong. The parable of the tenants which we talked about a couple weeks ago and the parable of the wedding banquet where the people came with their own agenda. The Pharisees knew Jesus meant them. Rather than hearing and growing, they decided to lay plans. Why wouldn’t they want to listen to Jesus and change? Because then they would be giving authority and deference to Jesus and that is not the order of things.  They are the ones that people defer to, not some itinerant rabbi.

So they have been hurt and offended and their power is threatened and now their plans are not to go to him and discuss with him but rather they sent their disciples and some political activists to Jesus. They started with complimenting Jesus because though the compliments may be true they serve as a distraction from discovering their true intent.  “We know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” The truth, in this case is the truth as they understand it from their teachers perspective which has been corrupted by the desire for power and control. They continue, “You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.” This seems to be a back handed compliment. The Pharisees spend a lot of time paying attention to who people are and make decisions about just who is and is not acceptable to associate with.

Then they asked him about taxes and if it is acceptable according to religious law.  You see they don’t even care about the issue they are asking about.  Their intent was born out of fear. They are in an invisible prison of their own making. They are far more concerned about maintaining power and control then they are about matters of paying taxes.

Jesus is not fooled. He sees their intent. He also sees their bondage. Remember Jesus came to set people free.

Give to Caesar what is Caesars and give to God what is God’s.  You choose what you think your loyalties are.  You retain what you think is yours and you give to God what you think belongs to God. Jesus gives us that freedom. It is the things that keep us in bondage that fools us into believing that we have anything outside of God.

So, how is it with you today? What are the invisible chains that keep you in bondage?

Is your work produced by faith? Is you labor prompted by love? Do you endure the difficulties of life because of the hope we have in our Lord Jesus Christ? These are the benefits of being part of the family of God. 

Glen and Gladys Brown 

Making Room

I was out for lunch with my son Julian who is 11. I asked him the classic question you ask kids. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And I failed to respond appropriately to his answer. I believe that God has placed in each one of us a desire to be the person that God has designed us to be. We spend our whole lives trying to do just that. But we constantly have to battle the distractions of this world to find what that really is.

So when I asked him what he wanted to be, he said he wanted to be a superhero. As a fearful parent my red flags went up. I asked him what he meant.  He said he wanted to put on a suit and beat up bad guys. As the law abiding citizen that I am I felt duty-bound to tell him that he would indeed be arrested if he went around beating up people and in-fact no one is going to pay him to do that sort of thing.

Do you see the failure?

God has written on his heart to defend the powerless; to lend others his strength; to take action for what is right. It’s just that the world has taught him that to do those things means being a superhero like Captain America (his current favorite).

To make room for god we have to live the story that he has written on our hearts.

Let’s get right into the Gospel lesson for today. We started in verse 32 but if you look a little further back we learn that this happened on the Sabbath, which explains why people waited until it was evening, after sunset, that the people brought the sick and demon possessed to Jesus.  It was contrary to the law to do work on the Sabbath. Carrying someone would be considered work and must not be done on the Sabbath. This was their understanding of the law. But again, if you look a little further back in the passage Jesus was with James and John and Simon and went to Simon and Andrews house because Simon’s mother-in-law was sick and had a fever. Jesus healed her. The fever was gone.

Tell me you who are familiar with the New Testament. Does Jesus ever get in trouble for healing on the Sabbath?  Yes, indeed he does.

So Jesus is breaking the traditional understanding of Sabbath law to heal. Can you see where Jesus is placing his priority? He is saying with his actions that healing this individual is far more important than a regulation concerning rest on the Sabbath.

The town hears about this healing and wants their loved ones healed as well but they don’t dare break the law so they wait until the sun goes down and the Sabbath has come to an end.  They knew that Jesus healed on the Sabbath.  They knew that he broke the law. They also knew that they wanted their loved ones to be healed as well. The law said one thing and their hearts said another.

To make room for God, we have to live the story that he has written on our hearts.

What does scripture say has been written in our hearts?  The law.

Hebrews 10 says that because of the sacrifice that Jesus made, we are made holy. Because of that the Holy Spirit makes the connection and the claim of the prophet Jeremiah (31:33) “I will put my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds, their sins and their lawless deeds will remember no longer.

Through Jesus the laws are on our heart and inscribed on our minds. The Law. We don’t want to break the law. It’s written on our hearts but that’s not the only thing written on our hearts.  Every wound, every experience, every temptation contributes to the story written on our hearts and it isn’t all good. Does the writer of Hebrews and the prophet Jeremiah mean that every regulation that is written in scripture will be memorized by God’s people? Of course not.  Is it more likely that God’s spirit will dwell with ours and give us wisdom and insight if we seek it? I think so.

God’s law is written on our hearts we just have to make room, so that we can find it.

Julian has a strong sense of justice written on his heart.  He fights for it. And that gets him in lots of trouble because some very important people in his life failed him early on. He gets confused about what to fight for and how far to go.  Well-meaning people like me forget to listen for the story written on the heart when he says he wants to be a super hero. I responded in fear because I don’t want him to get in trouble and I don’t want him to be unemployed as an adult. My experiences both negative and positive are written on my heart as well.

The people waited until after dark as to not break the law.  Jesus was healing on the Sabbath. Jesus is the bringer of the new covenant, the new agreement between God and people. Jesus is the example.  Jesus shows us that the law is one of compassion and love. The law is not intended to be a burden or a barrier.

I wonder how Jesus felt that day.  He intentionally healed on the Sabbath so show preference for the love of people as the lens through which we follow Gods law. And the people didn’t see it they just saw the healing. The lesson was lost.

Fear is a huge distraction from being able to read what is written by God on our hearts, both our fear and the fear that others place on us, like I did to Julian.

In Matthew 4:1-11 there is the story of the temptation of Jesus. He was out in the wilderness for a good long time and he saw the dangers. He experienced the world’s temptations; he was given every reason to fear and was given every opportunity to seek earthly solutions for those fears. But he didn’t give in to those fears. It is here that I see that I have a lot of growing to do to become more like him. What did Jesus do after this temptation?  He preached. He did what was written in him to do.

The walk with Nkemba and Mbwizu

A walk to the state park with Nkemba and Mbwizu. It was a lovely
autumn day in Michigan. 

There was never any question that Jesus would be able to resist the Adversary. When you have seen something better, there is nothing that can make you forget it and make you stop striving for it. Jesus knew where he was from and knew his mission.

I have always had a picture in my mind of what life should look like. It didn’t make a lot of sense but it was the picture of the ideal for me.  In this ideal life it is fall. The leaves have changed and have not yet fallen and I am living on a horse farm.  That part never made sense to me because I don’t particularly like horses. I don’t mind them but I am certainly not drawn to them. This is just the image that comes to mind when I think about living the ideal life.

One day as I was going through the posts on face book I saw a picture of my family. I was just a baby. In the picture I was sitting on my mom’s lap and my older sister was sitting on my late father’s lap.  It’s a nice picture. It was taken at my grandparents’ house. But then I noticed that behind us on the wall was a painting of a horse farm in the fall. I had forgotten about that paining but it is the exact image that is in my mind of the idyllic life. At my grandparents’ house I experienced unconditional love, generosity, security. It’s no wonder that I associated an image in their home with the life that I wanted.  

After all the healing that Jesus did he went to a place to pray. He retreated for a time. Perhaps he went to remember his mission. Perhaps he needed to refocus after the people failed to understand his priorities.

You can only seek what you have seen.  God gives us glimpses of the kingdom of heaven so that we strive for it. Think of the happiest times.  Think of the times when you spirit is at peace. These are glimpses of the kingdom. We go out of our way to celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas. We exert great effort to make those experiences.  They are good because we recognize in them the story that is written on our heart, the story that God has placed there.

I understand that it is earthly. That’s okay. We have an incarnational faith. Everything on earth can mediate an experience of God. Last week we talked about the bread and the juice and how we could find God in those particular things. We can also find God in all things.

Jesus retreated after healing. But he didn’t stay away. He resolved to go to another town to do what he came to do.

What we have to do is to slow down. We have to retreat. We have to look at our thoughts and assumptions.  We have to look inside and discover where our motivations are coming from.  Are we motivated from a desire to create God’s kingdom on earth or are we reacting in fear.  We had a moment of silence a little earlier.  We are going to have another.  In the silence I invite you ask God to reveal the story that is written on your heart.  We all have the same basic story but what part has God given to you specifically?

This is a lifelong process of discovering your place in the Greater Story. We need to set aside regular times of quiet and solitude so that we can quiet the distractions of those who would impose their fears on us; to see past the immediate and to embrace where God is leading you.

There is great wisdom in this room.  There are many people that can guide you along the path. But you have to discover first, that there is within yourself a story that God has written on your heart.

We retreat not to stay away but to refocus on what God would have us do. 

Dinner Invitation

Matthew 21:33-46
Dinner invitation
We tend to complicate things.  But this is a complex world.  We have words to communicate but words are imperfect. To be able to deeply understand each other requires deep trust and intimacy but that just isn’t possible all the time. Even those to whom we are closest can misinterpret and misunderstand us.
Only God knows your heart. Only God knows you motivation. Only God knows exactly what you need and sometimes we let God use others to be the blessing he intends for us.
A long time ago in another season of life I experienced a radical act of hospitality. It was a simple invitation to dinner. I was throwing darts at a local place where I was introduced to a friend of a friend. I don’t remember his name but I remember he was from the Bahamas. He, like me, was a student at Ferris State University. I never met anyone like him before. He spoke with a thick accent. He was from another place. He didn’t look like me or any of my friends, yet he seemed friendly.
He invited my friend and me to his apartment for dinner.  He lived in married housing on campus. It seemed odd that this older man would want my friend and me to come to his apartment for dinner. If this were a movie we would be screaming at the screen to not go.
We went. He made chicken Souse. Not Chicken “sauce” but Souse. A simple meal of chicken wings boiled with potatoes and carrots and other simple ingredients. It was delicious. We chatted and went back to our dorm.   He didn’t ask anything from us. He offered and provided a meal for which I was inadequately grateful.
I didn’t see his act for the generous one that it was. That is one of those places in life that I could have a “re-do.” I actually have lots of those.
His Chicken Souse wasn’t what I expected. I don’t know what I expected going in to that situation but it wasn’t a simple recipe prepared in generosity.
Today we are going to have a meal that is very simple indeed. Bread and Juice. There is some disagreement about the nature of this meal between groups of Christians –about how God is involved. But let’s talk about what’s in this meal.
[The sun and rain that watered the grain of wheat, the grass and alfalfa that fed the cow that produced the milk that made the butter, the salt from the earth and the sugar from the beat grown in the earth and the human hands that were in the entire process right down to the hands that combined the ingredients and carried them to church today] Psalm 139:7-9
In the scripture Jesus told a parable about a vineyard and tenant farmers. The land owner put a fence around the vineyard. The land owner set aside this piece of land and specified it as a place for the vineyard. The land all around may be no different but this piece of land has now been given a special purpose. This can be compared to God setting aside the Hebrew people to be his people. The parable goes on to say that the landowner sent servants to collect rent and they were all put out or killed including the son of the landowner.
It can be said that this refers to the prophets of God and finally to Jesus prediction of his own death.
Jesus asks the question, “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”
Those listening to Jesus respond in a way that we would expect and in a way that we may respond, “41 They said, “He will totally destroy those wicked farmers and rent the vineyard to other tenant farmers who will give him the fruit when it’s ready.”
And if we don’t read carefully we may think that this is the right answer. We may be so conditioned to the earthly response that we may miss what Jesus actually says. He does not say “You are right.”
He says, “Haven’t you ever read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes?[a] 43  Therefore, I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruit.” Not that he will destroy anybody but that what they have been entrusted with will be given to those who will produce fruit.
I believe that the responsibility for the Kingdom of God on earth has been given to the Christian church. That we are the ones who are expected to produce fruit.
The thing is, in the parable the owner of the vineyard built a fence around it. When Jesus empowered his disciples to go into the world, baptizing all nations, he removed that fence. In effect the vineyard is to cover the whole earth to produce fruit not only in a particular place as in the parable but where ever one finds oneself. He has not called one people to be his. He has called all peoples to be his adopted children.
There is no longer us and them.  The divisions that we understood before are no longer valid. The fence is down and the vineyard is growing!
We can narrowly look at the parable and see that the original tenants are the Israelites and the new tenants are Christians. Or we can widen our view and see that we are both the wicked tenants and the ones who will produce fruit.  How many of us have perfectly incorporated Jesus into our lives and produce the fruit that Jesus expects? None of us.
Not one of us has been perfected in this life.  The good news is that when God looks at us he only sees his beloved Son living in us. And can’t help but love us unconditionally.
So Jesus has invited us to dinner. On the menu are only two things: Bread and juice, common earthly, universal foods. We are going to pray that these common foods will be for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We know that God’s glory fills the whole earth. We know that God is everywhere. This is the presence of Christ in everything.  Richard Rohr writes in his daily meditation, “If we deny that the spiritual can enter the material world, then we are in trouble, since we hope to be just that -spiritual and fully material human beings.”
We are invited to this very simple meal with the most radical gift of love and hospitality ever offered in all of human history. God is everywhere but for a few moments we are going to try to recognize God in this meal.
If we can gather, time and again, and recognize God in this meal then we can bring that knowledge out and recognize God in the world.  When the lines dissolve between “God’s here,” and “God’s not here,” we become more Christ like. Because Jesus saw God in places where others did not: in sinners, in outsiders and in enemies.
So, how is it with you today?  Can you see God even in those other things? Fortunately God is patient.  God is forgiving. And God invites us to have a simple meal of bread and juice with him so that we can have a glimpse and a foretaste of the banquet that we will have in the kingdom of God.

Lifelong Learning

In a former career I started off as a baker.  I baked bread. Lots and lots of bread.  I trained others how to bake bread.  I took pride in my bread because my bread rose the highest. By bread had to most consistency. My bread looked and tasted the best. 

Did I ever tell you I am a terrible cook?  I made a dish 5 years ago that was so bad my family still brings it up.

Do you know the difference between cooking and baking? In cooking you have to know flavor, and consistency. You have to know how to make food taste and feel right.  In baking you have to follow the directions precisely. 

Now I know good cooks who are terrible bakers. People who don’t attend to the details may have a hard time with baking.

I’m sure that many of you are good cooks as well as good bakers. I’m sure that some of you are no good at either. But we don’t all need to be, do we? I was set on a path of food service when I was living in Big Rapids trying to pay my way through college.  Back then I thought I was going to be a journalist when I grew up. The twists and turns of life happened and I ended up as a restaurant owner. 

Are you familiar with Proverbs 22:6? Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it.

Well, being a restaurant owner was NOT the way I should go and I thought I would never be able to depart from it.

But my friend Mike loved that work. He also opened a restaurant. Then he opened another.  And he is very happy in his life.  Before opening his own restaurant he was an employee of mine.  For a couple of years we worked side-by-side learning from each other and growing together. It looked a little like a worldly form of discipleship.

 For the last 4 weeks, actually over the last several months we have been talking about discipleship.  And I have heard that some of you are getting a little weary of it.  “We’ve got it! ‘Stages, blah, blah, blah’” okay so you understand.  That’s good. If you come to church consistently I understand that it was probably a little redundant. But this is so important that those that only come once and while should hear it. It was worth being a little redundant. 

Discipleship, in a nutshell is the process of becoming more Christ like.  Or to put it the way John the Baptist did “He [Jesus] must increase and I must decrease.” 

In the gospel lesson today Jesus is in the background baptizing and we are hearing from John the Baptist. John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing before Jesus began his public ministry.  If John were of a mindset that was about his own fame and notoriety he had reason to be upset about Jesus coming. People who were listening to John were now flocking to Jesus. John’s reaction to this was a great example and lesson to us.

He teaches us at least three things:

1.       Others serving is not a threat to you

a.       The groom is the one who is getting married. The friend of the groom stands close by and, when he hears him, is overjoyed at the groom’s voice. Therefore, my joy is now complete. 

2.       You should Know your call and live it

a.       “No one can receive anything unless it is given from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said that I’m not the Christ but that I’m the one sent before him. 

3.       In everything, Point to Christ

a.       ³⁰ He must increase and I must decrease. ³¹ The one who comes from above is above all things. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all things. 

Christ is ever present. Christ is calling us to come to him and lean on and trust in him. Next week, next, year, in ten years Jesus will still be calling this congregation to faithfulness. The thing we do today will become that thing we did back then and God will call us into something new.  That doesn’t mean that the things we are doing today are wrong, but it’s about being faithful to our call in the here and now. 

St. Paul UMC has a long history of faithful people of God listening for his voice.  It would be a mistake to think that God only moved through the congregation sometime in the past was done with us. God did not make a mistake in calling leaders who brought His church to where it is.  But God will continue to call men and women and young people to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world through St. Paul UMC.

So, how is it with you today?  How is God calling you to live today?  It may not be the same call you had 5, 10 or 50 years ago, but when you keep you face pointed toward Christ he will lead you in the way you should go. 

God's Thunderous Love

Luke 9 “⁵¹ As the time approached when Jesus was to be taken up into heaven, he determined to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² He sent messengers on ahead of him. Along the way, they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival, ⁵³ but the Samaritan villagers refused to welcome him because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to consume them?” ⁵⁵ But Jesus turned and spoke sternly to them, ⁵⁶ and they went on to another village.”

Last night I woke up to the sound of the wind.  It came up so suddenly that it was surprising. I listened for a while and it didn’t seem to subside.  In fact I fell back asleep before it did.  I woke this morning to find a warning of severe weather for our area on my phone for our area.  I watched he radar and yep, about 2:30 last night a storm rolled through.

I find the weather interesting in that though there are things we can do to prepare for what is coming there is nothing we can do to change what is coming.

It is a force that is greater than our ability to affect it. 

God’s love is like that.

God loves you and there isn’t a thing you can do about it.

My nephew was in Michigan over the course of this past week. He lives in San Diego. He’s 28 years old and I just met him for the first time. He’s 28 and he saw his grandma, my mother-in-law for the first time. He is her first grandchild. She has loved him since the day he was born but was never able to be face to face with him until this week. It was a tearful first meeting and a tearful goodbye when they left. She loves him and there’s not a thing that he can do about it.

They spent the last two days here in Ludington with us. We took them out to the break water to see the lighthouse.  The waves were high enough that there were several places where we were getting wet from the spray when they crashed into the wall. I was a little on guard because Eli was having way too much fun running around while all I was seeing was the dangerous churning cold Lake Michigan water.  My experience tells me that there are forces of nature that can easily be too much for us to handle.

When I think of God and what God does I start with psalm 23 “he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” Those times when my spirit is at peace I am indeed thankful. When I walk through the valleys of life the promise of God is that he will be with us. For that I am thankful.

God gives us what we need to get through this life. But God has more for us than just getting through doesn’t he?

God has a thunderous love that cannot be stopped.  We cannot convince God to stop loving us. We cannot stop the wind or the thunder or the waves but God so loved the world that he gave his only son who could. 

Jesus can calm the storms of life. When Jesus came and taught his disciples what it means to follow him did he let them stay where the waters were calm? Did he make life easy for them? Or did he challenge them to grow; to go and do. When the people needed food Jesus told the disciples to feed them.

When Peter wanted to do the impossible Jesus invited him to step out of the boat. When Jesus was leaving the work of the Kingdom to his disciples he did say go and rest in the pasture he said go and make disciples. Why?  Because he loves us with an unstoppable love. 

I don’t think Jesus was interested in starting and growing a new religion. Jesus was interested in going to great lengths to demonstrate God’s unstoppable love.

When Jesus said that he would have to suffer. Peter protested.

To this Jesus said “Get behind me Satan.” Because Peter lost sight, or didn’t understand the lengths Jesus was willing to go to demonstrate the unstoppable love of God.

Jesus mission was unstoppable.  He came because God loved the world and wanted to save it. To be a part of that mission is a powerful thing. It feels good and right even though it may not be easy or comfortable at times.

In the scripture lesson today James and John whom Jesus nicknamed “Sons of Thunder” in a different portion of scripture were with Jesus as he was headed to Jerusalem to face great suffering. They were going through Samaria, a land that was a rival to the Jews of that day. They did not support or appreciate religious pilgrims traveling through their land on their way to Jerusalem. So when James and John went to make preparations for Jesus in a Samaritan village it was not surprising that they were not met with warm hospitality.

James and John were the sons of thunder for a reason. It probably wasn’t because they were timid. They were likely very confident fellows to begin with then add on the fact that they are now following a very powerful and convincing man who happens to be the son of god.  

These sons of thunder with all their confidence were rejected by people in the Samaritan village. How dare they?

“Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to consume them?”

They misunderstood, or perhaps they forgot that God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

When we isolate ourselves, we miss out on the cross check of ideas that prevents extreme and unhealthy thinking.

James and John were probably by nature bold and aggressive guys. It was a sort of natural reaction for them to say what they said. But it took the intentional teaching and mentoring by Jesus to bring them into an appropriate understanding of God’s will.

We don’t know if they came to that understanding at that moment or they just learned that they ought not to say things like that in front of Jesus. Either way it was learning and a growth moment for the brothers called “sons of Thunder.” These sons of thunder, Jesus called to be his disciples.  He knew their temperaments. He knew their personalities. He knew their weaknesses but he knew that he could use them and he can use anyone because he can and does love anyone and everyone.

Last week we talked about recognizing that the same spirit is in you is also in me when we are in the family of God through Jesus Christ. And with all of our earthly wisdom and the wisdom God has granted us individually, it still is only a fraction of the wisdom that God grants when we are gathered together sharing our spiritual gifts.  

When we place our trust in Jesus and believe that he is the son of God. God doesn't love us anymore because he already loved us enough to die for us.  But when we do believe and trust we start to remove the barriers that are in our lives that prevent us from fully experiencing God’s love. That process of removing barriers will inevitably make us more and more Christ-like in our nature.

I knew my nephews great grandmother.  She died in 1999. She is an example for me of how much Christ can shape a life. She demonstrated the fruit of the sprit not though effort but by being transformed by Christ’s presence her whole life. It is unfortunate that my nephew was never able to meet her. Her direct influence will never be felt.  But there are others that will love him and there are many that he can share that love with. This is the mission of Jesus, to share the love of God as far and as wide as possible.

Letting God’s thunderous love in to transform you is your path of discipleship.

So how is it with you today? Will you seek out and allow the transformation into Christ-likeness into your life.