Whose You Are

Luke 3:15-17, 21, 22

You are my son; with you I am well pleased. 

YOU are my family.  YOU bring me joy just by being you.  We all need to know that we are loved. We need to know that we are accepted. We need to know that we belong somewhere, and whether we admit it or not, we all desire affirmation. 

You are my son; with you I am well pleased. 

God loves you.   God’s love for you is perfect.

Savannah and I at a Cross Country meet last Fall.

The perfect love of God is also filtered through the imperfect people around you.  And the love of God that flows through you also travels an imperfect vessel.  Who among us has not failed someone with the best of intentions? 

One time my dad was saying how some of his work colleague’s children were getting into a lot of trouble and how lucky he was that I didn’t screw up like that.  I took that as “You are my son; with you I am well pleased.”  That’s one of the things we have to do for each other. We have to listen for the voice of God behind the flawed human words and actions and hope others do the same for us.

God loves you and God’s love is perfect.   

In one of the letters written to the early Christian Community it says “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.” 1 John 3:15.  If you hate, you have no eternal life in you.  That’s because when you hate, the Grace of God, the love of God is not flowing through you.  Think about it.  When you decide you hate someone, or decide that they are your enemy or you say to yourself “I just don’t like them”, nothing they do will be able to please you.

“Oh look at her, eating those crackers like she owns the place.” 

Think for a moment on the mistakes you have made in your life.  Think about the words you have used were hurtful.  And yet the Heavenly father says, “You are my child, with you I am well pleased.”

You might be thinking, “Now hold on God said that about Jesus, not me.”

He said it about Jesus so he could say it about you!

1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

God loves you and God’s love is perfect!

The fullness of God is glimpsed in today’s text.  Jesus of Nazareth the incarnation of God-God in the Flesh came to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  The Holy Spirit the very power of God came down and rested on him and the Words of the Heavenly Father affirmed it all.  You are my son; with you I am well pleased.”  All three: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are present and in accord.  It’s a relationship.  It is unconditional love and unity. 

It was that unconditional love and unity that was extended to us when Jesus offered himself as an eternal sacrifice for us. 

Yes it was the Father who said to Jesus, “You are my son. With you I am well pleased.” But by spiritually joining with Jesus we join also in the Fathers pleasure. 

In his earthly life Jesus extended the invitation into this family of God.  His flawed and imperfect followers didn’t fully understand.

 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

You are invited to be part of that family of God.  We all are!  God loves you and God’s love is perfect!

This Cross that we have at the front of the sanctuary, most of you know that it is made from wood from a part of this building and is now repurposed to Glorify God in a new way.  This cross or the one that is around your neck is a symbol of the lengths that God has gone through to show you love.  Just for a moment I want you to look at the cross.  I want you to look at it in a new light.  As you look at the cross I want you to see it as a lens.  The cross is a lens that God looks through to see us.  God sees us everywhere and at all times of course.  He sees all of our flaw and failures.  He sees wars and greed.  But when he sees us through the lens of the cross, when he sees us in light of Jesus he only sees the righteousness of his son in whom God is pleased.  When we join ourselves to Jesus we are made right with God.

"This is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness." Jer. 23:6

2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

If the cross on the wall is a lens through which God sees us, it must also be a lens for us to see God and indeed it is.    If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Jesus and the Father are one.  When we know Jesus we know the Father and are blessed with the Holy Spirit. 

God loves you and God’s love is perfect.

God has gone to great lengths to show you his love.

God became human to relate directly to us.  Jesus started his ministry be being baptized not because he needed to be washed of sin but to relate to the people he was serving. 

I had a discussion recently about the necessity of baptism for salvation.  The answer that always comes up is that the thief on the cross that Jesus promised paradise was not baptized.  No ritual was needed only the unconditional perfect love of God. But to be baptized is to participate in an act that God has poured out his love publically to his son. What a wonderful thing.  When was the last time you said with a warm heart “I am baptized”? It’s a statement of identity.  It’s a statement of the power and the love of God to overcome the darkness of this world.

So how is it with you today?  Is the perfect love of God flowing through you? I want to challenge you to look inside.  Where ever you find resentment, fear, anger or hatred let the perfect love of God dissolve it so that you may have eternal life. 

Time to Be Brave

     Have you seen the commercial?  I don't really remember what they were trying to sell me; probably some sort of electronic thing. It was about "Annie who wanted to fly." A girl did some video editing to make some special effects to make it appear that she could fly.  Aside from the fact that I love flying, dream of flying and am sure that in when I enter into the eternal presence of God and I leave this body behind I will be granted the ability to fly, aside from all that I really like the song in the advertisement.  It's "Be Brave" by the Strange Boys. 

Oh, I had to be brave

*You gotta be brave

Oh, I had to be brave

*You gotta be brave

Oh, I had to be brave

*You gotta be brave

Don't seem like no choice to me.

Not normally visible
this is one of many labels
Pastors hide behind for
fear of success.

     Turning 40 last year and then 41 recently got me to thinking...(mid life crisis?) What am I doing?  I am in a great position to really do good things, great things even.  Jesus made this promise to his disciples that we would do greater things than he did when he was here in the flesh.  So why haven't I done these great things.  Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 when he was assassinated. Look at what he was able to accomplish before he was 40.  It may seem ludicrous of me to compare myself to MLK and really I am not.  However, he realized more of the potential that Jesus said we all have.  I am not saying that I am as good as MLK, I am saying that he has raised the bar that we should all strive to exceed.  Sure adopting four children and forever changing the course of their life will have an immeasurable impact for generations to come, but I could have done that if I were still a pizza guy.  We all rise to the challenges that are before us.  With that said, however, the challenges we face are largely our own choosing. 

      Dr. King could have been complacent; Rachel Corrie could have remained silent; I could have happily raised my two children and been a good maintenance pastor of what ever church the bishop sent me.  So here I am in Ludington, Michigan. I've been here for over a year.  It is time to submit reports and describe, in numbers, what we have been doing as a congregation for the past year.  Did our membership go up or down?  What is our average attendance?  As long as the numbers look good, I look good.  As long as I don't damage the congregation, everything will be okay.  Is this the greatness that Jesus called me/us to? I think not.  

Time to drop our excuses at the foot of the cross.

     There is a hunger for something more.  I want to be a part of something that has meaning.  God has called me to this place at this time.  My task is to figure out what my purpose is.  That purpose will not be discovered by dutifully filling out forms and maintaining the institution.  Our purpose is discovered when we are interacting with as many people as we can; loving them; serving them.   So what is holing me back?  The fact that I haven't been given authority to administer the sacraments outside of my ministry setting? The fact that, because of my particular clergy status, I have no official membership in any church or spiritual community? I tire of my colleagues making excuses for not being faithful servants of Jesus.  I tire of hearing about non-cooperative administrative boards.  I tire of hearing about a lack of resources and a lack of willingness to reach the unwanted and the marginalized.  You are pastors, my brothers and sisters, I am a pastor.  The bishop may have laid hands on you and said, "take thou authority" but authority does not come from the bishop or any other human.  We have been called by God to do God's will.  

     "Okay Jon. What would you have me do?"  Sorry, I am trying to figure that out for myself right now.  I know that time spent in the parsonage, in my study or making the rounds of the shut-ins will not yield anything new.  The thing that needs to be done has to be sought after. It has to be tracked down.  We have to stand in its path and risk being crushed by it if we want to really make a difference.  We have to put ourselves in a position where being brave is the only choice we have. Just like Jesus.  

Julian's baptism

Juliana's baptism

    

Jesus our True Savior

John 6:24-35

Jesus went away. The crowds followed him. Jesus cured them. Jesus took the disciples away for a little rest. The crowds followed him. Jesus fed them. Jesus went away. The crowds followed him. Jesus always had compassion for them. Jesus met the needs of those who came to him in faith. Jesus worked miracles to bring some to belief. Everything he did was to bring people to belief that he is the Son of God so that we can have everlasting life in his name. Jesus is our True Savior.

This past week, Monday through Friday the church was filed the the sounds of young disciples having a great time. We put on a Vacation Bible School that had a national Park theme it was called Sonrise National Park. All week the kids sang and danced and learned from the stories of our faith. Each Day they were introduced to a new promise of God. They learned that in God we can find true peace; true riches, true power, true love and true hope. Two hours a day for 5 days these young ones came and got excited about our faith. For 5 days volunteers were here to tell the stories, lead the music, prepare meals, clean up big messes...for 5 days we invested a little time and a little money and a bunch of kids had a great time learning about our true Savior Jesus Christ. I read an article recently that questioned the value of Vacation Bible School in our contemporary culture. Well if you were here you could see the value. And rather than do less of that sort of thing I would think we would want to do more.

Vacation Bible School is just the beginning. VBS is just the open door. It gets kids asking questions about God. What does it mean to trust God? What does it mean to have faith? VBS starts conversations. Parents want to know what their child was doing for two hours at that church on the corner of Morton and Kinney. They want to know why they were so excited about going back the next day. Vacation Bible school builds relationships. I met some pretty great servants of Christ from the Scottville church that came and worked in the kitchen all week feeding us. I met some of your grand kids that I had never met before. All these new people in our lives have gifts from god to share. We all strengthen each other. Hopefully our community will grow so that there will be a greater diversity of gifts in this gathering to Honor and glorify God.

That is why we come. We come to Honor and Glorify God. We come to worship God. We come to serve God. Sometimes, though we get a little mixed up. Sometimes we think that our purpose for coming is to get something. To “recharge our battery” or to “fill our tank” and when that doesn't happen we get disappointed and frustrated. We get disappointed and frustrated because we hear the promises of what Jesus can do. We know part of what he is capable of and we want part of it. But as we see in scripture when the crowds follow him only to receive, Jesus has compassion and meets their needs but only to teach them to have faith in Him then he withdraws from them.

In scripture Jesus does wonderful things but he doesn't let the attention remain on the miracle. The wonderful things he does is a pointer toward who he really is: The son of God, our true savior.

He told the crowd flat out, “you came looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted.” The crowd tracked him down because they wanted another hand-out. He said don't do that. He said You are working for food that will be gone. You are focusing on the temporary. You are focusing on the earthly. You need to get your mind, your attention on what's important. Jesus wants us to work for the nourishment that will last forever.

Did you know that Jesus doesn't NEED you to to follow him? Jesus is complete. Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus was the one through whom you were created. If you don't follow Jesus He will still be ALL THAT...and much much more. Jesus doesn't need to be needed. Jesus is the one making the offer. Your aren't doing Jesus any favors by accepting his grace/his love.

One time, a long time ago back when I was first dating my wife she said something to me that, at first, I thought was hurtful and mean. She said, “You know something....” She had her finger pointed right at me. “You know something, I don't need you.” I thought she was saying that I was expendable, that I had better watch my step. Until she said this: “I am here with you because I want to be not because I have to be.” What I thought was hurtful turned out to be honoring and loving. Men and women don't complete each other. God makes us complete. Your children don't make you complete. Your job doesn't make you complete; the only one that completes you is the one that created you. If you need to be needed or if you are with someone who needs to be needed you need to spend some time at the foot of the cross offering yourself to God so that He can begin the work he started in you.

Jesus loves us because he wants to love us. He defeated death for us because he loves us. We are not doing Jesus any favors by accepting his love.

He offers it without price. He offers life everlasting. He offers life in abundance. He will do wonderful things with you. But if you go chasing the blessing. If you go waiting on the miracle and refuse to work for the bread that lasts for ever. Jesus may just withdraw for a time. He may go off like he did in the scriptures to be alone with the father, to be alone with those who have dedicated themselves to following him and obeying him.

Okay Jesus, how do we work for the bread that lasts for ever? That's the question the crowd asked when he called them out on chasing him down for some more bread.

Jesus said, “This is the deed God requires- to believe in the one whom he sent.”

They didn't quite get it yet. They started asking for a sign. Apparently they missed the big meal they had the day before that came from only 5 loaves and two fish. Jesus started talking about the true bread from heaven. “For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

he said it to them as plain as can be. Yet still some complained and did not believe. But Those who do believe receive the extraordinary gift of everlasting and abundant life. Today is a remarkable day because we have a little one who's parents are going to commit to raising her in the christian faith. In the sacrament of baptism God's mysterious grace is poured out not because we have merited it but because this is what God desires to do. In this we commit to our participation in God's work as a community of believers to be vessels of his will. Today we will also share Holy communion at God's table where we give our selves as holy and living sacrifices to our God.

So how is it with you on this very special day? Have you offered yourself in completeness to almighty God who has promised to be your true savior?   

Greater Things

Mark 6:1-13

The blessings of God are plentiful and ready to be poured out on us! God's love is more than we can contain or comprehend. I would give the person credit if I could remember who said it but someone once said, “Saying that God's grace is sufficient for us is like saying that the ocean is sufficient for one clam.” God loves you and that's the truth but can that statement encompass the enormity of that truth? God's love is huge. We swim in it and are so used to it that we don't even notice it most of the time.

This past week on the 4^th a few of you were at the _______________'s for their annual party to watch the fireworks over Lake Michigan. I was struck and I heard some of you comment on the beauty of the lake and of the sunset. For those of us who don't see that every day, we are awestruck. What a beautiful scene. The sun was setting. The reflection of the sun on the water. The haze of the day making the light slightly diffuse. The unusual stillness of the air that day. It was something that grabbed the attention. It was the subject of conversation. For those of you who see that everyday, I am sure you can appreciate it but it is easier, I'm sure, to get other things done with out being distracted by its beauty. Familiarity can lead us to take a thing for granted. Even God's love for us.

Were going to have a baptism today; That's a good thing! In baptism we are participating in sharing God's love...God's grace. We will take take water, pray that God will bless and use it to pour out his grace on one of his beloved children.

Our actions are only minutely significant during the sacrament of baptism compared to the action of God at the same time. The mystery of God and the grace of God, God’s gift of blessing on us when we don’t deserve it, are the things that really matter. It is God that is continually calling us to join in an ever-deepening relationship. It is the grace of God that draws us to God, not the physical pouring of water. When we do those things we are partaking in the gift that God gave us. The gifts of his love and grace. God didn’t give us the sacrament of baptism to use as a tool, but as a way of sharing His love.

When a parent is moved to have their child baptized it is the work of God’s grace. When an child is baptized, that child may not have the memory of the event, but will have the blessing of God from the earliest time in their life. When we baptize, we are resting in the mystery of God and asking God to pour out blessings on that child, and we offer up our intentions as the body of Christ to nurture that child as to raise them up in such a way that they will come to know and profess Jesus as Lord on their own. But ultimately that relationship can only be between the believer and God.

The blessing of God is already here. It is our faith that allows us to receive it. God's love is already present. We may have not noticed it. We may have gotten used to it but God's love surrounds us and is pressing in like powerful flood waters.

Every year we hear about the Mississippi river flooding. Each community builds levies, walls of earth to raise the banks of the river, to protect their city from flooding. A year ago I lived in Ashley which is probably the flattest part of Michigan I have ever seen. There is a home owner there that has built a levy all the way around their house to protect it from the the water that has no place to go. If God's love and blessing is like flood waters then the levies we build that keep us from those blessings may be doubt and apathy that comes from familiarity.

In the scripture lesson today Jesus went to his hometown. He went to the place where it was familiar to him, and he was familiar to the people there. “I this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him...and he could do no miracle there except that he aid his hands on a few sick people and healed them and he wondered at their unbelief.”

Jesus is still Jesus the son of God. But in his hometown the people were to familiar with him to appreciate the blessing that he had for them and so they did not receive it. But later he sends out the disciples in pairs and scripture says that “they went out and preached that men should repent and they were casting out many demons and were anointing wit oil many sick people and healing them.”

They brought the message that Jesus sent them with and many was the number of successes. Where Jesus had limited success, the disciples had many successes. In the Gospel according to Luke it says that “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.” and again in the gospel of John it says, “Truly I say to you he who believed in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works then these he will do; because I go to the Father.”

Jesus intends for us to do greater things. Jesus as a man on the earth had limitations. Jesus as the everliving Lord of Life has no limitations. Jesus has empowered us with the Holy Spirit to be his body on earth; to tell people about the kingdom of God; To preach repentance and forgiveness of sin. We have to have faith to have the courage to go out and proclaim God's truth even though we may not know that the reaction or result may be. God prepared the hearers heart. God grants the gift of fiath to those who will hear the Good News about Jesus Christ.

We're gonna have a baptism today and that's a good thing. The family of God is growing. This little one will receive a physical sign of God's love. She is being initiated into the family of God. We are placing her in God's hands so that faith may be granted to her. We are participating with God in this act of Divine love so that she can make an apeal to God for a good conscience throguh the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are not brought into the family of God merely for our own good. We are brought into the body to be obedient disciples. The whelming flood of Gods love flows through each one of his believers. We are the crack in the levy of apathy. Where there is complacency we will be the extravagance of God's love that gets people's attention. Where there is familiarity we will be the fresh voice of God's presence.

So how is it with you today? Is there familiarity and apathy in your spiritual walk? Let today be a day that you re-affirm your baptism and step into a new day of intentional, obedient faith to the God that has unending love for each of us.

 

Order out of Chaos

Mark 1:4-11

Me collecting water for Holy Baptism from the Pere Marquette River

Have you experienced the presence of God this week? Its a powerful thing to experience. To know; to have a personal experience of the divine is a gift from God. Its a gift that cannot be earned. It just happens. I suspect that it happens more often than we realize. I think that we aren't paying enough attention to the happenings in the world right round us. Because God is in it all. God is blessing us constantly with His presence. If you have faith in God, if you trust in God, then your eyes are the aperture through which God see the world. Your loving hand is the hand that God used to comfort your neighbor. The food you brought in from your pantry to feed the hungry is the manna from heaven. And the ground on which you walk is holy because God is present inside you.

12 years ago I opened myself to be used by God and God let me know that he would indeed use me. So I became a pastor.

A simple “yes” to God can change things. It's not about understanding, its about trusting. We as creatures of the earth are filled with fear. Fear of losing what we have, whether its losing our security, losing those that we love or losing our lives. But Jesus said, “Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.” Jesus wasn't talking about being careless with life. He was talking about not having undue attachment to temporary things. When you say, “yes” to God, God will bless even this temporary life and guide you into eternal life.

In Baptism we say, “yes” to God. Our scripture lesson today is about Jesus' baptism. We don't know much about Jesus' years growing up and young adulthood. There are about 18 years of his life that the scriptures are silent abut from about age 12 to age 30. This story is the end of that silent period. Jesus went to his cousin John who lived the life of an ascetic. John purpose was to prepare the people for the Holy One of God. And Jesus was that “One.” Jesus, for whatever reason, chose this moment to say “yes” to the mission that he came to accomplish. And when the baptism was complete there was confirmation by the Heavenly Father. The voice that said “You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased.”

Don't you know that we are all Gods sons and daughters? Jesus was the first. He lived, died and was resurrected at a particular place in a particular time. I've seen pictures, perhaps some of you have gone personally to the place that is believed to be the place where Jesus was baptized. There are hand rails. And walking paths. It used to be in the wilderness but now it it has been tamed. It was out where there was chaos, but now there is order. People make pilgrimages to go to that spot. Tourists, I imagine regularly make visits to that spot because it is indeed a special spot. It is a spot where we can say God did something. God intervened. God got involved. Because of all this we call that spot and others like it Holy sites. And since that is the place where Jesus lived that land is called the Holy Land. But let me tell you something,

This very place is the Holy Land. This very hill at the corner of Kinney and Morton is the Holy Mountain. The Holy River that sustains this land is the Pere Marquette River. This is the Temple of God. God is eternal. Time and space cease to matter when the grace of God comes down and touches us. God who is eternal is in this place and this is the only place in the world for this moment. In the presence of the eternal god we are not merely in a brick building at the corner of Morton and Kinney but we are present in the heavenly court of God.

Not reasonable?

God is not limited by space and time. For a while God took on human flesh in the form of Jesus Christ. He came to offer salvation, to show us “The Way.” God's grace and glory fills the earth. The Glory of God is in this place.

Name and claim the place we are in for God.

God lives in us and has called us to go into the world. God has claimed us as his own.

God is in the place where we experience Him. This water (Jar in my hand) was taken from the water of our “Holy River” the Pere Marquette. We find God where we are. We worship God where we are. Jesus presence on earth was first revealed in a far off land, however through the Holy spirit living in us Jesus presence sets apart any place where his Name is proclaimed.

We join with Jesus so that we can be claimed by the father. We need not be ashamed about who we are and what we do here. Not only do we need not be ashamed but we need to proclaim it. Not only do we need to proclaim it, we need to proclaim it with boldness. And not only a bold proclamation that we belong to God; Not only a bold proclamation that we love and worship God; Not only a bold proclamation that we are ever seeking a deeper relationship and understanding of God but take owner ship of that membership in the family of God. With all your thoughts words and deeds as much as humanly possible say, “this is a life dedicated to God.” We say,
“My house, will be a house dedicated to God.” This Church is not only our gathering place but it is for us The Holy Temple of God. This land is indeed the Holy Land.

In Baptism we say, “Yes” to God. In baptism we experience a second birth a spiritual birth.

Chaos is the unordered world around us God is the order. God provides the purpose and direction. With out God there is only chaos.

The Water of baptism both the represents the chaos and the grace or the love of God. We willingly step into the waters of baptism so that we an trust the order the love and the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

“When nothing existed but chaos, God swept across the dark waters and brought forth light. In the days of Noah God saved those on the ark through water. After the flood God set in the clouds a rainbow.”

Jesus, like each one of us, were nurtured in the waters of the womb of our mothers. God gave us form. Put in us gifts, skills, talents that He intended for us to use to make this world a better place.

God brings us through the waters of chaos into a better place.