Where is Your Faith? - August 19, 2007

Imagine, you are on a camping trip. It is nighttime, and the perfume of pine forest is all around you, You have left your cabin for a peaceful walk. Your leaders for the trip take you up the steep hill behind the cabin. You are led to the middle of a forest clearing, and you are instructed to lay down on your back and to watch the night time sky. You are told that if you wait and watch, you will see an unbelievable surprise. You wait for what seems like an impossibly long time. You keep quite still as you watch the glory of stars undimmed by the presence of city lights. You watch and wait, and it seems that nothing happens. You begin to think that you have been trapped – that this is some kind of joke. But you faith in your leaders, keeps you waiting and watching. Then suddenly the sky is filled by a wondrous blazing meotor show. You silent waiting is replaced by awe filled voices, as you and those you are with rejoice in the wonder that you have just saw. You had honestly questioned this whole experience, but in the end you received a reward for waiting in faith, a reward beyond anything that you could have made up in your mind.
Perhaps we can do this exercise when we go on our church camping trip. Getting away and just watching the night sky always brings the reward of awe. There is always something going on in the stars.
And yet this is a representation of our life as faithful people. God is our ever present leader on a journey. God tells us that there is a wonderful surprise in life coming up, it will be something that is greater than anything that we can imagine. We wait and we look forward to this wonderful surprise, but nothing happens. We get doubtful, we start to think that perhaps God does not know what anything. There is no surprise in life, there is nothing to look forward to. There is only the day grind of things that need our attention, things that we need to get through. Life just is, most of the time there is no reward.
That was the attitude of the people of the new church- they were told that Jesus was coming soon – that there would be a reward for a hard life. Moments passed, as a matter of fact, by this time years have passed and nothing has happened. There are no signs of Jesus. This fragile church that Paul addresses in Hebrews is made up of both Jews and gentiles. They have been able to overcome their differences to become a united church. But they have also found that they are being teased by others in their community. People are telling them that they are wasting their time. There is no need to wait for a Jesus who is not going to show up. It just doesn’t make sense to believe in something that you cant see. Paul reminds them that just because you cant see it, that doesn’t mean that it is not there. Afterall, the stars in the sky put on a wonderful show each and every night, but how many of us really take the time to pay attention to actually watch it. God speaks to us and gives us a vision all of the time. Most of the time we are so caught up in our doubt and cynisim that we forget to listen to a positive message from heaven.
Paul uses the of Sarah and Abraham as an example of faithful living. He is 98 and she is 90. together they are almost a quarter of a millenuim. Today they would be living together in a nursing home. They have no children to take care of them, so they are reliant on the staff for all of their care. And all of a sudden they get a vision to leave the safe care of the nursing home, and to go out into the desert into a new land. They are encouraged to take care of themselves and to listen to that voice of God calling them forward. The nurses at the home are especially concerned about this strange disappearance of Sarah, because her blood test show something strange. They have never had to do a pregnancy test on any of their patients, but for some reason they did and found that she is pregnant. In the midst of the worst of circumstances, when they thought that all hope was gone, God made a promise the Abraham and Sarah, and god fulfilled on that promise. God promised that they would have a family so large that its number would be like the stars in the sky. Over 5000 years longer, we can marvel at the fact that god did fulfill on that promise. But what must it have been like to follow a promise that makes no sense, and has nothing to do with reality. God has made each of us that same promise, but how many of us have a faith to wait for that promise to be fulfilled? How many of us are even still enough to hear God make that promise to us?
When the church in Hebrews was discouraged, Paul went back into history. And showed that many who had come before had followed God’s voice in their lives. They committed to living a life of faith, some times they never saw that faith fulfilled, but the generation who came after did. It reminds us to think of our ancestors and the dreams and visions that they had for the world. Having an education was very important for my grandmother, but it was something that she was denied. She always encouraged me to do the best that I could in school and to take advantage of every opportunity that I was given. When I got to college we were told the story of racism on campus in the sixties. We were reminded that we were free to get an education because of the many who sacrificed their education to sit in and demand equal education for all people regardless of their skin color. It is that reminder of the past that inspires to create a future for generations to come. To create a world that doesn’t exist today. It exist only in our faith and God’s vision. Who are the people in your past, who created your world, who fulfilled God’s promises so that you can live. Paul reminds us that we all have faithful ancestors and in times of doubt, we need to remember their stories.
A father and his five year old daughter were sitting around together talking. As he was reading his paper, the conversation went to dolls. The father promised his daughter that he would build her a doll house. The next day, he noticed that the daughter started to gather all of her dolls, and to collect all of her little tea pots, and all of the other things that you would out in a doll house. He asked wife what she was doing. The wife responded that she had been promised a doll house, and that she was making preparations to move in. the husband immediately put down his paper, and ran to the garage to build that house. It was important to fulfill the plans of his daughter. He wanted his daughter to believe in him. God is a lot like that father, God wants to fulfill our visions. God will do anything to fulfill the promises that have been made to us. It has been said that it is not a great faith that we need, but we need faith in a great God and the great promises that God will fulfill.
Jesus puts a new spin on being willing to watch and to wait. He tells us that being a child of God is the most wonderful gift that we could ever receive, but that it also comes with a responsibility. Our watching and waiting is to be filled with disciplship. Waiting is making a choice to be obedient to God. God is steadfast in God’s promise to us, so we must be steadfast in our faith. Jesus tells two stories one of those we are able to wait in steadfast faith and one who is not.
First he tells of servant who wait for their master – and when he comes he puts on his apron and serves and feeds the servants. Jesus is the one who will serve us, who feeds us all that we need to get through life.
Then he tells of a man who falls asleep while guarding his house – and thieves break in and steal his possessions. For those who don’t expect it – Jesus Presence is like a thief in the night, that steals our life away from us. When we are expecting one thing – Jesus makes another happen. It all depends on how we formulate our priorities - is our life about what we want – or what God has called us to do?
We have no way of knowing when Jesus will return, but we can be sure that he will. What will he find us doing when he comes? When we are waiting as a faithful disciple, there is not need to be anxious over uncertainty. What we hope for in the future, affects how we choose to live our life today. When we die, we cant take our finances with us, but we can take our character. So are we building up our possessions or our faith? When we talk of our self worth are we talking about how much we have or how much God values us. In God’s eyes, we are worth more than you ever know. Shouldn’t we respond by faithful living?
Isaiah sums it waiting in Christian discipleship very well when he says – Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your doings, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan and plead for the widow.

All That You Have is your Soul

A wise older man and a young ambitious young man had a conversation. The older man asked the younger one what he intended to do with his life. “Well said the younger man, I will learn my trade.” And then asked the older man, “I will set up in business” said the younger man. And then asked the wise man, “I will find a wife and get married and start a family” and then…I will make my fortune…. And then – the younger man hesitated and bit and said, “ I suppose that I shall grow old and retire and live on my money” and then. The younger man got a little slower in his answers but he responds, “Well I suppose that some day I will die. But the wise old man asks one more question…and then?
We are all like the young man, we plan our lives, we decide what we are going to do, we plan how happy we will be when accomplish those plans, we prepare ourselves to just go forward with life. And Jesus is there to remind us that there is more to life than making a living. There is more to us than what we do – true life is about who we are. What did God bring us into the story of history to do? What is it that captures your soul? The Hebrew word for soul is nefesh, which means one’s whole being, one’s whole existence. The gospel lesson is a sober reminder that God is the one who demands our whole being. At some point in our lives, God comes to each of us and demands that we return the life that we have been given. No matter who we are, no matter what we do in life or don’t do, we will all die, and our souls will be returned to God. What is it that captures your soul? Unfortunately, that is not always a positive statement. We can be captured with the love and will of God. But the reality is that our souls are usually captured by something else – all of us get caught up in the midst of our lives – and we think that our life is the most important thing in the world.
What is it that captures your soul? You soul can be captured by fear, by busyness, by concern, by greed, by determination. There are countless things in our life that stand in our soul’s ultimate purpose to honor and praise God.
One of the most pervasive things that stand in the way of our soul’s purpose to honor God is our stuff. We seem to love our stuff. We spend our lives trying to acquire stuff. It is the stuff that we possess that gives us our identity, it defines who we are, it is our reward for doing the right thing, it is our comfort when our feelings are hurt, it is it is our substitute for failed relationships. Stuff is everything to us.
The self-storage association reported that stuff is so important to Americans that the storage industry is the fastest growing sector of the real estate industry. In other words, it is more important for people to have a storage space for their stuff, and then it is to have a house for their bodies. In 1984 there were 6,601 storage facilities, taking up more than 289.7 million square feet. In 2007, there are 59,657 storage facilities taking up mover 2.2 billion square feet. There are enough storage facilities for every American to have 17.2 square feet of storage. There is so much storage space in America that there is room for every man, women and child to stand under the roof of a storage unit. There are still to build thousands of new storage facilities in the coming years. In 1995 it was reported that in 17 people owned storage, today that number is 1 in 10 and it is expected to increase. We love our stuff!
We are so attached to our stuff that there is even a rumor that since Jesus lived so long ago and since he was such a nice person, that he always talked about our souls, but he would never address our stuff. Jesus was concerned about our behavior, but he would never address money issues. That is not true. It may not be appropriate for the preacher to talk about money issues – but the truth is – that Jesus talked about money all of the time. He was a little obsessed with it actually. Almost 2/3 of his parables had to do with money or possessions. The story in Luke 12:13-21 is one of those times when Jesus talks about money.
A man, probably a younger brother steps out of the crowd to ask Jesus to settle a dispute between his brother over his inheritance. In those days, it was the older brother who received the inheritance from his father. It was his decision to share it with his other brothers. Jesus tells him that he has not come here to settle disputes between brothers. Instead he tells the brother and all listening the story of a farmer who stored up grain for himself. He was so blessed that he had too much grain, and decided to tear down his old storehouses and to build bigger ones. God gets a little concerned about the man’s priorities, and demands his soul that very night. We are supposed to strive to be rich in God, not in stuff. Because you can’t take stuff with you when you die.
The bible calls this man a silly fool. But we are all a lot like him. He was not a bad man; he did not have evil intentions. But he was convinced that his life was in his hands. As he spoke of his dilemma of having too much stuff and needing more storage space, his whole conversation was about himself. What he had, what he could do, how it would affect him. His whole conversation was about me and mine. Jesus’ conversation is always about we and us. We are not in this world alone- there are many others in need. When we hold onto our money and possession, there are always others who do without. Jesus didn’t have any possession. He didn’t have a house, or a donkey or even a moneybag. What he did have were people – lots of people who depended upon his word for life.
Jesus reminds us that we are all just like the older brother who has been given an inheritance. We shouldn’t have to be told to share the gift that we have been given with our brothers and sisters.
We are brothers and sisters because God is the loving parent of us all. Hosea says when Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. It was I who taught them to walk, like a mother I took them up in my arms, I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them. It is God who has nurtured all of us through the twist and turns of our life. It was God who supplied our needs, who loved us , who helped us to grow up. Sometimes we didn’t know that it was God who was taking care of us. Sometimes we did not know where God was leading us, sometime we didn’t know what was going in our lives or why. But God was there.
Sometimes when God led us where we needed to be, we made the decision to go where we wanted to go, when god supplied our needs, we got upset because we wanted so much more, when God asked for our love in return, we rejected God and went our own way.
The prophet Hosea lets us know that in those times the battle of how to respond was in God’s heart. Does a loving parent give us the punishment that we deserve or the compassion to give us a second chance? God agonized over whether to give us judgment or grace. Even though we are all sinner, we have all done wrong – God chooses to give us the grace to allow us to go on. When we suffer. God suffers and does all that God can do to make it better.
The words of the prophets can be very cruel sometime. They can speak of a terrible judgment on the people of God. And yet their words always end with hope. The words of Hosea end with God’s children finally coming home. It is interesting that in history, the doom that Hosea spoke of did come true. The Israelites were defeated and taken away from their land. They did suffer. But they also came home.
I started this sermon with the story of an ambitious young man. I want to end with the story of an ambitious young girl.
One could say that she was very rich. Very rich indeed. Her gifts were great. From the very moment of her birth her intelligence, and tenacity were quite evident. As she grew she became in succession, ruler of her nursery school, monarch of day care, student council chairperson, and valedictorian of bother her high school and college classes. Then not being content with her Harvard bachelor’s degree in business administration, she graduated at the top of the best MBA program in the country. No one was surprised when half the companies in the fortune 100 actively courted her. a major manufacturer finally won the competition for her skills. The company’s president proudly told the Wall Street journal about how she would transform the firm. It wasn’t too long before he realized that complete accuracy of his statements. But unfortunately his business savvy didn’t foretell the way she deflated his golden parachute as she almost literally shoved him out the executive suite door. In doing so, she became the youngest CEO in the history of the firm. The firm she took over was no ordinary firm, of course. You could see that from its balance sheet. But you could see it even more in the faces of its employees. For while the firm was immensely profitable, it had the reputation of being even more immensely honorable.
Over its hundred year plus history, its officers had always treated their employees and customers, as they wished to be treated themselves. Even more impressively, in this day and age, they’d always refused to do business with any company that treated their customers or employees with anything but the same level of honor.
After she’d installed herself in the corner office, the firms new CEO carefully examined this well crafted tradition of honor. At least she examined it before she tossed it our. Then her drive to success led her to a search for a new tradition. To keep on top, she thought profit must rule over anything else.
It wasn’t long before the firm’s workers were hit with massive layoffs, and plant closures. In their place came factories in countries that were less picky about labor and environmental issues. The average age of those employees was about 12. and it suddenly didn’t seem too important when the firm’s child laborers developed many cancers never before seen in their country. Soon the firms share price climbed through the roof. With all of her stock options the new CEO seemed set for life. After all, she more money, more possession. More power then she could ever possibly use or spend. Her life seemed perfect.
But her perfect world began to unravel after her visit to the firm’s new factory in Thailand. She’d gone there to assure herself that everything was being done to maximize its profitability. She was quite pleased by what she saw at the plant. Her young workers there were laboring at a feverish speed. And no funds were being spent to provide them any unnecessary frills; frills like safety equipment.
Then just as she was leaving the plant, she heard a hissing noise. Before she could even turn to locate the source, she found herself enveloped in a cloud of foul smelling fumes. Quickly she ran from the plant and stood grasping for breath beside the main door. When at last she could speak she questioned the plant manager about the fumes source. Don’t worry, he told her. The holding tank for our processing chemicals springs a leak now and then. The workers are used to it by now.
Satisfies by the explanation, she returned to the firms New York headquarters. There she threw herself into her latest effort; a hostile takeover of a major competitor. But after a few months, she began to feel strange. She tired easily, became nauseated frequently. And began to loose weight. At first she thought that it was just a virus. But why didn’t the symptoms go away? Then she notices a lump on her neck.
For the first time, she was scared. She made an appointment with the best doctor in the city.
After being poked and prodded, and tested the doctor looked at her in silence. His eyes seemed to pierce her soul. I am so sorry he said, her death would come very quick, within a month. She was confined to her home, as hospice took very good care of her.
Dying is a very lonely affair. None of her employees ever came to visit. She heard that they celebrated when they heard the news,
She had not friends, and she had alienated her family. Weeks went by with no one, until one day an unexpected visitor why knocked at the door.
It was her former boss; the one she had fired. He sat with her that day, and came back every day to visit. He often bought flowers or other gifts to cheer her up. She began to look forward to these visits and to wonder why he was so nice to her.
One day she asked him. Why are you visiting me – took everything away from you. After I fired you , you were so poor.
Her former boss smiled at her for a moment and then leaned forward and took her hand. You could never make me poor. As long as I can do something for someone else I can never be poor.
You see, the secret of being rich, isn’t gaining possessions, it isn’t winning the rat race. For I found out early in life that no matter who well I did in the rat race, I was still a rat.
The secret of being rich is using your gifts and whatever you gain from those gifts to help others. We have a choice in life he said – you can be rich in ourselves, and build up money and things, but in the end no amount of money or things will matter
But if we use what we have to enrich God’s people, we’ll have created things that matter. Only in that way can we be rich toward God.
Her life ended painfully, but the pain was lessoned by a sense of awe. For at least she’d met someone who was rich. Very rich indeed. To God alone be the glory.

Amen.

Prayer is the beginning of every Dream Sermon for July 29, 2007

" Prayer is the beginning of Every Dream" A man opens a bar, right across the street from a church. The church is very unhappy about this. As they meet for administrative council meetings, for bible study, even Sunday service, every time they pray as a church, they pray that some how this bar will be shut down. One night during a storm, lighting strikes the bar, it catches fire and is destroyed. The bar owner takes the church to court, saying that they were responsible for the damage to his property They asked God to destroy the property and God answered their prayer. The churches defense was that they had no control over acts of God. The lightening had nothing to do with them. Listening to the case, the judge felt that he had to be very careful in how he proceeded and how he answered this case. While weighing the evidence of the case, he says – now let me get this straight – in this case we have a bartender, who believes in the power of prayer and this side, and other the other side we have a church who doesn’t. hmmmm. And even though we as the church pray at every function, we talk about prayer everyday – the power of prayer is still something that befuddles us. At some level we all ask the same question that Jesus disciple asks in Luke 11 – Teach us how to pray. No matter how much time we spend in the church, we claim that we don’t know. Jesus responds to the disciple by giving a short version of the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s prayer is one of the most powerful prayers in the world. It is a large part of our Christian faith. You will hear some version of it every week in every (or I am pretty sure most ) churches that you will every go to. We know this prayer by heart, we say it all of the time, but how many of us really have taken the time to think about what it means, and what are we really praying when we say it. I could preach a whole sermon series on the meaning and power of the Lord’s prayer. Many of my colleagues have used this Sunday to do just that. The full version of the prayer that we use is actually in Matthew. When the disciple asks Jesus to teach us how to pray like you do, that is what they are asking for a formula – the right words to say to get God’s attention. And Jesus does indeed give them those words. Father, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come. God is the source of everything that exist in the neighborhood. God is the source of everything that we have in our lives, God is the source of both the things that we need in life, and God is the source of what we want. So when we pray, we are to pray to the source- the one who has the power to provide for us. The source of everything in the universe is not just a scientific reality like the sky, the sun and the moon. The source of everything in the universe is a heavenly and very sacred force. With the power to give, but also the power to give lovingly. The source of everything in the universe is not just a blanket force that provides for everything – but is a special force which has a special relationship with you- an intimate relationship where it can listen and care about what you are asking for. Like a parent – who has a special reason for making sure that you are taken care of. Jesus received a lot of criticism from other jews for calling God abba, or daddy. They thought that was much too personal. And yet Jesus tells us that when it comes to prayer, god is personal- listening just to you and your request. So when you have a request, call upon the forces of the universe and acknowledge God as a caring parent, as father. After calling upon the only one who is able to answer your prayer – your most important needs are food for today, forgiveness of the past, and the freedom to walk into the future without temptation. With Food, forgiveness and freedom – you have access to anything else in the world. The Lord’s prayer is truly a powerful prayer, a prayer that we need to spend lot’s of time thinking about – and yet I think this passage is about so much more. Yes, Jesus does give the formula, but he goes even further by reminding us that it is not the formula that works to answer our prayer – it is the power of God. It is important not only to know the formula, but to also know why the formula works and how to use the formula. For some reason, it seems that channel 7 news loves this actress Felicia Fields – she is a star of the Chicago version of the color purple. To me it seems that every week channel 7 is doing a new story about her. I think last week was Felicia fields day in the city, so of course there was this big story about her. One of the reporters asks her advice about living life. Now when most people give you advice about the meaning of life, I think it is a bunch of junk. But I was really impressed with her answer. She said that life is like a monopoly game. When you play monopoly it is a very long, long game. I forget even how you win monopoly, but most of the time you never can tell who is really ahead and who is behind. And at some point you may have the money to buy lots of hotels and some time you are scrounging for money. But Ms. Fields said that the key to winning monopoly is to keep your man on the board. As long as you have your man on the board – you are still in the game, you are still a key player The minute you take your man out of the game, you have no chance of winning. For some reason I was really struck by that advice, because I started to think about how easy it is in life to just give up and quit. Prayer is our way of keeping our man on the board and staying in the game. When we asks the Lord to teach us how to pray – we are not asking how to pray- Most of us were taught to pray at a very early age. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep, God bless mommy, god bless daddy, please God give me a pony for Christmas. We know how to pray – what we are really asking for is how to pray in a way that works. We didn’t get that pony for Christmas. The person who we prayed to save got sick and died anyway. The war is still going on, there is still hatred and violence in the world. Things are not changing in our lives, the person whom we have been praying for for years is still lost and confused. If our prayers are not answered, then there must be something that we are doing wrong. We must not have the formula right, how are we to pray in a way that God really hears us. In response to the request of the disciples to teach us how to pray – Jesus tells the story of the friend who knocks on the door at midnight for bread for his guest. The friend, is asleep with all of this family, his animals surrounding him. He can’t possibly get up, even to help a friend. And yet the friend keeps knocking, keeps asking until he request is finally honored. The man’s willingness to keep asking finally paid off. And for us the problem is not that we didn’t pray right- it is that we gave up praying at all. When things didn’t turn out the way that we expected, we stopped praying. We gave up and decided that prayer doesn’t work – that God doesn’t care, there was no use in trying. Can you imagine how many people would be in church today if their prayers were answered in the way that they wanted. If we could say a pray and know that even the next day that everything would be like we asked, everyone would come to church and pray. Jesus reminds us that when we have a request to be persistent and to keep asking. There is no such thing as an unanswered prayer. There is never a request that is made that God is not working on. Ask and you shall receive, search and you shall find, knock and the door will eventually be opened. Jesus is not saying that we need to be willing to constantly beg God in order to get something. The friend at the door had a relationship with the man in the house, he kept asking because he was in need and he knew this was the place to get help. Prayer is a living relationship the one who can supply all of our needs. A church was having a family and friends day. Before inviting guest, each person was asked to make a list of people in their lives that they would want to invite. Before approaching them, they were supposed to pray for them for a week. One lady wanted to ask her neighbor Kate. She and kate had sons who were in little league baseball together. She prayed for Kate, but it seemed the the opportunity to talk about church never came. So of course the lady decided that prayer didn’t work. And that Kate would never come to church. On Friday, before the family and friends Sunday she got a call from another little league mother that she was coming to church with her son. Her son had insisted that he had to come to Sunday school with his friends. Oh, and by the way, Kate is coming with her son. Her prayer was answered. In order for our prayers to be answered, God has to work behind the scenes in ways that we would never imagine for things to turn out. Sometimes the change has to come in the situation, sometimes the change has to come in the hearts of others, sometimes the change has to be made in our hearts for prayers to be answered. There is no prayer that we make that God is not addressing in some say, somehow. God always answers our prayers in a way that our highest good is addressed. Like a very caring and concerned parent, God knows what is in our best interest. Even when we have no idea of what is best for us. God is working it out and making a way for it to be clearly revealed to us. Prayer is asking for our needs in the context of an ongoing relationship that the universal source of all of life. It is a relationship that we never have to give up on, because it is with a parent who never gives up on us. Finally, even experienced Christians seem to think that for prayer to be answered, there must be some secret. There must be some secret formula that will make our prayers more effective. As you know there is even a popular movement, called the secret. That teaches that the answer to having the life of our dreams is intentions. If we can create what we want in our minds, then we can make it so in our lives. It is a secret, because not everyone realizes that we have access the abundance of the universe. I have a friend who swears by the secret, and has encouraged me to watch it several times. Paul reminds us that there is no secret to having the life of our dreams. Jesus Christ loves and and died for your sins is all that you need to know. There us no secret formula to getting our prayers answered – the prayer that we learned at three still works. There is no additional information that we need to get about Jesus, there is nothing outside of the life of Christ that we need to seek. The Christ we knew at three is the Christ that still serves us at 80. There is nothing that needs to be added to Christ teachings. Prayer works because we ask and God listens. The source of abundance in the universe is not your wants and needs, it is a loving caring being who knows you personally and listens to everything that you say. That source is a sacred God who knows how to give good gifts. Acknowledging that sacred God is the first step of every prayer, and prayer is the first step in making our dreams come true. Living your life in constant prayer is the key to seeing your prayers answered. What is it that you need in our life? What is it that you aspire to become in the future? Who are the people you would like to see in church? What are you being led to do to serve God? What is it that you hope to see for this church in the future? What is it that you hope to see for your life in the future? It looks like we all have a lot to pray about – may you have the strength to pray until God reveals it all in your life.