A tale of two wisdoms
September 20, 2009
Sixteenth Day of Pentecost
Year B
Have you ever had those moments in your life when you know God is there? When you know that in that moment – you know that someone or something had to have come from heaven to help you out of a situation? There had to be some angels from above looking over you and guiding you through the situation?
A colleague of mine tells about the time when he was helping his church prepare for the fair, they were selling cider, and they needed a press for the apples. In hauling it, he dropped it and an important piece of it broke. He tried to fix it but he couldn’t . And he remembered that the repairman that he went to- had recently died. The fair was to start in 3 hours – what would he do. He prayed and he found that indeed he did have to strength to try and fix it. As he started to work – this face appeared in his mind – the face of the repairman – and gave him step by step advice to fix the wine press- in two hours the press was ready and he could go to the fair.
Another colleague speaks of her mother in law who lived with she and her husband. The mother in law loved flowers – so they built her a greenhouse. One day she and her mother in law came home and found the house smelling like flowers. It was a very distinctive smell. The mother in law was particularly excited, because she said the house smelled just like her mothers house. I might add they never identified where the smell was coming from.
I have had one of those moments – when I knew God was near recently – when I asked for a prayer – and it was answered within a day. And when I asked for something expecting to have to wait and search for an answer – and as life unfolded – the answer was in an obvious very close place. I have had one of those times when I knew God was near. What about you – have you had those times in your life? God can sometimes be illusive, but comes to us in short glimpses, and unexpected ways. I am sure if you think about it, we have all had one of those encounters.
James point to us is that there are two kinds of wisdoms in the world – wisdom from above and wisdom from the world. James is making his point to us because we like to believe that all wisdom is the same. That we can play into the values of the world and the values of God at the same time, because they all fit intogether. We can believe both at the same time. James is telling us that they are not the same, and that they don’t fit in together. As a matter of fact, they are opposite kinds of wisdom, and if you will – they have two very different kinds of personalities. And two very different results.
One is self centered – about me- about my safety, my best interest, my concern. One is based on jealousy – which is a fear that I wont get what is coming to me. “those conflicts and disputes among you- where do they come from – do they not come from your own cravings that are at war within you? You want something and you cannot obtain it”
If there are indeed two kinds of wisdoms in the world – one from earth and one from heaven,which one is James speaking of?......
How is that different from the wisdom of God? …….
James goes on to say that we do not have, because we do not ask. And God does not give to us because we ask for the wrong reason. Once again, we ask for personal gain, and not the will of God.
Jesus actually picks up this theme in Mark. They are journeying along to Jerusalem – Jesus first tells of where they are going and why. But the disciples cant handle that conversation. But Jesus notices that they have been arguing. Who is the greatest among them? Is that a conversation using wisdom from above or wisdom from earth?.....
We know because it is a conversation about personal gain. A concern about where am I in the world. So it is an earthly conversation.
Jesus wants them to think about the things of God. So he pulls a little child aside and reminds the disciples the greatest on earth, and the greatest I heaven are different. Whosoever welcomes a little child in my name, welcomes me.
Now what is so cool about this story – is that we think of children very differently then they did 2000 years ago. Today – we do honor our children. We are a congregation which thinks about the best interest of the child. We understand that children need to be loved and cared for. And that they are not able to take care of themselves. We are willing to do what we can to take care of them. No so in Jesus times, children were nothing. They were a burden. You never knew if a child was going to survive into adulthood. Children were not allowed to own property. If they did not have a family – they were left to fend for themselves. In the eyes of the disciples they counted for nothing. They had absolutely no rights. They were essentially a none person. Today, we get a warm fuzzy feeling when Jesus grabs the little children and says let the children come to me. Then – they gasped in horror – how could Jesus even think of such a thing.
And yet he reminds us that these are the people who God loves the most – the people who the world values the least. There are two types of wisdom in the world – that from above and that from the earth. You cant embrace both at the same time – because they are very different – they are opposites. And they take you in two different directions. With two very different outcomes.
Speaking of Jesus loving the little children – did you see the film clip of the man at the Phillies game – who was fortunate enough to catch a foul ball. He was so excited about his souvenir that he gave the ball to his 3 year old daughter. And she does the right thing – she throws it back into the field. The father is looking on in horror as she has just thrown away his ball. But she is so proud of herself for doing the right thing – she runs into daddy’s arms for a hug. What else was there for him to do – but hug her back and tell her he loves her. Someone commented that perhaps he hugged her because he wanted to squeeze the life out of her. I wonder if his reaction would have been different without the camera rolling. But it captured the heart of America – because it was a God moment. A moment when God was truly present.
I think of the times in my life when I have done the very wrong thing – and God embraced me and loved me anyway. There are two kinds of wisdom in the world – wisdom from God and wisdom from the world- which kind of wisdom was present at this moment?....
Whereever gentleness, compassion, humility, and peace making are present – God is always there. Whereever there is an opportunity to do what you know is right – God is there. Wherever there are people like us – Christians, disciples of Christ present who are determined to put the will of God before their own interest. God is present. God will be seen by the world. The lesson for us today is to be those people who bring God into the world. Not by waiting for miracle, but by living out the wisdom from God in everything that we do.
The final words of James says submit yourselves to god. Of you resist wisdom from earth – the devil will flee, if you seek wisdom from above – by drawing near to God – God will draw near to you. Look for God in actions of others- but in the actions of your heart. And finally Mark reminds us that if you humble yourself – God will always raise you up. The Phillies gave the man in the stands another baseball, and signed jersey’s for the whole family for the love he showed to his daughter. How much more is in store for us? Peace.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
The Fashionable Christian - August 23, 2009
The Fashionable Christian
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:
Year B
The Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost
The one word that comes to mind as I think of the lessons of Ephesians and John 6 today is propaganda. Propoganda – the telling of facts and figures to a group of people, with an agenda in mind- to get a certain response. Usually this response is more about appealing to the emotions of a group, then it is appealing to the rational sense of a group. The whole point is that propaganda is not intended to be rational – it is usually exaggerated or inflammatory for a reason.
Today we usually associate that term to communication in wartimes. Times when people are trying to rile the crowd up- to get them to take their side and to justify their actions against another group. Truths, that when we look at them seem obviously taken out of perspective.
And yet recently, I have been amazed at how alive and well the concept still is. Propoganda is still very much alive and well in the way we communicate with one another today.
Politics is still a big arena for propaganda. We have all seen on the news the debates over health care reform. Recently I drove to Elkhart In to hear the president speak. Unknowingly discovering that we were put in the middle of a debate between republicans and democrats on this issue.
Propoganda is in our movies – recently I went to see the movie inglorious basterd a very dark comedy – keenly aware that is a movie that would only work in America to a crowd who did not live through the experience. They are the only ones who would laugh at a movie about a group of soliders getting killed.
And yet what strikes me most is how present propaganda is in the way we communicate with one another. Think that it is human nature for us to listen to the emotions of what someone says before we hear the logic. If we like that person, or we care about that person, or we have a connection to the person, then we automatically buy into their perspective – how else would you explain going to the story and getting 20 different scarves in 20 different colors because it is the style. I am sure if you thought about it – you can think of ways that you have been influenced by the emotional communication of those around you. Okay so maybe you are not susciptable to over shopping just because your friend does it – but that is human nature.
When Jesus spoke to the crowd about bread from heaven being the bread of life and giving all those who listen eternal life – that how the crowd took his words – as propaganda. An exaggeration of the truth in order to make himself look more important than he really was. No one is a gift from heaven – god would choose no one to bring the spirit of love into the world. And if you really loved God, certainly you wouldn’t claim such a crazy thing for yourself.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abid in me, and I in them. Just as the living father sent me, and I live because of the father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that of which your ancestor ate and they died, but the one who eats this bead will live forever.
Even back then when the words came out of Jesus mouth – he knew this would be a difficult saying for his audience. He said it in many ways – to get past their doubts and skepticism. He knew that from what they had heard all of their lives – this would be taken as propaganda.
And it remains so today. We don’t study John very often – because his beliefs are a little strong and hard to defend even for a Christian today. No one knows why he was saying these things. He was Jesus best friend – maybe he just got caught up into what the man was saying and forgot to think.
Propoganda is alive and well in the church today. And sometimes even we as Christians are susceptible to believing what others with an agenda have to say. All of the bible is to some propaganda - because it does encourage us to look at the world from a certain perspective. Paul also likes to use a lot of images of fighting a war in his talking. Ephesians 6 encourages us to put on the armor of God. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. I have always thought of this as an outdated image – until I actually saw someone selling the armour of god – for children. It looks like a cross between a bad Halloween costume and a tacky pair of pajamas. As I picked up the bright silver and suit – couldn’t help but to think of what cruel and confused parent would actually buy this for their child. And where besides Sunday school class would someone even wear something like that. How far do you get carried away with teaching children bible lessons. Now I cant wait to get one- I hope they make them in my size.
Of course we don’t need a suit of armour to remember Paul’s lesson to us.
We live in a world full of propaganda – others peoples messages, others hidden agandas, others intentions for us, even other gospels of what is in our best interest.
Whether we think of ourselves as soldiers or not, we are all fighting a war. A war for our beliefs, our loyalties, our hearts and souls, a war for what is really right and true. How do we ever really know what it good for us and what and sometimes who is in our best interest to believe.
Even as Jesus talked – he started with a crowd of 5000, and the more that came out of his mouth – the more people walked away. The more people stopped listening. The more they decided that he was just talking propaganda – nothing for them to take seriously. Jesus talked and talked until there were only 12 people left. And he asked them do you also wish to go away? And Peter responds lord to whom can we go? You have the word of eternal life, we have come to believe and know that you are the holy one of God.
Carls Jordon and the church of 4.
With all of the proganda coming at us – how to we determine what is true and what it not, what to believe and what to not? Who is telling us something in our best interest and who is just trying to appeal to our emotions to get us to react to something?
Paul says the the fashionable Christian puts on the armor of God – truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation. But the most important thing that we wear – is prayer. Everything that we do is undergirded in prayer. Every question we have is given to god, every person we know is lifted up in prayer.
There is no way in this world to escape propoganada. And sometimes there is not real test to determine if the words of others are for us or against us. Even the words of the bible can be thought of as proganada – very strong words that can have no meaning. It can even be hard for us to take jesus seriously.
But jesus whole point is that when you do – it is not because of your senses – belief in what jesus is saying is a gift from god. We believe it because God was made it so for us.
John 6 – jesus the flesh and blood of God – jesus bread of life, jesus words being one with the will of God – were meant to be offensive. Meant for us to question, intended not to make any sense of have any meaning.
Words are truly the grace of God. Grace is the only real protection that we have or need.
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:
Year B
The Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost
The one word that comes to mind as I think of the lessons of Ephesians and John 6 today is propaganda. Propoganda – the telling of facts and figures to a group of people, with an agenda in mind- to get a certain response. Usually this response is more about appealing to the emotions of a group, then it is appealing to the rational sense of a group. The whole point is that propaganda is not intended to be rational – it is usually exaggerated or inflammatory for a reason.
Today we usually associate that term to communication in wartimes. Times when people are trying to rile the crowd up- to get them to take their side and to justify their actions against another group. Truths, that when we look at them seem obviously taken out of perspective.
And yet recently, I have been amazed at how alive and well the concept still is. Propoganda is still very much alive and well in the way we communicate with one another today.
Politics is still a big arena for propaganda. We have all seen on the news the debates over health care reform. Recently I drove to Elkhart In to hear the president speak. Unknowingly discovering that we were put in the middle of a debate between republicans and democrats on this issue.
Propoganda is in our movies – recently I went to see the movie inglorious basterd a very dark comedy – keenly aware that is a movie that would only work in America to a crowd who did not live through the experience. They are the only ones who would laugh at a movie about a group of soliders getting killed.
And yet what strikes me most is how present propaganda is in the way we communicate with one another. Think that it is human nature for us to listen to the emotions of what someone says before we hear the logic. If we like that person, or we care about that person, or we have a connection to the person, then we automatically buy into their perspective – how else would you explain going to the story and getting 20 different scarves in 20 different colors because it is the style. I am sure if you thought about it – you can think of ways that you have been influenced by the emotional communication of those around you. Okay so maybe you are not susciptable to over shopping just because your friend does it – but that is human nature.
When Jesus spoke to the crowd about bread from heaven being the bread of life and giving all those who listen eternal life – that how the crowd took his words – as propaganda. An exaggeration of the truth in order to make himself look more important than he really was. No one is a gift from heaven – god would choose no one to bring the spirit of love into the world. And if you really loved God, certainly you wouldn’t claim such a crazy thing for yourself.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abid in me, and I in them. Just as the living father sent me, and I live because of the father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that of which your ancestor ate and they died, but the one who eats this bead will live forever.
Even back then when the words came out of Jesus mouth – he knew this would be a difficult saying for his audience. He said it in many ways – to get past their doubts and skepticism. He knew that from what they had heard all of their lives – this would be taken as propaganda.
And it remains so today. We don’t study John very often – because his beliefs are a little strong and hard to defend even for a Christian today. No one knows why he was saying these things. He was Jesus best friend – maybe he just got caught up into what the man was saying and forgot to think.
Propoganda is alive and well in the church today. And sometimes even we as Christians are susceptible to believing what others with an agenda have to say. All of the bible is to some propaganda - because it does encourage us to look at the world from a certain perspective. Paul also likes to use a lot of images of fighting a war in his talking. Ephesians 6 encourages us to put on the armor of God. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. I have always thought of this as an outdated image – until I actually saw someone selling the armour of god – for children. It looks like a cross between a bad Halloween costume and a tacky pair of pajamas. As I picked up the bright silver and suit – couldn’t help but to think of what cruel and confused parent would actually buy this for their child. And where besides Sunday school class would someone even wear something like that. How far do you get carried away with teaching children bible lessons. Now I cant wait to get one- I hope they make them in my size.
Of course we don’t need a suit of armour to remember Paul’s lesson to us.
We live in a world full of propaganda – others peoples messages, others hidden agandas, others intentions for us, even other gospels of what is in our best interest.
Whether we think of ourselves as soldiers or not, we are all fighting a war. A war for our beliefs, our loyalties, our hearts and souls, a war for what is really right and true. How do we ever really know what it good for us and what and sometimes who is in our best interest to believe.
Even as Jesus talked – he started with a crowd of 5000, and the more that came out of his mouth – the more people walked away. The more people stopped listening. The more they decided that he was just talking propaganda – nothing for them to take seriously. Jesus talked and talked until there were only 12 people left. And he asked them do you also wish to go away? And Peter responds lord to whom can we go? You have the word of eternal life, we have come to believe and know that you are the holy one of God.
Carls Jordon and the church of 4.
With all of the proganda coming at us – how to we determine what is true and what it not, what to believe and what to not? Who is telling us something in our best interest and who is just trying to appeal to our emotions to get us to react to something?
Paul says the the fashionable Christian puts on the armor of God – truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation. But the most important thing that we wear – is prayer. Everything that we do is undergirded in prayer. Every question we have is given to god, every person we know is lifted up in prayer.
There is no way in this world to escape propoganada. And sometimes there is not real test to determine if the words of others are for us or against us. Even the words of the bible can be thought of as proganada – very strong words that can have no meaning. It can even be hard for us to take jesus seriously.
But jesus whole point is that when you do – it is not because of your senses – belief in what jesus is saying is a gift from god. We believe it because God was made it so for us.
John 6 – jesus the flesh and blood of God – jesus bread of life, jesus words being one with the will of God – were meant to be offensive. Meant for us to question, intended not to make any sense of have any meaning.
Words are truly the grace of God. Grace is the only real protection that we have or need.
Dreams and Nightmares - August 16, 2009
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
Year B
1 Kings
Ephesians 5:15-20
Dreams and nightmares – what is the difference
This week I watched this really cool video from Honda Corporation of all places, on dreams and nightmares. It talked about why we dream. Dreaming is thinking in an altered state, said one expert on the video. And it showed clips on how we dream, and how the mind can put together thoughts in a dream in really strange ways, for instance they showed a dream of someone cooking a boot on the stove.
The video helped me to realize that there is really no difference between our dreams and nightmares. They are both our minds way of trying to work something out. The difference is our reaction, nightmares play upon our fears that we are usually afraid to face in a waking state.
The difference is in the way we interpret them and the meaning we place on what is happening. A nightmare is a dream.
Solomon found that out the night he talked with God in a dream
He Asked for wisdom to lead his country. and God gave him more. God felt that because his heart was in the right place, that he would also have the things that make life enjoyable, a good life, health, riches, and wives.
Sometimes Nightmare and a dream are the same thing. Solomon was fulfilling the dreams of his father. He built the temple, he built the kingdom, he gained a international reputation.
Solomon started out doing some amazing things
But in the later years not so much. He got cocky and started to tax the people the support his extravagant building projects, he lost the kingdom – what david united, was split apart again. He also married many wives, and at times started to adopt their religions, sometimes giving his own a second seat – breaking to commandment to put no other God before God. What started out at a dream come true, became a nightmare. He even stopped thinking about the wisdom which was so important to his daily rule.
Wisdom is the way we live our lives – and what we do. It is the choices that we make.
Ephesians picks up this theme of wisdom and doing the right thing
Everyone has to be filled with something – some filled with wine – you should be filled with the spirit says Ephesians.
Singing and rejoicing, Righteousness and Wisdom are the three themes of our scripture for today.
Wisdom is Defined as a doing the will of the lord
God has a vested interest in the way we use our time
Just as God had a vested interest in the way Solomon used his wisdom – God has that same interest in us and what we do with our lives.
eksagorazamenoie means buying time in the marketplace. We have a responsibility to buy our time, just as Solomon purchased wisdom and spend it wisely.
The way we use our time affects not just us, but the world. Filled with the spirit – living our lives according to gods will
Story of rubber, metal and glass. Some of our commitments are rubber commitments – it doesn’t matter if we follow them, if we break an appointment, we can just make it up when we realize we have done wrong and there is no love lost. Some of our commitments are metal – they make a lot of noise when we drop them – but the reality is they don’t break the relationship. And other commitments are glass – once broken they cannot be repaired, once the moment passes we cant make it up.
Our priority are glass commitments – time we spend in the will of God – is fragile and will break. God wants us to think about our glass – special time.
Heal and make a difference.
Year B
1 Kings
Ephesians 5:15-20
Dreams and nightmares – what is the difference
This week I watched this really cool video from Honda Corporation of all places, on dreams and nightmares. It talked about why we dream. Dreaming is thinking in an altered state, said one expert on the video. And it showed clips on how we dream, and how the mind can put together thoughts in a dream in really strange ways, for instance they showed a dream of someone cooking a boot on the stove.
The video helped me to realize that there is really no difference between our dreams and nightmares. They are both our minds way of trying to work something out. The difference is our reaction, nightmares play upon our fears that we are usually afraid to face in a waking state.
The difference is in the way we interpret them and the meaning we place on what is happening. A nightmare is a dream.
Solomon found that out the night he talked with God in a dream
He Asked for wisdom to lead his country. and God gave him more. God felt that because his heart was in the right place, that he would also have the things that make life enjoyable, a good life, health, riches, and wives.
Sometimes Nightmare and a dream are the same thing. Solomon was fulfilling the dreams of his father. He built the temple, he built the kingdom, he gained a international reputation.
Solomon started out doing some amazing things
But in the later years not so much. He got cocky and started to tax the people the support his extravagant building projects, he lost the kingdom – what david united, was split apart again. He also married many wives, and at times started to adopt their religions, sometimes giving his own a second seat – breaking to commandment to put no other God before God. What started out at a dream come true, became a nightmare. He even stopped thinking about the wisdom which was so important to his daily rule.
Wisdom is the way we live our lives – and what we do. It is the choices that we make.
Ephesians picks up this theme of wisdom and doing the right thing
Everyone has to be filled with something – some filled with wine – you should be filled with the spirit says Ephesians.
Singing and rejoicing, Righteousness and Wisdom are the three themes of our scripture for today.
Wisdom is Defined as a doing the will of the lord
God has a vested interest in the way we use our time
Just as God had a vested interest in the way Solomon used his wisdom – God has that same interest in us and what we do with our lives.
eksagorazamenoie means buying time in the marketplace. We have a responsibility to buy our time, just as Solomon purchased wisdom and spend it wisely.
The way we use our time affects not just us, but the world. Filled with the spirit – living our lives according to gods will
Story of rubber, metal and glass. Some of our commitments are rubber commitments – it doesn’t matter if we follow them, if we break an appointment, we can just make it up when we realize we have done wrong and there is no love lost. Some of our commitments are metal – they make a lot of noise when we drop them – but the reality is they don’t break the relationship. And other commitments are glass – once broken they cannot be repaired, once the moment passes we cant make it up.
Our priority are glass commitments – time we spend in the will of God – is fragile and will break. God wants us to think about our glass – special time.
Heal and make a difference.
Are you still hungry? - August 9. 2009
Year B
10th Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
John 6:35, 41-51
Why do we say a table blessing today?
A group is seminary students asked why do we still say table blessings today. In its original intention, table blessings were said because you never knew the condition of your food. In times without refrigeration, you could only hope that you would not be poisoned by the food you needed so desparately, so you prayed over it.
And of course, you never knew when you were going to eat, so you were grateful for what you received.
Do we still need to?
Today, especially in America, we do not have to worry as much if our food will harm us. More importantly, we tend to take three meals a day for granted, we just assume that we will always have enough to eat. So we really have to bless every meal that we get?
Of course we need to
Today, we may eat much more extravagantly than those before us, but we still need to be thankful for what we receive. We still need to acknowledge the fact that everything that we receive is a gift from God.
Food is still important to us
We may get too much of it, but we can still be grateful to God for the food that we do get.
Bread was considered a staple of life – every culture eats some kind of bread.
Bread has always been considered a staple of the human diet. Every culture in the world eats some kind of bread. (not me, I don’t care for bread, and will not eat it unless I have to.)
Jesus has been telling us that he is the bread of life
This is the last week of our study of John 6. Jesus has been telling us that he is the bread of life. That his teachings are our staple as Christians. We need bread, but more importantly, we need Jesus.
Levels
Fed,
Told to read the word of God
He is the bread
This bread is from heaven
Jesus taught this lesson to the people of his times in many ways, but more importantly, on many different levels. First he fed them real bread so that they could pay attention to the teaching. Then he told the them the word of God from heaven. Then he explained that he is the bread of life, and then he explained that what he had to teach was indeed bread from heaven, just like their ancestors received manna from heaven.
Why this offended the jews
This was very offensive to the Jewish population. Why would anyone associate themselves with bread from heaven. It was offensive for them to eat flesh and blood. So they were offended by Jesus message. But Jesus knew this was the case. He knew this would be a hard message and that many would need to fall away – because they could not bear what he had to say. No one should believe that they knew the word of God, only God knew the word of God. And God would never come in human form.
Spiritual practices of life – to truly be able to experience life
Forgot all about the bread – but remember the lesson
For Christians we don’t have to get caught up on the physical reality of what Jesus is saying. Jesus knew that the bread was important, but the bread would pass away. But the point of believing that Jesus us the bread of life should stick withus.
Early church thought of as cannibals- eating flesh and blood
Many people were critical of the early church, they thought they were cannibals, eating the flesh and blood of Jesus.
Not so – gather together in community, praying together, living together helping together, most importantly believing in Jesus together
Life is made up of many struggles, many pressures, many opinions, many decisions – but there is only one Jesus
We Didn’t read Ephesians this morning – in the scripture, Paul tells us to be imitators of Christ –
Imitate the ones we love and admire.
Jesus did he best to imitate God – and succeeded
Story of pastor visiting
There was a pastor who visited a woman in the hospital. She was very close to dying. And when you came to see her, she did not always open her eyes. On the day that pastor visited, she did not immediately open her eyes to greet him. But when she did – she told him that she thought that he was Jesus coming to visit her. He told her that when she did finally reach heaven and talked with Jesus, he hoped that Jesus did indeed look just like him. As Christians we are called to be mistaken for Jesus by many people. And in turn Jesus looks just like us in the face.
But the story – when I get to heaven and see Jesus – as if Jesus saw me – if He looks like me.
The point of bread from heaven – we are the bread of life from heaven, when we imitate Jesus.
Mutual love – we are in a mutual relationship, we look like Jesus and Jesus looks like us.
We will be studying John 6 for two more weeks. Two more weeks of this bread of life. John says that Jesus is bread, light, gate, shepherd, life, vine. All images that he uses in the book of John.
There is no one image that captures the full meaning of Jesus or of God’s love for us.
There is no one person who can be the body of Christ – we are all Jesus in our own way – when we come together and take the bread and believe it is from heaven.
10th Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
John 6:35, 41-51
Why do we say a table blessing today?
A group is seminary students asked why do we still say table blessings today. In its original intention, table blessings were said because you never knew the condition of your food. In times without refrigeration, you could only hope that you would not be poisoned by the food you needed so desparately, so you prayed over it.
And of course, you never knew when you were going to eat, so you were grateful for what you received.
Do we still need to?
Today, especially in America, we do not have to worry as much if our food will harm us. More importantly, we tend to take three meals a day for granted, we just assume that we will always have enough to eat. So we really have to bless every meal that we get?
Of course we need to
Today, we may eat much more extravagantly than those before us, but we still need to be thankful for what we receive. We still need to acknowledge the fact that everything that we receive is a gift from God.
Food is still important to us
We may get too much of it, but we can still be grateful to God for the food that we do get.
Bread was considered a staple of life – every culture eats some kind of bread.
Bread has always been considered a staple of the human diet. Every culture in the world eats some kind of bread. (not me, I don’t care for bread, and will not eat it unless I have to.)
Jesus has been telling us that he is the bread of life
This is the last week of our study of John 6. Jesus has been telling us that he is the bread of life. That his teachings are our staple as Christians. We need bread, but more importantly, we need Jesus.
Levels
Fed,
Told to read the word of God
He is the bread
This bread is from heaven
Jesus taught this lesson to the people of his times in many ways, but more importantly, on many different levels. First he fed them real bread so that they could pay attention to the teaching. Then he told the them the word of God from heaven. Then he explained that he is the bread of life, and then he explained that what he had to teach was indeed bread from heaven, just like their ancestors received manna from heaven.
Why this offended the jews
This was very offensive to the Jewish population. Why would anyone associate themselves with bread from heaven. It was offensive for them to eat flesh and blood. So they were offended by Jesus message. But Jesus knew this was the case. He knew this would be a hard message and that many would need to fall away – because they could not bear what he had to say. No one should believe that they knew the word of God, only God knew the word of God. And God would never come in human form.
Spiritual practices of life – to truly be able to experience life
Forgot all about the bread – but remember the lesson
For Christians we don’t have to get caught up on the physical reality of what Jesus is saying. Jesus knew that the bread was important, but the bread would pass away. But the point of believing that Jesus us the bread of life should stick withus.
Early church thought of as cannibals- eating flesh and blood
Many people were critical of the early church, they thought they were cannibals, eating the flesh and blood of Jesus.
Not so – gather together in community, praying together, living together helping together, most importantly believing in Jesus together
Life is made up of many struggles, many pressures, many opinions, many decisions – but there is only one Jesus
We Didn’t read Ephesians this morning – in the scripture, Paul tells us to be imitators of Christ –
Imitate the ones we love and admire.
Jesus did he best to imitate God – and succeeded
Story of pastor visiting
There was a pastor who visited a woman in the hospital. She was very close to dying. And when you came to see her, she did not always open her eyes. On the day that pastor visited, she did not immediately open her eyes to greet him. But when she did – she told him that she thought that he was Jesus coming to visit her. He told her that when she did finally reach heaven and talked with Jesus, he hoped that Jesus did indeed look just like him. As Christians we are called to be mistaken for Jesus by many people. And in turn Jesus looks just like us in the face.
But the story – when I get to heaven and see Jesus – as if Jesus saw me – if He looks like me.
The point of bread from heaven – we are the bread of life from heaven, when we imitate Jesus.
Mutual love – we are in a mutual relationship, we look like Jesus and Jesus looks like us.
We will be studying John 6 for two more weeks. Two more weeks of this bread of life. John says that Jesus is bread, light, gate, shepherd, life, vine. All images that he uses in the book of John.
There is no one image that captures the full meaning of Jesus or of God’s love for us.
There is no one person who can be the body of Christ – we are all Jesus in our own way – when we come together and take the bread and believe it is from heaven.
The Person in the Mirror - August 30, 2009
Story of mirror woman
There once was a wolf pack – who stuck together to just make a living. There were willing to share with one anther – but also with others. One day this very strange woman came to live with them. And they were willing to share what they had with her. But they could never really see what she looked like because she hid her face with a mirror. They called her mirror woman. She would also show the faces of the wolves in the mirror. Whenever they would try to hold a conversation with her – she would hold up the mirror. And she would point out all of the bad things that she saw in others from this mirror. The wolves saw themselves so much, that they started to believe everything that she said. They started to believe they were the bad behavior in the mirror. Until one say the den mother explained, that they were so much more than the mirror reflected. There was some bad things, but there were also some good things. They actually started to resent mirror woman, and asked her to take the mirror down. But she was afraid and left the pack. She did not want to think about her own bad, it was easier to see that in others. But when she was gone – they started to reflect the love that they wanted to see in others.
I am always amazed at how people quickly the people who don’t go to church like to use that word hypocrite when a talking about Christians.
How many times have I heard that people don’t go to church, because the church is full of hypocrites. What does that mean? And why do you need to say such a thing.
It is just like the woman in the story – who was so busy blaming and accusing others, that she did not take the time to look at her own character. She did not see that what she was doing was even more destructive for the group, then anything that she accused them of doing.
The word hypocrite – comes from greek – it means an actor. In the days of classical theater- an actor would put on one of those masks – either with a happy face or a sad face – to show what character they were playing in a play.
It was very clear that they were not the person they were playing on the stage. They were putting on a persona – taking on a personality that was not really their own.
There are many people today besides actors who have a professional persona and a personal life. That is just a part of the job they have. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing. And most of the time these are really nice people. And their persona is just an exaggeration of their real self.
Hypo – means under - crite means truth – which means under truth or understatement – not overstatement.
Over the years – it seems that the word has taken on a negative connotation that was not intended. Today to word means someone who intentionally takes on a religious or moral persona to hide their true self.
That does not describe the average Christian.
I told you about the workshop on safe sanctuaries. On making the church a safe place for children. The FBI agent warned us that child predators look at life in a totally different way then we would. He also said that many of them intentionally develop a persona of being thought of as a good person. They intentionally go to church, they intentionally try to be a nice guy. So that you don’t question their behavior.
The agent says that usually at the trial of these people, the family members or friends will spit on him, or yell at him. And say that the offender is really a nice guy – look at all of the things he has done in the community. He loves children.
That is the problem – he loves children, that is why he is being prosecuted. To me I would say that is the true definition of a hypocrite.
In Mark 7 as jesus is talking to the Pharisee – he calls them hypocrites.
It is a part of the tradition of the elders – to wash your hands before you eat. Every jews would have known that. The tradition was a set of unspoken rules that everyone would have known and everyone would have obeyed without question.
To jewish tradition to be clean was everything. In order to be close to god you had to be clean. As a Pharisee, you had to be intentional to make sure that you did not do anything that would dirty your hands or your body. That meant you were not fit to worship god. Today, when you enter into a muslim mosue – before you can pray – you have to ceremonially wash your entire body. Even though they are intentional to tell visitors that is only intended for muslims, others are not bound by that custom.
In the Christian church – we don’t have ceremonial cleanings, even though it is still tradition to dress up and look nice when we come to church. We still have the tradition of the elders.
And that was what Jesus was trying to attack when he called the Pharisees hypocrites. The tradition of the elders was not scripture - it was something someone made up. It was something that you just did without question and no one really knew why. Jesus point was that we should stop doing things because they were tradition and to give some thought to what they were doing and why. Maybe the intention of what you were doing was more important than following tradition. And jesus had a mission to fulfill, more important than the way it was always done.
Jesus went on to point out that it was not the tradition of being clean that caused the real evils in the world – it was the condition of the heart – the human heart – to lie, to steal, to criticize, to hurt when we have been hurt.
So we shouldn’t spend so much time worrying about the outside – but concentrate on the inside.
It is not just Christians, or people trying to be good who have those things – but all of us – it is human nature. In some ways we are all hypocrites. Not just Christians, but all people.
The lesson for us as Christians is not that we don’t have those tendencies inside of us, and not that we don’t have an inner self and an outer self. Being a Christian means that we know what is inside of ourselves and we acknowledge that we are sinners and we work to do something about it. We don’t exploit our sin to hurt others, to know that we are sinners, totally dependent on the grace of god to deal with our sinful nature.
For an outsider to be obsesses with calling a Christian a sinner is like the mirror woman finding the faults of the wolf pack – they spend so much time talking about others, that they forget to correct themselves.
Jesus knows that we will always sin, but some of us will look in the mirror and be able to fix what we see is wrong.
James talks about uses mirrors as a metaphor for looking at our selves and our actions too. He says that when we know the will of god and we don’t do it – we are like someone who looks in the mirror and forgets what they look like.
We look like the sons and daughters of God. In the message – Euguene Peterson says that when we know the word of god but we don’t do it – it is like we forget the face we were born with. We forget that we were all born sinners, but we were all born in the image of God. That is the true persona of all people – to reflect the love of god in their lives in some way.
Yesterday, sydaney and ray and I attended the workshop on stewardship. Great speaker, he told a story about a docter who went on a mission trip to Honduras. Before he left, he went to church, but it didn’t mean anything to him. He went through the motions, but it had no meaning. But when he went to help the people of Honduras – he saw the word of god being put into action, and he started to understand why he was really coming to church.
When we returned, he gave more in the offering plate, he volunterred more, he even was able to share his faith with others in a meaningful way.
There was something that was changed in his inner heart – that changed his outer actions. It was the cleansing of his inner heart – that made his outer heart clean. That is all jesus is trying to say to us. Cleansing comes from the inside out – not the outside in.
When we go outside of the sanctuary there are still those who will look on the outside and be critical no matter what. There are still non Christians who need to call Christians hypocrites, there are still neighbors who tell us that they need to see a change in our behavior to really trust us and to believe that we are who we say we are.
I hope you will always be able to admit that you are a sinner saved by the grace of God. Someone who has a heart of jealousy, anger and all kinds of bad things. But a sinner who has been touched in your heart by God, who lives a life not mandated by the mirror of others, but the light of God’s love for you.
There once was a wolf pack – who stuck together to just make a living. There were willing to share with one anther – but also with others. One day this very strange woman came to live with them. And they were willing to share what they had with her. But they could never really see what she looked like because she hid her face with a mirror. They called her mirror woman. She would also show the faces of the wolves in the mirror. Whenever they would try to hold a conversation with her – she would hold up the mirror. And she would point out all of the bad things that she saw in others from this mirror. The wolves saw themselves so much, that they started to believe everything that she said. They started to believe they were the bad behavior in the mirror. Until one say the den mother explained, that they were so much more than the mirror reflected. There was some bad things, but there were also some good things. They actually started to resent mirror woman, and asked her to take the mirror down. But she was afraid and left the pack. She did not want to think about her own bad, it was easier to see that in others. But when she was gone – they started to reflect the love that they wanted to see in others.
I am always amazed at how people quickly the people who don’t go to church like to use that word hypocrite when a talking about Christians.
How many times have I heard that people don’t go to church, because the church is full of hypocrites. What does that mean? And why do you need to say such a thing.
It is just like the woman in the story – who was so busy blaming and accusing others, that she did not take the time to look at her own character. She did not see that what she was doing was even more destructive for the group, then anything that she accused them of doing.
The word hypocrite – comes from greek – it means an actor. In the days of classical theater- an actor would put on one of those masks – either with a happy face or a sad face – to show what character they were playing in a play.
It was very clear that they were not the person they were playing on the stage. They were putting on a persona – taking on a personality that was not really their own.
There are many people today besides actors who have a professional persona and a personal life. That is just a part of the job they have. There is nothing wrong with what they are doing. And most of the time these are really nice people. And their persona is just an exaggeration of their real self.
Hypo – means under - crite means truth – which means under truth or understatement – not overstatement.
Over the years – it seems that the word has taken on a negative connotation that was not intended. Today to word means someone who intentionally takes on a religious or moral persona to hide their true self.
That does not describe the average Christian.
I told you about the workshop on safe sanctuaries. On making the church a safe place for children. The FBI agent warned us that child predators look at life in a totally different way then we would. He also said that many of them intentionally develop a persona of being thought of as a good person. They intentionally go to church, they intentionally try to be a nice guy. So that you don’t question their behavior.
The agent says that usually at the trial of these people, the family members or friends will spit on him, or yell at him. And say that the offender is really a nice guy – look at all of the things he has done in the community. He loves children.
That is the problem – he loves children, that is why he is being prosecuted. To me I would say that is the true definition of a hypocrite.
In Mark 7 as jesus is talking to the Pharisee – he calls them hypocrites.
It is a part of the tradition of the elders – to wash your hands before you eat. Every jews would have known that. The tradition was a set of unspoken rules that everyone would have known and everyone would have obeyed without question.
To jewish tradition to be clean was everything. In order to be close to god you had to be clean. As a Pharisee, you had to be intentional to make sure that you did not do anything that would dirty your hands or your body. That meant you were not fit to worship god. Today, when you enter into a muslim mosue – before you can pray – you have to ceremonially wash your entire body. Even though they are intentional to tell visitors that is only intended for muslims, others are not bound by that custom.
In the Christian church – we don’t have ceremonial cleanings, even though it is still tradition to dress up and look nice when we come to church. We still have the tradition of the elders.
And that was what Jesus was trying to attack when he called the Pharisees hypocrites. The tradition of the elders was not scripture - it was something someone made up. It was something that you just did without question and no one really knew why. Jesus point was that we should stop doing things because they were tradition and to give some thought to what they were doing and why. Maybe the intention of what you were doing was more important than following tradition. And jesus had a mission to fulfill, more important than the way it was always done.
Jesus went on to point out that it was not the tradition of being clean that caused the real evils in the world – it was the condition of the heart – the human heart – to lie, to steal, to criticize, to hurt when we have been hurt.
So we shouldn’t spend so much time worrying about the outside – but concentrate on the inside.
It is not just Christians, or people trying to be good who have those things – but all of us – it is human nature. In some ways we are all hypocrites. Not just Christians, but all people.
The lesson for us as Christians is not that we don’t have those tendencies inside of us, and not that we don’t have an inner self and an outer self. Being a Christian means that we know what is inside of ourselves and we acknowledge that we are sinners and we work to do something about it. We don’t exploit our sin to hurt others, to know that we are sinners, totally dependent on the grace of god to deal with our sinful nature.
For an outsider to be obsesses with calling a Christian a sinner is like the mirror woman finding the faults of the wolf pack – they spend so much time talking about others, that they forget to correct themselves.
Jesus knows that we will always sin, but some of us will look in the mirror and be able to fix what we see is wrong.
James talks about uses mirrors as a metaphor for looking at our selves and our actions too. He says that when we know the will of god and we don’t do it – we are like someone who looks in the mirror and forgets what they look like.
We look like the sons and daughters of God. In the message – Euguene Peterson says that when we know the word of god but we don’t do it – it is like we forget the face we were born with. We forget that we were all born sinners, but we were all born in the image of God. That is the true persona of all people – to reflect the love of god in their lives in some way.
Yesterday, sydaney and ray and I attended the workshop on stewardship. Great speaker, he told a story about a docter who went on a mission trip to Honduras. Before he left, he went to church, but it didn’t mean anything to him. He went through the motions, but it had no meaning. But when he went to help the people of Honduras – he saw the word of god being put into action, and he started to understand why he was really coming to church.
When we returned, he gave more in the offering plate, he volunterred more, he even was able to share his faith with others in a meaningful way.
There was something that was changed in his inner heart – that changed his outer actions. It was the cleansing of his inner heart – that made his outer heart clean. That is all jesus is trying to say to us. Cleansing comes from the inside out – not the outside in.
When we go outside of the sanctuary there are still those who will look on the outside and be critical no matter what. There are still non Christians who need to call Christians hypocrites, there are still neighbors who tell us that they need to see a change in our behavior to really trust us and to believe that we are who we say we are.
I hope you will always be able to admit that you are a sinner saved by the grace of God. Someone who has a heart of jealousy, anger and all kinds of bad things. But a sinner who has been touched in your heart by God, who lives a life not mandated by the mirror of others, but the light of God’s love for you.
Labor of Love - September 6, 2009
In a village in Africa, a teacher taught her students the meaning of Christmas. Of giving gifts in honor of the new born king. The children were not Christian, but they understood anyway. One little boy was so taken with the idea, that he gave his teacher a gift the next stay. A beautiful stone, she noticed that this kind of stone could only be found in a village by the sea – that was some distance from where they lived. She thanked the little boy and asked where he go the stone – he told her that village. She said that is a little far, you didn’t need to go through that much trouble to give me a gift, you could have gotten me something simpler. No replied the little boy – the trip was a part of the gift to show you that I care.
Often when we get a gift, we are not aware of what the person needed to do to achieve the gift. We don’t know the labor and love that went into acquiring it for us.
Think about the gifts that God has given us – the earth, our food, our well being, our lives, our families and the countless other blessing we have in life – what did it take for God to create those gifts?
What about the gifts that Christ has given us – salvation, understanding, new life, - how much did he have to sacrifice to come to earth and to die on a cross?
Labor Day is our chance to think about our gifts, and the hands that gave them to us. We get to rest, but we also think of theneeds of others. Many who work in order to survive and to help their families – and yet who work tirelessly to give us the gifts of comfort and life, many of which we don’t even think of.
The scriptures for today all have one theme in mind – that is to remember the poor. To remember what we have received from them and to not just say thank you, but to make sure that they are supported and taken care of.
Proverbs is based in the premise that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. Not a fear that we will be punished for doing wrong – but an awe, a sense of respect, a sense of mystery that what God does is unknown to us, and yet we see the results of God’s work and we are grateful.
The writer of proverbs believes that we have two choices in life – we can choose wisdom or we can choose death. The difference is in how we live – a good name is better than riches says wisdom. The difference in the way you live is in your willingness to do hard work. It is in your labors of love to the world and to God. When you give a gift – are you focused in the material item or the journey it took to aquire it.
I went to the Brookfield zoo for the first time last week. It was a great experience to see not just the animals – but the relationship that we have with them as people. How we learn to live together. The primate building – starts out like a maze, and you had to choose which way to get in. Making the point that primates are the only animals in the world who are able to make a choice about anything. All other animals don’t really think about what they are doing they just automatically do it. They rely on their instincts to live and survive. Some choices we take for granted – and some we ponder over for months. But are lives are always full of choices. Our faith reminds us that we even have a choice about how we deal with life. When cant control the events of our life – but no matter what we can always choose joy – and the joyful path. We can choose to heal and move on from hurts, or we can stay stuck and constantly remember what someone said or did. Life for humans is full of choices.
James, the new testament book of wisdom also is based on the premise of choice. We can choose what is wise or we can choose what is foolish. The consequensces are different for each choice. James also wants us to know that one is alive and one is dead.
Chapter 2 is also a reminder to treat the poor with respect. How we treat the poor determines the consequences of our faith. How do you treat the poor- like you would anyone else. James says that you don’t make a distinction between the rich and the poor, those we like and those we don’t like. As Christians we should not show partiality to those who are better able to take care of themselves. We don’t have favorites in our lives.
I think we all agree with that in principle – and if asked we would say that we treat everyone the same. But we are not aware of our biases and values that force us to unfairly judge people. And we don’t notice when we are sharing favoritism to others. What is wise and what is foolish about our behavior – we have to constantly pay attention to what we do and why. Who is our nieighbor and who do we extend hospitality to – anyone who is around us. I think it is a very poignant example within itself when James says that when you see someone in need and you wish them well and send them on their way without helping – them your faith is dead. Faith without works is dead.
Its is sort of like two plants – one alive and one dead. The dead one looks beautiful and takes no work but a little dusting. The living one must be waters and sunned and taken care of. Which type of faith do you have – living are artificial?
What labor of love goes into what you do for others. More importantly what labor of love has gone into what others have done for you? Look at the gifts in your live – who gave them? How did you get them? What is your response to those who gave them to you?
This labor day – we all may have many struggles but we also have many gifts- to be grateful for and to remember the journeys of those who gave them. Amen.
Often when we get a gift, we are not aware of what the person needed to do to achieve the gift. We don’t know the labor and love that went into acquiring it for us.
Think about the gifts that God has given us – the earth, our food, our well being, our lives, our families and the countless other blessing we have in life – what did it take for God to create those gifts?
What about the gifts that Christ has given us – salvation, understanding, new life, - how much did he have to sacrifice to come to earth and to die on a cross?
Labor Day is our chance to think about our gifts, and the hands that gave them to us. We get to rest, but we also think of theneeds of others. Many who work in order to survive and to help their families – and yet who work tirelessly to give us the gifts of comfort and life, many of which we don’t even think of.
The scriptures for today all have one theme in mind – that is to remember the poor. To remember what we have received from them and to not just say thank you, but to make sure that they are supported and taken care of.
Proverbs is based in the premise that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. Not a fear that we will be punished for doing wrong – but an awe, a sense of respect, a sense of mystery that what God does is unknown to us, and yet we see the results of God’s work and we are grateful.
The writer of proverbs believes that we have two choices in life – we can choose wisdom or we can choose death. The difference is in how we live – a good name is better than riches says wisdom. The difference in the way you live is in your willingness to do hard work. It is in your labors of love to the world and to God. When you give a gift – are you focused in the material item or the journey it took to aquire it.
I went to the Brookfield zoo for the first time last week. It was a great experience to see not just the animals – but the relationship that we have with them as people. How we learn to live together. The primate building – starts out like a maze, and you had to choose which way to get in. Making the point that primates are the only animals in the world who are able to make a choice about anything. All other animals don’t really think about what they are doing they just automatically do it. They rely on their instincts to live and survive. Some choices we take for granted – and some we ponder over for months. But are lives are always full of choices. Our faith reminds us that we even have a choice about how we deal with life. When cant control the events of our life – but no matter what we can always choose joy – and the joyful path. We can choose to heal and move on from hurts, or we can stay stuck and constantly remember what someone said or did. Life for humans is full of choices.
James, the new testament book of wisdom also is based on the premise of choice. We can choose what is wise or we can choose what is foolish. The consequensces are different for each choice. James also wants us to know that one is alive and one is dead.
Chapter 2 is also a reminder to treat the poor with respect. How we treat the poor determines the consequences of our faith. How do you treat the poor- like you would anyone else. James says that you don’t make a distinction between the rich and the poor, those we like and those we don’t like. As Christians we should not show partiality to those who are better able to take care of themselves. We don’t have favorites in our lives.
I think we all agree with that in principle – and if asked we would say that we treat everyone the same. But we are not aware of our biases and values that force us to unfairly judge people. And we don’t notice when we are sharing favoritism to others. What is wise and what is foolish about our behavior – we have to constantly pay attention to what we do and why. Who is our nieighbor and who do we extend hospitality to – anyone who is around us. I think it is a very poignant example within itself when James says that when you see someone in need and you wish them well and send them on their way without helping – them your faith is dead. Faith without works is dead.
Its is sort of like two plants – one alive and one dead. The dead one looks beautiful and takes no work but a little dusting. The living one must be waters and sunned and taken care of. Which type of faith do you have – living are artificial?
What labor of love goes into what you do for others. More importantly what labor of love has gone into what others have done for you? Look at the gifts in your live – who gave them? How did you get them? What is your response to those who gave them to you?
This labor day – we all may have many struggles but we also have many gifts- to be grateful for and to remember the journeys of those who gave them. Amen.
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