From Self Confidence to God Confidence

From Self confidence to God Confidence Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4-14 Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C March 22, 2010 Max Lucado is a pastor and has written many many books on the Christian faith and what it means to believe. He tells the story of taking his daughter Jenna to the park when she was a little girl of about two years old. While she was playing with the other children, and there were other parents around – he decides to go across the street to the dairy queen and get her an ice cream cone. He returns to the park to give her the cone, only to discover that not only has she been playing in the sand – she has decided to eat the sand. He can’t very well give her an ice cream cone – when she has sand in her mouth. In telling the story – Lucado asks himself – did I love her any less with dirt in her mouth? Was she any less my daughter because she had dirt in her mouth? No – was I going to let her continue to play with dirt in her mouth(especially while holding an ice cream cone) no. He took her to the water fountain and washed her mouth out. Lucado compaired this to the way God thinks about us sometimes. He catches us all of the time with dirt in our mouths, God loves us, god cares for us, and yet God feels the need to clean out the dirt in our lives – because there is something much better in store for us. Most of the time if left alone to our own devices, we want to play in the sand and eat it- and yet god wants us to see that there is a bigger life, a greater relationship that we can have with ourselves and with God – if we stop depending on our own devices and seek to learn the ways of God. I tell you that story because Paul can relate to it very well. It proves the point that he is trying to make in Philippians when he says that his life is dirt. All of the things that used to matter in the world, no longer matter because his whole perspective in life has changed. Now that is really strange – because Paul was not a bad person. And he did not have a bad life. And there was nothing in his life that he had any real reason to be ashamed of. He came from a good family. When many other jewish families were giving up their faith for new beliefs. Pauls family were true Hebrews among Hebrews. He grew up to be a teacher and defender of the faith. He fervently persecuted Christians who were trying to ruin his faith. He was very well respected. And when others may have been thrown in jail because there were not citizens, even though he was jewish, he was still a roman citizen, he had all of the rights and priveledges that would have been given to the best of people. There were people who were trying to put Paul down and say that he was not a true leader, and yet Paul wanted them to know that there were at least 7 things in his life that he could point to and say that he was indeed a good and respected person. Good and respected if his life were about him. The thing is – he realized that his life was not about him. His life was about jesus Christ. And even though those things mattered in the eyes of humanity – they were nothing in the eyes of God. Whatever gains I had, these have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and regard them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. Rubbish – how do you come to call everything that you have accomplished in life a rubbish? As I pondered that question I remembered a time in my own life – when I was living with my boyfriend. And on this night our argument was not any more significant than they were on other day. We fought all of the time about any thing. But for some reason, on this night I remember he made a fist, and I remember in the moment between his fist hitting my face and my head hitting the wall – I remember taking everything inside of myself that valued, all of my self esteem, all of my pride, all of the things that I loved about myself – and hiding them onto the white wall. So that when he hit me – he wouldn’t hurt anything. In the days to come, there were many people who asked why I had a black eye – and I always responded the same – I walked into a wall – I am just clumsy that way. It is nothing serious. Until one day – my manager at work asked me how long I intended to lie to myself. And I had to face the fact that I needed to make up a tale, so that I did not have to deal with the seriousness of what was really going on. But it was that tale that kept my life in place- and allowed me to continuing to live in the midst of a bad situation. Dirt in the mouth, while God was trying to show me that there was a better way. Sometimes it is easier for us to hold onto the tales – then it is for us to let the truth in and deal with it. But I don’t want to get caught up in the intensity of the story – that is not my point in telling it. That was a long time ago, and my life has gone on since then, and I have had many experiences in life that supercede that one. That wasn’t the incident that finally got me to leave the relationship, it was the incident that turned my life around to listen more intently to God. But it is an illustration of the intensity of what Paul is saying when he is using the word rubbish in regards to his old life. I few days after that incident I remember saying – I wonder how I am going to get all of that junk off of the wall – all of the things that I admired about myself – now that they were totally worthless. They didn’t mean anything to me anymore – because now I had a new reality, on which none of that stuff applied. The greek word that Paul uses for rubbish is skybala. Skybala means junk, trash – but it also means human waste or excrement. That is a pretty strong word when you are talking about your life’s accomplishments. And yet his new life in Christ – was so much more important than the person that he used to be. He was able to taste the ice cream cone that God was offering. And was glad that he did. Are we able to do the same? Lent is our reminder to put old ways behind and to study more intently to see God’s new ways for us. And there are always new ways. There are always thought patterns and beliefs that no longer serve their purpose, there are resentment and fears that is time to give up, there are ways that we have been coping that need to be put away. There are allegiances to people that are no longer helpful. There is an old understanding of our relationship with god that we are being called to give up – in order to be open to what is happening in our lives today – which is leading us to a new understanding and a new relationship. There is dirt, a lot of dirt that we can stop eating. The good news for us is that junk can be recycled. Even excrement is used are fertilizer. The old ways of thinking make us who we are today- they are the pathway for the new. They inform our lives and give us a chance to truly understand Christ salvation for us. The story of our salvation is always part of the bigger story of salvation of the world. Our story is important because it is a part of God’s story. It shows us that God is always working to make us better people. There is always room for us to grown to mature, to make sense of why things happen to us. And to know that in the end – it always a story of God’s love. When we are able to put aside our own accomplishments and our own self confidence – we are free to take on God confidence. We don’t know what god’s final vision of the world will be – most of the time we have no idea of what God’s final vision for our own lives is. But we can give up the past in order to prepare ourselves for the future. Paul ends his pep talk by saying – beloved I do not consider that I have made it my own. But this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead- I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. It is time for us all to leave the past behind and press on to the destiny of Christ – let us pray…..

A Less Obvious Way

A Less Obvious Way
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Psalm 32
March 14, 2010
Year C
Fourth Sunday in Lent

Hallelujah appears in the bible 18 times. 14 times in the later psalms – which means that it did not become a saying until late in Hebrew history. And 4 times in the new testament – in the book of revelation – once again late in the history of the development of the church. Jesus was never recorded as saying hallelujah. Even though I am sure that he said praise God in some form or another many times – even if it was just in prayer. With the coming of easter, we are reminded that Jesus is our hallelujah – our reason for praising God. Perhaps that is why we choose not to say it during lent.

The inspiration for our recurring hallelujahs comes from a song – that seems to be gaining popularity again. It was first written in the early seventies by Leonard Cohen. I wanted to play it for you. I choose not to have us sing it because with a name lke Cohen, I would assume that he is jewish – and has a very jewish idea of the word hallelujah - there is nothing wrong with that. But it is not written as a song for worship so it has absolutely no theological value. But as you listen to the song – I think you will agree that hallelujah is just a pretty song all by itself. This song has been recorded by all types of artist over the years – who seem to agree. I choose this version by the Canadian tenors because it seemed the most praiseworthy and dignified.
Definitely a lent hallelujah – and not a easter hallelujah. Reminding us that we still need God in the midst of all situations. And that no matter what – we have a reason to praise God.
That is the point of the psalms – the praises of god in the midst of all types of circumstances. Some happen in ones deepest darkest hour, in the valley of the shadow of death. Some happen in the midst of despair of asking why is this happening to me, some happen on the way to Jerusalem to keep you busy on a long questioning journey. Psalm 32 is one of 7 penitiential psalms. – psalms of a person who knows that they are in need of forgiveness. And after they have turned their life around – they return to god – happy for the chance to go on in life again.
I am happy again, yes I am. I am happy because I told God. I told god about the wrong things I did. And I said to God, I am sorry. For a long time I felt bad. I was always worried and sad. I didn’t tell God about the wrong things I did. I didn’t tell God anything. But now I am happy again. I can sing, I can dance, I can play. I told God about the wrong things I did. And I sad to God I am sorry. I said to God I am sorry, Ill try to live in your way. Ill try to be kind to the person I hurt. I’ll try to frends once again. I am happy again – yes I am I am happy because I told God told God about the wrong things I did and I said I am sorry.
That is what lent is all about – learning how to say I am sorry. Learning that I am not perfect. Being able to acknowledge that no matter how hard I try to be good – there are still ways in which I come up short. In my relationship wth god and in my relationship with others.
There is a calvin and hobbes comic. Calvin, who is always a bad boy tells hobbes – you know I feel bad because I know that I hurt susies feeling. I am really sorry that I did that. Hobbes, the voice of wisdom says well maybe you should go and apologize to her. Calvin sits and thinks for a minute and says was hoping that there was a less obvious solution.
I think the point for us is not that we all have something that we need to say sorry about. But the point is that we as humans are always looking for that less obvious solution. – hoping that there is some other way besides addressing the issue head on. Hoping that there are some other words to say besides I was wrong for what I said and how I treated you.
God’s concern is not so much that you are out of integrity and have not repented, but that you have gotten comfortable living in a world where that is normal. Where everybody forgets to say I am worry. Where everybody has a part in doing wrong – but no one wants to be the person to take the first step. We are all convinced that we are not the problem – that you are. If you would just say I am sorry – then this situation would get better. If you would just do what you are supposed to do, if you would just correct your mistake, If they just saw things differently we wouldn’t be in this mess. If they weren’t so confused, if they just did what they know to be right.
Lent is a reminder that transformation of the world starts with us – not with them. All of the time that I am waiting to hear I am sorry – I could learn to say I am sorry. The first step to expecting something different from them is to expecting something different from myself.
Lent is a reminder that Jesus was willing to take the first step. To say the first I am sorry, to come to the presence of God and ask for forgiveness. If Jesus can do it, them so can we. jesus was innocent – we are sinners. When we say I am sorry to people – you don’t know what you are going to get in return. But when we say I am sorry to god – you always get forgiveness. When we let go of our sins – there is always a sense of relief that that is over with.
Forgiveness is our little easter – our reason to celebrate. Our reason to celebrate – our reason to say hallelujah. That is over with – that burden is released and we are free to pray, to receive protection, to tell others, to rejoice in God’s love. If it feels good to be free of our own sins – imagine what it will feel like when the world is free of theirs. What better reason to shout – hallelujah!
Let us pray…

An open invitation to abundance

An Open Invitation to Abundance Isaiah 55 Psalm 63 The Third Sunday of Lent Year C Rebekah was one of the prophet’s Isaiah’s best friends. She visited him every day. Isaiah was an old man, Rebekah was a child, but they still has lots to talk about to one another. One day Rebekah was on the beach playing with her friends. They were building houses in the sand. And along came Asher, another boy their age. He wanted to show them all the toy that he had just gotten from his dad. But it seemed everyone was too busy building houses. So Asher took his sword and started swinging it near everyone. They asked him to stop, but he just kept going. He knocked down all of the houses, and even started swinging at people. The more you asked him to stop – the more deteremined he was to be aggravating. Rebekah had to put her arm up to protect her face – the sword grazed her arm and left a bad scar. She and her friends got up and left Asher there swinging his sword. The next morning Rebekah went to visit Isaiah, she showed him her scar and talked about the event. Why did Asher do that asked Isaiah? He always does things like that. We don’t like to play with asher – because he is always trying to act big and strong. Why does Asher do that? When he plays with us, his house is neve as nice as our houses, so he is always trying to knock ours down. Why does Asher do that? Asked Isaiah again. Why are you asking me the same question over and over again? Because you cant make things better until you answer the hard questions. Then you should be asking Asher why, not me. No Rebekah, I am asking you – why does he do that? I guess he wants us to pay attention to him. He wants us to be his friend, but he is way too mean to play with. Rebekah in the marketplace where I go every morning – there are lots of people like Asher. That want to be noticed, they want people to pay attention to them. So they buy nice clothes, they buy shiny swords so they can feel important – they buy sweets because they think it will satisfy their hunger. But they find that it just doesn’t work. The clothes, the shiny tools, the food doesn’t make their life any better, it doesn’t make someone like them any better realized Rebekah. People feel good while they acquire these things in the market – but as soon as they are gone – life goes back to normal. It is very sad. Why do they do that? Rebekah smiled as she now had a chance to ask Isaiah the hard question. We all need to be needed. We all need other people, we all need to be accepted by other people, we all need to be loved by other people. We all need God. But hitting people and buying nice clothes doesn’t make anyone love you – it doesn even make others like you. And those things certainly don’t impress God. Rebekah and Isaiah were quiet for awhile. Then in a whisper, Rebekah said – I am going to ask Asher to come and play with us. You know I really like asher when he is not showing off. Maybe if I show him love first – then he wont need to act like that – and he will know that I am his friend. Isaiah thought for a minute – I have a song – I am going to sing the song to the people, so they can see that God really does love them, just as they are, they don’t have to buy nice things to come to God and experience God’s love. The don’t need nice things to feel good – they need God’s love. Are you going to put your song in your book to all generations? Asked rebekah. Isaiah smiled and began to sing his song… Ho you who are thirsty, ho you who are thirsty. Here is some nice cold water. You don’t need any money, here is good, rich food. It is a free gift from God. Don’t spend your money buying things that don’t help. The things you buy wont make your friends love you, the things that you buy wont make God love you. God has promised you that God will love you just as you are. There is nothing that you can buy that will make God love you. You cant buy things that will make your friends care Live God’s way! Be kind and good and fair. Love yourself, just the way God made you, then God and friends will love you too. Love yourself, love your friends, love your God. That is the open invitation that God gives to us all. All of us do something in order to gain attention. All of us do things to make people like us. All of us have a deep yearning inside of ourselves. Our society depends on it. Today you don’t have to go to the marketplace to buy the things that you need. All you have to do is turn on the television – and commercial after commercial appeal to our deep inner needs. Food commercials are constantly reminding us that we get hungry. All day Saturday I watch cooking shows on tv – just thinking about all of the wonderful things that I could cook. We sat and watched a cooking show at family share – Julie and Julia – all about what – food. I don’t know about you – but when I see something really good being fixed on television – I am not happy until I am able to fix it myself. Has any of it made a big difference in my life? No – but it satisfies that craving inside of me. But Isaiah is very right about our cravings – they only satisfy us for a short period of time – and then we are craving something else. And not really acknowledging that we are still hungry. Not paying attention to the fact that God creating us to be hungry, to have cravings, to need to be loved, to ask for attention. We created the minute things to hold our attention and to lose focus on God. Yet God created those things which really truly satisfy our heart. That makes us know that we are loved, and that God is always giving us the greatest of attention. Isaiah comes into our lives, into the streets, the marketplaces, the living rooms, the dens – to give us a message – Ho you who are thirsty – god has invited you to a feast – a feast that you don’t have to pay for the ticket. A feast where you don’t have to dress up – just open you heart, listen, trust and understand. And you will be filled beyond your wildest imagination. How are you letting God come into you soul and fill you to the brim this lent? Let us pray?