One wish, One Dream, One Hope

May 9, 2010
Mother’s Day
Your Hope is Alive in Me
Acts 16:9-15
John 14:23-29
The Sixth Sunday of Easter
Year C

I think that we are all waiting for that moment – when we meet that one person, when we will turn down that one street, when God will give us that one vision, when we will come to that once place – where everything changes. Where we know that we have come to our destiny. Where we know that we are following the intentions that God has for us, and from this moment on, things will all fall into place and make sense. Things may not be perfect, but they will at least make sense.
For Paul, the person was Lydia, the vision was from a man from Macedonia, the place was the place of prayer, the street was the Via Ignatia.
Via Ignatia is a pretty significant highway now – the highway is much more significant and much busier then Phillipi. As a matter of fact if you don’t slow down and intentionally look for the stop on the side of the road you will miss it. It is a five to six hour highway drive to Macedonia from Phillipi. I could only imagine how long it would have taken to walk that journey.
But a man appeared in a dream and told Paul that he was needed in Macedonia and he needed to make the trip. So he and Silas set off for Macedonia. On my trip following in the footsteps of Paul, we travelled down the via ignatia. There are two major roads from Rome – the via Appian and the via ignatia. They were actually built in 2BC – they were roads intended to connect all of the roman provinces to Rome. Soldiers followed this road in order to get anywhere they needed to be to keep order, supplies could be transported anywhere. More than 2000 years later- both roads are still used. It makes it pretty easy to follow in the footsteps of Paul. In his travels, Paul went where the people were. He followed the major urban areas of his time in order to spread the gospel. In the beginning, he stayed close to home, close to the middle east. The call to Macedonia was a call to reach out into the heart of the land of the gentiles. To reach people who would not have known Jesus Christ, yet and still knew the Holy Spirit. As I said, Macedonia was six hours away in a car- but he made the trip walking. Along the way he stopped by the river and met a group of women praying. Lyddia was the head of that group – she was not a jew- but she followed the jewish ways, she prayed and she believed in God. And she became Paul’s first convert. Since she was a wealthy woman, once she was baptized, that meant that all of her servants, her relatives and her household also became Christians.
Today, you can still visit that place along the river. It has been left alone. I think that I still have water in my refrigerator from that river. And a little ways from the river is a small chapel, it is not a place of worship, it is intended just for baptisms. People come to baptize their babies at the place where Lyddia was baptized.
We are all waiting for our destiny. Waiting for that person, the place, that turn down the street, that vision that will change our lives.
Lyddia not only changed Paul’s life, but she changed the life of us all. She was the first European to be baptized, she was influential in her community so she was able to bring others to Christ. Phillipi is a long way away from Macedonia – and yet her conversion was proof that Paul was following the way of God. All of Greece followed Lyddia and became Christian. The greek flag is blue and white to represent the sea. But where our flag has 50 stars, the greek flag has a cross. The entire nation is Greek Orthodox. Because one woman praying next to a river saw the presence of the holy spirit in Paul and his message. From the via ignatia – the word spread all over the world.
The good news for us- is that we all have Lydias in our lives. People who paved the way for us, people who believed in us, people who introduced us to our destiny.
There is a story of a king,who wanted to set aside a special day to honor his greatest subject. There was a great contest throughout the land- and during a festival the four finalist were brought into the court yard. The first was a wealthy philanthropist who had given lots of money to help the poor, the second was a celebrated doctor who had faithfully taken care of many people, the third was a judge who had a reputation for being wise as well as fair. The fourth was an elderly woman. No one quite understood why she was there. No one seemed to even know who she was. She did not look like someone who deserved such an honor from the king. The king even asked here who she was. She pointed at the three distinguished men, and told how proud she was, how she appreciated all that they had grown up to be, and all that they had done for the world. They had taken her message and sped it to great places. Her message – yes, she had been their elementary school teacher. She had taught them all. She had encouraged them all, she had mentored them all. She made a difference in their lives.
Each of us has a person, a place, a time, a turn in our lives that made all of the difference in the world. The message of easter is that Jesus is sending a teacher into our lives. A teacher that will comfort us, will guide us, will support us no matter what.
Let me tell you about a very different kind of mother. Carole, a third-generation Japanese-American, was born in an internment camp during World War II, married a man who had also been born in a camp and they had a baby girl. The child was born with feet that turned inward. Carole was determined to do everything necessary to ensure that her child was able to walk normally. By the age of six, after years in very expensive corrective shoes, she was finally able to walk.

That wasn't good enough for Carole. To ensure continued corrective development, she told her daughter to choose a sport that would strengthen her legs. She chose ice skating and it became her passion. That meant years of early mornings at the rink. It took an incredible amount of time, money and patience but Carole and her husband were happy to give it for the sake of their little girl. After fifteen years, they found themselves standing with the world as their daughter, Kristi Yamaguchi, received the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics.

That mother gave life to her child, not only through the birthing and nursing but by making every necessary sacrifice to give Kristi the dream, the discipline, the resources and the encouragement to claim her full potential.

For many of us – our first teacher, our biggest supporter, the one mot interested in guiding us is our mother.
But today I want us to honor our mothers, but to think of all of the people especially the women in our lives who made a difference. Who formed our destiny, who guided us along the way.
And to honor the fact that all of them were sent by god as a gift in our lives. All of them are proof that easter is upon us and that the holy spirit is at work in the world and in our lives. Where would we be if they were not there to form our destinies., to dream our dreams, to believe ourselves.
In return for all they have given us – let us wish them all the love of God, let us dream for them the grace of God let us celebrate the life they have given to us- by celebrating the life god has given to them.
There are many others who are waiting for their destiny – who are waiting for that one person, that one place, that one vision that will make all of the difference in the world. Let us all pass on the dreams, the wishes, the hopes, the visions that have been entrusted to us on to others. Let us Pray…..

Sharing Our Differences

May 2, 2010
Acts 11:1-18
John 13:31-35
Year C
Fifth Sunday of Easter

Salma and Lily were best friends at school.
They drew pictures together.
They played on the swings together.
They jumped rope together.
And they ate their lunches together.
But just what they ate was a little different.
Lily ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for lunch.
Salma ate a hummus and pita sandwich every day for lunch.
And although Lily never said it out loud, she thought Salma's sandwich looked weird and yucky. She felt terrible that her friend had to eat that icky chickpea paste every day. EW. Yuck.
And although Salma never said it out loud, she thought Lily's sandwich looked strange and gross. She felt just awful that her friend had to eat that gooey peanut paste every day. EW. Gross.

You will have to wait a couple of months in order to hear the rest of the story. That is an excerpt from a childrens book coming out by the Queen of Jordan called the “sandwich Swap”. It is about her experiences as a child, where she at one type of food and her best friend ate another. Both felt uncomfortable with what the other was eating. But it was through food that they came to understand one another and developed a closer relationship in the process.
A perfect story for our scriptures this morning. Peter prided himself on being a good jew and making sure that everything that he ate was kosher. He considered that to be a part of what God called him to do – that is until he heard from God – which told him something different. That in the name of trying to understand others, he was free to eat whatever god’s people ate. There was nothing wrong with it
But not everyone of the disciples heard that same voice, and they criticized Peter, until he explained it for them. Once again this is a demonstration of how the holy spirit works in our lives It takes something that makes sense to us (in this case food- we all understand food) in order to explain something that doesn’t make sense to us. (in this case how to get along with other people)
This fits in with the gospel lesson which talks about love- Jesus tells his disciples to strive to love one another as you have been loved. – we know that there are 10 commandments – many say that this is the 11th commandment from God – to love. Love is not a concept unique to Jesus – because there are many commandments to love – love the lord the god with all of your heart, mind body and soul. Love your neighbor as you love yourself, there is even a commandment for Esau and Jacob to love one another as brothers.
Jesus is just trying to get them to follow the law of love in a brand new way. Not to love because you are supposed to, but to love because you have been loved. Not to guess what love means, but to know what love means. To realize that love is not about what you do – it is about the relationship that you have. In order to love somebody, you have to identify with that person, get into their lives and know what it going on, and be willing to eat with them. For instance Peter could very well have refused to eat with the gentiles and kept his kosher habits. But somewhere along the way he realized that his relationship was more important than his beliefs. And that it was the relationship that changed him and transformed the situation. The gentiles became a part of the family, the outsiders became insiders. All because the holy spirit took something that made sense and used it to teach something that they otherwise would not have understood.
Finally – I while teaching a class on Methodist studies for the district a few months ago – and one of the things I came across is a list of the signs of a United Methodist – you might be a United Methodist if….
The ones that I found a few months ago are much more positive, but here are some that I found last night…

You might be United Methodist if you raise your hand and promise your pastor that you have read the 17th chapter of Mark as part of the introduction to a sermon on truth telling. (Note: Mark only has 16 chapters. You might be United Methodist if you did not know that
You might be United Methodist if you think "Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego" is the name of a rap group from Detroit.
You might be United Methodist if you are a Siamese twin - well connected.
You might be United Methodist if you think you have to have a potluck dish to get into heaven
You might be United Methodist if you clapped in church last Sunday and felt guilty about it all week.
You might be United Methodist if you think the epistles are probably the wives of the apostles.
You might be United Methodist if you think the Holy Land is Nashville.

These seemed to concentrate on the negative things about United Methodist – making fun of where we may be lacking in faith. I thought it interested the author of the website said these were all statements submitted by United Methodist clergy.
But the list go worse when I looked for signs of a Christian. The only place where I could find the marks of a Christian were written by an atheist. Here are some examples.
1. You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

2. You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.
3. You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history, but still call yourself a Christian.


But seriously, if you read and listen to the book of Acts this Easter season, you will learn the marks of a true Christian as one who follows Jesus, who trust in the teachings of Jesus, one who looks for the presence of the holy Spirit in their lives and is willing to follow it, and one who puts Christ as the center of their lives, allowing the spirit of Christ to dwell and live in them.
In an interview with John Travolta in 1995 he speaks about the love of Christ. He said “I love people and I have compassion and empathy for them, I am alive to the degree that I am able to do that. I have lost a lot of people that I love, but I guess that I have learned that when it comes to living people, you really don’t have a choice. Jesus knew the risk that he was taking in living the world.. he know it would come to disappointment. Love, the particular kind of love that God demonstrates in Jesus remains the most difficult thing we are called to do, but it’s the only thing that makes existence meaningful.
Love is the 11th commandment – love one another as I have loved you. Love can be painful – but it still makes a difference, it still transforms people – one relationship at a time. Love is a way of speaking, a way of doing, love is who you are in Christ. Love is the one mark of a true Christian. They know we are Christians by our love. Let us pray.