Proverbs 8:1-4,22-31
John 16:12-15
Year C
May 30, 2010
Trinity Sunday – Pentecost 2
Wesak Blessing Service
Last Thursday I attended a Wesak Blessing- I didn’t realize that it was a Buddhist service, but felt that I needed all of the blessings that I could get. But I was fascinated to learn that in Nepal, there is this belief that on the full moon in May that Jesus , and God and the Holy spirit and Buddha all come down from heaven and give blessings to all of the people gathered in the valley of the mountains.
So on Thursday when the sun went down we gathered to pray for the earth and to ask for special blessings. In this tradition it is thought that Jesus and Buddha are spiritual brothers both come to heaven to teach wisdom to the people. That can be pretty far fetched and hard to believe, certainly not a part of Christian tradition.
Wisdom comes to us in all kinds of forms
But then again, not a far cry from the Easter story of Jesus appearing to his disciples after the resurrection, not a far cry from Jesus ascending to heaven, and yet coming to us in mysterious ways to help us in life, and to teach us new lessons. God comes to us in many forms to talk to us, to guide us, to help us to grow in our faith. The point is, are we always alert enough to look for God in the details of our lives.
Faith comes to us in times of pain
There is the story of an atheist, who was spending a quiet afternoon fishing on the Loch Ness river. Suddenly the man’s boat is attacked by the loch ness monster. The monster comes at him in the water, and tosses the boat high in the water. And then it opens its mouth ready to swallow the man whole. He cries out to God – Oh God save me.
All of a sudden the whole scene just freezes. Man in the air, waves in mid air too, every thing just stops, and a loud voice booms – wait a minute – I thought that you didn’t believe in me, why should I save you. The man replies – O come on god give me a break – two minutes ago I didn’t believe in the Loch ness Monster either.
But isn’t that the reality for any of us. We have our faith with us always. We believe in God always, but we don’t use our faith, and we don’t think about what our faith really means until we approach adversity. Suffering is the hardest time for any of us to deal with.
It is in the midst of our pain that we start to think about who God is, and how God works in our lives. We start to ask the tough questions of God, such as why is this happening to me? What does any of this mean? And how will I get through it?
For those who don’t believe, there are no answers to those questions, but for those of us who do – the spirit of God comes to us in unexpected ways to bring us hope and clarity for what is ahead.
The life of a Christian means that we will all be tested with some type of pain, we will all have questions, we will all have suffering and pain. But we have to remember that our suffering is never in vain, and that we are never alone.
Jesus final words to us on earth were that we would have a partner. We would have a teacher, we would have the spirit of truth with us that will reveal the words of God in the midst of all circumstance for us.
On this final day of the Pentecost – we linger one more Sunday on the words of the gospel of John. Jesus knew that the disciples were going to enter into some challenging times. Jesus had not even gone to the cross yet. Jesus knew the pain they would suffer, and yet he knew that there were no words to help them understand the pain and persecution they were about the encounter. Even if he told them, his words would not have helped.
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me.
For those who don’t believe, suffering is just another part of life, it is another thing to get through, there is no hope for things to get better.
But for the easter people, those who have seen the resurrection, seen the ascencion and hang on to the promises of christ’s return – suffering is our teachable moment – to listen, to learn to trust, to hope.
We have the spirit of truth, which takes the wisdom of heaven and pours it out on us. The spirit doesn’t help us understand, it helps us look beyond our present moment. It doesn’t take away the pain, it helps us trust that the pain will go away. It doesn’t stop our suffering, it reminds us that our suffering is not in vain, and it is never ours alone to bear. We have God and we have one another.
Finding God in our Faith
We look for the God in the story in whatever form God appears, and not the loch ness monster.
The question game
I want to end on a light note – with a much lighter story. A young woman is taking a airplane to new York. It is a late night flight and she is anxious to get some sleep. But it turns out that a boisterous man sits next to her, full of energy and ready to talk. He wants to play a game with her. The game of questions. If I ask you a question and you don’t know the answer then you pay me. If I don’t know the answer you pay me. She is tired and declines. The man not ready to give up, makes it more interesting. If I ask you a question and you don’t know, you owe me $5, if I don’t know I have to give you $500. Now that gets her attention. He goes first – what is the distance from the earth to the moon. Now since they are on an airplane, and she is tired, she doenst even want to think – she just gives him the $5. And hopes to turn over and go to sleep. But know – the man reminds her that she has to ask him a question too. So she asks, what goes up the hill on three legs and comes down on four.
The man thinks about it for a while – he has $500 laying on the line, so he asks for some time to get the answer. A man of means he can use the phone on the plane, he even has internet access. He spends an hour looking for the answer – and finally gives her $500. And she turns over to go to sleep. But wait a minute – tell me what the answer is – she reaches in her purse and gives him $5. And goes to sleep.
True wisdom
The moral of the story for us – we come into this world thinking that everything is suppose to make sense, we are suppose to understand everything about life, that as long as we have all of the answers, life will be okay.
There are things in our lives that we will never understand, will not make sense if we have the answers, and even times when the pain just wont go away. But if our faith is in Christ – we learn to go on, to have hope anyway. True wisdom about life if never about what we know – it is about the God we trust. Let us pray…..
Sunday, June 06, 2010
When God Comes to Visit
June 6, 2010
“When God comes to visit”
2nd Sunday after Pentecost
Year C
1 Kings 17: 8-24
Luke 7: 11-17
As a pastor I am reminded of an old saying – that in life all of us are either going through something, getting over something or about to go through something. Up until now I have never agreed with that statement – I would like to believe that there are some times in our lives, when things might not be great, but at least things are stable. But the truth is those times never last very long.
For much of our lives we are either going through something or coming out of something.
Grief is something that we are all familiar with. Grief is that mix of emotions that we get when we lose something that is important to us. It may be a spouse or family members, it may be our way of life, it may be a hope or a dream. Grief can come from something as simple as graduating from school and realizing that everything will be new next year, or it can be something as huge as having to say good bye to a trusted friend. At some point in our lives we are going to have to grieve. As a matter of fact, there are consequences in life when we don’t grieve the losses in our lives, then we start to express ourselves in not so healthy ways.
In your bulletins I have inserted an article on the stages of grief. Elisabeth Kubler Ross wrote a book on dying in the 70’s I think. Where she says that not only is grief a universal process that we all go through – but that there are certain predictable stages of grief that we have to go through.
I wont explain what is written in the bulletin – but I will say that the stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and eventually acceptance.
In life we are all either going through something or coming out of something. My sermon today is not about what it means to go through grief, it is about the process of coming through grief.
Grief is what I see as the common thread between the Hebrew scripture and the New testament this morning. Both stories are about a women who have lost everything and are about to lose their most prized possessions – their son.
Elijah is wandering the countryside – God has told him to go to a certain city and to just be with the people. He stays with a widow about to prepare her last meal so that she can die. There is grief throughout the land because of famine – no one can find enough to eat. Elijah tells her that as long as there is famine, he will be present and she will be able to eat. He keeps his promise of presence. But no sooner than the famine ends, her son falls sick to the point of death. And she does not understand the God of Elijah, but she knows that Elijah is a prophet, and can save her son. After prayer to God, Elijah lays the healed boy into his mothers arms. Proving that God not only has power, but also compassion. God cares about the lives of god’s people. And can bring healing.
As a matter of fact in those days it was believed that God came to visit us in the events of our lives. God could come to reward us with joy, or to punish us with grief. If things were going bad in your life, it was something that you did to anger God. In the story, when her son gets sick she says that Elijah has come from God to remind her of her sin and to take her son. Elijah’s prayer for mercy on this women is what saves her son.
In the New Testament story Jesus is processing one way with his disciples, and a crowd is processing another way grieving the loss of a young man. Jesus interrupts the funeral to see what is going on. He not only sees a young man who has died, but a mother who has lost her only son. A woman who will live in poverty for the rest of her life because she has no one to take care of her. He sees her suffering and scripture says that he has compassion. He enters into her suffering and restores her life, by restoring her son. Just as in the story of Elijah he returns the son back to the mother healed. And the grieving crowd realize that this is a man of God – bringing the presence of God into the situation.
When we are suffering – Jesus enters into our lives also. Jesus is god’s visitation to our lives. No longer does he bring judgement – but he brings mercy and compassion into our pain.
This scripture assures us that in our times of grief Jesus comes to you when you need him the most, extends his word of sympathy and assures victory over death.
Bob Greene tells the story of the death of his wife. He was devastated and had no idea of how to raise the children alone. He had no idea of what needed to be done and how to do it. The day after the news he gets a phone call from his best friend. He didn’t even want to get up that morning, or to think or to go forward. He friend tells him that he is in town.
He goes on to say I know you probably don’t want to see anyone, or discuss this or even think about it. I am not here to talk, I wont be over, I am not trying to solve anything. I have checked into a hotel and will just sit here. I just want you to know that I am in town. If you need me you can call me and I will be over, but if not I will just sit here in my hotel room.
Perhaps the friend did get a chance to rest, or a chance to get some work done. But his real work was the work of presence. Bob never did talk about the loss of his wife, he never did open up about what was going on, he was barely able to say thank you for the support the friend gave in taking care of the kids, but he felt the presence of his friend and it eventually got him through his grief, to the point where he was ready to go on with his life.
We all grieve, we all have to work through the cycle of denial, anger, bargaining, depression until we get to acceptance and we are ready to move on in our lives. It may take a moment, it may take a month, it may take twenty years to get to that final stage of acceptance – where we are ready to move on as resurrected people into the promise of new life. However long it takes that is up to our soul.
The good news is that we can be assured that God has indeed come to visit us at that time. We may never be able to remember the words, or to point to the actions, but we can always feel the presence. God always has a way of reminding us that life is stronger than death, that beginnings always come after endings, and that light is more powerful than darkness.
The day Martin Luther king was assassinated – Robert Kennedy was speaking to a crown and he had to pass on the devastating news. He spoke publicly for the first time about the death of his brother John. He expressed his grief at that loss. In his speech he gave this quote from Aeschylus – a Greek poet. “Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
In life all of us are either going through something, coming out of something, or about to go through something. We all experience the grief process at some point. God’s promise is that there will be a comforter, a presence, a sense of compassion, a means of mercy. May the spirit of Christ be with you. Let us pray……
“When God comes to visit”
2nd Sunday after Pentecost
Year C
1 Kings 17: 8-24
Luke 7: 11-17
As a pastor I am reminded of an old saying – that in life all of us are either going through something, getting over something or about to go through something. Up until now I have never agreed with that statement – I would like to believe that there are some times in our lives, when things might not be great, but at least things are stable. But the truth is those times never last very long.
For much of our lives we are either going through something or coming out of something.
Grief is something that we are all familiar with. Grief is that mix of emotions that we get when we lose something that is important to us. It may be a spouse or family members, it may be our way of life, it may be a hope or a dream. Grief can come from something as simple as graduating from school and realizing that everything will be new next year, or it can be something as huge as having to say good bye to a trusted friend. At some point in our lives we are going to have to grieve. As a matter of fact, there are consequences in life when we don’t grieve the losses in our lives, then we start to express ourselves in not so healthy ways.
In your bulletins I have inserted an article on the stages of grief. Elisabeth Kubler Ross wrote a book on dying in the 70’s I think. Where she says that not only is grief a universal process that we all go through – but that there are certain predictable stages of grief that we have to go through.
I wont explain what is written in the bulletin – but I will say that the stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and eventually acceptance.
In life we are all either going through something or coming out of something. My sermon today is not about what it means to go through grief, it is about the process of coming through grief.
Grief is what I see as the common thread between the Hebrew scripture and the New testament this morning. Both stories are about a women who have lost everything and are about to lose their most prized possessions – their son.
Elijah is wandering the countryside – God has told him to go to a certain city and to just be with the people. He stays with a widow about to prepare her last meal so that she can die. There is grief throughout the land because of famine – no one can find enough to eat. Elijah tells her that as long as there is famine, he will be present and she will be able to eat. He keeps his promise of presence. But no sooner than the famine ends, her son falls sick to the point of death. And she does not understand the God of Elijah, but she knows that Elijah is a prophet, and can save her son. After prayer to God, Elijah lays the healed boy into his mothers arms. Proving that God not only has power, but also compassion. God cares about the lives of god’s people. And can bring healing.
As a matter of fact in those days it was believed that God came to visit us in the events of our lives. God could come to reward us with joy, or to punish us with grief. If things were going bad in your life, it was something that you did to anger God. In the story, when her son gets sick she says that Elijah has come from God to remind her of her sin and to take her son. Elijah’s prayer for mercy on this women is what saves her son.
In the New Testament story Jesus is processing one way with his disciples, and a crowd is processing another way grieving the loss of a young man. Jesus interrupts the funeral to see what is going on. He not only sees a young man who has died, but a mother who has lost her only son. A woman who will live in poverty for the rest of her life because she has no one to take care of her. He sees her suffering and scripture says that he has compassion. He enters into her suffering and restores her life, by restoring her son. Just as in the story of Elijah he returns the son back to the mother healed. And the grieving crowd realize that this is a man of God – bringing the presence of God into the situation.
When we are suffering – Jesus enters into our lives also. Jesus is god’s visitation to our lives. No longer does he bring judgement – but he brings mercy and compassion into our pain.
This scripture assures us that in our times of grief Jesus comes to you when you need him the most, extends his word of sympathy and assures victory over death.
Bob Greene tells the story of the death of his wife. He was devastated and had no idea of how to raise the children alone. He had no idea of what needed to be done and how to do it. The day after the news he gets a phone call from his best friend. He didn’t even want to get up that morning, or to think or to go forward. He friend tells him that he is in town.
He goes on to say I know you probably don’t want to see anyone, or discuss this or even think about it. I am not here to talk, I wont be over, I am not trying to solve anything. I have checked into a hotel and will just sit here. I just want you to know that I am in town. If you need me you can call me and I will be over, but if not I will just sit here in my hotel room.
Perhaps the friend did get a chance to rest, or a chance to get some work done. But his real work was the work of presence. Bob never did talk about the loss of his wife, he never did open up about what was going on, he was barely able to say thank you for the support the friend gave in taking care of the kids, but he felt the presence of his friend and it eventually got him through his grief, to the point where he was ready to go on with his life.
We all grieve, we all have to work through the cycle of denial, anger, bargaining, depression until we get to acceptance and we are ready to move on in our lives. It may take a moment, it may take a month, it may take twenty years to get to that final stage of acceptance – where we are ready to move on as resurrected people into the promise of new life. However long it takes that is up to our soul.
The good news is that we can be assured that God has indeed come to visit us at that time. We may never be able to remember the words, or to point to the actions, but we can always feel the presence. God always has a way of reminding us that life is stronger than death, that beginnings always come after endings, and that light is more powerful than darkness.
The day Martin Luther king was assassinated – Robert Kennedy was speaking to a crown and he had to pass on the devastating news. He spoke publicly for the first time about the death of his brother John. He expressed his grief at that loss. In his speech he gave this quote from Aeschylus – a Greek poet. “Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
In life all of us are either going through something, coming out of something, or about to go through something. We all experience the grief process at some point. God’s promise is that there will be a comforter, a presence, a sense of compassion, a means of mercy. May the spirit of Christ be with you. Let us pray……
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