A man opens a bar, right across the street from a church. The church is very unhappy about this. As they meet for administrative council meetings, for bible study, even Sunday service, every time they pray as a church, they pray that some how this bar will be shut down. One night during a storm, lighting strikes the bar, it catches fire and is destroyed. The bar owner takes the church to court, saying that they were responsible for the damage to his property They asked God to destroy the property and God answered their prayer. The churches defense was that they had no control over acts of God. The lightening had nothing to do with them. Listening to the case, the judge felt that he had to be very careful in how he proceeded and how he answered this case. While weighing the evidence of the case, he says – now let me get this straight – in this case we have a bartender, who believes in the power of prayer and this side, and other the other side we have a church who doesn’t. hmmmm.
And even though we as the church pray at every function, we talk about prayer everyday – the power of prayer is still something that befuddles us. At some level we all ask the same question that Jesus disciple asks in Luke 11 – Teach us how to pray. . Jesus responds to the disciple by giving a version of the Lord’s Prayer. The version that we are used to praying is in Mathew 6:1-14. This is a shorter version of the prayer that we are used to saying. Instead of asking to forgive our trespasses as we forgive our trespasses, the request in Luke is to save us from the time of trial. Also protestants are used to ending with for thine are the kingdom, the power, the glory forever and ever. If you have ever prayed with Catholics, they stop before saying that. But say it more as a response to the prayer later. It was believed that the church added on that part as an extra prayer of thanks and acknowledgement from God. The Lord’s prayer is one of the most powerful prayers in the world. It is a large part of our Christian faith. You will hear some version of it. We know this prayer by heart, we say it all of the time, but how many of us really have taken the time to think about what it means, and what are we really praying when we say it. I could preach a whole sermon series on the meaning and power of the Lord’s prayer.
When the disciple asks Jesus to teach us how to pray like you do, that is what they are asking for a formula – the right words to say to get God’s attention. And Jesus does indeed give them those words. Father, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come. God is the source of everything that exist in the neighborhood. God is the source of everything that we have in our lives, God is the source of both the things that we need in life, and God is the source of what we want. So when we pray, we are to pray to the source- the one who has the power to provide for us.
The source of everything in the universe is not just a scientific reality like the sky, the sun and the moon. The source of everything in the universe is a heavenly and very sacred force. With the power to give, but also the power to give lovingly.– but is a special force which has a special relationship with you- an intimate relationship where it can listen and care about what you are asking for. Like a parent – who has a special reason for making sure that you are taken care of.
Jesus received a lot of criticism from other jews for calling God abba, or daddy. They thought that was much too personal. And yet Jesus tells us that when it comes to prayer,God is personal- listening just to you and your request. So when you have a request, call upon the forces of the universe and acknowledge God as a caring parent, as father.
After calling upon the only one who is able to answer your prayer – your most important needs are food for today, forgiveness of the past, and the freedom to walk into the future without temptation. With Food, forgiveness and freedom – you have access to anything else in the world.
The Lord’s prayer is truly a powerful prayer. It is a prayer that we can live together in community. It is not a prayer for my needs, but our needs. Yes, Jesus does give the formula, but he goes even further by reminding us that it is not the formula that works to answer our prayer – it is the power of God. It is important not only to know the formula, but to also know why the formula works and how to use the formula.
The Lord’s prayer opens us up to the holy, we acknlwledge that we are not in control of our lives and cannot supply all of our needs. Our heavenly father can. A father who is sacred, and should be honored.
The Lords prayer teaches us faith – a belief in things we cannot see, yet trust that it will be so – thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
It teaches us trust – give us this day our daily bread, trust not to worry about things of tomorrow, but to be fully present and trust in today.
The lords prayer calls us to justice – it is so easy in life to take account of those who have wringed us in our lives, but how seriously do we think about those whom we have wronged - and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us – forgiveness is nor just about others, most important it is about you.
The Lord’s prayer makes us one – it binds us together as a community of faithful believers. God is not only head of our lives, God heads our lives o for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.
Finally the lords prayer is our life. Whenever I teach a class, I like to develop a covenant of how we will deal with one another. Rules of understanding. Once we all develop rules that we will live by and agree with, I have people sign the promise. Whenever we say amen – we put put our signature on what is being said or done. This is why it is so important for us to be open and aware when we pray. When we say amen, we are saying that we agree. We sign our lives to what is being said in the presence of god.
If you read through the book of Luke, you will notice that this writer was fascinated with Jesus and his prayer time. He makes notes of every time that he say Jesus pray. And at every pivotal point in his ministry, Luke will point out that Jesus prayed. At his baptism, during his temptation, before teaching, at the transfiguration, before going to Jerusalem, when he got to Jerusalem, when he knew that he would be killed, as he was being tortured, when he was on the cross, as he died, in his resurrection. At each of these junctures jesus needed to have a conversation with god. Prayer was jesus decision to walk with God. When do you take the time in your life to pray? What do your pray for? Whom do you pray for?
A church was having a family and friends day. Before inviting guest, each person was asked to make a list of people in their lives that they would want to invite. Before approaching them, they were supposed to pray for them for a week. One lady wanted to ask her neighbor Kate. She and kate had sons who were in little league baseball together. She prayed for Kate, but it seemed the the opportunity to talk about church never came. So of course the lady decided that prayer didn’t work. And that Kate would never come to church. On Friday, before the family and friends Sunday she got a call from another little league mother that she was coming to church with her son. Her son had insisted that he had to come to Sunday school with his friends. Oh, and by the way, Kate is coming with her son. Her prayer was answered. In order for our prayers to be answered, God has to work behind the scenes in ways that we would never imagine for things to turn out. Sometimes the change has to come in the situation.
We pray for God when we have a request in our lives, but do we pray for strength, for guidance, do we pray when we are in service that god will open the way.
When Jesus says, ask, seek knock he is telling us to pray. Prayer is our request that the door will be opened. Jesus uses the parable of a neighbor asking a to open the door and help in the middle of the night. The neighbor hesitates to answer – yet god always answers.
It was rumored that in the days of the cold war that Russian children were taught not to believe in god by telling them that god does not answer prayer. The teacher would have the children close their eyes and to pray for candy – when they opened their eyes there was no candy. Then the teacher would have them close their eyes again and pray to the Russian leader - Lenin for candy. When they opened their eyes – the candy would be there. The teacher would tell them that Lenin loves them and provides whatever they ask.
Jesus is telling us that is not the God that we serve- we don’t serve a god who gives us candy whenever we ask for it. We don’t serve a god who answers our prayers by giving us the desires of our heart. We are in relationship with a god who loves us and will do for us what is best in the long run. Answer to prayer is not that you will get what you want, it is that you are loved in every situation. Jesus says that the father gives the gift of the holy spirit to those who ask him.
How is your relationship with God? How often do you bring your life to God in prayer? How often do you acknlowledge the presence of the holy spirit in your life – working in every situation on your behalf?
Ask, seek, knock, pray as your lord and savior taught you to pray. Let us pray the Lords prayer together.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
A Balancing Act
Eighth Sunday of Pentecost
July 18, 2010
Year C
Amos 8:1-12
Luke 10: 38-42
A Balancing Act
A woman was vacationing in a quaint little New England village by the seashore; the town had a downtown of cute and unique little shops. She got a taste for a double dipped chocolate ice cream cone, so she goes into the ice cream shop. When she went into the shop, there was only one other person in the shop, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, sitting at a table reading the paper, having coffee and a donut. She glanced at the customer, but had to do a double take – it was Paul Newman. Even though he was one of her favorite stars, she didn’t want to be a nuisance, so she pretended not to really see him. She ordered her ice cream cone, paid for it and hurried out of the store. When she got to her car, she had to congratulate herself, she had acted so coolly in the presence of a movie star – she had acted as if this was a normal everyday occurrence for her. But she also realized that something wasn’t quite right, where was her ice cream cone. She remembered getting it from the clerk, but she didn’t seem to have it. So she goes back into the store, and asks the clerk what happened. Paul Newman responds; you put it in your purse with your change.
How many of us would not respond in the same way, if we were in the presence of our favorite star? Under normal circumstances, we are calm and levelheaded people. But there are those circumstances in our lives, and those people who make us nervous, uneasy and distracted. Even in the midst of our trying to calm down, our distracted state makes us do dumb things. This lady ran into Paul Newman at an ice cream shop. Can you imagine how she would have responded had she been told that Paul Newman was coming to dinner? How would you respond if you were told that someone who you admired a lot was coming to dinner? Everything would have to be perfect, the house cleaner than it ever was before, the perfect menu planned, the perfect dessert picked out, the right activities to keep guest entertained. You know that no matter how much you try to get accomplished, as the guest arrive, there is going to be more and more that you realize needs to be done. This would be the perfect opportunity for nervousness and distraction to take over your life.
That is what was happening for Martha, as she prepared for Jesus to come to her house for dinner. She wanted everything to be perfect for him. This story is in John and Luke, in the John version it is clear that this is the Mary and Martha who are sisters of Jesus friend Lazarus. Luke does not specify who these two women are. What we do know is that no matter how hard Martha tried, things were not coming together. All she wanted was a little support from her sister Mary.
Martha means lady or mistress. It is the female equivalent of Lord – meaning she was the female head of the household.
When Jesus arrives, some interpretations of the story say that he told Martha that only a few things were needed, others say that he said that only one thing was needed. And it is not clear whether he was talking about the food, saying that he really did not need a lot to eat, just one dish, not a full spread, or was he saying that it was okay for Mary to sit with him and not help, because it was more important for her to get the word of God in her life.
Jesus acknowledges Martha’s nervousness about the event. He tells her that she is distracted. And just like the lady in the first story- it is her distractedness that makes her act, do and say things that she normally would not.
When I think about this story, my initial reaction is to think that Jesus is on the one hand criticizing Martha for doing the work that any woman would do. Wouldn’t any women be concerned about dinner for guest coming to her house. Wouldn’t any women want everything to be perfect. And in the midst of Jesus telling Martha not to worry about dinner, he and his disciples still expected dinner, and ate with her. Why wouldn’t Martha asked Jesus to pull his sister away from listening and studying. Women were not allowed to go to school, and there was certainly no reason for her to learn, when she was not allowed to teach.
But even 2000 years ago, Jesus knew enough to take us beyond stereotypes of what a woman’s work was. This could have easily been a story about two brothers, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, in which the older brother complains about doing all of the work, while his brother got all of the praise.
But jesus is saying that it is not the work that you do, but the state of mind in which you do the work.
Jesus points out that Martha is worried about a lot of things, in trying to make everything perfect, she is distracted from what is most important.
It is interesting that this parable is sandwiched between the story of the good Samaritan, and teaching his disciples the Lord’s prayer. It is in between the advice to get up and act and do the right thing and the advice to sit down and pray. Which is more important – a life of service or a life of prayer. Or are they equally important. Perhaps Jesus is not chastising Martha nor uplifting Mary – but reminding us that God’s work always needs to be done, but don’t forget to listen.
There is a story of a man on an African safari. He needed guides to take him through the rough terrain. They traveled for a few days – and he was enjoying the trip, but all of a sudden without notice the guides stopped. They set up camp and said they would be staying for a few days. The man being a go getter, thought this was a waste of time and he was upset and ready to go. The guides explained that they had been traveling so far, that their bodies had outrun their souls. And they needed to stop for a few days to allow their souls to catch up. They would be staying here until then.
When you think about the pace of our modern lives, how many of us are living lives in which our bodies are steps ahead of our souls. And we just keep going.
Amos addresses the busyness of our lives. I didn’t focus on Amos because it is such a harsh lesson. Amos is coming from a dark dismal place – where there is not hope for the people. They have reached the point of no return. The consequences of their actions has already been determined. God is going to address their sin.
Amos uses the vision of a bowl of summer fruit. Fruit that is good only for today, tomorrow it will be rotten. To show that the time has come, no room to wait, what will happen is already going to happen.
He talks about people who go to church, but even in the midst of service are calculating what they need to do to get ahead in life. He says that their measures are unfair. They raise prices, but give people less and less. I don’t want to call any names, but I have noticed that in more and more restaurants, they have raised prices on things, but decreased the portion sizes. In some instances they even made the plates smaller, so they can give you less. And I often wonder if things will change when the economy gets better, or will they continue to same practice just to make more money.
But here is another way that we use unfair measuring devices – in the way we judge people. We set unfair expectations for them, that we know they cant meet and we judge them when they don’t live up to our expectations. We even draw conclusions about people before we get all of the facts, another unfair measure of others.
We too have gotten so concerned about ourselves that we forget to think of others.
That is why Amos says that there is no second chance – the damage has been done. There is no hope. There will be a famine in the land – but not of food. Martha is still cooking dinner. But of the word of God. We will ask and get no answers, we will hope and get no peace, we will hunger, and even eat – but never feel full. All because we have forgotten how to listen and pay attention.
If you pack ice in a cold place, it will stay forever. In the north they build a lot of ice houses and put sawdust over them so that they will stay. One day there were building an ice house – and one of the builders lost his watch. The watch became a part of the house. When he realized he lost it, he went back into the house to find it – but it had become frozen on the ice, he couldn’t find it. Another man continued the search, and he looked for it – but couldn’t find it. One day, on their lunch break one of the sons went into the house to look for the watch. In fifteen minutes he found it – they asked how he was so lucky. He explained it wasn’t luck – he just took the time to listen for the ticking of the watch and he found it.
The good news of the gospel is that jesus called Martha name – not once but twice. Martha, Martha – stop, listen. Sometime Jesus has to say to me Harriette, Harriette, stop listen, you are distracted. Your are unfocused. You have forgotten your purpose. Few things are needed, indeed only one – your relationship with jesus.
You cant work in a food pantry week after week, dealing with constant hunger,constant need without remembering that Jesus didn’t ask you to stop hunger – but to feed my sheep.
You cant work with kids day after day watching them misbehave and get out of line – without being able to see the presence of Christ in each one of them.
Few things are needed, or indeed only one, Mary has chosen the better portion and it will not be taken away from her.
Every day we have to stop and ask ourselves what do we need to make it through the day.
If I stop and look at that big picture, and survey all that needs to be done in the next five years, within the next year, even within the upcoming week. I can get overwhelmed and have no idea of where to start, or how it is all going to get done.
Perhaps that is why in the next section of this story the Lord teaches me to pray the lords prayer, and teaches me to pray for my daily bread. What do I need to get through today, and how do I learn to not be so concerned about what happens tomorrow.
In choosing to be a disciple of Christ, timing is everything. There is a time to be in faithful service and there is a time to sit and listen at the foot of Jesus.
If Mary was allowed to sit at the foot of Jesus and learn, it was expected that whatever she learned she was to take that out in the world and to teach someone else.
In each of our lives and in each of our days there is a balancing act. We have to act , but we also have to pray.
I want to end with my favorite prayer – that I put in my bedroom to pray every day – sometimes I do and most of the time I forget
I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day, I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me and heavier came each task, who doesn’t god help me I wondered, he said but you didn’t ask. I wanted to see joy and beauty but the say toiled on gray and bleak, I wondered why God didn’t show me, he said but you didn’t seek. I tried to come into God’s presence I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, My child you didn’t knock. I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day. I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray. Amen.
July 18, 2010
Year C
Amos 8:1-12
Luke 10: 38-42
A Balancing Act
A woman was vacationing in a quaint little New England village by the seashore; the town had a downtown of cute and unique little shops. She got a taste for a double dipped chocolate ice cream cone, so she goes into the ice cream shop. When she went into the shop, there was only one other person in the shop, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, sitting at a table reading the paper, having coffee and a donut. She glanced at the customer, but had to do a double take – it was Paul Newman. Even though he was one of her favorite stars, she didn’t want to be a nuisance, so she pretended not to really see him. She ordered her ice cream cone, paid for it and hurried out of the store. When she got to her car, she had to congratulate herself, she had acted so coolly in the presence of a movie star – she had acted as if this was a normal everyday occurrence for her. But she also realized that something wasn’t quite right, where was her ice cream cone. She remembered getting it from the clerk, but she didn’t seem to have it. So she goes back into the store, and asks the clerk what happened. Paul Newman responds; you put it in your purse with your change.
How many of us would not respond in the same way, if we were in the presence of our favorite star? Under normal circumstances, we are calm and levelheaded people. But there are those circumstances in our lives, and those people who make us nervous, uneasy and distracted. Even in the midst of our trying to calm down, our distracted state makes us do dumb things. This lady ran into Paul Newman at an ice cream shop. Can you imagine how she would have responded had she been told that Paul Newman was coming to dinner? How would you respond if you were told that someone who you admired a lot was coming to dinner? Everything would have to be perfect, the house cleaner than it ever was before, the perfect menu planned, the perfect dessert picked out, the right activities to keep guest entertained. You know that no matter how much you try to get accomplished, as the guest arrive, there is going to be more and more that you realize needs to be done. This would be the perfect opportunity for nervousness and distraction to take over your life.
That is what was happening for Martha, as she prepared for Jesus to come to her house for dinner. She wanted everything to be perfect for him. This story is in John and Luke, in the John version it is clear that this is the Mary and Martha who are sisters of Jesus friend Lazarus. Luke does not specify who these two women are. What we do know is that no matter how hard Martha tried, things were not coming together. All she wanted was a little support from her sister Mary.
Martha means lady or mistress. It is the female equivalent of Lord – meaning she was the female head of the household.
When Jesus arrives, some interpretations of the story say that he told Martha that only a few things were needed, others say that he said that only one thing was needed. And it is not clear whether he was talking about the food, saying that he really did not need a lot to eat, just one dish, not a full spread, or was he saying that it was okay for Mary to sit with him and not help, because it was more important for her to get the word of God in her life.
Jesus acknowledges Martha’s nervousness about the event. He tells her that she is distracted. And just like the lady in the first story- it is her distractedness that makes her act, do and say things that she normally would not.
When I think about this story, my initial reaction is to think that Jesus is on the one hand criticizing Martha for doing the work that any woman would do. Wouldn’t any women be concerned about dinner for guest coming to her house. Wouldn’t any women want everything to be perfect. And in the midst of Jesus telling Martha not to worry about dinner, he and his disciples still expected dinner, and ate with her. Why wouldn’t Martha asked Jesus to pull his sister away from listening and studying. Women were not allowed to go to school, and there was certainly no reason for her to learn, when she was not allowed to teach.
But even 2000 years ago, Jesus knew enough to take us beyond stereotypes of what a woman’s work was. This could have easily been a story about two brothers, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, in which the older brother complains about doing all of the work, while his brother got all of the praise.
But jesus is saying that it is not the work that you do, but the state of mind in which you do the work.
Jesus points out that Martha is worried about a lot of things, in trying to make everything perfect, she is distracted from what is most important.
It is interesting that this parable is sandwiched between the story of the good Samaritan, and teaching his disciples the Lord’s prayer. It is in between the advice to get up and act and do the right thing and the advice to sit down and pray. Which is more important – a life of service or a life of prayer. Or are they equally important. Perhaps Jesus is not chastising Martha nor uplifting Mary – but reminding us that God’s work always needs to be done, but don’t forget to listen.
There is a story of a man on an African safari. He needed guides to take him through the rough terrain. They traveled for a few days – and he was enjoying the trip, but all of a sudden without notice the guides stopped. They set up camp and said they would be staying for a few days. The man being a go getter, thought this was a waste of time and he was upset and ready to go. The guides explained that they had been traveling so far, that their bodies had outrun their souls. And they needed to stop for a few days to allow their souls to catch up. They would be staying here until then.
When you think about the pace of our modern lives, how many of us are living lives in which our bodies are steps ahead of our souls. And we just keep going.
Amos addresses the busyness of our lives. I didn’t focus on Amos because it is such a harsh lesson. Amos is coming from a dark dismal place – where there is not hope for the people. They have reached the point of no return. The consequences of their actions has already been determined. God is going to address their sin.
Amos uses the vision of a bowl of summer fruit. Fruit that is good only for today, tomorrow it will be rotten. To show that the time has come, no room to wait, what will happen is already going to happen.
He talks about people who go to church, but even in the midst of service are calculating what they need to do to get ahead in life. He says that their measures are unfair. They raise prices, but give people less and less. I don’t want to call any names, but I have noticed that in more and more restaurants, they have raised prices on things, but decreased the portion sizes. In some instances they even made the plates smaller, so they can give you less. And I often wonder if things will change when the economy gets better, or will they continue to same practice just to make more money.
But here is another way that we use unfair measuring devices – in the way we judge people. We set unfair expectations for them, that we know they cant meet and we judge them when they don’t live up to our expectations. We even draw conclusions about people before we get all of the facts, another unfair measure of others.
We too have gotten so concerned about ourselves that we forget to think of others.
That is why Amos says that there is no second chance – the damage has been done. There is no hope. There will be a famine in the land – but not of food. Martha is still cooking dinner. But of the word of God. We will ask and get no answers, we will hope and get no peace, we will hunger, and even eat – but never feel full. All because we have forgotten how to listen and pay attention.
If you pack ice in a cold place, it will stay forever. In the north they build a lot of ice houses and put sawdust over them so that they will stay. One day there were building an ice house – and one of the builders lost his watch. The watch became a part of the house. When he realized he lost it, he went back into the house to find it – but it had become frozen on the ice, he couldn’t find it. Another man continued the search, and he looked for it – but couldn’t find it. One day, on their lunch break one of the sons went into the house to look for the watch. In fifteen minutes he found it – they asked how he was so lucky. He explained it wasn’t luck – he just took the time to listen for the ticking of the watch and he found it.
The good news of the gospel is that jesus called Martha name – not once but twice. Martha, Martha – stop, listen. Sometime Jesus has to say to me Harriette, Harriette, stop listen, you are distracted. Your are unfocused. You have forgotten your purpose. Few things are needed, indeed only one – your relationship with jesus.
You cant work in a food pantry week after week, dealing with constant hunger,constant need without remembering that Jesus didn’t ask you to stop hunger – but to feed my sheep.
You cant work with kids day after day watching them misbehave and get out of line – without being able to see the presence of Christ in each one of them.
Few things are needed, or indeed only one, Mary has chosen the better portion and it will not be taken away from her.
Every day we have to stop and ask ourselves what do we need to make it through the day.
If I stop and look at that big picture, and survey all that needs to be done in the next five years, within the next year, even within the upcoming week. I can get overwhelmed and have no idea of where to start, or how it is all going to get done.
Perhaps that is why in the next section of this story the Lord teaches me to pray the lords prayer, and teaches me to pray for my daily bread. What do I need to get through today, and how do I learn to not be so concerned about what happens tomorrow.
In choosing to be a disciple of Christ, timing is everything. There is a time to be in faithful service and there is a time to sit and listen at the foot of Jesus.
If Mary was allowed to sit at the foot of Jesus and learn, it was expected that whatever she learned she was to take that out in the world and to teach someone else.
In each of our lives and in each of our days there is a balancing act. We have to act , but we also have to pray.
I want to end with my favorite prayer – that I put in my bedroom to pray every day – sometimes I do and most of the time I forget
I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day, I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me and heavier came each task, who doesn’t god help me I wondered, he said but you didn’t ask. I wanted to see joy and beauty but the say toiled on gray and bleak, I wondered why God didn’t show me, he said but you didn’t seek. I tried to come into God’s presence I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, My child you didn’t knock. I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day. I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray. Amen.
Monday, July 12, 2010
A Good Deed
Englewood and Rust United Methodist Churches
July 11, 2010
Amos 7:1-7
Luke 10:25-37
A Good Deed
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Year C
Examples of the Great Commandment
I know that the gospel lesson is from Luke this morning, but I want to take us to some other scriptures.
In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord you god with all of your heart, your soul, and with all of your mind. That is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it – Love your neighbor as yourself. All of the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
Every Israelite would have known these commandments and would have followed them. Jesus is quoting the greatest commandment and prayer, the golden rule.
Jews were and still are commanded to pray at all times, and to remember the great commandment – Deuteronomy 6:4 – hear o Israel: the lord our God, the lord is one. Most important. And then Deuteronomy6: 5 – love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength.
Jesus says love the lord with all of your mind, and the law says love the lord with all of your strength. The New Testament is written in Greek, and the Hebrew Scriptures are written in Hebrew – so it is difficult to tell why there is a difference in wording. Actually the Hebrew word that is interpreted as strength is meod – which actually means your muchness. Which means your being, your will, your abundance.
Alice in Wonderland as an example of muchness
Did anyone see the new Alice and Wonderland? Anything with Johnny Depp in it is a good movie to me. This movie is not a remake of the old – but a sequel. Alice has been to wonderland before, and they are now in crisis and need Alice to come back to save them. Once they get her to return – the characters get into a debate – which they have to wrong Alice. They called her back because they knew that Alice was the only one with enough nerve to do the right thing and to do what needs to be done to save them.
It’s the wrong Alice – no she insists I am the right Alice – what’s wrong with you then? What do you mean she asks – you have lost your muchness - you are not you anymore. For some reason, your nerve, your commandment, your guiding principle seems to be missing.
For us, we know that the guiding principle of our lives, the great commandment – to love to Lord our God is our muchness.
Repeat after me: Love the lord with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it – repeat after me Love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus is challenged
Jesus taught that message to us in many ways. He had been teaching is disciples to go out into the world and to give that message, when a law scholar overheard him as he told them to have joy that their names were written in the annuls of heaven.
Feeling this was a good chance to challenge Jesus and stop the mad talk – he asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life – to live with god forever.
Jesus was not only smart – but he was wise enough to beat the scholar at his own game – you know the law – what does it say? Why are you asking me? We all know the greatest commandment.
The lawyer not wanting to be beat just yet continues his question – who is my neighbor –
Story of the Good Samaritan
A Jesus answer is one of the most well known stories in the bible – the story of the Good Samaritan. Society has co-opted this lesson so much that we don’t even realize that nowhere in the scripture does it say that the Samaritan is good. Or that he even did the right thing.
According to the law – the two men who passed by the man in the ditch were doing to right thing. They were in service for the lord – they were the good ones.
What we also may not realize is that this is not a story about how we treat strangers – it is about how we treat family members.
Samaritans are family members
Samaritans and Jews were part of the same family. Samaritans were confused Jews. As a matter of fact, they were Jews who refused to pray the Shema – they did not believe that the Lord was one. The worshipped other god in addition to Yahweh. They did not want to travel all the way to Jerusalem just to worship the one god, so they built their own altars. For a real Jew – to disrespect the shema – was the ultimate disrespect – it didn’t matter who you – that you were family.
When Jesus would have told this story and asked who was a true neighbor – he was counting on his audience to shutter. To get this sick feeling in their stomachs when they would have had to open their mouth and say Samaritan.
But Jesus to realize that charity starts at home. Sometimes the way we treat our own brothers and sisters is worse that how we treat enemies and strangers. We like to think about how good we are – and we totally ignore the sins we commit at home. A misunderstanding ensues – we don’t understand why our sisters and brothers act the way they do, we think that they can do better, do different, we wonder why they are so lost that they don’t even bother to speak anymore. We get comfortable in our self righteous hole – and we don’t speak to one another or even bother to work out our differences.
Jesus was a Jew – trying to bring his family back together again. In the process – he probably experiences the rejection like that of the Samaritans many times. I remember when I was in Israel – our tour guide told us – it is not that we don’t like Jesus – we don’t understand him –why would he disrespect our tradition so much and change it so much.
Because he realized that the love of the tradition and heritage has started to stand in the way of learning how to love one another. Tradition and beliefs had started to take precedence over unconditional love. Jesus knew the sick feeling any Jew would have gotten in having to admit that an alienated brother – the Samaritan was a true neighbor in this story. Maybe it was time to forget about the law and the prophets and to remember the great commandment - which is? And the second…. Perhaps love should be our guiding principle.
Story of boy wanting to be a brother
8-
I recall a story I read about a man
who had just received a new car from his brother. He went to visit a client in a poor neighborhood and as he returned to his car he noticed a boy with leg braces sitting on the doorstep of a nearby apartment building, admiring his car.
“That sure is a nice car mister! You sure must have a lot of money to afford a car like that!”
He replied, “No, not so much! My car was a piece of junk and my brother gave me
-9-
this one!”
“You’re kidding, he GAVE it to you. Like for FREE! You didn’t have to pay nothin’ at all for it?”
The man smiled, “Yes it was for free. I didn’t have to pay anything at all! ”
What the boy said next blew the man right out of the water, “Wow, I wish -
I wish I could be a brother like that.”
(Pause)
The man quizzing Jesus, according to Luke, was seeking to justify himself.
Most of us would have said I wish I had a brother like that. Jesus is trying to tell us that it is not about the brother you have – it is about the brother you are.
So what would life be like if we could love the lord with all of our abundance – our muchness.
We are the neighbors
Neighbors are not the people out there – neighbors are the people in here. We are the neighbors. In how we treat others in our own family. If can’t love one another in here – what is it that those out there really see in us? The reality is that we treat others the same way that we treat our family. We have to love one another – in spite of our differences. We love those whom god places in our lives – we don’t get to pick our family.
I am not going to touch on Amos too much this morning – other than to say that it echoes the lesson of the gospel. Amos takes a plumb line amongst the people to see if they are really following the great commandment of loving the lord and loving your neighbor. And Amos too needed to point out that the religious establishment had gotten so caught up in doing the right thing – they had forgotten the simple rule of love. It is not so much that the rule for us is love – love is the rule of how we respond to others.
That plumb line – that rule in our lives – is to remind us that love controls every aspect of who we are and what we do.
Love is our muchness – our abundance, our nerve, our strength, our heart, our soul and our mind.
The greatest commandment is…… the second……
We all know that – we have to just remember to live that.
Let us pray…..
July 11, 2010
Amos 7:1-7
Luke 10:25-37
A Good Deed
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Year C
Examples of the Great Commandment
I know that the gospel lesson is from Luke this morning, but I want to take us to some other scriptures.
In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord you god with all of your heart, your soul, and with all of your mind. That is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it – Love your neighbor as yourself. All of the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
Every Israelite would have known these commandments and would have followed them. Jesus is quoting the greatest commandment and prayer, the golden rule.
Jews were and still are commanded to pray at all times, and to remember the great commandment – Deuteronomy 6:4 – hear o Israel: the lord our God, the lord is one. Most important. And then Deuteronomy6: 5 – love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength.
Jesus says love the lord with all of your mind, and the law says love the lord with all of your strength. The New Testament is written in Greek, and the Hebrew Scriptures are written in Hebrew – so it is difficult to tell why there is a difference in wording. Actually the Hebrew word that is interpreted as strength is meod – which actually means your muchness. Which means your being, your will, your abundance.
Alice in Wonderland as an example of muchness
Did anyone see the new Alice and Wonderland? Anything with Johnny Depp in it is a good movie to me. This movie is not a remake of the old – but a sequel. Alice has been to wonderland before, and they are now in crisis and need Alice to come back to save them. Once they get her to return – the characters get into a debate – which they have to wrong Alice. They called her back because they knew that Alice was the only one with enough nerve to do the right thing and to do what needs to be done to save them.
It’s the wrong Alice – no she insists I am the right Alice – what’s wrong with you then? What do you mean she asks – you have lost your muchness - you are not you anymore. For some reason, your nerve, your commandment, your guiding principle seems to be missing.
For us, we know that the guiding principle of our lives, the great commandment – to love to Lord our God is our muchness.
Repeat after me: Love the lord with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it – repeat after me Love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus is challenged
Jesus taught that message to us in many ways. He had been teaching is disciples to go out into the world and to give that message, when a law scholar overheard him as he told them to have joy that their names were written in the annuls of heaven.
Feeling this was a good chance to challenge Jesus and stop the mad talk – he asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life – to live with god forever.
Jesus was not only smart – but he was wise enough to beat the scholar at his own game – you know the law – what does it say? Why are you asking me? We all know the greatest commandment.
The lawyer not wanting to be beat just yet continues his question – who is my neighbor –
Story of the Good Samaritan
A Jesus answer is one of the most well known stories in the bible – the story of the Good Samaritan. Society has co-opted this lesson so much that we don’t even realize that nowhere in the scripture does it say that the Samaritan is good. Or that he even did the right thing.
According to the law – the two men who passed by the man in the ditch were doing to right thing. They were in service for the lord – they were the good ones.
What we also may not realize is that this is not a story about how we treat strangers – it is about how we treat family members.
Samaritans are family members
Samaritans and Jews were part of the same family. Samaritans were confused Jews. As a matter of fact, they were Jews who refused to pray the Shema – they did not believe that the Lord was one. The worshipped other god in addition to Yahweh. They did not want to travel all the way to Jerusalem just to worship the one god, so they built their own altars. For a real Jew – to disrespect the shema – was the ultimate disrespect – it didn’t matter who you – that you were family.
When Jesus would have told this story and asked who was a true neighbor – he was counting on his audience to shutter. To get this sick feeling in their stomachs when they would have had to open their mouth and say Samaritan.
But Jesus to realize that charity starts at home. Sometimes the way we treat our own brothers and sisters is worse that how we treat enemies and strangers. We like to think about how good we are – and we totally ignore the sins we commit at home. A misunderstanding ensues – we don’t understand why our sisters and brothers act the way they do, we think that they can do better, do different, we wonder why they are so lost that they don’t even bother to speak anymore. We get comfortable in our self righteous hole – and we don’t speak to one another or even bother to work out our differences.
Jesus was a Jew – trying to bring his family back together again. In the process – he probably experiences the rejection like that of the Samaritans many times. I remember when I was in Israel – our tour guide told us – it is not that we don’t like Jesus – we don’t understand him –why would he disrespect our tradition so much and change it so much.
Because he realized that the love of the tradition and heritage has started to stand in the way of learning how to love one another. Tradition and beliefs had started to take precedence over unconditional love. Jesus knew the sick feeling any Jew would have gotten in having to admit that an alienated brother – the Samaritan was a true neighbor in this story. Maybe it was time to forget about the law and the prophets and to remember the great commandment - which is? And the second…. Perhaps love should be our guiding principle.
Story of boy wanting to be a brother
8-
I recall a story I read about a man
who had just received a new car from his brother. He went to visit a client in a poor neighborhood and as he returned to his car he noticed a boy with leg braces sitting on the doorstep of a nearby apartment building, admiring his car.
“That sure is a nice car mister! You sure must have a lot of money to afford a car like that!”
He replied, “No, not so much! My car was a piece of junk and my brother gave me
-9-
this one!”
“You’re kidding, he GAVE it to you. Like for FREE! You didn’t have to pay nothin’ at all for it?”
The man smiled, “Yes it was for free. I didn’t have to pay anything at all! ”
What the boy said next blew the man right out of the water, “Wow, I wish -
I wish I could be a brother like that.”
(Pause)
The man quizzing Jesus, according to Luke, was seeking to justify himself.
Most of us would have said I wish I had a brother like that. Jesus is trying to tell us that it is not about the brother you have – it is about the brother you are.
So what would life be like if we could love the lord with all of our abundance – our muchness.
We are the neighbors
Neighbors are not the people out there – neighbors are the people in here. We are the neighbors. In how we treat others in our own family. If can’t love one another in here – what is it that those out there really see in us? The reality is that we treat others the same way that we treat our family. We have to love one another – in spite of our differences. We love those whom god places in our lives – we don’t get to pick our family.
I am not going to touch on Amos too much this morning – other than to say that it echoes the lesson of the gospel. Amos takes a plumb line amongst the people to see if they are really following the great commandment of loving the lord and loving your neighbor. And Amos too needed to point out that the religious establishment had gotten so caught up in doing the right thing – they had forgotten the simple rule of love. It is not so much that the rule for us is love – love is the rule of how we respond to others.
That plumb line – that rule in our lives – is to remind us that love controls every aspect of who we are and what we do.
Love is our muchness – our abundance, our nerve, our strength, our heart, our soul and our mind.
The greatest commandment is…… the second……
We all know that – we have to just remember to live that.
Let us pray…..
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Good Day Ahead
Englewood/Rust UMC
July 4, 2010
2 Kings 5:1-14
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Pentecost 7
Year C
First Sermon
I think it’s been cancelled now, but at the beginning of the year there was this show that came on ABC – I think it was called Flashback, or something like that. I never really got into the show, but I do remember the line from one of the commercials that has always stuck in my mind. In it a little girl of about six years old woke up in her bed crying. Her mother stood over her and asked – baby what is the matter. She said, mommy I had a bad dream. The mother asked, so baby – what was your dream. She said momma I dreamed that there were no more good days. There are only bad days ahead.
The scene sticks in my head , and I thought there is a sermon in that statement – I immediately thought this little girl was having my bad dream - my nightmare. The nightmare of no more good days. Things are never going to get better for me. You don’t pay bills and the bills pile up, you pay the bills and the bills still pile up. You work as hard as you can, tirelessly every day and there is still someone telling you that it is not enough. You try and things still don’t change, you don’t try and things don’t change. What is the use – there are no more good days. There was a time in my life when I felt that I was moving forward, getting ahead, happy enjoying life. But that was a long time ago – not today.
But you know – I also think that I am forgetting a very important lesson about my faith in Christ.
Namaan must have felt that way when he set out to isreal looking for a cure. There were no good days ahead. We get that way when we feel we have been robbed of the life that we know and understand.
Namaan was the general of the greatest army in the world at the time. The bible says that God gave victory to the army of Aram through Namaan. He was used to people bowing to him and giving him whatever he wanted. He was used to special priviledges, used to invitations from important people, used to being with the rich and famous of his day.
But he lost all of that the day he got a disease – what he thought to be a skin disease. He didn’t know what it was, but he was not taking any chances.
He thought he had leprosy – a skin disease that made all of his friend keep their distance. But really it was something deeper.
Physical symptoms are always a sign of something deeper. Every illness that we have has a physical component, a mental and emotional component and a spiritual component. Physical illness is our bodies way of getting our attention to warn us that something needs to change in our lives and in our spirits.
The second symptom of his deeper illness, of his need for a cure, was in his stuff. In order to take this journey of healing he needed to take 10 changes of clothes, horseloads of jewelry, food and other gifts. He was convinced that his stuff was going to find a cure.
No wonder when he did get to the prophet Elisha, the prophet didn’t even bother to greet him. He just sent a message to bathe in the river.
Elisha knew that Namaan’s complaint was not his problem. Remember physical symptoms are always a sign of a deeper spiritual issue.
Namaan didn’t need to be cured of his leprosy, he needed to be cured of his pride.
Pride that his stuff could bring him healing. Pride that his life was all about him – who he was and what he had. Pride that just because he was important that he was not supposed to suffer.
Elisha didn’t want to have anything to do with his stuff.
Pride stands in the way of us seeing how God works in our lives. Humililty opens the door to see how God is working in spite of ourselves, our ego and our pride. Let me repeat that – pride stands in the way of us seeing how God works in our lives, humility opens the door to see how God is working in spite of ourselves.
You see this is not a story about Namaan and his high horse, his illness, his unwillingness to listen, his arrogance that just because he has a problem someone is supposed to take care of him.
This is really a story about the miracle of everyday life and everyday people. It is a story about a slave girl who knew of a prophet who could really cure Naaman. It is about a servant who told him the put his pride aside and do what Elisha said, it is about a down to earth prophet – who had spiritual eyes to see what was really going on.
God works through our faith not our pride, we just have to be aware enough to know the difference.
We also have to know that everything that we need in life is contained in the peace of Christ. Peace means justice, wellbeing, wholeness, and joy.
Jesus sends his disciples out into the world 2 by 2 charging them to give peace to the world. He tells them to take nothing for the journey – in other words leave you stuff at home. Peace is not in our stuff, it is in our love for God.
Just like a car needs gas, a spirit needs the spirit of Christ. When the spirit is not connected to God – we are empty. The peace of Christ for a Christian is everything. It is our healing, our teaching, our guiding light, it is our light in a dark spot, our joy in times of trouble, our hope when nothing else works. Most importantly it is our message to the rest of the world that we are all God’s children and everything is going to be okay.
The peace of Christ is the fuel our spirits use, the food our souls feed on – we can’t be happy apart from the spirit of Christ. Christ can’t give us happiness and peace apart from himself – it’s just not possible. Those are not my words – but the words of the famous Christian author C.S. Lewis.
Furthermore, an unhappy, unpeaceful, hopeless Christian is a poor reflection not only on Christ’s church but on God.
Either they are not practicing their faith properly, or their faith is useless.
Unhappy Christians are the world’s biggest argument for staying away from church, and for believing that either God is useless for even that there is no God.
The presence of joy is a sign that Christ is alive in ourselves, our hearts and the world.
When Jesus send his disciples out 2by2, he told them to pass the peace, travel light, heal the sick, and to return with joy. Scripture says – I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, over come the power of evil and nothing will harm you.
Jesus didn’t say the journey would be easy, as a matter of fact he says the exact opposite. But he did say that nothing will harm you and that you will have joy.
Billy Graham tells the story of visiting a carribean island. He was invited to have lunch with one of the wealthiest men in the world. The man was 75 years old – and he seemed close to tears the whole time. I am the most miserable man in the world. He point to his yacht and said that he could go wherever he wanted. He could do whatever he wanted, he could have whatever he wanted – I have all I want to make me happy – but none of it mattered. Nothing gave his life meaning, nothing made him happy. The grahams talked to him and tried to lead him to Christ – to help him understand that true happiness was in the presence of Christ in his life.
Later that day they had dinner with a pastor – 75 also, he too had lost his wife and spent his free time taking care of his sick sisters. But in the midst of it all – he was happy and full of Christ. He loved witnessing to the love of Christ. I don’t have a dime to my name he said, but I am the happiest man on the island. When the Grahams left his house – Billy asked his wife – which one of these men was richer?
We got some tough times ahead – and life really might not get better. There is rejection, failure, and pain in the future – we can be sure of that.
But there are also good days ahead. Personally I praise God that I don’t have to life in the nightmare belief that there are no more good days.
I can celebrate because the glory of God is not in what I do for God- it is in the testimony of what God does for me.
My peace is not in my self, its in Christ. My message to the world is not in my stuff, or lack there of – it is in the witness that I am for God. My joy is in my journey – journey to pass the peace of Christ to everyone I meet. My happiness is not just in what I say – it is in who I am for the Lord. And who the Lord is for me. Let us pray….
July 4, 2010
2 Kings 5:1-14
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Pentecost 7
Year C
First Sermon
I think it’s been cancelled now, but at the beginning of the year there was this show that came on ABC – I think it was called Flashback, or something like that. I never really got into the show, but I do remember the line from one of the commercials that has always stuck in my mind. In it a little girl of about six years old woke up in her bed crying. Her mother stood over her and asked – baby what is the matter. She said, mommy I had a bad dream. The mother asked, so baby – what was your dream. She said momma I dreamed that there were no more good days. There are only bad days ahead.
The scene sticks in my head , and I thought there is a sermon in that statement – I immediately thought this little girl was having my bad dream - my nightmare. The nightmare of no more good days. Things are never going to get better for me. You don’t pay bills and the bills pile up, you pay the bills and the bills still pile up. You work as hard as you can, tirelessly every day and there is still someone telling you that it is not enough. You try and things still don’t change, you don’t try and things don’t change. What is the use – there are no more good days. There was a time in my life when I felt that I was moving forward, getting ahead, happy enjoying life. But that was a long time ago – not today.
But you know – I also think that I am forgetting a very important lesson about my faith in Christ.
Namaan must have felt that way when he set out to isreal looking for a cure. There were no good days ahead. We get that way when we feel we have been robbed of the life that we know and understand.
Namaan was the general of the greatest army in the world at the time. The bible says that God gave victory to the army of Aram through Namaan. He was used to people bowing to him and giving him whatever he wanted. He was used to special priviledges, used to invitations from important people, used to being with the rich and famous of his day.
But he lost all of that the day he got a disease – what he thought to be a skin disease. He didn’t know what it was, but he was not taking any chances.
He thought he had leprosy – a skin disease that made all of his friend keep their distance. But really it was something deeper.
Physical symptoms are always a sign of something deeper. Every illness that we have has a physical component, a mental and emotional component and a spiritual component. Physical illness is our bodies way of getting our attention to warn us that something needs to change in our lives and in our spirits.
The second symptom of his deeper illness, of his need for a cure, was in his stuff. In order to take this journey of healing he needed to take 10 changes of clothes, horseloads of jewelry, food and other gifts. He was convinced that his stuff was going to find a cure.
No wonder when he did get to the prophet Elisha, the prophet didn’t even bother to greet him. He just sent a message to bathe in the river.
Elisha knew that Namaan’s complaint was not his problem. Remember physical symptoms are always a sign of a deeper spiritual issue.
Namaan didn’t need to be cured of his leprosy, he needed to be cured of his pride.
Pride that his stuff could bring him healing. Pride that his life was all about him – who he was and what he had. Pride that just because he was important that he was not supposed to suffer.
Elisha didn’t want to have anything to do with his stuff.
Pride stands in the way of us seeing how God works in our lives. Humililty opens the door to see how God is working in spite of ourselves, our ego and our pride. Let me repeat that – pride stands in the way of us seeing how God works in our lives, humility opens the door to see how God is working in spite of ourselves.
You see this is not a story about Namaan and his high horse, his illness, his unwillingness to listen, his arrogance that just because he has a problem someone is supposed to take care of him.
This is really a story about the miracle of everyday life and everyday people. It is a story about a slave girl who knew of a prophet who could really cure Naaman. It is about a servant who told him the put his pride aside and do what Elisha said, it is about a down to earth prophet – who had spiritual eyes to see what was really going on.
God works through our faith not our pride, we just have to be aware enough to know the difference.
We also have to know that everything that we need in life is contained in the peace of Christ. Peace means justice, wellbeing, wholeness, and joy.
Jesus sends his disciples out into the world 2 by 2 charging them to give peace to the world. He tells them to take nothing for the journey – in other words leave you stuff at home. Peace is not in our stuff, it is in our love for God.
Just like a car needs gas, a spirit needs the spirit of Christ. When the spirit is not connected to God – we are empty. The peace of Christ for a Christian is everything. It is our healing, our teaching, our guiding light, it is our light in a dark spot, our joy in times of trouble, our hope when nothing else works. Most importantly it is our message to the rest of the world that we are all God’s children and everything is going to be okay.
The peace of Christ is the fuel our spirits use, the food our souls feed on – we can’t be happy apart from the spirit of Christ. Christ can’t give us happiness and peace apart from himself – it’s just not possible. Those are not my words – but the words of the famous Christian author C.S. Lewis.
Furthermore, an unhappy, unpeaceful, hopeless Christian is a poor reflection not only on Christ’s church but on God.
Either they are not practicing their faith properly, or their faith is useless.
Unhappy Christians are the world’s biggest argument for staying away from church, and for believing that either God is useless for even that there is no God.
The presence of joy is a sign that Christ is alive in ourselves, our hearts and the world.
When Jesus send his disciples out 2by2, he told them to pass the peace, travel light, heal the sick, and to return with joy. Scripture says – I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, over come the power of evil and nothing will harm you.
Jesus didn’t say the journey would be easy, as a matter of fact he says the exact opposite. But he did say that nothing will harm you and that you will have joy.
Billy Graham tells the story of visiting a carribean island. He was invited to have lunch with one of the wealthiest men in the world. The man was 75 years old – and he seemed close to tears the whole time. I am the most miserable man in the world. He point to his yacht and said that he could go wherever he wanted. He could do whatever he wanted, he could have whatever he wanted – I have all I want to make me happy – but none of it mattered. Nothing gave his life meaning, nothing made him happy. The grahams talked to him and tried to lead him to Christ – to help him understand that true happiness was in the presence of Christ in his life.
Later that day they had dinner with a pastor – 75 also, he too had lost his wife and spent his free time taking care of his sick sisters. But in the midst of it all – he was happy and full of Christ. He loved witnessing to the love of Christ. I don’t have a dime to my name he said, but I am the happiest man on the island. When the Grahams left his house – Billy asked his wife – which one of these men was richer?
We got some tough times ahead – and life really might not get better. There is rejection, failure, and pain in the future – we can be sure of that.
But there are also good days ahead. Personally I praise God that I don’t have to life in the nightmare belief that there are no more good days.
I can celebrate because the glory of God is not in what I do for God- it is in the testimony of what God does for me.
My peace is not in my self, its in Christ. My message to the world is not in my stuff, or lack there of – it is in the witness that I am for God. My joy is in my journey – journey to pass the peace of Christ to everyone I meet. My happiness is not just in what I say – it is in who I am for the Lord. And who the Lord is for me. Let us pray….
Friday, July 02, 2010
A God Moment
June 27, 2010
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Year C
Last Sermon
The countdown is on 3 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes and 10 seconds until July 1st – and I am free.
While looking for a story to say goodbye to the children in the preschool – I found this one for my sermon.
There’s a big beautiful world out there. It speaks of new experiences and not being afraid.
There's a Big Beautiful World Out There - Nancy Carlson - Viking (Penguin Putman Books for Young Readers), New York 2002
The book was written on september 12, 2001 – the day after the September 11 event – to remind us all that life goes on. Even in the midst of our scariest moments, in the midst of those times when we have no idea of what is next – there is a big beautiful world out there – and that we have to be ready to face it. We have to be ready and prepared for the changes in out life. We have to look forward to the freedom that we have in life to go on.
Paul also reminds us that freedom is Christ means understanding that you are never free of your fellow Christians. Once you are a part of a community of Christians – you are bound to them forever. You never get to walk away. No matter what the relationship – you are still bound to them by love. Through love become slaves to one another. Verse 15 says – if however you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Whatever difference we have, we must forgive and understand and think in terms of love.
Freedom means living under the guidance of the holy spirit- it means letting the Spirit control your life and your emotions and giving patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control to your self and to one another. Paul says that there is no law against such things.
In preparing for this sermon – I found that it was a Spirit moment – that the two scriptures for my last sermon on Elijah and Elisha and the subject of freedom were actually the subject of my first sermon hear. I was hoping that I could make it easy on myself and just preach that sermon again. It was three years ago. It was entitled cracks in the sidewalk – and talked about times of transition and that fact that freedom is not free. Unfortunately it was a fourth of july sermon – and wouldn’t have the same affect today.
But it reminded us that the story of Elijah and Elisha is a story of transition and change. Elijah knows that he is going to die and he has chosen Elisha to take his place. At one time in his life he felt that he was all alone and that all of his hard work would disappear with him when he left. God not only sends him Elisha – Elisha is ready to take on and do twice as much as Elijah. If you read the bible – you will find that Elisha performed exactly twice as many miracles as Elijah did.
The good news is that god never leaves us hanging we always have an heir. – if we are given a job, we are never alone, and our work is not about us – so it doesn’t end with us – it is passed on.
Did you hear in the news of the 66 year old woman who just gave birth to triplets – she got pregnant because her 70 year old husband was concerned that he would not have a heir to pass on his inheritance.
I couldn’t imagine raising triplets at my age – but god’s message to us is that we can dwell on what we don’t have- or we can celebrate what we do. We can live in scarcity and not enough- or we can trust that the spirit is alive and working in our lives. We can dwell on those who are not in out lives, or we can celebrate those who are. Living in the flesh brings anger, strife , jealousy, envy and the list goes on. Living with the spirit brings patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness and the like and Paul says there is no law against such things
Seeds of faith are being planted every day. If we are faithful some of those seeds will never bloom, we will never see results, and yet some will grow, some will bloom. Some will plant even more. Not for our sake but for God’s.
So it looks like I end my journey with you, where I started. In transition, thinking about freedom. I don’t have any profound words of goodbye – because I feel that our relationship, our memories, our times together is said in the relationships that we will carry in our heart, the joys and sorrows that need to be acknowledged, the wounds that need to be healed and the memories that need to be cherished. Our journey together is not over, it is just that we have reached a fork in the road and must move in separate directions. Joined together always by the work Christ has given us to do and the spirit that leads us. Our task remains to love the lord our God with all of our hearts, minds and souls and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And to always remember that the rest is up to God – go in peace, Amen.
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Year C
Last Sermon
The countdown is on 3 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes and 10 seconds until July 1st – and I am free.
While looking for a story to say goodbye to the children in the preschool – I found this one for my sermon.
There’s a big beautiful world out there. It speaks of new experiences and not being afraid.
There's a Big Beautiful World Out There - Nancy Carlson - Viking (Penguin Putman Books for Young Readers), New York 2002
The book was written on september 12, 2001 – the day after the September 11 event – to remind us all that life goes on. Even in the midst of our scariest moments, in the midst of those times when we have no idea of what is next – there is a big beautiful world out there – and that we have to be ready to face it. We have to be ready and prepared for the changes in out life. We have to look forward to the freedom that we have in life to go on.
Paul also reminds us that freedom is Christ means understanding that you are never free of your fellow Christians. Once you are a part of a community of Christians – you are bound to them forever. You never get to walk away. No matter what the relationship – you are still bound to them by love. Through love become slaves to one another. Verse 15 says – if however you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Whatever difference we have, we must forgive and understand and think in terms of love.
Freedom means living under the guidance of the holy spirit- it means letting the Spirit control your life and your emotions and giving patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control to your self and to one another. Paul says that there is no law against such things.
In preparing for this sermon – I found that it was a Spirit moment – that the two scriptures for my last sermon on Elijah and Elisha and the subject of freedom were actually the subject of my first sermon hear. I was hoping that I could make it easy on myself and just preach that sermon again. It was three years ago. It was entitled cracks in the sidewalk – and talked about times of transition and that fact that freedom is not free. Unfortunately it was a fourth of july sermon – and wouldn’t have the same affect today.
But it reminded us that the story of Elijah and Elisha is a story of transition and change. Elijah knows that he is going to die and he has chosen Elisha to take his place. At one time in his life he felt that he was all alone and that all of his hard work would disappear with him when he left. God not only sends him Elisha – Elisha is ready to take on and do twice as much as Elijah. If you read the bible – you will find that Elisha performed exactly twice as many miracles as Elijah did.
The good news is that god never leaves us hanging we always have an heir. – if we are given a job, we are never alone, and our work is not about us – so it doesn’t end with us – it is passed on.
Did you hear in the news of the 66 year old woman who just gave birth to triplets – she got pregnant because her 70 year old husband was concerned that he would not have a heir to pass on his inheritance.
I couldn’t imagine raising triplets at my age – but god’s message to us is that we can dwell on what we don’t have- or we can celebrate what we do. We can live in scarcity and not enough- or we can trust that the spirit is alive and working in our lives. We can dwell on those who are not in out lives, or we can celebrate those who are. Living in the flesh brings anger, strife , jealousy, envy and the list goes on. Living with the spirit brings patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness and the like and Paul says there is no law against such things
Seeds of faith are being planted every day. If we are faithful some of those seeds will never bloom, we will never see results, and yet some will grow, some will bloom. Some will plant even more. Not for our sake but for God’s.
So it looks like I end my journey with you, where I started. In transition, thinking about freedom. I don’t have any profound words of goodbye – because I feel that our relationship, our memories, our times together is said in the relationships that we will carry in our heart, the joys and sorrows that need to be acknowledged, the wounds that need to be healed and the memories that need to be cherished. Our journey together is not over, it is just that we have reached a fork in the road and must move in separate directions. Joined together always by the work Christ has given us to do and the spirit that leads us. Our task remains to love the lord our God with all of our hearts, minds and souls and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And to always remember that the rest is up to God – go in peace, Amen.
Getting to the Getting Over It
Getting to the Getting Over It
1 Kings 19:1-15
Galatians 3:23-29
4th Sunday of Pentecost
June 20, 2010
(not really a father’s day sermon)
Year C
Let me be clear – one of the worst things that you can tell someone in pain – is to just get over it and move on.
But in reality – it is the only answer to any crisis in our lives – life goes on, get over it and move on. It is all in the timing , the way of saying it, and sometimes even the appropriate place for it to be said. Even God realizes that God has to be careful with God’s words even with the most faithful of servants.
We have all reached those moments in our lives when we have done all that we can and things are just not working, and you are ready to throw in the towel and say forget about it all.
We have been looking at the prophetic career of Elijah this summer. He has had some pretty amazing accomplishments. He has done some pretty amazing things.
Last week he challenged the queen of Isreal to a duel. We wanted to prove that his god was stronger than her god. He set fire to an altar and god not only appeared – all of her priest were killed, and she gets a little angry. And threatens to kill him.
Elijah falls into a very familiar trap that prophets still fall into today. We are told to do something by God, we do it because we believe it to be the right thing, and because we are doing what it right, we are expecting praise and affirmation, and instead we get threats our lives and well being. And we are shacked beyond belief. We consider ourselves to be good people and we want people to love us – and we don’t understand what is going on when they don’t. that was enough to take Elijah over the edge.
He had a breakdown and ran. Now Elijah is not the type who scares easy he is a little hot headed in his zeal for the lord Elijah was one to stand up to kings and anyone else he thougth was not doing to will of god. His student was meaner than he was – Elisha sent bears to attack a group of teenagers for calling him bald.
But there was an underlying message in his zeal to prove that his god was bigger than any other god.
The message that he wanted to get across to the world, those in his group and outside – was that there was only one god.
The god of the ancestors is the god of our children to come. The god who enjoys gospel music is the god who loves the anthems of the church. The god of the Chinese and Japanese is the god of the Americans. The god who shone the sun on the convicted criminal this morning is the god who woke you up for church this morning.
God is the same for all of us. Elijahs’s question for us is that if there is only one - why do we have so many different opinions of who god is and what god wants from us.
If God doesn’t change, then things don’t really change for us either. We still need to get the message – of unity and working together. And prophets still get weary of preaching it.
In his time of despair, Elijah needed to go back to the beginning of his faith. The place where moses talked with god.
This is such a rich story of our lives, our feelings , our desire to do the right thing, our desire to see and talk with god face to face in times of trouble.
He went into to a cave, god was not in the earthquake, not in the flood not in the storm but in the silence.
Morse code story….
A group of men answered a want ad for someone to do morse code for the government. they came for the interview one b one, and after about 7 applicants who were waiting - the conversation got to be a little lively. they needed to make sure that it was clear who would be first for the interview, then they needed to talk about who was more qualified for the job, then they needed to talk about who had the most exciting experience in the field. After about ten minutes of constant talking, a woman walks in and sits down - obviously thinking she would be qualified for the hib. As the noise continues, she quietly got up and walked into the office of the interviewer, and 5 minutes later she walked out smiling to announce that she had gotten the job. In the midst of all of the noise of their conversation, the interviewer had sent a orse code over the intercom. It said that the first person to hear this message and walks into the office gets the job. but in the midst of all of the chaos - no one else was paying attention to what was really going on.
God in is everything, in the noise the confusion, the chaos, the arumengs, the fights, the disagreements, the questions, the broken dreams, the hurt feelings
Its just that in the chaos, we get confused, we get torn apart, our minds are not focused on what it right – and we forget the message of one god, for one people.
Another prophet zealous for the lord – had a similar experience. Killing anyone who did not believe in god the way he did – until he met god in Christ and was told that was not the right thing to do.
Christ gave him the message that people are people – they are all children of god, they are all loved, and none of us have to right to exclude others. People are people are god is god.
Instead of making distinctions of what pulls us apart, we need to concentrate on what it is that keeps us together.
The abortion story –
When I was in a church in Aurora - there was an abortion center across from the church. There were demonstrations on our corner all of the time. In a demonstrations similar to those I used to see, there were two groups protesting. One in favor of women's rights, and one against abortion. A stranger came to interview the two sides, and asked one man against abortion why he was protesting - he stted that he remembers his father in world war II. His father used to tell stories of men, women, and children who were killed as a whole village. the one memory that haunted his father the most were the eyes. He could never forget those eyes looking at him seeming to ask what was happening. This man thought of the eyes of the unborn, and felt that he had to do something. The preporter also talked with one of the women on the prochoice side and she was also asked why she was protesting. She remembers her mother, who was told that she should not get pregnant anymore after the 8th child. Her mother did get pregnant again and could not go through the pregnancy. But abortion was illegal at the time. she went to an illegal clinic and aborted the baby. she bled to death in the backroom. it turns out that the lady and the man were married to each other. The man honoring his father, the lady honoring her mother. The reporter asked, if you are married and you love each other, how come you are on opposite sides of this issue? They both said that they were doing what they believed was right. The stranger suggested that maybe they and everyone else should no get so caught up in the issue that separates them and to remember to love the pople involved on either side.
The women and chldren affected by abortion, yrt looking for love and attention in the midst of the situation. what a world we would live in if we could all do that. Love one another more than we love the issues tht divide us.
Paul says in Galatians
As many of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer jew or greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are abrahams’s offspring according to the promise.
Elijah mission was not in vain, he won the battle, he proved to the world that he worked for the baddest god the planet – the one god of all. He wanted us to all know that there is only one god, the god of power and might. We should be one people – the people of power and might.
If we go on in this story – as god continue to talk with Elijah – he tells him that he is not the only one zealous for the lord – that there are 7000 others just like him. Who are determined to give the message. God also gives Elijah a helper – Elisha who will listen and carry one the message of the one god for all of the world. He is not alone, doing this all by himself – there are others along with us and others coming after us. The message we have to give is not ours, it is god and god calls us, we don’t call god, there are times when we grow weary in spreading god’s message – but the message is not about us, and our doubts and our fears – it is about the love of god for all people. The message of our lives – but much bigger than any of us. A message that will live on.
God’s final words to Elijah in this story is to get over it and move on. God tells Elijah to go back into the wilderness and to keep working. There are times when we would all like to quit – but as long as we are alive we all have to keep moving on in some way. Let us pray…..
1 Kings 19:1-15
Galatians 3:23-29
4th Sunday of Pentecost
June 20, 2010
(not really a father’s day sermon)
Year C
Let me be clear – one of the worst things that you can tell someone in pain – is to just get over it and move on.
But in reality – it is the only answer to any crisis in our lives – life goes on, get over it and move on. It is all in the timing , the way of saying it, and sometimes even the appropriate place for it to be said. Even God realizes that God has to be careful with God’s words even with the most faithful of servants.
We have all reached those moments in our lives when we have done all that we can and things are just not working, and you are ready to throw in the towel and say forget about it all.
We have been looking at the prophetic career of Elijah this summer. He has had some pretty amazing accomplishments. He has done some pretty amazing things.
Last week he challenged the queen of Isreal to a duel. We wanted to prove that his god was stronger than her god. He set fire to an altar and god not only appeared – all of her priest were killed, and she gets a little angry. And threatens to kill him.
Elijah falls into a very familiar trap that prophets still fall into today. We are told to do something by God, we do it because we believe it to be the right thing, and because we are doing what it right, we are expecting praise and affirmation, and instead we get threats our lives and well being. And we are shacked beyond belief. We consider ourselves to be good people and we want people to love us – and we don’t understand what is going on when they don’t. that was enough to take Elijah over the edge.
He had a breakdown and ran. Now Elijah is not the type who scares easy he is a little hot headed in his zeal for the lord Elijah was one to stand up to kings and anyone else he thougth was not doing to will of god. His student was meaner than he was – Elisha sent bears to attack a group of teenagers for calling him bald.
But there was an underlying message in his zeal to prove that his god was bigger than any other god.
The message that he wanted to get across to the world, those in his group and outside – was that there was only one god.
The god of the ancestors is the god of our children to come. The god who enjoys gospel music is the god who loves the anthems of the church. The god of the Chinese and Japanese is the god of the Americans. The god who shone the sun on the convicted criminal this morning is the god who woke you up for church this morning.
God is the same for all of us. Elijahs’s question for us is that if there is only one - why do we have so many different opinions of who god is and what god wants from us.
If God doesn’t change, then things don’t really change for us either. We still need to get the message – of unity and working together. And prophets still get weary of preaching it.
In his time of despair, Elijah needed to go back to the beginning of his faith. The place where moses talked with god.
This is such a rich story of our lives, our feelings , our desire to do the right thing, our desire to see and talk with god face to face in times of trouble.
He went into to a cave, god was not in the earthquake, not in the flood not in the storm but in the silence.
Morse code story….
A group of men answered a want ad for someone to do morse code for the government. they came for the interview one b one, and after about 7 applicants who were waiting - the conversation got to be a little lively. they needed to make sure that it was clear who would be first for the interview, then they needed to talk about who was more qualified for the job, then they needed to talk about who had the most exciting experience in the field. After about ten minutes of constant talking, a woman walks in and sits down - obviously thinking she would be qualified for the hib. As the noise continues, she quietly got up and walked into the office of the interviewer, and 5 minutes later she walked out smiling to announce that she had gotten the job. In the midst of all of the noise of their conversation, the interviewer had sent a orse code over the intercom. It said that the first person to hear this message and walks into the office gets the job. but in the midst of all of the chaos - no one else was paying attention to what was really going on.
God in is everything, in the noise the confusion, the chaos, the arumengs, the fights, the disagreements, the questions, the broken dreams, the hurt feelings
Its just that in the chaos, we get confused, we get torn apart, our minds are not focused on what it right – and we forget the message of one god, for one people.
Another prophet zealous for the lord – had a similar experience. Killing anyone who did not believe in god the way he did – until he met god in Christ and was told that was not the right thing to do.
Christ gave him the message that people are people – they are all children of god, they are all loved, and none of us have to right to exclude others. People are people are god is god.
Instead of making distinctions of what pulls us apart, we need to concentrate on what it is that keeps us together.
The abortion story –
When I was in a church in Aurora - there was an abortion center across from the church. There were demonstrations on our corner all of the time. In a demonstrations similar to those I used to see, there were two groups protesting. One in favor of women's rights, and one against abortion. A stranger came to interview the two sides, and asked one man against abortion why he was protesting - he stted that he remembers his father in world war II. His father used to tell stories of men, women, and children who were killed as a whole village. the one memory that haunted his father the most were the eyes. He could never forget those eyes looking at him seeming to ask what was happening. This man thought of the eyes of the unborn, and felt that he had to do something. The preporter also talked with one of the women on the prochoice side and she was also asked why she was protesting. She remembers her mother, who was told that she should not get pregnant anymore after the 8th child. Her mother did get pregnant again and could not go through the pregnancy. But abortion was illegal at the time. she went to an illegal clinic and aborted the baby. she bled to death in the backroom. it turns out that the lady and the man were married to each other. The man honoring his father, the lady honoring her mother. The reporter asked, if you are married and you love each other, how come you are on opposite sides of this issue? They both said that they were doing what they believed was right. The stranger suggested that maybe they and everyone else should no get so caught up in the issue that separates them and to remember to love the pople involved on either side.
The women and chldren affected by abortion, yrt looking for love and attention in the midst of the situation. what a world we would live in if we could all do that. Love one another more than we love the issues tht divide us.
Paul says in Galatians
As many of you were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer jew or greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are abrahams’s offspring according to the promise.
Elijah mission was not in vain, he won the battle, he proved to the world that he worked for the baddest god the planet – the one god of all. He wanted us to all know that there is only one god, the god of power and might. We should be one people – the people of power and might.
If we go on in this story – as god continue to talk with Elijah – he tells him that he is not the only one zealous for the lord – that there are 7000 others just like him. Who are determined to give the message. God also gives Elijah a helper – Elisha who will listen and carry one the message of the one god for all of the world. He is not alone, doing this all by himself – there are others along with us and others coming after us. The message we have to give is not ours, it is god and god calls us, we don’t call god, there are times when we grow weary in spreading god’s message – but the message is not about us, and our doubts and our fears – it is about the love of god for all people. The message of our lives – but much bigger than any of us. A message that will live on.
God’s final words to Elijah in this story is to get over it and move on. God tells Elijah to go back into the wilderness and to keep working. There are times when we would all like to quit – but as long as we are alive we all have to keep moving on in some way. Let us pray…..
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