Are You Blessed or Cursed in God's Eyes?

February 16, 2019 Year C Luke 6:17-26 6th Sunday after Epiphany Children’s Sermon: And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all. Object: A heating pad. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever used a heating pad? (Let them answer.) When do you like to use it the most? (Let them answer.) Those are all good times, but I suppose that the best time for all of us to use the heating pad is when we do not feel too well. If we have an earache or a backache, or any kind of an ache, it is always good to use the heating pad. There is that nice warm feeling that seems to make us feel better. I want you to feel my heating pad and then tell me what caused it to make me feel better. (Pass the heating pad among the children.) What is it that gives this heating pad the power to make me feel better? (Let them answer.) That's right, it is electricity. The power to make that pad hot comes from the cord that is plugged into the wall. The electricity comes through wires, and the wires go all the way back to a big plant somewhere that makes electricity out of coal, water, or something else. There is a great power in electricity, and it is used for many things, but one of the things we use electricity for is a heating pad. And the reason that we use the heating pad is to make our bumps, bruises, and aches feel better. Jesus must have been like a heating pad. People got better just by touching him. The Bible tells us today about the time when people stood in line, or all around him, just to try to touch him so that they would feel better. And you know what? They did feel better. The Bible tells us that Jesus was able to cure people of bad diseases when all he did was touch them or they touched him. Of course the power did not come from coal, water, or anything like that. It wasn't even electricity. The power that Jesus had to cure people came from God, and I guess you could call it a kind of healing love. God gave Jesus a special power to make people who were sick well again. But people could feel the power coming through Jesus, just like you and I can feel the heat coming through the heating pad. Maybe the next time you use a heating pad, you will think of the power that comes from the electricity, and when you do that, you will also remember the special power that God gave to Jesus to heal people who were sick. C.S.S. Publishing Company, CALL in the CLOWNS, by Wesley T. Runk Luke 6:17-26 The Message (MSG) You’re Blessed 17-21 Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke: You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all. God’s kingdom is there for the finding. You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry. Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal. You’re blessed when the tears flow freely. Joy comes with the morning. 22-23 “Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don’t like it, I do . . . and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this. Give Away Your Life 24 But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you’ll ever get. 25 And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself. Your self will not satisfy you for long. And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games. There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it. 26 “There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular. The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson Luke 6:17-26 Common English Bible (CEB) Jesus’ popularity increases 17 Jesus came down from the mountain with them and stood on a large area of level ground. A great company of his disciples and a huge crowd of people from all around Judea and Jerusalem and the area around Tyre and Sidon joined him there. 18 They came to hear him and to be healed from their diseases, and those bothered by unclean spirits were healed.19 The whole crowd wanted to touch him, because power was going out from him and he was healing everyone. Happy people and doomed people 20 Jesus raised his eyes to his disciples and said: “Happy are you who are poor, because God’s kingdom is yours. 21 Happy are you who hunger now, because you will be satisfied. Happy are you who weep now, because you will laugh. 22 Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and condemn your name as evil because of the Human One.[a] 23 Rejoice when that happens! Leap for joy because you have a great reward in heaven. Their ancestors did the same things to the prophets. 24 But how terrible for you who are rich, because you have already received your comfort. 25 How terrible for you who have plenty now, because you will be hungry. How terrible for you who laugh now, because you will mourn and weep. 26 How terrible for you when all speak well of you. Their ancestors did the same things to the false prophets. Footnotes: a. Luke 6:22 Or Son of Man Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible I talked with a colleague from Englewood yesterday. It was good to make the connection, since I had not talked with him in about two years. He left the United Methodist church awhile ago, when his church closed. But I learned on facebook, that he started his own nondenominational church a few weeks ago, so I wanted to know how things were going. He said that the church was too small for him to collect a salary, but he was happy and that was all that mattered. He said that he felt happier than he had felt in years. He said that he had been challenged more than anything in life, but he was happy. Happy – I was intrigued with his choice of words, especially as I was preparing for this sermon. Happy – what does that mean? What does it mean to be happy? What does it take for you to be happy? What does being happy have to do with serving God? Jesus must have given some thought to that same question. There are two different stories of how Jesus answers that question. The first story of how Jesus answers that question is in the book of Matthew – given in what is called the Sermon on the Mount. After Jesus calls his disciples – he takes them up on a mountain top and tells them what it means to be a happy Christian. He gives them 8 condition of what it means to live a blessed life – called the 8 beatitudes. In Luke, Jesus also talks about the beatitudes in Luke - But this time after going up on the mountain to pray – he comes down to level ground to speak with the people. In Luke this sermon is called the sermon on the plain. Jesus gives 4 blessings, but he also gives 4 woes. Four statements of how life should be, and four statements the life we should be wary of. He is telling us that there are two kinds of happiness in the world. One has lasting consequences, and one does not. There is the happiness that the world gives, and there is a holy happiness – that we can only get from being connected to God. The word beatitude is a latin word – that means blessing. The old testament gives several beatitude list – the 10 commandments are a sort of statement of blessings. I have decided that I will wait until I preach on Matthews list of beatitudes before I get on my soap box about the true meaning of being blessed. Because Luke’s sermon the plain has a slightly different meaning. In this context – the word beatitude is closer the to latin meaning of the word – meaning happiness. Happiness as a tangible condition of life. Matthew uses a more spiritual definition of the word. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who are sad for they shall be comforted. Luke uses a concrete, economic definition that applies to the lives of those who have gathered to hear Jesus. Happy are those who are poor, those who are hungry, those who cry and those who are rejected. Those are the 4 conditions in Luke for being blessed. That would have been 99% of the people who were on the plain listening to these words. They had nothing, they lived hand to mouth everyday, and there was no hope things would ever change. A family had sold everything possible to pay bills and to put food on the table. Nevertheless, a burglar broke in one night when the family was gone. The family returned and found the door knocked off its hinges. "œWhat did the burglar get?" the police officer asked. The head of the house just shook his head. "œPractice," he said. It's not easy being poor. What did Jesus mean, "œBlessed are the poor?" A quote from Helen Keller sums of Jesus point best. She said that blessings in life don’t have anything to do with our condition in life. Life can be full of suffering, but it also can be full of overcoming – that is holy happiness.are Luke gets even more direct about the difference between worldly happiness and holy happiness. Because he gives 4 blessings, but he also gives 4 woes. Woe to those who are rich, woe to those who are filled woe to those who are laughing now, woe to those who are popular. You have received your blessing and will receive nothing more. The word for woe is an interesting Greek word – meaning consolation. – or paid in full. In other words, those who have in this life have received their reward, and there is nothing else for them to receive. But those who rely on God – shall receive their blessing from God. There is more to come. Is Luke saying that we should strive to be poor, and that there is something wrong with being rich. Not exactly. He is just telling us that there is a difference between worldly happiness and holy happiness? What does happiness mean to you? Where does your happiness come from. Which list describes your condition in life? Poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, reviled defamed? Or rich full, laughing, well thought of? There is a true story about a Quaker who put up a sign on the vacant piece of land next to his house. It read: This Land Will Be Given To Anyone Who Is Truly Satisfied. A wealthy farmer who was riding by stopped to read the sign and said to himself, “Since I have all I need as a wealthy man, I certainly qualify. I might as well claim the land.” He approached the Quaker to seal the deal. “And art thou truly satisfied?” the Quaker inquired. “I am, indeed. I have all that I need.” “Friend,” said the Quaker, “if thou art satisfied, what dost thou want the land for?” We can all be hungry for a better world. We can pray for the day when all will be taken care of. We can consider ourselves happy in all circumstance. If our happiness comes from God, not from others. Our scripture goes on to give us a second even stronger message. Not only are we called to recognize our own need and dependence upon God. We are called to recognize the need and vulnerability of others. And then to offer to them, through our lives, the rich soil of compassion and justice. We are called to be in solidarity with the poor, the hungry, with those who are weeping. We are called to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Biblical scholars point out that the Beatitudes are what is called a “performative word.” These predictions about blessedness are not going to happen — they are already happening. This is not about what might be. This is about what is. This is God’s agenda, God’s vision, God’s kingdom. The reality described by the Beatitudes will happen, is happening, whether we choose to be part of it or not. Only a few of us are called to be the poor. A few more of us are called to work with the poor. But all of us are called to be for the poor — because that’s what it means to be God’s people. My friends, our scripture readings for today remind us that “human happiness” and “holy happiness” are often two different kinds of reality. Jesus is suggesting that “blessing” is more than enjoying ourselves. The goal of life is more than self-fulfillment. And prosperity is more than getting what we want. Happiness is to be open to God. Blessedness is to be fully alive and in harmony with God’s ways both in the good times and the bad. Let us be comforted and instructed by the words of the psalmist: Happy are those who delight in the Lord. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. (Psalm 1) May it be so for you and for me. Amen. Additional illustrations…… New Priorities of the Kingdom A holy man was engaged in his morning meditation under a tree whose roots stretched out over the riverbank. During his meditation he noticed that the river was rising, and a scorpion caught in the roots was about to drown. He crawled out on the roots and reached down to free the scorpion, but every time he did so, the scorpion struck back at him. An observer came along and said to the holy man, 'Don't you know that's a scorpion, and it's in the nature of a scorpion to want to sting?' To which the holy man replied, 'That may well be, but it is my nature to save, and must I change my nature because the scorpion does not change his?' Traditional

Love Makes the World Go Round

February 3, 2019 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year C Children’s Sermon: Materials Needed: Football Heart-shaped candy box or piece of construction paper Card stock printed with scripture reference and verses Heart-shaped candy (optional) Telling The Story: What’s this? (Show the football and let the children answer.) It’s a football, and it’s used to play a game called football. What’s this? (Show the heart.) It’s a heart. The heart beating inside your body isn’t really shaped like this, but we call this a heart shape, and it’s often used to remind us of love. Every winter, usually late in January or very early in February there’s a very famous football game played on television. This year it was on (date). Does anyone know what it’s called? (Let the children answer.) It’s called the Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl is all about football. Coming up is a holiday that’s all about love. It’s on February 14. Can anyone tell me what that day is? (Let the children answer.) That’s right! It’s Valentine’s Day, and Valentine’s Day is all about love. The Super Bowl is about football, and Valentine’s Day is about love. Football ... and love. Can football teach us anything about how God wants us to love each other? What if we talk about how football and love are different? When you play football, there are two teams. If you look at the scoreboard, the team names might be listed, or maybe the scoreboard says, “Home” and “Visitor.” Either way, there are two teams and each team is divided into two squads: The offense and the defense. The offense tries to score points and the defense tries to stop the offense of the other team. In love, we work together. Whether we’re talking about the love you feel for a friend, the love you feel for someone in your family, or a boyfriend and girlfriend kind of love, there is only one team. When you love someone you work for each other, not against each other. God wants us to work together. When people play football, they’re always trying to knock other people down. Two players run into each other, and knock or pull each other to the ground. It’s called tackling, and it is part of the game. But when you love someone, you try to build that person up. How do you build other people up? You help them. You do nice things for them and encourage them. So football and love are opposites in that sense. In football, you knock people down. In love, you build them up. God wants us to build each other up. There’s something else different about football and love. In football, there are a lot of rules! There are rules about how long you can hold the ball, who you can throw it to, when you can move and when you can’t, who you can tackle and who you can’t, what you can do if you do have the ball, and what you can do if you don’t. It’s very complicated. The rulebook is thick, too! Love, on the other hand, doesn’t have big set of rules. God asks us to love him first and then to love the people around us the way we love ourselves. That’s a lot easier to remember, and we don’t need a referee to help us because we’ve got God. There are many complicated rules in football, but only two, simple things God want us to remember about love: Love God first and love our neighbors as ourselves. There’s something else. Football is played with a timer, and you know what? The referee is always stopping the timer. In fact, it seems like a football game is only played for five or ten seconds at a time, and then someone breaks one of those complicated rules we just talked about, and the referee stops the game and the timer. Love isn’t like that. There’s no time limit, and you don’t stop and start love again and again. When you love someone, you love that person all the time, the way God loves us. Even if the person makes a mistake, you love that person anyway, because God wants us to love all the time. The differences between love and football aren’t just sentiments made up by greeting card companies. They’re found in the Bible! Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, wrote about love in a very famous set of verses that you’ve probably heard read at a wedding. (Show the card stock with the printed scripture reference and verses.) In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, Paul wrote: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” Do you know what these verses mean? They’re talking about the biggest difference between football and love. In football, the object of the game is to get the most points. To win the game, your team needs the biggest score. But in love, no one is trying to win. According to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, love doesn’t keep score. God doesn’t want us to keep score with the people that we love, and most importantly, God doesn’t keep score with us. If you love God and you are trying to do what he wants you to do, he’ll forgive and forget your sins and love you with all his heart. That’s what God wants us to do with the people we love, too. Prayer: Dear Lord, Thank you for this beautiful day, and thank you for loving us so much and for giving us the Bible to help us learn what you want us to do. Please help us to be patient and kind with the people around us, and help us to remember not to “keep score.” In Jesus’ name. Amen. Optional: Give children heart-shaped pieces of candy. 31 Use your ambition to try to get the greater gifts. And I’m going to show you an even better way. Love: the universal spiritual gift 13 If I speak in tongues of human beings and of angels but I don’t have love, I’m a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but I don’t have love, I’m nothing. 3 If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever. 4 Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, 5 it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, 6 it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. 7 Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. As for prophecies, they will be brought to an end. As for tongues, they will stop. As for knowledge, it will be brought to an end. 9 We know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, what is partial will be brought to an end. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child, think like a child. But now that I have become a man, I’ve put an end to childish things. 12 Now we see a reflection in a mirror; then we will see face-to-face. Now I know partially, but then I will know completely in the same way that I have been completely known. 13 Now faith, hope, and love remain—these three things—and the greatest of these is love. Footnotes: a. 1 Corinthians 12:10 Or ecstatic speech or languages could be used for tongues or tonguethroughout chaps 12–14. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible I am still unpacking. This week I have been unpacking the what nots of my grandmother, my mother and my own. I was excited to find this one that I got in Greece. They are a popular figurine of the three sisters – Faith, Hope and Love. These are such important virtues, that always come together. So in Greek culture they call them the three sisters. There are actually two versions of the three sisters. This is the common picture – but the sisters don’t have any clothes on. So there is also a Christian version of the sisters, where they are all wearing dresses. Paul speaks of these three sisters in his verses in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul has been speaking to the Corinthians about what it means to be a Christian congregation. He has been talking about the importance of unity and mission. He has been explaining that in order to fulfill the mission of Christ, that each congregation is given a series of spiritual gifts. Gifts are given to the group, not to individuals. He ends his discussion by saying that using our gifts are important, but that there are three gifts that we can’t live without – faith, hope and love. And the greatest of the spiritual gifts is love. As we enter into the month of February, this is a perfect lesson for us. February is the month of looking at our hearts and thinking about the true meaning of love. 1 Corinthians 13 is actually one of the most popular bible lessons in the world. Whenever, I do wedding counseling and the couple is choosing a bible verse, I tell them not to choose this one. Because this is the most popular lesson of weddings. As we approach Valentine’s Day – I thought it was an important verse to preach about. To keep in minds however, that Paul is not talking about the love between two people in this verse. Paul is talking about a deeper love – the love that creates all other types of love that we know – God’s love. God’s love is the most powerful force in the world. As a matter of fact, Paul is not talking about the way that we treat people that we like. Paul is reminding us of what keeps us together with people that we may not even know. If you look around the room, all of us have our place in the sanctuary. More than likely, we have chose our place to sit based on how we feel about the people around us. Who is the person next to you? And why are you sitting next to that person? Even if you are not related to that person, you still have a relationship with them. You sit with them because by now you have some affinity with them. But what about the person across the room? Or 2 rows ahead of you? – Paul reminds us that we are all the body of Christ. Paul reminds us that we may not all like one another, we may not even know everyone. But that the love of Christ extends to us all. – love is patient, kind, forgiving, understanding, beyond how we feel about one another. When we don’t want to be understanding, we still love one another. Not because we like one another, but because God loves us all. Human love fails, but God’s love prevails. If it wasn’t for God’s love, we could not exist as a congregation of people. Faith, hope and love is what holds us together – the greatest of those virtues is love. Faith is our loyalty to the mission of God. Hope is our trust in the word of God and love is our ability to stick together. There are times when we disagree, when we head in a different direction. But it is love that brings it all together, and keeps us going in spite of our differences. I have had a lot of chances to preach on this verse. It is a wonderful poem of having a faith, hope and love that stands the test of time. But this year, I realized another important message on the more excellent way of love. Paul says that today – things are not clear and nothing makes sense. I did not know that Corinth was famous for its mirrors. But they were not the mirrors that we have today. A mirror did not show a clear image until the 13th century. In those days a mirror was well polished metal. You couldn’t see anything clearly. It was a very dim image. A lot like life is – confusing and unclear. There are a lot of times when we don’t know how things will turn out – or what will happen. When we have faith, hope and love – faith hope and love lead to God. And whatever happens, God wins. That is the greatest gift of all – the love of God that sustains us through all things and all relationships. One pastor noted that he was with a lot of people in their last moments in life. In the end, as they reflected on their life, their conversations were not about what they had accomplished, or how much money they had, or what they owned. The last conversation was always about how much they were loved and how much love they had received from others. Faith, hope and the greatest gift of all is love. A more excellent way of living. I want to end with a version of 1 Corinthians 13 – just for what it means to be the people of Love.. This paraphrase of Pauls word – demonstrates who we are to be as the church. Paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13 What if I could stand up here and say the most wonderful things, and sound impressive and answer everyone's questions, but I didn't love anyone - what would be the point? What if we were the most incredible church where every pew was filled the preaching was always inspirational - we had a choir that always sang perfectly and served the best coffee in town, but no one felt love - what would be the point? And if as a community we teach our children lots of information and knowledge and they can recite the books of the Bible and know all the right answers but they don't know how to love, we've failed them. If we focus on some and say 'he/she was a saint' and welcome newcomers, and collect money for the Mission and Service Fund, and we pray every week for the poor of the world and yet we don't feed the hungry and reach out to the poor of our communities around us, and don't care for the sick and the lost in our community, where is the honesty in that? If we don't love what's the point? Love is kindness in action, offered simply and humbly. Love is not meant to make me look good, score brownie points with God, or draw attention to ourselves. Love is co-operative; there are all kinds of ways of doing good and God is happy to use every way there is. Love only cares that what's needed is done. Love has the best interests of the other in mind. Sometimes we grow weary and give up - we can't think of what else can be done. But God never gives up - God's love continues, and new possibilities are always appearing. What we know now is never the whole picture. What we do now is never the whole story. In some ways we're like children: we do what we can and what we know to this point. But there's still more for us to learn, to grow into, to accept. Some day we'll look back on where we are now, and wonder how we could ever have wondered and doubted and refused to accept what was happening. In some ways, it's like looking in an imperfect mirror. There's a reflection there, but it's not quite right, not totally true. We are the body of Christ, the image of God - but not perfectly, not completely, not totally truly ... not yet. The day will come when we will see. The day will come when we will know. Until then, we live in faith, trusting God's love. Until then, we live in hope, hoping for God's love. Until then, we live in love, showing God's love as best we can. because love is the point of it all. (adapted from a Loaves and Fishes resource sheet, Wood Lake Books, 1998 by Rev. Brian Donst, United Church, Winona, ONT) Let that be our prayer for the day - Amen.