The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me

January 26, 2019 Luke 4:1-21 The Spirit of the Lord Upon Me Year C Third Sunday of Epiphany Children’s time…… Luke 4:21-30, v. 23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.' " Object: A newspaper. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have read the newspaper that was delivered to your house yesterday? (Let them answer.) Tell me what you have read. (Let them answer.) You read the funnies and what else? (Let them answer.) Most of you do not read the rest of the paper yet, but before long you will. When you do you will read about some very interesting people and the things that they have done. You also will read some interesting things about people who live in other towns and cities. When someone does something that is very interesting in another city, the newspaper prints it in our town and we read about the things that person has done. (Read such an article in the newspaper that you brought with you.) This is the way that it was with Jesus. When Jesus came into a town, the people had already heard about the things that he had done in other places. They wanted him to do the same things for them. The news traveled fast. But Jesus was not just doing things so that people could write about him in the newspaper, or talk about him to friends and neighbors. That was not the reason. Jesus did what he wanted to do for people who were ill because they were ill, and because they believed in the power of God to make them well. Jesus called that kind of belief "faith." When Jesus came to his home town, the people did not believe that he was the Son of God. Instead, they thought that he was just like all of the other boys who had grown up there, but with some special magic. They knew him as the son of Mary and Joseph, and not as the Son of God. They did not have faith or believe that God wanted to make them well. Because the people did not believe Jesus, he could not cure them. He could not cure someone who did not believe that it was God who was doing the healing. We have read a lot about Jesus and talked a lot about Jesus. You can find something in your newspaper almost every day about him. If you do not believe that his power comes from God, then Jesus is not something special to you. Reading about him, or talking about him, doesn't make him the Savior. Believing in him does, and that is what the people of Nazareth did not do. We want to believe in Jesus and believe that he can do what he says, so we must have faith that Jesus is the Son of God with great power. When you read about him in your newspaper, then you can say that you also know him in your heart. God bless You. C.S.S. Publishing Company, CALL in the CLOWNS, by Wesley T. Runk Luke 4:14-21 Common English Bible (CEB) Jesus announces good news to the poor 14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been raised. On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as he normally did and stood up to read. 17 The synagogue assistant gave him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, 19 and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.[a] 20 He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him. 21 He began to explain to them, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.” Footnotes: a. Luke 4:19 Isa 61:1-2; 58:6 Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible This is one of my favorite stories about Jesus. If you look at the picture on the bulletin, it is Jesus’ turn to be the liturgist at the temple. Jesus is reading the scripture for the day. This story is told in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Matthew and Mark put it a little later in his ministry. But for Luke, this is an important part of Jesus call to be the messiah. After Jesus is baptized by John, he goes in the wilderness for a few weeks and comes to understand God’s call on his life. when he returns home, the first thing he does is go to worship with his family and friends. He wants to tell everyone about his call. SO he is excited when he is not only asked to read the scripture, but he is the preacher for the day as well. His text, Isaiah 58 and 61 – where the prophet tells what God has called him to do. Free the captives, let the blind see and to proclaim the Day of the Lord! Give the good news to all of those who are struggling. All would agree, it was a wonderful message. There is only one problem – Jesus is not the messiah. He has not been anointed. Jesus the anointed one The messiah was definitely not Jesus. Jesus was a layperson, not a priest, not a prophet, and he was a carpenter,not a king. Jesus was never anointed with God’s special oil. As a matter of fact, when Jesus begins his ministry, he does not use oil – he says that it is the spirit that anoints him to heal the sick, feed the hungry, free the captives, and to preach the good news of salvation. We call our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is his name, Christ is his title. Now we have always been told that the Jewish word messiah and the greek word Christ mean the same thing – the anointed one. Well I did a little research and discovered that is not true. Messiah is a special person, give a special task anointed with a special oil. Oil that was literally poured over the persons head. Christos does not mean anointed one- it means smeared with ointment. Jesus the common messiah Last week when we went to the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas – Leonard Sweet was the keynote speaker. And he gave an inspiring sermon on the anointing of Jesus. Now according to him – I couldn’t find this anywhere else – but he says that Christos was the name of a common grease that you would keep around the house. It was cheap and easy to come by. In modern times we have become afraid of any type of grease or oil. Never mind the fact that our bodies need to have oil in order to function. Our brain needs it, our hearts need it, our joints need it – but health experts are constantly telling us that greasy stuff is bad for you. It all depends on what kind of grease you use. Christ who can take the heat About 14 years about – I went on this health kick and decided that I would only use healthy ingrediants in my kitchen. I got rid of all of my butter, Crisco, corn oil. I decided that I would only use olive oil in the kitchen. A few years ago I decided being healthy was nice, but being practical made more sense. You see, you cant heat olive oil. Heat makes olive oil break down and disintegrate. So recently I had to make the decision that if I couldn’t use olive oil to fry chicken, then there was really no need to have it in my kitchen. I don’t saute a lot of vegetables. Now mind you, I only fry a about two or three times a year, but my point is that when I do fry, I need something that can take the heat. So common everyday cooking oil came back into my kitchen, along with my butter and other greasy things. Now if olive oil is the high grade oil of today – what is the common everyday oil that used to be in every household kitchen in America – Crisco. They took transfat out of Crisco in 2004 – but I still don’t use it, so if someone wants it they can have it after service, if not I will put it in the food pantry. But I wanted us to think about Crisco – because there is a lesson in this can for us today. Jesus is the Christ of the common person. He is the practical messiah that can be used by the common person. He intentionally didnt want to be anointed with the good stuff – olive oil – he wanted to be anointed with every day Crisco. Paul was the first to call Jesus Christo. Christo was a joke at the time. The jews would have been scratching their head when they heard Jesus Christ. They would be thinking –if he is not a priest, a prophet or a king. Of he has not been ordained – then how is he the anointed one – themessiah. The greeks would have been scratching their heads - Christos means the smeared one. They would be wondering why would you smear a man with Crisco? Why would you smear a man with Crisco? Because we the common people live in a world full of troubles and concerns. I need a Lord and Savior who can take the heat. An olive oil messiah wont do me no good. A messiah smeared in Crisco, prepared to deal with the realities of life is what we need. Christos. Jesus Christ. Who is it that needs to hear the good news today? Who is it most likely to be prisoner of their circumstances, thinking that sin is the only way that they can survive? Who is it that is most likely so caught up in their everyday routine, that they cant see there is a better way to live. Our neighbors, and friends, and the common people of the world. What do we do about it? Why we are Christians We are to follow Christ into his anointing. That is why they started calling his followers Christians. We are Christians, not resurectionists, or Easter people, or Jesusonians. Christ means the anointed one – Christians are those who take on his anointing in their own life. 1 Peter says that we are the priesthood of all believers. 1 John 27 says that the anointing that you have received of him lives in you. Christ intentionally chose to be the messiah of the common person. He choose to remain a layperson. And he chose to give us his power, his anointing so we can continue his work in our everyday lives. There was a certain old recluse who lived deep in the mountains of Colorado. When he died, distant relatives came from the city to collect his valuables. Upon arriving, all they saw was an old shack with an outhouse beside it. Inside the shack, next to the rock fireplace, was an old cooking pot and his mining equipment. A cracked table with a three-legged chair stood guard by a tiny window, and a kerosene lamp served as the centerpiece for the table. In a dark corner of the little room was a dilapidated cot with a threadbare bedroll on it. They picked up some of the old relics and started to leave. As they were driving away, an old friend of the recluse, on his mule, flagged them down. “Do you mind if I help myself to what’s left in my friend’s cabin?” he asked. “Go right ahead,” they replied. After all, they thought, what inside that shack could be worth anything? The old friend entered the shack and walked directly over the table. He reached under it and lifted one of the floor boards. He then proceeded to take out all the gold his friend had discovered over the past 53 years – enough to have built a palace. The recluse died with only his friend knowing his true worth. As the friend looked out of the little window and watched the cloud of dust behind the relative’s car disappear, he said, “They should have got to know him better. Jesus words are gold for us – if we understand that they are more than just words. They are the gift of life for us. Next week, I wont preach on part 2 of this story – but it is just as interesting. After Jesus preaches his test sermon, not only do they kick him out of the temple, they kick him out of town. He is not the messiah – he has not been anointed with olive oil. But that is good news, because Jesus never goes to worship again, he goes out in the streets, healing and teaching the people. Being Christ – the people’s messiah. And those of us who know his story are called to do the same. Let us pray…. Additional illustrations…… Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist issued a challenge wherever he went. He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free quickly and easily. Always he kep his promise, but one time something went wrong. Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him. He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For 30 minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock. Finally, after laboring for 2 hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock. But when he fell against the door, it swung open! It had never been locked at all! But in his mind it was locked and that was all it took to keep him from opening the door and walking out of the jail cell. Sometimes, our thoughts and understandings of life can be like a prison. They keep us stuck where we are. The chains that we imagine to be on our lives, is all in our head and out thinking. We don’t know that we are free. Sometimes the past can be like a prison, and the freedom of Christ is at our doorstep. In the story of Jesus ministry – he does everything that he says – he heals those who are blind, he heals those who have illnesses that have held them back, he preaches the good news, and he encourages us to give to the poor. But his most important healing still comes in our lives. As he frees us, heals us, and helps us to understand the gift of life as we listen to his word.

Anointing

Anointing Exodus 30:22-31 1 Peter 2:4-5 1 John 2:24-27 (Prepared for Student Pastor Jacqueline Forbes) October 5, 2014 God Preparing his people Exodus is the story of God preparing to live in the promisedland. God said that he wanted to bring his people out of slavery and to bring them out into the wilderness, so that they would be free to worship their God. Worship is not just what we do, or what we say – true worship of God is who we are. God wants to have all of our being, and God knew that as long as they were in slavery, they could not give their whole selves to God. We have been looking at Exodus as a part of our lectionary readings. But I am going to take us a little beyond the lectionary today. Once the Isrealites were free of Egypt, Moses needed to teach them how to prepare a tabernacle in order to worship God. Once the tabernacle was completed, God said that everything and everyone that was used for worship must be set apart and made holy in order to be of service to God. Ingredients for anointing In Exodus 30 God gives Moses instructions on how to make special oil to anoint people and things for worship. He gives Moses 5 ingrediants: myrhh, cinnamon, calamus,cassia and olive oil. As I was doing research for this sermon, there are many meanings of these particular ingrediants. Myrhh was used in anointing people for death. In order to serve God, we have to be dead to our own wishes and desires. In looking for these ingrediants, I was reminded to be careful with this oil because cinnamon is hot. We have to be hot with the spirit of God. Calamus is a root the gives off a sweet aroma – Christ calls us to live a life of sweetness. Cassus is the bark of the cinnamon tree- it is very fragrant – out faith should stick out and make others aware of our presence, and finally there is olive oil. In the mediterannean world – olive oil is the essence of life. There is nothing without it. I think it is interesting that none of these ingrediants would have been readily available in the wilderness, but they would have been very familiar with them in Egypt. Also, there was nothing special about each of these ingredient alone. But together they were holy. God tells Moses that this oil was so holy, that no one should try to make it. And that it should be used for only special purposes. In the Isrealite tradition, anointing was reserved for priest, prophets and kings. And eventually, only kings were to be anointed. Eventually they began to speak of the anointed one who would come and save his people. The anointed one was the messiah. Jesus the anointed one The messiah was definitely not Jesus. Jesus was a layperson, not a priest, not a prophet, and he was a carpenter,not a king. Jesus was never anointed with God’s special oil. As a matter of fact, when Jesus begins his ministry, he does not use oil – he says that it is the spirit that anoints him to heal the sick, feed the hungry, free the captives, and to preach the good news of salvation. We call our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is his name, Christ is his title. Now we have always been told that the Jewish word messiah and the greek word Christ mean the same thing – the anointed one. Well I did a little research and discovered that is not true. Messiah is a special person, give a special task anointed with a special oil. Oil that was literally poured over the persons head. Christos does not mean anointed one- it means smeared with ointment. Jesus the common messiah Last week when we went to the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas – Leonard Sweet was the keynote speaker. And he gave an inspiring sermon on the anointing of Jesus. Now according to him – I couldn’t find this anywhere else – but he says that Christos was the name of a common grease that you would keep around the house. It was cheap and easy to come by. In modern times we have become afraid of any type of grease or oil. Never mind the fact that our bodies need to have oil in order to function. Our brain needs it, our hearts need it, our joints need it – but health experts are constantly telling us that greasy stuff is bad for you. It all depends on what kind of grease you use. Christ who can take the heat About 14 years about – I went on this health kick and decided that I would only use healthy ingrediants in my kitchen. I got rid of all of my butter, Crisco, corn oil. I decided that I would only use olive oil in the kitchen. A few years ago I decided being healthy was nice, but being practical made more sense. You see, you cant heat olive oil. Heat makes olive oil break down and disintegrate. So recently I had to make the decision that if I couldn’t use olive oil to fry chicken, then there was really no need to have it in my kitchen. I don’t saute a lot of vegetables. Now mind you, I only fry a about two or three times a year, but my point is that when I do fry, I need something that can take the heat. So common everyday cooking oil came back into my kitchen, along with my butter and other greasy things. Now if olive oil is the high grade oil of today – what is the common everyday oil that used to be in every household kitchen in America – Crisco. They took transfat out of Crisco in 2004 – but I still don’t use it, so if someone wants it they can have it after service, if not I will put it in the food pantry. But I wanted us to think about Crisco – because there is a lesson in this can for us today. Jesus is the Christ of the common person. He is the practical messiah that can be used by the common person. He intentionally didnt want to be anointed with the good stuff – olive oil – he wanted to be anointed with every day Crisco. Paul was the first to call Jesus Christo. Christo was a joke at the time. The jews would have been scratching their head when they heard Jesus Christ. They would be thinking –if he is not a priest, a prophet or a king. Of he has not been ordained – then how is he the anointed one – themessiah. The greeks would have been scratching their heads - Christos means the smeared one. They would be wondering why would you smear a man with Crisco? Why would you smear a man with Crisco? Because we the common people live in a world full of troubles and concerns. I need a Lord and Savior who can take the heat. An olive oil messiah wont do me no good. A messiah smeared in Crisco, prepared to deal with the realities of life is what we need. Christos. Jesus Christ. Why we are Christians And now to take it even further. We are to follow Christ into his anointing. That is why they started calling his followers Christians. We are Christians, not resurectionists, or Easter people, or Jesusonians. Christ means the anointed one – Christians are those who take on his anointing in their own life. 1 Peter says that we are the priesthood of all believers. 1 John 27 says that the anointing that you have received of him lives in you. Christ intentionally chose to be the messiah of the common person. He choose to remain a layperson. And he chose to give us his power, his anointing so we can continue his work in our everyday lives. Honor student pastor On this day we want to honor the ministry of our sister, Jacqueline Forbes. At his point in her life, Jacqueline is a layperson. She has not been ordained. Yet she is in seminary, which means that she has started her journey to some type of service to God. While she is here, she is Pastor Forbes, or Pastor Jacqueline. The terms pastor and Reverend are not synomous. Pastor is a role, a job description. Reverend is a title for someone who has been ordained by some denominational church. Pastor Forbes has chosen to wear a robe for worship, which is well within her right. She is not however entitled to wear a stole. A stole is a symbol of ordination. A lot of new clergy like to brag that they have been appointed as Senior Pastor of a church. In the United Methodist Church, Senior Pastor is term for a pastor who has an appointed associate pastor serving under them. My official role in this congregation is pastor. (unless you all want to pay me more money to be senior pastor). But a pastor is simply the shepherd of the flock. I am going through this all pretty quickly. When we use the words anointing, consecration, ordination, these are all terms that have varied meanings according to the situation, the denomination, and who you ask. Today – consecration simply means our acknowledgment of the beginning of Jaqueline’s walk toward specialized ministry. And acknowledgement of her work with us in the coming year. She may share her journey and indeed why this is a time of being set apart. Jacqueline I want to share this story 820 Take All The Keys, Lord Dr. F. B. Meyer came to a crucial, transitional time in his ministry. He sat dejectedly in his study. “My ministry is unfruitful, and I lack spiritual power,” he said to himself. Suddenly Christ seemed to stand beside him. “Let me have the keys to your life,” Christ said. The experience was so realistic that he reached into his pocket and took out a bunch of keys! “Are all the keys here?” “Yes, Lord, all except the key to one small room in my life.” Christ said: “If you cannot trust me in all rooms of your life, I cannot accept any of the keys.” Dr. Meyer was so overwhelmed with the feeling that Christ was moving out of his life because he was excluding Him from one interest in his life that he cried out, “Come back, Lord, and take the keys to all the rooms of my life!” —Walter B. Knight Let this be a moment to be reminded that we are Christians – we share in Christ anointing to heal the sick, feed the hungry, free the captives, and to spread the good news. Amen. Children's Sermon: A New King by Patricia Hatfield Can anyone tell me what a king is? (Listen to the children's answers.) Yes, a king is a leader or someone who is in charge of a country. Do you know what a king does? (Makes laws; leads the army; speaks for the people.) So what do you think a king looks like? (Old or young; tall and strong; wears a purple robe and crown.) Someone who looks like that we expect would surely be a strong and powerful king, able to lead the people in war and in peace. In our Bible story today, we hear how God chooses a new king for the Hebrew people. God tells the priest, Samuel, to go to Jesse, a father with eight sons. The Lord would tell Samuel which one of the eight boys would be the new king. When Samuel arrived at Jesse's house, he saw the oldest son, Eliab. Eliab was very tall and handsome. Samuel was sure this was the son who would be the new king. But God said to Samuel, "Don't pay attention to how tall and handsome he is. I have not chosen this son because I do not judge by how a man looks on the outside. I look at the heart." One by one, Jesse brought seven of his sons before Samuel, but each time Samuel said, "No, the Lord hasn't chosen him. Do you have any more sons?" Jesse answered, "There is still the youngest, but he is out taking care of the sheep." "Tell him to come here," Samuel said. So Jesse sent for him. He was a handsome, healthy young man, and his eyes sparkled. The Lord said to Samuel, "This is the one!" And right in front of the older brothers, Samuel marked David with special olive oil to show that he would be the new king. Did you expect God to choose the youngest son to be king? It doesn't matter to God how old we are, or how tall we are, or what we look like. We can still be a king for God if we have a good heart. Do you think there are any kings here today in our congregation? (Children will probably think this is funny. Mention some of the church leaders such as Sunday school teachers, the board moderator, or the elders.) All these people were called by God to be leaders in our church, to make rules for our church, and to speak for the people of the church. Do any of you think that you will be called by God to be a leader in our church? Probably David didn't expect to be chosen. Perhaps some of our leaders didn't expect to be chosen either. But they are serving God through their good hearts and by what they are willing to do. Let's pray:

Hallelujah Anyhow

February 26, 2012 1 Peter 3:18-22 Mark 1:9-15 “Hallelujah Anyhow” First Sunday of Lent Year B Hiding the Hallelujah Many of the white churches have a tradition, that for lent, you are supposed to hide the alleluia for lent. Alleluia is just the Greek version of hallelujah, since they don’t pronounce an H at the beginning of a word, and there is no y, so Jah is spelled with an I. Alleluia is a victory cry- when we cry alleluia or hallelujah – we are saying that Jesus Christ is our victory over sin and death. The thought is, that in lent, there is no victory, and there is no triumphant Christ. So we are supposed to hide the alleluias until Easter, and then fervently bring them back again on Easter morning. Lenten music is naturally slow and sad, and liturgical music – music that is intentionally written for the season – has no alleluia’s in it, and churches go through this elaborate rituals on the first Sunday of lent in order to put the alleluia in a box and bury them so that they won’t be said in church. Interestingly, I have never been in a church that formally hid their alleluias. In my last church, my church musician and I used to fight constantly every lent, being that she was raised in the Catholic Church she would insist that I had to hide the alleluia’s. And I would tell her that during a recession, we can’t take hallelujah from people. What is the use of asking people who are already suffering, to suffer more by suppressing their alleluias? The Difference between a lent hallelujah and a easter hallelujah Besides, there is a big difference between a lent hallelujah and a Easter hallelujah. There is a big difference between a Jewish hallelujah and an Easter alleluia. (I ended up firing my musician, but that was because she was the church accountant- not because of our differences, we fought about everything). Hallelujah – I just think that is a wonderful song, all by itself. What a beautiful word. But why did the Israelites say that word – hallelu jah – praise God? The Jehovah names of God Lately, we have been talking about the names of God. Your English bible will intentionally make it easy for you, and anywhere God’s name is mentioned – they will refer to God as God. But in the original Hebrew bible, God had many names, coming from many traditions. The name I have focused on is Jehovah. Jehovah is a Christian pronunciation of the sacred 4 letters of God’s name. A Jewish person would never say Jehovah, because they believe that it is not man’s place to call God by name. But I am using Jehovah because there is a tradition of using the names of Jehovah. I counted about 50 different Jehovah names for God in the Old Testament. Examples of some: in Gen. 22 – Jehovah Jireh – God my provider – psalm 3:3 Jehovah kabodhi – The Lord is my glory, in 1 Chronicles 29 – Jehovah Nissi – the lord is my banner; in psalm 19 – Jehovah Tsori – the lord is my strength. Isaiah 5:3 Jehovah Rophe – God is a healer, Isaiah 9:6 – Jehovah shalom – the lord is my peace. God is all of those things to us. But here is the thing, the reality is that in a world of sin there are no provisions, people are hungry. There is no glory- people are struggle, there is no strength, no healing, and no peace. So you can’t use those names. All that you have is jah – just plain God. No attributes, no names. Just God in his most basic plain form. And yet still worthy to be praised. When life has stripped you of everything, when you have lost your peace, your strength, your shield, your armor – the one thing that no one can take away from you, not even the devil – is your praise God, your hallelujah. Hallelujah is your battle cry in times of despair. A Muslim would say – allahu Akbar – God is greater! They say it for many reasons, but we hear it when they are protesting – or killing someone on behalf of God. It is as if they have given up all hope of peace in a sinful world – and they praise God as they give up the ghost. Except our god says that thou salt not kill, and that there is never a reason to kill yourself if indeed God is greater. Hallelujah is your cry – which I may be defeated, that in a sinful world I may pass away – but God will never fail. And as a child of God – my life, my victory, my well being is centered around God – and not me. If you look at the Methodist hymnal – there is a song Jaya Ho – from India. Even the Hindus use praise God as a victory cry. Even the rocks will cry out You see, my thing is, even if the Catholics, and the Lutherans, the Methodist and the Presbyterians refuse to say hallelujah, it really doesn’t matter – because my Pentecostal cousins are always going to say praise the Lord. They may not say it to me, but every time they great one another they say praise the lord – so that is every day – even in lent. And it really doesn’t matter, because if the Pentecostal forget one day to day praise the lord – the bible says that God doesn’t need man to say hallelujah, because if we forget, that even the rocks will cry out – and say hallelujah. God is the creator of all things – and worthy to be praised. Even in a sinful world. But for Christians – our great victory cry comes on Easter morning – When Christ rose from the dead – he conquered all of our enemies – the devil, sin, death, sickness, disease, hunger, hatred. On Easter morning, we won’t have to cry hallelujah in a time of despair – but in a time of joy and celebration. When Jesus wins, if my life, my hope, my faith is centered in God – I win. We win. 1 Peter – Christ died for our sins once and for all But in the meantime – it is lent; we still live in a world of sin. Our lives are still affected by our sin and by the sin of others. This is the time to reflect on our sin, and how it drove Jesus to go to the cross – because he realized that somebody had to do something to change the system, to change the situation. I want us to look at the words of 1 Peter. “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” And then we read one of the most difficult verses in the bible – it says he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison. – Who are the spirits in prison? Some say that they are the spirits who live in Hades – the place of the dead. Those who had died before they knew Christ. But I would say to you that in a world of sin, our lives can be a living hell. Living in a world with racism, with hatred, with hunger, with lack of respect can be hell. Living with sickness, and worrying about others in our life can be hell. Living with drugs, with addictions can be hell. Living in fear of your life, of your belongings, can be hell. Worrying about how to take care of children, how to make ends meet can be hell. All a part of living in a world, with people who lives are not centered around God. An example of a living hell In thinking about this sermon, I came across the story of James Byrd. A young black man coming home in the middle of the night in 1998. He was picked up by three white men – we heard this story on the news. They beat him, and then attached him to the back of the truck and dragged him alive, until he died. That is a story which angers me, disgust me – I looked hoping to find another example – but indeed his ordeal is an example of a living hell. Something so horrendous, so inhumane, and so inexcusable, something much worse than any suffering that we have experienced. But the point is, Jesus came into the world, took on our flesh, experienced our suffering, and went through a similar torture on the cross – in order to free us all from the effects of a sinful world. Whatever it is that you are going through, whatever it is that you are suffering over – God understands, Christ knows what it feels like. And by dying on the cross – he made a way out of no way. Christ entered into this world – so that he could understand what it means to be in a living hell. Whatever it is, his death made a doorway. His resurrection gave you permission to go through. Don’t let your suffering be in vain Living in a sinful world – Jesus chose to endure unjust suffering rather than be unfaithful to God. The message of 1 Peter to us – is that life in a sinful world can be tough – but don’t give up. Don’t let your suffering be in vain. Stay committed to Christ in the tough times and Christ will stay committed to you. Lent is your time to stay committed. To look at your relationship with God – does your suffering bring you closer to God or further away? Are you working to clear sin out of the world? Or do you accept it as just the way things are? In the resurrection, will you claim the victory or continue you life as it is? Will hallelujah be a cry of despair? Or a celebration? Let your defeat be your victory I want to end this sermon on sin, on suffering, on claiming the victory, on why we this lent we are on a hallelujah journey to healing and wholeness with this lighthearted story of an old dog who fell into a farmer’s well. Looking into the well, the farmer decided that it was too much trouble, and the dog was too old for him to waste his time in getting the dog out. So he decided to just bury the dog alive. Of course once the dirt started to fall on his back, he realized what was happening. But every time the dirt fell, he would just shake it off and let if fall under its feet. Until all of the dirt intended to go on top of him, ended up up under him. Until the ground was high enough for him to get out of the well himself. Living life in a world of sin –can get the best of us. Living life in a world of sin can sometimes bury us alive and make our world a living hell. But the good news is that we worship a God that is worthy to be praised. In good times and bad. In lent and in Easter. The time to claim God’s victory – is now in the midst of the pain, so that we can feel it that much more in the resurrection. Hallelujah! Invitation to christ I want to pass out these nails for us to keep with us during lent. The nail is a reminder that we still live in a world of sin. But it is also a reminder that the Jesus went to the cross for us once and for all – so that sin, our sin and others does not have to bury us alive. God is always with us, and whatever stands in the way can be nailed to the cross. The rest of scripture reminds us that in baptism we die with Christ, in baptism we rise with Christ. In our commitment to Christ- we share in Christ victory. This is your chance to claim the victory.