Bless the Lord O my Soul

December 9, 2018 Luke 1:68-79 Luke 3:1-6 Second Sunday of Advent Bless the Lord O my Soul Year C Children’s Time Lighting of the second advent candle Luke 3:1-6 Common English Bible (CEB) John the Baptist’s message 3 In the fifteenth year of the rule of the emperor Tiberius—when Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea and Herod was ruler[a] over Galilee, his brother Philip was ruler[b] over Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was ruler[c] over Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas—God’s word came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 John went throughout the region of the Jordan River, calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. 4 This is just as it was written in the scroll of the words of Isaiah the prophet, A voice crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight. 5 Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be leveled. The crooked will be made straight and the rough places made smooth. 6 All humanity will see God’s salvation.”[d] Footnotes: This week our nation laid our 41st president to rest. I took advantage of the national day of mourning to watch all of the ritual on tv. It was interesting to watch all of our living presidents gather together to say goodbye to one of our leaders. I watched both funerals on both days. It was interesting to see all of the pomp and circumstance and protocol. I watched with fascination as the military carried the American flag and the presidential flag with precision. I was shocked that after the both flags were bought into the church, the honor guard kept control of the presidential flag, but turned the American flag over to a priest, who held it in front of the congregation while they sang a patriotic song. As a pastor, I have never seen the military turn an American flag over to the church. As a matter of fact, the church had their own American flag already in place. I think it was a very powerful symbol of who George HW Bush was as president. And also what the American flag represents. The presidential flag always represents the president. The American flag represents the fact that there have been 45 presidents. The fact that when one falls, there will always be a standing president for our nation. It represents who we are as a nation of people. It honors those who have sacrificed their lives so that we could have freedom. I think that as George HW Bush planned his funeral, he wanted to remind us that the power of our nation stands in the people. – it stands at the bottom, not at the top. That is an important lesson a lesson of faith, that has been demonstrated many times before. If you look at the beginning of our scripture today – it starts out by naming the political leaders of the day the emporer Tiberius, Pontius Pilate, Herod. It even names the religious leaders of the say Ananias and Caiphas. They were all important people. But scripture says that the word of God didn’t come through or to any of them. The word came to John, son of Zecharius, while in the wilderness. God’s word came to no on special, in the middle of nowhere. When John started his ministry, he didn’t start with the leaders in Jerusalem – but in the middle of nowhere – talking to everyday people. I have a friend who said that if you are looking for God – look at where the excitement is. Look at where the energy is. Look at what is already happening, and get on the band wagon. When you are trying to find God, - you probably don’t want to look to the leaders, but amongst the people. Not in the rich, but amongst the poor. Not in the capital, but in the wilderness. Not in the populated place, but in the middle of nowhere. I have been fascinated that the wilderness seems to be where faith begins. When Jesus is trying to find his ministry and calling – he spends some time in the wilderness. And now, when John fortells the coming of Christ – he is a voice crying out in the wilderness. Calling out to the people – to repent. To turn from the way of the world and listen to God. John calls out for the people to come to the water and to be baptized into repentance. John’s challenge to the people is to change their hearts, to live in righteousness and to ask God for forgiveness for your sins. A cleansing ceremony is a big part of many religious ceremonies. Before entering worship space for muslims, they will wash their feet and hands, before entering the temple you would also wash, even for us as Christians, the baptismal font is at the entrance of the sanctuary, so that we can remember our baptism before we come in to worship. William Barclay tells how at the coronation service in Westminster Abbey after all the congregation was seated, a squad of cleaners unexpectedly emerged with brushes and vacuum cleaners and proceeded to sweep the carpets so that they would be absolutely clean for the coming of the queen. So here is John, the messenger for the King saying the same thing. Get things cleaned up before Christ comes. John is challenging us to come and to take a part in the coming of Christ. Water is important to clean the outside, but we are being challenged to also get cleaned in the inside, inside of our hearts. Metanoia – means repentance, it means to have a change of heart. From the things of the world to the things of God. Not to look to our leaders for change, but in the wilderness. What is God up to in your neck of the woods? In order to know and be a part of it – we have to prepare our heart for something different. Most of us like the idea of change, but we really don’t like the process of change. We don’t want to admit that we are sinners, and that there are some things in our life that we need to do different. John is inviting us to just come – come to see what God is up to in the world today. God is inviting us to be willing to go along and to participate. To realize that God is in charge, and that God is present. And that God invites us to all participate. This is our country, this is our world, this is our salvation. We can prepare ourselves for the journey of life with God. Just as our country belongs to the people, the church also belings to the people. I thought that it was interesting, that when George HW Bush’s funeral was over, the military took both the American flag and the presidential flag out with the casket, and it stood behind the casket. But The priest also took the cross out and it stood over the casket as well. Once the casket was in the hearse, the honor guard stood at attention until the cross was bought back into the church and the church doors were closed. We are all citizens of this nation, but we are all children of God. God oversees our world, but God also invites us to participate in the salvation of the world. We are all invited to see what God is doing in the world today – and to jump on and be a part. But before we get in the game – we have to get cleaned up. The Work of the Church At the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The meetings were held in the large sanctuary in the capital city, Freetown. Each day as we entered the large doors into the sanctuary there was a young girl, maybe about the age of 8, who begged at the door. She looked ragged, dirty, her hair was matted and knotty, and she had on tattered clothes. No one seemed to know her, and people brushed her aside upon entering. Some of the pastors tried to tell her to go away. We were busy doing the work of the church. She was a bother. This went on for several days. As I sat in the pew observing the Conference one day, my peripheral vision caught some motion outside. I looked out the window, and there on the patio, outside the sanctuary was a woman, a lay member of the conference. She found a bucket and some soap. Although dressed in a beautiful traditional tie-dye gown, she pushed up her sleeves, and she was giving that 8-year-old girl a bath. She soaped up her hair and was tenderly making her all clean and new. She washed the clothes the child had been wearing, and they were spread out on the bushes in the sun drying. The woman went out and got another dress for her to wear, too. Hundreds of pastors and devoted laypersons poured into the Methodist Church of Freetown to do the work of the church. But outside, on the edges, quietly and without notice, the work of redemption - the work of Jesus Christ was being done. It was not the work of committees and reports and programs. It was the work of soap and water and human touch and being able to see the face of Jesus in that of an abandoned 8-year-old girl. Sharon Rhodes-Wickett, Collapsing the Distance between Heaven and Earth God is still in the saving business, and all of us are invited to be a part of it. Change does not come from the top, but from the bottom, not in the city square, but in the wilderness. And it is not what we can see on the outside, it is what is inside of our hearts. Won’t you take John’s challenge – and repent and turn to God. Amen. Other illustrations…. A Higher Standard of Living Max Lucado tells the story of a man who had been a closet slob most of his life. He just couldn't comprehend the logic of neatness. Why make up a bed if you're going to sleep in it again tonight? Why put the lid on the toothpaste tube if you're going to take it off again in the morning? He admitted to being compulsive about being messy. Then he got married. His wife was patient. She said she didn't mind his habits . . . if he didn't mind sleeping on the couch. Since he did mind, he began to change. He said he enrolled in a 12-step program for slobs. A physical therapist helped him rediscover the muscles used for hanging up shirts and placing toilet paper on the holder. His nose was reintroduced to the smell of Pine Sol. By the time his in-laws arrived for a visit, he was a new man. But then came that moment of truth. His wife went out of town for a week. At first he reverted to the old man. He figured he could be a slob for six days and clean up on the seventh. But something strange happened. He could no longer relax with dirty dishes in the sink or towels flung around the bathroom or clothes on the floor or sheets piled up like a mountain on the bed. What happened? Simple. He had been exposed to a higher standard of living. That's what confession and repentance do for us. That's what Jesus does for us. Billy D. Strayhorn, Thunder in the Desert John at Christmastime The First Sunday in Advent begins with apocalyptic images that, in the popular imagination, are as non-Christmasy as can be imagined. Now in the Christian tradition the Second Sunday in Advent confronts the church (and the world) with John the Baptist, whom the church has also long insisted is an absolutely necessary character in the Advent drama. But even most Christians don't want John at Christmas. We don't put John on Christmas cards. We have no John the Baptist Christmas tree ornaments. No child plays John in Christmas programs, and he's nowhere to be seen on front yard manger displays. John is too untidy, too dangerous for Christmas. Invite John to your holiday party and he'll spill eggnog all over your Persian rug as he flails his arms around talking about the need to repent. He's too shrill. If we let John in the door, he'll wake the baby in the manger. Then again, if we do not let John in, if we will not or cannot tolerate his uncompromising message that Christ is Lord of all, then that baby in the manger may as well just go on sleeping forever and ever. Because if we can't let John in, we're not ready for the baby to wake up anyway. If we don't like what John says, we won't like what that baby will eventually say, either. And then Christmas is over before it really began. Scott Hoezee, comments and observations on Luke 3:1-6.

The Day Everything Changed

February 10, 2013 Transfiguration Sunday 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-43 Year C “The Day Everything Changed” Waiting for a change I don’t know about you, but the one prayer that I have had for the last 7 years now has been a prayer for change. I have been praying for a deep change, something that I can feel in my spirit. I just want everything to be different. And I have learned to be specific, I am praying for a positive change, not all of the negativity in my life. I have had enough of that. I feel like the last seven years has been one thing after another, a lot of struggle, a lot of suffering. I have been waiting for the day when everything will be different. I just want to also make sure that I don’t get so busy in my life that I miss that moment. I don’t want to get overwhelmed that I don’t get a chance to see God at work in my life. 2 Corinthians speaks to life today as being under a veil. The world is overcome with so much. It not only affects the way we live life, but it affects our relationship with God. There are so many different things in life, that we miss God – we are overwhelmed with wishful thinking, fragmented thinking, disobedience, unteachable spirit amongst other things - it is like we live life with a mask on. Change is everywhere – we just don’t see it. We have our expectations, understandings, - like a young man, who was looking for a job, and got a call one day from the zoo…. Someone tells about a man who was looking for work without any luck for many weeks. So he decided to take a break and visit the zoo. While he was at the zoo, he asked the zookeeper if they had any openings. The zookeeper motioned the man over to a tree and whispered, "Our gorilla just died last night, and we’re expecting a group of children to come this afternoon. They will be very disappointed if they don’t get to see a gorilla. If you’re willing to get into a gorilla outfit and just swing around in the cage, I’ll pay you $10 an hour." The man thought about the children, and he thought about the money, and then he said, "yes." So he got into the gorilla suit and entered the gorilla cage. Just then, the children began to file by. The man decided he was going to give the children a show by swinging on a tire. He swung so high, that he landed into the next cage, the lion’s cage. Immediately the man in the gorilla suit began to scream and rattle the cage. The children also began to scream as the lion slowly approached the gorilla. When the man in the gorilla suit thought all was hopeless, the lion said, "Mister, you better shut up before we both lose our jobs." Only mankind dresses up as something other than what God intended. We never see a dog wanting to be a cat, or a cow wanting to be a horse. But mankind has struggled with confusion about who we are, what we ought to be doing and what we are capable of. living under a veil affects everything. Including the way we see life. Change is a part of every day. God is a God if change. God of surprises. God of turning negative into th positive, flowers blooming, sun shining. But we just don’t notice it – until we take off the veil of life. And decide to find God in each day. 2 corinthians verse 14 says but their minds were hardened, indeed to this very day. Key verse for today – verse 16 – but when one turns to the lord, the veil is removed. When we see life as God directed us, see ourselves as God sees us, and our future as God sees it – change happens every day. That change that we have been waiting for, happened today. Being stuck in our ways Concluding Illustration: Openness is essentially the willingness to grow, a distaste for ruts, eagerly standing on top-toe for a better view of what tomorrow brings. A man once bought a new radio, brought it home, placed it on the refrigerator, plugged it in, turned it to WSM in Nashville (home of the Grand Ole Opry), and then pulled all the knobs off! He had already tuned in all he ever wanted or expected to hear. Some marriages are "rutted" and rather dreary because either or both partners have yielded to the tyrrany of the inevitable, "what has been will still be." Stay open to newness. Stay open to change. I am a lot like that man. My television might as well be glued to channel 7 – watch all day wake up at 4:30 am with the news, and ends at 2am with windy city live going off. Know every show in between on channel 7. Hundreds of channel – only watch one. But I would say that is how we go to church. Expect the same thing all the time. Only want to hear – what we already know. We all say we want change – but when it comes not ready to accept it. Saying that some people change when they see the light – some people change when they feel the heat. The hope in that is that we all are able to see the light. That is why we have this season before lent – epiphany a chance to really see the light of Christ in your life. Today is the last Sunday of epiphany – last day is transfiguration Sunday. Sunday Jesus went through a change. But it is kind of hard to understand. We know the symbolism of Christmas, easter. But what does it mean when a man is said to glow in the dark? And why is this story so important, why is it told at the beginning of lent? First of all can’t explain it – but it happened in Jesus life. But second was intended to give the disciples present and each of us strength. Told before Jesus went to the cross – intended to give us strength to know that the dark days don’t last always. Better days ahead. Strength for the ultimate change – the resurrection. Realizing that change is not about getting better, improving our skills or our life. About being willing to be recreated, reprogrammed, redefined, most importantly resurrected. Truly getting a new life. Sermon is not about change – about finding a new life in Christ. Only in Christ do things truly change for the better. Every gospel has a story of the transfiguration. Goes up to the mountain and meets with the masters. Disciples are witnesses to all that happens, and they don’t have a clue about what it all means. Luke tells the story – but want to point out two very special lessons in Luke. First, prayer is important to Luke. Every action of Jesus begins in prayer. He has to talk to God to make sure he is doing the right thing. Blow dryer, radio, television can do some remarkable things. But if they are not plugged up – they don’t work. Same with us – if we are not in prayer with God – we are not very effective Christians. We are back to living life with the veil on. But Luke uses a different word for change than the other two. Mark and Matthew use metamorphisis – means a total change. Change so drastic don’t recognize yourself. In a totally different form. The word Luke uses is egento heteron – change, but a subtle change. Altered – something different, something the same. I would say that change is on the inside. Just enough to go on with life and to prepare for what is next. We know that if Christ can move on in life, so can we. As a matter of fact it is the Christ in us that makes things different. One famous preacher, Barbara Brown Taylor calls it dazzling the darkness. Says when Jesus lit up inside he learned what he was made of – who was inside of him and what was on the inside became obvious on the outside. Confidence to move on and trust God in the good and the bad. Does He Show Through? One Sunday on their way home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the preacher’s sermon this morning confused me." The mother said, "Oh? Why is that?" The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?" The mother replied, "Yes, that’s true honey." "And he also said that God lives in us? Is that true, Mommy?" Again the mother replied, "Yes." "Well," said the little girl, "if God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?" If the light of God showed through Jesus, should shine through us also. We should be alive to the process of transformation that we are going through – always going through – whether realize and understand or not. We bear the glory of God in our lives. Last story – 3 gold miners traveled to Montana to find gold. They found a stone – it was awful heavy – broke it open and discovered gold inside. Looked around and noticed gold everywhere. They started to dance and sing. But they soon got worried – what if someone else find out what they found. They made a pact that no one would say a word to anyone else. When they got back home – they noticed that people started to follow them. It was as if they knew the secret. So they asked each other, who broke the covenant not to tell. But the townspeople said – you did not have to say a thing – we could tell by the expression on your face – that you had found Gold. This is not a sermon about change – it is sermon about turning to the Lord – when one turns to the Lord –the veil is removed. If Christ is inside – it is obvious in your life. You cant hide it , mask it, or deny it. The glory of God is written all over your face for everyone to see. When the spirit of Christ is inside of us- we don’t have to wait for change – because our spirit is transformed! VII. Our base verse, 3:16 - “but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” A. Whenever a man turns to the Lord, the Spirit will give understanding B. Whenever a man turns to the Lord, that man will begin to see himself through the glory of the God. C. Whenever a man turns to the Lord, little by little; bit by bit, that man will be transformed into the image of God. D. Whenever a man turns to the Lord, then the Lord will be able to remove the veil to give understanding. E. But only when we trust fully in God to deal in every situation. Happy Transfiguration Day! Let this be the day that everything changes in your spirit! Let us pray…. Amen. 1.A young girl once consulted with her minister. “I cannot stick it out any longer. I am the only Christian in the factory where I work. I get nothing but taunts and sneers. It is more than I can stand. I am going to resign.” “Will you tell me,” asked the minister, “where lights are placed?” “What has that to do with it?” the young Christian asked him rather bluntly. “Never mind,” the minister replied. “Answer my question: ‘Where are lights placed?’ “ “I suppose in dark places,” she replied. “Yes, and that is why you have been put in that factory where there is such spiritual darkness and where there is no other Christian to shine for the Lord.” The young Christian realized for the first time the opportunity that was hers. She felt she could not fail God by allowing her light to go out. She went back to the factory with renewed determination to let her light shine in that dark corner. Before long, she was the means of leading nine other girls to the Light. One of the greatest tragedies for people would be to live in darkness when they could live in the light… Rose Crawford had been blind for 50 years. Then she had an operation in an Ontario hospital. She said, “I just can’t believe it,” as the doctor lifted the bandages from her eyes. She wept - when for the 1st time in her life she saw a dazzling and beautiful world of form and color greeted her eyes and she could now see. The amazing thing about her story, however, was that 20 years of her blindness was unnecessary. She didn’t know that surgical techniques had been developed, and that an operation could have restored her vision at the age of 30. The Dr. said, “She just figured there was nothing that could be done for her condition. Much of her life could have been different.” The bible idea of TRANSFORMING is not simply change, nor is it just improvement. God is at work, re-creating who you are, re-programming how I think, re-defining what we value, why we do what we do. He is doing this so that we will be conformed to the image of His Son, the model and pattern. George Duncan once went to visit some friends in the English countryside. For years they had lived in an old-fashioned, rundown building. To Mr. Duncan’s surprise, he discovered that the house had been completely remodeled. The people had installed new lights, an electric stove, and many other pieces of modern equipment. But he was even more surprised to see the lady of the house still using a kerosene stove for cooking and oil lamps for lighting. After greeting him, she said, “George, don’t look so confused. We’ve had a great change here, but we just haven’t turned on the power yet.” I. In these verses, Paul is talking about allowing God to work in our lives; allowing God’s will to be done in all areas, A. Those areas of sin that we resist, B. Those areas of frustration in our personal or even our work relationships. C. Those things that we know need to change, but they seem beyond our ability to change. D. And in fact they are unchangeable in our power. E. We need God’s wisdom and intervention, but it seems not to come. Even the Darkness Can Dazzle To lead our exodus, Jesus had to die like we do: alone, with no particular glory. Otherwise he would have been an anomaly instead of a messiah, and it would have been hard for us to see what he had in common with the rest of us. As it was, he died very much like those who died on either side of him, one of them begging to be saved from what was coming, the other asking to be remembered when Jesus got where he was going. Jesus could not do anything for the one who wanted to be spared, but he did a great favor for the other. He told him that the darkness was a dazzling one, with paradise in it for both of them. I think it was something he learned on the mountain, when light burst through all his seams and showed him what he was made of. It was something he never forgot. If we have been allowed to intrude on that moment, it is because someone thought we might need a dose of glory too, to get us through the night. Some people are lucky enough to witness it for themselves, although like Peter, James and John, very few of them will talk about it later. What the rest of us have are stories like this one, and the chance to decide for ourselves whether we will believe what they tell us. It is a lot to believe: that God’s lit-up life includes death, that there is no way around it but only through, that even the darkness can dazzle. Barbara Brown Taylor, "Dazzling Darkness," article in the Christian Century, February 4-11, 1998, page 1-5 (Illustration) Years ago I read the story of a young man that wanted to work at a zoo. And he was immediately hired when he applied for employment. But there was a problem. The zoo’s gorilla had died and its replacement hadn’t arrived. Since bus loads of school children were scheduled for tours that week, the young man was asked to wear a gorilla costume and play the part. He figured he could last a week so he arrived the next morning, outfitted himself, and began roaming his territory next to the lions. The kids came and he entertained them by eating bananas, lurching along the hillside, and swinging on limbs. All of the sudden he looked to the back of the corral where a lion had passed through an unlocked gate. It was coming straight toward him. Without hesitation he panicked and began yelling for help as onlookers stood near. And his cries intensified when the lion prowled closer. Finally, the lion pinned him against the wall and with his hot breath panting in the man’s face the lion opened his mouth and said: “If you don’t hush we’ll both lose our jobs.”[2] Now I heard about a man. He was unemployed, and he had no place to live and no place to go, and he was just living on the streets. And he had nothing to eat, and he was so hungry. And he was walking down the street one day and he passed a zoo. And there was a sign outside in front of the zoo that said, „Help wanted for today." And so he went inside the zoo. And the man at the zoo talked to him, and he said, "Now listen." He said, "I need a guy just for today." He said, "We had our gorilla get sick and it had to go to the vet, and it is not available. And the Girl Scouts are coming in today to the zoo. And one of the attractions they really like is the gorilla. And so we don't have a gorilla, so we need to hire you and put you in a gorilla suit, and we want you to play the gorilla for the day for the Girl Scouts." And he said, "Well, how much does it pay?" He said, "At the end of the day I'll give you $50.00. But I'm not going to give you anything until after you work the day." And so the man was so hungry, and he said, "Okay." He said, "I guess I can hold out until the end of the day to get my $50.00 so I can get something to eat." So he puts on the gorilla suit. And he's there in the cage pretending to be a gorilla. And the Girl Scouts come by. And he does a few things. You know, the Girl Scouts are looking and saying, "Well, that gorilla doesn't do anything." So he, he kind of jumped around al little bit, you know, like gorillas do, and he makes a gorilla noise, ha-ha-ha. You know, he does that stuff. And the Girl Scouts, one of them broke a cookie in half and threw it in the cage. And he was starving to death. So he picked up that cookie and he ate it. And he realized that if I start doing some tricks, they start throwing some cookies. So he did some more tricks. And he jumped around, and he jumped on the cage. And they thought that was so good, and so they threw more cookies. And then, he got on the swing and he began to swing on that swing. And they loved that, and they were throwing boxes of Girl Scout cookies at him. And he was so excited. And he got on that swing and he swung as high as he could possibly go. And he swung over the lion's den. And when he did, the rope broke and he fell into the lion's den. And he saw that lion, and he began to scream and yell and run. And that lion cornered him and knocked him down. And that lion put his paw on his chest and said, "Shut up, you fool, or we'll both lose our jobs!" (laughter). Strange zoo (laughter). Some imposters at the zoo. They were men in animal's clothing. The Mormons and certain Eastern religions believe that mankind can evolve into gods. The naturalists believe that nothing evolved into something, which evolved into mankind, and when we die, we return to nothing. And there are those who are not concerned about God and are simply doing the best they can, making a living, even if it means being or doing what God never intended. They don’t know any better. Heres what Cambridge scholar N.T Wright has to say about the subject, "Why did christianity arise, and why did it take the shape it did? The early Christians themselves reply: We exist because of Jesus’ resurrection…. There is no evidence for a form of early Christianity in which the resurrection was not a central belief. Nor was this belief, as it were, bolted on to Christianity at the edge. It was the central driving force, informing the whole movement."