What does it mean to believe?

July 8, 2018 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 Children’s Sermon My grace is all you need, for my power is strongest when you are weak." (v. 9, TEV) Object: a He-man doll or a shirt picturing He-man. Lesson: Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you recognize this person I have here? (Show them the doll or the shirt.) How do you know so much about He-man? (They will tell you all about it.) Yes, that's right. He's on television. And we see him in the toy stores and in comic books. How strong is He-man, really? (Let them fill you in.) How did He-man get to be so strong? Where did he get all those muscles? Do you know anybody in real life that is like that? Do you know anybody who has so many muscles he can just about knock anybody flat he wants to? (They may know somebody like that. Let them offer some replies.) Do you think Jesus had a lot of big muscles like He-man? (Talk about it.) The Bible doesn't tell us, but it doesn't sound like it. Or, if Jesus did have any, it doesn't sound like he used them to act big and tough. Instead, Jesus acted gentle and kind and loving to people. Do you think that was a strong or a weak thing to do? (Talk about it.) Some people don't believe it, but when you love somebody, that's a strong thing to do. You don't have to be He-man to do that. Some people think loving people is a weak thing to do. But Jesus showed us that's not true. When Jesus died on the cross a lot of people thought he was the weakest man in town. But on Easter morning he turned out to be the strongest person in the universe. He died on the cross to love us, and that looked weak, but it was stronger than He-man for him to do it. Some things that look weak are really strong. Love is one of them. CSS Publishing Co., 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 Common English Bible (CEB) Paul’s visions and revelations from the Lord 12 It is necessary to brag, not that it does any good. I’ll move on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago. I don’t know whether it was in the body or out of the body. God knows. 3-4 I know that this man was caught up into paradise and that he heard unspeakable words that were things no one is allowed to repeat. I don’t know whether it was in the body or apart from the body. God knows. 5 I’ll brag about this man, but I won’t brag about myself, except to brag about my weaknesses. 6 If I did want to brag, I wouldn’t make a fool of myself because I’d tell the truth. I’m holding back from bragging so that no one will give me any more credit than what anyone sees or hears about me. 7 I was given a thorn in my body because of the outstanding revelations I’ve received so that I wouldn’t be conceited. It’s a messenger from Satan sent to torment me so that I wouldn’t be conceited. 8 I pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me alone. 9 He said to me, “My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness.” So I’ll gladly spend my time bragging about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power can rest on me. 10 Therefore, I’m all right with weaknesses, insults, disasters, harassments, and stressful situations for the sake of Christ, because when I’m weak, then I’m strong. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible It must have been in 1998 when I was able to take a two week teaching with the Dalai Lama. The Kalachackra is a teaching on world peace, it is held in a different place in the world every two or three years. And people come from all over the world, to be a part of this teaching. The Dalai Lama’s brother, who has since passed was a professor at Indiana University, so they hosted a teaching. Even though Bloomington, Indiana is a 5 hour drive, it was an exotic trip. I slept in a tent for the teaching, with a group of buddhist. Since I had a car, I was asked to host a family from Tibet that needed a ride everyday from the camp ground to the tent sight. They set up a grounds area to look like Tibet on the university. I remember there were many Christians who stood outside the grounds protesting and declaring that the Dalai Lama was going to hell because he did not believe in God. But I must say, that I learned a lot from that experience about what it means to be holy. About the experience of the sacred. We had to gather as a group. We had to pray for 8 hours a day, for 5 days before in order to prepare our hearts before we could even start to listen to the teaching on world peace. I remember one day, someone shouted to the Dalai Lama what did any of this have to do with world peace – and he responded back – that there was no such thing in the world as world peace. He said that as soon as we learned to find peace within our own hearts, then we don’t get so hooked on the problems of others. When we find peace within ourselves, then we will be at peace with the world. That is the only world peace that there is. I don’t totally agree with all of that – but there is some truth in that. I could share lots of stories about that experience, but today I wanted to share an experience that happened toward the end of the teaching. One of the last days after lunch, he wanted to teach us to go up through the 7 levels of heaven to reach the throne room of God. I remember he told us to eat a very light lunch and not to drink a lot of liquids, because as we travelled spiritually to the different levels of heaven, that as we were purified in spirit, whatever was inside of us was going to come out. At the first ten minute break in our prayer time, the bathroom line was filled with those of us who did not believe him. Christianity and Buddhism have a lot of differences, but they also have lot of similarities. There is a book written in the 1400’s which also outlines how to travel through the 7 levels of heaven to the throne room – it is called the interior Castle. It is a certain time of prayer that helps you to travel to each level of the castle to get to God. Having that experience with the Dalai Lama helped me to understand what Paul is talking about when he speaks of a man who was caught up into the third level of heaven. In the Jewish understanding of heaven, heaven had three levels, and the third level was the highest you could go and to reach the throne room to see God. He says, he is not sure of how the man actually got there, he doesn’t know if it was a dream, a prayer, or an out of body experience, he just knows that the man made it to heaven and lived to tell about it. The mystic always has aimed at that moment of wonder when “the seer and the Seen are one.” In their traditions the Jews said that four rabbis had had this vision of God. Ben Azai had seen the glory and had died. Ben Soma beheld it and went mad. Acher saw it and “cut up the young plants,” that is, in spite of the vision he became a heretic and ruined the garden of truth. Akiba alone ascended in peace and in peace came back. We cannot even guess what happened to Paul. We need not form theories about the number of heavens because of the fact that he speaks of the third heaven. He simply means that his spirit rose to an unsurpassable ecstasy in its nearness to God. Scholars agree that when Paul says that he knows a man – that he is talking about himself. Many other preachers were starting to criticize Paul and say that he was too down to earth, and that he did not speak of visions, so he was not a true man of God. So Paul says the he does not want to brag about spiritual experiences, but he has seen God and lived to tell about it. In church we often speak of that place – heaven. The place beyond pain and suffering and darkness, the eternal place where God lives. Heaven is once again one of those concepts that crosses the boundaries of many religions and cultures. Some call it Paradise, or nirvana, or enlightenment, or Shangra- la – and we all tend to wonder what it looks like and exactly how do you get there. Is it really a place? Are our loved ones there? And do you have to die in order to get there? Video of someone who claims to have been to heaven. The new testament speaks of heaven, speaks of paradise – the Persian version of the concept. Paradise was a wooded garden. When the king of Persia liked you, invited you to walk his gardens. Paul speaks of seeing the face of God. Walking and talking with God. For us who have never been to heaven, much more likely to find God in the plain, boring everyday task of life. God not in the throne room, but with us in life. Most likely to find God in the midst of our pain and suffering. Go to heaven to find God, God comes to life to find us. Paul talks of meeting God – says that God gave him a thorn in his side. Speculation for years about what this thorn is – physical condition, epiplespy, stuttering, mental condition. We don’t know, doesn’t matter. Messenger sent from heaven to torment me – caused a lot of pain and suffering. Whatever it was it kept him humble and calling on God for a sense of relief. The greatest lesson of the scripture – as he prayed, hoped for change, heard that still voice – My grace is sufficient for you. Whatever the pain, whatever the burden – Gives us grace to get through it. Where would you be if it were not for God’s grace in your life? "He giveth more grace when burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase; To added affliction, He addeth His mercy, To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance; When our strength has failed ere the day is half done; When we reach the end of our hoarded resources; Our Father's full giving is only begun. His love has no limit, His grace knows no measure, His power no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth and giveth and giveth again."—Selected. How do we come face to face with God? By we don’t have to go into the throne room, usually we can face our pain – and find God there with us in the midst of it – giving us to strength to deal with it and to go on with our lives. God grace is sufficient for all that we go through. Like Paul, is in our weakness that we discover the strength of God. Let us pray….. Our Burdens St. Paul writes in II Corinthians 12:9, "And God said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee . . .'" What a hard thing that is for us to accept. We are like the old man riding down the road on a donkey while he carried a 200 pound sack of wheat on his shoulder. Someone asked him why he didn't take the weight off of his shoulders and strap it to the donkey. "Oh, no!" he protested. "I couldn't ask the donkey to carry all that weight." Many of us are carrying burdens today that we do not have to carry. Only our lack of faith, trust, and confidence that God really is alive and able to relieve us of our burdens keeps us in bondage. How frustrated Christ must be with our lack of faith. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Sometimes We Need the Thorn Someone once asked Abraham Lincoln why he wouldn't replace a cabinet member who constantly opposed him. Lincoln told the story about the farmer who was trying to plow with a very old and decrepit horse. Lincoln noticed on the flank of the animal a big thistle caught in the animal's hair. Lincoln started to pull it off and the farmer said, "Don't remove that thistle, Abe! If it wasn't for the sticker, this old horse wouldn't move an inch!" That means, treat your problems as challenges. People who are difficult to work with, problems that seem insurmountable - notice how they keep you digging inside yourself for greater strength. In the end, you accomplish great feats, not in spite of, but because of your problems. Charles R. Leary, Mission Ready!, www.Sermons.com One lovely thing we may note, for it will help a little. The word Paradise comes from a Persian word which means a walled-garden. When a Persian king wished to confer a very special honour on someone specially dear to him, he made him a companion of the garden and gave him the right to walk in the royal gardens with him in intimate companionship. In this experience, as never before and never again, Paul had been the companion of God. "My Grace is Sufficient for Thee" (II Corinthians 12:9) Booth-Tucker preached in Chicago one day, and out from the throng a burdened toiler came and said to him, before all the audience, "You can talk like that about how Christ is dear to you, and helps you; but if your wife was dead, as my wife is, and you had some babies crying for their mother who would never come back, you could not say what you are saying." A little later Booth-Tucker lost his noble wife in a railway wreck, and the body was brought to Chicago and carried to the Salvation Army barracks for the funeral service. After others had conducted the funeral service he stood there by the casket, looked down into the face of the silent wife and mother, and said, "The other day when I was here, a man said, I could not say Christ was sufficient, if my wife were dead, and my children were crying for their mother. If that man is here, tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is all broken, my heart is all crushed, my heart is all bleeding, but there is a song in my heart and Christ put it there; and if that man is here, I tell him that, though my wife is gone and my children are motherless, Christ comforts me today." That man was there, and down the aisle he came, and fell down beside the casket, and said, "Verily, if Christ can help us like that, I will surrender to Him,"

Real Wisdom -

Proverbs 8:1-4,22-31
John 16:12-15
Year C
May 30, 2010
Trinity Sunday – Pentecost 2


Wesak Blessing Service
Last Thursday I attended a Wesak Blessing- I didn’t realize that it was a Buddhist service, but felt that I needed all of the blessings that I could get. But I was fascinated to learn that in Nepal, there is this belief that on the full moon in May that Jesus , and God and the Holy spirit and Buddha all come down from heaven and give blessings to all of the people gathered in the valley of the mountains.
So on Thursday when the sun went down we gathered to pray for the earth and to ask for special blessings. In this tradition it is thought that Jesus and Buddha are spiritual brothers both come to heaven to teach wisdom to the people. That can be pretty far fetched and hard to believe, certainly not a part of Christian tradition.

Wisdom comes to us in all kinds of forms
But then again, not a far cry from the Easter story of Jesus appearing to his disciples after the resurrection, not a far cry from Jesus ascending to heaven, and yet coming to us in mysterious ways to help us in life, and to teach us new lessons. God comes to us in many forms to talk to us, to guide us, to help us to grow in our faith. The point is, are we always alert enough to look for God in the details of our lives.

Faith comes to us in times of pain
There is the story of an atheist, who was spending a quiet afternoon fishing on the Loch Ness river. Suddenly the man’s boat is attacked by the loch ness monster. The monster comes at him in the water, and tosses the boat high in the water. And then it opens its mouth ready to swallow the man whole. He cries out to God – Oh God save me.
All of a sudden the whole scene just freezes. Man in the air, waves in mid air too, every thing just stops, and a loud voice booms – wait a minute – I thought that you didn’t believe in me, why should I save you. The man replies – O come on god give me a break – two minutes ago I didn’t believe in the Loch ness Monster either.
But isn’t that the reality for any of us. We have our faith with us always. We believe in God always, but we don’t use our faith, and we don’t think about what our faith really means until we approach adversity. Suffering is the hardest time for any of us to deal with.
It is in the midst of our pain that we start to think about who God is, and how God works in our lives. We start to ask the tough questions of God, such as why is this happening to me? What does any of this mean? And how will I get through it?
For those who don’t believe, there are no answers to those questions, but for those of us who do – the spirit of God comes to us in unexpected ways to bring us hope and clarity for what is ahead.
The life of a Christian means that we will all be tested with some type of pain, we will all have questions, we will all have suffering and pain. But we have to remember that our suffering is never in vain, and that we are never alone.
Jesus final words to us on earth were that we would have a partner. We would have a teacher, we would have the spirit of truth with us that will reveal the words of God in the midst of all circumstance for us.
On this final day of the Pentecost – we linger one more Sunday on the words of the gospel of John. Jesus knew that the disciples were going to enter into some challenging times. Jesus had not even gone to the cross yet. Jesus knew the pain they would suffer, and yet he knew that there were no words to help them understand the pain and persecution they were about the encounter. Even if he told them, his words would not have helped.
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me.
For those who don’t believe, suffering is just another part of life, it is another thing to get through, there is no hope for things to get better.
But for the easter people, those who have seen the resurrection, seen the ascencion and hang on to the promises of christ’s return – suffering is our teachable moment – to listen, to learn to trust, to hope.
We have the spirit of truth, which takes the wisdom of heaven and pours it out on us. The spirit doesn’t help us understand, it helps us look beyond our present moment. It doesn’t take away the pain, it helps us trust that the pain will go away. It doesn’t stop our suffering, it reminds us that our suffering is not in vain, and it is never ours alone to bear. We have God and we have one another.

Finding God in our Faith
We look for the God in the story in whatever form God appears, and not the loch ness monster.

The question game
I want to end on a light note – with a much lighter story. A young woman is taking a airplane to new York. It is a late night flight and she is anxious to get some sleep. But it turns out that a boisterous man sits next to her, full of energy and ready to talk. He wants to play a game with her. The game of questions. If I ask you a question and you don’t know the answer then you pay me. If I don’t know the answer you pay me. She is tired and declines. The man not ready to give up, makes it more interesting. If I ask you a question and you don’t know, you owe me $5, if I don’t know I have to give you $500. Now that gets her attention. He goes first – what is the distance from the earth to the moon. Now since they are on an airplane, and she is tired, she doenst even want to think – she just gives him the $5. And hopes to turn over and go to sleep. But know – the man reminds her that she has to ask him a question too. So she asks, what goes up the hill on three legs and comes down on four.
The man thinks about it for a while – he has $500 laying on the line, so he asks for some time to get the answer. A man of means he can use the phone on the plane, he even has internet access. He spends an hour looking for the answer – and finally gives her $500. And she turns over to go to sleep. But wait a minute – tell me what the answer is – she reaches in her purse and gives him $5. And goes to sleep.

True wisdom
The moral of the story for us – we come into this world thinking that everything is suppose to make sense, we are suppose to understand everything about life, that as long as we have all of the answers, life will be okay.
There are things in our lives that we will never understand, will not make sense if we have the answers, and even times when the pain just wont go away. But if our faith is in Christ – we learn to go on, to have hope anyway. True wisdom about life if never about what we know – it is about the God we trust. Let us pray…..

The Heart of Joy

This advent I told you about the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. The daily examine is a big part of that. Setting aside the end of your day to look at what happened and to see how God is working in your life. One of the challenges of the examine is to also look at the emotions that you felt that day – what was going on for you and why.
For me this has been a week of looking at some of the difficult emotions. Happy, sad, worried, stressed out, angry – concerned. Those are actually easy – because usually you know the cause of those emotions. And you don’t have to explain or justify why you feel the way you feel. Because the feeling is not about you – it is about something out there.
The hard emotions are jealousy, resentment, guilt, rejection, inadequacy. Those are hard because they are about you and what is going on inside of you. They are all feelings that we feel, but it is a little harder to justify where they come from, and why we feel that way. And often if you share those emotions with someone else, they will try and talk you out of them as if you shouldn’t feel that way.
When every feeling that we have is justified within our own soul. And sometimes it may not be appropriate to act on that emotion out in the world – but it is always important to examine that emotion and to see for ourselves what it is saying about our soul and our needs in the world.
This has been a week of examining hard emotions for me because of certain events. In October, I participated in a spiritual workshop for pastors. We are supposed to take our knowledge and go and start support groups for other pastors. In applying for this program, we were all told about another program that we could also sign up for. A writer’s support group for pastors. We had to send in our writing samples to be a part of the group. What they didn’t tell us until we were all together that this was a chance to fly to a retreat center in San Antonio every three months for a weekend retreat. We would write and critique the writing of others, and at the end of a year we would be treated to a book deal with a publisher looking for pastors to write on their experiences. A writers dream experience. Well it turns out that half of the group applied for this special group – 25 people, and there were only 7 positions open. So we were told that we would have to compete for those 7 positions. I got all of my paperwork in on time and waited for an answer. On Thursday I get this email saying more info on the writing group. So I know that email is a confirmation that they liked my application and would be accepted. But as I read the letter attached to the email – it is a rejection email. I didn’t make the cut for one of the 7 spots. And I am devastated. I was really looking forward to being a part of this group. I thought I had did such a good job on all of my writing samples, and explaining why I would be a good asset to the group.
So this week I have been reliving all of the rejections on my life. All of the bad relationships, all of the times that I was turned down by the board of ordained ministry, all of the jobs that I didn’t get. Every time in my life when I really wanted something and it just didn’t turn out. What does that say about me, when do I get my turn, when do I get to win, when , why how – and all of those questions and emotions that come along with being rejected.
And of course it didn’t help that I saw that one of my facebook friends, had befriended an old boyfriend. And this old boyfriends profile was a picture of his smiling wife and their two beautiful children – when I saw the picture I couldn’t help but think to myself – o isn’t that special.
Rejection, jealousy, resentment, anger, - this has been a week of tough emotions.
And of course I am left with the ensuing conversation of how do you move on from here. That writing group would have been a perfect opportunity – but will I find something else that is just as fulfilling? Just because they turned me down does that really mean that I am a bad writer. Or was I too good a writer and they thought I was showing off? Who knows. And what is God telling me in the midst of this experience, I am being called to perhaps start a local group for pastors who want to write and get published. Of course I have had this conversation with God before, that I learn much quicker if I just get my way and what I want, then from the times when I have been turned down. But of course God doesn’t listen to that conversation.
And yet God reminded me that it has been those times of moving on that have become the fundamental shape of my character. That in those times of moving on (and I have not always been willing to move on) I became stronger, more confident, more willing to work on myself, and able to even show my talents in skill in the face of the chance of being rejected. Those times of moving on and going forward have been the times when I was most willing to listen to God and to walk with God in a new and different way- In ways that I never thought possible.
Zephaniah talks about the journey of his people from darkness to light. Zephaniah is the cousin of King Hezekiah if that means anything. King Hezekiah had a reputation for bringing reform to the people of Israel. They had gotten comfortable with themselves and stopped thinking about their relationship with God. King Hezekiah and his son Josiah set them straight and reminded them to let God be the center of their lives and their worship. Today we celebrate what quality in the advent cycle? Joy – Joy comes from knowing that whatever you are going through – wherever you are in life, whatever you are feeling – God is with you. The opposite of joy is not sadness – it is apathy. It is that feeling that you have no reason to celebrate or to be happy. The opposite of hope is not the feeling that there is no hope – it is the feeling that it really doesn’t matter what I feel or what I do.
The people of Israel were guilty of those feelings. God didn’t matter to them anymore. God being with them didn’t matter anymore. They could do what they wanted – because they just didn’t care that God was in their midst. Zephaniah is made up of 7 sections, where Zephaniah is trying to straighten up the people. And tell them that they have got to do better. That they have got to care about God and if they don’t then them are going to be punished. The ultimate punishment fo the Hebrew people was being banished from their own land by the babylonions. The story of faith is the story of how they were able to move on from that experience and recognize that God was leading them to a new place. Our whole bible is a story of them moving on. But Zephaniah’s prophecy comes even before that. Zephaniah worns the people that they have to get out of their apathy and turn their lives toward God. And in the midst of that journey – Zephaniah and the people realize that indeed God is with them. And they can go on with their lives. Finally Zephaniah is able to tell the people to rejoice because the journey is over – they can celebrate that God allowed them to struggle, but today the struggle is over. All of their troubles will have meaning, all those who fought them will honor them, all that they attempt will happen, all that they have lost will be restored. Simply because they have come out of their apathy and realized that God is with them on the journey. Joy is knowing that God is with you on the journey. Joy is not in whether good things or bad things happen, joy is in knowing that everything that happens for a reason, and that God will reveal that reason.
Joy is in having a deep longing for change and knowing that change is about to come. Joy comes when you can see for yourself that joy is coming- it doesn’t have to be here just yet, but you know that it is coming.
Someone once said that joy is the flag flown from the heart when the king of glory is present there. Joy is looking into the face a baby for the first time, joy is sitting down to have coffee with a friend and having a good conversation, Joy is watching an amazing sunset, joy is coming home after a long day and smelling fresh bread in the oven, Joy is watching the man down the street who yells at everyone being willing to help older neighbors shovel the snow from their driveways. Joy is not a feeling, joy is an experience in life that brings you closer to god. I have mentioned what joy is to other people, I invite you to think about what joy is for you. When have you felt the overwhelming presence that God is with you and that all is right with the world? Joy is our peace in the midst of the storm. Joy is knowing that whatever happens, no matter how many rejections you get, that does not change who you are and how much God loves you. It is usually in our deepest moments of sorrow and pain that we learn the true meaning of joy. The truth is that You can’t separate the two. And you can’t have one without the other.
A woman- who was relatively young – 53 passed away after a long battle with cancer. At her funeral – they did a presentation of her life. There were baby pictures, pictures of her growing up, pictures of her family, pictures of her prom, her graduation, her wedding, pictures of her when she had children. Actually she had a pretty normal life. There was nothing really noteworthy about her life or about her pictures. The pastor noticed that while this was going on, her husband was holding the hands of his children. And he was smiling. He was actually very excited and happy, he was really enjoying those pictures. And as he watched the montage on the screen, he was reliving his life with his wife. All of those memories and good feelings were coming back to him in this touching moment of grief. The pain and sorrow of his loss had carved an empty space in his heart. It created a longing for relief. And ache for healing. And God was filling that woundedness with joy in that moment. If God can enter into that moment and heal the pain of death, then surely God can heal the pain of the difficult emotions in our life.
C.S. Lewis – a Christian writer writes a lot about joy he said that joy was the guiding principle of life for his. In his book surprised by joy he says that joy is not a pleasure or happiness, joy is a longing, perhaps a deep satisfaction in life that all is cared for.

C.S. Lewis talks about another image ... at the end of a long
dusty road (life) -- being bathed in the Presence of God.
Bathed not in the sense of dutiful washing... but bathed as in a child's
bath time - full of gleeful splashing and playing with the water upon and around
them - enjoying the water (the Presence), enjoying the 'wet-ness', enjoying being refreshed more than 'merely' being washed.
He reminds us that just being aware of the presence of God in our lives is the difference between joy and something else going on. As long as we know God is with us- anything we go through is a learning experience to make a better person. We don’t have to stay stuck in those difficult emotions that something must be wrong in our lives. The symbols of advent are hope, peace, joy and love. Joy is the heart of every one. Without joy you cant even begin to think of the others, much less feel them and put them in your lives.
Joy is not some frivolous emotion, it is knowing that God is here with you – so sing Cornerstone – rejoice with all of your heart. Let us pray…. Amen.