What is so special about Rainbows

February 21, 2021 First Sunday of Lent Genesis 9:8-17 What’s so special about rainbows? Year B Opening Song Call to Worship (Psalm 25) We trust in you, O God, for you are faithful. Show us your ways and teach us your paths. We wait for you. Lead us in your paths of truth. Do not remember our failures. Out of your merciful grace, forgive us. You are faithful, O God. Your love is steadfast. We lift up our souls to you, and praise you always. Welcome Opening Prayer The season of Lent is here again and, as with so many times before, we find that we are not really ready for this journey of discipleship. So many things claim our lives and prevent us from being ready to take the steps in faith. As we look at our barrier of readiness, help us to remember that Christ is with us, every step of the way. We are not alone. Christ will help lift our hearts and spirits and direct our paths. Enable us, loving Savior, to take this journey of faith to new life with you. AMEN. Stewardship Moment As we begin this Lenten season, we have a golden opportunity to use these weeks to re-order our priorities. As a congregation, we’re enthusiastic about ________________________ (name your particular focus). If you don’t have something already in place, consider making copies of the Simple Living/Alternatives calendar (from above) available, with encouragement for each person to creatively use a few minutes every day to focus on this daily stewardship. Prayer of Thanksgiving We are called to share the gifts God has given to us with the people of God. So in this Lenten season, let us offer what we have for our neighbors (both near and far), and for building up the Realm of God on earth. God of mercy and grace, thank you for this time of sharing our gifts and resources while we mark this season’s beginning. May your Realm continue to come near even as we daily seek to repent and believe in the good news which Jesus proclaimed. AMEN Offertory Prayer Righteous God, we mark these early days in the Lenten journey with reminders of your covenant with your people. In your judgement, you sent upon creation the great flood – yet you saved a faithful remnant. You followed with a covenant not to use the flood again. As we prepare to offer our gifts to you, we are reminded that we have been spared from judgment by the one, your son, our Savior, who took on our guilt and bore our judgement. May gratitude for his sacrifice move us to offer not only money, but our whole being. In Christ, we pray. Amen. (Genesis 9:8-17) Special Music Scripture Genesis 9:8-17 Common English Bible 8 God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “I am now setting up my covenant with you, with your descendants, 10 and with every living being with you—with the birds, with the large animals, and with all the animals of the earth, leaving the ark with you.[a] 11 I will set up my covenant with you so that never again will all life be cut off by floodwaters. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I am drawing up between me and you and every living thing with you, on behalf of every future generation. 13 I have placed my bow in the clouds; it will be the symbol of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember the covenant between me and you and every living being among all the creatures. Floodwaters will never again destroy all creatures. 16 The bow will be in the clouds, and upon seeing it I will remember the enduring covenant between God and every living being of all the earth’s creatures.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I have set up between me and all creatures on earth.” Sermon – What’s So Special about Rainbows? My favorite song about rainbows is the Muppet movie – where Kermit sings, why are there so many songs about rainbows. The rainbow connection is a wonderful song about love, beauty, and a belief that one day we will all live in harmony. I think that is what rainbows mean for many of us – harmony and living together. And Kermit was singing a question that people have asked since the beginning of time. What is it that fascinate about us about rainbows. Almost every culture in the world has created songs and myths of why rainbows are in the sky. The aboriginal people in Australia believe that in dream time – the time of the creation of the world- that the rainbow serpent created everything. The native Americans believe that the great father used a rainbow to create the world. The canannites believed that the rainbow was a sign of war. The rainbow was God’s bow that he laid in the sky to signify that he was prepared to fight and that there would be war and fighting somewhere in the world. Actually this is the story that Noah and his generation would have grown up with. Their God Yahweh was a war God, and he protected them by winning battles. Last week we heard of the Chariot of Fire – a sign of destruction used in war. This week we hear of the bow. The bow was a sign of his strength and his ability to defeat others. In every generation, there is an indestructible weapon used to show God’s favor for those on his side. Thor had his hammer, Zeus had a thunder bolt, Poseidon had his trident, King Arthur had a sword, even cupid had his bow and arrow Now we have crosses and rainbows to fight our battles. Rainbows did not give you a warm fuzzy feeling of harmony – but it scared you, worried you . In those days,you took it as a sign that things were about to get serious. And you needed to be prepared. Perhaps it was this feeling of something bad to come that made Noah start building the ark. We know the story from here – of Noah building the ark and gathering his family and all of the animals and sailing the world – as God destroyed everything in a great flood. We tell that story on the first Sunday of lent because our theme for the next six weeks will be the promises of God. God made some very important promises to the fathers of faith in the Hebrew bible. His first promise to us was in the form of a rainbow. I think it is interesting that the Noah story is in the book of Genesis. In the scheme of things, this is a part of the original creation story. As soon as the world was created and man came to understand their place in creation, man started to ruin creation with sin. Within a few years, man was out of control, doing what we wanted, destroying what we wanted, totally oblivious to ourselves and to the world and to the one who created us in God’s image. Not knowing what else to do, but to kill us and start all over again. We get the story of Noah and the flood. There is a wonderful midrash about Noah having to leave his friends behind, and crying as he had to watch them die in the flood, while he and his family was safe in the ark. Obviously, after the flood was over, - Noah must have shared his grief with God. He must have defended his friends, even though they did not care about their relationship with God- they were still people, they still has a life, they still were wonderful friends, and they did not deserve to die – without a chance to know why they were being destroyed, and particularly without a chance to change. God agreed – and put a rainbow in the sky – explaining that what was once an ominous sign – is now a sign of hope. God’s promise was not only to Noah, not only to people, it was a promise to all of creation. Scripture says “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and all your descendents after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals. Speaking of rainbows, we have all heard that leprechauns had access the pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. No one has ever made it to the end of the rainbow. And if they did, the leprechaun’s job is to trick you into giving it up and forgetting you ever found it. But anyway – the big point of our scripture is that this promise is not just to us – to all flesh. God does not care about us, but about all of flesh. Lent is about us learning to love the things that God loves, and getting in touch with all of life, to not be so concerned about our needs, but the needs of all of the things that are important to God. I think that is the importance of this story of destruction being so close to the story of creation. The sin that God was concerned about eliminating was us developing our lives outside of nature. We have developed and eat foods which are made in a laboratory and not in the ground, we drive cars, and live in houses which are destroying the environment. We use everyday products with no regard for how others are affected by those products. I learned this year that there is a garbage heap the size of Texas swirling around in the Altantic Ocean – this heap is filled with water bottles and other debris that people just carelessly through away with no regard for where they end up. How does God get our attention, and help us realize that our actions are wrong, hurtful and need to be changed? God’s first promise to all flesh was that we would never be destroyed for our wrongdoing. Lent is a chance for us to think about our actions and how they affect others. A chance for us to put our relationship with God first again, and to remember to care about the things that God cares about. To think about how we are connected to all flesh, and all nature. And even in our modern day living - to take that relationship seriously. God made a promise to us – what promises have we made to God in return. Lent is about self denial – but it is also about relationship, about promises, about grace, and about our response to grace. Lent is a promise that darkness will turn into light, that death will turn into life, that winter will turn into spring, that tough times will turn into happy times. It is God’s ways of getting our attention, of reminding us that our lives have been spared, a request that when things finally do change, that you change too. It is God’s request that you not return to the old habits, the hurtful ways, the insensitivity to how you actions were affecting others. That when good times return – that you will be a better person because of it. I don’t know what you have planned for the lent season- whatever you do – all God asks is that you learn something. Something about yourself, something about the world, something about God, Something about God’s plan for you. My favorite rainbow story is the Norse belief that a rainbow is the bridge between heaven and earth. The only ones who can cross the bridge are the righteous. I also bet you didn’t know that no one can see the same rainbow. A rainbow – a reflection is only visible in the eye of the beholder – it is not something that you can reach out and touch in reality. So the rainbow that I see if not the rainbow that you see – or you see. It is God’s gift to each of us, and God speaks to each of us in many different ways. During this Lenten season – look for your rainbows, and know that God’s words for you are not far behind. We are about to enter a season where we will see a lot of water, so there will be a lot of rainbows. Rainbows are our chance to remember the promises of God: I will be with you, I will make you a people, I will give you salvation, I will hear your prayers, I will give you strength, and the list goes on. My cousin says that God’s promise to her was that there will never be a mouse in her house. A 7 year old was kidnapped, but the boy kept singing gospel music so the kidnapper released the boy. The mother was overjoyed, she said God promised to never forsake her. What promises has God made in your life? Lent is a time to reflect on the promises of God that sustain us. But we also have to remember that the covenant of God goes both ways. What promises have we made to God? The power of a promise. Some of you know about the power of a promise kept. You saw it in your parents’ marriage. You’ve seen it in your own spouse. You’ve seen it in the faithfulness of good friends. Some of you have experienced it in those dark hours when you most needed God’s power and you discovered God was there. God is a promise keeper. Willie’s mother was right when Willie was returned to her unharmed. God keeps His promises. And He doesn’t need a rainbow to remind Him of His promise: “I will never forget you nor forsake you. I am Abba, Daddy, and I love you more than any earthly parent ever could.” That is what the cross is all about. The rainbow may be a reminder to God, but the cross is the reminder to us that God so loved the world that He gave His son for us. Prolific author Lewis Smedes once wrote something that ought to be engraved on every Christian’s heart. It goes like this: “Somewhere people still make and keep promises. They choose not to quit when the going gets rough because they promised once to see it through. They stick to lost causes. They hold on to a love grown cold. They stay with people who have become pains in the neck. They still dare to make promises and care enough to keep the promises they make. I want to say to you that if you have a ship you will not desert, if you have people you will not forsake, if you have causes you will not abandon, then you are like God. “What a marvelous thing a promise is! When a person makes a promise, she reaches out into an unpredictable future and makes one thing predictable: she will be there even when being there costs her more than she wants to pay. When a person makes a promise, he stretches himself out into circumstances that no one can control and controls at least one thing: he will be there no matter what the circumstances turn out to be. With one simple word of promise, a person creates an island of certainty in a sea of uncertainty. When you make a promise, you take a hand in creating your own future.” (4) What are the promises you have made in your life? Have you kept them? If you haven’t God’s grace is sufficient for you. That is His promise and that promise will never fail. But I hope you are working on being a promise-keeper, just as God is a promise-keeper. I guarantee you that if you will, the world will be better for it. Prayer of Confession We have lists of things to do, for all the areas of our lives. Our lives are so time bound and duty bound that we feel imprisoned in them. Now we are challenged by Christ to take a journey of discipleship. We don't feel ready for this journey. We need more time. And we complain and cry about how much we have to do. Forgive us, Lord, when we place so many "duties" in the path to serving you. Reset our priorities so that we will be ready to commit our lives in your service. Lord, help us to be ready when you call us. Help us to courageously answer the summons you bring. Let us place our trust in you in all things. AMEN. Assurance of Pardon Loving, Creating God, you are in covenant with your people. You have pledged to be our God and ask us to be your people, trusting in you in all our ways. But we find many excuses to prevent us from really trusting you. We erect barriers before our faith journey even begins. Our time, obligations, energy, all become part of the bricks and mortar which fashion this barrier. We can give lip service to the journey; we can daydream about what it would be like to truly place our hands in yours and follow you. But when it comes to actually making the journey, our time constraints and weak commitments loom largely before us. Help us to tear down this barrier. Make us ready for the journey by replacing the fear in our hearts with a sense of joy and challenge of self-discovery and discipleship. Remind us that in service to you, helping others, we will also find our selves made more fully whole. As we have spoken the names of our friends, and family members, and others situations in which healing and comfort are needed, let us remember that we, too, stand in need of prayer and healing. Make us ready to receive your good news and then to be witnesses to your love to all your people. AMEN. Song of Reflection Blessed Assurance UMH 369 Announcements Benediction The first step on the journey, that of readiness, is one of the hardest. We keep thinking that we have forgotten something. God has called you by name, to this journey. You will have all that you need. Go in peace, and know that God is going with you. AMEN. Children’s Sermon Object: Ribbons tied into bows. Lesson: Covenant; God's care. This morning I need all of you to help me understand a verse of scripture. It's from the ninth chapter of Genesis, verse 13. It says, I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When God said to Noah, "I have set my bow in the clouds," what kind of 'bow' did God mean? Was it the kind of bow you shoot arrows with? The eight girls and one small boy seated on the chancel steps grin at my silliness and shake their heads to indicate no. Was it the kind of bow some folks wear in their hair, like these? I point to the pink ribbons I've tied to the ends of my braids for this discussion. Again the heads shake no, while some of the children say, "No!" with a giggle attached. Was it the kind of bow Stephanie has tied in her shoelaces? The children now eye Stephanie's feet, then assure me it wasn't that kind of bow either. No? You all keep saying, 'No!' Well, then, what kind of bow was it? A rainbow!" says one little girl triumphantly. Why did God set a rainbow in the clouds? I'll give you a hint -- it was after forty days and nights of rain. To let Noah know the rain had stopped?" one of the children states with a question in her voice. "Yes, and to let Noah know that never again would God destroy everything on the earth with a flood. The rainbow was the sign of an agreement between God and all of creation, a sign that said, 'I will remember my agreement with you whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, because I love you.' It rained on Friday. Did anyone see a rainbow that day? No? Why not? Did the sun ever come out on Friday?" Several children shake their heads indicating a negative response. "The sun never came out on Friday. The sky was cloudy all day, from before the sun came up until after the sun went down. Does that give you a hint about why there were no rainbows?" "Because there was no sun?" comes a tentative, questioning response. Right, because there was no sun! We have to have sunlight in order to have rainbows. Do any of you know what clouds are made of? I ask with an abrupt change of direction. "Rain!" says one of the children emphatically. Yes, I agree, clouds are made up of little drops of water. And when the sunlight shines though them what do we get? "A rainbow!" several of the children declare. That's right. Now, who made the sun, and the clouds, and the rain, and all of creation? "God did," they answer. So, if we have to have sunlight and droplets of water to make rainbows and God made the sun and the rain, I guess it must be God who makes rainbows, just as we read in the verse from Genesis. Now, once again, what is the rainbow a sign of? "God's agreement with Noah?" Yes, but not just with Noah. It's a sign of God's agreement or covenant with every living creature on the earth. It's a sign God made to remind all of us that never again would God destroy everything with a flood. And it is one of the many ways God has of saying, 'I made you and I love you.' CSS Publishing Company, Inc, Cows In Church, by B. Kathleen Fannin Additional Illustrations

Children of Abraham

March 12, 2017 We are children of Abraham Genesis 12:1-4 Lent 2 Imagine that you are going on a long journey – we are all going on a long journey, - we are going to divide up into groups, some of us are going to the artic, some of us are going to antartic, some are going to climb mount Everest. All of these are pretty long trips. We all need to get together and plan our journey together. What do we need to know before embarking on a journey? What do we need to take with us and what needs to stay behind? What is the one thing that we need from home on such a long journey to comfort us? What problems might we encounter on the journey? How are we going to get there, what is the cheapest way to get everyone to their destination? Lent is supposed to be a journey – a long journey from to faith for us. But nevertheless we all go on a journey in order to get to easter. Lent is our time to take some time to plan how we are going to get there. I think that is why we are going to continue to look at the book of Geneses today. The first 11 chapters of the book talk about the creations story and the first family of Adam and Eve. Chapter 12 is the story of another first family – Abram and Serai. Most important it is a story about a long journey that they must take. God comes to Abram and encourages him to leave home. Most people today never go any further than 50 miles away from the place that they were born. So the fact that God was able to get a 75 year old man and his 65 year old wife to just pull up and leave is a big deal. They did not go by themselves, Abram’s dad also went along, and his nephew. But what was it that made a 75 year old man just pick up and leave everything that he knew, all of his family, the life that he led and just walk away and start wandering around in the desert. It was his faith, his willingness to trust God even in the midst of the unknown . It was a faith that was so strong that we now call him the father of 3 faiths. Today more than 60% of the people in the world are either jewish, Christian, or muslim. And we are all called children of Abraham. The scripture from romans points out that we are not genetically related to Abraham, but we all inherited his faith, and more importantly, we all inherited the promises of God that God made to Abraham for following him. For being willing to take a long journey. I am reminded of the journey that many of our forefathers made. One of the best books that I ever read was the warmth of other suns – by Isabel Wilkerson. She follows the journey’s of four individuals who were born in the south, and traveled north, west, east to a new life. The title of her book comes from a poem from Richard Wright – I have been looking for the longer poem, but this stanza says- I was leaving the south to fling myself into the unknown… I was taking a part of the south to transplant in alien soil, to see if it could grow differently, if it could drink of new and cool rains, bend in strange winds, respond to the warmth of other suns and perhaps to bloom. I am reminded of the story that my cousin just told me last week of my uncle, her father. Who grew up on a farm, my grandmother rented a house on that farm. When he grew up, and more than likely all throughout his teenage years, he worked on that farm. My grandmother was a maid, so she was never home with them. But as he grew up, he became a sharecropper, and worked from sun up to sun down on that farm for little of nothing. He married early in life, and the owners of the farm wanted his wife to work as a maid, and my uncle insisted that we was more than willing to work as hard as he could for them, but his wife never would have to work. And as they began to have children they wanted a better life for them. So when the opportunity presented itself to move to Illinois and work in the factory he took it. As a matter of fact, not only did he leave, but all of his brothers, male cousins, and other male relatives all relocated to Peoria, IL. My other uncle retired from caterpillar as a very rich man. What was it that made them all leave their mother, their life, - Langston Hughes says it in a poem one way ticket – I pick up my life And take it with me And I put it down in Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Scranton, Any place that is North and East— And not Dixie. I pick up my life And take it on the train To Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake, Any place that is North and West— And not South. I am fed up With Jim Crow laws, People who are cruel And afraid, Who lynch and run, Who are scared of me And me of them. I pick up my life And take it away On a one-way ticket— Gone up North, Gone out West, Gone! They wanted a better life for their children! They did not want their children to suffer the way that they did. My mother is 20 years younger than her brothers. But when she became an adult, she followed them- for many of the same reasons. We all heard the Ben Carson quote this week where he said that slaves were immigrants. I was going to try to give him the benefit of the doubt, but there is no saving him. As he talked about slaves coming here on slave ships as immigrants so that their children could have a better life. But that is just stupid and wrong. I was going to say that maybe he got his timetable wrong. The great migration was the story of former slaves wanting a better life. I even have an article from the 1917 Englewood Methodist Church newsletter entitled the negroes - which talks about all of the black people coming to the south side from the south. I am still looking for the article from 1920 entitlted “The Negroes are coming” at least they talked about how they needed to welcome them and be open and understanding. My point for this morning is that long journey into the unknown are not strange, not even for us. As I do my family history, I have relatives that remind me that my family history does not begin and end in Arkansas. That before they came to Arkansas, they came from somewhere on the east coast – when the crops started to fail in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia – many farmers and their slaves moved to the delta states where the soil was better. And they came to the coastal states because they came off of boats from parts of Africa. Not that far from where Abraham would have wandered. So we are a long, long long way from home – in a new land, doing things in a new way – still practicing the same faith that Abraham practiced, still worshipping the same God, most importantly still keeping the same promises. The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household for the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation and will bless you. I will make your name respected, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, those who curse you I will curse; all the families of the earth will be blessed because of you.”[a] That is seven promises that we live in when we have the faith of Abraham. The Promises of God Are True Tom Long says that while he was at Princeton, he went to a nearby Presbyterian church that prides itself on being an academic, intellectual church. Early on, he said, he went to a family night supper and sat down next to a man, introduced himself, told him he was new, and said, "Have you been here long?" "Oh yes," the man said. "In fact I was here before this became such a scholarly church. Why I’m probably the only non-intellectual left. I haven't understood a sermon in over 25 years." "Then why do you keep coming," Tom asked? "Because every Monday night a group of us get in the church van and drive over to the youth correctional center. Sometimes we play basketball, or play games. Usually we share a Bible story. But mostly we just get to know these kids and listen to them. "I started going because Christians are supposed to do those kind of things. But now I could never stop. Sharing the love of God at that youth center has changed my life." And then he said this profound statement. "You cannot prove the promises of God in advance, but if you live them, they’re true, every one." During this Lenten season how are you living the promises of God? Where is it that God is calling you to go? Our ancestors came from a very long way for us to get where we are – but we still have a long way to go – especially in our hearts and souls. The genesis story says that when Abram set out – that not only was he75 years old – but he had not children. His wife was barren. So when God said come follow me – he had nothing to lose – but he had nothing to gain. When God started making these promises to him about becoming a great nation it meant nothing to him personally because he did not have any children of his own. His future was barren, he was not even thinking about the next generation and his legacy because there was no way that he was ever going to have a future. But this is how amazing God is – he created a future. In the beginning God created adam out of nothing – but he created Abraham’s future out of barreness. Suddenly no hope – became hopefulness! No future became a bountiful future; everyday routine because a lifechanging adventure. Imagine looking at your life one day and seeing absolutely nothing and the next day looking at the same place and seeing a gold mine. The journey that we have to go on now – is a spiritual journey. A journey within our hearts and souls. It is up to us to take those 7 promises and to create a future of hope and fulfillment for those who are yet to come. A story from Yugoslavia tells of four angels who witnessed creation. The first angel observed God’s handiwork in awe and said: “Lord, your creation is beautiful! How did you do it?” That’s the worldview of a scientist. The second angel observed in awe and said: “Lord, your creation is beautiful! Why did you do it?” That’s the worldview of a philosopher. The third angel observed in awe and said: “Lord, your creation is beautiful! Can I have it?” That’s the worldview of a materialist. Finally, the fourth angel observed in awe and said: “Lord, your creation is beautiful! Can I help?” That’s the worldview of God’s faithful. (8) That is the kind of obedience that God honors. God told Abram to leave his home and God made Abram a promise and an assignment—that he would be blessed and that he would be a blessing. May we be blessed and may we be a blessing to others as well. Amen. Other illustrations… Lane Alderman, Asking All the Right Questions “I was leaving the South to fling myself into the unknown . . . I was taking a part of the South to transplant in alien soil, to see if it could grow differently, if it could drink of new and cool rains, bend in strange winds, respond to the warmth of other suns and, perhaps, to bloom” ― Richard Wright “One-Way Ticket” by Langston Hughes I pick up my life And take it with me And I put it down in Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Scranton, Any place that is North and East— And not Dixie. I pick up my life And take it on the train To Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake, Any place that is North and West— And not South. I am fed up With Jim Crow laws, People who are cruel And afraid, Who lynch and run, Who are scared of me And me of them. I pick up my life And take it away On a one-Gone up North, Gone out West, Gone! “It poured rain the day I left. But I was filled with excitement, a strange sense of taking wing. I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew what I needed. I needed a new land, a new race, a new language; and although I couldn’t have put it into words then, I needed a new mystery.” (John Fowles, The Magus, (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 965, pg. 150) Children’s sermon… Object: A cap Boys and girls, How many of you like to wear caps? Some people do and some people don't. I read somewhere that if your feet are cold, you should put something on your head. That didn't make sense to me until someone explained that your body works extra hard to keep your brain warm. It will even let your feet freeze in order to keep your brain warm. That is why a cap is so important on a cold day. But why does the body work so hard to keep the brain warm? Your brain is the most important part of your body, isn't it? What do you do with your brain? That's right, you think. That is also where you see and hear and feel. Your eyes let in light, but it is your brain that turns that light into a picture. Your brain is by far the most important part of your body. Your brain is where you dream. It is where you dream at night--some of those dreams can be scary, can't they? And it is where you day dream during the day. Do you ever dream of what you will be some day? Do you dream of being an astronaut or a policeman or a teacher or a mommy or a daddy. Dreams are important. Dreams help us have a road map of where our lives will some day lead. Some of those dreams come from God. In fact God has a dream for your life. Did you know that? God has a dream for you--a dream in which you will grow up to be the kind of loving, honest, courageous person that He has created you to be. He dreams that you will be like His Son, Jesus. Gee, we have dreams and God has dreams. Wouldn't it be great if the dreams were the same? Then someday we could be all God means for us to be. Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan

New Promises for a New Day

March 22, 2015 Jeremiah 31:31-40 Promises Year B Fifth Sunday of Lent Have you ever known someone who never had anything positive to say about anything? Everything was negative, gloom and doom. Everyday they gave you some warning about life. My grandmother was like that. She had a negative story for every occasion in life. Every day she would tell me a story of woa and beware. She had a warning for everything. One day I burst out and told her to just leave me alone and let me make my own mistakes. Learning from my mistakes in life was much better than having to listen to you mouth every day. I was 13 years old when that happen. There were several times that year when I would say, Grandma you talk too much, why don’t you just shut up. Today I stand here amazed that I am still alive to tell that story. Amongst her other good qualities, grandma was amazingly kind, patient and forgiving to her favorite grandchild. She never said a word to me in my outburst, she would just quietly wait for me to finish, and go on. Jeremiah was that irritating person for the Isrealite people. He never had anything nice to say to them. Everyday he had a warning about his behavior, everyday he warned them that if they didn’t get any better that the wrath of God would be upon them. He reminded the people of their own sinfulness. They did more then tell him to shut up. They persecuted him all of his life. Jeremiah came from a family of priest of the temple. He says that he was called by God to be a prophet very early in his life. He says that God put charcoal on his tongue to cleanse his words, and touched him to speak truth to the people. The thing is, people didn’t want to hear the truth. Even his own brothers beat him up for talking too much. The king would order him to be thrown out of town if he didn’t shut up. One day the people got so mad at him that they through him into a cistern, a water tank and left him there to die, but he did not die and he did not shut up. Eventually they got so tired of hearing his warnings that they exiled him to Egypt – He spent the rest of his life there, no one knows what happened to him. But his words survived. Just as now I treasure every word that my grandma said, and I wished that I had been mature enough to listen more carefully. Jeremiah became one of the most important prophets to the Isrealite people. They learned to treasure his words, and they recognized that he was truly a prophet from God. Jeremiah is one of the second most important prophets in the bible. One day things got so bad, that he realized that there was nothing else that he could say. Instead of preaching gloom and doom, he had to give the people words of hope, a word from God that punishment will only last so long, and that things will get better. Our scripture for today is known as the hope scroll. God made a promise to each of us a long time ago – a promise that he would love us unconditionally. As we go through lent season we are always reminded of God’s promises to us. THE COVENANTS Eternal covenant, Heb 13:20—The redemptive covenant before time began, between the Father and the Son. By this covenant we have eternal redemption, an eternal peace from the ‘God of peace’, through the death and resurrection of the Son. Edenic covenant, Gen 1:26-28—The creative covenant between the Triune God, as the first party (Gen 1:26), and newly created man, as the second party, governing man’s creation and life in Edenic innocence. It regulated man’s dominion and subjugation of the earth, and presented a simple test of obedience. The penalty was death. Adamic covenant, Gen 3:14-19—The covenant conditioning fallen man’s life on the earth. Satan’s tool (the serpent) was cursed (Gen 3:14); the first promise of the Redeemer was given (3:15); women’s status was altered (3:16); the earth was cursed (3:17-19); physical and spiritual death resulted (3:19). Noahic covenant, Gen 8:20-9:6—The covenant of human government. Man is to govern his fellowmen for God, indicated by the institution of capital punishment as the supreme judicial power of the state (Gen 9:5-6). Other features included the Abrahamic covenant, Gen 12:1-3; confirmed, 13:14-17; 15:1-7; 17:1-8—The covenant of promise. Abraham’s posterity was to be made a great nation. In him (through Christ) all the families of the earth were to be blessed (Gal 3:16; Jn 8:56-58). Mosaic covenant, Ex 20:1-31:18—The legal covenant, given solely to Israel. It consisted of the commandments (Ex 20:1-26); the judgments (social) - (Ex 21:1; 24:11) and the ordinances (religious); (Ex 24:12-31:18); also called the law. It was a conditional covenant of works, a ministry of ‘condemnation’ and ‘death’ (2 Cor 3:7-9), designed to lead the transgressor (convicted thereby as a sinner) to Christ. Palestinian covenant, Deut 30:1-10—The covenant regulating Israel’s tenure of the land of Canaan. Its prophetic features include dispersion of disobedience (Deut 30:1), future repentance while in dispersion (30:2), the Lord’s return (30:3), the restoration (30:4-5), national conversion (3:6), judgment of Israel’s foes (30:7), national prosperity (30:9). Its blessings are conditioned upon obedience (30:8, 10), but fulfillment is guaranteed by the new covenant. Davidic covenant, 2 Sam 7:4-17, 1 Chr 17:4-15—The kingdom covenant regulating the temporal and eternal rule of David’s posterity. It secures in perpetuity a Davidic ‘house’ or line, a throne, and a kingdom. It was confirmed by divine oath in Ps 89:30-37 and renewed to Mary in Lk 1:31-33. It is fulfilled in Christ as the World’s Saviour and Israel’s coming King (Acts 1:6; Rev 19:16; 20:4-6). New covenant, Jer 31:31-33; Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20; Heb 8:8-12—The covenant of unconditional blessing based upon the finished redemption of Christ. It secures blessing for the church, flowing from the Abrahamic covenant (Gal 3:13-20), and secures all covenant blessings to converted Israel, including those of the Abrahamic, Palestinian, and Davidic covenants. This covenant is unconditional, final and irreversible. On first Sunday when we have communion – we repeat the words of Jesus when he says that this is the new convenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus Christ is the new covenant – the new promise. The Old Covenant made provision for sin to be covered, whereas the New Covenant cleanses it. It's the same difference as covering a dirty shirt with a jacket or having it totally cleansed. God does not look at us through Christ so that His blood covers our sins. Rather, Christ's blood completely removes our sin. ________________________________________ You're in the middle of dinner, about to go out to a special function where you are the guest speaker. You spill tomato sauce all down your front. You have two choices: you can either put on another shirt, or you can just wear a jacket to cover up the stain. The blood of bulls and goats that were such a prominent feature of the Old Covenant, could never do anything to the stain of sin except cover it up. But the blood of Jesus cleanses that stain completely. Now you may ask, what makes the new promise of God so different than the old promise of God. Afterall a promise is a promise. And God did indeed promise to love us. God did indeed say that he would do all of the hard work of the promise and all that we had to do is to follow along and do what he said. Accept his love and life our lives with his love in mind. God didn’t break his promise to us – we broke our promise to God. We didn’t hold up our end of the bargain. So God made a new covenant with us. The difference this time is that God gave us the ability to be faithful. He paved the way so that we could actually keep our promise and live in the new covenant of Jesus Christ. He did that by forgiving us, by evening the playing field. So that we did not have to live in the consequences of our own actions, we could know that we are forgiven and have a chance to start all over again. This time the laws of God are not things out there that we have to obey, they are things in here that keep us going and guide our actions. Jeremiah says that the laws of God will be written in our hearts. We don’t remember them we can live them. We’ve talked about the eternal and daily nature of our covenant with God. The problem is that while we can understand the reason behind the covenant, as long as we are deciding what to do in our minds, we won’t make changes to live out the covenant. That is why the prophesy explains that God will write the new covenant on our hearts. Only when we move from our brains to our hearts will we become the Christians God is calling us to be. Author Ray Bradbury says: “If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.” When we hold something in our heart – we treasure it. It affects our feelings and our being. For the ancient jews, the heart was the center of you whole being. It represented who you were as a person. You don’t fall in love with your mind, you fall in love with your heart. Last night Darnell and Gwen Brown renewed their marriage vows and celebrated their marriage of 18 years. And we are grateful that they made this service an important part of their wedding and invited so many guest to be present today. This story of marriage reminds me of them. There was a couple who had been married for some time, when the husband went away to war. When he returned, he decided that their marriage was over and that he wanted to enter in a relationship with another woman. Devasted, his wife explains that she married him because he made her a promise. And that promise made up for all of his faults. And that she too made a promise to him and that promise made up for everything that she did wrong. The husband was not convinced and still wanted to leave. And she still asked him to hold on. She told him that he had to get that promise back. They made a promise to be together for better or worse. So it was not comfort that they were looking for, they had suffered together. It was the promise that they were looking for. And it was that promise that brought them back together. And they were able to make their marriage work. Just as in marriage, the love of two people can overcome a multitude of sins. The love of God can overcome anything that we have done in life. God is saying it is okay, I forgive you. All I am asking is that you remember the promise that I wrote on your heart. Remember you first love in life. Remember that I am the center of your being and of all that you do. You don’t have to do anything just allow god to love you. God transforms our hearts from the inside out. There are some people who remember every bad thing that every happen to them. God is not one of those person, he forgets it all – so that we can have a chance to start again. Amen. Children’s Sermon What do I have here – a heart. We also have a hear inside of us – do you hear it beating. When you think of hearts like this, what does it remind you of? Love Usually we hold the things that we love in our hearts. What are some things in life that are near and dear to our hearts? Usually when we care about something we also say that we know it by heart. Many of you have learned the Lord’s prayer by heart. What are some other things in life that you know by heart? The scripture for today says that we will know the love of God by heart, because God’s rules will be written on our hearts. How many adults know the Lord’s prayer by heart? Some of us do and some of us are still learning just like some of you. But one thing that we do know is that God loves us and that God shows us his love in so many ways. So it is important for us to know God by heart. Let us pray….

The Covenant and the Cross

March 4, 2012 The Covenant and The Cross Second Sunday of Lent Year B Genesis 17:1-7,15-16 Mark 8:31-38 A father and a son are in a sports store admiring a set of weights. The son asks if he can have them, “ I Promise dad I will use them every day” – can we buy them? “I don’t know son, they are pretty expensive”, yeah but they would really help me to get in shape. – If I had them I promise you will not be disappointed. The father gives in and buys them. The son looks as him – you mean you are expecting me to carry these heavy things to the car? So much for making a promise. It is our second Sunday in lent, our journey with Christ to the Cross, how are we doing with keeping our promises? Have they become as heavy as dumbbells? I have to confess, that keeping my Lenten promises are a struggle. I said that I would go to bed on time. – And I have not made it yet. Truth be told, I have had a harder time going to sleep in the last two weeks, then I have any other time. But that is how it is – when you are trying to change, all of the reasons that you can’t change come to the surface. That is how it is for us – there are some promises that we have no problem with, and there are some that we struggle with. Some we have to work on. And yet God does not give up on us. God never breaks his promises to us. I want to start out this morning (afternoon) talking about the promises of God. I found this wonderful article on the things that God has promised us What can be said about God's promises to us? 1. He has promised to supply every need we have. The Bible says: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus". That's Philippians 4:19. Now notice, God has obligated Himself only to the extent of our needs. That would include food, clothing, shelter, companionship, love, and salvation thru Jesus Christ. It would not include the multiplicity of luxuries that we have come to think of as needs. 2. God has promised that His grace is sufficient for us. (II Corinthians 12:9). In fact, He has made provision for our salvation by His grace through faith. Read Ephesians 2:8. It is through an obedient faith that we have access into the grace of God according to Romans 5:2. 3. God has promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. Instead, He assures us that a way of escape will be provided. This promise is recorded in I Corinthians 10:13. Jude wrote: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you’re faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude v 24). Darius, King of the Medes, said to Daniel, "Thy God whom thou Servest continually, he will deliver thee" (Daniel 6:16). He did deliver Daniel from the den of lions. 4. God has promised us victory over death. He first resurrected Jesus by way of assuring our resurrection. Peter said: "This Jesus hath God rose up, whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3,4). Later on he adds: "but thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:57). 5. God has promised that all things work together for good to those who love and serve Him faithfully (Romans 8:28). It may be difficult for us to see and understand how this is accomplished at times, but God has promised it, and He will deliver. 6. God has promised that those who believe in Jesus and are baptized for the forgiveness of sins will be saved. (Read Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38). 7. God has promised His people eternal life (John 10:27,28). In closing, let me appeal to you to live so that the promises of God will be yours. All of those promises come from the promise that God made to our mother and father in faith Abraham and Sarah. That they would be the parents of a large nation, kings shall come from this promise. Today – according to recent statistics – 50% of the population of the world attribute Abraham as the father of their faith. That means that there are 3 billion people on the earth who are a part of Abraham and Sarah’s family. There are Christians, Muslims and Jews – the people of the book. Who are a part of God’s promise. And yet in the story, Abraham was 99 years old, Sarah was 89. He already had a son by Hagar, and he had gone on with his life, accepting things just as they were. He had done the best that he could in his life, he was only a man – so when God says that he will have another child, and create another nation – he laughs. And yet God did not ask Abraham about his future, God promised him a future. And God does not break God’s promises to man. God had come to Abraham when he was 75 and made a promise that he would be the father of a great nation. When he comes again at 99 I want to point out that he introduces himself as God Almighty – meaning El Shaddai – interpreted as the one with breast. Or the God of the mountains. Also in psalm 34 God is referred to as the all sufficient one. The breasted one – a baby depends on its mother for all things, and a baby does not have to ask a mother just takes care of them. In psalm 34 it says Hear what Ps 34 4-10 says I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. 6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 9 Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Seek him and get to know him as the One who is all sufficient. God takes care of all of our needs. God says that I will make a covenant with you – a promise, a committed relationship with you God says walk before me and be blameless and I will make a covenant between you and me. What’s so hard about that? It seems pretty easy to do. Let me tell you another story – a story that we have all heard before. Once upon a time there was a little girl with a red hood. Her mother sent her to her grandmother’s house with some cookies. In order to get to grandma’s house she had to pass through the forest. In the forest she met a wolf - she told the wolf where she was going – and he wolf wished her well. As a matter of fact, things went so well, they sat down together and ate cookies and told stories all afternoon. And lived happily ever after. We all know that is not how the story goes. The wolf does not wish her well, as a matter of fact, he gets to the house before she does and eats grandma. Before they can live happily ever after – they both have to be saved. The stories of our lives don’t have happy endings – there has to be some drama, some struggle, something bad to overcome. In a perfect world – it would be easy to live blameless before God – the problem is we don’t live in a perfect world. We live in a world of sin and of suffering. Things don’t go our way. God made a promise to be the all sufficient God –but somewhere along the way – life, situations circumstances problems got in the way. God had to make a new promise to us – the promise of Jesus Christ being the messiah of the world. In mark 8:29 – right before the story for today – Peter makes a confession – that Jesus is the messiah. God’s promised one. The one who would come and make everything right. Peter’s messiah was a fairy tale messiah – where everyone lived happily ever after. Peter believed that they were following Jesus, who was going to stand up and fight the Romans, win and gain glory for himself, his disciples, and his people. Jesus told him that the messiah would die, they would die, and instead of glory, there would be shame. Jesus has to remind him that we still live in earth. In earth things happen, life gets in the way. There are no happy endings. In life we suffer in some way, and in life the messiah must suffer also. The truth of the gospel is not so exciting – but Mark wants us to know the truth. Mark is the gospel of Good Friday – the cross is God’s greatest event. God asks Abraham to walk blameless with him, Jesus tells us that we must go to the cross with him. He talks not just to the twelve, but to all of us – If you want to become followers of me, you must deny yourself, take up you cross and follow me. For Mark, the cross is everything. And the only way to be a true Christian is to be willing to follow Christ. We have to suffer as he suffered. The good news is that he had to suffer because we suffer. In this world, life gets in the way for all of us. Life is a struggle. God does not ask us to endure suffering for suffering sake. God does not ask us to take abuse for abuse sake, or to neglect ourselves for neglect sake. Everything that God does for us is done for the sake of love. And when we make the journey to the cross, we have to make that journey in love. If we are obedient to Christ, then the cross is salvation, freedom, redemption, grace. Everything God is – the cross is for us who are faithful. I am god almighty, walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly fruitful. That is not a promise that we can make to God – But it is a promise that god makes to us. A promise that has been fulfilled in the cross. Wherever you may be in your promises, remember – faith does not believe in things that we don’t understand, it is in being obedient without reservation. God says walk blameless before me, Jesus says follow me to the cross. Life will get in the way of your obedience, but an all sufficient God will lead the way. Let us pray…..

A Command, A Promise, or a Way of Life - March 15, 2009

Exodus 20:1-17
John 2:13-22
March 15, 2009
Year B
Third Sunday of Lent
A Command, a Promise or a Way of Life?

Memorizing the 10 commandments is a rite of passage or all Sunday school students. Who can remember them by heart?
(I can’t)

Teach you a short trick to remember them….
Start with your hands together in prayer. This reminds us that God heard the
prayers of the Hebrew people when they were in slavery in Egypt and freed them
(Exodus 3:7, 20:2). The commandments are a way for us to show our gratitude for
God's love in our lives and to further just and peaceful relationships in God's
world.

1. "I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods before me." Hold up one
index finger for the number one. We worship one God.

2. "You shall not worship idols." Idols, false gods, are not only things like
statues, but anything in which we place our ultimate trust and allegiance-- for
example, money, possessions or weapons. Hold up two fingers. Should we worship
more than one God? No, two is too many! One of them must be an idol, and we
should not worship it!

3. "You shall not take the Lord's name in vain." Use three fingers to form the
letter "W' which stands for "words." Watch your words! God wants us to use his
name in loving, caring ways, as we pray and as we talk about him, not in
swearing or in anger.

4. "Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy." Hold up four fingers, and fold
your thumb under to let it rest. The thumb has the right idea. It's the Sabbath,
and the thumb is following the commandment to take a day of rest. God does not
want anyone to overwork or be stressed, so we need a day to rest, to be at
peace, and to worship with others. God also gave us the Sabbath so that working
people would not be taken advantage of by their employers (Deut. 5:14)

5. "Honor your father and your mother." Hold up all five fingers on one hand as
if you are taking a pledge, to honor your parents. God wants there to be peace
and love in all our family relationships.

6. "You shall not kill." Pretend the index finger on your second hand is a gun,
shooting at the first five fingers. God's sixth commandment teaches us not to do
anything that would hurt another person unfairly.

7. "You shall not commit adultery." Hold one hand out flat. The five fingers and
hand become the floor of the church. Two fingers on the other hand are the man
and woman to be married, standing in the church, making
promises to each other. This seventh commandment calls for couples to keep the
marriage promises they make.

8. "You shall not steal." Hold up four fingers on each hand, for the eighth
commandment. If you stretch out your fingers slightly, these become the prison
bars, which hold someone who was been arrested for stealing. Our Study Catechism
says "God forbids all theft and robbery, including schemes, tricks or systems
that unjustly take what belongs to someone else."

9. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Hold up all five
fingers on one hand and four on the other. Fold your second thumb under and turn
your hand around, so the thumb is hiding. It is secretly going around telling
the other four fingers on that hand lies and rumors about the five fingers on
the other hand. It is "bearing false witness," as it talks behind people=s
backs, spreading gossip, criticizing others without talking directly to the
people involved. Again, our Study Catechism teaches us "Negative stereotyping is
a form of falsehood that invites actions of humiliation, abuse, and violence as
forbidden by the commandment against murder."

10. "Do not covet what belongs to your neighbor." Hold out your hands, palms
up, and wiggle all ten fingers to show that they've got the "gimmes." Your
fingers are saying, "Gimme what belongs to my neighbor. I want all those things
my neighbor has." This is not the way God wants us to live.


I bet you didn’t know that catholics, Lutherans, other protestants, and jews have different ten commandements. There are actually 15 commandments that have been grouped in different ways.





A preacher was depressed that he lost his bike…..In a small town there were two preachers, one Methodist and one Baptist.They both liked to ride bicycles around town, and they would greet eachother when they met on their way somewhere. Well, so one day when they met, the Baptist preacher was on foot. Methodistpreacher asked him, "What happened to your bicycle?" Baptist preacher said, "I don't know. I put it somewhere, and can'tremember where. I hope somebody didn't steal it." So the Methodist preacher said, "I know what we can do to get your bicycleback. This Sunday we'll both preach on the Ten Commandments. When we getto 'Thou shalt not steal,' we'll dwell on it long and hard. I'll betthat'll get your bicycle returned." So they proceeded to do this, and one day the next week they met up again,and the Baptist preacher had his bicycle back. "Hello, friend," said the Methodist preacher. "I see one of our sermons didsome good." The Baptist fellow hung his head and said, "Yeah, but not how you'd think.I preached on the Ten Commandments, just like we said, and when I got to'Covet not thy neighbor's wife,' I remembered where I'd left my bicycle!"


That is how we usually use the ten commandments – as a set of rules that we are supposed to obey, with a realization that we will be punished if we disobey. And there are times when it is justified that we are punished. These are social boundaries where there should be consequences if we violate them. These are the basic rules of how we should live in community.

These are the first known rules of community. The story goes that the people did not want to talk with Moses on their own, so they ask Moses to go on the mountain and to bring back those rules to live by.

Today, even with all of the controversy of separation of church and state, they are the basis of our legal system. And play an important in our modern societal boundaries.

I told you that during lent we would be dealing with the 6 promises of God. At first thought, this hardly seems like a promise. It seems more like a list of rules to follow or else.

That is because no matter how well we may remember all of the commandments, we are not told of the first words o Exodus 20:2 – Where God says, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

I brought you out of the house of slavery – the promise for us is not a demand a demand of obedience, but a request of obedience. The first promise for us is that we would not be destroyed. In spite of out bent toward sinning. The second promise is that the world would be blessed if we live out of our faith. The promise for today – is that even though we are sinners, even though there are always consequences for our sin, - we have been set free. We are free to be in relationship with God and with one another. Without freedom, there is no relationship – because you are not giving out of your heart.

Without God, where would be be? Without God’s love for us where would we be? Without God opening doors and providing a pathway for us – where would we be? So why would we put other gods before God?
The first 4 commandments teach us how to have a relationship with God, the next six teach us how to have a relationship with one another.
Jesus reminds us that we should love the lord our God with all of our heart, all of our mind and all of our souls. And to love one another as God loves us. To treat one another, as God treats us.

Perhaps that is why Jesus got so upset in our gospel. Because people seemed to get so caught up in following the rules, that they forgot to be in relationship with one another, and with God.

This is another story which is told in all of the gospels. In John’s story – this is the beginning of Jesus ministry – when he comes to the temple – and finds money changers in the temple. He is not so much upset that they are selling worship materials – it is okay for us to have bake sales, and fundraisers in the church. That is not the problem. He is upset because of their attitude in selling products. They don’t care about the people that they are serving – many who can’t afford the prices that they are being charged. Also, they have set up shop in the gentile section of the temple, which means that there are people who are not allowed to come to worship while all of this is going on.

They have turned worship of God into a mockery of all that God stands for. A relationship of love.

Jesus ties some rope together and starts to destroy what they are doing by upturning everything. I love the response of the religious leaders in this story – who gave you the authority to do this?

When I was in Israel, one of the leaders said, it is not that Jews don’t like Jesus, they just don’t understand. It was like he made a mockery of the whole point of Jewish tradition. like he is doing in this scene.

Jesus is reminding us that we are free – we are not bound by tradition, or by circumstances, or by rules. The Lord our God has set us free. And all that God asks of us in return – is to obey – to never forget our relationship with God and to live out that relationship with one another.

The temple in which we worship is not a building (as important as it is), the temple is our relationships with one another and with those in the world. Without a relationship with who we are, what we are doing, and how we affect others – we don’t have anything.

I want to leave you with these words from Meister Eckhart
“as long we look for some kind of pay for what we do, as long as we want something from God in some kind of exchange, we are like merchants. Do all that you can in good works, solely for the praise of God. Live as you do not exist. Expect nothing in return. Then the merchant inside of you shall be driven out of the temple. Let God alone dwell in the temple. This is how the temple is cleared: when a person thinks only of God and honors him alone. Only such a person is free and genuine.

Worship no God but God
Don’t use the lords name in vain
Remember the Sabbath
Honor your parents
Don’t murder
Don’t commit adultery
Don’t steal
Don’t lie
Don’t wish for anything that belongs to another.

No matter what you do – always remember that you are loved, so you are free.

Amen.

The Rest of the Story - March 8, 2009

March 8, 2009
The Rest of the Story
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38
Year B
Second Sunday of Lent

Telling of a story that we have all heard before.
Once upon a time there was a little girl, with a read hood. Her mother sent her to her grandmother’s house with some cookies. In order to get the grandmothers house, she had to pass through a forest. Along the way, she met a wolf. She told the wolf where she was going. The wolf seemed intrigued, and wished her well on her journey. She made it to her grandmother’s house – they sat down together with milk and cookies and told stories all afternoon, and both lives happily ever after.

That is not how the story goes. Stories don’t have happy endings – there has to be some drama, some struggle between good and evil, something bad has to happen.

We all know that in the real story – The wolf gets to the house before little riding hood and eats the grandmother and that both have to eventually be rescued, before they live happily ever after.

We want happy endings – but that is not how the story goes.


That is the point that Jesus is trying to make in the gospel for today.

Back up a little, Jesus is talking with disciples and Peter realizes that he is talking with the messiah.

But in his mind the messiah is the happy ending, the triumph, the answer to his prayers. When Jesus starts talk about suffering and dying, and giving up what you have to follow me – Peter is upset and tells Jesus not to talk like that.

Jesus response – get behind me Satan

Reminder that because we want happy endings – that is not the life that we live. Life of suffering, pain and problems.

Jesus not here to be the hero of our dreams – the savior of our lives. The definer of our faith. In order for faith to matter – it has to be connected to real life.

We all fall into the temptation of Peter – Jesus this is who you should be for us. Jesus reminds us this is who he really is. Jesus reminds Peter, and us, that we get out fairy tales and our faith tales confused. We confuse the stories of man and the stories of God. No matter how bright and creative we are, we could never create the stories of God.

This lent we are dealing with the promises of God. The things God said would always be so. God promised Abraham that the world would be blessed for generations to come – because of his son.

We know that this was strange for a couple who were almost in their 90’s. But it happen. And today- Abraham is our biggest example of faith. The story of his life sticks with us. Not because it was a strange story – but because it is a faith story.

Faith is not belief in things that we can’t see, or in things we don’t understand. Faith is being willing to be obedient without reservation. (repeat that again).

In God’s story of faith – are we Peter, or are we Abraham? Do we tell God what God should be doing to fit into our story and make us happy – or do we listen to God, and trust that God knows far more about us that we could ever know?

In our story of faith, where is Jesus? Is he the hero who makes everything perfect for is, or is he an example of what God can do in our lives, or is he the one who stands next to us to support us every step of the way in life.

Most importantly, where are you in God’s story of faith? Does your trust in God enable you to follow instructions, or does it limit your actions?

God asks each of us that question – are you willing to go forward in trust, or do you need to stand back until things go your way. True faith is being able to go forward, even though things are not going as you planned. True faith is knowing that God can make some pretty improbable promises to us – but God is always reliable. The story does not go on the way we would write it, but there are reminders along the way that it is not our story – but God’s story. Life is not a story of happy endings – but a story of faith. Which is a grander story then we could ever imagine………. (the end of the sermon)

The story of faith is not just a story of words – it can be told in many ways. This morning – our word from God will be in song. Songs of faith, of God’s promise of love, and of our response to God’s love in our lives.

When We See Rainbows

“What do we see when we see rainbows?”
Genesis 9:8-17
1 Peter 3:18-22
Year B
First Sunday of Lent

My favorite song about rainbows is the Muppet movie – where Kermit sings, why are there so many songs about rainbows. The rainbow connection is a wonderful song about love, beauty, and a belief that one day we will all live in harmony. I think that is what rainbows mean for many of us – harmony and living together.

And Kermit was singing a question that people have asked since the beginning of time. What is it that fascinate about us about rainbows. Almost every culture in the world has created songs and myths of why rainbows are in the sky.

The aboriginal people in Australia believe that in dream time – the time of the creation of the world- that the rainbow serpent created everything. The native Americans believe that the great father used a rainbow to create the world.

The canannites believed that the rainbow was a sign of war. The rainbow was God’s bow that he laid in the sky to signify that he was prepared to fight and that there would be war and fighting somewhere in the world.

Actually this is the story that Noah and his generation would have grown up with. Their God Yahweh was a war God, and he protected them by winning battles. The bow was a sign of his strength and his ability to defeat others.

Rainbows did not give you a warm fuzzy feeling of harmony – but it scared you, worried you . In those days,you took it as a sign that things were about to get serious. And you needed to be prepared.

Perhaps it was this feeling of something bad to come that made Noah start building the ark. We know the story from here – of Noah building the ark and gathering his family and all of the animals and sailing the world – as God destroyed everything in a great flood.

We tell that story on the first Sunday of lent because our theme for the next six weeks will be the promises of God. God made some very important promises to the fathers of faith in the Hebrew bible. His first promise to us was in the form of a rainbow.

I think it is interesting that the Noah story is in the book of Genesis. In the scheme of things, this is a part of the original creation story. As soon as the world was created and man came to understand their place in creation, man started to ruin creation with sin. Within a few years, man was out of control, doing what we wanted, destroying what we wanted, totally oblivious to ourselves and to the world and to the one who created us in God’s image.

Not knowing what else to do, but to kill us and start all over again. We get the story of Noah and the flood. Since this story has come up already twice in one year – I want to save this story to tell you for another time, but there is a wonderful midrash about Noah having to leave his friends behind, and crying as he had to watch them die in the flood, while he and his family was safe in the ark.

Obviously, after the flood was over, - Noah must have shared his grief with God. He must have defended his friends, even though they did not care about their relationship with God- they were still people, they still has a life, they still were wonderful friends, and they did not deserve to die – without a chance to know why they were being destroyed, and particularly without a chance to change.

God agreed – and put a rainbow in the sky – explaining that what was once an ominous sign – is now a sign of hope. God’s promise was not only to Noah, not only to people, it was a promise to all of creation. Scripture says “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and all your descendents after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals.

Speaking of rainbows, we have all heard that leprechauns had access the pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. I bet you didn’t know that the legend actually says that the only person who can get the gold at the end of the rainbow is a man in the nude. Not relevant to the story - but I thought it was a story that would wake you up.

But anyway – the big point of our scripture is that this promise is not just to us – to all flesh. God does not care about us, but about all of flesh.

Lent is about us learning to love the things that God loves, and getting in touch with all of life, to not be so concerned about our needs, but the needs of all of the things that are important to God.

I think that is the importance of this story of destruction being so close to the story of creation. The sin that God was concerned about eliminating was us developing our lives outside of nature. We have developed and eat foods which are made in a laboratory and not in the ground, we drive cars, and live in houses which are destroying the environment. We use everyday products with no regard for how others are affected by those products. I learned this year that there is a garbage heap the size of Texas swirling around in the Altantic Ocean – this heap is filled with water bottles and other debris that people just carelessly through away with no regard for where they end up.

How does God get our attention, and help us realize that our actions are wrong, hurtful and need to be changed? God’s first promise to all flesh was that we would never be destroyed for our wrongdoing.

Lent is a chance for us to think about our actions and how they affect others. A chance for us to put our relationship with God first again, and to remember to care about the things that God cares about. To think about how we are connected to all flesh, and all nature. And even in our modern day living - to take that relationship seriously.

God made a promise to us – what promises have we made to God in return.

On Ash Wednesday, I talked about lent in tough times. The economy is forcing many of us into a period of self denial and reflection already – that goes far beyond the 40 days of lent.

If we are in self denial – how to we impose even more self denial? Lent is about self denial – but it is also about relationship, about promises, about grace, and about our response to grace.

Lent is a promise that darkness will turn into light, that death will turn into life, that winter will turn into spring, that tough times will turn into happy times.

It is God’s ways of getting our attention, of reminding us that our lives have been spared, a request that when things finally do change, that you change too. It is God’s request that you not return to the old habits, the hurtful ways, the insensitivity to how you actions were affecting others. That when good times return – that you will be a better person because of it.

I don’t know what you have planned for the lent season- whatever you do – all God asks is that you learn something. Something about yourself, something about the world, something about God, Something about God’s plan for you.

My favorite rainbow story is the Norse belief that a rainbow is the bridge between heaven and earth. The only ones who can cross the bridge are the righteous. I also bet you didn’t know that no one can see the same rainbow. A rainbow – a reflection is only visible in the eye of the beholder – it is not something that you can reach out and touch in reality.

So the rainbow that I see if not the rainbow that you see – or you see. It is God’s gift to each of us, and God speaks to each of us in many different ways.
During this Lenten season – look for your rainbows, and know that God’s words for you are not far behind.

Let us pray….