Seeing God with our own Eyes

February 23, 2020 Seeing God with our Own Eyes 2 Peter 1:16-21 Year B Transfiguration Sunday Children’s Time I am wearing my shiny shoes today, because today is a special Sunday. Transfiguration Sunday – the day that God told us a very special secret. The secret is that God loves us. God sent Jesus into our world – to who that love. Jesus was with his friends one day, and they noticed that there was a bright light, and they heard a voice say this is my son whom I love and I am proud of. Jesus asked that no one tell that story – was he embarrassed that his dad spoke to him? God’s secret. But is a story that God tells pretty often, there are a few times when God spoke about Jesus in public. Jesus told his friends to keep this a secret until the right time. The time is now – we all have a job to spread the secret until everyone in the world knows that God loves us all! Stewardship Moment As a little child we are all taught how important it is to share and to not be selfish with the things that we have. It is easy for us to think that the bible reinforces that lessons of not being selfish. But Jesus actually does not say a whole lot about being unselfish, Jesus tells us to be loving and giving. What is the between being unselfish and being loving – one is the a negative, and the other is a positive. One is a list of things not to do, one is a list of things that we should do. When we are not being selfish – we think about what we have and chose to give what is left over. When we are loving and giving, we help others in spite of what we have. God does not give to us out of what God has left over, God gives out of God’s heart. God does not give out of what God has, but out of what we need. If God can do that for us, then surely, we can do that for others. As we give today – give to the mission of our church to reach out, to make a difference and God has given to us…. scripture 2 Peter 1:16-21 Common English Bible (CEB) Christ’s return is true 16 We didn’t repeat crafty myths when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Quite the contrary, we witnessed his majesty with our own eyes. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came to him from the magnificent glory, saying, “This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 In addition, we have a most reliable prophetic word, and you would do well to pay attention to it, just as you would to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Most important, you must know that no prophecy of scripture represents the prophet’s own understanding of things, 21 because no prophecy ever came by human will. Instead, men and women led by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon I was on facebook a few days, and saved this post on how to identify fake news. 1. Read Past The Headline 2. Check What News Outlet Published It 3. Check The Publish Date And Time 4. Who Is The Author? 5. Look At What Links And Sources Are Used 6. Look Out For Questionable Quotes And Photos 7. Beware Confirmation Bias If a story looks suspicious or claims to reveal major news, search to see if other news outlets are also reporting the story. A single article from a suspicious source making a grand claim should be viewed with heavy skepticism. If no reliable news outlets are also reporting the story, then it’s very likely fake. 9. Think Before You Share Fake news sites rely on readers to share and engage with their articles in order for them to spread. In extreme cases, these fake articles can balloon out of control and have unintended consequences for those involved in the stories. After fake news stories claimed that Hillary Clinton was sexually abusing children at a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant, the business owner and his employees received death threats and vicious online harassment. The staff is still under attack even though these false claims have been debunked. More Resources For Spotting Fake News: • Snopes.com • Melissa Zimdars’ List Of Fake News Sites • On The Media Fake News Handbook • FactCheck.org • Poynter’s Tips For Debunking Fake News • TinEye Reverse Image Search • Washington Post Fact Checker In the world that we live in, we hear lot about fake news. And as we hear news everyday – and we can struggle with what to take seriously. Why are people telling us this story. The phrase fake news is a modern term, but the concept is not new. It has been going on for many years. Our scripture for this morning - 2 Peter was written to address this situation. Just who was this Jesus Christ anyway? And if he has not come back, is he really going to return? Some preachers were saying that he was coming back and some were not? In such a divided political climate, who do we believe? The author of 2 Peter makes the point that Peter was a witness to the transfiguration of Jesus. He was there, he heard the voice of God speak, he saw the face of Jesus shine and transform. More importantly – his life was changed from being present at that moment. In other words, Peter was not speaking from heresay, but personal experience. Peter was establishing himself as an authority figure on preaching the gospel. The words of Peter could be trusted. I don’t preach on this scripture very often, but it does offer a very different persective. Each of the gospels tell the story of the transfiguration. But this is the only reference to that day in the rest of the new testament. Peter tells this story in order to dispel the fake news of the day. Just as I gave the nine rules of spotting fake news. Peter says that he is an authority. The story of Jesus transfiguration and resurrection is not a myth – it is truth that Peter say for himself. He heard the voice and saw that sight for himself. The stories of Jesus should be a light to our understanding of the world. “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” 2 Peter 1:17 After the experience on the mountain, The Voice tells the disciples to "listen to Him (Jesus)". Discipleship is nothing more or less than “listening to Jesus.” To move forward in faith is to listen to Him, to recognize His voice, The Voice that is a transfiguring power, the same power that created the world out of nothingness. This is The Voice that transfigures sinners into saints, that heals the broken-hearted and makes the wounded whole human beings. The Voice is the voice of change, of transfiguration, The Voice that transfigures water into wine, and wine into blood, and death into life, and transgressive people into transfigured people. Can you hear the voice of Jesus in your life? In our culture? Do you have a hearing problem? Can we hear the voice of Jesus over the drone of voices calling you elsewhere? Listening for Jesus voice is "serious" [siri-ous] business. To “Listen to Him” we need to do four things. 1) We need to mute other voices. 2) We need to learn to listen and be silent. 3) We need to recognize The Voice. 4) We need to megaphone The Voice. 2) Twenty-one centuries after Peter, we are still called to a voice-activated faith. Today the voices we hear may not be declaring, “This is my Son,” but they are declaring “these are my children, my sons and daughters.” The voices we are now hearing may be declaring, “I need help.” Or “my children and I are sleeping in our car.” Or “I’m not able to show and share my faith with my family.” Those are all voice-activated calls to faith that demand a faith response. It is not an accident that this story takes place on a mountain top. Jesus went up on the mountain top in order to find God, just as moses and Elijah before him. As a matter of fact, both of those prophets join him on the mountain top. Meanwhile, Peter, John and James are also there sitting in a corner watching all that is going on. This moment actually changes their lives, and inspires their ministry from this day forward. It is the moment where everything becomes clear and makes sense. We all have had those moments in our life when everything makes sense, and we can see clearly. Those moments when everything in the world seems to come together, and we believe that everything will be alright. We have all had those moments, but have you every realized that those moments in life don’t last forever. There come and they go. Peter, James and John wanted this moment to last forever, they wanted to stay on that mountain forever, and yet Jesus said it was time to move on and come off the mountain. Just as quickly as the moment came it passed. Just like it does in our life. I just learned about this, this morning. But if you climb a mountain. If you stand between a cloud and the sun, then a halo will develop around you. A round circle with a rainbow on the outside. The phenomenon is called a glory. But isn’t that how we spend most of our lives, somewhere in the middle of a cloud and sunshine? We all have those moments of sunshine, but most of our lives are lived in the clouds – of confusion, or yearning or wanting better. We see some clarity, and then it is back into to the clouds. Glimpses of God When I first heard Chet Atkins play guitar, it made me want to be a better guitar player. The intricate way that he played made me want to learn his style and to try to make a guitar sound that way myself. But the first time I heard B.B. King play guitar, one simple note at a time, hung out in the air, sighing breathlessly or screaming in pain, it made my heart hurt – and it made me want to ease the pain that caused that sound. When I see the babies who are brought to the altar rail here, I have to smile at them. They make me want to touch them and to tell them how beautiful they are. But when I saw my own children as babies, they made me want to be a better person, so that I could be what they deserved as a father. Glimpses of God call us to alter our lives and to begin to see and do things differently. John Bedingfield, Little Epiphanies An Hour of Glory on a Windswept Hill Dr. William Stidger once told of a lovely little 90-year-old lady named Mrs. Sampson. Mrs. Sampson was frail, feeble, even sickly. But Dr. Stidger said that when he was discouraged he always went to visit Mrs. Sampson. She had a radiant spirit that was contagious. One day he asked this 90-year-young woman, “What is the secret of your power? What keeps you happy, contented and cheerful through your sickness?” She answered with a line from a poem, “I had an hour of glory on a windswept hill.” Bill Stidger said, recounting this experience, “I knew she had been in touch with God and that was the whole reason [for her cheerfulness].” Listen again to her words: “an hour of glory on a windswept hill.” It sounds very much like the experience Peter, James and John had on the Mount of Transfiguration. King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com We Can’t Live on the Mountaintop A young woman made an announcement one morning to her co-workers, "My honeymoon is over and I am so relieved. Now we can get on with our marriage." That's the way it is with our mountaintop experiences. We can't live there forever. The light is too bright, the pace too frantic, and the demands too great. It is a relief to return to normal lives where we can be ourselves and let others be themselves, but that doesn't mean the honeymoon is forgotten. Just because we don't live on the mountain all the time doesn't mean we forget what happened on the mountain. William B. Kincaid, III, And Then Came The Angel, CSS Publishing Company The point of those moments of sunshine is to give us strength to live the rest of our lives. It gives us an experience of God that will stick with us for the rest of our lives. The transfiguration, was a glimpse of the glory of the resurrection. When the disciples left the mountain, the vision of Jesus stuck with them for the rest of their lives. Each of them had their own ministry. Each of them was willing to tell their story. What is interesting about the scripture in 2 Peter, it was written to address the fake news of the day – that Jesus was not coming back. It says that I Peter was a witness to the transfiguration – the moment when Jesus became the Christ, the messiah the one loves by God and called to bring salvation to the world. What is interesting is that this scripture was not written by Peter. It was written by a disciple of Peter, someone who was not a witness to the transfiguration. But the point of our lesson for the day – is that we should act and believe, not out of what we have heard , but what we experience in our hearts. We should all seek the personal experience, when God speaks directly to us to inspire us and give us the courage to go on. That moment of sunshine is our assurance that life is unfolding as it should. That God is leading us to a place where it will all make sense and we will understand God and God’s love. Faith Gives off Light A few months ago I read the best-selling novel Lying Awake by Mark Salzman. It is the story of Sister John, a cloistered nun, who is slowly drawn into the intimate presence of God through stunning, dazzling, disintegrating visions. An ordinary woman becomes a quivering mystic, disappearing into "pure awareness." She became an ember carried upward by the heat of the invisible flame ... until the vacuum sucked the feeble light out of her. A darkness so pure it glistened, then out of the darkness ... nova.... More luminous than any sun ... all that was her ceased to exist. Only what was God remained. Unfortunately for Sister John, there is a complication. Along with her visions come excruciating headaches, which demolish her for days at a time, making her unavailable for the work of the cloister and causing her to be a great burden to the other nuns. Finally, a doctor diagnoses her with epilepsy, a condition that will get worse unless she chooses an operation - an operation that will relive the pain, but most likely destroy the visions. What should she do? After an intense wrestling match, Sister John chooses the operation. Why? With great reluctance, she denies herself, for the health and well-being of the larger, convent community. And sure enough the debilitating pain disappears. But so, too, does the exquisite passion - those intimate, ecstatic encounters with God. She goes back to the ordered, plodding life of the community where she is but one of many, serving God in the mundane moments of daily discipleship. In a final moment of wisdom in the book, the Mother Superior offers Sister John words that sustain her after the mountaintop moments have disappeared, when her daily faith journey seems dull and tentative: "We stretch out our emptied hands to take hold of the Light. We may feel that our prayers are arid, or that God has abandoned us. Although we suffer deeply, those become our most precious hours, because only in complete darkness do we learn that faith gives off light." Susan R. Andrews, The Offense of Grace, CSS Publishing Company Consulting an oracle God presence is with us all of our lives – but we have to take special times to learn to move and navigate our way through the thickness and beauty of the Shekinah glory – of god’s presence on earth. Lent is one of those times. Time to get in touch with the cloudiness of God. In the midst of cloudiness many people consulted special people to get the answers to your questions. Perhaps you are still thinking about what to do in Lent – so I have a special way to help you think about what to do for lent…… Okay some of the suggestions may not really be helpful – you will have to eat something in 40 days, and it is probably not a good idea to stay in bed for 40 days. Only God can truly tell you what to do- to see God more clearly in your life. ( not used) May you enter into the clouds of lent, discover the sunshine of Christ in your life- and be willing to keep God’s little secret to yourself until after Easter. Amen. Let us pray…. Amen. Additional Illustrations Sermon Opener – The Voice-activated Life - 2 Peter 1:16-21 When parents are trying to teach their very young children basic social skills one of the first big lessons is “Use your words.” Instead of grabbing, hitting, screaming, or crying, we teach our children to communicate their needs and desires through the use of words. Instead of snatching a toy away from another child we teach our kids to say “May I please play with that for a while?” Instead of screaming and throwing a tantrum, we teach our children to say, “I’m really mad,” or “He was mean to me,” or “She hit me!” The power of our voices, the power of words, is the first power we want our children to tap into. Verbal communication is uniquely human and is a uniquely empowering gift. Despite all the image-based advances in technology, “The Voice” is still the driving force in electronic developments. Voice power is still the ultimate power. Every new, successful emerging technology — for the past seventy-five years -- knows that voice power means market power. Remember RCA? RCA famously advertised its first record player, the “Victrola,” by showing the family dog with its head cocked in curiosity as it listened to a record player. The advertising tag line was, “His Master’s Voice.” The “next best thing” in the past few years has almost always been a voice-based development. We now all routinely talk to our cars… Transfigured: Who Changed? Laurel A. Dykstra, a scripture and justice educator living in Vancouver, British Columbia, wrote the following in an article for Sojourners Magazine: "My first night at Guadalupe House, a Catholic Worker “transition house” where I spent nearly 10 years, I sat at the wobbly-legged table amid a circle of men’s faces, black and brown and white, and looked at the peeling linoleum, tattered sheer yellow curtains, broken couches, and roach-filled corners. I had never seen a place so ugly. After a week of hospitality, laughter, community, and connection, I sat in the same seat and caught myself thinking, 'What a kind and homey room this is.' Transfigured. "So I wonder: In Matthew’s story of the mountain, was it Jesus who changed or was it that John, James, and Peter could now see the face of God shining in the man they knew? Did the thin air and the elevated perspective contribute to their clarity of vision? When they came down from the mountaintop, did they take their new capacity to see into the low places and crowded city streets? Can we? And when we see the face of God shining through those who are familiar to us, do we truly, deeply listen to them?" Laurel A. Dykstra, "See and Listen," article in Sojourners Magazine Sermon Opener - Lessons from the Mountaintop Frederick Buechner in his book, Peculiar Treasures, writes about Moses in the following way: "Whenever Hollywood cranks out a movie about Moses, they always give the part to somebody like Charlton Heston with some fake whiskers glued on. The truth of it is, he probably looked a lot more like Tevye the milkman after 10 rounds with Mohammed Ali. Moses up there on the mountain with his sore feet and aching back serves as a good example of the fact that when God puts the finger on people, their troubles have just begun! Hunkered down in the cleft of a rock, Moses had been allowed to see the Glory itself passing by, and although all God let him see was the back part, it was something to hold on to for the rest of his life." Mountaintop experiences in our faith journey become those moments of revelation that give us something to hold on to for the rest of our lives. That certainly is the kind of experience Moses had on Mount Sinai, and the kind of experience our Lord had with Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. Any experience in which we recognize the Living God can be a transfiguration. It may take place on the summit of a mountain, or as we kneel in prayer on a wooden floor at sea level. It can happen in the midst of a service of worship where God becomes dramatically real to us, and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christ is our Living Lord and Savior. So as we celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord, let us consider some spiritual lessons from the mountaintop. 1. The Value Of Spiritual Mountaintops 2. The Mystery In Mountaintop Experience 3. The Temptation Of The Mountaintop 4. The Urgency Of Spiritual Mountaintops Robert A. Beringer, Something's Coming...Something Great, CSS Publishing There is a story told of an old man and his grandson who were walking down a business street in a downtown district. As they walked along, the grandfather suddenly stopped, turned his head slightly, and tweaked his ear. After a moment he said to his grandson, “Follow me.” They slowly moved from where they were standing to a small planter box next to a sidewalk café. The planter was filled with various seasonal plants, but as the old man gently pushed back the flowers, behind them was revealed a small bird’s nest filled with baby chicks, their chirping almost indistinguishable from the din of lunchtime dinners and people on the sidewalk. No one seemed to pay any attention to the old man, his grandson or the little nest, but the grandson was amazed. After watching for a few minutes and then moving away the little boy looked up at his grandfather. “Grandpa, how did you hear the birds? There is so much noise, so much happening, how could you hear?” Without saying a word, the old man took several coins from his pocket and tossed them on the ground. With the tinkling of the coins on the sidewalk it seemed everything came to a stop. People turned around. Diners stopped eating to look their way. Several almost seemed to want to reach down and pick up the dropped coins. Then as quickly as it had happened – everything went back to the way it was. That’s when the old man spoke, “It’s all in what you are listening for, my child, it’s all in what you are listening for.” 4) We need to megaphone The Voice. This sanctuary is a sacred place to most of us. We meet God here. For some of us this is the most beautiful and meaningful hour in our week. We could pitch our tents and stay here all week long. Some of our most active members are thinking to themselves, “I might as well, as much time as I spend here.” But we need to remember the time-honored story of the lady who happened in on a small Quaker congregation. They were sitting in silence. “When does the service begin?” she asked a man sitting near her. His answer: “As soon as the meeting is over.” Hannibal was the son of a general around 220 B.C. in the days of the Roman Empire. His father, a Carthaginian officer, trained the young Hannibal to disdain the Romans. Later, after Hannibal's commander was assassinated, Hannibal, at age 26, was named commander in chief by the acclamation of those under his command. The Carthaginian leadership quickly affirmed the field promotion. Hannibal strengthened his armies until they were ready to confront Rome. Leaving Spain with approximately 40,000 troops, horsemen, and 38 elephants, he made his way through southern France (Gaul) and prepared to enter Italy from the north over the Alps. We remember Hannibal as the one who took the elephants over the mountains, but few remember the challenges he faced along the way. First the river. He crossed the Rh“ne using commandeered boats for his troops, and for the elephants, he built earth- covered rafts. But how would they find their way in the Alps? Some friendly, local Gallic leaders assigned guides to help with the complicated Alpine passes, but many Alpine natives were hostile. As Hannibal and his ten thousands threaded the precipitous mountain paths, local residents rolled heavy stones down upon man and beast from the heights above. His descent on an icy base covered with fresh snow caused animals and soldiers to founder, and a landslide blocked their narrow path, delaying progress for a day. After fifteen days crossing the Alps, Hannibal descended into Italy, with 26,000 troops and a few of the original elephants. So, Hannibal got the elephants over the mountains, with mixed results. For some time he controlled large sections of Italy, but he never reached Rome, and finally was driven from there. Unwelcome at home because of his perceived mismanagement of the Roman campaign, he died a man on the run, pursued by When Hannibal came down from the mountains to the plain of northern Italy, he expected to find there the enemy. And the enemy he did find: endless struggle, conflict, eventual defeat -- he was driven from that place. A temptation for us is to think that taking the elephants over the mountains will leave us the same -- unchanged. And that simply we need to arrive upon the plain and be on our way, which is never the case. We can, however, plot a new course and travel the plain differently and successfully. But there are a few things to keep in mind. When Peter, James, and John came down from the mountain, they saw only Jesus, which meant that their view of everything else had changed. Eventually Peter's ministry took him far and wide to unfamiliar places and people. When we come down from the mountain, learn the terrain. Learn in a new way the interests, the appetites, the gifts, of those around us and the special opportunities afforded by this location. Thoreau reminds us that the entire world may be seen in a few acres of ground if we will only see. So learn the terrain. Secondly: say "yes" to the plain. Hannibal came down from the mountain and expected to find the enemy, and he found strife and conflict, misery and defeat. Peter, James, and John came down from the mountain and saw Jesus only. When we in our life journey have taken the elephants over the mountains, who will we be and where will we find joy? Whom will we see? Whom will we expect to meet on the plain? Will we be ready to receive the treasures of a new place? Will we be ready to receive the blessings which are ours to receive as changed people? Will we patiently and gently come to know the worth of those we meet who are differently gifted than ourselves? And will we be free in an unexpected place to touch the fringe of his garment? From the lofty places to the plain, our descending approach can make all the difference. And Jesus, who Peter, James, and John saw differently on the mountain, after the Resurrection said to his disciples, "I am going ahead of you and I will meet you on the plain." ________________________________________ 1. "Hannibal," The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1993 edition, vol. 5, pp. 683 - 685. My Special moment I have two questions for you – have you ever had that time in life, when everything came together for you? When life just seemed to make sense. It may have been your wedding day, or graduation, or birthday or some other special day that you felt that you were on top of the world. My second question is if you could talk to any two people, dead or alive to get advice, who would you ask. For Jesus those two people were Elijah and Moses. Thursday was that moment for me. I have not been that excited about anything in a very long time. I have not had a chance to sit on edge, and watch such an exciting scene unfold before me. A moment of intrigue, a moment where I question what is real. A moment where you can clearly see that there is a thin line between life and death, between the past and the future, between what you expect and what you don’t understand. It was that moment where you realize that there are those rare moments in our lives where all of our questions are answered, where we realize that the anticipation of waiting is finally fulfilled. But most of the time you realize that you have to spend most of your life in a cloud of confusion, that never goes away, because the answering of one set of questions, just brings about more questions. Perhaps Jesus did not have the season premier of the television series lost in mind when he bought his most trusted disciples with him to a mountaintop to pray. Season premiere or no, Lost is just a very clear mind game that is not scheduled to end until 2010. But Jesus must have known that there are those moments in all of our lives. The moments where the true identity of the Christ becomes clear to us. The transfigurations story When Jesus took his disciples up to the mountain – it must have seemed like a very cruel mind game to them. Jesus takes those 3 of the brothers that we talked about last week – Peter, James and John to the top of the mountain…….. The significance of clouds In the gospel, God talks to the disciples through a cloud and encourages them to listen to Jesus. In the Hebrew gospel God also talks and acts through a cloud. Moses takes his trusted helpers with him to Mount Sinai to talk with God to get the Ten Commandments. No one is allowed at the top except Moses. But once again a cloud covers the mountain for six days, and on the seventh day – a special day Moses comes out of the cloud with a message for the people. Now we tend to think of clouds as a bad thing- a bad time in our lives, a time of uncertainty, a time of confusion, a time when we are not able to see things clearly. What are the things that cloud your vision? What are the clouds in your life that prevent you from doing what you really want to do. The Shekinah Glory Clouds are actually a good thing in the bible. A cloud signifies the presence of God on earth. The presence of God was somewhere far away on a throne on heaven, but there is also a presence of God here on earth. God’s earthly presence is called the Shekinah glory – and you knew the Shekinah glory was present when you saw a cloud. It was a cloud that guided the Israelite to freedom by day and a pillar of fire by night. It was in a cloud in the mountain that Elijah was able to find the silence of God, it was a cloud that constantly talked with Moses to give him instruction to lead the people, it was a cloud that talked with the disciples to tell them that he was his beloved son listen to him, and when you think about it is that cloud of confusion, doubt, questioning, misunderstanding that constantly stays with us and shapes our faith journey. Cloudiness is a way of life for us. Moments of Sunshine When you think about it – those moments when things are totally clear and obvious are few and far between. An organization that I am a part of calls them moments of sunshine- those times when you are totally happy, when you are on the top of your game, when all of your questions have been answered, when you see life very clearly. The disciples hold onto that moment We are a lot like the disciples in those moments – we want to worship them forever – do you know anyone who still talks about that moment in high school. We want to build a temple so that moment can last forever, so that we can keep that feeling of clarity, so that we can live in that high of understanding. When the disciples asked if they could build temples for the appearance of Moses, Elijah and Moses, Jesus says no. Jesus usually reminds us that those moments in our lives are not intended to last forever. They come to give us perspective on the clouds, they come to give us a sense of hope to go on, and they come to give us special memories. But they always come to end Most of our lives are lived in a cloud Most of our life is to be lived in the cloud – a cloud of confusion and questions – because life is to be lived in the presence of an awesome, overwhelming, unknowable, mind boggling God. A God so big and so wonderful that we will never find the words to describe God. And yet a God who cares so much for you – that God is with you all of the time.

The Importance of Passing on the Mantle

June 30, 2019 The Importance of passing on the mantle 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 3rd Sunday after Pentecost Year C Mentors By Lois Parker Edstrom This is the story of two great men. Moses was the man who led his people out of Egypt where they had been held as slaves. The Bible teaches us that Moses was a strong, powerful man. Joshua was a younger man, and the Bible tells us the he was “full of the spirit of wisdom” (34:9). I like to think that Joshua may have become wise by watching Moses work and listening to his advice. After Moses brought the people out of Egypt they came to a beautiful land where the people could work and find a better life. Moses had completed his work. Now he turned over the job of leading them into the new land, to Joshua. Think of people you admire who can help you “gain wisdom” as Moses did with Joshua. I like to write poetry and I especially admire the poetry of one woman whose poems are lovely and wise. I have a book of her poetry on my table and read her poems often. I study the words she uses and how she puts certain words together. I want to learn all I can from her. (Personalize this part of the lesson by relating a story about a mentor who has been helpful to you.) What is it you want to do? What is it you like to do? There are wonderful men and women all around you who can teach you many things. It may be your mother, father, an older brother or sister, a friend or teacher… Look to someone you admire and learn all you can from that person. Try to become “filled with the spirit of wisdom” just as Joshua did. Scripture quotations from the World English Bible Copyright 2012, Richard Niell Donovan 2 Kings 2:1-2 Common English Bible (CEB) Elijah goes to heaven 2 Now the LORD was going to take Elijah up to heaven in a windstorm, and Elijah and Elisha were leaving Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, because the LORD has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives and as you live, I won’t leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 2 Kings 2:6-14 Common English Bible (CEB) 6 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, because the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives and as you live, I won’t leave you.” So both of them went on together. 7 Fifty members from the group of prophets also went along, but they stood at a distance. Both Elijah and Elisha stood beside the Jordan River. 8 Elijah then took his coat, rolled it up, and hit the water. Then the water was divided in two! Both of them crossed over on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “What do you want me to do for you before I’m taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Let me have twice your spirit.” 10 Elijah said, “You’ve made a difficult request. If you can see me when I’m taken from you, then it will be yours. If you don’t see me, it won’t happen.” 11 They were walking along, talking, when suddenly a fiery chariot and fiery horses appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went to heaven in a windstorm. 12 Elisha was watching, and he cried out, “Oh, my father, my father! Israel’s chariots and its riders!” When he could no longer see him, Elisha took hold of his clothes and ripped them in two. Elisha succeeds Elijah 13 Then Elisha picked up the coat that had fallen from Elijah. He went back and stood beside the banks of the Jordan River. 14 He took the coat that had fallen from Elijah and hit the water. He said, “Where is the LORD, Elijah’s God?” And when he hit the water, it divided in two! Then Elisha crossed over. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Question for you. Who are the people in your life who are responsible for who you are today? Who was it that mentored you? Who looked after you, who was willing to show you the ropes, especially as you started out in your life. I remember when I was about 3 or 4, my grandmother would have this well mannered well dressed lady come and pick me up every Sunday and take me to church. I remember one morning my grandmother told my mother that this lady was teaching me how to be a lady. For the life of me, I have no idea of who that lady was. Everyone who would know is gone now. And truth be told, I am not sure my mom was all that crazy about me taking etiquette lessons. I learned a lot from all of the female relatives in my life, and I have always thought of all of them as very special giants in the world. When I think about who I am as a pastor – I am greatful for the day that I met Jack – a campus minister at Northwestern who welcomed me and introduced me to the United Methodist Church. And Dr. Edmund Perry who was also a United Methodist Pastor and chairperson of the religion department at Northwestern. After much a few years, when I was ordained as a deacon in the United Methodist Church - I told the cabinet that I wanted to be pastor of a large church. So after serving for two years as a local pastor – they paired me with Fred. My District Superintendent told me that the only way to learn how to run a large church, was to run a large church. So they made me an associate with Fred with the stipulation that I would have equal preaching time. Fred was a really good sport about letting me preach every other Sunday. Fred has passed, but I treasure his support of me as a pastor. I am grateful to Gates and to Steve – my other Senior pastors. They didn’t let me preach every other Sunday, but they were supportive and I learned a lot from them both. Steve is Jaime Geiger’s best friend. Today as the world is changing, so is ministry and so is the role of the pastor. All of my ministry mentors have either passed away or retired. While I still have 2o years left. This scripture about the relationship between Elijah and Elisha was always resonated with me. Even today, whenever I have my yearly evaluation with my District Superintendent, when they ask what my ministry goal is – it is the same as it was 23 years ago – to be Senior pastor of a large, white, suburban church. They respond that is a little arrogant of me – that is okay – that is all I know. I have always been clear with all of my mentors – that I want to know everything about what you do, so that I can be prepared for that day. Of course today – the world that I pastor in is different from the one they pastored in – there are fewer and fewer large white suburban churches to pastor. So I can relate to Elisha’s request of Elijah – that I want twice as much of God’s spiritual gifts than you have. Not I want what you have – I need even more of God’s presence in a changing more challenging world. Elijah and Elisha were two very different people with two very different ministries. Elijah was a loner who preferred the desert, Elisha was a community person who preferred to stay in the city. Elijah was a big personality, Elisha was an even bigger personality. One day a group of teenagers made fun of Elisha for being bald, Elisha sent a ball of fire to destroy them. Elijah was one of two men who didn’t die, they were taken up to heaven. Elisha lived a normal life and died a normal death. I am pretty sure Elisha would have trained a protégé to take his place – but we don’t know his name. Elisha’s passion was for the community of prophets to carry on his work. We don’t know much about Elisha but the community remembered his name. the community continues to tell his story – and to honor his mentor Elijah as the most important mentor who ever lived. After looking at this story this year –it is a very rich story of the importance of reaching out to the younger generation. God came to earth in a chariot of fire to show Gods presence. Elijah passed the mantel on to a new generation. But the most important part of the story today – there were 50 fellow prophets who saw everything. – they were witnesses to God’s presence, they have kept this story alive even today. Instead of assigning his work to one person he assigned it to a community of witnesses. When you do the work of God, you never know who is watching, and how they are imitating you. A little boy said to his mother, “Can I go outside and help Daddy put snow chains on the car? I know all the words.” Always remember that those who come behind you are copying you. Centuries later, there was another young man who heard about Elijah, and aspired to be just like him in every way. Who aspired to do everything he could to save God’s people. Just like elijah’s protégé his name was God saves – but his name is god for a new day saves in a new way. Just like Elisha, his focus was not on one person taking his place, but forming a community of people to do his work. Very few people are expert in anything all by themselves. They need a supporting community. Do you know a good musician who was not trained, nurtured and sustained by the music community? Show me an athlete who achieves excellence all alone, apart from the athletic community. Very few wise men become so without the accumulated wisdom of the centuries as expressed in colleges and universities and libraries. Medical people are more like ensembles and symphonies than soloists. What business tycoon does it all on his own without dedicated experts in finance, engineering, personnel, and marketing? Excellence requires participation in, and support of, a community of like-minded people. Likewise in the church -- a forerunner of the new kingdom. Very few achieve Christian maturity all by themselves. Seldom is the Bible studied diligently without the aid of scholars and teachers. Rarely are people led to generosity by their own impulses. Maurice A. Fetty, The Divine Advocacy, CSS Publishing Company The word apostle means a witness, one who witnessed for themselves the presence of God. Like his namesake, Jesus put his efforts into his witnesses. It is their story that we tell today. It is the power that they say in Christ, that still fuels our ministry in an every changing world. It is said that our lives are shaped by those who love us and who we witness. So my question still stands – who is it that shaped your life? who mentored you, who formed you? But more importantly, who is it that is watching you? Who is it that you are shaping their life through love and care. Who is it that will carry on your spiritual gifts when you no longer possess them. We have to realize that there is someone out there who is watching each one of us? How is what we show them a witness to God? Are we passing the buck or are we passing the mantle? Guiding Angels Thanksgiving weekend 1994, Trey Dodson was in a car crash in Darlington, SC. – that left the most popular boy ins St. John’s High forever seventeen. Everyone was devastated by his death. Trey was the star pitcher on hi school’s baseball team. He was buried wearing his uniform. He teemmates vowed that they would dedicate the next season to Trey. When the next season came, they all wore his number on an armband. They won game after game. When it came time for the payoffs, they were finally defeated. But that only inspired them to play harder. They went on to win the state championship the week before graduation. Trey’s father was a crew chief for a race car driver, that driver won the championship. Both teams reported they had an angel in the outfield. Some teams had more muscle then they did, but they had the motivation – the motivation to do the best they could. We too have that motivation, in Jesus Christ – who encourages us to go out and save the world. Let us pray….. The inheritance story Hyrkanus was a happy man. Every morning, he awoke with joy in his heart and he said his prayers every day. He has everything, a wonderful house, lots of land, plenty of food. The greatest gift that God could give a man he had. He had lots of sons. And he was thankful that all of his sons were on the farm with him working with him. Well after they had all grown and had families of their own, they all worked on the farm with them. He was happy because they were farmers just like their dad. Hyrkanus would keep watch over is sons. One day he noticed that his youngest son Eliazer was not working. When he talked with his son, Eliezer confessed that he did not enjoy working on the land. Hyrkanus asked his son what he would do if he could do anything else, the son confessed that he wanted to study the bible and get to know more about God. He wanted to devote his whole life to studying God. The father dismissed the young man’s dream and reminded him that is place was with his family and with the land. But Eliezer could not dismiss his dream. He could not eat, drink, and he certainly couldn’t be productive tilling the land. One day Elijah came to him in a dream and asked what he desired. He told Elijah his dream. He told Eliezer that if he really wanted that more than anything that he should go to Jerusalem without delay. Eliezer left the very next day without even saying goodbye to is family. He studied under the best teacher. When the father found out that the son deserted his family, he vowed to take away his inheritance and to disown him. But in order to do that – he had to go to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem he was invited to the house of the greatest rabbi. He sat next to his son, who was a student, but he did not even recognize him. The son was invited to teach from the torah. All were amazed at is teaching, even the father. It was not until the rabbi point out that he recognized his son. He needed to confess that he came to Jerusalem to disinherit him, but instead he would disinherit his other sons for encouraging him. Eliezer said no, that the work that each did was of value. If had had desired to be a great farmer and he prayed, god would have granted him that. If he had desired riches, he could have prayed and god would have granted him that, instead he prayed to serve god with all of his heart – god granted him that – and he was indeed blessed. And we too are indeed blessed that god listens to the prayers of the faithful. This is a true story – not a fable of someone who desired to be a great follower of a great leader. When we follow – Jesus leads us- blesses us and hears the prayers of our hearts. Discipleship Occurs Only In Community

Easter is a Choice

Easter is a choice Acts 5:27-32 Second Sunday of Easter Year C It is Easter all over again today. If you used all of your energy to prepare for last Sunday, what did you do this Sunday? This is usually known as the lowest Sunday of the year, a Sunday that people are just trying to get through. But I am here to tell you that it is Easter all over again today. As a matter of fact the next 5 Sundays are easter Sundays. But Sunday is considered Sunday. Do we have the energy to make every Sunday easter? Well the good news is that the power of easter is not dependent on us. It is the holy spirit that makes every Sunday easter. It is the power of the holy spirit that raised jesus from the dead. it is the power of the holy spirit that ensures that it is a new day now – it is easter Sunday. The Easter Choice When faced with new realities, you have at least three options for how to respond (and it is nearly certain that you will opt for one of these three possibilities). First, you can stay bewildered. You can let this event knock you flat on your back and then stay there. Second, you can engage in world-class denial. You can look at the facts and ignore them. Or third, you can, slowly perhaps, assimilate this new information. You may get knocked as flat on your back as the next person by this new realization, but eventually you pick yourself up. You embrace this new truth and then go through the long, sometimes painful, process of re-assessing life in the light of this new evidence. This is the Easter choice. When faced with the incredible proclamation that Jesus rose again from the dead, you can be agnostic and cynical by saying that you don't know what to make of this but then neither are you going to try. Who cares anyway? Or you can deny it. The whole thing is fiction, fantasy, a pious wish but something that never really happened. Or you can move past the shock toward acceptance. But let me caution you: if you are going to accept the truth of the bodily resurrection, you need to let it change you totally. That's the Easter choice. The problem for most of us is that we are not surprised enough by Easter to realize we face a choice. Easter is a part of the background scenery of our lives. We've never been afraid of Easter, never been bewildered by it. Believing that Jesus rose again from the dead becomes a little like believing the earth is round and that it orbits the sun. Once upon a time people didn't know that. They thought the earth was flat and that the sun orbited the earth. It caused quite a stir when this view had to be revised. But that was a long time ago and now we accept that picture of our solar system without much thought. Sure the world is round and we orbit the sun, but what does that have to do with anything? It doesn't change what I have to do at work tomorrow, does it? Is that what Easter becomes for us? We believe it happened but then, we've always believed that. Even Easter has somehow become part of the “routines” of this world. So why would it have much of an effect on what we do tomorrow? Easter is no longer shocking for us--it surely does not make us re-evaluate everything else we think we know. And anyway, we're not sure we want to have everything in our lives changed. Of course, if we can believe in the resurrection at all, it is a gift of faith granted to us by the prior gift of grace. But if we have received that grace and accept the truth that gets proclaimed from every Christian pulpit in the world each Easter Sunday morning, then we have to know that this truth changes everything. This is not some fact we can ponder just once every twelve months. This changes everything.... and on EVERY day. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations Usually, the message on this Sunday is about how to deal with doubt, negativity and pain. Usually on this day we hear the story of doubting Thomas- and how doubt is a part of our faith. But that is not the message that God gave me today. He gave me acts 5 to focus on today. I love the book of acts, which is why I love the easter season. Because it tells the story of how the church grew – and as the disciples realized that they must be witnesses and tell what happened – people listened to them. The church grew b leaps and bounds, because there were other witnesses to the power of resurrection. In acts chapter 5 - the apostles are bought before the jewish authorities, not the roman authorities. And told not to talk anymore. Not to tell people about jesus. They continue to preach and they are put in jail. Scripture says that angels came in the middle of the night and released them. We don’t know if the angels mentioned are spiritual or human. The scripture gives us no clue. But the point of the story is that when they get out of jail, they continue to tell the story. The message of acts 5 – the apostles say that they have to listen to God and not to man. They have to do what god says and not what makes man comfortable. Have you ever noticed that whenever there is a message that will bring freedom to the people, whenever there is a message that will make life easier, that the authorities don’t want silence. They want nothing said about that situation. That is why it is so important to have witnesses, who know the story and are willing to tell the story. The world values manipulation, domination and retaliation. God values love, grace and peace. If we are witnesses to the resurrection, then we must do the will of God and not the will of man. We have to do what God says and not what man says. The cool thing about the book of acts, is that when the apostles followed the will of God, then the world started listening to them. As I was preparing for this Sunday – God told me to be simple in my message – Easter is a choice. Easter is a choice for all of us. Have you noticed that the world is changing. Even within the last few months there are many things that are going on that will change the world. There are changes in the church, changes in our laws, changes in our situation. Even from last week, it is Easter all over again. Everything is transforming right before our eyes. But when we choose to live inside of the power of the living Christ. We are given the power to change, to transform. God is at work in the lives of those who choose to serve him. The text from the book of Revelation is not very long, but it makes it clear who God is and Who Jesus is. Jesus is a faithful witness to the promises of God in our lives. Jesus was willing to be faithful even to death and resurrection. It is Easter all over again today. It is Easter in our doubts and in our faith. It is Easter in our weakness and our strength. When we choose Easter – acts says we have the power to be brave, Revelations says we have to the power to witness to a miracle, and John says we have the power to bring peace. Choose Easter – and you choose the power of God in your life. We Know Where We Are Going The story is told about Albert Einstein, the brilliant physicist of Princeton University in the early 20th century. Einstein was traveling from Princeton on a train, and when the conductor came down the aisle to punch the passengers’ tickets, Einstein couldn’t find his. He looked in his vest pocket, he looked in his pants pocket, he looked in his briefcase, but there was no ticket. The conductor was gracious; “Not to worry, Dr. Einstein, I know who you are, we all know who you are, and I’m sure you bought a ticket.” As the conductor moved down the aisle, he looked back and noticed Einstein on his hands and knees, searching under the seat for his ticket. The conductor returned to Einstein; “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry. I know who you are. You don’t need a ticket, I’m sure you bought one.” Einstein arose and said “Young man, I too know who I am; what I don’t know is where I am going.” And that is the good news of Easter; that we know where we are going. We have been told by the Savior that his life and death has promised us life eternal. And Low Sundays don’t change that promise. And unemployment doesn’t change that promise. Neither does divorce, or bankruptcy, or cancer, or depression, or felony, or failure. Through elation and deflation and every emotion in between, this truth remains; we know whose we are and we know where we are going, because the Son of God has promised. And this, my friends, is faith. Steven Molin, Elated....Deflated God's Back It was Saturday, the day before Easter, and Joanne Hinch of Woodland Hills, California was sitting at the kitchen table coloring eggs with her three-year-old son Dan and her two-year-old daughter Debbie. She told her kids about the meaning of Easter and taught them the traditional Easter morning greeting and response, "He is risen...He is risen indeed!" The children planned to surprise their Dad, a Presbyterian minister, with that greeting as soon as he awoke the next morning. Easter arrived, little Dan heard his father stirring about in his bedroom, so the boy got up quickly, dashed down the hall and shouted the good news: "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, God's back!" David E. Leininger, "Laugh, Thomas, Laugh!" I have a habit that may seem strange to some: I tape football games and watch them again—and again and again, if the game turns out right. Super Bowl 32 is one of my favorites, the one where the Broncos defeated Green Bay 31-24. (I’m a Bronco fan.) The first time I saw the game there were some tense moments: every turnover was nerve-wracking, every mistake was a potential disaster. Now the setbacks don’t bother me; I know how it ends. With every play I savor the victory that I know is coming. It may seem crazy, but there’s a sense in which a well-played game is a form of art. Have you ever watched a movie that you’ve already seen? Maybe the first time it was suspenseful, but not so the second time because you know how the story ends-—you know the good guy doesn’t fall off the cliff and the bad guy eventually gets caught. But you still enjoy the movie. In fact, since you’re not all tied up in the plot, you begin to appreciate other aspects of the film: clever dialogue, outstanding camera work, the use of a special effect, and so on. Since you know the ending you can enjoy the movie on a whole different level. That’s how we can enjoy life--as if we we are viewing it for the second time. We don’t have to sweat the outcome because we know God’s ultimate outcome. We need not wonder if he will take care of us, or if he will make cause all things to work together for his good. We know the outcome. And we know that since Jesus conquered death, we can, through him, conquer life. And in the process, we can enjoy the journey. Everyday is part of the celebration--even the tough days. That’s God’s promise. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:11) SOURCE: Steve May in "The One Minute Newsletter" from www.sermonnotes.com. One Sunday morning a pastor was dressing for church and had the radio on listening to a local church service. Suddenly he heard to minister say, "It’s Easter, and it doesn’t make any difference if Christ be risen or not..." Shocked, A.H.Ackley shouted," It’s a lie! He is risen!" His wife said," Why don’t you write a song about it?" Reading the gospels again" He is risen" and feeling God’s presence, he began writing. "I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today, I know that He is living, whatever men may say..."

A Witness for Christ

Luke 24:1-12 Easter Sunday March 31, 2013 “A Witness for Christ” Year C Something Happened That first Easter Morning Something happened to the women and men who went to the tomb that first Easter morning. And, something happened to Jesus who they had seen die on a cross, so they said. They said the tomb was empty. Two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified. The men told them to remember Jesus' own words about how he would rise again after he had been crucified. Something happened on that day that would change the course of all other events in the world. Something happened on that day – but what was it? Joanna, Mary Magdelene, and Mary mother of James – were the first witnesses of the promises of Christ. Three of those promises – were an empty grave, an empty tomb and empty grave clothes. This morning, I would like us to think about the promises of Easter. There are three of them. Each promise is marked by something empty. An empty cross, and empty tomb and empty burial clothes. It is the very fact that each of these is empty that assures us that God’s promises are real. Because they couldn’t hold Jesus, because he couldn’t be contained by the cross, the tomb, or even his burial clothes, we can be sure of the fullness of God’s promises in our lives. The women in Jesus life have gathered to go to the tomb of Jesus. They want to anoint the body. That’s what you do when you are family – you show love and care to the body by rubbing it in spices. They have been through a hard ordeal, traveling with the teacher, believing and being inspired by his message, watching him beaten and killed for all of the wrong reasons, seeing your family fall apart from the stress, feeling like you have to do something – only to witness the final insult – his body is gone. Bodies don’t just disappear on their own, they don’t just walk away on their own, - something had to have happened. After all they have done to this man – how could they have deprived Jesus of his final resting place? Most of us live and die, but for Jesus - he died and then lived. He was resurrected from the dead, by the power of the promises of God. That those who believe and serve shall never die. Jesus was resurrected but sometimes it takes us a little while in our lives to witness to what happened on that day. The women say 2 men sitting by the empty grave, and hoping they could explain the empty grave – she asked where he was. And he asked why do you continue to look for the living among the dead? that is a very good question, why do you look for the living among the dead? Today, we continue to look for the living among the dead. Even as those who come together to celebrate the resurrection – we still find ways to look for Jesus among the dead. Knowing that we will never find him – but we look anyway. Woodrow Wilson’s butler called him one night to tell him that the tax accountant for the government had died. Sir, I was wondering if it s okay with you if I could take his place. Now mind you this is the middle of the night – butler- tax accountant. President Wilson responds – you know it doesn’t matter to me if you want to take his place – but you should probably ask the funeral director if it is okay. When we seek comfort instead of righteousness – we are looking for life in the midst of death. When we are in constant pursuit of pleasure and forsake joy – we are looking for life in the midst of death. When we seek security and what is best for us, instead of reaching out to help others – we are looking for life in the midst of death. When we are much more willing to listen to what the world says, and forget what god says – we are looking for life in the midst of death. There were people in that disaster and many others – who had the task of looking for the living amongst the dead. Who had to go through that rubble of each fallen building – and look for life in the midst of death. Who had to examine every body for signs of life. And at any sign of life, they had to stick with that person until they were taken to safety. No matter how the faint the sign may be- if they are alive then they have to be nurtured back to health. We have that type of obligation to life. Death can take care of itself – but it is in life that we have an obligation to carry on. In the midst of our circumstances of life, our troubles, our hardaches, our questions, our destiny. Death can give us easy answers. But when we are still alive, and we don’t know what to do, or what comes next, or how things will work themselves out- that’s when we need a resurrection faith. Faith in an empty tomb – faith in a promise of new life, faith in divine intervention in a way that makes no sense, faith that death has been conquered, so that we will have to strength to go on in life. Faith that God will succeed and conquer all. Faith in an empty cross, and empty tomb and empty grave clothes. Faith in the power of resurrection. Recently, Billy Graham responded to someone who shouted out "God is dead! God is dead!" Dr. Graham with tenderness replied, "That's strange because I just talked to Him in prayer a few minutes ago." Yes, the day you believe in the resurrection is the day you change the universe, and most importantly, you can reflect that transforming truth. When we witness to an empty tomb, we witness to a living God. A God that lives with us in our lives. Something happened on that day, Jesus came alive. Joanna, Mary and Mary were among the first witnesses to see the miracle of life. But Luke 24 says that there were others. As we go through the season of Easter, Luke will tell us of the stories of those who witnesses Christ for themselves. There were 500 other witnesses in the book of Luke who were witnesses that Jesus is indeed risen and present to us in our lives. But the most important witness – is you and me. At the Good Friday service, I told a story of a modern day prophet of God – Sadhu Singh. He was born in India as a Hindu, but we became a Christian because Jesus came to him personally and spoke to him. I have come to appreciate his stories of his encounters with God. Sidhu Sangh tells this story of a young girl… A thirteen-year old girl left her village and was travelling to another place. On the road a priest met her. He asked her, `Child, I think you are a Christian. Is it because your father is a Christian that you have become a Christian?' To that she replied, 'No, a Christian Sadhu came to our house and preached. I thought about it again and again. Then from my own experience I knew that Christ was the Saviour. That is why I became a Christian.' The lama burned with anger. He took her and shut her in a dark room, giving her no food or water. The man was amazed to hear her singing with great gladness. After four days he went to see her. What was it that he saw there? He did not see that poor child singing. She was speaking quietly to someone, and with eyes closed. What was she saying? The lama tried to understand. This is what he heard from her: 'O Lord, I thank Thee that I have received the privilege of suffering for Thee. Lord, have mercy on this lama. Open the eyes of his heart to see the light.' Hearing this sincere prayer, the man broke down and cried. He fell at her feet and before very long he accepted her words as he would the words of a Guru. That lama told everyone he saw about the wonderful strength of the girl; and not only that, he desired to receive that wonderful strength himself.—Sadhu Sundar Singh Something happened on that day that Joanna, Mary and Mary came to the grave – to see an empty cross, and empty grave and empty grave clothes. But something is happening today – we have to be witnesses to the presence of Christ all around us. Listen to the words of this prayer Make me a witness, Lord, So faulty I and weak, My trembling word can scarce be heard, So loud my failings speak. Make me a witness, Lord; Subdue my will to Thine That, led by Thee, in meek accord, My lamp may brightly shine. Make me a witness, Lord, That all at home may see A constant daily growth in grace, And glory give to Thee. Make me a witness, Lord, To those I daily meet, That I may be Thy messenger In neighbourhood and street. Make me a witness, Lord, With every talent given; And let my treasure all be stored In deepest vaults of heaven. Make me a witness, Lord, By gift, and prayer, and pen, In native land and far abroad Telling Thy love to men. Make me a witness, Lord, And use me in Thy way; Though sacrifices we applaud, 'Tis better to obey. Make me a witness, Lord; Thou needest even me; How strange that I can aid afford That I may be Thy messenger In neighbourhood and street. Make me a witness, Lord, With every talent given; And let my treasure all be stored In deepest vaults of heaven. Make me a witness, Lord, By gift, and prayer, and pen, In native land and far abroad Telling Thy love to men. Make me a witness, Lord, And use me in Thy way; Though sacrifices we applaud, 'Tis better to obey. Make me a witness, Lord; Thou needest even me; How strange that I can aid afford When captives Thou wouldst free. Make me a witness, Lord; That souls on Thee may call, And glorify Thy name adored, O Jesus, Lord of all!—G. Alexander (Acts 1. 8) Amen The Christian author, pastor and radio Bible teacher, Rev. Dr. Warren Wendell Wiersbe (Born: 1929), once said, "Easter is the Truth that turns a church from a museum into a ministry." Eric S. Ritz, www.Sermons.com (2 Kings 5. 2, 3; Acts 1. 8; 5. 41) Looking for the living amongst the dead. There are times when we have to do that. I think of the recent Haiti disaster. I have a picture here of the cross that survived, when the church was destroyed. (I will pass it around). Things would have certainly been different if they had found a body. If we had found a body. Our obligation to death and to life are very different. Lenin fashioned himself as a savior of the people. He told them that communism would save them. He told them that there was no need for faith. It didn’t do anything but give false hope. He promised his people a better life, he even took the time to teach people a new way of understanding. And then he died. At his death – the question was asked – what do you do with a God who has failed you? They actually did the same thing that the women at the tomb were planning to do with Jesus. Anoint his body with spices, preserve it, give it a nice home, and put it on display as a monument so that people from generation to generation could come and see death. And yet remember to point he was trying to make. Why do we continue to look for the living amongst the dead. The empty tomb is a witness to a God who does not fail, but who has won the ultimate victory. The triumph of life over death. There is no body for us to remember and show respect to, there is no principle for us to be reminded of. There is a life that we are to live. There is a story that we are to tell, there is an event that we are to witness to. There is no body – there are only people. People who choose life over death anyday. When the women went to tell the disciples what they had witnessed. No one believed them. It couldn’t be- God never intercedes like that, no one has ever been resurrected. No one who had died, has ever come back to life. Peter even went to the grave himself – he saw the empty tomb. He saw the proof for himself that the body was gone – it had indeed just walked away. And yet he didn’t believe. It didn’t make sense. He did not see the life in such a tragic event. The world is the same – the world sees proof everyday of a god who won – a living faith. And yet they refuse to believe. It is easier to believe in easter bunnies, and chocolate, and eggs, than it is to believe in life over death. The good news is that Easter is not a day or an event – Easter is life unfolding, and God revealing, each and every day. Jesus came to each an every one of them – to reveal the truth and to show them proof of the resurrection. With each passing day – they understood a little bit better, and they saw a little more clearer. The good news is the Easter is still unfolding, God is revealing, Jesus Christ is alive an still appearing to his disciples, and we still get the chance to choose life over death. There is not body – only people. When we celebrate and sing Hallelujah God wins. When we live as if we believe that Easter is a life changing event – God wins. Otherwise this all is just another idle tale- as his own disciples believed long ago. Let us pray… Lord, the resurrection of Your Son has given us new life and renewed hope. Help us to live as new people in pursuit of the Ways of Christ. Grant us wisdom to know what we must do, the will to want to do it, the courage to undertake it, the perseverance to continue to do it, and the strength to complete it. New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book Amen. Lee Strobel put it like this… “If we were holding a trial to determine the facts concerning the resurrection, and if we were to call to the witness stand every witness who personally encountered the resurrected Jesus and we cross-examined them for only 15 minutes, and if we went around the clock without a break…we would be listening to first-hand testimony for more than 128 hours…that’s over 5 days worth of testimony…who could possibly walk away unconvinced?” The stories…they are too close. The written history is too strong to deny what they saw and what they experienced. One psychologist even said “over 500 people having the same hallucination would be more of a miracle than resurrection itself!” I recently came across this story, it was told by “Dear Abby” in a response to someone’s question. A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from high school. It was the custom in that affluent neighborhood for the parents to give the graduate an automobile. "Bill’ and his father had spent months looking at cars, and the week before graduation, they found the perfect car. On the eve of his graduation, his father handed him a gift wrapped Bible. Bill was so angry that he threw the Bible down and stormed out of the house. He and his father never saw each other again. It was the news of his father’s death that brought Bill home again. As he sat one night going through his father’s possessions that he was to inherit, he come across the Bible his father had given him. He brushed away the dust and opened it to find a cashier’s check, dated the day of his graduation - in the exact amount of the car they had chosen together. As I thought about this story, I couldn’t help but wonder how many people in this world have done the same thing to God. Literally tossed aside a wonderful promise, because they didn’t understand it, or they didn’t believe that it was possible. In our world, we are taught that; “if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.” So many of us have been taken in by “empty promises,” that we are leery of anything or anyone that tells us we can have something for nothing. THE WORLD SIMPLY DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY! But, you know what – God does – God never made a promise that was too good to be true. The truth of the matter is, the world is full of empty promises. We watch TV, and the advertisements tell us that we can be happy, sexy, rich, or famous, if we only purchase a certain product. It doesn’t take long before we have been fooled enough to know that the world’s promises are full of emptiness. But, God is different. Instead of promises full of emptiness, on Easter, he gave us emptiness that is full of promise.

Why are you looking up, when you should be looking in?

May 20, 2012 Ascension Sunday Acts 1:1-11 Luke 24:44-53 Why are you looking up when you should be looking in? Year B Read the Apostles Creed The apostle’s creed is written in the hymnal, but I wanted to make copies of it for each of you to keep in your bulletin graveyard. Wherever you put old bulletins – pull this out and read again. This is the ancient creed of the church. Many United Methodist churches read the creed every Sunday as a part of worship, so that people can start to store it in their hearts. Written about 100 years after Jesus was ascended by the church – it is called the apostles creed, because it is said to contain sayings from each of the 12 apostles. It is not everything that we believe – says nothing about Jesus being divine – but it is basic. The basic life of Jesus – Christmas, Easter and last Thursday. Do you remember what you were doing last Thursday – last Thursday was Ascension Day – in the bible – it is the day that Jesus ascended into heaven. The significance of the Ascension No one saw what actually happened on Easter – it remains between the father and the son. But for 40 days after, Jesus did come back to his disciples to tell them that he was okay. That is actually not a big mystery – a lot of people come back to us after they have passed away to tell us not to worry about them. But what is surprising about this story – is that Jesus made sure that everyone saw him as he ascended into heaven. Not only the disciples, but anyone who happened to be around. There is a famous painting of this event – where the disciples are gathered around, looking up – and all you can see is Jesus feet in the clouds. The word apostle means witness – someone who saw it for themselves, and has the job of telling others what they know. They saw Jesus go up into the sky for themselves, so there is no question about where he is today. Ascension can be a sad day I am sure that the day that their master left them was a sad day for them indeed. The day that Jesus left this earth, and went into heaven. Must have been sad. I get sad when I am reading through the bible, and I finish all of the gospels. No more red letters in the bible, no more words and teachings directly from Jesus. Truth be told I think Ascension Day can be a sad day for all of us – when we realize that Jesus has gone on, we get comfortable with being told what to do, with being able to follow and not having to think or be responsible. To put our lives in Jesus hands, and not have to worry about anything. The days are coming, when we will have to stop sitting in the pews listening, and we will have to start talking. The days are coming when we will have to stop worrying about what would Jesus do, and do for ourselves. When we stop listening to the story – and to be the story for ourselves. We don’t have to change today – we have one more Sunday. One thing Jesus did tell us about ascension – is that we have to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit in order to be true witnesses – but that day is coming soon – next Sunday is Pentecost. Sadness of being left alone It is sort of the sadness that we feel – on our first day of real school when we are away from our families for the first time. My mother was a single parent – so I think by kindergarten I was sort of ready to go to school. I do remember the first time my mother left me with a babysitter, who was not family. I was three, and I remember after a couple of weeks of that mess, I told me mother that she was going to have to find something else to do with her day – because was not going back to that lady. The lady was really mean to me, and all of the kids for that matter, but it was hard being away from my mother all day. She put me in the preschool next door to her job. LEAVING YOU IN GOOD HANDS The story is told of a mum who would take her son to nursery school, kiss him good bye and would always say to him "Darling, I’m leaving you in good hands, OK?" She will do this every day she takes her son to school. When the son was of age and mum was quite old now and experiencing dementia, the son took his dear mum to a care home. As he said good bye, he remembered the words of his mum when he was quite young; he then kissed her and said, "Mum I’m leaving you in good hands." His mum who could hardly remember things now because of dementia held on to his son’s hands and tears started streaming down her eyes; she remembered her own very words years ago. Jesus is just turning the table for us The good news for us is that Jesus is not leaving us alone – he realizes that it is just time to turn the tables. We have been taught, now it is time for us to teach, we have been blessed, now it is time for us to bless others, we have witnessed – now it is time for us to witness, we have been loved, now is it time for us to love. The apostles creed contains the good news for us is that everything that we need to go into an unspoken. Undeveloped future has already been given to us. The whole message of Luke is that Jesus did everything to fulfill the scriptures. He is the messiah spoken of in the scriptures. He suffered, he died, he atoned for our sins, and he has given us the gift of salvation. We have been sitting here all year listening and living the story – we know all we need to know. Jesus has done all he needs to do. We don’t need anything else than what we have to build the kingdom of God around us. Don’t You Believe in Shoes? There is a story by Hugh Price Hughes titled, “The City of Everywhere.” In this story a man arrives in a city one cold morning. As he gets off the train, he sees that the station is like any other station except for one thing everyone is barefoot. No one wears shoes. He notices a barefoot cab driver. “Pardon me,” he asks the driver, “I was just wondering why you don’t wear shoes. Don’t you believe in shoes?” “Sure we do,” says the driver. “Why don’t you wear them?” asks the man. “Ah, that’s the question,” the driver replies. “Why don’t we wear shoes? Why don’t we?” At the hotel it is the same. The clerk, bell boys, everybody is barefoot. In the coffee shop he notices a nice looking gentleman at a table opposite him. He says, “I notice you aren’t wearing any shoes. I wonder why? Don’t you know about shoes?” The man replies, “Of course I know about shoes.” “Then why don’t you wear them?” asks the stranger. “Ah, that’s the question,” says the man. “Why don’t we? Why don’t we?” After breakfast he walks out on the street in the snow but every person he sees is barefoot. He asks another man about it, and points out how shoes protect the feet from cold. The man says, “We know about shoes. See that building yonder? That is a shoe manufacturing plant. We are proud of that plant and every week we gather there to hear the man in charge tell about shoes and how wonderful they are.” “Then why don’t you wear shoes?” asks the stranger. “Ah, that’s the question,” says the man. Dr. Robert E. Goodrich told this story in his book, What’s It All About? Then he asks, “Don’t we believe in prayer? Don’t we know what prayer could mean to our lives? . . . Of course we do; we know about prayer. Then, why don’t we pray? Ah, that’s the question. Why don’t we pray? . . . Why don’t we?” Robert E. Goodrich, What’s It All About, adapted by King Duncan We have heard the story, we know the story, and we even say that we believe the story – so what is stopping us from living the story? What is stopping us from witnessing about what Christ has done for us in a way that not only changes our lives, but the lives around us? You live in Christ, but does Christ live in you? I came across an interesting question while preparing for this sermon. We all know that we live in Christ – but does Christ live in you? In your actions? Your thoughts? Your feelings? Most important your deeds? How do you know that Christ lives in you? When you know that Christ leaving is not a sad day – but a day of celebration. Jesus is not leaving you, he is just stepping out of the way so that you can have the power to live your life in the spirit of Christ. That the power of the holy spirit is going to work, in spite of my doubts, my fears, my sadness. I have told this story before, but it works here too… NO OTHER PLAN An old legend imagines Jesus arriving in heaven right after the Ascension, welcomed by all the angels. Then the angel Gabriel asks Jesus, "You suffered much, dying for the sins of mankind. Does everyone down on earth know it?" "Oh, no," replied the Savior, "just a handful of folks in Jerusalem and Galilee know about it." "Well, Master," continued Gabriel, "what is your plan for everyone to know of your great love?" The Master replies, "I asked all my apostles to carry the message into all the world. I told them to tell others, who will in turn tell others until the last person in the farthest corner has heard the story." Gabriel’s face clouds, for he spots a flaw in the plan. "What if after awhile Peter forgets, and goes back to his fishing on Galilee, also James and John and Andrew? Suppose Matthew returns to his tax booth in Capernaum, and all the others lose their zeal and just don’t tell others. What then?" After a pause comes the calm voice of the Lord Jesus, "Gabriel, I have no other plan." You are not just a part of the plan – you are the plan. You are blessed by God The most important message of the gospel lesson comes at the end. It says that Jesus walked with them as far as Bethany, and then he realized that he must depart. As he left, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And they were so happy to receive his blessing, that he went praising God forever in the temple. The word in the old testament for bless most often is baruk – but that word is used for a blessing for God. How do we bless God? Through praise and worship. The new testament adds a new element of spirituality to the meaning of blessing. The Greek use the word marakus – which means to be as happy and well as the gods in heaven. The one thing I can say about the Greek gods – they were very well indulged – they had everything. And the one thing they loved to do – was party and have a good time. Every day that Christ lives in us – is a party. When we know that we are truly blessed by God – we have an abundance of joy. That does not mean that we will not have sorrow, pain, loneliness, or sadness. It means that we have joy in our hearts and souls to get us through. We are never alone, and we can act in courage, we can witness to our hearts content. Jesus is not above us – Jesus is in us. We live in Christ and Christ lives in us. Pentecost – next Sunday is the day we receive our power – today Ascension is the day we receive our joy, our confidence, our blessing. Let us pray.

Blessed are Those who See and Believe

April 11, 2010
Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 5
John 20
Blessed are those who see and believe
Year C


What did Jesus say when he arose from the grave? Tada!
Resurrection was God’s great joke on the devil. A trick that he played- when he wanted to the devil to know that no matter what was tried, he could never win. He would never have the final word. That God has the power to triumph in the midst of even the worst situation. On the cross even though we heard Christ in agony and suffering, he was in on the joke – what else was there for him to say – but tada. It worked in spite of it all.

Easter is not a day – Easter is a season. It takes us awhile to get on board and to let the joke settle in for us. It takes several appearances, several sermons, several life experiences before we finally get the joke and are willing to laugh.
This second Sunday of easter is Holy humor Sunday – the day we get to laugh and sing and dance, and settle into what Easter means for us and for the world.
So in honor of holy humor Sunday, I want to give you a short test of faith. Answer whether you think these things are true or false….
Would you believe that:
Most lipstick contains fish scales. (T)
More real money is printed in the world than Monopoly money each year. (F)
No piece of square paper can be folded more than seven times. (T)
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds. (T)
The Kea bird from New Zealand likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows. (T)
The weight of all the termites in the world is 10 times heavier than the weight of all the world's humans put together. (T)
The longest bout of hiccups lasted ten years. (F. Charles Osborne had them for 69 years!)
A cockroach can live several weeks without a head - afterwards it will die of starvation. (T)
Toenails grow faster than fingernails. (F) fingernails grow 4 X's as fast as toenails.
The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old. (T)


The themes for today are doubt, belief and witness. I plan for us to focus on the lessons of acts and John for the year – and those are the themes of the day. Doubt, belief and witness.
The gospel lesson for today is always focuses on the story of Thomas. Some call him doubting Thomas – because he did not believe that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead- until he had proof for himself. The nails in his hands, the hole in his side. All of which Jesus was able to provide for him. But the word for this story that we interpret as doubt actually means more distrust. He didn’t doubt that Jesus had risen from the dead, he just want not able to accept that fact right off, without some further understanding. Sort of like I would need to believe that no square piece of paper can be folded for more than 8 times. That might actually be true – but I will have to try that for myself in order to really believe that is it true.
Jesus days that blessed are those who believe but have not seen. He is not criticizing Thomas for asking for proof. He is saying that there will be times when we will have to answer whether something is true or false- and we wont have time to look at the encyclopedia – we will just have to use what we have to answer the question.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead – true or false. Do you believe that was the greatest trick that God could have played ? True of false. How do you know your answer is true or not?
It all comes down to what you believe about Christ. In researching this sermon - I came across this question – what do you think is the greatest joke that God ever played on us. It is a yahoo question, and people recorded their answers. Some people said to make everything that we enjoy a sin. Someone else said making us all different colors, races and believing in different religions. Someone else said George Bush. I think that the greatest joke that God every played on us is Easter. Forcing us to believe in the impossible, forcing us to celebrate a phenonmen that we don’t understand. Asking us to believe something that we will never see. Did Christ really conquer death and come back to life. We will never get the chance to see the nails and the hole. We cant see – we can only believe. We can only trust the witness of Thomas, Mary and Peter.
Easter is not about what happened to Jesus, it is about how those who saw what happened responded. In Each Easter appearance Jesus gives them the holy spirit and they respond. When Thomas receives the spirit he declares that Jesus is his lord and his God
During the seven weeks of Easter – we read from the book of acts – the book of what the holy spirit did. Usually it is stories of how the church grew, but this year it is stories of how individuals were affected when they came in contact with the holy spirit.
After Jesus was crucified, the disciples were told that they were to forget all about this man and what he did (as if that were really possible), yet they needed to be witnesses for the spirit an tell others what they saw. So they were jailed. When questioned their defense was that they were doing what God told them to do and they had to do what God said and not what man said. One lone Jewish leader – Gemeliail defended them, saying that if what they were doing was from God, then who could stop them, if it was not then it would stop itself. An angel freed them and they continued to be witnesses for God. Telling others that jesus was alive. God demands that task of all of us – to be witnesses of the Easter Jesus. To doubt Easter, to believe Easter and to witness Easter- tell the world what we saw when Jesus appeared to us in Easter.
My favorite story of easter and how it affects us is the story of the families of the coal miners in West Virginia. I remember in 2006, watching the tv constantly for word of what was happening to the miners. I was there when they announced that the had been found alive, and I was awake at two in the morning when the story broke tht they had been found dead. The nation went into mourning. This time there was not the same emotional coverage as there was then, but they did keep us up to date on what was going on. All day Friday they told us what they were doing to look for the 4 miners who may be still alive. The told us when they were going on and how they were going to do it. I was not near a tv when they finally announced that they had found the 4 and they they were not alive. I could imagine the roller coaster ride of all of the families, as they had not told who was dead and who was alive. And now hope was gone – they were all gone. The governor’s emotional words – we were hoping for a miracle – and it did not happen. The journey has ended and now the healing must begin.
That is what easter is all about – is being able to find hope in the deepest darkest moment and knowing that God has demanded that life must go on. Even in a tradgedy – the living Christ is there – and is saying tada – death does not get to have the final word. Because the holy spirit has a job to do. To be a witness of what God can do. God can turn darkness into light, despair into joy, a bad moment into a good, hopelessness into hope. Just as God bought jesus back to life, god does all of the work – but someone has to testify and witness that they saw the work done.
What about you – what is your easter story ? as you look for the green grass, the growing flowers, the budding trees – how do you see God at work? At play? Telling jokes, some of them funny – all of them joyful. Remember – some of god’s greatest miracles start out in the form of a question, an occasion for distrust, an opportunity to ask God how are you going to work that one out – a chance not to nessarily doubt god – but to distrust what your senses are showing you. You know jesus is alive in that situation – when you believe – believe that your lord and your savior is speaking to you, and asking for a witness that the holy spirit is at work in your and in the world – bringing about a transformation. A change- a new risen savior. Let us pray….

Is this Jesus' Hometown?

July 5, 2009
“Is this Jesus’ hometown?”
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13
Year B
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost



William Willamon – difference between experienced traveler and a new traveler. When you first take a trip you pack all sorts of things, you take your time to pack and make sure you have everything you need and everything you think you will need. But you soon realize – that it really doesn’t matter what you take. You learn to travel lighter.


Jesus sends us all on a journey – faith is a journey

With this message – Jesus sends us all out on that journey with this message: Travel Light, Stick together, and trust the wonders of God.


Independence day – celebrate the freedom of our country.

Yet reminder that independence is dependendence. Part of the paradox of life.

There is no where that the bible says that God takes care of those who take care of themselves.

Bible reminds us that we need each other, that we are to help one another. The message is all about living in community.

But Jesus takes it one step further and calls us to be a witness – to tell people who don’t want to hear you – the power of God.

The key phrase to witnessing is that you are to talk to people who don’t want to hear what you have to say. And will go through great lengths to tell you so.

Jesus learned about that , when his faith journey called him to go home.

We have been following Jesus journey around Israel, he has done some great things – he healed a crippled man, he healed a woman who has been suffering all of her life, he even bought a young girl back to life.

He found that his greatest challenge was witnessing to those in his hometown. He walks in the synagogue and speaks with authority, helping them to understand the scripture. And instead of listening to what he has to say – all they can think of is who is this talking to him. Isnt this Mary’s son? What does he know?

Isnt this the carpenter’s family what does he know about spiritual issues?

For us, it would be like our local plumber – deciding to teach a philosophy class at the community college. What does he can he possibility teach us about philosophy, when he has not spent the time studying?

It turns out that Jesus had a lot to teach them and us about our faith. His whole message was to look beyond what we know, what we study, what we have learned to be true all of our lives.

Jesus went against the grain, and he taught us to do the same. Tradition is a wonderful thing – but it is also something the gets us comfortable with the way things are. When we see pain, and suffering and violence, we get comfortable and don’t say anything, because every one else is comfortable with it too.

It takes a special person, with a special authority to talk to us and tell us that we need to listen to life in a different way.

Jesus was training his disciples and us to go against the grain – that is what it means to witness- to get comfortable with telling people things that they really don’t want to hear. And to stay the course.

The is the foundation of our independence – to tell England things they didn’t want to hear – and to be prepared to fight to make a change.

The three gifts of success in that process
Stick together
Travel light
And to trust God that if you are doing the right thing you don’t need to defend yourself. Trust in God that if you work for what is right – look for the wonders on your journey.

Witnesses for Christ is never an easy thing. Paul has to defend himself in Corinthians.

There are people who are questioning Pauls ministry. They think they are so much better than Paul. They think they have a better relationship with God. Paul uses Jesus advice – and says that he knows that he is right, and that he has a relationship with God, and that he trust in God to take care of him as he is persecuted. God’s grace is sufficient to take care of anything.

Bishop Romero in El Salvoador was certainly a witness for justice in the 1980’s He spoke out against the government, telling them they were not being fair to their peasants. That they were unfairly killing and oppressing them. He found that the more he spoke out against the status quo – it seemed the less people were willing to stand with him. Eventually, one Sunday morning the government killed him – while celebrating mass. But his witness lives on even today – he is honored for his words of justice to a country who was not willing to hear.

We are all called to be witnesses – but my question to you is not about your witness – but about the times when you hear a hard truth – when someone tells you something you don’t want to hear – how do you respond? Do you think? Do you pray? Are you willing to change? Do yo speak out?
Or do you remain silent in order to maintain the status quo? Are you in the forfront or in the background? Where does your faith in Jesus call you to be?

The same thing that prevents us from listening to others – is often the same thing that prevents us from speaking out ourselves.

Jesus tells his disciples that if people don’t accept them –to shake the dust off your feet and move on. Jesus finds that he has to walk away from his hometown – and notes that he was not able to do a a lot of work. Jesus has worked miracles in other places healing and renewing, but was only able to do a little work in his hometown. So he moves on.

There are lots of majc in wonder in Jesus words, the power of god is an amazing thing. But is is not the majic that matters – it is the witness. Our willingness to listen and to speak what we know.

They say that when Jesus returned to heaven, he was questioned by the angels – they were looking at how he was treated , how he was crucified, how he was criciticized. They saw that work that he had done with the disciples, how he talked with them and how they seemed to not quite understand what was going on. They saw how Paul had been treated, how bishop romero had been killed, and saw that the world was a force to be reckoned with. And they were afraid. Take nothing for the journey, travel light and trust God- is that all that it took. They told Jesus that was a pretty good thought – but did he have a backup plan for spreading the good news of love to the world. Perhaps he shouldn’t put so much faith in humans – maybe he should have a back up plan, a group of miracles to make things better when people fail. Jesus told the angels there was no backup plan – just the teaching to those who believe in him – travel light, stick together, and trust God
Travel light, stick together, trust god to work miracles.- Jesus is depending on you to get that and to witness to the world. You are the Lord’s only hope. Amen.

Jesus Christ, My Lord and Savior - April 12, 2009 - Easter

Introduction
Many years ago now, there was a young boy who loved Mister Rogers and Captain Kangaroo. He faithfully watched both shows every day. One day they announced that Mister Rogers would be visiting the Captain Kangaroo show. Oh my God, this had to be the perfect moment in time – the two things he loved the most in one place. He told the whole family about the upcoming event. He asked every day if this was the day for the show. Finally the day came. The whole family gathered around the tv set with him. The show came on for one minute – and then he walked out of the room. He father followed him thinking something was wrong. The little boy was overcome with emotion – this is just too much. I can’t take it any more. It is just too much goodness in one place I just cant take it all in.
Easter for me
That is how I feel about Easter Sunday. It is just too much to take in. Serving as the Associate for nine years, I have always had to prepare a sunrise service sermon, but that is nothing like having to do the big Easter Sermon. What can I possibly say in this sermon that is so much more special than my other sermons.
My favorite part of Easter is the Easter vigil the night before. Staying up all night, making sure everything is just perfect for Easter morning. Usually I am up all night making sure that all of my easter baskets are complete, making sure everything is ready when the kids come in the morning, making sure breakfast is complete when the sunrise service is over with. And somewhere in the middle of the night I have to get my sermon done. I am nervous that I am not going to have enough time to get everything done.
This year, Holy Week in general was pretty lame. There was no real pressure at all. I did not have to prepare any services during the week, just show up. My sermon was done before sundown on Saturday (that will never happen again, I can assure you), I emailed, Cari, the tenant ahead of time to make sure that I could use her drive way so that I didn’t get a ticket this year for parking overnight, I even picked up the flowers way before the greenhouse was about the close. It appears that Easter will be a pretty normal day this year. Long, but not stressful.

The Resurrection Story

But you know I think that is the Easter message for us in this modern times. We are so accustomed to television dramas – so we think that in order to be special, there has to be stress, there has to be some problem solved, some deep questioned answered. There has to be some earth shattering event that shakes us up and makes us pay attention.
And yet that is not the resurrection story that you find the gospel of Mark. Mark’s story is a very subdued story. A story about a group of women, who came to a friends tomb, actually after the sun had already come up. Preparing to say goodbye and to make sure that he was prepared to his journey into eternity.
A large boulder stood between them and their task of love. Some say that the boulder was so big because it protected the body within. Others say that the boulder was so big because it protected the living from what was inside. The living and the dead had to be kept separate. There had to be some kind of boundary between them. I often what boulders stand between us and Jesus today? What stands in the way of us hearing the resurrection story. What is our boulder of separation between who we are today – and who Jesus is asking us to become. And what angel is going to come along and roll away the stone for us?
What the women found
Ironically the women came that morning looking for Jesus and they found – absolutely nothing. No body, no burial cloth, no resurrection appearance, no voice from beyond. Just an angel explaining that what you came to see it not here. So you might as well just move on, tell your friends that if you want to see Jesus, you need to move on. Go on the galilee and you will find what you are looking for there.
It is interesting that the first witnesses went to the tomb looking for Jesus, and found nothing. And yet Paul, intentionally ran away from Jesus and he saw everything. The verses in first Corinthians is a creed of what Paul came to believe. A belief that changed his whole life, that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, rose and appeared to those who believe in him.
Both stories teach a valuable lesson for us today about witnessing the easter story. When we come to the tomb looking for Jesus, what do we see – everything or nothing. It all depends on what we are looking for. The resurrection is not an event that can be explained. It can only be lived. We can never tell what happened on Easter, the truth is we don’t know. We can only tell what we saw in our lives when we came to that event, that Easter morning , for us here at the church sitting together in faith.
Reconcilartion, blessing, forgiveness, healing, life, love, renewal, salvation, joy, peace, grace, hope, good news, holy, resurrection, transformation, new – these are just some of the words of the Easter season.
These are just some of the ways that the resurrection story makes a difference in our lives. Walter Brugeeman says that Easter is not a day – it is a verb – it is what we do to show God’s love in our lives.

Modern Witnesses

Most people, when they are testing a microphone, they say one two three- or some other meaningless words. Billy Graham always recites the scripture For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He says that he does it because if no one gets his message, at least the sound technician will get something. Rachel and Bill work every day jobs, but they look forward to going out on the weekends and participating in RAK - random acts of kindness, they make a point to leave quarters in the landromat, gift cards in the grocery store, water on the bike trail. Anything to help others learn the love of God. Another couple lost their son in a car accident, and now have a website to help other parents with loss, a group of teenagers started a blog to tell other teens the importance of living a spiritual life. What do we do in our lives to witness to the Easter story.
When we live like that as the Easter people, people don’t have to believe in the resurrection of Christ, because they can live it for themselves. The gospel of mark wants us to understand that Easter is not an event – it is a verb It is not something to believe in, it is something to live by. It is not a special day, when we became witnesses to an extraordinary truth. The truth that peace transforms violence. When forgiveness transforms broken relationships, where life, transforms boredom, where confidence transforms fear, when the ordinary becomes holy.

The Messianic Secret
Not by what happened, but by what didn’t happen. Not by what we saw, but by what we didn’t see, not by what we understand, but by what remains a mystery.
We have been studying the book of Mark all year, and I told you that Mark is the story of the messianic secret. Jesus doesn’t want anyone to know who he really is and what he is doing. Mark ends with a bit of mystery in this story. As a matter of fact, Mark ends the resurrection story in without even finishing the sentence. Mark ends by saying that the women fled the tomb and said nothing to no one because they were afraid. He never tells us whether they made it to Jerusalem, whether they say Jesus, or how their lives were transformed. This morning we read the longer version of Mark, which is believed to have been added by a later writer – where Jesus appears and tells them to make disciples of others, and the world is able to hear the message.
Yet Mark intended to end the story in mystery, he left us hanging on purpose. The story is not over until we get out of our seats and become witnesses to the resurrection. Until we realize that this is not all that there is for us. Jesus has gone on ahead of us- and the best is yet to come.

Who Holds the Future
A professor once had to give a speech at a conference on the future. And others have all kinds of speeches on their predictions for the future. What the economy was going to be like, what kind of technology would be developed, what kind of relationships we would have with others. In the midst of all of these predictions, his speech was that he had no idea of what was going to happen in the future. All he knew was that God was already there in the future and in complete control of whatever happened. Just as Jesus is ahead of us in the days to come to show us the power of transformation – if we are willing to be witnesses – but anyway I digress. Ten years later, the professor retired and was looking at all of those predictions – he laughed, because he was the only one who was right about what would happen.
That is the beauty of Mark – he ends his story by saying they were afraid for – for what – no one really knows.

What this means for us
We really don’t know what happened the night – between Jesus death and resurrection, we will never know how it happened – did Jesus just wake up, or did the angels revive him – who knows. But we do know why it happened –
So that we could have the experience of an empty tomb. And have a choice to either be witnesses to nothing – or something. To live in life believing that Jesus is ahead of us – working out our transformation – or not. To become a part of the never ending story – or do nothing at all.
In the coming weeks, during the season of Easter – I will be preaching about the power of resurrection and transformation. The point of Easter is to invite each of us to tell our own stories. Live on in peace! Amen.