When you pray

Luke 11:1-13

This morning, we continue with Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem, where he will face suffering and death.  We join the early followers in receiving more training on what it means to live as a Disciple.

On this journey, we have been reminded that we are called to love God and neighbor, including some who we would rather not call “our neighbor”, as well as the importance of listening for direction before doing.  The lessons of discipleship are intensifying as the journey continues and the Disciples may feel overwhelmed by what they were experiencing, feeling unprepared to live out what they hear Jesus calling them to be and do.  They are likely trying to figure out how to relate to God and to others in this radically different way which Jesus taught.

We may know all too well how they were feeling.

We may know the feeling of “I hear you God but how will I ever love and serve that person who thinks so differently than I do, who I don’t know, who dresses “funny,” who frightens me?  How can I take time to study the word and to worship when then are church events to plan and staff, family vacations to take, and a “to do” list that won’t quit.  How can I do what I hear God calling me to do when there is not enough time or resources?”

Maybe you know that feeling of wanting to live out our faith as modeled for us by Jesus, but feeling unprepared and overwhelmed.

The disciples have witnessed Jesus handle tough questions, problematic situations, and difficult people with the strength, power, and wisdom of God.  They have watched as he spent time in prayer and they seem to have come to the conclusion that there is a direct correlation between his time spent in prayer and who he was in relationship to God, his followers, and others.

As men of faith, the disciples were raised to understand how to pray, but must have witnessed something in Jesus that made them think there was some format, content, or procedure they were missing.  That the connection they saw between Jesus and God in those times of prayer was something they needed if they were to be who Jesus was calling them to be, something they needed Jesus to teach them.  They couldn’t figure it out on their own.

The request would not have seemed at all unusual:  “Teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.”  It was the practice for teachers of the Torah to teach their students a prayer that would identify them and connect them as a group.

When Jesus told them what they should say “when you pray:”  They may have wondered why what he offered was so simple, so generic and all encompassing.  It was probably not the unique prayer they expected.  Rather than setting them apart, as followers of a specific teacher, the prayer opens up access to everyone.   Weaves together the phrases that all children of – God the Father – can pray together alone or in community.  Even when we disagree on theology or process, followers of Christ are united with God and each other when we pray this prayer.

One of the articles I read this week pointed out that even when we are alone saying this prayer which Jesus taught us to pray, we are united with many others who are saying these words at the same time.  We are united as we share them in worship this morning and many in our community, nation, and world join us in praying as Jesus taught this Sunday and every Sunday.   Millions of voices honoring God, seeking daily bread for one another, asking for help to resist the evil trying to draw us in, forgiving one another.  Pretty amazing.

Maybe the first lesson of this prayer is that we can all talk to God.  God the loving, understanding, forgiving, provider, protector creator, wants to hear from us, to be in a relationship with us which includes committed conversation.  Even when we don’t have the words to express what we need to bring before God, we can say this prayer and have it all covered.

More than once I have sat with someone who is living in a different state of reality than I am.  Who speaks of times, places, and people unrelated to what we would consider the present.  He or she thinking I am someone else, or uncomfortable because they have no idea who I am.  Then I ask if they want to share the Lord’s prayer with me and with clarity they join in and our realities unite in a precious moment with God, who loves us both.

Jesus does not stop with giving us a prayer, he puts it in context, offers us deeper understanding of how prayer makes a difference in our lives and in the lives of others.  How our lives can be and should be an extended act of prayer.

Immediately after giving the disciples words to say when they pray, he tells them a story about two friends.  One who has retired for the night, doors locked and lights out, and one who faces an unexpected and potentially devastating problem that needs a solution right then.

In a  culture without cell phones, all-night grocery stores and grub hub, an unexpected guest in the middle of the night with no provisions for basic hospitality would be a disaster.  Being prepared to offer hospitality was not only expected but could be vital to the well being of the guest who may not have had access to provisions on the journey.  To not be able to offer a visitor bread was a source of significant embarrassment, a terrible social and religious failure.

We know they are friends.  They have a relationship, and from the way this story unfolds, a deep relationship.  It is unlikely the one would have tried to wake up the other if they only exchanged polite “hellos” when passing on the street.  This relationship allows confidence that even though it is a pretty big ask to have the friend get up, find some bread to share, and open the door that late at night, ultimately the friend will do just that because you persistently asked.

I have a rule with our children, and grandchildren that if they ask for something once, I will evaluate the timing, purpose, and resources available and then give them an answer.  If they ask again the answer is automatically NO.  I think they know this scripture way too well because when it is really important to them, my rule is ignored, and persistence has been known to ultimately result in a positive response to their request.

Persistance, praying without ceasing, seems to carry into the next two stories Jesus shares as well.  Ask and you will receive, Seek and you will find, Knock and the door will open.

He doesn’t say we will receive exactly the answer for which we hoped, that we find that for which we were looking, or that the door that opens will lead were we thought it would.  He does tell us what we receive, find, and open will be what is good for us because God wants good things for us.

It is interesting that the Holy Spirit is the good gift our Father in heaven gives us.  Not necessarily things, improved status, mended relationships, physical healing.  The Holy Spirit – God with us all the time and everywhere.  God responding to what we need, what we desire, what is hurting us – all the time – offering us what we need in every situation.

“Jesus teaches us to pray by praying himself, and then tells us to be persistent and trusting in those prayers.”[1]

When you pray – remember you come before a God who listens, to us, cares for us, forgives us, provides for us, protects us.  There is nothing hidden from our Father in Heaven.

When you pray – come as a child gong to a loving parent.

When you pray – pray with not only your words, but your relationships, your decisions, your actions, hallowing God with every part of who you are.

When you pray – be aware of all those who pray with you, not only where you are, but around the world, joining God is hearing those things which bring others joy and which bring them pain, prepared to help wherever possible.

When you pray – let go of the things that keep you from loving others.

When you pray – be open and aware of the gift of the Holy Spirit – empowering, enlightening, strengthening, sustaining, and guiding you.

When you pray – don’t make it about a certain time and place, make it about every moment and part of your being, that God may be Hallowed, Honored by all you say and do.

When you pray – be patient, persistent, recognizing the answer comes in God’s time and God’s way, and is always for our good, even when we find it difficult to understand.

When you pray –

Pray like this: God, we honor you on earth more than we honor our own flesh and blood parents. Please come to rule our lives every day that we have on this earth. Help us to not worry about the future. We ask only for enough bread to get through this day. Don’t forgive us our sins until we have found a way to forgive every person who has done us wrong. And please God, do not test our faith too much because we know that we are weak and that we will surely fail.”[2]

 

[1] Kathryn M. Matthews, Sermon Seeds July 29, 2019

 

[2] Discipeship ministries Preaching Notes July 28 2019

Keep Listening

Luke 10:38-42

The story of these sisters, Mary and Martha is likely familiar to most of you.

Luke doesn’t identify either of them by a relationship to a male, so we are introduced to two independent women in a culture where that is rare.

Martha the owner of the house (Martha opened her home) and

Mary, who would normally help her sister with ministry to others, or why would Martha have thought she should have been helping.  If someone in our lives never lends a hand with the things we do to meet the needs of the household, or job, or community, I don’t think we would choose the moment we had special guests to make a big deal out of it.  We would do what we always do, get it done without their help.

Jesus is their guest.  He was on the road to Jerusalem when he visits their home, in his final weeks of teaching before his trial, death, and resurrection.  He is preparing his followers to teach all nations what he has taught them.  Mary and Martha are among those followers, among those friends with whom he can be refreshed and cared for, those entrusted to continue sharing his message with others.  A nice meal and meaningful conversation probably exactly his hope as he drops by.

You may identify with the circumstances we find with Mary and Martha.  One sibling feeling as if they are hard at work doing everything that needs to be done while beginning to feel a bit miffed that their brother or sister is shirking their responsibilities for what seems like a frivolous endeavor or down time.  That can happen in our homes, in our communities and in our faith communities.

I can hear the pots and pans banging in the background or the sound of garbage cans clanging as they are dragged out to the street, as the one feeling anxious adds sound to express their inner turmoil in those settings with which we are most familiar.  Some of us may really question why Jesus doesn’t send Mary to help her sister.  We know we could sure use some help in all the things we need to get done.

This exchange between Martha and Jesus doesn’t seem to make sense in light of those circumstances.  If everyone gathered at Mary and Martha’s is to have a good meal, to have a place to sit and rest, to experience hospitality, someone has to make the preparations.

I think there is more going on here than someone abandoning a chore list and another person picking up the slack.  More than a simple Mary chose to listen to Jesus while Martha kept making the preparations for whatever ministry the group was to take on, a meal, going out to share the message Jesus wanted shared, caring for neighbors.  More than one’s choice at the moment being correct and the other choice wrong.

If we listen closely, Jesus doesn’t call Martha out for the work she is doing.  Jesus calls Martha out for being anxious and distracted.  He affirms Mary’s choice to focus on him and to make listening to him the priority.

As some of you know, our newspaper office is located in the middle of an active movie set.  Much of what we are observing we can’t share, you will need to go see the movie, which also features part of your community, to learn what is going on.  However, as I worked on this message and watched the crews work, I saw a correlation between how they move through their day and this morning’s scripture.

Those involved in making the movie magic happen routinely gather together to regroup.  I can’t hear the content of their conversations, but the pattern of their coming together than heading to do what they need to do, where they need to do it, seems built into the rhythm of the day.  Body language tells me there are assessment and adjustment conversations, as well as affirmation and “way to go” dialogue.  There are also opportunities to eat and hydrate .

There are times they sit to listen, watch, talk, and rest

and times of action.

The listen and assess times making the action times more focused and effective.

I wondered if that isn’t exactly what Jesus was saying to Martha when he affirmed Mary’s decision to sit at his feet and focus on his direction and priorities.  To, in essence, call Martha to a time of regrouping so the distractions didn’t negatively impact the ministry and service she was called to do.

When Jesus affirms Mary’s choice, he is calling us to take the time to listen to his direction, to learn at his feet, to ask the questions we need to ask in order to focus on what is necessary to our ministry, and to take some time for sabbath.  Jesus clearly sends his follows to go, to share, to love, to serve.  Martha is moving fast forward to “do” all she is sent to do, and she is frustrated that Mary isn’t right there with her.

I think Jesus is saying, let’s keep regrouping, just as the movie crew seems to do.  Let’s see if what we are doing meets the goal, is in line with the essential elements of sharing what Jesus teaches, lets talk it out, refocus, and then go back to doing what needs to be done where it needs to be done.

Let’s come together at the feet of Jesus before each piece of ministry we do, each action of love and grace we plan.  If we do.  We will grasp what Mary understood.  Starting at the feet of Jesus gives us the focus that allows us to take on the ministry Martha models without the distraction of anxiety and worry.

When we keep coming together for the “listen and assess” times everyone will have a clear picture of what needs to be done and the action times will be more focused and effective.

Let’s keep listening so that our doing reflects the priorities of the One who calls and sends us.

Being Neighbor

Luke 10:25-37

Most of us have neighbors.  Some with windows that correspond to our own, giving us an up close and sometimes uncomfortable glimpse into each other’s lives.   Some at a nice “shouting hi” distance that allows us to have boundaries in our relationships.  Others across the block or down the lane who we see and hear only when we, or they, choose to connect.

Some neighbors make fences an imperative, others make shared space a joy.

We all have encountered neighbors like those who Jesus talks about in the scripture passage this morning.  However, I suspect as we listen to this familiar parable, our images of neighbor more closely reflect the images of the neighbors we know in our community.  The neighbors who we can name, who have similar backgrounds and experiences, those with whom we have a relationship.

This parable may have us thinking about all the times we do neighborly things.  Help shovel the driveway of someone who finds it difficult.  Pick up groceries for someone who cannot leave his or her home or finds it cumbersome to navigate the grocery store.  Change the tire of a stranded motorist.  Visit someone in the hospital.  Take a meal to a new mom or someone who is home ill.  Crochet shawls for those who need comfort and support mission work around the world.  All  of the “doing” neighbor activities in the video I shared with the kids and more.

Some of us may be feel affirmed in this parable because we get what this “lawyer” – who is likely a scholar of Jewish law rather than law as we think of it – does not understand.  We would never pass by someone genuinely in need.  We believe we live what Jesus is calling those listening to his parable, to live.

I think we are very good at the “doing” part of being neighbors.  Of loving neighbor as self, when it fits our understanding of what Jesus is sharing with us in this story.

I know that I, and I suspect some of you as well, struggle with “being neighbor” as I believe Jesus is fully calling us to be.  “Doing” and “being” work together, but I think we fall short as disciples of Christ when we focus on “doing” and forget to develop “being.”  Doing leads us to check lists and quotas, enticing us to believe that if we mowed x number of lawns and took y number of families dinner and helped z number of stranded motorists we are like the Samaritan.  That we are the modern day example of this caring, giving, man.

“Doing” alone allows us to feel we can pick and choose who and when we help.  Allows us to judge others as worthy or unworthy of our help and encouragement and how much help is enough.

Mister Rogers talked extensively about neighbors.  He introduced us to people in our neighborhood.  Some very familiar to us.  Some who looked, talked, dressed, and had customs very different from us.  Backgrounds, family structures, professions varied widely, and yet they were all introduced as neighbor.

Those of you familiar with his television show for children will remember this:  (VIDEO)

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,

A beautiful day for a neighbor,

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

It’s a neighborly day in this beautywood,

A neighborly day for a beauty,

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,

I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So let’s make the most of this beautiful day,

Since we’re together, we might as well say,

Would you be mine?

Could you be mine?

Won’t you be my neighbor?

Won’t you please,

Won’t you please,

Please won’t you be my neighbor?[1]

He asks his viewers to be his neighbor.  And those who have watched his show over the years, and now watch Daniel Tiger, know neighbor means all ages, races, cultures, occupations, interests, abilities and disabilities, it means all.

Neighbor in the sense Jesus asks us to BE in this parable.

There is no reason for the Samaritan to respond to the needs of the man lying battered and broken by the side of the road.  Jerusalem was 2,500 feet above sea level and the trek was seventeen miles down a windy road to Jericho, which is 800 feet below sea level. It was a treacherous journey and this road was noted for the robbers and thieves who camped out waiting for unsuspecting travelers.  It was a good setting for a horror movie one commentator notes.[2]  The Samaritan had every reason to keep moving, to stay focused on his agenda for the day, to keep his distance from anything that would make him vulnerable to attack or delay.

Two men with more reason to stop and help had already made the decision to keep moving.  The wider context of this passage would indicate the man left in distress at the side of the road was a Jew.  A priest, a religious leader, comes upon the man, sees him seemingly dead in the road and, rather than stop and help, continues his journey down to Jericho. Then a Levite, a lay leader, comes by and sees the man but keeps on walking.[3]  Both neglect to help one of their own.  We are not told why, yet some of the reasons speculated, including that of keeping purity rules would have been outweighed by the responsibility to help the man if still alive and to arrange for the burial of an exposed body if not.  It is clear in the parable that their decision to ignore the man and walk on the other side is not what a neighbor would be or do.

Samaritans were despised by ancient Jews; they were the ones who lived on the wrong side of Jerusalem, on the wrong side of the tracks. They did not keep kosher laws and were considered beyond unclean.  Neither the Samaritan nor the man lying beside the road would have considered each other neighbor.

Under different circumstances, the man needing help would not have accepted it from the one giving it.  But in no condition to make that choice, he receives a life-saving gift from someone being neighbor.

The Samaritan bandages the man’s wounds, puts expensive oil on his body, places the man on his own donkey, and takes the man to an inn. The Greek word for inn has the connotation of a five-star hotel. It is a much different word than the one used to describe the “inn” where Mary and Joseph couldn’t find room. This inn is top-of-the-line, not a Motel 6 but a Hilton. The Samaritan gives the innkeeper two coins worth at least two days’ wages to take good care of him.[4] The Samaritan promises to return to pay more if needed. This Samaritan sets aside his agenda, his priorities, his differences, and gives not only his resources, but his time and personal care.

Being neighbor is not possible without a deepening relationship with Christ.  Being neighbor requires us to give up control over how and to whom we give of ourselves and our resources.  Being neighbor is risky and recognizing that sometimes we learn best how to be neighbor from those we don’t see as neighbor.

To be neighbor we must broaden our circle of concern to view people with the eyes of Christ to see them as human beings in need.  Not only when someone is bruised and battered, but also when they are lonely, alienated, or hurting on the inside.

Being Neighbor as a disciple of Christ results in action, not on our terms, but on God’s terms.

This is a story about how we are to live as disciples every single day, at home and as we journey with others in our communities and world.  It is a call to see the needs of the people we meet on a walk, or in the grocery store, or on our way to do something else, and to not think first about our own needs or our own agendas, but rather to live as people who willingly let the needs of the world around us interrupt our plans so we never miss an opportunity to offer mercy to all of God’s children.  This is being Neighbor.

[1] Fred Rogers

[2] Jennifer H Williams, The Good Samaritan, Ministry Matters July 14, 2019.

[3] ibid

[4] ibid

Sent

John 14:23-29

Acts 16:9-15

We looked at how God, who is a God of Love, has marked, identified each of us who follow Jesus with the Mark of Love last week.     Marked as Disciples of Christ when we love one another in all of our interactions with each other.  In every word, every value judgement, every side comment, every decision, and every action.

In that identity comes a call to action.  Love is not a passive, descriptor of who we are.  Love is an action verb moving us ever closer to God and to all of God’s creation when we allow it to move us out of the “Hearing” mode into the “Doing” mode.

Nike has built an entire marketing strategy around the phrase “Just Do It” showing us images of all the athletic, energetic, muscle building things we can do if we just wear Nike products.

Powered by the Holy Spirit we are called to “Just Love” and that moves us in ways and to places we least expect it.

Paul, committed to sharing the love of Christ as far and wide as he can, prepares for his second missionary journey.  It is a journey which is a check back on the churches Paul already established, no new plans for church plants.  First Silas, and then Timothy, and then Luke join as his companions, a reminder that ministry is not a solo endeavor, it requires companionship.    As they end their “check in” part of the journey they decide to go west into the province of Asia, but the Holy Spirit would not let them preach the Gospel there, so they kept traveling north and west until they decide to enter Bythinia, which is north and east along the coast of the Black Sea.  But the Spirit would not allow them to preach there either.

They had planned to head to Asia.  The Spirit stops them, not just once, but twice.  We aren’t told what that looks like.  There is no description of how the Spirit stops them.  A withdrawal of funding?  A border crossing problem, concerns raised by those who know the climate of where they are going?  A gut feeling?  If there is a vision, it isn’t described for us in the verses before those read this morning.

We may experience the Spirit preparing us to go in a new direction in a variety of  ways.

Funding for what we think we should do isn’t available,

Circumstances within our families or communities make it difficult to take that direction right now.

We lose a job or a major customer.

Someone we thought could join us in the plan, cannot.

We all experience those times when the Spirit stops us, forbids us from moving in the direction we think we should.  Maria in the Sound of Music has one of those moments….

Video clip

Maria is disheartened that what she believes God has called her do is being stopped abruptly and the new direction seems so counter to what she thought God had planned for her.

Paul may have been feeling disheartened.  Frustrated that his plans aren’t going as he thought they should, as he tried to heed God’s call.  Many of us can identify times in our lives when that is where we are.

After the door closes, Maria finds God’s open window, as she develops new relationships, finds new God given direction,  Maria is a bit reluctant to accept the change in plan, but goes and we know how the story ends.

Paul finds the open route in a vision of a man from Macedonia asking him to come help.  Paul discerns that the vision means they are to go to Macedonia to share the gospel, rather than to Asia, and he goes.  Once he catches the vision, Paul is quick to move, as we learn that he gets ready at once to leave for Macedonia.

For some of us, the vision is more difficult to catch when what we think we should be doing gets derailed by the Spirit working to help us get where we need to be – Mother Superior sending Maria in a new direction; Circumstances and a Vision (new idea) setting the direction of Paul’s journey; Brothers and sisters in the faith pointing out where they see God moving us in new directions, Roadblocks and glitches in our plan pushing us to reconsider the vision.

For some of us, once we catch the vision we get ready at once to move on it.  To “Just Love” wherever God through the Holy Spirit pushes us to go.  For others, that takes a little, or a lot longer.

Slow to catch the vision, or quick, those responding to the movement of the Spirit in their lives cannot sit back and see how it goes.  They need a new plan

For Maria, the plan is to be the best “Just love” nanny she can be in all situations.

For Paul, it is to find the best location and most receptive hearts from where to begin sharing the message he is sent to share, a message of Love as modeled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Paul, Timothy, and Luke head to Philippi.  It is an important city, sitting on the famous Egnatian Way that linked east and west.  This crossroads town was full of retired Roman soldiers who were free to travel the Empire, a perfect launching point for the mission to Europe, Philipi is on the edge of Greece.

They spend a few days getting to know the place and likely figuring out where those who are the most open to hear the story of the Messiah with open minds might gather.  They may also be determining who has the communications skills and the ear of the people so the church can grow even when they move on

There is no indication that any of the apostles tried to establish churches with which they would stay for extended periods of time to continue the ministry.  Evidence is that they shared the message and trained those who began to follow Christ to continue deepening their own spiritual life while inviting others to share the journey and equipping them to do the same.

Paul and the others have discovered there is no synagogue in Philip.  A new Roman colony, recently planted or re-settled community without a synagogue.

Without a synagogue, people gather at the river on the Sabbath to pray, so that is where Paul and his ministry companions go.  Paul saw a vision of a man asking them to come.  What he finds is a group of women praying.  He doesn’t seem to be challenged by that, and joins them in prayer, sharing the gospel with them.

Maybe Paul would have dismissed the original vision as just something he ate if he had heard a woman calling.  In the culture of the day men did not socialize with women and they rarely had any property or standing apart from their husband’s.

The Spirit leads him in yet a new direction, this time not geographically, but in who God is calling to support and continue ministry into a new area.

Lydia is a woman who prays, a woman who worships the God of Israel, who is a business person, a leader of her household.  She is connected to those with leadership and financial connections, those are the only ones who can afford and see as important, the purple cloth which she sells.  She is open to the leading the Spirit, as we hear that the Lord opens her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

Her response to hearing the news of Jesus Christ, is to be baptized, and to have her household baptized.  Believing in Christ, she moves to live in Christ, to “Just love.”  It is no small decision she makes, to immediately invite Paul and the others to base their ministry from her home, not an action without consequences in her daily life to begin funding that ministry.

Hearing the message Paul brings is not something she keeps to herself, not something she protects as if it would be diminished if she shared.  For Lydia, following Christ means committing herself, her relationships, her financial resources into sharing God’s Love with others.  To equipping and encouraging others to do the same.

Lydia’s life, spiritually and physically is changed forever.  Her home is a base for receiving people in and sending them out.  The flow of her work, her schedule, meal prep, and household organization all changed as she is redirected by the Spirit and God’s love.  Her gifts and graces, skills and resources unique to the call God puts on her life through Paul’s redirection.  She is there supporting Paul’s ministry for years to come.  Her home is the place he returns after being released from prison, the church in Philipi the one that brings him joy when he thinks about them as he continues to journey to other places.

Where Maria went to follow the call on her life was not bad or a poor choice.  Where Paul thought he should go was somewhere the message of Christ needed to be shared. How Lydia was responding to God was appropriate, and yet God had others plans, and those plans led to more coming to follow Christ than if the Holy Spirit had not prevented them from staying their original course.

As Maria is challenged by Mother Superior to explore another way to serve God, Paul is challenged to go somewhere he hadn’t considered, at a time he hadn’t scheduled, to speak to someone he didn’t expect.   Lydia is challenged to follow Christ and faithfully use all of her resources to share the message of God who emptied himself, became human, died, is resurrected, and sent the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us,

We are challenged to see where the Holy Spirit is nudging us, or maybe slamming some doors, so that our plans, our connections, our schedules, our commitments and resources, come into line with God’s direction.  Challenged to hear where a loving God is sending us.

God’s revelations always move us from where we are to where God wants us to be, whether the journey is geographical, spiritual, or both simultaneously.[1]

We are Sent by a loving God, the Spirit shows us where.

 

[1] The Adventurous Lectionary Sixth Sunday of Easter May 26, 2019

Marked

John 13:31-35

Acts 11:1-18

We start the second part of our Eastertide series this morning with a focus on “Marked by a loving God”

What marks us, noticeably identifies us, can encompass several things.   We can be marked as part of a particular family by a family trait, the family name, the particular section of the pews in which we sit.

We can be marked by our skills, talents, style of dress, theological point of view, political affiliation.

Marked by our professions, our gender, our age, our position in the community.

Sometimes what noticeably identifies us, marks us, limits our opportunities to achieve our goals, other times it helps us get there.  It was interesting that in the Big Bang Theory’s finale show, Amy Farrah Fowler’s acceptance speech for the Noble Prize in Physics encouraged girls who love science to keep pursuing that career, not letting anyone tell them they are not good enough or can’t achieve excellence in that field.  “It is the best job ever,” she said with enthusiasm.

She needed to offer that encouragement from a world stage because traditionally girls are marked for other careers, marked as less than adequate for pursuing a career in science.  I wondered as I listened to her speech how much of it was acting, and how much came from personal experience, as in her life outside of acting, in her life as Mayim Bialik, she is an author and holds a PHD as a neuroscientist, and likely experiences some of the negativity that comes with being marked as something other than what you aspire to be.

This morning’s scriptures in essence address this idea of being “marked,” of something noticeably identifying us, naming our potential.

Jesus is glorified – marked as elevated and special – in his willingness to accept betrayal, suffering, and death on a cross that each of us might be saved.  As he is glorified in his sacrifice, emptying himself to serve others, so is God the father.  The Son glorified in the Father, the Father glorified in the Son.  Marked as a God of love, willing to do what it takes to bring us into relationship with God and each other.  Marked as the only one without sin, the Lamb of God.

As he talks with his closest disciples on the night he was betrayed, Jesus marks those of us who follow, marks his disciples throughout the generations, with a new commandment:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

A loving God marks us as those who love one another.  Not only when we want to, when we agree with each other, when we like each other, when we have something to gain by loving one another.  We are marked as Disciples of Christ when we love one another in all of our interactions with each other.  In every word, every value judgement, every side comment, every decision, and every action.

Peter’s understanding of the rules of his upbringing were well developed and left little or no gray areas.  He didn’t eat those foods deemed unclean by the laws of his ancestors in the faith.  He didn’t do anything that had the potential of making him unclean according to the law, as he understood God to have defined it. He was marked as a faithful follower of the God of Abraham by what he ate and who he ate it with.

Then comes this vision from God.  We know it is from God, because at the point Peter sees it, he has no idea God is sending him to the home of Cornelius, to share the message of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.  He is just trying to catch a nap in the sunshine.

We know Peter isn’t ready to accept God may be changing the rules, that God wants Peter to understand clean and unclean in a new way.  It takes God three times for Peter to see the vision, three men to unexpectedly invite him to come with them, Cornelius to share he had a message from God as well, and the Holy Spirit to fall upon his listeners before the message becomes clear.

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with^[a]water, but you will be baptized with^[b] the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

¹⁷ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

Those who follow Christ are marked by the love they show others, empowered by the gift of the Holy Spirit working in their lives.

Marks of a Christian life include the fruits of the Holy Spirit as named in Galatians 5:22: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Marks of the Christian life provide evidence that a person is moving on to perfection as John Wesley defined it, reflecting love of God and love of neighbor, with faith, hope, love, and humility among them.  Wesley expounded on those basic marks in the Character of a Methodist, noting that the marks of a Methodist were marks of Christianity.[1]

“While he thus always exercises his love to God, by praying without ceasing, rejoicing evermore, and in everything giving thanks, this commandment is written in his heart, “That he who loveth God, love his brother also.” And he accordingly loves his neighbor as himself; he loves every man as his own soul.”[2]

Bishop Marcus Matthews shared on several occasions while leading the people called Methodist in Upper New York, that his daily prayer was that he be more Christ-like today than yesterday. As I practice ministry, this daily prayer and holding myself accountable to self-assessment of evidence in my life of these marks is critical.  I think that is true for all followers of Christ.

Evaluation of how each of us is progressing on our movement to perfections comes in reviewing Wesley’s three simple rules: am I doing no harm, am I doing good, am I staying in love with God?  We can hold each other accountable looking for ways we are more loving, joyful, hopeful, peaceful, patient, giving, than yesterday and challenge ourselves and others to move from focusing on what we want, to focusing on what God calls us to.

There are Corneliuses all around us.  In our families and in our communities.  People who know there is more to life than what they are experiencing and are looking for something to show them what it is.

We have the gifts of the Spirit.  We need to use them, to open ourselves to the visions that show us where the rules we thought God laid out so clearly, God may be redefining or clarifying so that others may hear the stories about how following Jesus makes all the difference in an OK life and an abundant life.  We need to love one another, when loving one another is difficult.

Sheldon Cooper does not believe in God, or so he says.  He finds it appropriate to just state the facts as he sees them and as they affect him personally.  He doesn’t mean to hurt others, but he does.  I won’t spoil the ending of the closing episode for those of you who have recorded it to watch later, but I encourage you to take a look at his acceptance speech and see if others loving Sheldon in spite of himself ultimately transforms who he is.

How much more can we do that for those around us with the power of God’s Spirit working within us.  Living Marked by God in love is transformational, not only for us as individuals, but with all with whom witness that we love one another because Christ loves us.

 

[1] Richard P. Heitzenrater, Wesley and the People called Methodists: Second Edition (Abington Press Nashville 1995, 2013) location 2436 of 7266 Kindle edition

[2] John Wesley “The Character of a Methodist” location 110 of 188 Kindle edition

Believe in Me

John 20:19-31

We are a week past the observance of Easter, of singing the songs of celebration we love, and remembering Christ conquered death so that we may live.  A few short days removed from proclaiming “Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!”

It is possible the news of the week, stuff going on in our personal lives, work and vacation schedules, and other dynamics of “life as usual”, have muffled those sounds and feelings and brought us to a place we have questions.  Maybe questions about the resurrection of Christ, more likely about whether the resurrection we celebrate has any real impact in our lives.

We hadn’t even left the sanctuary last week without hearing the news of nearly 300 people worshiping in Sri Lanka killed because of their faith.  As the week went on, news of more planned bombings, and then the news of someone deliberately driving their car into a crowd they believed to include persons of the Muslim faith, and then last night a shooting in a Synagogue.  Posts of anger and hatred in our Facebook feeds.  Reports of shootings, drug overdoses, hungry children, death, destructive weather, and hopelessness filling the places where we find the news of the day.

Even without the local, national, and world news.  Some of us were immersed in difficult family situations, dealing with broken relationships, betrayal, broken promises, illness, death, weather disrupting our businesses and illness messing with personal plans.

Into the swirling, sometimes overwhelming, realities of our daily existence comes this week’s gospel lesson.

The disciples hiding behind locked doors, trying to make sense of their experiences, the varied stories they had to share with each other, Mary’s proclamation she has seen the Lord, Peter and John’s report of an empty tomb.

They have witnessed the arrest and execution of their teacher and friend.  They suspect there are religious leaders who won’t be satisfied that Jesus is gone, they will want his followers gone as well to neutralize the threat to their prestige and power.  The disciples don’t understand how all of this fits with Mary’s report she has seen Jesus and John and Peter’s witness account of an empty tomb.

They don’t seem at all interested in unlocking the door and going out to see what they find.  Fear and confusion seemingly informing their actions, or lack thereof.

Maybe the same fear and confusion we may feel as we navigate a reality that feels as if all the puzzle pieces have been dumped on the floor and we don’t have the box top to help us see the big picture.

Then Jesus appears.  Jesus greets them with words to calm the Disciples, to calm all those facing situations where the power of the resurrection seems absent.  “Peace be with you!”

God does not remove the times in our lives where we feel better pulling back from everything: fearing what will come next; Worried that someone will notice we messed up; when things happen we don’t understand and which bring physical or emotional pain into our lives.

God does enter into those situations with the promise of resurrection, of Christ coming into our locked rooms, into the darkest times in our life, reminding us He conquered death and is with us.

In the story of Jesus from the announcement of his birth until he appears to Mary, and then the Disciples after his resurrection we hear repeatedly the words:

“Fear Not,” “Peace, I bring you glad tidings”  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

After washing the Disciples’ feet Jesus talked to them about what was to come

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

 Jesus is in the room talking directly to the Disciples and he knows it will take the Holy Spirit to help them bring the pieces together, to remember what He taught them, to understand the kind of Peace he brings.

God knows there are circumstances in our lives where we cannot hear or comprehend the promise of the resurrection.

Standing in the room with the disciples after his resurrection, He repeats the message “Peace be with you! Shows him his wounds  “Peace be with you! Sends them on a mission, Breathes the Holy Spirit into them and the pieces come together enough for them to comprehend resurrection is real.  The worse that can happen isn’t what defines what will be.

Thomas, who wasn’t in the room on that visit, challenges the story of his fellow disciples, wanting an opportunity to experience the presence of the risen Lord for himself before he can claim the hope that comes in belief all of this is true.

Many want to fault Thomas, to question his faith, to call him a doubter.

I think Thomas was someone who asked questions.  Back in the Upper Room he affirmed he didn’t understand what Jesus meant when he said  “You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Asking him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Now Thomas wants what Mary and the others disciples have, an opportunity to see and hear Jesus one more time.  To have a face to face encounter with his risen Lord.  He asks the questions that reveal his hope and desire to understand.

It is what we want too.  In those pull back and lock the doors moments when we have a few of the pieces and they don’t make any sense, when it doesn’t seem there is any way to complete the puzzle.

When Peace is the last thing we feel.  We want that assurance only seeing the nail marks in his hands and putting our finger where the nails were, and our hand into his side. brings.

Christ made that possible for each of us, through each of us.

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

 The gospel of John brings us that face to face encounter.  The Holy Spirit breathed into us allows us to have that personal contact through the scripture.  The Spirit also brings us face to face encounters with our Lord through generations of followers who have their own stories of peace, understanding faith as they have followed.  We find their testimonies in the music we sing and hear, in the books we read and the speakers we hear, but most of all the Lord walks into our locked rooms through those closest to us on this faith journey, our fellow disciples who share their stories of having seen the Lord with them.

It is in the witness of others and our witness to others that we encounter the Risen Lord again and again and the Holy Spirit helps us discern Christ’s presence walking with us through everything.  Not removing the difficult times, but showing us we will get through them.

Doubting is not always a bad thing.  It can challenge us to test what we hear and see against scripture and the testimony of others, and our discernment in prayer and study.  Doubting in love can push us to go deeper, to hold one another accountable.  But doubting is not the end.

Finding Peace in our seeing Jesus in more and more of our locked rooms, is the hope and the reality that is ours when we believe the Resurrection is real, that Christ arose, appeared to the Disciples, walks with us today.  That when we believe, the darkest places in which we find ourselves are not the end of our story, because the light of the resurrection can not be stopped by anything this world tries to put in its way.

As Jesus told the disciples:

11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus brings us Peace, gives us power through the Holy Spirit, sends us as the Father sent Him that all would have a personal encounter with the Living God through us.

After the Parade

Luke 19:28-40

Isaiah 50:4-9

Philipians 2:5-11

Parades are held for many reasons.  We celebrate special occasions like the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s Day with parades.  Homecoming parades show our school spirit, “welcome home” parades recognize accomplishments important to the public.  The Inaugural Parade celebrates our country’s history of peaceful transitions of power.

The elements which make up the parade reflect its purpose.   Parades celebrating the talents of Marching Bands are filled with outstanding bands, parades commemorating the history of a community are likely full of floats depicting historic places or events in the community’s history.  A ticker tape parade includes lots of small pieces of colorful paper showering a Super Bowl, World Series, or Stanley Cup winning team.

Most of us have been to a parade.  Some have been part of a parade marching in a band, with a scout troop, maybe on a 4-H float or as royalty in the Homecoming Court.  We can picture the excitement of the crowd along the parade, as well as the elevated feeling of being the focus of the crowd’s attention.

As we come to the parade which spontaneously forms as Jesus rides into Jerusalem, we may be able to imagine the sounds of those cheering Jesus on, the images of people taking the coats off their backs and laying them on the ground to honor him, to show their recognition that He is the Messiah, to support his leadership.

What may be more difficult to do is to see the radical nature of this parade.  To recognize that Jesus, who had already laid the foundation for a turn-the-world upside down change in how we are in relationship with God and each other, was about to face those who didn’t want those relationships changed because it mean a loss of power, importance, wealth, influence, for them personally.

As Jesus set his face on Jerusalem that day the Jewish people were filling the city to remember God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.  It was not just a traditional religious observance of something that happened in the past.  As a people, they were experiencing oppression under the Roman imperialism, sometimes as crushing as that of when they were in Egypt.  Those who recognized that Jesus had all the attributes of a leader who could deliver them out of their current situation were among those cheering him on as he rode along the road, hoping he would be the one to be a new kind of leader.  A leader who would take on the Romans.

From the other side of the city, Pilate is entering to uphold law and order.  To remind the people who is in power, to whom they need to show allegiance, to keep them from turning a religious observance based on liberation from oppressors and following God, into a revolt against the status quo.  Pilate’s parade more elaborate, as he likely rode in on a war horse accompanied by an armored army.  Noisy and clanking with shields and swords.  Horses’ hooves pounding the dusty roadway.  Men shouting out orders.

The shouts of Hosanna on the one side of town supporting a new world order.  The shouts of orders on the other side of town a loud reminder that the status quo was backed up with the might of armies and wealth.

Pilates parade and the parade that forms around Jesus strikingly different.

Through the eyes of what we know will happen in the days to come, the last meal with his Disciples, the prayers late at night while his disciples repeatedly fall asleep, the arrest, trial, execution, we know how different those parades were.  How threatening Jesus was to those content with benefiting at the expense of others, to those who were willing to protect their own interests regardless of the impact on others, to those content with protecting their power and preferences without considering the needs, hopes, and desires of others.

As we sing of palms and cheers of Hosanna today we can be tempted to jump from this celebration of Jesus as King to the celebration of His resurrection and our deliverance from the power of sin and death.  As the week progresses our daily routines and responsibilities, the needs of those we love, the draw on us to maintain our peaceful places, keeping us from fully contemplating the choices Jesus made that showed God’s love for us in the face of ridicule, humiliation, pain beyond our ability to imagine.

It can be easy to see this Palm Sunday parade as a great memory and not think about what happened after the parade.  To jump to the celebration and not recognize the extent of the journey for Jesus and the extent of the call for each of us who come singing praises and waving palm branches today.

Focusing on that journey and call, Paul tells the Christians in Phillipi:

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!”

That call applies to us as much today.  Helps us focus on which parade we want to join.  I am reasonably sure everyone here today would say they have already joined Jesus on his parade.

I suggest that just as the people who so enthusiastically cheer Jesus that day ultimately fell by the wayside as he was arrested, choosing personal safety and the known, to staying by his side and the unknowns which staying with him brought, there are areas in our lives where we are still marching in on the other side of the city.

We are drawn to this turn the world up-side down Jesus, we rejoice that in his resurrection death is defeated and we have life.  Yet, when it comes to our day to day effort to be who God calls us to be, we sometimes respond as if we need to be with Pilate’s army.  Protecting what is: the structures, policies, relationships which make us feel in power, protected, important.

Concerned over what song we will sing on Easter because it means something to us, rather that considering what song we will sing on Easter which will bring a new understanding of God’s message of Love to someone who desperately needs to hear it.  Concerned over how someone else is answering their call to show God’s love to others, rather than considering if God has called you and I to show God’s love in new ways and new places.  Quick to point out how if someone else did it differently, visitors would fill our pews.  Connected to particular structures and traditions which keep us from continuing on the parade into the rough places where darkness and death overwhelm.

The example Paul calls us to follow is that of Jesus.  It is full in, do what it takes to help others experience the transforming Love of God lived out in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.  It is not half-hearted, sing praises and throw our cloaks down when we are comfortable where the parade is taking us.  It is taking on the nature of a servant, humbling ourselves, being obedient to God even when it challenges our preferences, traditions, relationships.

This is a difficult week in our collective memory as Christians.  It is hard to imagine anyone would endure what Christ endured for people who are quick to abandon his parade to join another or retreat to their own agendas.  It is difficult to comprehend where we march this morning, faced with two parades.   Claiming the one which seems to lead to death and yet leads to God’s gift to us of abundant life, yet too often drawn to the one that seems to lead to victory, but which leads to death.

This week and every week we are called to have the mind-set of Christ.  We are called to be willing to not only be part of the parade when it is filled with shouts of joy and blessing, but be ready to follow it when it forces us to let go of the things that keep us from being emptied of self and filled with Christ, so we may share the Love lived out for each of us in the Holy Week we are set to remember.

As we continue to practice what Christ calls us to practice, we will be prepared for all the places this parade with take us.

Audacious Hope

 

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Joshua 5:9-12

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Even if we haven’t made them, we all have seen at least one quilt.  Many pieces brought together to create a visual image that tells a story or paints a picture.  Pieces of material carefully chosen for their patterns and color schemes or pieces taken from clothing that is no longer worn, but has significance for us and can be re-purposed in a way that lets us remember what it is important.

Art, skill, color, tradition, patience, commitment, and love bringing what seem to be random bits of cloth together into something that is beautiful, functional, and meaningful.

Sometimes the pieces start to come together, and the promise of something special emerges, and then an interruption pushes the process out of priority status and the beginnings of the coming together of the pieces are lost in that closet of things we plan to do.  Sometimes the quilt is completed, the pieces coming together to create something that we use so much that we begin to take it for granted, and it becomes worn and frayed.

Whether we are in the process of making a quilt, or have come to a point we recognize the quilt we have is not what it was meant to be, we have a choice as to whether to keep following the process to create or restore or to give up and let it sit in the back of the closet.

Those who can see beyond the small pieces of fabric, see beyond the work involved in the process, Those who can see the quilt possible in the bringing the pieces together, have what I am calling “audacious hope.”  Hope that sees the beauty in each piece and the potential of the coming together into something greater than what can be if the pieces stay separate.

This morning’s scriptures, are each unique windows into a particular time and place, pieces of the quilt which is God’s kingdom, all of which build a pattern of “audacious hope” which can help us keep adding pieces, help us draw together with God and each other. Help us repair a world that is broken.

Both of our opening songs this morning.  “He has made be Glad” and “My Life is in You”, Lord reflect Psalm 32.

Those who have an upright heart, who acknowledge where there are frayed edges, and accept God’s grace, are not pulled apart at the seams, not left alone.  They have “audacious hope” in God’s promises to forgive, protect, teach, counsel, and love, allowing them to Rejoice in the Lord be glad and sing in the midst of any situation they face.

Joshua was ready to claim God’s call into the promised land the first time the Israelites came to its edge.  He had “audacious hope” in God’s wisdom and power.  At that time, the majority of his community were not grounded in that level of “hope,” somehow not connecting God bringing them out of Egypt, keeping them sustained with food and water, leading them with fire and cloud, as evidence God would be with them wherever God Called them.  Joshua had to hold on to his “hope” through forty years of wandering before he could lead the people where God called them to be and again eat of the harvest of the land.  Remembering God’s faithfulness, he calls the people to remember the covenant God made with them, he calls them to recognize their frayed edges and to be drawn together as people of God, entering into a new country and new way of living.  His “audacious hope” grounded in seeing beyond the individual people and circumstances to the potential of people drawn together with God and each other.

Jesus gave us a story of “audacious hope” in his story of the father and his two sons.  Quickly we might see it in the younger son’s conclusion that his father still cares for him enough that he will welcome him back as a servant.  Remembering all his father did for him, how he treats those who work for him, how he cares for his family, all give him a foundation that makes that hope possible and that hope is fulfilled beyond what he considered possible.  His frayed edges named are repaired and he is reconciled to his family and friends.  Well, to most of them.

His older brother, with some frayed edges of his own, stays on the outside looking in.  Focusing on His accomplishments, His faithfulness, His feelings, he misses that his Father’s faithfulness has been with Him throughout his life, that his life is filled with blessings, because of that reality.  He misses His father’s generous heart.  His misses, and many of those listening to the parable miss, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We all stand forgiven, when we are in Christ.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NIV)

In a short time we will set aside this season of lent, of reflection and repentance and enter a time of joy and celebration because of what God does for us.  We have journeyed through the wilderness, reminded God is with us in the difficult, seemingly hopeless times; we have looked up at the stars, reminded of God promises made and fulfilled in God’s perfect timing;  we have considered the reality that repentance is about a change in direction, and today we are reminded that when we are in Christ, when we bring our frayed edges to God, we are reconciled to God and are part of the new creation.   A new creation which is more than just something to admire, a new creation which allows us to see each other in a new way and allows us to be ambassadors for Christ, showing how in Christ our frayed edges are made new and we have the “audacious hope” of Easter.

The world will never glimpse God’s vision, will never see the potential in the pieces to make a beautiful quilt, unless we share it, unless we make a concerted effort to say with our hearts and our lives: this is where the world has been torn asunder.  This is where love is calling us to go… this is what love is calling us to bind and to build.

In Christ we have “audacious hope”.  Let us heal the hurt with the tie that binds it back together in Christ.  Let us point to the places where water flows in the deserts of life.  let us work to live into the fullness of God’s good creation.  Let us see beauty while creating harmony, justice, and reconciliation – one small act of kindness, compassion, forgiveness at a time.[1]

[1] Rev. Todd Pick and Rev. Jennifer Pick, Discipleship Ministries UMC, Preaching Notes Fourth Sunday in Lent

Astounded

Exodus 34:29-35

Luke 9:28-36

I believe the God we serve is all powerful, is ever creating, and ever present with us.  The images of God in the bright cloud surrounding Moses and in the illumination of Jesus as he stood with Moses and Elijah reflect that amazing, astounding, uncontainable power, giving us a glimpse of his holy power and glory, but inadequate to fully describe or explain it.

We are told that the appearance of Jesus was as bright as “lightning”  Lightning is pretty bright.  A bolt of lightning is one of the most powerful forces on planet earth, discharging 1,000,000,000,000,000 watts of electricity (1 trillion) at a temperature of 20,000 degrees centigrade (which is considerable hotter than even the surface of the sun)[1]

Yet I am often astounded, forced to stand in amazement, astonished and bowled over, sometimes flabbergasted, my world rocked, shock keeping me from taking it all in, or I experience surprise when God’s power manifests itself in large and small things in my life.

I think I’m in good company.  The disciples on this mountaintop were sleepy, not looking for anything much to happen except some time away from the crowds.  They came close to missing what was right in front of them, close to thinking it was only a dream.

Maybe their sleepiness is an extension of how often they missed the glory of Jesus when it shone right in front of them day in and day out throughout Jesus’ ministry  “The truth is that Jesus did not need to visibly glow to display glory.  His glory shined  – for those with eyes to see – Just as brightly when he talked to lonely prostitutes and outcast lepers, when he saved wayward tax collectors and offered forgiveness to people who had never heard a forgiving syllable their whole lives long up to that point.”[2]

The disciples should not have been astounded, but expectant.

I should not be astounded, I should be expectant.

Expectant that I will encounter the Living God in all times and places and that greater is One who is in me than the One who is in the world.  Yet I am astounded as I look at the stars on a clear night, witness the miracle of birth into and out of this world, when I feel the Holy Spirit filling me with the energy, understanding, and words I do not have on my own.

I am astounded in these encounters with the Divine.  Standing Face to Face, even if not eye to eye, with the living Triune God we love and serve.

Just as astounding to me is that God gets that we face times in our lives that we need that more direct contact with the divine.  Moses needs God’s power and those ten commandments to help lead his people into a loving God directed community.  Jesus facing the most difficult days of his ministry benefited from the reinforcement, encouragers Moses and Elijah.  We don’t know what was said, but they spoke about His departure.  These recognized giants of the faith pointing Jesus in the direction he needs to go and to encourage him that down that path lies the salvation of the world.

That he may have needed encouragement reminds us of His humanity, that he continued toward His departure reminds us of His Divinity.

It might astound you today if I said you will encounter the living God, you will be close enough to hear the voice of God, to touch the hem of God’s robe, to be transformed, and walk away with a glow noticeable to all.  You will.

You will experience it in each other.  In your smiles, your prayers, nudges, challenges,  tough conversations, as well as joy-filled discussions, shared laughter and shared tears.

As you come to God’s table, God’s presence is uniquely with us.  We come to experience the holy mystery of God with us in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection of grace poured over us through his love and sacrifice for us.  We are in communion with Christ Jesus and with all those who believe in this place, in this world, in this time, and throughout time.

It is a reality that really should never cease to astound us because it is more than we can understand more than the world tells us is possible.  When we come with a spirit of wonder, we are open to see the light shining into us and through us and to recognize God’s power flowing into and through us.

Peter wanted to stay on the mountain in awe of that light, even when the mission was clearly to go somewhere else.  He and we can’t stop here.  It can’t be contained in structures up on the mountaintop where we try to keep the experience going on the level of basking in its wonder.

We must go back down the mountain, go back to the places we need to look for God’s presence, where it isn’t as obvious as a light too bright to miss.  Moses was sent back to the people, taking the glow of God’s love and power back to help them live together as God’s people.  Jesus was sent back down the mountain to complete His mission on our behalf.  We are called back down the mountain to live lives reflective of God’s love shining through us.  We are called to listen to all He taught us.

We will be astounded at the ways our lives and the lives of others will be transformed when we do.

[1] Center for Excellence in Preaching February 25, 2019

[2] Ibid

Living the Way of Love

Genesis 43:3-11, 15

Luke 6: 27-38

The series we are working through this month names this morning’s focus “the questioning crowd.”  At first glance that didn’t seem to make sense, I didn’t see the crowd raising questions.  Jesus is pretty blunt, so it seems the crowd should get the message.  Love your enemies, do things to benefit them, not harm them.

A message which is reflected in John Wesley’s “Three Simple Rules,” Do Good, Do no Harm, Stay in Love with God.”

Pretty simple, and yet, maybe not so much, and I began to imagine the questions that crowd might have been thinking, even though the passage doesn’t share them.

Is this realistic on any level?

Isn’t it dangerous to be vulnerable before my enemies?

How is that lived out?

Does he mean the Romans (those is a position to determine my well-being), or just the guy down the street who wants to charge me too much for some cheese?

How does this build a Kingdom, don’t we need political power and physical strength to be the leaders.

How do I save face if I don’t actively push the correctness of what I think onto others?

To “All who will listen,” Jesus offers the answers to those questions and more.

He reveals who God is, how God relates to each of us, to all of creation.  God is love.  Love which reaches out to us regardless of our view or the world’s view of who we are.  Love which challenges us to be who God calls us to be and which empowers us with the Holy Spirit to live into that calling.  He reveals that God is shared with others by loving them as God loves them.

He calls us to live in ways that reflect that Love as experienced in our faith journeys.  It is a love that is only possible through Christ’s work in our lives through the Spirit.  It doesn’t come naturally.  Trying to protect ourselves from those we perceive seek to harm us is what comes naturally.  Trying to win the argument, trying to prove the other person’s perspective wrong, to be the winner, is often our “go to” position.

Even his closest disciples needed to hear this message.  They were a community of strong personalities with well-formed opinions.  Simon the Zealot was violently opposed to Roman occupation – Matthew had made a living as a tax-collector in effect collaborating with the Romans.  It is safe to imagine some lively debates at the dinner table.

When we face the passage of Joseph working to help his “owners” prosper, of his forgiving and caring for brothers who out of jealousy were quick to sell him and conspire to lie to their father, willing to break their father’s heart to meet their personal agendas.  When we listen to what Jesus says in this message to us, to offer Love to even our enemies in the same measure as God extends love to us.  We may wonder if we really want to be part of the Kingdom of God on earth.  If we want the risk and effort it requires.

There is the story of a prayer shared by a lay leader after listening to a message on a passage of scripture that was difficult to hear “Lord, today we’ve heard your word, and we don’t like it.”[1]

Jesus continues to lay out for us what our behaviors are if we are following Him, if we are part of the Kingdom.  He shows us a very different way of living from the majority of the world.  “Love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return.  If you do, you will have a great reward.  You will be acting the way children of the Most High act, for he is kind to ungrateful an wicked people.  Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.”[2]

Video Scene from Les Mis

What do you see in this clip?

What raises questions in your mind?

How does it connect to the way Jesus calls us to act toward those who we perceive are wrong, or evil, those we think are making poor decisions, or with whom we don’t agree?

With those who we believe actively work against us?

We face these situations to some degree on a regular basis.  Jesus isn’t giving us instructions for isolated situations, or circumstances only found outside our faith community.  He is giving us a different way of living and relating to those with whom we find it difficult or threatening to interact.   This way of living gives the “other” in our lives a glimpse of who God is – Love.  It is never a basis for claiming moral superiority, because the moment we view it in that way it judges us to the extent we judge others.

Faith communities are never uniform – people hold different political views, disagree on what scripture says, belong to different social groups, enjoy different activities.  Yet, week after week, we come together to worship God and, hopefully, to build up the Body of Christ in our own community and the locality in which we live.

To do this we have to put the teaching from today’s Gospel into action, cultivating qualities of compassion, forbearance and forgiveness.  We have to go beyond what might be expected in a club or other organization, willing to sacrifice something of our own perceived self-interest in order to live God’s love for others.

In extending God’s grace, the Bishop, gives Jean ValJean a glimpse of God’s love for him, and it transforms his life.

Seeking God’s help in living as Jesus calls all who will listen, has transformational power for ourselves and for those with whom we come in contact with.  We show, rather than try to tell, dictate, argue, with others in how they should live.  We are only called to love as God loves us and to show it with our lives.  When we are able to do that we experience the Kingdom in action and others are attracted to learn more about this God we love and serve.

Are we among those willing to hear?  Are we living in love?

 

[1] William H Willimon Ministry Matters February 24, 2019

[2] ibid