June 29, 2008
The Challenge of Sacrifice
I kind of chuckled on Friday when I called Cally with my title - "The Challenge of Sacrifice" - having just spent two wonderful weeks - more than wonderful, actually - in a gorgeous summer house - with a million dollar view. Having just participated in Ryan and Abby's wedding - which certainly for the majority of the people in this world - would be considered - elegant; extravagant.
So what do 1 know about sacrifice? What do hardly any of us know about sacrifice?
To give you a glimpse of the wedding - picture a deserted beach, the ocean for a background - a trellis covered in flowers, and a very, very, very - stiff breeze. Abby's mother and I shared in conducting the wedding; although an elementary teacher she is also a graduate of our seminary in Lancaster. Since she was going to make some remarks about our children - I felt compelled to do the same, and so I began this way.
"We didn't think our little boy would ever grow up, but he surely did." (I figured every parent there could identify with that.)
And then I said: "I didn't think Ryan would ever fall in love with a woman other than his mother, but he surely did." (I figured every mother could identify with that.)
And then I added that "I didn't think Ryan would ever become a father ..... but I surely pray to God that he does." (And I figured every grandparent there could identify with that.) I said, "I have one grandchild - and I'm ready for more."
That was part of what I said - (with 150 people's hair - now blowing hard in a horizontal direction) .... and I concluded with part of! Corinthians 13 - Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. This love - never ends. (You church people know it.) But before I read Paul's words - I reminded the folks - that the 'love' Paul was speaking about - was not the erotic love of romance - although that's a part of marriage; Paul was not speaking about the 'sisterly-brotherly' love that we share among each other - the 'philos' - ("if you love me, I'll love you back") as in Philo - delphia. City of brotherly love.
Paul was speaking, I said, about the highest love, Christian love - the greatest of all love -which is 'agape'. Love, I said, that is self-giving love, and self-sacrificing love, love not expecting anything in return - - - and love - that 'yes' - can sometimes even be 'crucifying.'
My challenge to us today - is to keep ourselves - more keenly aware of - and more open to - opportunities for sacrifice. Our very human nature helps us fight against sacrifice - and yet, what more powerful lesson and example do we want - than what Jesus did on the cross?
Vacation is not vacation unless 1 have a USA Today newspaper to read every day - and my brother-in-law very faithfully delivered one each morning. In the Friday edition was this editorial by the founder of USA Today - who was basically saying - that the war in Iraq - would end much sooner - if we - as taxpayers were made to pay for it - now - instead of putting it on credit - and waiting for our children - and our dear - grandchildren to pay for it. That would require some 'sacrifice', which he said - and I've heard it repeatedly over these six long years – every war until this one - has required sacrifice - from everyone.
And then he mentioned how even Abraham Lincoln on July 1, 1862 - 'signed our first and very fair income tax law - to pay for what? the Civil War.
The levy, he says, was 3% on those with annual incomes between $600 and $10,000 and 5% for those who earned over $10,000.
That law was rescinded ten years later - but again in 1913 - in anticipation of World War I - it was re-enacted - and has been in effect ever since. Just another significant figure - (part of another article) if we wanted to payoff our current (and rapidly growing) national debt - it would cost each one of us - are you ready for the bill? $176,000! Now that would be sacrifice!
I read a book on vacation - that Linda's sister handed me - that involved some pretty gruesome and disturbing, historical 'sacrifice'. It was the account of the whaling ship - the Essex - sailing from Nantucket in 1819 - many of you probably know the story - the tragedy that inspired Herman Melville to write "Moby Dick". This rather factual account that I read - of the survivor's 93 days as sea - with little water and even less food - was titled: "The Heart of the Sea." Twenty men; after they dump the bodies of the first two starved and dehydrated victims overboard - they stop doing something so wasteful - and their desperate mental state turns them into cannibals. Later four of the survivors draw straws to determine who of the four will be sacrificed in order to save the other three. Now that was sacrifice! And for me reading the book obviously - memorable.
Am I talking about sacrifice this morning because of a newspaper article and a whaling tragedy two hundred years ago? No - but because of Genesis, Chapter 22, and Abraham and Isaac. "TAKE YOUR SON, YOUR ONLY SON ISAAC, WHOM YOU LOVE, AND OFFER HIM THERE AS A BURNT OFFERING ON ONE OF THE MOUNTAINS THAT I WILL SHOW YOU."
Our God said that??? Our loving, and forgiving, and gracious God - said that? Kill the son you waited all your life to hold! A son who is now old enough to walk up the mountain side by side with you - and God wants you to kill him? One of my sources said they wonder if Abraham consulted with Sarah before he collected the fire wood!
Was Abraham losing his mind in his old age? Was he, some theologians wonder, involved in some family squabbles between Sarah and Hagar? You know he had a wife and a concubine; he had this son, Isaac, but he also really did have another, older son, Ishmael And I would imagine that could cause some family drama. One commentator on today' s lesson says be careful how far you push this as a pastor, BECAUSE WATCH AS SOME CHILD POINTS OUT - AND SAYS IT IS THE SAME IN HIS FAMILY - THAT MY DADDY DOESN'T LIVE WITH US - BECAUSE HE LIKES HIS NEW FAMILY BETTER.
Child sacrifice - as you know from your history - was not an uncommon practice among our earliest ancestors. Abraham may just have been among the first to realize that no God worth worshiping would require such a repulsive act. Although that same source I just mentioned said HUMANS HAVE A WAY OF BEING ALL TOO READY TO SACRIFICE THE WEAKEST AND MOST VULNERABLE AMONG US.
And he followed that sentence with these disturbing figures: THE AVERAGE AGE OF SOLDIERS WORLD WIDE HAS BEEN REPORTED TO BE FOURTEEN. THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CHILD SPENDS UPWARD OF TEN HOURS ADA Y WATCHING TELEVISION AND BEING TURNED FROM BEING A CHILD INTO A CONSUMER BY THE AGE OF THREE. (USA Today, by the way, had an article on that also - saying that children 12 and older now spend a total of 71 days a years watching television!). CHILD LABOR REMAINS A KEY PART OF MANY ECONOMIES. AND TOO MANY RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS HAVE BEEN SLOW TO RESPOND TO CASES OF CHILD ABUSE IN THEIR MIDST BECAUSE THEY SOUGHT TO PROTECT THE NAME OF THE INSTITUTION. Children are still being sacrificed.
Maybe it's time to give this sacrifice thing some additional thought - not child sacrifice, of course - and certainly not the sacrifice of the weakest and most vulnerable - but self-sacrifice. If we really take our Christianity seriously it seems to me we have to work on this sacrifice thing; too much Christianity today is about getting ahead in life, making life smooth and easy and manageable, some on TV even equate Christianity with getting wealthy.
I recently heard someone say that it's not the dollars you make in life that counts - it's the difference you make. Not the dollars, but the difference.
Some months I think the only sacrifice I make is a pint of my blood to the Red Cross. I see some of you there. Maybe we tend too much to avoid sacrifice like the plague. Let someone else do it; let someone else contribute; let someone else be last; let someone else carry the load. Let someone else get dirty; let someone else do the menial and degrading tasks. Let someone else make a fool of themselves. I'm too busy looking out for number one.
And yet all along we claim to worship this fool on a hill. A fool who died the most humiliating death of his day. A fool who was forgotten, and forsaken, and dumped.
I have this gnawing suspicion - having had some vacation time to think about it - having watched how anxious all of us are to 'grab for the gusto' - grab this, and grab that, and almost anything for ourselves
I have this gnawing suspicion that the creator of all we know had something profoundly important in mind - when we were given all this body strength, and all these abilities, and all these years of life - - that we were to use ourselves - and give of ourselves - and yes, sacrifice ourselves - for the sake of others. As I have said many times - I would much rather wear my self out - than just rust away.
O, that we could somehow be ever more sensitive, and alert, and keen to the needs - the daily - moment by moment - needs - of all those around us. I guess that's what I mean by The Challenge of Sacrifice. Amen.
June 8, 2008
"As Good As Dead"
You might remember the story a few years ago of a young hiker by the name of Aron Ralston; he had a most unusual experience while mountain climbing.
ARON KNEW HE WOULD DIE BEFORE THE NEXT MORNING'S SUNRISE. FIVE DAYS EARLIER HE'D BEEN WALKING A TRAIL IN A NARROW DESERT CANYON IN UTAH, AND HAD CLIMBED DOWN FROM A LARGE CHOCKSTONE ALONG HIS ROUTE. A CHOCKSTONE IS A HUGE BOULDER THAT'S WEDGED BETWEEN OTHER STONES OR CANYON WALLS.
THIS ONE MAY HAVE BEEN THERE FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS, BUT WHEN RALSTON CAME DOWN, HE SOMEHOW LOOSENED THE BOULDER, AND IT FELL ON HIM.
WHEN IT STOPPED, THE STONE WAS WEDGED AGAINST BOTH CANYON WALLS, AND HIS RIGHT WRIST WAS BETWEEN ONE OF THOSE WALLS AND THE BOULDER.
FOR FIVE DAYS, THIS EXPERIENCED CLIMBER TRIED A THOUSAND PLANS AND A THOUSAND VARIATIONS ON A PLAN TO GET HIMSELF FREE - USING THE CLIMBING EQUIPMENT HE HAD BROUGHT ALONG, RALSTON EVEN CONSIDERED AMPUTATING HIS ARM, BUT HIS ONLY AVAILABLE KNIFE WAS NOT SHARP ENOUGH.
HE HAD WATER AND FOOD FOR ONLY ONE DAY, SO HE TRIED TO RATION IT.
AS HIS STRUGGLE CONTINUED AND THE HOURS PASSED, RALSTON REACHED INTO HIS BACKPACK TO GET HIS VIDEO CAMERA, AND FOR SEVERAL DAYS HE RECORDED HIS THOUGHTS, SPEAKING INTO THE CAMERA AND ADDRESSING HIMSELF TO ALL HIS LOVED ONES IN A FAREWELL. RALSTON FIGURED THAT SOMEONE WOULD EVENTUALLY COME ACROSS HIS BODY AND DELIVER THE TAPE TO HIS FAMILY.
AS THE FIFTH EVENING OF HIS ORDEAL APPROACHED, HE FELT CERTAIN HE WOULD DIE THAT NIGHT, PROBABLY OF HYPOTHERMIA. WITH HIS KNIFE HE ETCHED A DATE ON THE CANYON WALL TO COMPLETE AN EPITAPH HE HAD BEEN WRITING OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS:
HE ETCHED: R-I-P ARON OCT 75 – APR 03
TO HIS SURPRISE, HOWEVER, HE SURVIVED THE NIGHT, AND IN THE MORNING A NEW IDEA CAME TO HIM - A DIVINE REVELATION - HE CALLS IT. HE UNDERSTOOD WHAT HE HAD TO DO TO CUT OFF HIS ARM.
HE KNEW HIS KNIFE COULD NEVER CUT THROUGH HIS BONES, BUT REALIZED THAT IF HE TWISTED HIS BODY ENOUGH, THE BOULDER AND THE CANYON WALL WOULD FUNCTION AS A VISE GRIP - UNTIL HIS FOREARM BONES SNAPPED.
AFTER THAT, HE COULD CUT THE REMAINING MUSCLE AND NERVES.
HE SUCCEEDED. HE WAS ABLE TO AMPUTATE HIS ARM, WENT LOOKING FOR HELP AND ENCOUNTERED THE SEARCH PARTY THAT WAS LOOKING FOR HIM.
You probably remember his story, but I tell it, because WHEN A NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INTERVIEWER ASKED RALSTON ABOUT HIS DECISION, HE REPLIED:
'THE MOMENT WHEN I FIGURED OUT HOW I COULD GET FREE, IT WAS THE BEST IDEA AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE I WILL EVER HAVE IN MY LIFE ....... .IT WAS ALL EUPHORIA - AND NOT A BIT OF HORROR. IT WAS HAVING MY LIFE BACK - AFTER BEING DEAD.
Young RALSTON - like the characters in our scripture lessons - was - AS GOOD AS DEAD.
Father - Abraham - featured in both our first and second lessons - at age 100 - HIS OLD BODY - WAS AS GOOD AS DEAD. (and a lot of us can already identify!)
The woman with the hemorrhage - for twelve long years - her illness was becoming more
than life ...... .
The little girl - who is already dead - the funeral has begun.
BUT ALL THREE POSSESS A 'LIVING FAITH', A 'GROWING FAITH', AND EACH OF THEM SENSED THAT GOD WOULD PERFORM A SIGN OF NEW LIFE IN THEM.
Abraham and Sarah never gave up and in faith they went out and eventually -gave birth to a son. - to a nation.
The daring woman, literally, reached out in faith and touched Jesus' robe; the hopeful synagogue leader brought Jesus to his daughter - and she lived.
My difficulty with most of you folks sitting here comfortably in your pew - and quite frankly with myself - now that I'm in my 60's - is that we think - our faith journey is over - or at best all but over. My difficulty is that we no longer want our faith to be challenged- we're too old.
Our difficulty is that we sit there thinking that God has spoken once and for all - in the pages of the Bible - and that's it - it's over and done; don't push me, don't challenge me, for heavens sake - don't expect me to change,!!! Don't expect me to have to reason and think things through, don't expect me to grow. I went to Sunday School! And at confirmation I graduated from learning. (Even though I wasn't really paying attention even then.)
Too many of us carry around our Journal of Faith and the title on the cover is - AS GOOD AS DEAD. Folks the evidence is in - Abraham proves it - our faith must be OPEN and ALIVE and GROWING and CHANGING. Truth must be open and alive and growing and changing.
The very theme of our denomination- NEVER PLACE A PERIOD - WHERE GOD HAS PLACED A COMMA. GOD IS STILL SPEAKING.
Our ancestor, John Robinson, when he stepped off the Mayflower said - GOD HAS YET - MORE LIGHT AND MORE TRUTH TO BREAK FORTH OUT OF HIS HOLY WORD.
God has so much more light and truth - for you - Abraham - at age 75 - at age 100 - so much more light and truth. I loved it a few weeks ago when a Roman Catholic nun on Meet the Press said: TRUTH DOES NOT COME IN A PACKAGE. You can't box it up and put it on a shelf. God is still Speaking.
I'll never forget hearing some one say early in my ministry - that in those early days about all we can hope to do with our faith- is skip stones over the surface of the water- like we did as kids. But I hope to God - that after these 33 years in the pulpit - that I am more like a nuclear sub - plumbing the depths of God's vast ocean of truth.
A few weeks ago our Monday night study group met at Mary Crockett's house to view a DVD on The History of the Bible. We learned how some folks tend to look at the Bible as a kind of 'supernatural book'. That is, a finished project - that was one day just miraculously dropped out of the heavens. Bound in black and ready to read. Written in God's own hand writing, and surely in the language of King James.
Whenever I hear of such a definitive description of the Bible- I like to compare that description to plastic flowers - as opposed to real flowers. For a lot of people the Bible is like plastic flowers; it's never going to change; it's never going to grow; it'll look pretty for a long time (like the King James has for 400 years!) - that plastic flower is just as good as dead.
For those of us who look at the Bible - differently - the Bible is more like a 'seed' - or a 'shoot' - that was planted centuries and centuries ago - and that seed is still-naturally growing and rooting, and strengthening, and changing to this day. Something a plastic flower can never do.
God's word is still very much alive and changing - not because God is changing - but because we are - human beings are - and life is - and life's situations are - changing and growing expanding. You see, God MUST continue to speak. GOD HAS YET MORE LIGHT AND MORE TRUTH TO BREAK FORTH.
I LIKE TO REMIND FOLKS HOW TRUTH HAS CHANGED AND IS CHANGING. If you don’t believe it, try this for example. To our ancestors some of us were born to be free and some of us were born to be slaves. That was the truth and when our ancestors went to the SCRIPTURES to check it out, sure enough, that truth was in the Bible. When they reasoned about it- why yes, it made good economical sense. When they looked at TRADITION - why yes, there had always been slaves - it was part of tradition; our grandparents having slaves is very practical.
To our ancestors slavery was a God-given truth, but I don't think we hold to that 'truth' any longer. Later then when white Christian pastors were asked to marry a black man to a black woman - they said, "Oh, no, we CAN'T do that." Still later - when they were asked to marry a black person to a white person - they said, "Oh, no, we surely CAN'T do that." And
now today ........... .
Our evening study groups continue changing and growing - and maybe others of you will join us in the fall. We have begun to experience together - the value of sharing life's experiences, and life's challenges, and questions (and there are so many.) Just Monday evening in that little book - "10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You, But Can't Because He Needs the Job" we were on the chapter "What About Homosexuality" - and we discussed how some of your views have been changed and expanded because of study and reflection - and how quickly our society is changing - especially now - with same-sex marriages being approved in California.
We can spend our days ignoring these issues - or holding on to old and changeless opinions - but I remind you that this life journey is too soon over..
And will we reach the end with a faith - still plastic- as good as dead? Or with a faith - still growing - (sometimes, miraculously - even blooming) - but for sure - leading us ever and ever into deeper and deeper waters. A living faith - in a living God - who still has so much more to say to us. For us I pray - that being as good as dead- is not the end of our story. Just remember father Abraham, the little girl, and Aron Rolston. Amen.
June 1, 2008
Doing Practical Charity
Cardinal Emile Leger - in the 1950's - was considered one of the most powerful men in Canada and within the Roman Catholic Church. He was a man of deep conviction and humility. And then one day in 1969 he laid aside his red vestments and stately hat, and disappeared. A year later he was found living among the lepers and disabled children in a small African village. When a Canadian journalist asked him "Why", he said this:
IT WILL BE THE GREAT SCANDAL OF THE HISTORY OF OUR CENTURY THAT 600 MILLION PEOPLE ARE EATING WELL AND LIVING LUXURIOUSL Y AND 3 BILLION PEOPLE STARVE - AND EVERY YEAR MILLIONS OF CHILDREN ARE DYING OF HUNGER. I AM TOO OLD TO CHANGE ALL THAT. THE ONLY THING I CAN DO WHICH MAKES SENSE IS TO BE PRESENT. I MUST SIMPLY BE IN THE MIDST OF THEM. SO, JUST TELL PEOPLE IN CANADA THAT YOU MET AN OLD PRIEST. I AM A PRIEST WHO IS HAPPY TO BE OLD AND TO STILL BE A PRIEST AMONG THOSE WHO SUFFER. I AM HAPPY TO BE HERE AND TO TAKE THEM INTO MY HEART.
Today's gospel lesson from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount - according to Matthew - has been described as the difference between LIP SERVICE AND REAL SERVICE. For example, a lot of us talk a good talk about helping Habitat for Humanity - that's Lip Service - but only a small handful of you - yesterday offered Real Service.
Our lesson today is near the end of the Sermon on the Mount - and Jesus says - a lot of you are going to spend your life saying "Lord, Lord" - but it's not in saying "Lord, Lord," that you will enter the kingdom - BUT ONLY THE ONE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER.
Many of you will say on that day - did we not prophesy in your name? - did some of us not stand in a pulpit Sunday after Sunday for more than 30 years - in your name .... ?
Did not some of us do many deeds of power in your name?
But Jesus will still say to us - GO A WAY FROM ME, YOU EVILDOERS.
Jesus, do you get this - is not here speaking to non-church members, he's not speaking to those on the outside who might condemn the church, he's not speaking about Muslims or Jews or Hindu - he is speaking to his own inside people - those who prophesy, those who cast out demons, those who do deeds of power - we may very well be the ones to whom Jesus will say'go away'. You spent your whole life paying LIP SERVICE, all right - but not REAL SERVICE.
I always tell our confirmands - and I've told you a number of times - but they never listen and you never listen - - and quite honestly - I never listen - but we would have an entirely different Christianity - probably a different world - if everyone of us - took ten minutes - every week - every week - to read the Sermon on the Mount - Matthew 5,6, and 7. 10 minutes a week - could change your life! Set your alarm 10 minutes earlier on Sunday and read it before coming to church - or here's a challenge - if you drive here with more than one in the car - have someone read it on the way to church.
One of my sources summarized this week what we would find in this sermon. WE WOULD SEE AN EMPHASIS ON DEEDS OF LOVE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. DEEDS OF LOVE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. AN EMPHASIS ON PERSONAL PIETY, NOT POWER. AN EMPHASIS - and here comes my title - AN EMPHASIS ON PRACTICAL CHARITY - NOT MIRACLES. PRACTICAL CHARITY.
Helping lepers in Africa. Driving nails for Habitat. Cooking a meal for the soup kitchen. Dicing onions at the homeless shelter. Walking at Relay for Life ................. you get the picture ---- NOT LIP SERVICE - REAL SERVICE.
And then comes the last illustration in the Sermon on the Mount - the one we all learned in Sunday School- about where to build our house. Jesus is still dwelling - even here at the end - on lip service and real service. The verse I want you to remember is the verse that introduces this choice of location - EVERYONE THEN WHO HEARS THESE WORDS OF MINE - that is this whole Sermon on the Mount - EVERYONE THEN HEARS THESE WORDS OF MINE AND want did our lesson say next?: AND ACTS ON THEM - AND ACTS ON THEM there is Jesus once again - one last time - reminding us of REAL SERVICE and not lip service. Everyone who acts on them.
EVERYONE WHO ACTS ON MY WORDS - WILL BE LIKE A WISE MAN WHO BUILT HIS HOUSE ON - ROCK.
I don't think Jesus can make it any plainer than that. It's not what we say that counts but what we do. It's not in our words, but in our actions. Christianity is not so much on our lips - as it is in our hands. It is not in our positions of power - but in our acts of charity. The good cardinal found it not in his prestige in Canada but in his practical charity in Africa.
I urge you - and I urge me to go home and start reading that most mysterious of all sermons - try reading it every Sunday for awhile - and see if it changes your faith - Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Where Jesus plays down LIP SERVICE - and holds up - REAL SERVICE.
After our lesson today ends - there are only two more verses left to the sermon. Listen to one of them: AND WHEN JESUS FINISHED THESE SAYINGS, THE CROWDS WERE ASTONISHED AT HIS TEACHING. Some translations say the crowds were IMPRESSED at his teaching. Some say the crowds were AMAZED. The true meaning that Matthew was trying to get across was that Jesus left the crowds IN SHOCK.
Go home - and be prepared - to be left IN SHOCK. Amen.
March 16, 2008
"Same Old, Same Old"
35 years of preaching on Palm Sunday, and what could I possibly say that would be newand different, or the least bit exciting? I struggled this week - partly because all of my sourceswere dealing with the "Passion" part of this week - (Matthew, Chapters 26 and 27) and here is
our scripture insert dealing only with the "Palm" part of this week. (Matthew, Chapter 21)
If we deal today only with this Palm part - the triumphal entry - and you don't come back to church until the Easter part - the triumphal resurrection - then you have missed the most significant part of our Christian faith. I encourage you with all of my heart to be here Thursday
night for the passion part - give up one more hour of your week to be here. Please.
Today our service is designed to begin with the Palm Parade - and we've sung our Hosanna's, and "All Glory, Laud, and Honor", and "This is the Day" - but we're not going to let you out of here without preparing you for the Passion Part; our last hymn is the very sad
sounding, melancholy, depressing - and if I can borrow a word from my sermon last week - the
'horrible' hymn: "O Sacred Head Now Wounded". We're going to end our service on a downer
- to remember that this was a downer week for Jesus.
(As our Lenten devotional said today: HOW ELSE WILL EASTER MAKE SENSE IF
THE LAST SUPPER AND THE CRUCIFIXION HAVE BEEN SKIPPED?)
By my title this morning - "Same Old, Same Old" - I don't mean preaching the same
sermon for 35 years - I mean that our 'human reaction' to this coming week - is pretty much the
same 'human reaction' that Jesus found 2,000 years ago. It's the "same old, same old".
Three points - and I usually don't lay them out this clearly - (1) Jesus found the religion
of his day - 'overly complicated'; (like this three point sermon, perhaps) (2) He found people's
hearts 'overly crowded'; and (3) he found people's lives 'overly protected'.
Overly COMPLICATED; overly CROWDED; and overly PROTECTED. And to
explore that we're going to look at three events in this Holy Week ahead of us - (1) the cleansing
of the temple; (2) the sleeping disciples; (3) and the denial of Peter.
Our lesson today describes the crowd on Palm Sunday - as A VERY LARGE CROWD A
VERY LARGE CROWD, AND THEY WERE SPREADING THEIR CLOAKS ON THE
ROAD, AND OTHERS CUT BRANCHES FROM THE TREES AND SPREAD THEM ON
THE ROAD. It was a great and glorious event - and to this day we try to copy it in our worship;
we sing and shout our "Hosanna, Loud Hosannas"! We offer you branches from the trees.
The crowd was so excited as this "messiah" entered their city - because do you know where they thought he was headed? They thought he was going straight ahead to the front door of the governor's mansion! He was going to end this Roman occupation; he was going to set the
people free. Free at last; thank God, almighty, free at last. Hosanna to the Son of David!
Do you remember where he went? Our lesson ended with verse 11; listen to verse 12.
THEN JESUS ENTERED THE TEMPLE - not the governor's house - AND - what? AND HE
DROVE OUT ALL WHO WERE SELLING AND BUYING IN THE TEMPLE, AND HE
EVEN OVERTURNED THE TABLES OF THE MONEY CHANGERS AND THE SEATS
OF THOSE WHO SOLD DOVES.
AND WHEN THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE SCRIBES SAW IT - THEY BECAME ANGRY.
We thought he was coming to clean out the governor - and here he is cleaning out our own temple. How dare he? AND, of course, THEY BECAME ANGRY.
And Jesus dusted off his hands, and HE LEFT THEM, HE WENT OUT OF THE CITY TO BETHANY, AND HE SPENT THE NIGHT THERE. It's a good thing he did.
What a surprise, this 'Messiah'! We thought he was coming to get 'them' - and he attacks 'us'. We thought he was coming to overthrow the government - and he overthrows our own church tables and chairs.
How typical of human nature! How same old, same old. We can see the speck in our brother's eye - but not the log in our own!
Surely, if Jesus came back - he would clean 'them' out - and not 'us'. He would correct 'their' thinking, and not 'ours'. He would overturn their 'faith' - and not 'ours'. This Palm Parade - and this branch waving - ended in a big and shocking surprise.
(2) Three days later - in the garden of Gethsemane - anger toward him is still boiling over in the city - Jesus walks away from his disciple to pray - and when he returns - you remember - he finds them sleeping. He awakens them and walks away again and returns, and
finds them 'sleeping'; and he awakens them again and walks away and returns, and he finds them 'sleeping'! And he questions them: Are You Still Sleeping?
One of you told me the other week that you have a sister never, ever misses a Sunday in church; she proudly tells everyone that she worships every Sunday at the church of Saint Mattress! Oh, that temptation to sleep in.
One of the sermons I read this week said: SO MANY PEOPLE COMPLAIN THAT THEY CAN'T FIND TIME TO COME TO CHURCH; THEY CAN'T FIND TIME TO PRAY AND READ THE SCRIPTURES.
THE REASON THEY DON'T HAVE TIME, this minister says, IS THAT THEY ARE SLAVES TO THEIR OWN SELVES, TO THEIR OWN WILL.
IF WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR GOD, THEN WHY ON EARTH SHOULD GOD HAVE ANY TIME FOR US?
The attendance around Jesus went from 'a very large crowd' on Sunday - remember that?
- a very large crowd - down to two thieves, a few Roman soldiers, his own mother, and maybe
one or two disciples on Friday.
That same source I was quoting says just as Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, so too we can imagine that - Jesus tries to enter our hearts. BUT OFTEN CHRIST IS UNABLE TO ENTER, BECAUSE THERE IS ALREADY ANOTHER KING OF THE HEART OURSELVES.
AND HOW DO WE GO ABOUT INSTILLING WITHIN OURSELVES THE ONE THING THAT IS MISSING - GOD? THE ANSWER IS TO SURRENDER TO THE WILL OF GOD. SURRENDER YOUR LIFE TO THE ONE WHO GAVE YOU LIFE. He says: WE ARE CONSTANTLY BOUND AND HELD CAPTIVE BY THE TEMPORAL THINGS OF TillS LIFE. WE ARE PRISONERS OF OUR OWN SELVES, OF
TillS WORLD, OF OUR CAREERS, OF MONEY, OF THE POLITICIANS WHO RULE OVER US, WE ARE EVEN SLAVES TO OUR OWN PASSIONS.
THE ONLY WAY TO FIND PEACE, TO FIND TRUE HAPPINESS, TO EXPERIENCE TRUE LOVE - IS TO SURRENDER YOURSELF TO GOD.
WE MUST TURN OUR HEARTS FROM THE KINGDOM OF THE 'SELF' - INTO
THE KINGDOM OF 'GOD'.
Just as the crowds dwindled throughout that week in Jerusalem, so too the place of God in our own crowded hearts - continues to dwindle. It's the "same old, same old."
Finally, good, old Peter on Thursday - promised Jesus on a stack of Bibles - EVEN THOUGH I MUST DIE WITH YOU, I WILL NOT DENY YOU. And we all know how well that worked. Good, old self-preservation kicked in. His sincere promises and his best intentions fell out the window - just like the kid, Lucky, we talked about last Sunday.
How human is that? How contemporary is that? How personal is that? We've all broken promises - we've all broken promises; (I'll give you a moment to think of one) we've all failed despite our best intentions. The sentence following Peter's promise reads this way: AND SO SAID ALL THE DISCIPLES. And, where were they on Friday? Where are we sometimes
when God needs us? Where are we when our friends and families need us?
Many of you comment to me how meaningful - each Sunday - is our prayer of confession. A minister by the name of Lavon Bayler, a United Church of Christ pastor writes them. I don't know about you, but they cut deep into my heart each week. Some weeks they feel like open heart surgery!
Listen again to what we prayed today: HOLY GOD, WE HAVE BLAMED YOU WHEN THE HOSANNAS DIE AND THE PARADE TURNS INTO A MOB SCENE. WE HEAP OUR DOUBTS ON YOU EVEN THOUGH OUR 'INACTION' ADDS POWER TO THOSE WHO SHOUT, 'CRUCIFY.' WE REBEL AGAINST THE 'RISKS' OF DISCIPLESHIP.
WHY RAISE OUR VOICES AGAINST THE EVIL WE SEE?
'ONE' VOICE SIMPLY BECOMES 'ONE' MORE VICTIM.
O GOD, WE PROTEST, BUT WE KNOW DOWN DEEP THAT THE VICTIM OF OUR SILENCE IS THE WAY OF LOVE, THE WAY OF LIFE.
FORGIVE OUR COWARDICE, AND HELP US TO STAND WITH CHRIST IN A WORLD THAT HAS FORGOTTEN HUMILITY AND OBEDIENCE TO YOU.
O GOD, WE WANT TO BE FAITHFUL.
WHY DOES IT COST SO MUCH?
So you see, it's the same old, same old.
(l)We are surprised when we learn that Jesus came to correct 'us', and not 'them'.
(2)We dwindle away when our hearts become so overly crowded with 'self.
(3) And like Peter, Jesus' demands on us, tend to highlight our cowardice.
Our prayer says: HELP US TO STAND - THIS WEEK AND ALWAYS - WITH CHRIST IN A WORLD THAT HAS FORGOTTEN 'HUMILITY' AND 'OBEDIENCE'.
Let us depart with this glimmer of hope - from our words of assurance: LOVE IS AT THE HEART OF CREATION, BRINGING US TO NEW BEGINNINGS, TO RESURRECTION LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS. And after we heard those words this morning, we sang together this reminder:
MY SONG IS LOVE UNKNOWN,
MY SAVIOR'S LOVE TO ME,
LOVE TO THE LOVELESS SHOWN,
THAT THEY MIGHT LOVELY BE.
O WHO AM I, THAT FOR MY SAKE
MY GOD SHOULD TAKE FRAIL FLESH AND DIE?
MY GOD SHOULD TAKE FRAIL FLESH AND DIE?
Amen.
March 9, 2008
"On Sleeping in Church"
As if our gospel lesson wasn't long enough, I want to lay six more verses next to it. That long lesson is the very well known story of the raising of Lazarus - the other story - which is never part of our lectionary readings is the lesser known story of the raising of a kid by the name of Lucky. And boy was he 'lucky'.
The account of Lucky falling asleep in church is found in the 20th chapter of the book of Acts. The Acts of the Early Church - and this section is actually the earliest recording we have of Christians gathering on a Sunday morning for worship. You'll hear that they break bread
together - and then you're going to hear about this long - I mean really long sermon by Paul. It's so long that Paul is still going strong at midnight.
And then even after this Lucky kid falls asleep and falls out of a third floor window. Paul revives him, and that resuscitation so inspired Paul that he gets a second wind - and he goes on preaching till daybreak. I'm not kidding; and you think some of our services are long! I've never gone past midnight! Listen to this absolutely hilarious story in the book of Acts.
ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK (SUNDAY), WHEN WE MET TO BREAK BREAD, PAUL WAS HOLDING A DISCUSSION WITH THEM; SINCE HE INTENDED TO LEAVE THE NEXT DAY, HE CONTINUED SPEAKING UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
THERE WERE MANY LAMPS IN THE ROOM UPSTAIRS WHERE WE WERE MEETING. (I'm not sure why we have to know that, except to imply that the room got very warm from all the lamps.) A YOUNG MAN NAMED LUCKY - (which in Greek is
EUTYCHUS) - THIS EUTYCHUS WAS SITTING IN THE WINDOW, (and that's trouble right there) AND HE BEGAN TO SINK OFF INTO A DEEP SLEEP - WHILE PAUL TALKED STILL LONGER.
OVERCOME BY SLEEP, LUCKY FELL TO THE GROUND - THREE FLOORS BELOW AND WAS PICKED UP - DEAD.
BUT PAUL WENT DOWN, AND BENDING OVER HIM TOOK HIM IN HIS ARMS, AND SAID, 'DO NOT BE ALARMED, FOR HIS LIFE IS IN HIM.'
THEN PAUL WENT UPSTAIRS, AND AFTER HE HAD BROKEN BREAD AND EATEN, HE CONTINUED TO CONVERSE WITH THEM UNTIL DAWN; THEN HE LEFT. MEANWHILE THEY HAD TAKEN THE BOY AWAY ALIVE AND WERE NOT A LITTLE COMFORTED.
In six verses this kid goes to church, falls asleep, falls out the window, and dies, and is brought back to life. And good, old, long-winded, Paul never skips a beat.
Folks, that's what's supposed to happen in church. You drag yourself in here on the first day of the week - we're half-dead - and on a good Sunday - God smacks us in the face - and we are revived; we are awakened; we are motivated; heavens sakes some weeks we're even
inspired. AND WE'RE TAKEN AWAY FROM HERE - ALIVE - AND NOT A LITTLE
COMFORTED - BUT REALLY COMFORTED. Sometimes; it doesn't always happen -
but sometimes.
We're all kind of like Lazarus and Lucky - ifwe let God smack us around a little bit.
Some weeks, of course, the speaker - that would be me - is so slow and boring; or we haven't had enough sleep the night before -like on that Sunday when our clocks spring forward?, or we're on a new medication., maybe - some weeks we can't help it, we're going to be like Lucky, and nod off. I know, because I watch! We used to have someone who would fall asleep every Sunday, and then start to snore! We would all just wait for it!
We all need to be regularly awakened and aroused and alerted to the presence and the power - and as Peter said Wednesday night - even to the miracles of God. The hymn we just sang - said it - LET IT BREATHE ON ME, LET IT BREATHE ON ME, LET THE BREATH
OF THE SPIRIT BREATHE ON ME. We drag ourselves in here on Sunday morning - week after week - hoping that God will breathe on us. And we will leave here comforted - that we can now feel and know - in a slightly keener way - that God's presence, power, and miracles are all around us.
I don't want to compare us to a valley of dry bones when we come in here, but Ezekiel does.
THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD: COME FROM THE FOUR WINDS, 0 BREATH,
AND BREATHE UPON THESE FOLKS, THAT THEY MAY LIVE.
I PROPHESIED AS HE COMMANDED ME, AND THE BREATH CAME INTO
THEM, AND THEY LIVED, AND STOOD ON THEIR FEET, A VAST MULTITUDE.
THEN GOD SAID TO ME, 'MORTAL, THESE BONES ARE THE WHOLE HOUSE
OF TRINITY.'
Listen to this question and answer about Paul's long church service:
HOW WAS CHURCH LAST NIGHT?
FINE, PREACHER HAD SOME GOOD POINTS TO MAKE ABOUT LEVITICUS,
BUT HE WENT ON TOO LONG.
LUCKY DIED DURING THE SERVICE, BUT PAUL RAISED HIM FROM THE
DEAD AND WE CONTINUED. No big deal, it happens in church all the time! People get raised!
I THINK THAT MAY BE ONE OF THE POINTS IN TODAY'S GOSPEL LESSON.
People being raised happens in church all the time.
IT'S STRANGE THAT WE READ THIS STORY OF LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE
DEAD DURING LENT, BECAUSE LENT IS THE SEASON OF SUFFERING, DEATH, AND
THE CROSS.
SHOULDN'T WE WAIT FOR EASTER FOR A STORY OF THE DEAD BEING
RAISED?
And the church says loudly and clearly - NO! Every Sunday is a little Easter - and every Sunday presents a possibility for new life.
THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS MEANS NOT ONLY THAT JESUS IS LOOSE AND ON THE MOVE AMONG US, BUT IT ALSO MEANS THAT WE CAN GET LOOSE. THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT OUR GOD THAT JUST LOVES TO WAKE PEOPLE UP, SHAKE PEOPLE UP, RAISE PEOPLE UP. SOMETHING ABOUT THIS GOD'S PREACHERS LIKE PAUL JUST LOVES TO RAISE THE DEAD WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT IN THE SERMON.
Plenty of us have fallen out the window, landed on our head, and died. But somehow that bump on our head was not the end of our life - but the beginning of a whole new life. Like Lazarus and Lucky we gained a whole new appreciation for life; a whole new awareness; a whole new avenue of opportunities opened before us. Suddenly the sky looked bluer, the air seemed fresher, the day seemed brighter, and life looked endlessly good again.
And as with Lucky, it can all happen within the confines of a worship service. For here it is that we call on God, seek God's presence, and listen for God to speak to us. In the second verse of our final hymn this morning we're going to ask God TO TAKE AWAY THE DIMNESS
OF MY SOUL. TAKE AWAY THE DIMNESS OF MY SOUL.
Hopefully that's what happens occasionally in worship. We are awakened to a whole, new wonderful life ahead of us.
Listen to the words of one more hymn:
AWAKE, MY SOUL, STRETCH EVERY NERVE,
AND PRESS WITH VIGOR ON.
A HEAVENLY RACE DEMANDS YOUR ZEAL,
AND AN IMMORTAL CROWN.
And finally I share this word of advice, if you're going to sleep in church, - don't sit on the window. . You may not be quite as lucky as Lucky. Amen.
March 2, 2008
"So That God's Works Might Be Revealed"
What happened to us last August, as a congregation, still has the possibility of being the greatest opportunity for our spiritual growth that this congregation has ever had. I believe it is the very same growth that Jesus was aiming for - in our gospel lesson – with the incident of "a man - blind from birth." We could still have - out of that baffling dilemma the same 'eye-opening growth' that Jesus was urging on his disciples.
AS JESUS WALKED ALONG, HE SAW A MAN BLIND FROM BIRTH. HIS DISCIPLES ASKED HIM (and notice here - their first concern), THEY ASKED HIM, 'RABBI, WHO SINNED, THIS MAN OR HIS PARENTS, THAT HE WAS BORN BLIND?' (The belief back then was that all physical imperfections were caused by 'sin'.) And so the disciples wanted to know WHO SINNED?
Go through the beginning of this story again with me. Let's get the picture. Jesus and his disciples walk by this poor, blind, beggar - he's thin because he's hungry, he's unshaven, he's dirty, he's barely dressed, he's lonely - he's forsaken...he's desperate. What does he need?
Does he really need to overhear a conversation by these 'religious' men who happen to be walking by? Does he need to hear them raising questions about his blindness? Does he especially need to hear them questioning what caused his condition? - "Jesus, did he sin, or did his parents?"
Imagine this from the blind man's perspective - he has been sitting there now in the dirt for maybe twenty five years - he's begging for morsels of food -longing for some attention. And on this day he hears voices approaching. Maybe they will drop a few morsels of bread. Maybe they will take the time to converse with him - maybe they will notice him. Maybe, Oh, God, please - maybe .
And the first thing his sharp, attentive ears pick up - is this question about the cause of his blindness. </
