Questions and Vision

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Mt 7.7, NRSV).

Jesus said these words near the end of what we call his Sermon on the Mount, in which he instructed many on the way of discipleship (Mt 5-7).  The “way of discipleship”: I say it this way because our lives as Christians are an adventure, a journey of following Christ, being made ever more like Christ by the Spirit.  We’re not made complete Christians by our baptisms or our confessions.  God makes us more and more into who God would have us to be through our faithful living.  This is true also for the church.  Simply erecting a building and putting up a sign does not make a place or a people the church.  God makes us the church through our living in union with Christ.  And this, like most of life, involves questions and vision.

Pastor Rob Bell writes in his book Velvet Elvis that “central to the Christian experience is the art of questioning God.  Not belligerent, arrogant questions that have no respect for our maker, but naked, honest, vulnerable, raw questions arising out of the awe that comes from engaging the living God” (31).  Jesus’ instruction to ask, seek, and knock must have been in the back of Bell’s mind. 

Life, work, faith, discipleship, love, being the church: we don't have it all figured out.  Sometimes, we don't know what to do, or think, or say.  Sometimes, we don't know how to live, how to be, in the real world – or even which world is the real one.  The fruit of such uncertainty is questions.  We Christians are called to be questioning, because through our questions, and the relationships that give home to them, God continues to mold us into whom God created us to be. 

It’s not necessarily the answers that are of primary importance; rather, it’s the relationship that hears, shares, and lives the questions and answers with humility and grace.  We are such a community.  But in order to grow in God’s grace and love, we must continue asking the questions, continue seeking God with one another, continue to name and refine the vision God has for us as the Body of Christ in this specific location. 

That’s why the Administrative Council of our church (which is open to all members) is hosting a mini-retreat on Sunday, June 7^th from 3:30 to 8 PM, at the church.  You’re all invited, whether you’re on a committee or not.  We all play a role in the mission and vision of our church.  We’ll worship together, we’ll spend some time sharing with one another, we’ll share supper together (please bring a few dollars each for pizza; we’ll have everything else), and we’ll share a Spirit-led time of questioning and visioning.  Everyone, as members of Christ’s body and this local congregation, has a stake and a say in the direction of our lives together as a church. Come with your love of Jesus and his church, as we seek God’s vision for our congregation.  Please join us for what will be a stimulating, challenging, and uplifting time to celebrate the great things God has done in our midst, and the greater things God has in store for us.  

The Shack

            I just finished reading William Paul Young’s The Shack (Windblown Media, 2007).  Aside from scripture, which is always opening up new doors to understanding and faith in my life, it has been a good long while since I have read a book so profound, beautiful, and true. 

            I came to God in part through my love of the written word – her beauty, her transcendence.  Scripture fascinated me and as I read more and more of it, I was led to talk to God more and more, which in turn prepared me for a time when I could hear and answer God’s call in my life.  But it was not just scripture.  I loved fiction, writing about fiction, and reading about it (perhaps to a lesser degree than the former two).  Before that, I loved stories and the way they carried truth and beauty without explanation or need for any.  All this led me in college away from my initial pre-physical therapy, sciencey major to English and Philosophy, through which, God led me to seminary. 

            But somewhere during the course of seminary, my love for fiction became almost nostalgic.  I would deny it, but my wife was probably partially correct in her judgment: “You don’t like fiction any more,” she’d say when we were in bookstores.  I’d try to argue, but somewhere, I worried that she might be right.  The fiction I read during those three years was good, some very good, but much of it seemed to lack the seriousness, beauty, and truth I once enjoyed.  Instead, I found that beauty and truth more abundant in theology books big and small (sometimes the most beautiful in the smallest and the most ugly in the biggest).  I still do.   And that is good, for when you’re writing about the God who is Good and Beautiful, if you are graced with the ability for that moment to write both truthfully and beautifully, then you have come near the perfection and beauty of the Infinite and Glorious One. 

            So it is from this point that I am brought back into my love affair with fiction and story in my reading of The Shack.  It’s probably not a profound book, except that it is so theologically vast, beautiful, true, and orthodox without overburdening the simple beauty of a story about the Triune God, I AM.   It is as though Mr. Young sat amidst my seminary covenant group, our classes, and our books and then, instead of writing our serious papers on single topics, decided to play a game to see how much of the character of God, God’s will, and what it means to be a Creature he could fit into a single, fictional story. 

            And what a beautiful result.  We could say that The Shack is about a man named Mack struggling to hold his tragedy-filled world in place, searching for meaning, and finding little to pull him from the depths of despair.  But then we’d have missed the point.  The Shack  is about God, and then, it’s about God’s good-but-fallen Creation.  Throughout the narrative of a few short days, Mack is led into the mysterious and awesome character of God. 

            In what took stacks of books, lectures, essays, and arguments (almost all lovingly so) for me to put together in my mind and heart, Mr. Young was led to do through a fairly short story.  It’s no wonder that narrative is a way I have come to think about the Christian life, as well as the practice of theology, for Young displays well the genre’s strength and ability to convey and embody beauty and truth.  The Shack, packed with all the theological highpoints I studied years – the nature of God as Trinity, dancing joyfully throughout Creation, Three-in One; God’s character of perfect freedom; living out of control, because God is in control; the goodness of God; theodicy, or the nature of God considering that bad things happen to good people; forgiveness; the depth and breadth of God’s love; ecclesiology, the nature of the church; and the way of discipleship to name a few – demonstrates fiction’s strength and ability to carry mighty weight without breaking.  Indeed, with so many theological arguments held within, it’s as though opening the book might itself burst forth a theological library onto its reader.  Instead, the story carries its content with a simple and true beauty that is nothing less than astounding, nothing less than inspired by the One the story is truly about. 

            But please, don’t take my word for it; read it yourselves.  And then talk to me or others about it.  Test it against your experiences and understandings of God, yourself, this world, and the kingdom Jesus brought in part, brings in us through the Spirit, and will bring in full when he comes again in final glory and we feast at his heavenly, earthly, beautiful banquet.  

Jesus is for Everyone

Thoughts Before Worship:

            The underlying theme woven through [today’s] lections is love—a love that is active rather than passive. Psalm 98 is an enthusiastic invitation to celebrate God’s love and faithfulness. [Acts 10 displays that God’s love is for everyone, so ours should be too]. 1 John 5 offers a connection between God’s love for us and our love for others. John 15 provides an explicit call to loving faithfulness, a call to service in Jesus’ name. Jesus proclaims, “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). The commandment to love is a call to action and service, not a call to quiet contemplation. (Abingdon Worship Planner)

Sermon for the 6th Lord's Day of Easter - Acts 10:44-48

Many of you have asked, so I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’m wearing this T-shirt today.  Well, I’m lazy, not because I didn’t want to iron a shirt, but because I didn’t want to have to make you imagine this shirt.  I was wearing it when I went to Howard Elementary last Thursday to help some Fourth Graders with math flash cards – it was my day off last week.  One of the kids looked at me, cocked his head, and said, “I don’t get it.”  “What don’t you get?” I replied.  “Your shirt.”  “Oh…well, you know the cereal Trix?  It has those commercials with the rabbit who’s always trying to get a bowl of fruity Trix, but the kids always catch him he does.  And the commercials end with them saying, ‘Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.’  So my shirt is playing with that idea: ‘Tricks are for kids (with a “k” for copyright purposes probably), but Jesus is for everyone.’  Do you get it?  Jesus loves everyone.”  Whether the kid got it, or just decided it was better to do flashcards I’m not entirely sure. 

       But I am sure of this: whether it’s a kid at Howard, the Apostle Peter, or any of us sitting here, the fact that Jesus is for everyone is easy to say but harder to grasp and live.  We see this clearly in the 10^th chapter of Acts.  But our reading for today is just a little snippet of the story of Peter and Cornelius’ conversion by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Here’s the full story (Acts9.32-10.48).

       There was a Roman centurion (commander) named Cornelius who was stationed in the city of Caesarea.  Scripture tells us he and his family were “devout and God-fearing” (10.2); he was generous and merciful with those in need; and he prayed regularly, although he was certainly not Jewish.  One day about three in the afternoon he had a vision of an angel that commended him for his faithful life and told him to send for a man named Peter who was staying in Joppa with Simon the Tanner.  He did, sending two servants and a soldier.

       The next day, while they were on their way to Joppa, Peter went up on the roof to pray.  While praying, he had a vision of a sheet of being let down to earth from the heavens that was filled with all sorts of animals: reptiles, birds, pigs, and so on.  A voice, which we believe to be God, told Peter, “Get up, Peter.  Kill and eat” (v.13).  To which Peter replies, “Surely not, Lord!  I have never eaten anything impure or unclean” – because Jewish law forbid eating certain foods (v.14).  And the voice spoke to Peter again: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (v.15).  This happened three times.

       While Peter was on the roof pondering what this vision could mean for him, Cornelius’ men had arrived and began knocking on the door.  Before Peter’s aware that they’re there, the Spirit tells him of their presence and that he should go with them, because the Spirit had sent them (v.19-20).  Peter went down, invited them in to stay for the night, and they all left for Caesarea the next day along with a small group of Jewish Jesus-followers.  Peter had thought that Jesus was only for the Jews, but through the vision the Spirit showed Peter that Jesus is for everyone – regardless of clean/unclean distinctions.

       Arriving at Cornelius’ house, Peter reminds everybody gathered there of how Jewish law forbids association with Gentiles, but then he says that God has shown him the need to cross these boundaries.  After hearing about Cornelius’ vision, Peter begins his proclamation: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (v.34-5).  He continues to preach the gospel, but the Holy Spirit interrupts his speech, falling upon all who were gathered there, Jew and Gentile alike.  They were all speaking in tongues and praising God for the mighty works of salvation in Jesus Christ.  They were the first Gentile converts and they were subsequently baptized.  But when the Holy Spirit anointed all the Gentiles, the Jewish Christians were “astounded” (v.45).  They were amazed that God would anoint the Gentiles too. 

       The Spirit’s work among the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2) made it clear to them that salvation in Jesus is for everyone, regardless of nationality.  Peter even preached that day that the promise of forgiveness and salvation in Christ Jesus is “for you, your children, and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts2.39).  Yet, even as the church grew, it did so primarily among the Jewish community, for the disciples were, after all, all devout Jews.  But God had more in mind than a single group of people; God intends to redeem the whole world. 

       In today’s passage, we can see God’s plan unfolding through the Spirit’s guidance.  Simultaneously, the Spirit empowered Peter and Cornelius to cross the boundaries that separated them. The Spirit gave them both visions of God’s inclusive love.  Cornelius was led to call upon an outsider from his perspective, as well as one who would typically treat him and other Gentiles with contempt and stand-offishness. Likewise, as Peter explained to Cornelius’ household, Jewish custom forbid association with Gentiles, but the Spirit had empowered him to cross that boundary in order to meet someone God wanted to save (v.28-9).  And through Peter in the Spirit, Cornelius and many others heard the good news of Jesus Christ and accepted him as Lord and Savior.  At the Spirit’s leading, Peter crossed boundaries and was empowered to witness to others about salvation in Jesus. 

       As I read this text, God leads me to wonder where we fit into this story – which characters and mindsets do we resemble.  We don’t have the labels “Jew” and “Gentile” in our culture – we’re all Gentiles here, in the sense that we’re not Jewish.  But what labels do we have?  What ways are we divided, what are the boundaries that keep us from being Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts1.8)?  What ways do we make people “other,” make them feel like outsiders in relation to us, the insiders?  Or, what ways are we made to feel like outsiders, and how does that feel?

       One of the biggest and most impacting divides facing us as a Christian community is the divide between Christian and non-Christian in our country today.  Numerous studies and surveys all get to the same point.  There are more people than ever in this country who are non-Christian or nominally Christian.  There are more people than ever who claim no religious affiliation or belief at all.  It’s in Newsweek, it’s in the books I read at seminary, it’s on the radio and TV.  Now, we can be sad about this, or we can view it as a tremendous opportunity to witness to the ends of the earth the saving love of God in Christ. 

       But as we take up this mission, we need to be aware of the divide that has built up between us Christians and non-Christians.  In times gone by, you could safely assume that most everyone you met had a similar kind of upbringing through Sunday school and public schools that still prayed.  There was a general level of Christian knowledge across the board.  If that ever was really true, it is no longer true.  There are countless people in my generation with no religious connections at all.  Their families didn’t believe, their friends didn’t believe, and they’ve got no idea of what Christianity’s about.  Or, they’ve got a pretty good idea of what Christianity’s about from the media and they’ve got no use for that.  At best, they think religion’s is a waste of time.  At worst, they think that religion, and especially Christianity, is nothing more than hypocritical liars getting together to oppress others. 

       And yet, we’re called to be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the earth, to extend God’s promise to all who are far off whom God is calling to Godself.  How do we do that?  We have to cross the boundaries that divide us and the Holy Spirit empowers us to do just that.  We need look no further than our own congregation to know that this is true. 

       This congregation’s mission statement, for at least the last twelve years, says, “With God’s help we will be about our Father’s business of loving into the Kingdom all of God’s children.”  Now that’s the Spirit’s vision of witnessing to the ends of the earth.  Right now, we are one, multi-ethnic church with cooperative ministries for different segments of our divided world. 

       We don’t feel like one sometimes.  I hear and feel that from many people.  In part, that’s because Christian unity takes a long time, because it requires a changed heart.  God doesn’t change hearts over night, but God does change hearts, little by little over time through relationships, through visions, through continued proclamation of the inclusive Word of God.  And we are one.  God has made us one through our one baptism in the one Jesus Christ by water and the Spirit.  God is making us one, but one does not, nor should it mean, homogenous.  Cornelius and the Gentiles didn’t become Jewish Christians.  They became followers of Christ who are Gentiles.  And so do we, become ever more faithfully followers of Christ who are German, Mexican, Polish, Chilean, Swedish, Salvadoran, British, and, and, and….  We are Christ-followers being saved by the grace of God, because Jesus is for everyone.  And by the grace of God, the Spirit empowers us to cross the barriers that divide us so that we can be Christ’s witnesses to all the earth. 

Trix Cereal Commercial (30sec)

Trix are for kids, but Jesus is for everyone. A children's sermon gone fruity.

more about "Trix Cereal Commercial (30sec)", posted with vodpod

Being Branches

Thoughts before Worship:

In his Resurrection, Jesus brings us together, plain and simple.  He brings us each together with God, bridging the gap created by sin and the Fall.  He brings us together with one another.  Indeed, he requires that we come together.  Insofar as we are divided from one another (or opposed to one another), we are correspondingly separated from God in Christ.  Insofar as we live apart from others, we fail to be who God created us perfectly to be.  We are created to be together.  We are created to serve one another.  We are created to worship God together with the entire world in unity.

Sermon for the 5th Lord's Day of Easter (5.10.09) - John 15:1-8 

A Wonderful Prayer for the Day

         Sometimes when I’m reading a passage of scripture, I try to read it from a number of different angles, putting myself in the story, or imagining what it must have been like to be this person, or that person in the passage.  This helps me to understand what’s going on in the passage, helps me to hear what God is trying to say to me through a particular piece of Holy Scripture.  If we were talking about living people, we’d use the phrase put yourself in their shoes.  As we continue today, I invite you to let go of our reality a little and experience our text from the Gospel According to St. John from a different angle.  See what you can see.  Pay attention to how you feel and how the disciples with Jesus must have felt.

         I’m a rock, just a simple, everyday rock – big enough for a person to sit on, but not so big as my father, the old block from whom I was chipped.  We stand alongside the road leaving Jerusalem’s City of David going down into the Kidron Valley before it climbs to the Mount of Olives.  We stand between the road and a small vineyard.

         It’s been about a year since that night; I’ll never forget it.  We were just lying there, minding our own business on the night before the Passover.  A teacher and prophet named Jesus and his followers had passed by earlier on their way, presumably, to eat supper together.  A little later, we saw a man – I think it was the one they call Judas – rushing off alone, apparently on a mission.  Much later, we heard the rest of them coming down the road toward us.  Jesus was talking to them as they walked.  Then they stopped directly in front of us.  Jesus even put one of his feet on me as he pointed across us to the vineyard, saying to his disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.  He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.  Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit” (Jn15.1-2). 

         Looking back, I can see clearly that Jesus was calling his disciples to be faithful and fruitful.  He was using images they could understand, as well as images that had traditionally been used by the people of Israel for God and God’s people: vinegrower, vine, branches.  If God is the vinegrower, then God’s the one who planted the vine, planted everyone, created everyone and everything for a purpose.  You wouldn’t plant a vine without a purpose.  God, the perfect vinegrower, wouldn’t either. 

         We can see God’s purpose if we look at a vineyard, orchard, or flowering bush for a while: I’ve had a lifetime looking at this one.  The vine and the branches are always connected, and there’s also a connection of care through the vinegrower.  This shows that God’s first purpose is relationship between the Son, and all Creation.  What’s more, in any vine or plant, all the branches are related together by the common vine.  Thus, God intends that all Creation, all the branches, grow and be in fruitful relationship with each other.  And finally, plants are created to bear fruit; that’s why they’re planted, whether olive, grape, or rose – to bear fruit that is beautiful.  In its perfection and beauty, the olive, grape, and rose all glorify God.  Beautiful, isn’t it?  I can’t stop thinking about it.

         I now know that Jesus and his disciples were coming from what some are calling his “Last Supper.”  I think Jesus wanted to make sure his disciples knew how to live, how to be fruitful branches that glorify God, who created them for that purpose.  Yet, Jesus also begins to warn his disciples that they, the branches, can only bear fruit if they remain in the vine, in him.

         Jesus tells them, Just as branches can’t bear fruit unattached from the vine, you cannot bear fruit unless you abide in me.  If you abide in me, you’ll bear much fruit, but apart from me, you can do nothing.  If you’re unfruitful, the vinegrower will prune you and eventually cast you out (v.4-6).  Mmm…that’s a warning.  But I’d seen and heard Jesus before – he once sat on me when he gathered a bunch of children to himself – and I don’t think he meant these words negatively.  Abiding in him and being pruned are necessary to bear fruit; that he made a way for abiding and pruning is a great word of hope.  Of course, I’m just a rock, but that’s what I think.

         See, God created all you humans, and all Creation, to bear fruit, which glorifies God.  What fruit are we talking about?  Well…what about peace?  When you work for peace, when others enjoy God’s peace, it’s a fruit that glorifies God.  Or, what about love?  When you love others, when others know and experience love and then share it further, it’s a fruit that glorifies God.  Or teaching others, and proclaiming to them the truth of Jesus?  These are fruits because through them, God transforms the world one life at a time. 

         And the only way branches can bear fruit is by being connected to, abiding in, the vine – Jesus.  This warning sounds harsh if you think about it negatively.  At first, it seemed like Jesus was being exclusive: only when you’re in me, can you bear fruit.  But Dad helped me to see it another way.  See, I’ve seen lots of people who were not yet followers of the Way living fruitful lives: they spread peace, and love, and joy, and reconciliation.  These are good fruits, so they must be in the vine…and here’s the turn…even if they don’t know they’re branches connected to the vine.  Dad helped me to see that God in the Son, through the Spirit is in everyone, enabling them to bear fruit.  It’s just that their fruit isn’t as good, isn’t as ripe and delicious and nutritious, as when they realize and actively abide in the vine. 

         Hmmhmmm….Oh yeah, Dad also wanted me to be sure to tell you something.  Knowing as many humans as he has, he thought you’d like to know about how to “abide” in the vine, in Christ.  From watching and listening to Jesus and his followers, this is what I can see.  Personally, each follower abides in Jesus by attending to his/her spiritual practices: prayer, worship, sharing Christ’s meal, offering, service, helping others, reading and writing, evangelism.  As a whole, abiding in Jesus the Vine means actively living in the Church, Jesus’ Body on Earth.  Through the Church, God continues to prune the branches, enabling them to bear more fruit.  To be a faithful Christian, to be fruitful, you must be actively involved in the community of faith that makes up Christ’s Body. 

         Through the ministry of Christ in the church, God snips away, pruning and cleansing, making you more and more fruitful.  That’s God’s promise, which Jesus conveyed to his disciples that night on the road.  God is the vinegrower.  Plants and vines need pruning and long-term care.  Young vines are not even allowed to bear fruit for a couple years.  Dad tells me that in your area of the world a flower called the pansy actually grows fuller and blossoms more if you pinch off its first blooms.  And all vines tend to grow inward on themselves, choking out growth, fruit, and life, so they need a vinegrower to prune those parts that have turned inward.  As the disciples have shown me, God prunes through the lives and care of others: parents, church friends, teachers.  God prunes through education, through Baptism and Eucharist, and through the Son, the Word of God.

         It’s just like when Jesus said that night, “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you” (v.3).  At first when I heard Jesus say this, I didn’t understand.  I was about to pipe up my question when Dad sensed my confusion and whispered, “Junior, remember, the Greek word translated as prune can also mean cleanse.”  Ahh…Dad’s so smart (but don’t tell him I told you that).  Jesus has called and warned his disciples in this short lecture, but he’s also promised that they will bear fruit as they were created to do.  They will bear fruit because God the vinegrower is always pruning and nurturing the branches.  They will bear fruit because Jesus, the Word of God, lived, died, and rose again to cleanse the world of sin.  That’s a promise.  That’s a fact. 

         Thus, Jesus tells his disciples with total certainty, My Father is glorified by your fruitful lives of discipleship (v.8).  While this is conditional – if you’re not bearing fruit, God’s not glorified – you must remember the promise.  God is the vinegrower who planted the vine with all its branches.  God’s intent for the vine and branches is for them to bear abundant, perfect, fruit.  And when God makes the branches perfect, they will be able to ask and receive anything.  God will make it happen because that’s what a vinegrower does.  God enables the branches to bear fruit so that their faithful lives glorify God.  Then you’ll glorify God like us; we rocks shout God’s praise continuously (Lk19.40).

         Now, Jr., you know that we’re just rocks.  We’re already just as God created us to be – though we too will be redeemed from the Fall when the Lord comes again in glory to make all things new.  Humans are different.  I’ve told you this a million times.  Humans need to maintain their connection with Jesus in order to be more as God created them to be.  Through Jesus the Vine, God enables them to bear fruit so that their lives glorify God.  We glorify God by being rocks, and sometimes singing or speaking; humans glorify God with faithful, fruit-bearing lives. You are only truly fruitful as God intended when you’re in Christ, when you’re in his Body, the Church.  And you will be pruned for greater fruitfulness.  Go therefore, all of you, and be fruitful by the power of God, that in all things, God might be glorified through you.  

Resurrection Unity

Thoughts Before Worship:

     The Son’s Crucifixion and Resurrection shows us without a doubt that God will go to any length to guide Creation back to Godself across the chasm of sin.  This is the love God has for Creation, for us: love so great that God took on flesh and then laid down that life in order to take it up again (Jn 10:18).  How can we respond to such grace and love?  We don’t deserve it.  Nothing we do can earn it.  God did it for us and all Creation through the Son, in the Spirit.  Let us prepare our hearts and minds to worship the God of our salvation.

Sermon for the 4th Lord's Day of Easter: John 10:11-18

    Today, we’re going to have a little refresher on elementary school astronomy. Are you ready?  Now, here’s how it is.  There are a whole bunch of planets and stars and stuff, all floating around in space.  In the center of everything is the planet Earth, our planet, us – we’re the center of the universe.  Then, the sun and the moon and the stars all spin round and round us.  That’s how we get our seasons and all that.  Does that sound familiar?  What?  You think that doesn’t sound quite right. 

    You’re right.  This is the OLD view – older than all of us. This view of the universe, with the earth at the center and everything else orbiting it, is called the geocentric theory – “earth-centered” – and it was developed by a man named Ptolemy in the Second Century.  This is how most people thought about the universe until the year 1543 when Nicolaus Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory – “sun-centered” – of the universe, in which the sun is the center or near center of the solar system and that all of the other planets and stars in the system orbit around the sun.  This is the simplified theory taught in schools throughout our lifetime – although there is more “sciencey” stuff involved that is more technically accurate.

    In our society, we can relate to this struggle of identity and importance.  We Americans (and Christians) often like to think that we’re always the best, brightest, and worthiest.  In public school, they taught me a big word for this: ethnocentrism, which describes a way of thinking, a worldview, in which one’s own ethnicity, culture, and life is the most important, good, and true.  Another name for it is self-centeredness, and we all fall into it sometimes.  It happens whenever we think or act as though the world revolves around us: we think, How could they do that to me?  What would you do without me?  I know that they’re just after my job, my money, my family.  It’s somewhat natural to think about the world in relation to our own experience of it, but it becomes a problem when we’re too self-centered, too self-focused to realize God cares for others too. 

    Thus, in today’s passage from John, often called the “good shepherd speech,” Jesus comes in smashing our self-centeredness with a loud crash: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.  So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (v.16). What?!  The disciples, the Pharisees, and all the others present for Jesus’ speech must have been stunned. 

    Imagine a high school girl talking to her underclassman date for the Senior prom.  He’s all excited about going, especially with her.  He’s asking her about plans – when to pick her up – and she says, “Oh, well…you can pick me up at this time, but I’m meeting Johnny there too.”  He’s shocked and she can see it on his face.  “What,” she says, “you thought I was going with just you?” 

    This must be similar to how those gathered around Jesus felt when Jesus told them that he was the good shepherd with sheep of a different fold.  Remember, Jesus was a Jew surrounded by Jewish disciples and Jewish leaders.  Many of them thought they were the only ones; that they were the ones that held the key for others to receive salvation; that all God did in the world centered on them.  They were God’s “chosen people,” after all.  Instead, Jesus comes in bursting their bubble: “What?  Didn’t you know that I have another date and I’m bringing him too?”

    Still, they should have remembered God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah, that they would be “blessed to be a blessing” (Gen 12:1-2).  Over time, many people just forgot about that last part and focused on how they were the blessed ones, the ones God favored.  It’s easy to do.  Sure, we could point fingers, but then we’d better remember that we’ve done it too.  We too have, at times, grown enamored by our own reflections, become wholly tangled in our own lives.

    “What am I talking about?” you ask, “How are we self-centered?”  You’re right to wonder, because all too often, we are unaware of our own self-centeredness.  So, let’s think of some actions or mindsets in our state, community, or congregation that suggest our points of self-centeredness.  Another way to ask the same question is this: “How do we forget that God is about the salvation of the world, not just us?”

    Skin color: I never remember seeing a doll that didn’t have skin like mine until I was probably in college or beyond.  Do you?  But is that what we see when we look around town?  What about in many of our churches?

    Language: Do you remember the Catholic churches having Latin masses – even when all the people in town spoke English, or Spanish, or some indigenous language?  Or, do we still expect people to worship in our language, even if worship is more real and meaningful in one’s own mother-tongue?  How does fit Jesus’ conviction that he has other sheep that he’s bringing with him?

    Worship style: Have you heard of any pastor trying to force a congregation to have a praise band and a contemporary service just because all the growing churches seem to have them?  Do you wonder if that pastor forgot, to some degree, that Jesus wants to save traditional worshippers too?

    For most of us, it’s natural to think that we’re in God’s “in crowd.”  We can relate to those surrounding Jesus.  Of course, we’d like to believe that God is saving us, working for us, watching out for us and our needs, protecting us.  These are all things that a good shepherd does for his own sheep, after all. 

    Yet, with this focus on self, there comes a point when our worldview starts to shift and slide.  Little by little, salvation begins to be more and more about us and less and less about God and the world.  We begin to think that Jesus died just for my sins, for my salvation, so that I can be blessed.  These things are true, but when they become our focus, we run the risk of excluding Jesus’ other fold of sheep.  Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are for everyone, for the entirety of creation – not just me, not just you. 

    When we remember that Jesus lived, died, and rose for the salvation of all, we break our self-centered view that the world as if it revolves around us.  Instead, we’re part of the world that revolves around God, because God set it spinning and has been taking care of it all along.  At this point, and only at this point, can we truly hear Jesus when he says, Don’t’cha know, I’ve got sheep other than you who recognize my voice too?  Those sheep are important to me too.  We need to bring them, so that we can all live together in unity with God and each other.

    Jesus’ resurrection is not about you.  It’s not about me.  The Christian life, following Jesus the good shepherd, is about US, ALL OF US, the entire world.  So what, if we’ve heard his voice and know him now?  That’s great!  We’re sheep who know our shepherd: Jesus claims us as his own.  But that doesn’t mean we just sit around all happy and proud, as if the whole world revolves around us.  No!  It means that we follow our shepherd where he leads, doing what he does, obeying what he says, and what he says is, I’ve claimed you.  Now, we’ve got to bring my other sheep.  Let’s get busy. 

    Jesus claims us so that we can live in unity with God and others; moreover, as the good shepherd, Jesus shows us the way of unity with God and others.  When Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd, he is describing the character of God and also how to follow the way of God.  The good shepherd is brave and self-giving, laying down his life for his sheep.  How can we put our own self-centeredness aside, lay it down, for the sake of someone else’s life?  He’s not like the hired hand who runs away, but is steadfast, sticking with the sheep for the long haul, not just a short trek.  How might we be more patient and committed to a long journey?  The good shepherd knows his sheep, knows them by name, and cares for them.  Have we cared enough about people’s names, people’s stories, people’s lives?  And the good shepherd is always non-violent, for his power is not coercion and fear, but patience and loving selflessness.  Have we tried to use force to bring others to God?

    Jesus claims us all so that we can live in unity with God and others.  As fallen creatures, we’re all susceptible to thinking too highly of ourselves, focusing too much on ourselves.  Jesus knew that of his first disciples and knows it of us.  But it’s not about us.  Jesus claims us all, those like us and those who seem wholly different than us.  Jesus wants to bring all of us, all of creation, into unity with God and one another.  Therefore, let us indeed get to work. And let us do so with joy, for Jesus, the good shepherd, has claimed us as God’s own and sent us to bring the others.  

Living Easter Out Loud

May Newsletter Article:

     Universal Studios’ 1989 movie Field of Dreams is known by the hopeful statement, “If you build it, they will come.”  When thinking about growth – whether physical or spiritual – it’s tempting to say just this.  While it may work for baseball fields in movies, it certainly doesn’t work for churches or spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.  Rather, we in the church might better say, “If we be it, people will see.”  That is to say, if we’re really being faithful, really being the Body of Christ for the world, redeemed by his blood, then our lives will scream Jesus and people will see and take notice.  They’ll see: see Jesus, see the truth of the gospel, see the glory and power of God.

    This is precisely the theme of the season of Easter.  We live bearing witness to the reality of the resurrection and all it means for the world: so, if Jesus’ resurrection is really true, if the world is actually changed, if sin and death are truly defeated, then the world will see it in our lives.  For Easter’s fifty days we’re called especially to focus on how Jesus’ death and resurrection initiate a new reality.  And then, we’re called to live into this new reality, to display it, to live Easter out loud.

     We can live quiet discipleship for a long time, but eventually faithfulness requires that we live out loud, reckless discipleship.  Consider Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea as examples (Jn 19).  They had both been secret, quiet followers of Jesus – that is, until Christ’s crucifixion.  Then, they cranked up the volume of their faithful witness: they boldly requested permission from Pilate to bury Jesus’ body, marking themselves as followers of a convicted rebel and making themselves ritually unclean according to Jewish custom.  They were quiet no longer; they began to live Easter out loud. 

         Easter is a time of tremendous joy, joy that permeates our entire world, because we know that in Christ, God has made a way for all of creation to be redeemed, to be brought back into the everlasting joy of the presence of God.  Let us go forth as those who live out loud, who live recklessly, the joy of Easter.  

Think about this:
If we really have been given

the gift of life

that will never end,
and if we have been filled

with living hope,

we're gonna overflow.
And if God's love is burning in our hearts, we're gonna glow.
There's just no way to keep it in.

 

Wake the neighbors!
Get the word out!
Come on, crank up the music,

climb a mountain and shout.
This is life we've been given,

made to be lived out.
So, la, la, la, la, live out loud!

 

Every corner of creation

is a living declaration.
Come join the song

we were made to sing.

 

“Live Out Loud”

by Steven Curtis Chapman, Declaration (2001)

Special Thanks:

Thank you to all those who helped make our season of Lent and its worship services such a holy experience:

-       Jean Chesnut, Carolyn Jansen, and the worship committee;

-       Linda White, Jodi Geier, and Linda Green;

-       All who helped in making, serving, and cleaning after meals;

-       Priscilla, Sharon and Bruce, and Sharon and Floyd for watching Noah;

-       The GI Ministerial Association for leading Holy Week services;

-        Pastor Jay Vetter and Trinity UMC for hosting Holy Week services;

-       Pastor Bev Lanzendorf of First UMC and her musicians whose presence and song enriched our Good Friday worship;

-       The Beckmans and all our handy, fix-it types;

-       The sewing women who made covers for the dividers in Fellowship Hall, as well as the beautiful banners for Lent and Easter;

-       The Albers for the comfortable seating area in Fellowship Hall;

-       All those who ordered flowers for decoration;

-       The Sheens and the Brothers Coates for hosting/leading our Lenten studies;

-       The youth who operated the projection for Wednesday nights;

-       And all who worshipped and prayed with us through Lent.      

 

Rest in God's Peace

Thoughts Before Worship:

Reading the scriptures of Easter, we hear again and again messages of what it means to be Easter people, to be people whose lives are shaped by the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. Last week and this week, we hear Jesus tell his disciples, “Peace be with you” (Jn20:19,26; Lk24:36).  God’s peace through Jesus Christ is, indeed, one of the fruits of the Son’s resurrection.

Yet, what does God’s peace look like?  How can we bring it about and spread it throughout the world?  Can we at all?  How do we feel God’s peace, experience peace, receive peace?  Is it active or passive?  These are questions worth pondering, today and all days, for Christ our Lord enters our lives in unexpected ways promising, “Peace be with you.”

Sermon for the Third Lord's Day of Easter: Ps 4

This sermon is in a sparser outline than some of the previous ones, add to that that I preached without looking at my outline nearly as much, and you'll find one thing: the sermon was longer than I thought.  Whoops.  

Intro: How many of you are tired?  Did you sleep well last night?

-      Stats about sleeping…

o   National Sleep Foundation – WASHINGTON, DC, March 2, 2009 – One-third of Americans are losing sleep over the state of the U.S. economy and other personal financial concerns, according to a new poll released today by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). The poll suggests that inadequate sleep is associated with unhealthy lifestyles and negatively impacts health and safety. (sleepfoundation.org)

o   The number of people reporting sleep problems has increased 13% since 2001. In the past eight years, the number of Americans who sleep less than six hours a night jumped from 13% to 20%, and those who reported sleeping eight hours or more dropped from 38% to 28%.

-      Toss and turn; think about stuff; stress; keep thinking about it – self-perpetuating, the more you think about it, the more you toss and turn, the more you can’t sleep.

TiW:

-      Resurrection – yay; Jesus tells the disciples in this week’s gospel passage and last week’s, “Peace be with you,” but peace is what we don’t find. 

-      What takes away our peace, what fills the place where our peace should be, what keeps us up at night?

o   Worries and fears:

§     Health, family concerns, world tragedies, death, questions of meaning, jobs, future uncertainties, work for the coming day, or what we didn’t get done yesterday;

o   Our God-complex: we toss and turn, we try to think it all through, look at the problem from every angle, and we’re still awake.  Why?

§     We’re trying to fix it ourselves.  We’re trying to right all the wrongs of the world while laying in our beds, so to speak, and it’s not working.  We’ve taken on God’s role, have become overwhelmed by it, and now we can’t even sleep enough to do our own living well. 

Trans: We’re not the only ones who couldn’t sleep because of the woes of the world and our inability to solve them.  Check out the psalmist in Psalm 4.

 TiB: Traditionally a prayer for evening worship (Ps 3 is for AM)

-      compiled in Second Temple (515BCE – 70CE): return from exile; challenge of rebuilding lives and national identity; occupation and eventual subjugation to Roman Empire; never really enjoying fully the promise of their land with milk and honey.

Expand trouble and emphasize lament using the scripture:

o   v.1 – “Answer me when I call; “Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.”

§     Something’s bothering him.

o   v.2 – “How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame? How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?”

§     people picking on faithful psalmist

o   v.6 – “There are many who say, “O that we might see some good!”

§     others are mocking and challenging that God isn’t worth belief, that there is no good in the world. (biggest danger acc. Bernard Anderson – risks rocking whole faithful worldview).

o   v.7b – others are drinking and eating – eat, drink, and be merry style without concern for piety.

o   With all this complaining and actually bad stuff going on for the psalmist, you can hear that his must be what is called a “Lament Psalm”

-      Lament psalm – which means that it’s a heartfelt plea for God to intervene in life’s bad situations and make a way through.

o       Parts: Laments typically include…

§       An address of God and praise for God’s past grace

§       Complaints about life or God or both

§       A confession of trust, that God will bring us through

§       Petition – asking God to do something

§       Words of Assurance – God will do such and such…or salvation oracle (v6b – let me hear/see…)

§       Vow of Praise – “but” I’ll still praise you, and will do so especially when you save me.

o       In the parts, identify them in the psalm?

o   A Lament is not a dirge – not a hopeless complaint.  Praying such an honest prayer is a supreme act of faith and hope in God, all but one biblical psalm includes, a “but” clause –  e.g., things are bad, really bad, God, BUT I trust in your faithfulness, “You are gracious” (v.1b). 

Trans: And it is precisely this confession of trust, that makes the lament especially powerful as a prayer and a witness: even when times are darkest, still the psalmist trusts that God will bring him through, that God will make a way.

 GiB:

-      v. 1b-c – “O God of my right! [righteous God].  You gave me room when I was in distress.”

o   still trusting that the God who is righteous will be faithful; and has been so before.

-      v. 3 – “But know that Lord has set apart the faithful for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.”

o   Whether he’s trying to convince others or himself, or giving testimony – he’s sure that God blesses the faithful and hears those who call

-      6b, 7, 8 – God makes God’s face shine on us,

o   Gives us a peace that’s better than the grain, wine, and parties of those who oppress and ridicule me,

o   Gives us peace and protection

-      v. 4-5 – the way to God’s peace is through seeking God’s face, through

⁴When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. ⁵Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.

o   willful non-sinning,

o   pondering, contemplation, prayer, and silence

o   right sacrifices (broken and contrite heart? Ps51)

o   put your trust in the Lord

 Trans: Just as God gives the psalmist peace, we too know that God gives us peace so that we can rest in God. 

GiW:

-      Instructions or way to peace

-      v. 4-5 – the way to God’s peace is through seeking God’s face, through

o   willful non-sinning,

o   pondering, contemplation, prayer, and silence

o   right sacrifices (broken and contrite heart? Ps51)

o   put your trust in the Lord

-      Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord! (v.6b)

o   This is a petition, but it’s also an assurance of sorts.  The psalmist knows it’s going to happen sometime, and so do we.  That’s why we’re trusting in God, because we know God will shine upon us. And when God’s radiant face shines upon us, O, how wonderful that rest will be. 

o   Think about it like this: laying on a beach, totally relaxed, you can hear the waves gently gliding up the beach as the gentle breeze flows.  There’s this warm and brightness that just makes you want to close your eyes.  Maybe you cover up with a towel just so you don’t burn.  Or you put your hat over your eyes, so that it’s dark.  And it’s like you’re just washed over with warmth and light.  No care in the world could snap you out of it.   You just lay back and bask in the warmth and light.  You sleep, and you wake up in paradise. 

o   That’s how I imagine God’s face shining upon us.

§     We’ve still got our worries, still got the world, but there’s just something different.  They don’t carry the same weight. 

§     We’re free of them to a degree.  Free to say, “I trust in God; God will bring me through; and, you stress are not going to rule and ruin me.”

-      Breath prayer or just breathing deeply – acts of trust in God.

o   Autonomic Nervous System’s Sympathetic NS (fight or flight) – breathing is a voluntary control over an involuntary system.

o   God making room (like verse 1) for faith, for peace, for life. 

 GN & Mision: God gives us peace so that we can rest in God. 

-      But notice, this rest isn’t just sleeping and forgetting our troubles.   

-      This is a nighttime prayer.  For us, we might think this means we’re at an end because night is the ending of our days.  But in the Hebrew worldview, night is the beginning of the day (think of Genesis and Creation – “there was night, and there was morning, the third day,” etc.). 

-      So, this peace that God gives us, guiding us into sleep, is a start for our faithful living. 

-      It’s peace for rest, but an active rest, a rest that empowers us for greater faithfulness, praise, and service because we’re not worried, we’re well-rested and we’re fully convinced that God is watching out for us. 

Therefore, go, breathing deeply and resting easy in the knowledge and conviction that God is and will be your source of peace, your rest, your life.