archive 10

I stumbled across a small segment on the TV guide channel recently that talked about the long running Soap Opera “Days of our Lives”. The gist of it seemed to be that this soap opera has dealt with just about every conceivable story line in the course of its history. When I read Matthew’s gospel, I see a potential “Days of our Lives” drama. An event on “Days of our Lives” takes a very long time to unfold. There used to be a joke about two women talking about that show or another soap opera. One of them had not seen the show in about a year and recounted to the other where it had left off and wanted to know what had transpired in the past year. The faithful watcher of the show said, “Oh, well it’s later that afternoon and …. “

Matthew doesn’t even begin to approach that kind of detail. In fact, we might well complain that Matthew quickly passes over things we’d like to know a lot more about. In today’s reading, we have Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth. “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.” In the next sentence we hear, “ When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” Then Matthew moves immediately on to talk about Joseph. Luke, at least, gives us an angel visiting Mary to tell her, but not Matthew.

The “Days of our Lives” writers would never do that to us. They would have spent the next year showing us how Mary felt when she discovered she was pregnant. What kind of anguish did she go through? How did she get the courage to tell Joseph, or in a patriarchal society, did that task perhaps fall to her father who would have gone with his head down at the shame this brought to his family. How did Joseph feel? This short section in Matthew’s gospel is one of the very few places where we ever see Joseph. Can’t you see his jaw drop when he hears the news? Did he feel compassion for his teary-eyed young wife to be? He doesn’t know that this child is from the Holy Spirit – not yet anyway. He just knows that he is not the father. Can you imagine the feeling of betrayal? The “Days of our Lives” writers could have gotten a lot of material out of that.

Joseph had some options available to him including even charging her as an adulteress and having her stoned. But Matthew tells us that Joseph was a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace. He decided that he would quietly dismiss her.

We can applaud Joseph for not wanting to punish Mary or hold her guilt over her as a weapon or a power play. Joseph was a good man and “is like the wise husband or understanding wife who doesn’t bring up stuff from years ago in the middle of an argument. He is like the compassionate parent who allows a child to grow out form under past mistakes. Wise parents avoid labeling a child based on a few early goof-ups.”[ii] Joseph decided not to humiliate her or punish her but to quietly divorce her. No one needed to know about this shame.

Someone has said that if you want to make God laugh, just share your plans. God had other plans for Joseph, for Mary, and for the child who was to be born. We’ve probably all heard the good advice when faced with a major problem or decision, to sleep on it. Joseph did that. He had essentially decided what to do, but before he acted upon it, he slept and in his dream an angel of the Lord appeared to him. I suspect that one of the reasons that sleeping on something is good advice is that in some cases it may be the only time we slow down enough to be still and allow God to speak to us.

No matter how much a soap opera writer could have gotten out of this story, or how much more we might want to know, Matthew doesn’t tell us anymore. For Matthew, all of this is only background material. Matthew’s real focus is on what God is doing. God is the one taking the initiative in this story. God is working through the love of this couple and through the pregnancy and birth. This baby – in ways that we could debate and discuss forever – is God in human form.

Matthew tell us that all of this is to fulfill the scripture. Here, he’s speaking about Isaiah, where a virgin, or a young woman, will conceive and bear a child and this child will be named Emmanuel which means “God is with us”. Now at first glance it may seem that this doesn’t really seem to apply to Jesus. After all Joseph named him Jesus, not Emmanuel. In Matthew’s gospel the angel who appeared to Joseph told him to name the child Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. Matthew’s comment about the fulfillment of prophecy is his way of helping us to see who Jesus is. This affirmation is central to our faith. Jesus is God with us and for us.

The angel tells Joseph to name the baby Jesus which is the Greek form of Joshua which in Hebrew means, “Yahweh saves.” That again is the proclamation of Christmas – that God acts in Jesus to save us from our sins. “God saves us from the effects of our sins. Those effects include the hurts other people have caused us. For all the ways we have been neglected, for all the times someone took their problems out on us, for all the ways people have held us back, God saves us. God soothes our hurts and gives us the strength to move on. God saves us from the things we’ve done that we can’t undo. For the regrets that seem to hold us hostage, God offers us release. God saves us from the big sins for which we all chip in our two cents’ worth. For pollution, and racism, for poverty, and the ways we just let things keep going, God saves us. God doesn’t want us just to keep letting these things be, but God saves us. God saves us from the guilt of our sins.”[iii]

“We always need to hear that God took the first step to save us. Especially at this time of year, though, we need to hear that God acted to save us in the midst of what looks to us like a better soap opera than we could ever see on a weekday afternoon. If our lives are messy, full of tough decisions and awkward moments, we take heart knowing that God has been there before.”

Many of us spend a lot of time dealing with the loose ends of life – and here Matthew’s gospel is full of loose ends. But the word is that God is in the midst of the loose ends – working, being present, saving. The Christmas story isn’t about a sweet family living in a nice little home on the edge of serenity. It is about a time of conflict and confusion; the same kind of conflict and confusion that marks so much of our lives. Holidays and Christmas especially often seem to bring out the tensions that are lying just below the surface. At Christmas we need to hear that God is working in the midst of those tensions – we are not alone.

Charles Aaron, Jr. wrote a wonderful sermon for today – and some of his ideas have infiltrated my words today. Let me close with his words:

“Look at how this gospel starts and how it ends. Joseph was going to dismiss Mary quietly, in secret. No one would have known. Mary would have saved face, but it wouldn’t have mattered to anyone. Look, though at how Matthew’s gospel ends! Jesus commissions the disciples to go make disciples of all nations. What almost was snuffed out in secret ends up changing the whole world, all the nations. However things look to us now, God is working. God is healing. God is saving. When God takes initiative, we never know how it will turn out.

“What do we think is important in these last few days before Christmas? Are we scurrying around, enslaved to our to-do list? Are our travel plans finished? Can we make the end-of-year deadlines on all things personal and professional? We may have no choice in the flurry of the season. In all of those details let us not forget that they are really behind the scenes stuff. What we think really matters might rate only half a line from Matthew. Matthew wants us to see what God is doing in the craziness of Christmas. Let us see how God is acting, even in situations that seem to us to be pure pain. Let us see how, no matter how lost and broken we may feel, God is saving us. Let us see that, no matter how divided up we are, or how hostile our world seems, God is with us. Amen.[iv]

[i] Title and some outline of sermon comes from Sermons on the Gospel Text Series II, Cycle A “Center Stage” CSS Publishing, Lima, OH 2007 pp. 33-36

[ii] P.34

[iii] p.35

[iv] p,36

I was talking with a friend of mine the other night. She was exhausted because the retail store that she works for has been running long hours of special shopping events. She has worked far more hours than she is accustomed to and they have not been easy hours. In the course of the conversation though, she said that one of the things that bothered her was that she’s not allowed to say “Merry Christmas” to her customers. Somewhere around the time I was in junior high or high school I started to hear the lament that people were trying to take Christ out of Christmas. Now it seems we are even trying to take Christmas out of Christmas. I am a great respecter of diversity and honoring the traditions that are different than mine, so I started really paying attention to the sales ads etc. I found only one that mentioned Christmas. I did find one that told me that there were “12 shopping days to go” – the implication being “until Christmas” but it didn’t say that.

“Bruce Forbes, in his new book, Christmas: a Candid History, University of California Press, reminds us that much of what we love about Christmas predates Christianity. The Roman midwinter festival Saturnalia closely resembled the modern holiday, with weeks of eating and drinking, gift giving, wreaths of evergreens, and concern for the less fortunate.

He writes, “From the beginning, the Church's hold over Christmas was (and remains still) rather tenuous. There were always people for whom Christmas was a time of pious devotion rather than carnival, but such people were always in the minority. It may not be gong too far to say that Christmas has always been an extremely difficult holiday to Christianize.

“He then concludes, "One idea I do not recommend is a campaign to turn Christmas into the purely spiritual holiday it never was. My understanding is that the Christmas message is 'incarnation,' that God entered fully into the world. So combining Jesus' birthday party with at least some worldly celebration seems appropriate."[i]

It used to be not uncommon to find people taking offence at people who have taken Christ out of Christmas by shortening the reference to Xmas. X in Greek was the first letter for Christ. That symbol was well known in early Christianity and functioned somewhat like the fish that people would draw in the sand with their foot as a secret way to identify another as a Christian. However, a letter in a newspaper from a scientist made an interesting point. “He wrote that in his world the X was always the unknown factor in an equation. He went on to say that for him Christ was always the "unknown factor" in the equation of life. He had learned to trust Christ but never presume to understand that he fully understood Christ. At the same time, he understood that it was Christ who completed the equation.”[ii]

Before we spend a lot of time and energy on lamenting the commercialization of Christmas, or the neutralizing of Christmas, or the exclusion of Christ from all too many Christmas celebrations, maybe we need to stop and ask ourselves some serious questions. Are we merely passing the buck, expecting others to keep Christmas the way we want it? What do we expect or want Christmas to be? What expectations do we need to give up?

Today is a good day to ask some of those questions. Today is a day of questions. Today we hear John the Baptist asking whether Jesus is the Messiah, the one they have awaited, or if they need to keep waiting. Now, one would think, that John of all people would know who Jesus was. While he was still in his mother’s womb, the Gospel of Luke tells us that he leapt when Mary came near. When Jesus came to John to be baptized, John was reluctant to do so, insisting that he should instead be baptized by Jesus. Then Matthew’s Gospel tells us that when Jesus was baptized by John, the heaven was opened and the spirit of God was seen descending like a dove and lighting upon Jesus. A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

With a profound and powerful experience like that, one might think that John would have no question at all who Jesus was. But today we find John in prison and he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” How could John ask such a question?

Remember that when John spoke about Jesus’ coming, he talked about judgment. Jesus is gaining a reputation, but it seems to be for the wrong things. “Instead of gathering an army together, he is gathering the tax collectors and sinners into his family. Instead of being a mighty warrior, Jesus is going around and telling stories. Instead of plotting a revolution, Jesus is giving sermons about turning the other cheek, and going the extra mile. So, since his expectations have been dashed, John sends word to Jesus, `What’s going on? I thought you were the one. What’s happened to you, cuz?’ And Jesus’ reply is one that must have startled John. `Yes,’ says Jesus, `I am the one who was to come. It’s just that the job description has been rewritten since you last looked at it.’ The blind are being given sight, the lame dance through the streets, new life is being given to those the world thought were gone, and mercy comes before judgment.”[iii]

It seems that Jesus must have been listening to the prophet Isaiah, the prophet of judgment and exile, the prophet of restoration. Jesus uses words that are almost directly from today’s Old Testament lesson. These words speak of a time when all creation is made whole. They are a vision of “One who comes to radically transform nature and history, a vision of a time when Death Valley becomes Napa Valley.”[iv]

The desert that Isaiah knew was a climactic desert. That is, it is a desert because there is so little rain. However, in the time of the year when it does rain in that area, the fertile soil produces flowers almost within hours of the rain coming. It was amazing to me when I was there to see a bridge that had been washed out. A bridge in the middle of the desert, washed out by a torrent of water coming down from the hills above during the rainy season. In our Advent devotional booklet, the reading for this coming Tuesday is today’s Isaiah reading. Rev. Garland who wrote that meditation, called the land a “parable of hope.” The desert can become a place of blossoms. Our lives even when they seem parched and dry can become places of rejoicing and singing. Our lives when touched by God can be filled with hope and promise.

“If Jesus has truly come, not to be the one we expected, but to be the One we need, if Jesus has come to put into reality that radical vision God gave to Isaiah, and if Jesus has come to transform our barren lives into gardens of grace and generosity, then we better start paying attention, and we had better start telling people what we have seen and heard.”[v]

It is not up to the store keepers to keep Christmas. It is not up to the towns or schools to keep Christ in Christmas. It is up to us. Maybe it is time for us to start telling the story and living the story in new ways. Christmas pageants are wonderful and they help children learn the story. Sending cards is nice and helps us stay in touch with friends and relatives. Caroling can bring a bright spot to those who are homebound. But maybe we need to start glimpsing the vision of Isaiah and do things in a new way.

The Cub Scouts who were here Friday night for their Christmas party were going to write letters to our young men and women in the service. Like the Holy Family, our young men and women in Iraq and in other places know what it is to be lonely and afraid at this time of year. Maybe we should go find the person we’ve been mad at for the past year and tell them that we have heard Jesus’ words of forgiveness in our hearts and we would like them to forgive us for any hurt we have caused.

Perhaps instead of giving presents to people who already have everything they need or want, we could buy nets to keep children in Africa from being bitten by mosquitoes while they sleep and getting malaria, a leading cause of death among children in Africa. There are many worthwhile and urgent needs that would benefit from the money we spend on Christmas presents.

We might think about the person down the street who has lost their job, or the woman whose husband died in September, or the young person who is so desperate for someone to tell them that they are loved – and invite them to the Blue Christmas Service. There are so many ways and they start with the way we live our lives daily.

“If we want to put Christ into Christmas, we need to remember Jesus' advice that "by their fruits we shall know them." There is an old joke that illustrates this very well.

“A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

“The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

“As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

“He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' License plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper Sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally... I assumed you had stolen the car."[vi]

Are we putting and keeping Christ in Christmas by the way we live our lives or are we just passing the buck and complaining because the vendors and media are not doing it the way we think they should? Are our lives witnesses to the transforming power of Christ in our lives and in the world? How do our lives answer the question, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we wait for another?”

[i] Taken from a review in Christian Century, December 11, 2007. Offered as an illustration in The Immediate Word”

[ii] “The Immediate Word”

[iii] “The Immediate Word”

[iv] “The Immediate Word”

[v] “The Immediate Word”

[vi] Found in several sources. This particular one was from “The Immediate Word”.

At our Church/Charge Conference last Sunday we enacted various items of business. One of those was the report of the Lay Leadership or Nominating Committee which presents persons for election to positions of servant leadership for the next year. There are many roles within the church which are not listed in that report - and one of them is particularly appropriate for this Advent season. It’s an important one and it involves each and every one of us. All of us - young and old, male and female, rich and poor have been elected to the position of “carrier of the vision.” You were elected to that position when you were baptized.

Any person seeking to know Christ, any person looking for the God of hope and peace is a “carrier of the vision.” We are in good company when we carry this vision. We join with prophets like Isaiah, Psalm writers like David, early preachers and letter writers like Paul, and with those who heralded the coming of the Messiah, like John the Baptizer.

Each week as we worship we hear and proclaim part of this vision, but today, the Second Sunday of Advent we hear it in vivid terms. We hear from the prophet Isaiah that there is One coming in whom will dwell the Spirit of God, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and awe. We hear that there is a time coming when there will be a kind of peace which we cannot even imagine. Isaiah describes this in language that is surprising and exciting. He talks about wolves living with lambs, calves and lions together in peace, and a child leading all of this. What a surprise this would be - and yet - do we not worship a God of surprises?

This child will come in a surprising way like a shoot or a branch from the stump of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David - a young boy chosen by God to become the second King of Israel. David tried to follow the ways of God and even though he made some really big mistakes and some really bad decisions, for the most part he did what God wanted him to do. To David’s credit, when the things he did wrong were pointed out to him, he was sorry. He repented, and he turned away from them, trying again to be faithful to God.

By the time Isaiah wrote, however, David’s kingdom had been split into two. The northern kingdom, Israel, had been destroyed and the southern kingdom, Judah, was in great danger. There would come a time when there would be no more king in David’s line. But still, out of what appeared dead, nothing more than a stump, would come a shoot, a new growth, a new branch - One in whom would dwell the spirit of God.

In the Christian church we have understood this passage in Messianic terms. We have understood it to be telling about the coming of Jesus. We have understood that he brought a new day to the earth, a new kind of life. We proclaim that he brought a new kingdom, a new form of government, a new way of being and living together. A way that will fulfill the vision that Isaiah proclaimed, where those who once were greatest enemies will live in perfect harmony and peace with each other. This is part of the vision which we are privileged and challenged to carry.

John the Baptizer proclaimed this vision in a different way than Isaiah. Living in a time when most Jews were oppressed by the Roman government he proclaimed that the Messiah was coming and they should get ready. He was a wild looking character out there in the wilderness proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The Message, a modern retelling of the Gospel story, puts it this way, “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”

John wasn’t a particularly popular carrier of the vision. He spoke the truth as he understood it and it got him in trouble. Some of the temple authorities came to him and, again in the words of The Message, John proclaimed, “What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama - compared to him I’m a mere stagehand - will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house - make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

What is this new life? What is this vision which Isaiah proclaimed in glowing exciting terms and which John warned people to prepare for? Again we hear part of it in the Psalm for today. We might update the language a little to fit our current times and hear, “Please help our President and Congress to be honest and fair just like you, our God. Let them be honest and fair with all your people, especially the poor. Let peace and justice rule every mountain and hill. Let the President and Congress defend the poor, rescue the homeless, and crush everyone who hurts them..... Let the President be fair with everyone, and let there be peace until the moon falls from the sky. “(Psalm 72:1-4, 7 CEV revised) The Psalm concludes recognizing that these things will not happen by themselves, “Lord God of Israel, we praise you. Only you can work miracles. We will always praise your glorious name. Let your glory be seen everywhere on earth. Amen and amen.” (18-19 CEV)

It is a vision that we are called to carry - a vision which we are to proclaim, and a vision which we are to share with others and work to help make a reality.

When we carry something normally we are taking it from one place to another or from one person to another. Carrying the vision means taking it from our place of worship into our homes, into our schools or places of employment, into our communities. Being carriers of the vision means we take the vision to others who may not share the vision, who may not have heard it - who don’t know about this surprising and radical way to live.

During Advent we remember and celebrate the surprising way that God chose to reveal God-self to us, as an infant, the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem. During Advent we wait for the time when the vision will be fulfilled in its entirety - when Christ shall come again. During Advent we carry and proclaim the vision as we look to the ways that God enters into our lives everyday.

With the prophet Isaiah, we are called to proclaim the vision. With John the Baptizer, we are called to confront the ways that we and others are not preparing the way of the Lord, but are instead being obstacles to the vision becoming reality.

We are challenged to carry a vision and a prayer, as the Psalmist did, that we would be honest and fair with all God’s people, especially the poor.

We often fail to realize that we are always carrying a vision. The question is, “What vision are we carrying?” Is it a vision of the poor being treated with respect and care or is it one where everyone looks out for their own needs and doesn’t care about others. Who is at the center of our vision - is it God or is it us? If we look at the way we spend our paychecks - it’ll tell us a lot about the vision we carry. Check out your calendar - how we spend our time speaks volumes about what is important to us.

What is the vision we are carrying to our children, grandchildren, the children in this church, or in our neighborhood? The way we treat children, the elderly, or disabled speaks volumes about whether or not we really believe that all people are God’s children. Notice the way you talk to you family, friends, co-workers. Do your conversations show respect and promote a vision of peace and harmony?

The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. Hear the way The Message shares what he had to say in the 15^th chapter. “Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, `How can I help?’

“That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. `I took on the troubles of the troubled,’ is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. May our dependable steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir - not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to God. and Father of our Master Jesus! “So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!” (Romans 15:1-7)

At all times - and especially during Advent - we are given both the privilege and the challenge of being carriers of the vision, those who seek to live out the vision found in Isaiah, in the Psalms, in John the Baptizer’s words, in the exhortation and encouragement of the Apostle Paul, and in the life of Jesus the Christ. We are to be those who reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory.

Can you identify with our readers? Do things already seem out of control? Many of us may be facing the coming days leading up to Christmas with the same perspective as our readers. We start out hopeful, but soon lose our focus, or we go into the Advent season already frustrated, expecting little other than the same old hassles and problems; hoping for nothing more than perhaps a moment of relief from the stress of the Advent season.

Yes, today is the first Sunday of Advent. So for those of you who are hoping to plan the “perfect” Christmas program, “perfect” family celebration, decorate the “perfect” tree and buy the “perfect” presents, you have only four weeks left. Our lives at this time of year seem cluttered and crowded by traffic jams around the malls and calendars that look positively frightening with all the things listed on them. We have learned that expecting perfection usually results in feelings of failure and frustration.

Is it time yet? Is it time to break this cycle of wishing and wanting perfection?[i]

Today’s Scripture readings can be helpful for us in breaking that cycle. The words from the prophet Isaiah come from a time of high anxiety, great stress, impatience, and discouragement. They come from a time when the nation of Assyria was gobbling up smaller countries and Israel looked like it would be next. There was political and moral corruption all around them and many people and religious leaders were rejecting the teachings of God. It doesn’t sound very different from today, does it?

The people of Israel were asking, “Is it time for a word of hope from the Lord? Is it time for a word of encouragement from the Lord?” The answer – the Advent answer – is a resounding “YES!”

All of the readings for the first Sunday of Advent focus on time in one manner or another. Isaiah talks about “in the days to come”. The epistle reading from Romans tells us that “it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.” The gospel which we did not read this morning focuses on the second coming of Christ and says that “about that day and hour no one knows”. It admonishes us to be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Now, I realize that these are not exactly the scriptures that we long to hear in December. Many of us would prefer to think instead about Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and other Christmas figures. Like we heard in the skit, we often yearn for the sentimentality and warmth of Baby Jesus.

The Advent readings remind us that Christmas is about serious business. Christmas is about a God who aches over the sins of the world. Christmas is about a God who cares when people are hurt. Christmas is about a God who loved us so much that God became human and lived among us. Christmas is about a God who has been trying to get our attention for a very long time – and who doesn’t give up on us when we look the other way.

Yes, we like the idea of a baby at Christmas, but the reality is that we need more than a baby Jesus. We are the church, and it is up to us to show and to teach the world what it means that this particular baby was born.

In these passages we hear about something new and with the prophet Isaiah, we are the keepers of a vision. We heard about the word that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw – not just the word that he heard. God gave Isaiah a vision, an opportunity to see what was not yet real. “In Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, God’s word is not simply a collection of letters. God’s word is a thing, a force, a power that can be seen and experienced.

“And this Word is a sure and certain Advent promise from God, not just to Israel, not just to you and me, but to all God’s people.”

It is a promise of peace among nations. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Throughout history there have almost always been wars. There have almost always been people on the brink of annihilation. And yet, in spite of that, God’s Advent promise is being fulfilled in our midst.

In the version of the Christmas stories and Advent readings that we like, God’s Word becomes flesh and dwells among us – Jesus is born. But there is more to it than that. That Word, God’s flesh, lived and dwelled among us, and then gave his life for us on a cross in Jerusalem, the land to whom the prophet Isaiah spoke. Then God’s Word rose from the dead in Jerusalem.

Jesus promised his followers that the Holy Spirit would come among them and would empower them. Through the Holy Spirit, God’s Word travels throughout all the earth. Tony Everett, in a sermon for this Sunday, says that this is what perfection is all about. Perfection, which includes completeness, is about God’s plan to reach all people. Perfection is not about the perfect tree, the perfect gifts, the perfect family gathering, or the perfect Christmas worship.

We proclaim this every time we celebrate communion together. We proclaim, “Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ will come again.” And then we pray, “Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.” We pray for the Holy Spirit that empowers us. We pray, “that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.” We pray that this Holy Spirit will “make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world.” And we pray that this will continue, until the time comes when Christ will come in final victory and we will all sit at his heavenly banquet.

We don’t often focus on that part of the communion liturgy. We tend to think more about what happened on that last night when Jesus had dinner with his disciples. Although part of the communion liturgy is about remembering what happened – it is more than that. Although part of the Advent and Christmas preparation is about remembering what happened, it is much more than that. They are both about the living Christ, the living Word of God, real in our lives today and in our world today. They are both about the word of hope and promise that we need all year long, but which we seem to long for especially during times of great stress.

Preparation for the season means more than making sure that the presents are wrapped. We are called to discipleship and witness. We are called to obedience. We are called to resist the world’s evil. We are called to pay attention to the grown up Jesus, the crucified and resurrected Jesus, the Jesus who will come again. We are called to show and to teach the world what it means that a baby was born on that first Christmas.

Advent is a time of remembering what has happened, but it is also a time of waiting and preparation for the “days to come”: the celebration of Christ’s birth and the promise that Christ will come again. Isaiah invites the people of God to “come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” That invitation is given to us today.

“Advent is a time to remember how God has been present and active in our experience; times when we were certain of Christ’s presence and guidance.”[ii]

Is it time yet? The stores and commercials and calendars remind us hourly of what still needs to be “done” for the holidays. I can assure you right now that there is not enough time to do all of those things to the standards that are held before us. So, instead, stop. Take a deep breath! Remember what it is really all about.

“It is time …God’s time … and the time is here. The Word can be seen on the cross, in the waters of baptism, and in the bread and cup of holy communion.” God has given us loving arms to lean upon and a companion for the days ahead. God has a perfect plan, and we are privileged to have a part in that plan. It is time to celebrate!

[i] Everett, Tony S. ed. Sermons on the First Readings, Series II, Cycle A, “Is it Time Yet?” Sermon for Advent 1, CSS Publishing Company, Lima, OH 2007, p.22. Thanks to Mr. Everett for the focus of the question.

[ii] Everett, p.24

Sometimes we have many of the feelings expressed by our four readers. We are sometimes very proud and arrogant, thinking that we know what is best, never wanting to rely on anyone but ourselves. But at other times we cringe in fear. We doubt our gifts and our abilities to use them. Our faith is tested and we wonder if we are equal to the test. Through all of this, the Lord of Life, beckons to us to place our trust in God’s loving mercy. May the love of Christ reign in your heart now and always. Amen.

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Does it seem strange to be hearing those words today? Do you wonder if I gave the liturgist the wrong gospel reading for today? This is a scripture we expect to hear during Lent. That’s when we talk about the cross, not now. Not Thanksgiving Week. Not when we’ve eaten more than we should have this week, and when the Christmas shopping is really gearing up and we are looking ahead to all the festivities involved in the Christmas season. Why, today, would we focus on this scene at the cross?

The simple, but confusing answer is that today is Christ the King Sunday. But what does that have to do with the king, and besides we independent Americans don’t talk about kings anyway.

But listen to the thief hanging on the cross to Jesus’ right. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” One might have expected those words on Palm Sunday with the ticker-tape parade into Jerusalem. Or maybe you might expect to hear those words on the top of the Mountain of Transfiguration when Jesus’ very face and body glowed with the light of God and Moses and Elijah stood talking with him. Maybe we could imagine those words following the booming voice from heaven declaring Jesus as God’s beloved son when he was baptized. Or perhaps they would be the grateful words of Lazarus who was raised from the dead or one of the many people who were healed by Jesus during his ministry. But no, that’s not when those words are spoken.

Rather these are the words of a dying man gasping out a request to another dying man.[i] In that setting, these words represent a most improbable faith. Here in this moment of apparent defeat, who would have believed that Jesus would have a kingdom?

David Kalas writing about his passage pointed out that “everyone else in this passage got it wrong. The Jewish leaders scoffed, “If he is the Messiah, let him save himself.” The soldiers challenge, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself”. Even the other criminal had the same idea, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself.” Kalas points out that this is the human presumption about power, authority and status. If Jesus really were the Messiah, the King, then surely he would exercise his power to save himself. But they had completely misunderstood. They were looking for a display of power that would have been self-serving. What they missed was that the proof of who Jesus was and is, is found in the display of love that was self-sacrificing.

Above his head hung a sign that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” It was a sign put there not as an honor; not as an acknowledgment of who he was, but rather as a cruel joke, as a taunt, as a way to shame and humiliate.

“Somehow that one remarkable criminal perceived the truth. Though all reasonable signs seemed to point in the other direction, he recognized that a king hung on the cross next to him. And not a king whose reign was past and ending. Rather, amazingly, he perceived that Jesus' kingdom was still ahead. On this Christ the King Sunday, we affirm the faith of that anonymous, paradise-bound criminal. And we celebrate the king, whom we recognize even on a cross.”[ii]

Throughout the Christian year, we have listened to the prophets proclaim that Christ was coming. We heard and celebrated the Christmas story. We followed Jesus through his ministry; watched him heal those who were sick, feed those who were hungry, and teach the crowds. We saw crowds follow him and we saw people fall away when his teaching became too hard or uncomfortable for them to hear. We walked through Holy Week, confronted the cross, and rejoiced in the resurrection. Today is the last Sunday of the Christian year. Next week is the first Sunday of Advent and for us, in the church, that is New Year’s Day. So at the end of the church year, it is time once again, to focus on what is central to our faith. Jesus is more than just a good teacher. He is more than just a miracle worker. Jesus is more than a charismatic leader.

Today we hear the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers, two groups who were usually at odds with each other, united in their mockery and scorning of Jesus. Luke tells us that “the people stood by.” I had never really noticed that phrase before. “The people stood by.” It’s not clear why they were standing by. Were they afraid to challenge the Roman soldiers or their leaders? Were they confused?

This week I found myself needing to make a decision about something. As of the writing of this sermon, I was in the “stand by” mode. I had analyzed it more than I probably should have. I had lost some sleep over the decision. I couldn’t decide whether to say “yes” to option A or B, or say “no” to both of them. At one point I wanted the need to make a decision to just “go away”.

Many people do that with Jesus. Like the crowd, they stand by. Maybe they don’t want to make a decision. Maybe they think if they wait long enough, they won’t have to make a decision. But this is one case where a decision is required. To be blasé about him is to be uninformed or intellectually dishonest. As C. S. Lewis wrote, “Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”[iii]

“That all sorts of different people come together to follow and worship him testifies to who he is. And likewise, the fact that all sorts of different people come together to oppose him also bears inadvertent witness to who he is.”[iv]

When we are look around us and feel blessed by God, who do we say that Jesus is? When we are feeling confident of our own abilities and talents, who do we say that Jesus is? When we are feeling self-sufficient and think we don’t need anyone else, who do we say that Jesus is? When we are feeling frightened or confused, who do we say that Jesus is? When we are afraid that we will fail and let God down, or let someone else down, who do we say that Jesus is?

“The old question remains our question for today. Is Jesus really King or is he not? If we need to dispense with the archaic language of monarchy, then our question becomes: is Jesus the controlling image of our lives with God and with other people or do other images govern our lives?”[v]

George MacDonald, a Scottish author, poet and Christian minister, gave a clear way for us to answer the question, or at least to begin to answer it. He wrote, “Get up, and do something the Master tells you; so make yourself his disciple at once. Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have this day done one thing because he said, Do it, or once abstained because he said, Do not do it. It is simply absurd to say you believe or even want to believe in him, if you do not anything he tells you. If you can think of nothing he ever said as having had atom of influence on your doing or not doing, you have too good ground to consider yourself no disciple of his.

“But you can begin at once to be a disciple of the Living One – by obeying him in the first thing you can think of in which you are not obeying him. We must learn to obey him in everything, and so must begin somewhere. Let it be at once, and in the very next thing that lies at the door of our conscience!”[vi]

Whether or not you have a soft spot for kings in your philosophy of life, Jesus as Lord and King has a soft spot for you. The church calls it grace. In all of our life, in the confusion, the joy, the sorrow, the times of assurance, the confidence, the bumbling, successes and failures; when we pray, “Lord, remember me”, we can be sure that Christ does indeed remember us.

“On this sacred Sabbath day, O God, of grace and glory, we celebrate that Christ is indeed King. Jesus as our Christ has opened the door of salvation and offered us the rewards of a life lived in faith. Help us to recognize the precious gift that Christ offers us through his life, death, and resurrection. Let us take hold of the mercy offered in Jesus’ cross and embrace the life he makes possible for us today. Help us become more hospitable to the guests among us and treat these persons of sacred worth with the compassion Christ first offered us. Bind us together as a congregation that calls itself the “body of Christ.” In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

[i] Thank you to David Kalas in “Emphasis On-line” for Nov. 25, 2007 who presents this image.

[ii] Kalas

[iii] Lewis, C.S. “The Best of C. S. Lewis” New York, Iverson Brother Associates, 1969, p. 440. cited in Kalas.

[iv] Kalas

[v] Mosser, David N. Abingdon Preaching Annual 2007, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2006, p.305

[vi] MacDonald, George “Creation in Christ” quoted in A Guide to Prayer for Ministers & Other Servants, The Upper Room, Nashville, TN, 1983, p.60.

You have undoubtedly noticed that the order of worship today is different than on most Sundays. If you are particularly astute at these things you will have noticed that today is Consecration Sunday – the day when we dedicate our pledges of support for the coming year. You might have picked up on the fact that the offering is coming after the sermon and that the scripture we just heard was about “the collection”. So you may well be expecting me to preach in a way that is designed to encourage you to give more than you had planned.

Benjamin Franklin had an experience like that, in which he knew that his friend George Whitefield would be preaching and specifically trying to raise money for an orphanage in Georgia. Franklin was not opposed to the idea of the orphanage but rather to its location and refused to contribute to this project. He wrote in his autobiography that, “I happened, soon after, to attend one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection and I silently resolved he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistols in gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the coppers. Another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of that, and determined me to give the silver; and he finished so admirably that I emptied my pocket wholly into the collector’s dish, gold and all.”[i]

I’ve never been compared to George Whitefield as a preacher, and it is not my intention to twist anyone’s arm or attempt to make anyone feel guilty because they cannot give more. If, perchance, one or two people should feel guilty that they are not giving back to God what they can and should, then that is between them and God. My real point today is to invite us into a time of thanksgiving for what God has entrusted to us, a chance to reflect a little on the Biblical understanding of stewardship and our faith filled response to God’s commission to care for all of creation and to make disciples.

Whether we like it to admit it or not; whether we like to discuss it or not, money is one of the topics that Jesus talks about a lot – more than almost any other topic. This morning we heard his response to someone who was concerned that his brother should share the family inheritance with him. Jesus responded by telling a story of a rich man. Now Jesus didn’t describe him as a sinner, or a tyrant. There is absolutely no indication that the man did anything illegal or immoral to gain his money- in fact, his wealth came from producing a great crop. His problem was that he had so much, he didn’t have enough space to store all his crops.

He lived a life carefully constructed of boundaries that begin with the word “me” and end with the word “mine.” The sadness of this man’s situation is that he is living only for himself. He is living a life of isolation that really has no future. After telling this story, Jesus then goes on to name the secret worry that can isolate all of us – worry about security, about having enough. It is a very real concern and for many who live on the edge not having enough for what they truly need is a very real possibility. But for this rich man, and for all too many of us there is the danger of getting caught in a vicious cycle. This worry about having enough creates anxiety which feeds isolation and the isolation then nurtures more anxiety.[ii]

But the Biblical message is different. We heard in the reading from Deuteronomy that when a farmer was harvesting his fields, he was to leave some of the crop behind for the foreigners, orphans and widows. He wasn’t supposed to go back and make sure he had every grape, olive, or whatever the crop was. Certainly if he harvested every piece that he could, he would have more for himself and have more security. However, he would also be isolated from the need of others. The expectation and the obligation were to use the yield from the crop to help those who were most in need.

Jesus said that he came so that we might have life and have it abundantly. In the Bible an abundant life is one in which the boundaries between me and mine begin to lessen and the distinction between my abundance and yours begins to blur. It is a life in which we know that we are valued by God. This value that God has placed on our lives is meant to be invested in others and ultimately to yield a harvest that we can only begin to imagine. This is a life that has a future; the future is yours and mine; the future is God’s.

Brian Wren had a wonderful way of describing that in the opening hymn we sang this morning, “Live tomorrow’s life today.” George Chorba in a sermon on today’s gospel cites Brian Wren’s song and says, “That’s our business as a church. Helping others live God’s future today.” He tells about the coffee hour in a church where someone asked a young boy, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The boy’s answer was “An adult!”. Chorba says, “Well, you can’t define the future – or the future of the church, any better than that. We’re in the business of growing adults, people whose lives have a future.”[iii]

In the church, we are in the business of investing in the future that God has already prepared for us. Jesus talked a lot about money – and generally it was also connected to the Kingdom of God – a kingdom where God provides what we need, and our job is to invest our abundance in people whose lives have a future. We are part of that every time we come here.

Jesus told us to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. Jesus told us to go into the world and preach, teach, and heal. Years ago, I had friends who after hearing a missionary speak one Sunday morning went home each believing that they had been called into the mission field. Each of them was afraid to say anything to the other, sure that this was so crazy that it would create major problems. Finally, independently they decided that they had to speak up and they met in the hallway where they both began to speak at the same time. They were amazed to discover that both of them had experienced the same call. It was not long before they were in the jungle of a place they never expected to be. John was busy helping to build a school, and Donna was busy teaching children.

Now most of us never experience that kind of dramatic call. Yet, we are still called to go into the world to preach, teach, and heal. The apostle Paul explained how that could be done. He told the Christians in Corinth, that every week on the day of worship, each one of them should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income and saving that up until Paul came. The churches in Galatia and Macedonia were doing the same thing. The money was going to Jerusalem where the believers were in great need. There had been a famine as well as persecution directed at Jerusalem Christians. The needs were great and it was the expectation that those who had enough would help those who were in need. In one of Paul’s other letters he explains that he is not trying to put them in need, but that while they are able to help someone else they should, and at another time if they were in need, they would also be helped.

It is this concept that the man in Jesus’ story seems not to have understood. This is the model for the collection or offering that we receive every Sunday. Each week when we bring our tithes and offerings to the altar we are participating in a miracle. Each Sunday when you place your envelopes or your checks or cash into the offering plate you are going into the world to preach, teach and heal.

The majority of the money that comes in stays in this congregation where it is used to educate our children, provide this space where so much ministry and mission takes place, pay the salaries of those of us who are employed in the ministry and mission of this congregation, and empower us to be in mission and ministry in many ways. If you have not done so, I would encourage you to take a good look at the model of the church in the narthex. If you don’t already know, you’ll discover that this building is very busy – there are many programs and many ways that people are being reached with God’s love. The North Kingstown Food Pantry has been an integral part of this church for many years. This year and every year, many hungry people in our town will receive food for Thanksgiving, and over $3500 of shopping cards to grocery stores will be distributed. As you know it’s not just at Thanksgiving that this happens, but rather all year long people in this town help to feed others who need food.

Some of the money that comes in here goes toward our mission shares. This is the United Methodist way of bringing together the resources of many different churches so that together we are able to do what none of us could do alone. Within New England we train lay speakers, subsidize seminary education, work in youth ministry, provide pension and health benefits for clergy and families, help start new churches, develop curriculum for Sunday School, and maintain three cams and a conference center.

Some of our money goes to under gird UMCOR – the United Methodist Committee on Relief – that is always ready to come in with assistance following a hurricane, tsunami, earthquake, fire or other disaster that destroys life and resources. Together we send out 1,812 missionaries around the world, support Urban Ministries in Boston, Worcester, Providence and other cities. We support rural ministries throughout New England and help send volunteers in mission throughout the United States and abroad. We support covenants with the West Angola Conference and la Iglesia de Cristo en Nicaragua. We support Aftica University and Black colleges. We advocate for a living wage, help women experiencing crises, work to eradicate racism, feed hungry children and their families, support economic ministries in Western Maine, support ministries to college students, advocate for our environment, provide scholarships for students around the world, help fund 225 retirement homes, 70 hospitals, 8 two-year colleges, 82 four-year colleges, and 13 seminaries and much more more!

Together we are part of a miracle every time we come together. Together we follow John Wesley’s teaching to “do all the good you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can.” Look at the envelope you put in the offering plate – that’s what it says and that’s what we do together.

Those are just some of the things we do with our regular offerings. At other times we are also involved in direct assistance through our giving tree where we provide Christmas presents for children in Providence and in North Kingstown, and gifts of hope to women and children who are victims of domestic violence. We provide some support for the NarSarah clinic in Sierra Leone; through the offerings to the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund we help people with utility bills, prescription assistance, gasoline, or rental assistance to keep people from becoming homeless.

It is a kind of quiet miracle that this stewardship of our abundance creates, with gifts that continue to grow through the years. We are so blessed. We really are. Because this is a place where every one of us can live tomorrow’s life today – and so it is with a real sense of honor that I invite you to be part of that commitment and miracle this week, and this coming year.

[i] Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (New York: Washington Press, 1940) pp130-131. Quoted in: Bagwell, Timothy J. Preaching for Giving, Discipleship Resources, Nashville, TN 1993, p.22

[ii] This particular interpretation of the parable comes from Carter, William G, editor Speaking of Stewardship, “Someone in the Crowd” by George Chorba. Geneva Press, Louisville, KY 1998, p.128

[iii] p.129

I recently read about a fascinating practice of the Evangelical Church of India. When they baptize a new believer, the new member of Christ’s church is given the gift of a coconut palm tree. If the believer takes it home, plants it and takes good care of it, within four years the tree starts to bear fruit. A young tree will produce about fifty dollars worth of coconuts a year; when it matures it will produce about a hundred dollars of income a year.

The church gives new believers coconut palm trees for two reasons. The first is that nearly everyone in India is needy and one hundred dollars of income a year is a substantial amount even for the middle class. Giving the tree helps to provide for a families needs. The second reason is that giving the tree teaches a lesson in Christian stewardship. The church tells the new believer that it expects them to give 10% of whatever income they get from the coconut palm tree.

Think about it. The new believer did not buy the tree. It was given as a gift. The tithe, the 10%, is money they get free. The family is able to enjoy the fruits of a gift given freely to them, and also to have the joy of freely giving something away themselves.

It is important to remember that these new Christians play a crucial role in all of this because they have a choice. They can take the tree home, throw it in a corner and let it die. They can choose to plant the tree in a good spot and take good care of it, watch over it and harvest the coconuts. Everything depends upon their decision making. No one forces them to tithe and no one comes around to check on them to make sure that they are giving 10% of the coconut income to the Lord’s work. People are free to choose to give or not. [i]

Now when I heard that story, I couldn’t imagine why people wouldn’t give 10% of the coconuts to the work of the Lord. At one point they didn’t have the coconut tree at all but after the gift they have a coconut tree producing an income for the family. Certainly, I think that anyone would be happy with the money from 90% of the coconuts. But then when I stop to think about it a little more it takes on a different perspective. If it takes about four years for the coconut tree to start producing coconuts then that means that the person has spent four years paying attention to the tree, nurturing it, caring for it, putting a lot of work into it. Then it takes more years for the tree to become mature enough to produce $100 worth of coconuts. During that time, it’s easy to start thinking about the tree as belonging to you. It’s easy to start thinking that the tree is doing so well because of your hard work. It’s easy to forget that the tree itself was a gift.

The Bible tells us that this is a real danger. When the Hebrew people had been set free from slavery, when they had been led by God out of Egypt, they wandered in the desert for forty years. During all that time God had daily provided them with food and with everything else that they needed. Now as they were about to enter the Promised Land, there is a word of warning to them. Hear the words again from Eugene Peterson’s The Message, “Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up – make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God, the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery; .... the God who gave you water gushing form hard rock; the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, … If you start saying to yourselves, `I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!’ – well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors – as it is today.”

It is a basic tenet of Scripture that human possessions are really gifts; that everything really comes from God and belongs to God. We hear that in this morning’s Psalm, “The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Everything and everybody belongs to God.”

The length of time it takes for a coconut tree to produce fruit is long enough for someone to forget where it came from. The length of time we work for and gather possessions in our lives is long enough for us to think that they really belong to us. However, the number of years that we live is only a spec in the grand continuum of time; even a lifespan of a hundred years, is only a few fleeting seconds in the history of the earth. For a few fleeting moments, we have possession of a few things, but they belonged to someone else before us and they will belong to someone else after us.

“The air we breathe, the water we drink, the wonders of life itself, the planet we live on, the universe – we brought none of these things into being. They are gifts we enjoy out of the overflow of God’s love. The love of God, the gift of Jesus Christ, forgiveness of our sins, the call into Christian community, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, eternal life – none came from us, each is a gift to us from God.

To remember that God owns everything prompts a remarkable shift in our view of stewardship. Usually when we think of stewardship we think of giving to charitable causes. We talk about it as taking what we have and giving some of it to God, the church, or other worthwhile cause. But in the Bible, stewardship is just the reverse. It is our freely using, enjoying, and giving what already belongs to God.”[ii]

Looking at the world in this way takes some doing, some significant change in the way we think about possessions, in how we use money, and in our behavior.

Some years back a New York City law firm was engaged to clear the title to some property in New Orleans. They, in turn, engaged a New Orleans firm to do the local work. The New Orleans lawyer traced it back as far as 1803, but the New York firm responded that he had not gone back far enough. Soon they received a letter that read:

Please be advised that in the year 1803 the United States of America acquired the territory of Louisiana from the Republic of France by purchase … The Republic of France in turn acquired title from the Spanish Crown by conquest … The Spanish Crown obtained it by virtue of the discoveries of one Christopher Columbus – a sailor who had been authorized to embark by Isabella, Queen of Spain, who obtained sanction from the Pope, the Vicar of Christ, who is the son and heir of Almighty God, who made Louisiana.[iii]

This is just another reminder of the truth of the Psalmist: “The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” The Bible makes it clear that everything belongs to God; we are managers, stewards, trustees in the administration of creation.

The implication is that we humans are not only permitted, but encouraged, to manage this vast estate as inventively and creatively as modern science and technology enable us to do so, provided that we never forget that we are only the managers, that God is the owner and director. We must never forget that it is God’s desire that all of this incredible estate is to be administered for the public good and not for private gain. That’s the catch. “Since we have been given the God-like power to domesticate and cultivate and, in a sense, to reshape and re-create God’s creation, we easily slip over into the absurd and blasphemous notion that we have literally made what we have only remade, that we have earned possession of the earth by our labors when, in reality, it is only a trust fund to be administered for others.”[iv]

It is all ours for the enjoying and ours for the caring and nurture. It is ours to watch over and enjoy and tend so that the coconut trees continue to grow coconuts. Like the new believers in India, we are also called to give a portion of our coconuts back to God as a way of saying Thank You for all the things that belong to God, but which we are able to enjoy.

[i] Carter, William G, editor Speaking of Stewardship “Enjoying What Belongs to God” James Mead, Geneva Press, KY, 1998, p.28

[ii] Carter, p.29

[iii] Phillippe, William R. A Stewardship Scrapbook, Geneva press, KY, 1999, p.4

[iv] Phillippe, p.5

[v] Phillippe, taken from and adapted from pp35-38

I would like to start today’s message with a brief lesson on the significance of this week. As many of you know, or are at least aware, the Church year is divided into many seasons and times. The Church year actually begins with the first Sunday of Advent, which begins in a mere four weeks, so we are nearly at the end of this liturgical year. This week in the Church year is identified as the 23^rd Sunday after Pentecost, in what is called Ordinary Time.

As we have now entered the Fall season, many people tend to measure the year by how many weeks until Christmas, which is quickly approaching. In fact, it won’t be too long before stores will be reminding us of just how many shopping days there are until Christmas. But I, and many of you, have marked the calendar as Week 1 in the reign of the World Champion Boston Red Sox! I know that any of you that know me would understand that I couldn’t let this pass without some mention of this accomplishment.

In fact, I was one of the estimated million or so people in Boston on Tuesday for the Red Sox “Rolling Rally”. The crowds were several deep lining the streets for a chance to see the Red Sox players, coaches, the owners, the training staff, front office personnel, and anyone who had anything to do with the team that had just won the World Series. Even two hours before the Duck boats carrying the team were due to arrive, it was difficult to find a place to stand to be assured of at least a glimpse of the team, never mind a full and complete view. Every once in a while a shout would go up from the crowd, and looking up, a fan could be seen climbing a tree or a light pole for an unobstructed view. Some of them made it to some kind of perch where they could sit and wait for the team to arrive – they were cheered. Others attempts were not as successful, and after several tries, some fell to the ground or unto others, injuring themselves, and sometimes others – they were ridiculed.

What made so many people miss work, school and other matters, risk injury and humiliation? Perhaps even they could not say. Almost everyone there had someplace else they would have been and probably should have been. Yet they understood that this was something special. There is something in us that makes us want to see things for ourselves, believing that being there in person makes it more real, more memorable and even more special.

Even as I was waiting for the rally to arrive, I thought of how it reminded me of today’s Gospel reading about Zacchaeus climbing the tree in order to see Jesus. We heard how many people had crowded the streets of Jericho, making it difficult for the short Zacchaeus to see over the heads of the people in front of him. But he had heard enough about Jesus that he just had to see him.

Zacchaeus knew this was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience something wonderful and special. It was so important to him, that he risked making a fool of himself or injuring himself in order to just catch a glimpse of Jesus.

This is a bible story that I remember well from my Sunday School days, even though it is just 10 verses long and only appears in Luke’s gospel. I don’t know why I have always remembered it. Maybe because it created such a vivid comic image, of a man struggling to climb up a tree in order to see. Or perhaps it was easily remembered because of what happened when Jesus encountered Zacchaeus. Jesus called out to him and told Zacchaeus that he was going to have lunch with him. While others began to mock both Zacchaeus and Jesus, Zacchaeus responded by declaring that he was going to give half of everything he owned to the poor, and he would pay back 4 times the amount to those he had cheated. Wow!

This was certainly an unexpected response. In other places in the Bible, we read about Jesus asking sinners to “go and sin no more” or to worship God in a pleasing manner. In Zacchaeus’ case, Jesus doesn’t tell him to do this. Rather it is Zacchaeus who willingly and joyfully has responded in the way that he believes God would have him. And it truly is without remorse or regret that he gives up the treasures that were so important to him just a few minutes earlier. In an instant, Zacchaeus’ world had been turned upside down, but in a good way. Suddenly, for him, all his Jewish training and upbringing had been made clear. He would no longer cheat and steal. For him, his life would never be the same.

In our responsive reading this morning, the Psalmist reaffirms that God’s righteousness is eternal and true. But he also recognizes that we still manage to find ourselves in troubled times. We know that God has given us his laws, not just as a way of measuring whether what we are doing is right or wrong, but as a means of showing that we trust Him and love Him, through our obedience and our responses to his call.

Our hymnal uses the New Revised Standard Version of the book of Psalms. Although this often has clear and sometimes more poetic wording, in this case, I find the Good News translation a little more understandable. In verse 138, instead of, “You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.” The Good News says, “The rules that you have given are completely fair and right.” Fair, because they apply to everyone; Right, because t