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It was a day much like any other. Isaiah was in the temple praying for the people of his community. Would they ever listen to God? Frustrated and alone, Isaiah received a vision. He describes a vision that sounds like it should come out of some high-tech virtual reality setting – music, seraphs with six arms, the presence of God. Suddenly an ordinary day turned into something extraordinary. A prayer became a vision that changed his life.

It had been a long night. Simon, James and John had been out fishing but it had not been a productive night. It seemed as if all the fish had disappeared from the lake. They fished all night, but hadn’t caught anything. Tired and frustrated, they were washing their nets. It was an elaborate process necessary after each use in order to maintain their usefulness. When the catch had been good they could enjoy this process, but with nothing to show for a night’s work, it was just tedious work. Jesus was standing on the shore trying to speak to the crowds. In their eagerness to hear him, they kept coming closer and closer until the water was almost lapping at his feet. He climbed into Simon’s boat and asked him to interrupt his work and put out from shore a short distance so that he could teach the crowd. An ordinary day became extraordinary.

Saul was a man of high integrity and strong faith. He was a Pharisee, familiar with religious tradition and law and expected everyone else to be also. Those renegade followers of that man Jesus – the one who had been justifiably crucified – were causing trouble and Saul was a man on a mission, out to stop them. On his way to the city of Damascus, something extraordinary happened. He met the risen Christ and his life was completely changed.

Three men going about their business – doing what needed to be done in an ordinary way. Three men who suddenly encountered the extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary and they were never the same!

In a profound experience that touched each man exactly where he was, a personal encounter with God took place – an encounter so amazing that their first realization was the tremendous gap between God’s holiness and their own unworthiness, their sinfulness. “Isaiah, Moses, Jeremiah, and scores of people before Simon gave him voice on that day” `Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ Confronted with the holiness of God as seen in the piercing, caring eyes of Jesus, Simon’s first response was to confess his won sinfulness; for what other reaction could one have, standing in the presence of the Lord? Like his ancestors before him, Simon, going about his daily routine, stinking of work and the sea, tousled by the wind, bleary-eyed with lack of sleep, was about to be invited to help change the world!”[1]

Had they been left with their feelings of sinfulness, we would not be reading about them today. Had they been left to wallow in their guilt or drown in their feelings of unworthiness, we might never have heard of Jesus and we would not be gathering to worship as God’s people. Instead, they experienced also God’s boundless love and grace. They came face to face with God’s forgiveness and with God’s power – a power used to empower others – a power that is poured into the lives of those to whom God comes – a power that can and does change lives – a power that invited them and empowered them to help change the world.

In their own way, each of them responded “Here I am, Lord, Send me.” Did they know what they were getting into when they committed themselves to following God completely? Isaiah was given some warning that the path would be very difficult. Saul, who came to be known by us as Paul, certainly knew that he faced some difficult times ahead – after all, he was one of the people who had been previously been seeking out Jesus’ followers for the purpose of bringing them to trial before the temple authorities. Simon, whom we know as Peter, and James and John were told that they would no longer be catching fish, but would instead be bringing people to Christ.

“They went ashore, walked away from their ordinary lives, and followed Jesus into the extraordinary salvation history we call the gospel.”[2]

So, how does all this relate to us today? Is it only religious professionals – pastors or missionaries – who are called? No, God is calling each and every one of us.

J. Ellsworth Kalas, a preacher and author, in a sermon “From empty nets to full lives” wrote, “Most of our witnessing is likely to happen in passing moments of conversation--those occasions when we show, in relatively minor ways, who we are and to whom we belong. I think of a suburban woman who was playing tennis with her good but quite secular friends. In a conversation break between sets she began referring to something she had read that morning. It would have been easy to say, "I read something this morning." Instead, she simply introduced one word: "In my devotional reading this morning." It was not a major soul-winning engagement. It was, however, a true sowing of seed. By a word, she had opened the door for some further conversation.”

He continues, “Perhaps our greatest problem in becoming Christ’s fishermen is that we are not enough in earnest to grasp the opportunities that come to us; or we are so possessed of the idea that we must say something dramatic and far-reaching that we fail to say the small, immediate and potentially significant thing. To put it in the language of our lesson for the day, most of us really don’t act as if we even have a call to "fish." We’re out in the waters of human need every day, but we don’t seem to know it.”[3]

I think he is right. Most of us spend our days in the midst of the ordinary – or what has become ordinary to us. We expect our lives to be predictable and under our control – or at least that’s what we would like. But our lives are not predictable. They are not under our control. When we said, “Yes” to Jesus, we said, “yes” to unpredictability, to releasing control of our lives to God. Oh, they might appear ordinary to us, but in the midst of the ordinary, the extraordinary happens – we encounter the living Christ.

The issue is not that we should become street corner preachers or the family nag, but that we should be more sensitive to the needs of the world around us, and more open to the subtle prodding of the Holy Spirit. We should be more open to encountering the living Christ in the midst of the ordinary. It’s amazing how these two are so wonderfully intertwined. To be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit must mean that we will be more sensitive to people and their pain. To be more sensitive to people should make us more open to God and God’s call to us.

Being open to God’s presence and God’s call means that we are willing – or at least ready – to do something we have not done before or even do something we have failed at before. Simon had fished all night and caught nothing. When Jesus told him to put his boat out into deeper water and let down the nets, Simon did not argue with him. He did seem to express his lack of expectation. “We have fished all night and caught nothing, but because you say so, I will let down the nets.” They caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

Often in our lives we are asked or told to do something that may not make sense to us, to take a risk where we have previously failed. What would have happened last week if Adam Veniteri had told his coach, “I already missed one field goal attempt today and had another one blocked. What’s the point?” Instead, he went out and did his job with only seconds left on the clock and a tie game became the Patriot’s Super Bowl win.

Maybe you’ve tried to talk with your co-worker or your friend. Perhaps you’ve tried to share your faith with someone else and became tongue-tied. If we read these stories of Isaiah, Peter and Paul as stories about people who exhibited great courage in being able to change their lives, then I think, we miss the point. These are stories about God and the power of God to create faith where there was no faith, to create disciples were there were none just a moment before. These are not really stories about us, but about God. They are about God’s ability not only to call us - people who think we are not worthy, not capable, not good enough - you name it - “not only call us, but also to create us as people who are able to follow - able to follow because we cannot take our eyes off the one who calls us, because he interests us more than anything else in our lives, because he seems to know what we hunger for and because he seems to be food.”[4] Jesus calls each of us. We may not know where this following Jesus will lead. Sometimes it may seem like going out into the deep water - but we know who goes with us. Sometimes it may seem like putting our nets down in the strangest places, but we know who it is who gives the directions.

Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopalian priest, wrote these words, “I think sometimes we read this story too narrowly. I am not sure that following Jesus is always a matter of leaving everything behind. That is what it meant for Andrew and Simon and James and John; that is what following meant in their particular lives. But if the story is about being swept into the flow of God’s will and giving ourselves over to it, then it seems to me that it will be a different story for every one of us in our own particular lives.

“Sometimes following may mean staying at home. It may mean letting the hired servants go and taking care of Zebedee when he gets too old to fish. Sometimes following may mean casting the same old nets in a new way, or for new reasons. It may mean doing something different with the fish you catch, or spending the money they bring at market in a different way. It may mean reorganizing the whole fishing business so that the drifters down at the pier have work to do, and so that everyone who works receives a decent wage. It may mean doing less every day, not more, so that there is time to watch how the light changes on the water, and how the happy fish leap out of it at dusk, happy to have outsmarted you one more time.”[5]

The possibilities for following are endless. Sometimes they will be big, and sometimes they will seem very small, but for each of us they involve the message that Paul reminds us is primary. Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, he was buried, and raised on the third day again in accordance with the Scriptures. We know that our redeemer lives and calls us to follow. So we come to worship Christ and to be open to encountering the extraordinary in the ordinary. We come with our eyes on Jesus and our hearts in love with the God who loves us. We come ready to cast our nets into the deep sea as he directs, or to follow in whatever way God touches our hearts and lives and empowers us to be the people of God. The God who called us can be counted on to create us as people who are able to follow.

[1] Wingeirer, Douglas E. editor, Keeping Holy Time” Year C, Abingdon Press, Nashville , 2003, p.86

[3]J. Ellsworth Kalas, Reading the Signs, "From Empty Nets to Full Lives," CSS, 1988, p. 81-82.

[4] Taylor , Barbara Brown, Home By Another Way Cowley Publications, Boston MA 1999 p. 40

[5] Taylor , p.41

If you have been watching or reading the news recently, you have been exposed to a great many speeches. There have been speeches before and after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Howard Dean’s concession speech in Iowa attracted a lot of attention and commentary. The President’s State of the Union Address seemed to many people to be the beginning of his campaign for re-election. There will be many many more speeches as the campaigns continue.

One thing most speakers agree about is that they want to keep their audience attentive and happy if at all possible. One simple prescription to keep from arousing opposition is to tell your audience what they want to hear. Now, of course, that sounds easier than it is. What one part of your audience wants to hear may well be exactly what the other part rejects. You can see this quite clearly in the State of the Union address, with half of the chamber standing and applauding, and the other half sitting on their hands.

It’s easier to speak to a group of people who are in agreement about the topics at hand, than to a group with strongly differing opinions. However, a true leader will tell people what they need to hear but at that moment don’t want to hear. The Biblical prophets knew this well. Jeremiah, whose call from God we heard in our first reading, was called to “pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Much of what he would be called to tell the king and the people of Judah were things that they needed to hear, but definitely didn’t want to hear. The same is true of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Hosea, and many of the other prophets. Prophetic preaching or speaking is not a popular occupation because it is speaking God’s Word and God’s Word is not determined by the latest public opinion survey.

Jesus knew that well. In a continuation of last week’s reading, we find Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth, his home town. He has just read from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He sat town to teach and said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Try to put yourself into the position of the people in the synagogue. This was Jesus, the hometown boy. They knew his mother Mary. They knew Joseph, the carpenter, his father. They had watched him grow up. Yet, he was reading the words that they cherished about the coming of the Messiah – and proclaiming their fulfillment. They heard his explanation of scripture as God’s exclusive covenant with them. God would deliver them from their oppressors and shower them with blessings. Could it be? Was this really about to happen?

Jesus didn’t give them long to get excited about the possibilities. Instead, he immediately challenged their understanding of the words – and he did it by reminding them of stories from their scripture – stories in which God blessed those who were not Jews. He reminded them of Elijah who during a severe drought found lodging with a widow in a town called Zarephath. Although she was not a Jew, Elijah miraculously extended her food supply until the famine had ended. He also brought her son back to life after a serious illness. Then he reminded them of Elisha who had cured a Gentile military commander of his leprosy.

Jesus’ message to those in the synagogue in Nazareth was that God would bless all the poor, all the captives, all the blind, all the oppressed – Gentiles as well as Jews. These stories and others are good news to us, because we are the Gentiles to whom God’s blessing was also given. However, it was not good news to those who heard Jesus that day. Jesus quickly destroyed the myth of privilege – the notion that says, “Grace is good when it is extended to me, but I’m not so sure my neighbor deserves it.”

Perhaps, it’s not such good news to us either. This is a message that has not only religious but also political implications. In the early days of our country, the lines about whom God blesses had been redrawn so that our Declaration of Independence proclaims “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Written by Gentiles, this great proclamation of freedom meant white men, not white women and not people of color. Through the years, the legal ramifications of this have changed – at least women and people of color can now vote and hold elected office – at least in theory and in many cases in practice but not yet in proportion to the general population of our country. When we look closely at the living conditions of many people, we have to seriously question whether they really have the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Jesus’ message of radically inclusive deliverance of all people is still true today, even when we have redrawn the lines to include ourselves and to exclude others.

There are so many ways that we draw those lines. Just as the Jews did, we draw the line nationally. I grew up on Kate Smith’s stirring rendition of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” Irving Berlin wrote this song originally in 1918, but set it aside. He revised it in 1938 as war was threatening Europe and he wanted to write a peace song. More recently, I fear that in some places it became not a song for peace but a rallying song justifying military actions. We sing, “God Bless America” but do we pay attention to and really mean the line that seeks God’s guidance or do we expect God to bless us simply because we are The United States of America? If that is the case, then we are no different than the people in the synagogue of Nazareth – trying to hoard God’s blessing only for ourselves.

In so many ways, we have things backwards. We ask or expect God to bless the things that we do rather than seeking to do the things that God blesses. Fred Craddock, a great preacher, says that the longest journey you ever take is from your head to your heart. We know that God plays no favorites – and yet, the church still harbors racial, social, gender, and religious prejudices within its walls. We know in our heads that God’s radically inclusive love is for everyone – perhaps one day we shall know it in our hearts.

There are many ways that we draw the lines – many of them so subtle that they are almost impossible to recognize – and, in many ways, the least obvious ones are perhaps the most dangerous in terms of our spiritual health. This was part of the problem that Paul was dealing with when he wrote to the church at Corinth. There was tension among them about who was a better Christian than another because of the various abilities they had. It’s really not much different than thinking one person is better than another, or more deserving of God’s grace than another because of where they were born, or what occupation they or their parents have, or which town they live in or even which section of the town, or which church they attend or don’t attend. We would probably all agree that those things shouldn’t matter and yet in our hearts, all too often they do. We have not yet made that long journey from head to heart.

Paul tells the Corinthians that there is one way that is excellent – it is the way of love. Greek has several words for love. Despite the fact that we often hear this passage read at weddings, the word for love that Paul uses is not the romantic passionate love, but rather agape – a word that means self-giving, other-regarding love. Agape is God’s love for us. God’s love toward humanity is patient, kind, self-giving, generous, encouraging and truthful. We, the faith community, are called to exhibit this same love to the best of our ability, in all places – since this is the most excellent way. Paul reminds the Corinthians that prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are limited and partial. They will fade away. Many of the things that our ancestors thought they knew about the world, we now understand to have been incomplete – as our knowledge will likely also be proven to be. Love is permanent.

Love is a fundamental cornerstone of our faith – indeed, Paul says, that “faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

Those of us who want to be recipients of God’s love, need to remember Jesus’ sermon – Jesus’ speech in the synagogue. Unlike most of our political speeches, it was not designed to give the people what they wanted to hear, but rather what they needed to hear. We, too, must constantly seek God’s guidance, and ask for God’s help to hear the message that we need to hear, not necessarily the one we want to hear. As we come to the Lord’s table, we come remembering that we come to be fed by a God of radically inclusive love. Come, remembering that if God loves everybody, then God doesn’t love you or me any more than anyone else. That does not diminish God’s love – it multiplies it. God’s love is so great, so radically inclusive, so abundant that it is beyond our comprehension and so overflowing that it must be shared with everyone else.

I would like to share with you an imaginary letter from the pen of the Apostle Paul. The postmark reveals that it comes from the port city of Troas. On opening the letter I discovered that it was written in Greek rather than in English. After working assiduously with the translation for several weeks, I think I have now deciphered its true meaning. If the content of this epistle sounds strangely Stenmarkian instead of Paulinian, attribute it to my lack of complete objectivity rather than Paul’s lack of clarity. Here is the letter as it stands before me.[i]

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to you who are in North Kingstown Rhode Island in America, grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

For many years I have longed to see you. I have heard so much about you and of what you are doing. I have studied your web site faithfully and see your mission statement and so many wonderful things that are happening in your church. It is marvelous, you are able to do so many things in your day that I could not do in the Greco-Roman world of my day. I celebrate the gifts that God has given to each of you and in many ways I celebrate the work that you are doing together.

However, I find it helpful to remind churches that the many gifts you are given and the work that you are doing is to be for the glory of God not of yourself. I have seen that within the past couple of years you have added an additional Sunday morning worship service. I applaud your efforts to reach out to the community and to offer alternative times for people to worship. I have noticed that half of the people who are members of your congregation have come to the church within the last 8 years. I understand that part of this is because you are becoming known as a church that welcomes visitors and new people. I also understand that part of this is because you are in an area and a society where people move much more frequently than they did in my day. However, one of the dangers in this is that some times people start to feel that they don’t really know each other, so I want to remind you that you are one congregation made up of many different people.

For the North Kingstown United Methodist Church is one church and has many members and all the members of the church though many are one congregation. … Indeed the congregation does not consist of one member, but of many. If a Sunday School teacher were to say, “Because I am not a Lay Speaker, I do not belong to the church” that would not make him or her any less a member of the congregation. And if a member of the evangelism committee were to say, “because I am not a member of the finance committee, I do not belong to the church” that would not make him or her any less a part of the congregation. If the whole church were choir members where would the congregational response be? If the whole church were sitting in the pews, who would be teaching the children of the church? And if the whole church were teaching Sunday School where would be the students and the coffee after worship, and the smiling face and welcoming hand shake of the greeters?

But as it is, God has arranged the members of the congregation, each one of them as God has chosen. If all were Trustees where would the outreach of the congregation be? As it is, there are many members, but one congregation. The people who attend the 8:00 worship cannot say to those who worship at 10:00, “we do not need you.” Nor can the 10:00 worshippers say to the 8:00 worshippers, “we do not need you.” The pastor or the Lay Leader or the Lay Speakers cannot say to the Worship Committee or the Missions Committee, “we don’t need you.” Nor can the Worship or Missions Committee say to the treasurer or the music director or the secretary, “we don’t need you.” The treasurer or the music director or the secretary cannot say to the greeters, liturgists, ushers, child care workers, coffee hour providers, or acolytes, “we don’t need you.” On the contrary … God put your church together in such a way that even the parts that may seem the least important are valuable. God did this to make all parts of the team work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others. If one member of the congregation hurts, the whole church suffers together; if one member is honored, the congregation rejoices together.

Together you are the Body of Christ and the congregation of the North Kingstown United Methodist Church. Each one of you is part of Christ’s body. First, God chose some people to preach and some people to provide music and some to lead liturgy and some to collect offerings. God also chose some to greet visitors and some to pray and send cards to those in special need of this ministry, some to fold bulletins and newsletters, some to prepare communion, some to light candles, some to organize devotional booklets and some to write items for those booklets. Not everyone preaches. Not everyone sings. Not everyone teaches children, youth or other adults. Not everyone can support the church financially and not everyone can count the morning offering or write the checks. Not everyone knows who to call when the boiler breaks down or where to purchase hymnals or office supplies. I want you to desire the best position in the congregation which is the one where you can serve God best at this particular time in this particular place. … There are many ministries and many missions, many positions and many tasks but all of them are to be examples of God’s love; all of the church members are to be guided by and filled with agape, the spirit of God’s love.

There’s more to Paul’s letter, but I’m still trying to work out the Greek, it was not one of the courses I studied in seminary, so my translation is quite free and liberal – probably a paraphrase more than a translation, but I believe that it captures the spirit of Paul’s words.

We are blessed in this congregation with people who have many gifts and want to use them for God’s glory. We are blessed with many people who are able to participate in the ministry and mission of the church in different ways. We are blessed with people who are intentional about being disciples of Jesus Christ and recognizing that discipleship is a life-long journey. We are always learning and growing and seeking to be faithful to God’s call in our lives and that response changes at different times in our lives.

It is very easy for a church to get bogged down in the administration that is so very necessary to keep the building safe, the IRS happy, the electricity and heat functioning and all of the other details that are important in the smooth functioning of a congregation. However, when those things are our only focus we discover that we are leaning precariously in one direction.

Some time ago, I started to visit a chiropractor to deal with the back problems that have intermittently caused such aggravation in my life for so many years. I have learned through this process that if I spend too much time at my computer, then my leg starts to hurt. If I read too long with my head trying to accommodate my bifocals, I get a crick in my neck and then a corresponding twinge or tightness in my back or some other part of my body. I am learning in a very real way, exactly how much each part of my body depends on the other parts of my body to be in balance. When one part of my body gets out of balance, other parts of my body suffer – and I am not always quick to recognize the connection.

It is the same way within the church, in our life as a congregation. I used to serve a very small church. Our worshipping attendance was about 40. Our active leadership numbered around 10. Can you imagine trying to follow the guidelines of the Book of Discipline that describe how committees should be organized? Every time we tried to put our attention and energy into a special program or study it wouldn’t take us long to discover that we had started to neglect the day to day things that we also needed to do. The Lever soap commercial talks about the 2000 parts of your body – how we would have loved to have 200 parts of our body, or in some cases, even 20. In this congregation, we are indeed fortunate that we have more than 10 and 20. We are blessed to have enough people to allow us to focus not only on the day to day administrative type things but also on the seasonal plans, and on the education program. We are blessed to be able to have different opportunities to worship, and several options of times to come together for study. We are blessed to be able to respond at a moment’s notice to requests for blankets, coats, and other items needed at the homeless shelters in Providence. We are blessed to be able to respond to the needs of the Food Pantry here, and to be able to provide a place for this important ministry and others to take place.

Still to each of us comes the challenge not just to keep doing whatever it is we have been doing, but to constantly be open to God’s leading, to God’s prompting, to the places and ways we are being called to be God’s people in this world. Last Sunday someone spoke to me about an item that was available for donation should that specific need arise. On Thursday of this week, the need arose. God’s timing could not have been better. It was not a spectacular event in the grand scheme of the world – but it was spectacular in the life of an individual.

What is this great ministry and mission to which we are called and for which we seek to use the gifts that God has given to each of us? When we look at Luke’s gospel that we heard this morning we find a good indication. Jesus is in the synagogue reading from the book of Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then Jesus rolled up the scroll and sat down to teach. Everyone was looking at him as he said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

As Christ’s disciples we are called to a similar ministry. We are not the Christ, but we are his disciples. We, too, are to bring good news to the poor. We, too, are to work for justice and release from all that binds a person preventing the fullness of life. We, too, are called to extend God’s love to the last and the least. We are called as Paul reminds us to be one body even though we are many members. We are called to celebrate the gifts that each one brings and to work together to maintain balance in the body and an outpouring of God’s love. We are to serve, united by God’s love as one body of Christ.

The prophet was filled with passion. His words called out for justice. He promised that he would not give up until his people were safe and secure; until their victory would be seen by everyone; until they would no longer be among those who felt cut-off from the promises of God. He would not be silent, he would keep praying, and talking. He had a dream. His name was Isaiah, or his name was Martin Luther King Jr. or his name, or her name, was one that was known among a group of people as the one of passion, the one who would not keep silent, the one who would seek justice at all cost.

Take your mind back to the “I Have a Dream” speech so eloquently delivered by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in August of 1963. Hear in your mind once again that deep powerful voice filled with fire, conviction, and vision. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: `We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. … I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”

One of the reasons it’s easy to associate Martin Luther King’s message with that of the prophet Isaiah, is that he makes use of some of Isaiah’s imagery used elsewhere. “I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope”

Some of this same imagery, found in Isaiah, is also found in the gospels, in John the Baptist’s proclamation of preparing the way for the Messiah, the one who is to transform our lives and our world. We have a long history of seeking transformation, or looking for it, of praying for it. In Isaiah 40, those words of comfort are proclaimed, promising a return from exile, a better life, a new relationship, a future full of hope. Later we realize that the return from exile was not nearly as glorious as Second Isaiah had hoped and proclaimed. So we find in Chapter 62, Third Isaiah promising that he will not give up, he won’t stop praying, preaching, proclaiming, working until - until that day arrives. “I have a dream!”

This imagery is so important because although the principal characters have changed the situations are still so similar. For Isaiah it was the Babylonians who oppressed the Israelite people and carried them off into captivity and exile. When they returned and tried to reclaim and rebuild their land they were faced with the harsh realities of economic difficulties, of differences in class structure, of Canaanite rituals and beliefs that were becoming blended with Jewish practices.

John the Baptist faced the oppression of the Jewish people by the Roman government. He faced the harsh realities of economic difficulties, of differences in class structure between Roman citizens and most Jewish people, of a structure of slave and free.

If I went digging enough, I wonder if I would find that same imagery in the days before the Civil War; in the days of the underground railroad. I hear Martin Luther King Jr.’s words being like those of Third Isaiah, pleading “how long, how long must we wait.” Indeed in his famous, “I Have a Dream” speech he says that “We have come here today, to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked `insufficient funds’. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”

In the last year of so of his life, Dr. King found himself challenging this nation on a very different subject – our participation in the War in Vietnam which he considered to be an unjust war. When challenged about this he proclaimed, “It must also be said that it would be rather absurd to work passionately and unrelentingly for integrated schools and not be concerned about the survival of a world in which to be integrated.”

In words that described his steadfast commitment to justice he proclaimed, “We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.” He spoke these words exactly one year before his assassination. His words are just as true today as they were nearly four decades ago. Like the prophet Isaiah’s words they are timeless.

In the “I Have a Dream” speech he proclaims, “This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”

Think of that image, “a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” – and today we would add, “sisterhood”. A beautiful symphony! What a wonderful image. A symphony is made up of many parts of many different instruments working together. At times they blend together so well that we lose sight of what the clarinet is playing, or the violin, or oboe, or French horn. At times one instrument may rise to the forefront for a brief time. Occasionally, they may seem to be in opposition to each other. But always they are working together to produce a glorious work.

This reminds me of Paul’s words to the church in Corinth – of his proclamation of the many different kinds of gifts God has given to us and his admonition that these gifts are given for the benefit of all and are to be used to build up the community – not separate it. Paul was convinced that the Spirit graced believers with gifts for the continued building up of the body of Christ in faith, hope, and love. In the next couple of weeks we will hear more about what Paul has to say about the gifts we have received from the Holy Spirit, their importance and how we are to use them.

Today at the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Today on Human Relations Day, Today, the day before the observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Today the message is that we are to be a beautiful symphony of people with gifts that work together to build up the community of Christ. Today we are challenged to look around us and see where the imagery of Isaiah, and John the Baptist, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others needs to be proclaimed. Today we are to look at the places where justice does not exist and commit to working for justice no matter what the cost.

Yesterday, I listened to a gentleman talk about how grateful he was that it was not as cold as it had been on Friday. He said he felt badly for people who are homeless, but then added that many of them probably brought it on themselves – a common misconception. Complete with his warm coat and secure job and health and warm home and comfortable car, like many it is easier for him to believe that people are homeless because they are lazy and don’t want to work, or because they abuse drugs, or for some other reason that lets us off the hook. He was appalled when I told him that the most recent e-mail from the State Council of Churches looking for assistance for the homeless was asking for baby formula and diapers. Babies and children are not supposed to be homeless. And yet they are!

There is such a crisis in affordable housing in this area (and I don’t just mean North Kingstown – I mean all of Rhode Island and most of Massachusetts – and many other places. There is such a crisis of affordable housing that many of our homeless are people who are working – often at minimum wage jobs or slightly higher. Minimum wage is not a livable wage.

I have a dream. I have a dream that someday in this country every child will have a warm bed in which to sleep at night – the same bed every night. I have a dream that someday in this country, parents who work hard to support their families will actually be able to afford housing as well as food and clothing. I have a dream that someday all children will be safe in their own homes and in their schools and the places they play and worship and that they will not be abused by the adults who are supposed to love them and take care of them. I have a dream that someday none of our senior citizens will have to make a decision between purchasing the medication they need and paying their rent or buying food. I have a dream that someday no women will be afraid of the man who claims to love her. I have a dream…….

What are your dreams? For whose sake will you be like the prophet Isaiah and not keep silent? For whom will you seek justice at all cost? When you can answer those questions, you will have found the same fire, conviction, and vision that Isaiah, John the Baptist, The apostle Paul, Dr. King, Mother Theresa, and many others have possessed. When we fulfill the dream of a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and sisterhood working for justice we will be one in mission working together with conviction that all may know God’s love.

Jesus’ ministry started small with a miracle at a wedding, turning water into wine – a miracle of great significance, but one that most people did not notice. A major thrust of the civil rights movement in this country began when Rosa Parks exhausted from working all day, was just too tired to move and refused to give up her seat on the bus. Our actions may seem small to us, but we need to begin somewhere and our actions when combined with the actions of others can produce a beautiful symphony that makes a dream a reality.

Perhaps, you heard or read these words in December: "At this juncture in my life, I am looking for closure. I am not bitter. I am not angry. In fact, there's a great sense of peace that has come over me in the past year. Once I decided that I would no longer harbor such a great secret that many others knew, I feel as though a tremendous weight has been lifted. … "I am Essie Mae Washington-Williams, and at last, I feel completely free."[i]

This was part of a public statement made on December 17^th in South Carolina in which Ms. Washington-Williams, a retired African-American schoolteacher from California, revealed that she is the daughter of the late Senator Strom Thurmond. Thurmond was the centenarian politician who in the days of racial segregation, soared to political fame on a white-supremacist platform. Ms. Washington-Williams said, “It was only at the urging of my children and Senator Thurmond's passing that I decided that my children deserve the right to know from whom, where, and what they have come. I am committed in teaching them and helping them to learn about their past. It is their right to know, and I understand the rich history of their ancestry, black and white.”

Ms. Washington-Williams understands the importance of knowing “who you are” and having others know who you are also. This is an important theme of today’s Scripture passages.

Fred Craddock tells a story of a vacation he and his wife took together in the Smoky Mountains. A distinguished older gentleman came to their table in the hotel dining room. He was, as it turned out, a celebrity - a former governor of Tennessee. When he discovered that Craddock was a professor of preaching, the man said he had a story to tell him, a story about a preacher.

It seems that, when the governor was born, his mother wasn't married. He never knew his father. Now that may not seem so unusual today, but in the Southland of that era, that made for a difficult childhood. The other children used to taunt him and call him names. They used to ask him when his father was coming back. Whenever he was out with his mother in public, he was painfully aware that he had but one parent.

One day, when he was about ten, this boy was in church. Usually, when the service was over, he found his way discreetly out the back door - which meant that he never talked to the minister, never had to share his name. On this particular occasion, though, the boy got swept up in the crowd, and before he knew it, there was the pastor, at the front door, his hand extended.

"Well, son," the preacher's voice boomed out, "whose boy are you?" He could hardly have asked a more embarrassing question. The boy flushed and started to stammer - but before he could say anything more, the preacher (still gripping his hand) said: "I know! ... You're God's son!" He slapped him on the shoulder and said, "Boy, go claim your inheritance."

The boy never forgot that incident. He never forgot the preacher's kindness in not drawing attention to his single-parent family. He never forgot the way he sent him out, either: "Go claim your inheritance!" Long after he became one of the most popular governors in Tennessee history, this man still delighted in telling the story of the day the preacher told him he was a child of God.

It was almost as though a voice had spoken from the heavens: "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." That was the day the boy received the Blessing.

Two people who claimed who they are. Two people for whom this claiming and knowing made a difference.

There are always people willing to tell us who we are; there are always people asking us who we are. How do you answer that question? Most of us begin by giving our names. Depending upon the context, what usually follows is an identification of our job or our family connection. Today’s Scriptures proclaim that these are not the primary sources of our identity. They are more like adjectives modifying the noun. The noun – the truth about who we are is found in that wonderful story told to Fred Craddock that proclaims with our scripture, that our primary identity is that of “a child of God.” We belong to God.

We belong to God but not in terms of the way something is possessed. We are all familiar with little children fighting over a toy – “Mine.” “No, Mine.” Our belonging to God is not like that. We belong to God, but not in terms of a conquest – the way one country conquers another and claims possession. We belong to God in loving terms like we hear in the Gospel reading, where the voice from heaven proclaims to Jesus, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

How very important it is to us to have that feeling of being loved, of being valued. Although Senator Thurmond never directly acknowledged his paternity, Ms. Washington-Williams described a part of their relationship. "Whenever I came in, he would always hug me when I came in. And when I'd leave, he'd hug me. But he never came out and said, 'I love you,' but he sort of showed it in his expression".... "It felt good that at least my father cared something about me. It made me feel better."[ii]
Many years ago there was a song called “Cherish”. The singer was trying to describe how he felt about that very special person. He rejected several synonyms for love and finally settled on the word “cherish” as the only word that could truly describe what the woman meant to him. That is the word that comes to my mind when I think of God’s great love for us. We use the word “love” so often and so easily, that sometimes it seems to lose its meaning. “Cherish” seems to capture the true depth of the love that God has, the way we are valued by God.

This cherishing by God is not something new that appears only at Jesus’ baptism. It is not something peculiar to the New Testament. Our reading from the prophet Isaiah gives us a good description of God’s cherishing love. In verse 4 we hear, “you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.” In verse 5, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” In verse 1, “I have called you by name, you are mine.”

God will not allow us to be overcome. In verse 2 we read, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned; and the flame shall not consume you.” For the Israelites, this would recall stories from their history. It reminded them of the story of Moses and the Hebrew people crossing the Red Sea in their escape from Egypt, and the crossing of the Jordan River into the promised land. The story of walking through fire describes a story from Daniel of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.[iii]

Our personal experience is that God’s protection generally does not literally extend to keeping us safe from drowning or being burned by fire. Eugene Peterson in The Message puts it this way, “When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end – because I am God, your personal God, the Holy of Israel, your Savior.”

We know that the difficulties of life can either cause us to go under or they can make us stronger. If we try to face these things by ourselves, we are more likely to drown under their magnitude. When we face what seems like waters that could drown us or fires that could destroy us, if we accept the Lord’s presence with us we discover that we can face the most difficult, the most threatening, and the most horrible things in life and come through them held, supported, guided, or carried by the God who cherishes us.

Being God’s beloved child is not a magical relationship that makes things go smoothly for us. Baptism is not a magical act through which we are automatically in communion with God. Rather, being God’s child, being baptized opens the way for us to come to God in prayer. As we open ourselves up to God, as we bring to God our needs and failures, our desires and hopes, God becomes more accessible to us. God cherishes us and desires a personal relationship with us, but God does not force that relationship on us. As I said before, belonging to God, being God’s child is not about possession or conquest, it is about love.

We celebrate the Baptism of the Lord in the afterglow of Christmas. It is significant, I think, that although only two gospels tell us about Jesus’ birth, all four gospels in some way talk about Jesus’ baptism. Jesus came to be baptized by John, not because he needed to repent, not because he needed to be baptized, but rather to identify, to stand in solidarity with the people of the day. Jesus came not for the righteous but for sinners. At his baptism, as he was praying, the heavens opened, the Spirit descended upon him in a form resembling a dove, and a voice from heaven spoke God’s approval.

“The readers of Luke would interpret and understand this voice from heaven as giving both authenticity and authority to Jesus’ ministry. The love that Jesus later proclaims in his ministry is first extended to him now. The voice of God sill speaks in lives today. It speaks a word of love and promise offering identity and belonging. In the form of the Holy Spirit, God’s voice also speaks to us in prayer, in ritual, in tradition, in loving actions, and in all who thirst for justice.”[iv]

We, like Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit in order to minister to others so that they may know the joy of communion with God, so that they may gain power to resist temptation, so that they may have good news to preach. Peter and John came to Samaria, a place which Jews viewed as unclean, to offer the gifts of baptism and the Holy Spirit. So, too, God comes to our world today and offers these same gifts to us without cost.

Ms. Washington-Williams said, “I decided that my children deserve the right to know from whom, where, and what they have come.” While Ms. Washington –Williams statement focused on her relationship with Senator Strom Thurmond, what she said is equally true about how we and our children deserve to know from whom, where, and what we have come. We have come from God, as God’s beloved and cherished children. That is who we are.

As the young boy was told by his pastor “go claim your inheritance", we too, are to go and claim our inheritance as God’s beloved and cherished children.

Our Scriptures today ask us to make space to hear God’s voice in our life – a voice we share with those around us, and that tells us that we, too, are God’s beloved.

Matthew's Story of the Wise Men's visit to the Infant Jesus has stirred the imagination of many. Poets have written about them. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow even gave them names: Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthasar. Artists have painted the scene. Songs have been written and the Wise Men - or Kings - have found their way into the Christmas story and into our hearts. There has been much speculation about what really happened and who these visitors from the East really were. The facts behind the story are fuzzy at best, for example, Matthew doesn’t even tell us that there were three - that has become part of the legend. However, even though the facts are fuzzy, the truths cannot be ignored.

The original Greek calls them "magi" which covered a conglomeration of astronomers, fortune-tellers, and magicians. William Willimon says that Matthew was probably thinking of astrologers or stargazers which was a pastime specifically condemned by Jewish standards. To good Jewish readers, the magi then would represent the epitome of religious quackery and idolatry.

Others believe that the Magi were Persian priests and that Matthew who traces Jesus’ genealogy through the kings of Israel and has the Wise Men looking for the child who is born King of the Jews, is emphasizing Jesus’ kingship. It’s probably not really important exactly who they were. However, at the very least we can be sure that they were Gentiles – not Jews.

Only Matthew and Luke give us stories about Jesus’ birth. Luke’s story has angels, long journeys, shepherds in the field, and a host of angels appearing to them to announce Jesus’ birth. Luke, alone, gives two more stories about Jesus – the first, as an infant taken for the rite of presentation in the temple and then later at the age of twelve in the temple listening, and asking questions of the teachers. Luke emphasizes that Jesus was coming for the “lost, the last, and the least” and that God, through him, would turn the expectations of the world upside down.

Matthew’s account is focused differently than Luke’s. The angel appears to Joseph in a dream to assure him that it is still okay for him to take Mary as his wife. We hear of no long journey, or stable, but instead we hear of the strangers who came from the east.

In Luke’s gospel, the coming of Christ was first revealed to the Jewish world through the shepherds. In Matthew’s gospel, the coming of Christ was revealed to the Gentile world through the wise men. Early on, we are to understand that Jesus came not as a special insider to the religious establishment, but that his life would reach out to the disenfranchised, the marginal, and to those who were not Jews.

In both stories, there is light. There is the great light of the host of angels appearing to the shepherds. There is a new star in the sky identified by the wise men. In both cases, those who see, follow the light and begin a journey – a journey that includes many unknowns.

The shepherds, in the fields outside of Bethlehem, knew that they were heading into the town. The Wise Men really didn’t know where their trip would take them or how long it would be, or even how they would be received in a faraway foreign land.

Following the light of God is a journey of similar faith for us. We often don’t know where our journey will lead us. We don’t know what we will find along the way. We do, however, know that God goes before and with us and that the journey is not in vain. The emphasis is not so much on the destination, but on the journey itself.

Following the light is a common theme throughout our readings this morning. The prophet Isaiah also proclaims the light – a light that encouraged the people of Jerusalem to rise up from their beds of mourning and affliction and to receive the light of the glory of God. They lived in a time of great war and terror and fear. As I read about flights being cancelled because of information about terrorist plots; as I hear of suicide bombings, soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and numerous other places, I think that our world is perhaps not really very different.

They lived in a time when darkness seemed to cover the earth – and yet, they were recipients of the light. Light that would be so great that the scattered children from Israel would return from afar. Light so desirable that the nations would flock to them to share it.

Think for a minute about the effect that light has upon us. There are many people who suffer from a seasonal disorder caused by a reduced exposure to light as the days shorten. This disorder can cause a feeling of depression and hopelessness.

Light brings people together. If you are walking through a building you will head to the rooms that have light shining out of them rather than to the darkened rooms. One of the wonderful things about the light is that sharing the light does not diminish it. Think about walking through a dark corridor toward a lighted room. When you open the door to the room, the dark corridor is no longer as dark as it was before. Light has streamed out of the room to light the darkness – but the light within the room has not dimmed, it is just as bright as it was before you opened the door. Think of the candles on Christmas Eve; from one candle we light two and then spread the light from one to another. As the light spreads, the first candle continues to burn with the same intensity it had originally – it is not weakened or diminished by sharing itself.

A piece of clothing that looks okay in the dark may be revealed as having stains on it when brought to the light. When we come to the light we may discover some things we would rather not learn. We may discover that there is something in our lives with which we have felt comfortable, but after encountering the Lord, we begin to feel uncomfortable. We begin to ask if this is good stewardship of our time and our resources. Is it something that would be pleasing to God? We begin to look at our relationships and ask whether or not they are ones which bring glory to God. Are they ones that we could freely share with Jesus? Can they stand proudly in the light of day? We may find that some of the things that we are being asked to do as part of our jobs are not compatible with the things that Jesus asks of us as Christians.

It isn't always "fun" to be a Christian. Sometimes the things that God asks of us are hard and we'd rather pretend that we didn't hear, or we twist what we want around so that we can almost convince ourselves that it is God's will.

When we come to the light, we discover that we are in the company of the shepherds – dirty, smelly, ragged, but hard working people. We meet the magi – people from far away, people who look differently than we do, people with a different world view. As we continue to walk around in the light, we meet the fishermen, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the “lost, the last, and the least”.

In the light we can sit and talk with each other. We can learn from each other when we look the other in the eye, in a way that we cannot experience in a telephone conversation, a letter, e-mail, or instant messaging. Indeed, sometimes when we are not sure how we will be able to communicate something, we may take the easier way of some form of communication other than face to face.

Like the shepherds and the magi, we are never the same after encountering Jesus. The shepherds left, “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” The Magi, warned in a dream not to return to King Herod, went home by a different way.

When we encounter the Lord, we, too, go another way. Once we have heard the story, once we have met the Christ, we are never the same. The question that we are asked to face in this season is whether we will be bearers of the light or whether we will hide the light. Will we hide the light because we are afraid of it and don’t want the light to shine into the places of darkness? Are we afraid of what we will see or what we may be asked to do or change when we walk in the light?

Will we hide the light because we are trying to hoard it for ourselves rather than share it with others? Do we somehow think that what we have discovered is so personal that we must keep it for ourselves?

Will we bear the light – carry it into the shadows and the places of darkness? Will we share the light with others knowing that light is meant to be shared? Will we allow our lives to be changed by the light of God – and will we then carry that light into the world?

There is a story told of a church that was built many years ago, before the advent of electrical lighting. When the church was finished, someone noticed that there were no lights or holders for lights to be lit before the arrival of the congregation. The designer and builder of the church said, “When you come, each of you will bring your own light. When you are here, light will radiate from your space. When you do not come, there will be darkness where there should be light.”

We are each invited to make the commitment to bring the light of Christ with us when we come and to take Christ’s light with us out into the darkness.

Now that the mad rush of the holidays is over, O center of stillness and peace, we thank you that you are still God-with-us.

As we face the year ahead, help us to accept the difficult parts of our lives; help us to make the changes we must make; bring us to new places of openness and love toward you and the people around us; help us to overcome the fears which keep us from fullness of life.

In the frigid days of January and February, help us to keep warm places alive within us, where in secret the bulbs of springtime are nurtured.

As we face the year ahead, we thank you for one another and for your grace in Jesus Christ. Help us individually and as a congregation to be signs of your compassion, hope, joy and unity in this world you love in Jesus our Christ. Amen.

North Kingstown UMC

December 14, 2003

Title: Concrete Compassion

Scripture: Hebrew Scripture: Zephaniah 3:14-20, Isaiah 12:2-6

Epistle: Philippians 4:4-7

Gospel: Luke 3:7-18

John the Baptist is not high on the list of people I am eager to invite to a holiday party. His camel’s hair clothing and leather belt just wouldn’t fit in with the crowd and his diet of locusts and wild honey would challenge even the most adept hostess. I don’t want John jumping around shouting “REPENT” at the top of his lungs and I certainly don’t want him calling my guests and me a “Brood of vipers”. I expect a higher level of social skills from my guests. I just can’t imagine John singing “Jingle Bells” or trimming a tree.

Nevertheless John shows up every year in the middle of our Advent season either on the second or the third Sunday. He always comes with a message of repentance. He wasn’t standing in the middle of the city preaching; people had to be intentional about going out into the desert to hear him. At least in Mark’s gospel he doesn’t call the crowd a “brood of vipers”. At first glance, Matthew’s gospel seems to be a little softer also, it’s only the Scribes and Pharisees who are called a “brood of vipers” not the crowds as in Luke’s gospel. But wait! The Scribes and Pharisees – they were the religious people. They were the leaders of the synagogue. They were the examples of good faithful people trying very hard to follow their religion. Oh, no! They are us! There’s no escaping it – John’s message is meant for us – for you and for me. I don’t like it, but after many years I’m finally beginning to understand why this message comes in the middle of the commercial preparation for Christmas.

When we listen together to John’s harsh rhetoric, when we listen as fellow disciples seeking to find God’s work in a hard word, we can hear a message that most of us need to hear. In his sermon John is addressing a subject with which all faithful people struggle. He’s talking about how we take the lofty ideals and the inspiring phrases of our faith and integrate them into our daily lives. John’s talking about how we “walk the walk” not just “talk the talk” – and sometimes it pinches us. During the Christmas preparations around us, among us and within us, John’s words pinch harder than we would like.

Actually, his message is really quite simple. We are to put the lofty ideals and the inspiring phrases of our faith into work in everyday acts of compassion, justice and simple living. The message is simple – it’s the doing that gets complicated.

Three groups of people asked John what they should do. When the crowd asked, John said that the person who has two tunics should give one of them to someone who has none and those who have food should do the same. The other day I had a call from a family who would be considered homeless. They had food, but needed forks and spoons, a couple of bowls, cups, and a can opener. Getting enough for this family was easily accomplished by a quick visit to my kitchen. What I gave them won’t even be missed. It’s not quite like the person with two tunics giving one to the person who has none – is it?

I think this is one of the reasons why John’s message comes to us in the middle of Advent – in the middle of our society’s Christmas season. In this church, as in many others, we set up a giving tree. We collect gifts and take them to Project Outreach in Providence. This year we have also been collecting gently used items and Christmas stockings. We have had community people stopping in and bringing items and I can assure you Project Outreach is grateful for what they have received so far. It seems like a huge amount to us when we load it into the car to take to Providence. Viewed from the need in Providence – it is nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

We hope and pray that people in other churches and other communities are being generous also and that the needs are being met. Could we expect a pat on the back from John the Baptist? I doubt it! The reality is that for most of us, we may buy a couple of gifts for someone who really needs something, but the rest of our gift giving is a poorly disguised tradition of sharing luxuries among the affluent. John would have us give to the poor and live more simply ourselves.

When the tax collectors asked John what they should do, he told them to collect only what they were required to collect. It was a common practice among tax collectors to collect more than the Roman government required, keeping the extra for themselves. Justice is the theme of John’s word for tax collectors.

The soldiers were told not to extort money or to accuse people falsely and to be content with what they were paid. Someone in one of the Bible studies this week pointed out that all of these deal with greed in one form or another. As I thought about it, I realized that all of this and almost all of the decisions we make on a daily basis have to do with whether we live with a theology of abundance or the myth of scarcity.

Walter Brueggermann, professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia wrote an article just before the turn of the century which raises this question in profound ways. He reminds us that the Bible starts out with a liturgy of abundance. Read the creation story in Genesis and you find repeated “It is good, it is good, it is good, it is very good.” As he points out the creation story “declares that God blesses – that is, endows with vitality – the plants and the animals and the fish and the birds and humankind. And it pictures the creator as saying, `Be fruitful and multiply.’ In an orgy of fruitfulness, everything in its kind is to multiple the overflowing goodness that pours from God’s creator spirit.”[1]

It’s not until much later – in the 47th chapter with dreams of a famine that someone in the Bible says, “There’s not enough. Let’s get everything.” “The Book of Exodus records the contest between the liturgy of generosity and the myth of scarcity – a contest that still tears us apart today.” This contest becomes more pronounced when the Israelites are wandering in the desert and they receive manna, the bread from heaven. At first they try to gather more than they need or to hoard some for another day – but the extra spoils, and everyone has enough – but not more than they need. God provides all that they need.

Brueggermann points out that “We who are now the richest nation are today’s main coveters (in the world). We never feel that we have enough. … We must confess that the central problem in our lives is that we are torn apart by the conflict between our attraction to the good news of God’s abundance and the power of our belief in scarcity … We spend our lives trying to sort out that ambiguity.”

With John the Baptist, and with Brueggermann we discover that the “real issue confronting us is whether the news of God’s abundance can be trusted in the face of the story of scarcity. What we know in the secret recesses of our hearts is that the story of scarcity is a tale of death. And the people of God counter this tale by witnessing to the manna. … The great question now facing the church is whether our faith allows us to live in a new way. If we choose the story of death, we will lose the land – to excessive chemical fertilizer, or by pumping out the water table for irrigation, perhaps. Or maybe we’ll only lose it at night, as going out after dark becomes more and more dangerous.”

John’s message has never really excited me, but I can’t help but be attracted to Luke’s last statement. “And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.” Hear the way Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message. “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drame, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, 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.” There was a lot more of this – words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart in them. The Message!”

That’s still true today. God is still trying to change us from the inside out, placing everything true in its proper place before God, and getting rid of everything false. That sounds wonderful to me – but I also know it means some changes I’m not eager to make. Remember that “everywhere Jesus goes the world is rearranged: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are freed from debt.” If that’s not a theology of abundance, I don’t know what is. It’s a reminder that God’s ways are not our ways. God’s ways are not the ways of the world.

Where we feel we have to hang on to our possessions or else we might lose them and with them some of our power, our influence, our feelings of worth or superiority, God comes and says “Let go. Trust me!” The good news is that when we do this, we discover something that we can never imagine on our own – we discover a joyful life that turns the reality of the world into falsehood and presents us with a different reality – a God reality.

Reality TV has become a phenomenon of our age, but Paul in his letters defines reality by trusting in the truth of God and the claim that such a proclamation must make on not just a sliver of life but on all of life. God reality claims not just all of us, but it must also claim the past, the present and most certainly the future.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul explained how this joyful life might express itself: First in a gentleness that is “known to everyone” or as the footnote in my Bible describes it – a Christlike consideration for others. Secondly, a joyful life expresses itself in a trust that commits all potentially worrisome matters to prayer. The outcome of such joyful living is that a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.

Paul says it so beautifully in his letter to the Philippians – hear it again: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Maybe John’s message is good news after all. I think he knows something that we need to know and live – a theology of abundance, a liturgy of abundance focused on counting our blessings, being aware of them, naming them, giving thanks for them, and recognizing and celebrating that it is true – God’s reality is a much better reality than the one around us. A Theology of abundance leads to a much more joyful life than captivity to a myth of scarcity. Maybe I should invite John to my holiday celebrations after all – it seems he has a message that we need to hear.

Today, John the Baptist stands before us - bold, loud, and energetic. He asks us to check our spiritual compass to find the direction of our lives. He implores us to make sure we know where we are headed - that we are clear about which direction we are carrying the message of our lives. He assures us that it is not too late to repent - to literally turn around. No, it’s not too late to change the direction of our lives - so that we won’t miss the New Life that God is promising to bring our way.

Luke’s version of the John story begins by setting itself firmly in a particular time and place in history. ‘In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” It begins right where we are. In the third year of George W. Bush’s presidency, when Tony Blair is prime minister of England, troops are in Iraq, Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Ladin are among the missing, and threats of terrorism are more than theoretical, in the year 2003, the word of God comes to John - and through John, the word of God comes to us - to Sandy and Barbara, to Richard and Mike, to David and Debbie - the word of God comes to each of us in the wilderness. “Prepare a way for the Lord.”

We know about preparations. Students study and prepare for exams. We prepare for company by doing extra cleaning and making special food. We make other preparations which include planning the menu and shopping for the ingredients. Most of us have lists of things to do to prepare for Christmas, gifts to buy, food to prepare, Christmas cards to send, people to see, parties to attend, work to be done. The preparations alone can be exhausting. Something has to go. There are too many things to do, and it just seems impossible to get everything done.

Still, John calls us to prepare - to prepare a way for the Lord. Examine your life - examine your priorities, your values, and your behavior. Check out your emotional, your spiritual, and your ethical life. Are you headed in the right direction? Are you headed in the direction of God? And if not, then repent. Turn around. Change direction.

Luke and the other Gospel writers see John as the messenger proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah. “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: `Prepare the way of the Lord.’” We hear this and think of John out in the wilderness telling people to prepare the way of the Lord. Although that’s true, it’s not a true rendering of the quote from the prophet Isaiah, which in the 40^th chapter, verse 3 really says, “a voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord…” You see, it’s not just the prophet or the messenger who is in the wilderness, but the preparation for the Lord is also to be done in the wilderness.

Israel knew about the wilderness. The early Christians knew about the wilderness. Some of us know about the wilderness – can it be that it is in the wilderness that we are to prepare the way of the Lord? Can it be that God will come to us in the wilderness and lead us out of the wilderness?

Next week we will hear the specifics of John’s message about how we are to prepare for God but it is strongly influenced by the prophet Malachi and his question, “Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” Malachi goes on to proclaim that “he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.” For many of us these are not familiar items – a refiner’s fire is very hot and is used to rid old and silver of impurities. Fuller’s soap is the caustic homemade stuff containing alkali, potash and lye. It will get things clean, but it is very hard on fabrics. They are not exactly comfortable ways to think about Christ’s coming. Malachi tells us that the Lord will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and refine them like gold and silver.

I invite you to listen to a section from Handel’s Messiah based on Malachi’s message. There are two sections – a piece about the refiner’s fire and then one about being purified. Pay attention to your feelings as you listen to this piece. Do you feel hopeful and eager for the refining or do you want to avoid it at all cost? (play CD tracks 6 & 7)

Experience tells us that many of the best things in life come at a price. Some of the prices we are ready to pay willingly – others are more difficult. Those who have experienced heart problems know that when you get on the “other side” there is rehabilitation and it is a lot of exercise and a lot of pain. However, it brings health, healing, and hope to a threatened life. Athletes and musicians know that if you are going to do really well you must put in many hours of practice.

There are things in our lives that need refining before we can really experience the joy of God with us. Some of these things are hatred, prejudice, dry eyes in the face of human need, poverty, war, racism, and economic injustice. Remember that the refiner’s fire is used for silver and gold – for items that are already of value. It is used to rid them of impurities and make them more valuable. God gives us the gift of refinement because God loves us and wants us to experience the joy of an intimate relationship with God.

“A group of women were studying the book of Malachi. They came to verse three of chapter three, which says, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled the women. They wondered what they could learn from it about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and report back to the group at their next Bible study. She phoned a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest other than her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched, the silversmith held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that he needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire, where the flames are hottest, in order to burn away all the impurities.

“The woman thought about God holding us where the "flames" are hottest. She remembered that the verse says God "sits" as a refiner and purifier of silver, so she asked the silversmith if it’s true that he has to sit by the fire the whole time the silver is being refined. The man answered that, yes, he not only has to sit there holding the silver, but he must keep his eyes on it the entire time because if it is left even a moment too long in the flames, it will be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

“He smiled at her and said, ‘Oh, that’s easy - when I can see my image in it.’"[1]

I find that a message of hope and joy. God wants to be able to see God’s image in me. God wants to be able to see God’s image in each one of us – that is why we may sometimes face the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s soap so that hatred, prejudice, apathy, and other things like these may be purified out of our lives and we may experience the true joy of an even closer relationship with God - one in which we reflect God’s image so that others may see it.

In his book, Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis tells a parable from George MacDonald that gives us a way to help understand what happens to us when we yield ourselves completely to God and the ultimately satisfying result:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first perhaps you can understand what He is going. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on … But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of, throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but (God) is building a palace.”[2]

This is the preparation that makes us ready for Christ when he comes. It is part of growing as disciples of Jesus Christ – it is part of the lifelong journey of faith. Advent is a time when we are called to be more intentional about inviting God to refine and purify us so that God’s image may be seen in and through us. Advent is a time when we are called to be more intentional about inviting the carpenter God to freely renovate and build us into the people God calls us to be.

And those who think they are least ready for Christmas may well be the ones who are most ready. Christmas is the time when we proclaim the truth that a Savior came to be among us, one who came to lift our burdens from our shoulders, one who came to wipe the tears from our eyes. At Christmas time, we remember and celebrate the truth that the God we worship is the one called, "Emmanuel" which means "God with us" not just at Christmas, not just during times of joy, but most especially "God with us" during times of sorrow, confusion, frustration, disappointment. The burdens of our lives are not a reason to turn away from Christmas, but rather a reason to embrace the true meaning of Christmas, a meaning that too many of us lose so easily among the busy preparations of a festive season.

For all of us, and especially those of us who are surrounded by burdens which seem too great to bear, loneliness which is intensified during this season, and tears which seem to have no end, Christmas is a time to remember that we are not alone, for a Savior has been born to us, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Christmas is a time to renew our commitment to follow the Lord of our Life, the one who gives meaning to our lives and who walks with us every step of the way. It is a time for us to do a little house cleaning in our hearts and minds, and open ourselves to walk daily with the God who is with us.

This week I read Mitch Albom’s new book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It begins with these words, “This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.” It continues at one point to explain that “heaven is for … understanding your life on earth. This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for.”

In some ways, that part of the book made me think about Advent. The season of Advent begins at the end – which is also a beginning. Ends which are also beginnings are such a crucial part of our faith. If we did not have Easter, think about what our story would be. A baby named Jesus was born to a young woman named Mary. He grew and taught many things and performed many miracles and healing, and then in a cruel twist of fate he was crucified as a criminal. A beginning – and - an ending.

But every ending is also a beginning – and we have the story of Easter. Death was not the end for Jesus. Easter tells us that it was a beginning – a resurrection and with it we proclaim Christ’s presence with us at all times. We proclaim that death is not the end for those whom we love who have died. We believe that death is part of an eternal life – a transition point between this earthly life and the rest of life that is free from all of the pain and suffering of this world. We live with the hope and expectation that someday we will once again be reunited with them. But that’s not the end of the story either.

Advent begins with a part of the story that we often tend to neglect. Advent is a series of “flashbacks,” “still shots” and “previews” reminding us that Christ has already come, Christ is with us everyday and that Christ will come again in glory. Probably the only time that most of us even think about this is during our communion prayer of Thanksgiving when we proclaim, “Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.” Do we really believe it? Do we look forward to it? Does it make a difference in how we live? Advent begins with the proclamation of the second coming so that we may understand the rest of the story.

I guess if I’m honest, I would have to say that this is not something I think about a lot – probably not even a little. But there are others who think a great deal about Christ’s second coming. There are people who have carefully analyzed certain portions of the Scriptures and built up an entire framework about how all of this will take place. One of the leaders of this is Tim LaHaye who conceived the extremely popular Left Behind series. He is described on the book jackets as “a renowned prophecy scholar, minister, and educator.” Left Behind is a series of 12 novels. They begin with the premise that “In one cataclysmic moment, millions around the globe disappear. Vehicles, suddenly unmanned, careen out of control. People are terror stricken as loved ones vanish before their eyes.” Eventually we learn that Christ has come to take his followers to heaven in what is known as the rapture. Those who have not been faithful followers of Christ are left behind to face great horrors – a seven year period of tribulation.

Now I will tell you that I have read probably 8 or 9 of the books that have come out – they are suspenseful and hard to put down. I think they make great Science Fiction reading. Personally, I believe that they are bad theology. I believe that they are based on a literal reading of portions of the Bible, especially the book of Revelation, which I do not believe are to be understood literally.

This fall I was privileged to hear Harvey Cox speak about prophetic preaching. He is perhaps best known for his book The Secular City and has taught at Harvard Divinity School since the early 1960’s. His focus has been on the interaction of religion, culture and politics. In speaking about the Left Behind series, Dr. Cox said, “It is the most widely understood belief about what the Bible says about the future – and also the most dangerous.” He reminded us that what we need is a better story – and that we have a better story.

I believe, the Left Behind series focuses on fear as a way to convince people to be followers of Christ and urgently proclaims that you’d better do it now before it’s too late and you get left behind. The better story, I believe, is one of hope. It is a story that focuses on the entire Biblical story, not just a portion of it – which, I believe, was never intended to be understood literally but better understood in terms of the persecution then affecting the early church.

Our Advent Scriptures for today proclaim that hope. They are a good example of the flashback, still shots and previews that are part of Advent. They are about the hope of the past, present, and future.

First century Christians looked to the prophet Jeremiah as one of the flashbacks. Jeremiah lived in a time when Jerusalem seemed doomed. In many places Jeremiah sounds like a prophet of doom and gloom, warning the people and the king of what will happen unless they change their ways. But in the midst of this doom and gloom there are three chapters of hope, a small book of comfort. There is a message, a promise that God’s promises to Israel will be fulfilled and that “the days are surely coming.” A righteous branch will spring up from David’s line. A descendent of King David will come and he will bring justice and righteousness. We read this passage during Advent because we understand it to point to Jesus.

We could debate for a long time how Jeremiah’s prophecy is to be fulfilled; however, it is much more important to hear it as a testimony about the future – that God wins! It’s not always easy to have hope – and there are times when it is extremely difficult. Who would ever have imagined that the Berlin wall would come down – and yet, my son tells me that this is the event that sticks in his mind in the same way that the death of JFK sticks in mine. Can we imagine an Iraq where there is peace, prosperity, and safety? How alive is our hope for a world where terrorism is not part of our vocabulary?

In our personal lives there may have been or are so many places where hope may seem impossible. You don’t need me to identify them for you. You know what they are. Our mistake when we give up all hope, is that we do not count on the plans and work of God. Jeremiah raised hope in a time when hope seemed dead. It is one of the flashbacks of Advent.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the church in Thessalonica. He was thrilled to hear that they were standing firm in their faith and that they were acting in love toward one another. In many ways, they lived with a world view somewhat like that found on the Left Behind series. They expected Christ to return any day. As time went on, the question became, “how are we to live while we wait?” Paul taught them that they were to live with hope – they were to live so as to be ready for Christ whenever he comes, but not to sit around gazing at the sky while they waited. They were to express their faith in their day-to-day actions. They were to be anchored in the present – even while anticipating the future.

“Some 220 years ago, the Connecticut House of Representatives was in session one day in May. The delegates were working by natural light. Then, right in the middle of a debate, there was an eclipse of the sun; everything turned dark. Some legislators feared it was the Second Coming, and a `clamor arose.’ Many wanted to adjourn. Others wanted to pray. They wanted to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

“The Speaker of the House, who was a Christian, told his colleagues, `We are all upset by the darkness, and some of us are afraid. But the day of the Lord is either approaching or it is not. It if is not, there is no cause for adjournment. And if the Lord is returning, I, for one, choose to be found doing my duty. I therefore ask that candles be brought.” The delegates went back to their tasks.

It’s been many many years and Christ hasn’t returned in the way that the early Christians anticipated. It’s been many many years and Christ hasn’t returned in the way we hear about in the Gospel. And yet – there will come a time. The hope and the promise is that the kingdom of God will come in its fullness. This should cause us to raise our hopes – a living hope and an enduring hope – that peace really will come to every family and every nation, that no child anywhere will be abused or go hungry, that people everywhere will live together in harmony, and that, as we pray, God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.

In the meanwhile – we are to be active disciples – actively living out our faith in the best way we know. We are to be actively proclaiming God’s love through our words and our actions. We are to be helping to bring others into the knowledge and experience of God’s love by reaching out in ways that express God’s love. We are to be examining our lives and asking God to help root out those seeds or growths of prejudice, hatred, arrogance, selfishness or whatever other weeds are growing within us.

This is not pie-in-the-sky hope. It is grounded in the character and promise of God. Advent is about seeking to proclaim that all is not lost. We have a hope that is eternal and true. However, such hoping is not done while watching the clock. Rather, such hope demands a response of actively living out in life what we know to be true in our heart. The waiting of Advent is about growing in the love of God, sharing that love with others, and partnering with God in proclaiming the meaning that love brings.

Christianity takes time seriously. History is where God is made known. Christians have no knowledge of God without time, for it is through actual events happening in historical time that God is revealed. God chooses to make the divine nature and will known through events that take place within the same calendar that measures the daily lives of men and women. The centrality of time in Christianity is reflected in Christian worship - structured on recurring rhythms of the day, the week, and the year.

Today is “Christ the King:” or “Reign of Christ” Sunday. It is the last Sunday of the Christian year. Next Sunday is the beginning of Advent - the beginning of a new year in the church. Christ the King Sunday celebrates the coming reign of Jesus Christ and the completion of creation.

One way to experience this is to journey through the Christian year by way of Scriptures and music. On this day, we are called to remember not just who Jesus is, but how Christ reigns. We are called to remember Christ by living lives that reflect his character - living with compassion and justice, wisdom and mercy.

When we gather around the communion table, when we reach out to the outcast, when we seek reconciliation and justice, we remember the one whom we follow and we enable others to recognize Christ in our midst.

In our democratic society we are uncomfortable with words like “king” but today we proclaim that there is One who is supreme, One to whom we owe our ultimate allegiance, One whom we follow before and above all others - and that is Jesus Christ.

Day to day life can catch us up so quickly and easily. We need to take time out. And, in our dreaming, it is good to imagine the unimaginable and think the unthinkable. Advent provides us with opportunities to do just that. While we may think we know all there is to know about the birth of Jesus, the Season of Advent, comes each year and challenges us with an amazing story: God is coming to live among us, to be one of us. And if that is possible, then perhaps anything is possible.

Lions and lambs can lie down together. A child can lead us. Deserts can bloom. Hills can be lowered and valleys raised up. God can cast the mighty from their thrones and fill the hungry with good things. And through it all, we can know that God is with us. Advent proclaims the comings of the Christ - whose birth we prepare to celebrate once again, who comes continually in Word and Spirit, and whose return in final victory we anticipate.

Christmas in the church year is more than December 25th. It is a season of praise and thanksgiving for God becoming flesh in Jesus Christ - the incarnation. It begins with Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and continues through the Day of Epiphany. Christmas is far richer and deeper than a sentimental remembrance of the birth and childhood of Jesus. We should never deny nor suppress the intimacy and tenderness of the beginning point of incarnation, but Christmas itself means much more. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” means precisely that the One who comes is indeed our Redeemer - the very One into whose dying and rising we are baptized, just as he is baptized in the Jordan into our human lot.

The Epiphany or Manifestation of the Lord, celebrated on January 6, is an even more ancient celebration among Christians than Christmas. Originally it focused on the nativity, incarnation, and baptism of Christ. Today we celebrate the coming of the three wise men, who brought gifts to the Christ child. The feast of Epiphany is a celebration of God’s inclusive love for all the world as revealed in Jesus Christ.

Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. The season is a preparation for celebrating Easter. Historically, Lent began as a period of fasting and preparation for baptism by converts and then it became a time for penance by all Christians.

In Lent we pay close attention to the unfolding of God’s purposes within our lives, our community, and the world in which we live. We are invited to reflect upon the ways that the values of God’s reign - peace, reconciliation, forgiveness, and justice for all - are being lived out in our lives and our communities.

Lent is a time of transformation. With Jesus as our companion and guide, we enter into an intensified exploration of our relationship with God and awareness of our hope in Christ. We ponder the scriptures and search the depths of our hearts as we open ourselves to God’s future unfolding before us.

During Holy Week we encounter Christ who, through his redemptive suffering and death and his triumphal rising, comes to deliver all humanity from bondage and death. There is a familiar sequence to the events of Holy Week: the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the final days of teaching and confrontation with authorities; the Last Supper in the context of celebration of the Jewish feast of Passover; the subsequent arrest, trial, and crucifixion on Good Friday; the burial and time in the tomb.

Easter is the oldest festival of the church. The Easter season bursts open as God raises Jesus to new life. It’s good news we couldn’t have expected. When we hear it, we realize that everything has changed, once and for all! Like the women who were the first witnesses to the Resurrection, we move from uncertainty and doubt to hope and joy. Our new understanding of God’s action has to move beyond locked doors, and out onto the roads of our lives, where we hear about the abundant life God has given to us and to our communities.

Pentecost is the climax of the Easter-Pentecost Season. At Pentecost we remember and celebrate the fullness of God’s promises in Jesus Christ. We have the whole sweep of Christ’s death and resurrection, his ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit with all God’s gifts and commissioning power for our ministries.

Today is Christ the King. As well as being the end of the Christian year, it is also and importantly a transitional Sunday, leading directly to Advent. It helps us remember the continuity between the celebration of the sovereignty of Christ and the expectation of Christ’s coming again in glory which opens the Advent Season. We have more than a baby Jesus at Christmas; we have a sovereign Christ.

North Kingstown UMC

November 16, 2003

Text: Epistle: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Gospel: Mark 13:1-8

Title: Hilarious Giving[1]

“Jazz great Count Basie learned a hard lesson about giving and receiving when living in Kansas City near the trumpeter known as “Lips” Page. The two musicians were about the same size, but Basie did not have his wardrobe with him. The Count remembers, `So one night we were supposed to go out somewhere and I said I couldn’t go because I didn’t have anything to match up, and he said, `That’s okay. Why don’t you borrow one of my suits?’

“`I figured that would be great. Because he had three really sharp, truly great outfits. But I didn’t know what I was getting into. I couldn’t get rid of him. Everywhere I went he was right there with me saying, `Don’t lean on that.’ Or he’d say, `Hey man, that chair is kinda dirty.’ Or `Basie, watch it sitting down.’ He couldn’t think of anything else all night but that suit of his I was wearing. That was one of the most uncomfortable evenings I’ve ever had in my life. I never was so glad to get back home and take off a suit.’”[2]

“God loves a cheerful giver,” writes the Apostle Paul to the believers in Corinth . “What a concept – that giving things away will make us happy! But it’s God’s honest truth. Anyone who’s ever dug down deep enough to give a sacrificial gift, a gift that really costs something in money, time, or effort, and then has watched the smile of gratitude in the recipients, knows what it means to be a cheerful giver. It feels wonderful to give things away, if by giving we bring joy.”[3]

Apparently Count Basie’s friend Page had not learned that principle. He gave Basie the gift of wearing one of his suits for an evening, but he held to it so tightly that neither one of them was able to enjoy the gift. He may have thought he was being a cheerful giver in loaning his suit, but he certainly missed the joy of giving his friend an enjoyable evening out.

When we use the word “cheerful” we usually mean something low-key like “looking on the bright side” or “starting each day with a smile”. Carlos Wilton, a pastor of a Presbyterian Church in New Jersey wrote a sermon whose title I have borrowed for today, “Hilarious Giving.” He points out that when Paul describes a “cheerful” giver, he uses the Greek word “hilaron” which is related to our English word “hilarious”.

Hilarious is not a chuckle – it is rolling in the aisles with merriment. Hilarious is a great big belly laugh that swells and expands until the whole body is shaking.

I would venture that most, if not all, of us have heard of Ebenezer Scrooge – the stingy curmudgeon in Charles Dicken’s The Christmas Carol, whose name has become synonymous with being tight-fisted to extreme. Interestingly, when we call someone a Scrooge, we neglect the famous conversion in his life. At the end of the story, in the various dramatizations of the play we see a giddy Ebenezer who wants Bob Cratchit’s family to have not just a goose, but the biggest one. He visits his family who are, of course, surprised to see him celebrating a holiday. He is full of joy, eager to give a gift to help those in the poor house – a generous gift to make up for many years of gifts not given. He becomes not merely a cheerful giver but a hilariously happy giver.

Is the apostle Paul really saying that we have a second chance with our money and our resources – a chance to give of our time, our talents, and our resources in a way that will make us laugh, that will make us be hilarious givers? I believe that he is.

My history as a pastor has been to be uncomfortable when it came to the time of year that we talked about pledging and the financial condition of the church. I have often talked about stewardship hoping that people would make the translation to financial stewardship as well as stewardship of time and talents. This year has been different. Although it has not been particularly easy, I have truly believed that it is time to stop implying and to speak about the good news of financial stewardship as well as the stewardship of the rest of our lives. In the past, I was most concerned about not making someone feel guilty about what they were not able to do – and that is still true. However, as we come closer to Christmas, I remember that the most hilariously happy Christmas my children and I ever had was the year when we had practically nothing in terms of financial resources. We celebrated in the ways we could, not in the ways we couldn’t.

Jesus spoke about money and our use of it more than about prayer or faith or about anything else except the Kingdom of God . If our money is like “Lips” Page’s suit, something we hold onto even while giving then we have not yet heard the good news. In that case, if it pinches a little then perhaps we need to look at where and how and why it pinches – and that is a matter between each of us and God. The word “Gospel” means “Good News” so let’s talk about the Good News here.

Ebenezer Scrooge had a great amount of money to give away – but it’s not about the quantity of money we have. It’s about how tightly we hold on to it. The standard we hold up in the church is proportionate giving – not quantity. It’s the act of opening the hand instead of closing it, of seeing a need, large or small, and joyfully saying “I can do something about that.”

There are two things I want to point out about hilarious giving. The first is that it operates from abundance rather than scarcity. The second is that it looks to the future rather than being stuck in the present.

It can be difficult to catch a vision of abundance, but each of us is wealthy when compared with much of the rest of the world. Brother David Steindl-Rast, a writer in the field of spirituality, writes, “Abundance is not measured by what flows in, but by what flows over. The smaller we make the vessel of our need … the sooner we get the overflow we need for delight.”[4] Pastor Wilton in his sermon wrote, “Many of us are trapped on the same treadmill of consumption that wearies our national American soul. As soon as `our cup runneth over’ what do so many of us do? Why, we go out and buy a bigger cup! That means we are always living in an illusion of scarcity, always bemoaning the gap between what’s in our cup and the rim – when in reality we, of all the peoples on this planet, are the most blessed financially (yes, even those of us on fixed incomes, even those of us trying to break into a career, even those of us with children in college, even those of us on food stamps). If you or I believe we live in a world of scarcity, it is a sure thing we’ll find giving to be a chore, a threat, even an insurmountable challenge. Yet, if you and I catch the vision of abundance, hilarious giving will be our joy.”[5]

The second observation I’d like to make about hilarious giving is that it looks to the future. There is an Jewish fable about an old man who spent all his spare time planting fig trees. The people of his village laughed at him and teased him. “You’re a fool, old man,” they would scorn. “Why are you planting fig trees? You’re going to die before you’ll ever bite into a single fig!” “You are quite right,” replied the old man. “Yet I have spent many happy hours sitting under fig trees and eating their fruit. Those trees were planted by others. Why shouldn’t I make sure that others will know the same enjoyment I have had?” [6]

I have been in some churches where children in worship are seen as an interruption or a distraction. I am so glad that this is not true here. Welcoming children in worship and in all areas of the church is like planting a fig tree. Many of us will not see the results. They may move away or we may not be here to see them as adults but we want them to know how much God loves them. We want them to be able to make responsible and moral decisions in their lives. We want them to be able to face the difficulties of life and know that they are not alone. We want them to be able to draw upon the seeds of the faith that was planted in their lives when they were infants, toddlers, elementary children or teenagers. Many people planted those seeds for me, and it is my joy to be able to help plant those seeds for others. Think about those people who cared about your future enough to plant the seeds.

There are some churches that seem to be dying. The prevalent goal is that the church will still be there when it is time for their funeral. Hilarious giving looks to the joy of knowing that the church will be here not only for funerals, but also for births, weddings, and mostly for daily nurture along the faith journey. Hilarious giving wants to reach out to those who will never walk through these doors but who will be touched in some way by the seed of love planted through the mission of the church, through our donations to the food pantry, to Project Outreach, through blankets, through visits, through our mission shares spread throughout the world.

Let me tell you a story of a conversation between a person who never saw beyond himself and this world and another who knew life in its fullness and the joy of hilarious giving. “The one asked the other, `What are you going to do with your life?’ The other replied, `I’ll learn my trade well.’ `And then?’ `I’ll set myself up in business.’ `And then?’ `I’ll make my fortune.’ `And then?’ `I suppose I shall grow old and retire and live on my money.’ `And then?’ `Well, I suppose someday I will die.’ Then came the last stabbing question: `And then…..?’”[7]

We know all too well, that our lives cannot be planned thinking that we have control over everything that happens. Too many people learned that on a Thursday night in February when the Station burned. Too many people learned that Friday afternoon when a mill in Pawtucket burned and several houses were destroyed. Too many people learn that everyday when the doctor tells them the results of their tests, when their employer gives them the bad news, when a loved one says, “I don’t love you anymore.” Too many people learn the hard way that we are not really in control of what will happen in our lives. What we are in control of is our response – and those of us who have learned about hilarious giving will recognize the treasures that are all around us, that are part of our everyday life. Those of us who have experienced the joy of hilarious giving throughout our lives will have an answer to that last “And then?”

North Kingstown UMC

November 9, 2003

Text: O.T. I Kings 17:8-16

Psalm 127

Gospel Mark 12:38-44,

Title: “Two Kinds of Giving”

The story is told that “Church supply houses now market an offering plate that responds to your gift. When the offering plate is passed, if you put in $20 or more, it plays the `Hallelujah Chorus.’ If you put in a $10 bill, it rings a bell. If you pass the plate without putting anything in the plate, it takes your picture.” [1] It might be helpful to pay attention to the various thoughts and reactions you had to that little story. Did you feel pleased because you would hear the Hallelujah Chorus when you put in your offering? Do you give so much more than $20 that you want to be recognized with something even more special? Would you be embarrassed to have your picture taken? Is the whole idea thoroughly repulsive because you believe that what you give is between you and God? Did you have a different reaction? Sometimes these little stories can give us an important clue to what we really think about our financial giving to the ministries and missions of the church.

As ridiculous as the idea may be of an offering plate that plays music and announces our gift, I read this week in Jesus’ day the area of the temple popularly known as the treasury consisted of thirteen offering-receptacles, in the form of a trumpet, with the broad base at the bottom and the narrow openings at the top. They were placed under the colonnade in the Court of the Women where the widow in today’s Gospel would have come to worship. It would have been hard to drop a coin into one of those elaborate receptacles without making a distinctive sound and the sound would have given a pretty good idea of exactly what a person was putting in.[2]

Sitting in the temple, teaching his disciples and answering the questions posed to him, Jesus observed how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. For many of them their gifts were probably calculated gifts based on the law of the tithe – the giving of ten percent – and the long tradition of how it was figured. When people today start talking about a tithe, the discussion often focuses on whether this is based on pre-tax or post-tax income, whether other charitable donations are deducted, and whether or not the tithe can be reduced because of government programs that care for the needs of citizens. These discussions miss the whole point – and emphasize the two kinds of giving. One is represented by the calculated obligation of meeting requirements, doing one’s fair or expected share or giving out of obligation. The other is something very different.

It is significant that the widow in the gospel had two coins. If she had only one, we might assume that she was putting in the smallest gift imaginable, or just complying with the law. Actually, however, she would have been far exceeding the law, because out of her two coins, she gave one – an incredible offering of 50% - not 10%.

Since she had two coins, however, she clearly had the choice of keeping one for herself and giving one. Certainly no one would have faulted her for that – least of all Jesus. In fact, Jesus might have scolded her for her lack of prudence in giving both coins, when she so desperately needed them for herself – and would, quite likely, have been one of the widows receiving assistance from the temple offerings.

Jesus praised her, however, and compared her with the others in the temple. She gave more than all the others put together, he proclaimed. Certainly, the monetary value of her gift was incredibly small, but that wasn’t Jesus’ point. She gave all that she had; everyone else gave out of their excess.

It’s been interesting to me, through the years, that the people who most often feel guilty and lament their inability to give more are those who truly cannot give anymore than they are – and, indeed, have often stretched themselves beyond what many of us would call prudent behavior. I have seen neighborhoods of people with very little in terms of material resources who are eager to share with each other and help someone who has less, while many of us who have comparatively much more, hold tightly to what we have so that we can purchase the newest gimmick. It’s really about attitude.

Why did the widow give the way she did? I think it was because she believed in the work of God. The work of the temple was important to her, and she wanted to support it. She freely dropped her two coins in the box, for she knew that in so doing, she was part of something bigger than herself. There is a certain dignity about being able to give to something we believe in. It says that we are not simply takers, but givers.

Several years ago, the youth group at the church I was serving made Christmas ornaments to take to the Biltmore Hotel as part of the Hasbro giving tree. One of the boys in my group came from a home where resources were extremely scarce. Quite likely, he and his siblings would be recipients of some of the gifts that would come as a result of that tree. He was mesmerized as he looked at the tree. Finally, he said to me, “Do I get this? All of those decorations mean that some kid is going to get a toy for Christmas?” I said, “Yes, that’s right.” He stood for a minute, still trying to fathom all of this. Then he said, “So, I made three decorations, right?” “Yes, I replied,” “So, three kids are going to get presents this Christmas because of me?” “Yes, that’s right.” With a glow on his face, and a sparkle in his eyes, he simply said, “Wow!” I think it was probably the first time in his life that he had been part of something so much bigger than he was. It was the first time that he was able to know that he had done something to make another kid happy on Christmas morning. The time he had spent making the decorations with materials supplied by me was minimal – not quite on the par of the two coins the widow put into the temple offering – but the impact on him of having that opportunity was phenomenal.

The number of ornaments on the tree was overwhelming and, in fact, at that point, many of them were being collected in large barrels. His three decorations seemed like nothing compared to the whole, just as the widows two coins might have seemed like nothing to those who administered the temple funds – but when measured against what he had known, and what she had to give these were huge gifts.

Our gifts really have little to do with the money itself; but have everything to do with the depth of our love, our faith, our discipleship. Mother Teresa has said: “It’s not how much we do, but how much love we put into doing it. It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.”

The statistics have confirmed that charitable giving is down. Donations to the country’s largest charities dropped in 2002 for the first time in a dozen years.[3] It’s easy to say it’s the economy. Or is it? Economic downturn notwithstanding, all of us live in a society vastly richer than the one our grandparents inhabited. This has been documented again and again, so many times and in so many ways it cannot be questioned. Yet even as our income has gone up, our spending has gone up even faster. As income has climbed, many people's giving to others has decreased-it may perhaps have stayed the same in dollars, but it hasn't kept pace with inflation. One recent study indicated that churchgoing Protestants in America give an average of 2.5 percent of their household income to the church. Now that may sound pretty generous, as an average-until you consider that in the depths of the Great Depression, Protestants gave an average of 3.3 percent of their income. As a people, we're earning more but giving less.[4]

There are many reasons for this, I think, but one of them is illustrated in our reading from I Kings. In the height of a three year drought, the prophet Elijah was sent to the town of Zarephath. A widow in the pagan town, a woman who has outside of the circle of those who were considered God’s people, was gathering sticks to build a fire. She was planning to use the very last of her flour and oil to make the very last meal that she and he son would eat. Elijah told her to first make a small cake for him, with the promise that the flour and oil would not run out until after the drought had ended.

“The tough thing about trust is that it demands so much. Elijah may have known that God stood behind his demand for food, but the widow certainly didn’t know it. She had to take what he said on faith and give food to him first. Only then could she prepare what she knew to be her family’s last meal before starvation.”[5] By the way, the flour and oil did not run out and she and her son had many many more meals.

She lived in a society and a culture where hospitality was highly valued – where there were no fast food restaurants for travelers, and where people were truly dependent upon each other. Perhaps that is part of what we have lost with our individual houses on separate lots well apart from each other, our cars and long commutes where we hear only the radio or our CD’s or tapes, and our e-mail that doesn’t require us to look at the other person or even listen to a voice. Perhaps we have lost the sense of being part of something bigger than ourselves. Perhaps we have lost some of the value that we used to place on other people and our interdependence upon them.

We may not have been down to our last crumb of meal and ounce of cooking oil, but there have been times when we were convinced we had nothing left to give. Our caring, our time, our money, our abilities – we have felt totally depleted. And yet in giving to the last drop, in reaching out to another person, we find a strange replenishment that is enough to sustain us.

God’s resources never end. When we look at the two widows in today’s readings it is easy to make ourselves feel guilty because we are not giving it all away. But we might think more about Ebenezer Scrooge at the end of A Christmas Carol. Here was a man as unlike these women as possible. He was a man so stingy he wouldn’t even let his employee have the whole of Christmas day off from work. Through insight into the hollowness of his own life his heart gets converted into a person who gives out of joy and discovers that it is indeed more blessed to give than to hoard.

We really do know that feeling don’t we? Who among us does not love the feeling of discovering just the right present to give to someone we love at Christmas or for their birthday? Who hasn't felt the great sense of pleasure and excitement one first felt as a child, when one made or carefully saved money to buy a present for a parent? All of us find joy in giving to those we know and love. Our challenge as Christians is to expand that circle to include people we don't know in order to better serve and enjoy the God whom we do know.

There are some weeks when I know exactly what I’m planning to preach about – but, of course, sometimes my plans don’t end up fitting with the reality. Normally, I spend Friday actually putting the words down on paper – but sometimes that doesn’t happen either. This week was one of those weeks. It was early Saturday evening when I actually sat down at the computer to bring together all the thoughts that had been simmering during the week.

I was focusing primarily on two pieces – one from the Epistle and one from the Gospel. In the Gospel we read about the scribes asking Jesus which commandment is first of all. Jesus replied, “The first is, `Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

Jesus gave them more than they had asked for. He gave them not only the first commandment about loving God, but also the second commandment about loving your neighbor – the second being the way we demonstrate our following of the first. It’s easy to talk about loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, but then we have to ask what this “loving” would look like.

The story is told of a preacher who “paid a visit to a farmer and asked, `If you had two hundred dollars, would you give one hundred dollars to the Lord?’ `Sure would,’ said the farmer. `If you had two cows, would you give one cow to the Lord?’ `Yeah, I would.’ `If you had two pigs, would you give one of them to the Lord?’ The farmer replied, `That’s not fair. You know I have two pigs.’”[1]

Loving God may be much more comfortable in theory than it is when action is required. The action was the second piece I had planned to focus upon. In the Epistle reading, Paul is writing to the Christians in Corinth about their plans to help the Christians who were suffering in Jerusalem . It appears that they had grand plans, but after making an initial effort, they seemed to have started dragging their feet. In this part of the letter, Paul is encouraging them to finish what they started. Then comes the place I wanted to focus. “Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.”

Eugene Peterson in The Message puts it this way: So here’s what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart’s been in the right place all along. You’ve got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands. This isn’t so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you’re shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even.

One of the many reasons that I didn’t get to actually writing until Saturday night was because along with others I spent a good amount of time yesterday dealing with something that our church has in super abundance – leaves! Raking leaves is not one of my favorite things to do, but I have to tell you, it’s much more enjoyable when there are other people doing it also. You’ve heard the saying that “many hands make light work.” Well, it may not exactly be light, but it is true that many hands make it easier to accomplish a big job like that – and working with others can also be fun. It’s a great way to get to know other people.

How does that relate to what Paul is writing about? Well, simply put, there are many things that need to be done in the ministry and mission of our church. Some of us excel at certain things, many of us are good at something, and all of us are able to participate in some way. I knew an elderly woman who was confined to bed. Some might have wondered what she could do to help the church; how she could participate in God’s work. She had a wonderful ministry – the ministry of prayer. While others were praying for her, confined to bed in a nursing home, she was praying for everyone else. She prayed for the other residents of the home and for the nursing, housekeeping, and administrative staff. She listened to the news and prayed for people in her community and around the world – and she always prayed for the leaders of the world governments. When people from church came she asked about others and prayed for all of their needs.

Currently the Lay Leadership Committee of this church – the committee previously known as the nominating committee – is seeking people who are willing to respond to God’s call in different ways. Some people are so stressed out with jobs and family concerns or health issues that the thought of giving even one hour a week to something at the church seems overwhelming. Other people may be experiencing a different set of circumstances and find that they have several hours a week or month that they can offer. I would encourage each of you to think about where and how God is calling you to respond and to be open to ideas that may not have occurred to you. Let me remind you of the paraphrase from Eugene Peterson, “Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t.” If you haven’t yet been approached by anyone – please don’t hesitate to let me or someone else on that committee know where you think God may be calling you – where you have gifts or abilities that can help make a difference.

As I was beginning my work last night, I had a phone call from Bonnie from the food pantry. Yesterday was the Scouting drive for food and there were people in and out of here all morning dropping off the food that had been collected. Bonnie was calling because she was at the church checking to see how the sorting and collecting had gone. There was a great deal of food in the hall, and when she went to the door of the room that we use for counting Sunday’s offering, she found food piled four feet high filling the room.

As the New Revised Standard Version puts it, “it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need.” The amount of food collected was great – and it won’t be very long before it is all gone – distributed to people in town who currently do not have the abundance that many of us have.

As Bonnie and I hauled bags of food out of the room and put them in the hall, I thought about how the space that is used for counting the financial gifts to the church had been filled with other gifts so desperately needed. I thought about how the financial gifts to the church are translated into other gifts that meet needs in many different ways.

This week, I also received from our conference the figures that this church will be expected to contribute during 2004 as part of our mission shares. Those of you who have been around the Methodist Church for many years may remember the term “askings” or more recently “apportionments.” In an attempt to remind us that this is how we are in mission together, they are now called “mission shares.” The amount is apportioned to each church in a formula that attempts to correlate to ability.

In many ways, this method used in the Methodist church is related to this passage from Corinthians. It is a connectional system, in which each church is connected to the others, and in which we seek to do together what we are not able to do alone. The amount of food that came in here yesterday is far more than most of us could have paid for. But, with many many people giving one bag of food a very large amount was collected.

This is how the early church worked – and it is the way that we work together today. With each person doing what he or she is able to do, many great things can happen. With each person giving what he or she is able to give, our combined resources are able to do great things for God.

Tony Campolo, “sociology professor at Eastern Baptist College and popular speaker, told of his experience one year at a Women’s Conference where he was making a major address. A the point in the program when the women were being challenged with a several thousand dollar goal for their mission projects, the chairperson for the day turned to Dr. Campolo and asked him if he would pray for God’s blessing upon the women as they considered what they might do to achieve the goal. To her utter surprise, Dr. Campolo came to the podium and graciously declined her invitation. `You already have the resources necessary to complete this mission project right here within this room,’ he continued. `It would be inappropriate to ask for God’s blessing, when God has already blessed you with abundance and the means to achieve this goal. The necessary gifts are in your hands. As soon as we take the offering and underwrite this mission project, we will thank God for freeing us to be the generous, responsible, and accountable stewards that we are called to be as Christian disciples.’ When the offering was taken, the mission challenge was oversubscribed, and Dr. Campolo led a joyous prayer of thanksgiving for God’s abundant blessings and for the faithful stewardship of God’s people.”[2]

What does God expect of us? What percentage of our time, our financial resources? What percentage of our lives? “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So here’s what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to continue with what you started. Don’t let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart’s been in the right place all along. … Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands. This isn’t so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you’re shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out – not even, but richer than ever before because of what Christ Jesus has done for us.

[1] PreachingToday.com Perfect Illustrations, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton , Illinois , 2002, p. 186

[2] Hewett, James S. editor, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale Publishing, Wheaton, Illinois, 1988, p.239, #16

Television Buffs may recall a segment of a show called Night Court. I seldom watched it, but one episode is memorable. The star is Harry, sometimes magician, sometimes comic, and sometimes judge. Another key actor is Bull, a large, bald bailiff.

In one particular episode, Bull is helping an electrician string some wire. Bull is on the roof of the courthouse when lightning strikes. His shaven head and his height draw the lightning – he is hit and knocked out. The scene opens with Bull lying on the couch in the judge’s chambers. His face is blackened, his clothes torn and smoking.

A doctor is looking at him in wonderment: “He should have died when the lightning hit him. In fact, he was technically dead for a brief time, but it looks as if he is going to be all right.”

When Bull recovers, he relates that he heard a voice and saw a bright light – which he interprets as God. He is sure he heard: “I’m not ready for you yet – go and give everything you have to the needy.” Bull removes his life savings from the bank and begins handing it out to anyone who is in need. A long line forms in the courthouse cafeteria where Bull is enjoying his new role.

When all but one crumpled bill of his entire life savings has been given away, Harry confronts Bull with the news! It wasn’t God he heard! In the confusion of the lightning strike, Bull had misinterpreted what the electrician said to him. Saddened that he had given away his life savings, Bull is now seen in a darkened courtroom. His large head is in his hands. A rather nondescript old man in rumpled clothes comes walking into the courtroom. He asks Bull to show him where to find the man who is giving away the money. He is obviously in great need. Bull pulls his long body up, reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a crumpled bill. He offers the lat $100 of his life savings. “I was saving it for food – but here, you take it.”

As the grateful man leaves the courthouse, the scene pans to Harry standing there. He had entered the courtroom in time to witness the whole scene. He calls out to Bull, “It’s a hard habit to give up, isn’t it?”

After Harry leaves, Bull begins talking to God. It is clearly a new relationship for Bull. He explains to God that he really thought he was doing God’s will. Besides – it felt good! Now what should he do? He had given away his life savings. Could God give him a sign? There is a long silence in the dark courtroom as Bull stares through the skylight.

Then another man enters the room. He represents the city, which is anxious to avoid a lawsuit from Bull’s electrical accident. The attorney offers Bull $20,000 to sign the papers releasing the city from liability. Bill hesitates while he considers the offer.

The attorney says, “Okay then - $27,500 – but that’s our final offer.” Bull grabs the papers and signs them as the attorney fills out the check. When the attorney leaves, Bull walks quietly across the dark courtroom. Then he stops, looks up and simply says – THANKS!”[1]

Out of a terrifying experience which left him burned and could have been fatal, Bull discovered a joy in being alive – and, a new experience for him, the joy of giving with reckless abandon. His entire life savings was given joyfully to people who needed the money more than he did. There’s no indication in the story that he ever gave a thought to keeping some for a rainy day, of holding some back for security. His joy in being alive and in believing that this was what God wanted him to do led him to give and give and give. By the time he discovered what had really happened up on the roof, giving was such a part of him – it felt so good, that he continued to do so even when it was the end of what he had.

In some ways Bull reminds me of the Christians in

Macedonia

. Eugene Peterson in The Message describes their experience this way, “Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could – far more than they could afford! – pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.”

For the Macedonians, Paul has an explanation. Again in The Message, we read, “What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives.” They had a fabulous fortune that could not be counted in dollars and cents. They had given themselves to God without reservation. They discovered such joy in their relationship with God that the natural outgrowth was to reach out to others – to share with others in need – even though they had very little for themselves. This is part of stewardship. We often think of stewardship as involving money, but it’s much more than that. Stewardship is about how we live our lives after we say “yes” to God. For the Christians in

Macedonia

, it meant giving to the needs of others.

A friend of mine tells of being in a very poor village in the

Philippines

. She and the people she had come with were having dinner in one home. They had brought rice to the family – enough to feed the family for a month. My friend walked into the kitchen where the eldest daughter at home – a girl of about 10 – was cooking the rice. To my friend’s surprise the child had cooked all of the rice – not just what was needed for the meal. As she watched, the girl took scoops of rice and put it out the window. When she went closer, she saw many people of the village lined up outside the window holding bowls. The young girl continued to scoop rice into their bowls. When she noticed my friend watching she said simply, “They are hungry too.”

This child and her family had become recipients of a fabulous fortune – enough rice to feed them for a month. Their response was one of gratefulness and generosity. Their mindset and approach was different than ours might be. Instead of keeping the rice and assuring themselves of enough food for a month, they shared the rice and assured an entire village of enough food for one meal. Stewardship of one’s resources looks differently when all that we have is believed to be a gift from God.

Much of our culture encourages individuality and independence. Even in our churches we talk often about our personal relationship with Jesus Christ – our fabulous fortune. This is important, but it encourages us to think about ourselves rather than about our relationship with others – specifically our relationship and responsibility to our family. Oh, we often think about our biological family. There are many people in this congregation and others who make great sacrifices to care for and to help family members. We consider it our responsibility and frequently we also consider it a joy to do what we can to help those we love.

But we have another family also. As Christians we are part of a much larger family – the family of God. We have brothers and sisters here in this congregation and in our town, our nation and our world. The example of Jesus shows us that our family is not limited only to those who believe in Jesus but to all of God’s children. When we truly realize that we are part of the rest of the people in this world, we feel a sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of others.

The Macedonian Christians did this out of an incredible happiness even in their great poverty and fierce troubles. The young girl in the cottage in the

Philippines

shared the rice out of her personal experience of knowing what it was to be hungry. They saw themselves as part of a larger picture – something that seemed to escape the disciples in today’s gospel reading – something that escapes all too many of us in today’s world.

James and John sought the seats of honor and power – the seats at the right and left of Jesus in the kingdom. Jesus’ response to them was that it wasn’t about honor and power – it was about service, about helping others. This was something that the Macedonian Christians understood. This was something that a 10 year old girl in the

Philippines

lived. This is what stewardship is about – how we live our lives after we say “yes” to God.

We might ask ourselves when, why, and how we reach out to others. Do we respond to needs out of compassion and thankfulness for God’s blessings or grudgingly out of a sense of obligation? Do we give to others as the need dictates or as the means to a deduction on our income taxes? Do we give out of our excess – and how do we identify that excess? Is our excess what we have left after we buy that third glass of wine, the best cable programming that money can buy, and whatever frivolous purchase catches our eye at the mall?

When was the last time we pleaded for the privilege of helping someone else like the Macedonians did? We are the possessors of a fabulous fortune – will we protect it and hoard it for ourselves or will we respond out of generosity and joy to God? If we were to evaluate our zeal for God in light of our checkbooks what grade would we deserve? Have we, like the Macedonians, given ourselves without reservation to God? Has being a good and faithful steward become a habit that’s hard to break?

These are tough questions. They may make us squirm but they are questions that we, as Christians, need to ask ourselves from time to time as we seek to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

[1]Joiner, Donald W. & Wimberly, Norma. Recalled in The Abingdon Guide to Funding Ministry, Volume 3, Abingdon Press, Nashville , 1997, p.72

I have a friend who professes that she has always been a Christian; that her faith has been the most important thing in her life and that she has never – even once had any doubt about her faith. On the other hand, believing has been a long struggling journey for me. Despite almost growing up in a church setting, there have been times of intense belief and times of equally intense doubt. Another friend had never been inside a church until she was an adult – her path to becoming a Christian was much more circuitous. We are as different as the number of people gathered here today, and although there are many similarities if we started comparing we would discover that our faith journeys have all been different.

Some of us are very emotional following our heart, while others analyze every detail. Some of us easily accept what others say, while others must have proof and argue every point. Some of us love to sing, others like to meditate silently. Some of us approach things visually, others through what we hear, smell, touch, taste or feel. If we are so very different then it makes sense that our faith journeys would be different, that we would have different ways of experiencing Christ’s presence and growing in the faith.

In our Gospel reading today we have the story of one man struggling to find his way. Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell this story. All three gospels describe the man as rich, Matthew says that he is young, and Luke describes him as a ruler. This man came to Jesus and wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. He really wasn’t very different than most of us. We often want to know what we have to do. What is the cost, what are the requirements?

It is important to me that Mark tells us that Jesus looked at the man and loved him. Jesus knew everything that he needed to know about this man – everything he needs to know about us – and he loved him. This was a man who had followed the laws, he had obeyed the Ten Commandments – or at least the 6 mentioned here. Jesus affirmed this man’s behavior, his desire to do what was right. But there were 4 other commandments: Four commandments that focused not just on right actions, but on a right heart. Two of them especially were ones that the young man probably believed wholeheartedly that he had followed, but he would soon learn otherwise. “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything.”

Jesus looked at the young rich man and loved him, and knew that he wanted to do what was right, but that there was one big thing standing in the way. Jesus looked at him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” The rich man went away grieving because he had many possessions. He was face to face with the reality that he had put other things before God and that his money had become his idol.

Jesus explained to his disciples, “How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God ! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God .” So, perhaps we breathe a little sigh of relief because after all, how many of us consider ourselves to be rich – especially next to someone like Bill Gates. However, what if Bill Gates isn’t the unit of measure to determine whether or not we are rich?

What if we compare ourselves to the rest of the world instead? There is a web site called “globalrichlist.com”. At that site if you anonymously type in your approximate annual income it tells you how you compare with the rest of the world. I knew that I was wealthy by the world’s standards, but I didn’t know that I was in the top 1.72% of the richest people in the world. We are wealthy in comparison to the rest of the world. You need only have an annual income of $47,500 to be in the top 1% of the richest people in the world. An annual income of only $20,000 would still place us in the top 11.1%. The unbelievably low income of only $1,000 would still make us richer than more than 55% of the world’s people.

So, are we to do as Jesus told the rich man? Are we to go, sell all we have and give the money to the poor? I’m hoping that this is not what Jesus is saying here. This is the only person to whom Jesus gives this instruction. To others who would follow him, he says different things. To Simon, whom we know as Peter, and his brother Andrew the call was to “Come, follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” To Levi, the tax collector, Jesus simply said, “Follow me.” The universal call to discipleship is and always has been, “Follow me.” This is what Jesus calls each of us to do.

However, the story of the rich young man here, does remind us that following Jesus is not just a simple “follow when you want to” type thing. The call may be to give up something else that is dear to us, something that receives the trust and love due to God alone, something that keeps us from following Christ with our whole heart.

Joseph Stowell in an article called, “Preaching for Change”, wrote “The real point of materialism is not how much we have, but what has us. It’s not what we hold, but how tightly we hold it. Not what we have, but how we got it. The test of materialism is whether our goods have made us proud or grateful, self-sufficient or God-sufficient.” [1]

This same question might well be asked of anything in our lives. In most cases an observer won’t be able to tell what it is that is most important for another person, and our difficulty in handling the truth makes it hard for us to recognize our own idols. But one way of putting the matter is to ask ourselves, “Is there something in my life which if Christ told me to give it up, would cause me to be shocked and go away grieving?”

Even as Jesus told the rich man what he needed to do, Jesus loved him. Jesus knew how very difficult it would be for the man to do what Jesus knew must be done, and Jesus loved him. In this story we see also the utter patience of Jesus. He quietly allowed the man to walk away. He loved him enough to allow him the freedom to develop in his own way. He allowed him the freedom to make his own decision – and did not get into either a bargaining match or a sermon of condemnation. We do not know what happened to this rich young man. The very fact that he had come to see Jesus indicates that he was engaged in an inward search. I like to believe that the man recognized the place that his money had in his life and that he returned.

There are several important things for us to take from this passage. First God understands our barriers to faith and is patient with us. God understood my need to ask questions and to go through periods of doubt. When I start asking questions today, I think God just smiles, and says, “It’s okay, I understand that this is your way.”

Secondly, God will gently guide us in our search. Imagine how the conversation would have gone if Jesus had said to the rich man. You might be keeping 6 of the Ten Commandments, but you aren’t keeping the ones about putting God first and not having any other idols. The man would have been insulted, probably angry, and certainly defensive. Jesus was able to help him see what was most important in his life. I believe that God guides us gently in our search, leading us to the people who can help, or the books, or walking with us through the experiences of life and helping to open our eyes to what we need to see.

At times we will wander off the path. We may wander down the paths of materialism, power, pride, or any number of other paths. A pastor wrote, “The man said to me with tears in his eyes, "She has loved me through years of putting my job first. She loved me when I wanted to be a big shot and spent a lot of time at the club rubbing elbows with important people. She loved me when I was moody and distant. She loved me when I was unfaithful. She loves me still, though I don't come close to deserving her love." And I said to him, "She loves you with the love of God. For his love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. God’s love never ends." But that is not all that I said to my friend. After I encouraged him to celebrate his wife's godly love for him, I told him, "Now go and do everything you can to live a life worthy of that love!"

This is the whole gospel -- God forgives and continues to love us always. So receive and celebrate that love, and then go and live a life worthy of it.”[2] That is the third point, “God will forgive us as we stumble or explore wrong roads. Finally, when we have finally seen Jesus in our own heart and mind and have set ourselves to really follow him then God rejoices. And we are to receive and celebrate that love and then go, follow Jesus, and live a life worthy of his love.

In many churches throughout the world, Christians are celebrating communion today. It is a day that calls us to be a universal inclusive church. When I looked at the Scripture readings assigned for today, I really wanted something that talked about being the body of Christ universal. In a strange way, I found something even more universal. What I found was the universal experience of suffering and of asking, “Why?” Suffering and the questions that go with it know no boundaries.

When I was in seminary, one of my professors told of a person who asked him why there was suffering and evil in the world. His response was, “I don’t know.” This angered his questioner, who said, “You have to know. You study these things. You must have an answer.” Jerry’s response was, “You are right. I have spent years studying these questions and I have earned the right to say, `I don’t know.’”

These unanswerable questions are older than Job and as current as the morning paper. Many of us think of the book of Job as an attempt to answer the questions about why people suffer. It has been described in many ways: as a play, an epic poem, a dissertation about suffering, and an historical account of an ancient wise man.

Portions of the story about Job will be part of our Scripture readings over the next few weeks – and as much as I dislike the passage for today, I think it is something we need to spend some time thinking about. You may agree or disagree with my understandings of this – and that is okay. If what I have to say is helpful, then give thanks to God. If what I say today causes you to struggle and think about it, seek God’s guidance in your ponderings. If what I have to say sounds crazy and not worth your time, chalk it up to a difference in the ways we understand this portion of Scripture and let us agree to disagree.

What we heard today was the set-up, the part that Job and his friends didn’t know about – the piece that only we the viewer or the reader know. We have heard a dialogue – a wager, if you will, between God and Satan. Now, the first thing we need to know is that here “Satan” is not the guy in red underwear with a pitchfork. That idea came along much later. This Satan was a servant of God, who played a kind of adversarial role. “Accuser” could be another translation of that name.

This set up reflects the ancient belief that everything that happened in the lives of humans was caused by God. It was believed that if a person was doing well in life it was because God was blessing him. If he were ill, or poor, or an outcast, it was because of God’s anger. We might think that viewpoint quaint but less we be too hard on our ancestors, think about what we do today. I recently heard a baseball player interviewed after winning a game with a homerun. At the end of the interview his last words shouted to the heavens were, “Thank you God!” Although most of us don’t really believe it in our heads, when someone we know is diagnosed with cancer or AIDS, has their home destroyed in a hurricane, or experiences something traumatic, somewhere deep in our souls, don’t we protest, “They don’t deserve it! They’re good people!” Somehow, somewhere, we want it to make sense. We want or expect or hope that good fortune will follow those who are good, who deserve the good things and life and that those horrible things will only come to those who somehow deserve to suffer. Perhaps, we aren’t really so different from our ancient ancestors.

In the book of Job, the accuser is challenging God to a reality check. God is very pleased with Job. He is a fine upstanding righteous man. Job is the kind of man we want as part of our congregation, as part of the country club, the town or national government. He’s a model citizen – and religious too. The accuser challenges God that this is all a ploy on Job’s part. Job is only praising God because God has blessed him so much. Take away his blessings and see what happens. And so, as the writer tells us a deal is struck and Job, who has already experienced great tragedy in the first round of the accuser’s challenge, now begins to suffer physically. Even his wife scorns Job, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die.” Job absolutely convinced that everything comes from God, persists in a wonderful question, “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?”

In this statement, Job has answered the accuser’s challenge. He has shown that his devotion to God is not connected only to his great blessings. The story continues with Job’s friends coming and talking with him. In the end, Job and God have an incredible encounter – in which Job realizes that there are many things about God that he cannot ever know. The question of why people suffer is never answered directly.

You remember that Jesus often taught using parables or stories. What if this episode staged in heaven never took place? What if it is like one of those parables or stories set up because we who hear this story think that this is the way it is? Jesus’ stories always started with something that people could understand and with which they readily identified. As he told the story, his hearers knew what the ending would be – just as we think we often do when we read a novel. But suddenly there is a twist and everything gets up-ended and it doesn’t come out the way we expect. That’s what happens in most of Jesus’ stories. He teaches important things about God and God’s kingdom by challenging the assumptions that people hold.

This story of Job challenges our assumptions – but usually we don’t see beyond the obvious story line. Because it fits with the way we make sense of the world, we buy into it and then get angry that God would do something like this to such a good man. But what if this is not the way it is at all? What if this is a story about all of us? What if it follows that form of bringing us in on a mutually agreeable conspiracy in order to demolish our untested notions.

The internet has become a great tool for many things, but one thing that it does is to spread Urban legends in big ways. Frequently I receive e-mails telling me that Madelyn Murray O’Hare is petitioning the FCC to eliminate all references to God in television shows. Others claim that KFC is not using real chicken, that Congress is going to charge “postage” for e-mails, that seats in theatres have needles in them that contain HIV, or in one claiming to come from the Pentagon that someone is putting LSD on pay-phone keys. All of these are false but they circulate and people get scared and believe them.

There are other Urban legends within the faith. You know them. “God won’t put more on you than you can take. What goes around comes around. God helps those who help themselves.” I believe that these are simply legends. But like many legends there is an iota of truth in there, just enough to keep us holding on to them.

God won’t put more on you than you can take. I truly believe that God can and will help us cope with whatever it is that comes into our lives. The most horrible tragedy can be faced with God’s help. That doesn’t mean that it won’t hurt. It doesn’t mean that we won’t suffer. It doesn’t mean that we won’t be filled with incredible grief or that we won’t find it hard to go about our daily lives. It doesn’t mean any of these things. It does mean that God will help us; that we are never alone, and that we will make it through if we really depend upon God. And I believe that the biggest falsehood in that statement is the assumption that God causes these things to happen to us. That’s what makes it a legend. Reading the book of Job on the surface only helps to reinforce that legend.

What goes around comes around. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Is it because God causes it to happen, or because there are consequences to our behavior and sometimes those consequences catch up to us?

God helps those who help themselves. Some years ago, I was feeling very down, very much alone. I went to an event where I knew there would be many people who I liked. I went planning to soak up love like a sponge and to feel better. As the night went on, I felt more and more alone and more and more sad. Finally in prayer I realized that I had gone to be a sponge and soak up love, but I had never removed the plastic wrapping from the outside of the sponge. Nothing could penetrate the defenses I had set in place. God does help us, but we need to seek God’s help, be open to it in many different forms and make some move in the right direction.

Unspeakable tragedy descends on Job as it often does on us. There is a part of Job that lives within all of us. I think this story is told to give us a text through which we can face the suffering that comes our way with simple courage and with uncommon faith. Why do good people suffer? That’s a profoundly troubling question and one which I can’t answer. I can talk about free will and consequences of decisions we make – or that others make. But in the midst of tragedy those are not always the most helpful answers.

Perhaps a better response is to ask another question – a question that can bring transformation out of our suffering. Perhaps we should be asking, “What is God calling me to learn, to do, to become through this suffering?” I reject the assumption that God causes the suffering that comes into our lives or the lives of others. But I believe with every ounce of my being that God can take all of our suffering, all of our pain, sorrow, all of our confusion and anger and that through time God can transform it into something that has meaning and benefit in our lives. It does not change the terrible things that have happened. It probably doesn’t lessen our grief any. But it can bring new growth, new understandings, and new sensitivities into our life. It can help us minister to and with others. It can remind us that we are never alone – that God is present with us, right in the midst of our suffering. Thanks be to God.

“Living in Peace.” I think that is something that we all want, but what does it really mean and how do we achieve it? Peace doesn’t seem to be something that comes easily. After picking “Living in Peace” as the title for this week’s sermon, I had one of “those” weeks. You each know the kind: one where there seem to be problems everywhere; one in which even the little things – dealing with traffic, finding a parking space – feel like major challenges. Conflicts with others; conflicts with myself.

I spent a lot of time asking myself, “How can you be hypocritical enough to stand up in front of your church family a give a sermon on living in peace when you aren’t living in peace yourself? However, there are always going to be problems and conflicts in our lives. It would be easy for us to live in peace if we encountered no problems or conflicts. The challenge is for us to live in peace in a world that is full of conflicts and problems, injustice and heartache.

The scriptures that have been read this morning show members of God’s family dealing with a variety of conflicts. In the Old Testament reading, Esther faced social and political problems so great that they threatened the very lives of her people. Today’s reading from James begins by asking, “Are any of you in trouble?” and proceeds to counsel the early Christian church on how to deal with difficulties. In the gospel reading, the disciples are upset because someone who isn’t one of them has been healing in Jesus’ name.

I have to confess that I was tempted to have the liturgist leave out part of the lectionary reading from Mark because it contains some of the most violent imagery in the New Testament: “Cut off your hand!” “Cut off your foot!” “Take out your eye!” These metaphors seem to call for a fire-and–brimstone sermon, and a fire-and-brimstone sermon is not one I would be comfortable giving – nor it is a type of sermon that I feel would guide us to the way in which Christ wants us to live, the way of peace. And we need to remember that today’s gospel, one that begins with conflict, one that is full of violent images, ends with these words: “Have the salt of friendship among yourselves, and live in peace with one another.”

Sometimes we think the way to peace is to avoid all conflict, to keep our mouths shut, to look the other way; but when Christ told us, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God,” he was not talking about being voiceless; he was not talking about being inactive. The bringing of peace, whether within our own hearts or in the outside world, requires our active participation.

Let’s listen again to the Old Testament reading from Esther: “And so the king and Haman went to eat with Esther for a second time. Over the wine the king asked her again, ‘Now, Queen Esther, what do you want? Tell me and you shall have it. I’ll even give you half the empire.’ Queen Esther answered, ‘If it please Your Majesty to grant my humble request, my wish is that I may live and my people may live. My people and I have been sold for slaughter. If it were nothing more serious that being sold into slavery, I would have kept quiet and not bothered you about it; but we are about to be destroyed – exterminated!’ Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, ‘Who dares to do such a thing? Where is this man?’”

This reading is the middle of a story. To understand what it means, we must know both the beginning and the end of this story. Esther was a beautiful young woman who had won the favor of the powerful Persian King Xerxes, who made her his queen. She was in a position of great comfort and privilege, but she had a secret. She had kept the fact that she was Jewish secret for fear that it would harm her standing in the court and her relationship with the King.

When the order was given that all the Jews in the kingdom were to be executed, Esther could have said nothing. The fact that she was a Jew was not known. She would have been safe. Her standing, her personal comfort and privilege, would not have been threatened. By speaking out, by admitting that she was Jewish, Esther was risking far more than just losing social standing or luxuries. There was a very real chance that speaking out against injustice would cause her to lose her life.

How often have we failed to speak out and act as Christ calls us do because we were afraid?

Esther must have been afraid; but when her Uncle Mordecai asked her to appeal to the king to save the Jewish people, she did so. And now for the rest of the story: Esther was successful. The Jewish people were saved, and Mordecai instructed his people to celebrate their deliverance “with feasts and parties, giving gifts of food to one another and to the poor.” The Jewish festival of Purim, an annual celebration that still takes place, commemorates how Esther’s act of bravery saved her people.

Esther’s example shows us that peace comes not from inaction but from working for justice. If you want peace, work for justice.

However, even when we try to do what we believe God wants us to do, we often fail. Earlier in the chapter from which today’s gospel reading comes, the disciples had attempted to cast out an evil spirit and failed. Later when they asked Jesus why they had failed, he answered, “Only prayer can drive this kind [of evil spirit] out…nothing else can.” Then, while the disciples’ failure was still fresh in their minds, someone who was not part of their inner group had the nerve to successfully drive out demons – and he had the nerve to do it in Jesus’ name.

Our gospel reading began with the disciples rushing to Jesus to complain. “Teacher,” they said, “we saw a man who was driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop because he doesn’t belong to our group.” “Because he doesn’t belong to our group.” How often do we reject someone because he or she is not part of our in group? How often do we reject an idea because it was not our own? How often are we jealous of the success of someone else? Is this an attitude that promotes peace with others or within ourselves?

What did Jesus say when his disciples complained to him? He said, “Do not try to stop him because no one who performs a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say evil things about me. For whoever is not against us is for us. I assure you that anyone who gives you a drink of water because you belong to me will certainly receive a reward.” Jesus’ love and God’s peaceable kingdom are inclusive; all are welcome. Roadblocks should not be put up to prevent someone from actively serving God because he or she is not part of the “right” group.

I’d like to quote a section from the sermon that Pastor Beverly delivered to us last Sunday. She said:

[During the installation of our new District Superintendent, Rev. Gary L. Shaw, he said something that was so obvious that you had to stop and think about it. He said, “If you want to grow a church just ask God to send you the people the other churches don’t want.” He was talking about those people that most of our churches don’t go out of their way to try to bring in. He might have been referring to single parents who have trouble scraping together enough money to put food on the table. He may have been referring to those who are out of work, not just temporarily but chronically. Perhaps he was talking about those who have mental illness and may act in ways that seem strange to us. Maybe he meant the parents who don’t really know how to take care of their children and need our help the most. Perhaps he meant the teenager with the purple spiked hair and a variety of body ornamentation.

You know, I can picture Jesus embracing any and all of these people and many, many more and saying to us, “Whoever embraces one of these people, who are my children and your sisters and brothers, embraces me and far more than me – God who sent me.”

Returning to today’s gospel, the disciples’ desire to prevent someone from participating in God’s work because he was not part of their group caused Jesus to say, “If anyone should cause one of these little ones to loose faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around the neck and be thrown into the sea.” Barring someone from Christian fellowship or preventing someone from serving is denying that person the opportunity to grow in faith. It is selfishly hording the peace that Christ wants us to share.

In the days after 9/11, some Christians criticized clergy who participated in ecumenical services that included leaders from non-Christian religions. They felt that it was not proper for Christians to gather with Hindus, Muslims, or even atheists as we sought peace and healing. But God calls us to reach out to and to work with all of his children to achieve justice and peace. The king to whom Esther appealed for help did not share her religious background or beliefs; but when she acted as God directed her to do, the Persian king responded to Esther’s plead and the Jewish people were saved.

God wants us to accept others as fellow peacemakers. Sharing God’s love through acceptance is one of the foundations of peace.

Finally, I want to return to do the epistle reading from James. James reminds us that we must live in God’s peace in all times and circumstances – both the bad and the good. The opening question that James asked was, “Are any among you in trouble?” But he follows that question with other questions. “Are any among you happy?” “Are any among you sick?” Prayer and praise are the answer to all these questions.

Why seek out other Christians in times of trouble? Because Christians can minister to each other and to the world through prayer and through taking action as guided by prayer. James tells us that “The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect.” However, he also emphasizes that faith requires action as well as prayer. The actions called for are inclusive rather than exclusive. If we see someone in trouble, if we see someone going astray, Christ tells us to each out to that person, to help him or her.

And we are to provide that help without judging that person. Remember our call to worship:

As a shepherd seeks a lost sheep, so God seeks and saves the lost. Like a woman who searches for a lost coin until it is found, so God rejoices over one soul restored to wholeness. As a father receives a returning wayward son, so God welcomes us, and lets the past be the past. Therefore let us praise God in thanksgiving that we are received. Let us receive and welcome and rejoice over one another in the name of Jesus Christ.

The shepherd does not blame the sheep for getting lost. The woman does not blame the coin for getting lost. The father does not punish the son for his past behavior. Instead there is rejoicing that the lost have been saved.

The foundation of our faith in God and his love enables us to go out into the world in peace seeking to heal without placing blame, accepting without condition, bringing the peace that comes with God’s love. When I began typing this sermon, I made a typo. Instead of typing “living in peace,” I typed “loving in peace.” But perhaps that wasn’t really a typo. If you ground yourself in God’s love, you will find yourself living in peace – and loving in peace.

May the peace that surpasses understanding fill each of your hearts and guide your lives.

Jesus had a thing about children. While other people tended to ignore anything below waist height, Jesus saw what was going on down there. He saw toddlers hiding behind their mothers’ skirts. He saw little ones being practically dragged along by adults in a hurry, with their little arms stretched almost out of the socket and they little legs scurrying along at several steps to each one step of the adult. He saw how people played with infants and made silly faces and spoke baby talk when there was nothing else to do, but ignored them when an adult came on the scene.

Children can tell who is interested in them. Little ones come running to someone they know loves them, and shy away from those they aren’t sure about, or those who ignore them. Children liked Jesus. We have the sense that infants were comfortable in his arms. Toddlers put their arms out to him to be picked up. Children found a listening ear and someone who cared what they had to say.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus took one of the children who were busy running around the house and put the child in among the grown up men who were talking. Jesus loved object lessons, and in this case a child was just the right visual illustration. He took child into his arms and said to the men, “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me” or as Eugene Peterson paraphrases it, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me – God who sent me.”

Do you see what Jesus is doing here? This is one more of those lessons about the topsy-turvy kingdom of God , where things are not the way we expect them to be.

This kind of visual illustration was necessary because Jesus was trying to make a point with the disciples. He had asked them what they were talking about as they walked along the road. I think it was like one of those questions that parents ask children when they already know the answer. The silence that met his question was almost deafening. No one answered. They were ashamed to admit that they had been arguing about which one of them was the greatest.

The way Jesus measures greatness is different from the way the disciples measured greatness – or the way we measure it. Jesus told them that “whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

The story is told of a CEO of a large corporation who had been in the gym playing an active game of basketball with many of the members of his leadership team. After they finished they went into the locker rooms to shower, change, and head back to work. Most of the men dropped their towels on the floor or left them lying on the benches. Only after many of them had left, did someone become aware that the CEO was picking up the towels and straightening the locker room. One very astute observer wondered, “Does he pick up the towels because he is the CEO, or is he the CEO because he picks up the towels?”

I suppose it is understandable that the disciples would be having this discussion about who was the greatest. They could not stand to think about what Jesus had been talking about. They could not deal with his announcement that he would be betrayed, killed and rise again. They hadn’t understood and they were afraid to ask.

You know how it is. When you are afraid of something, we don’t ask. We try to make it go away but acting as if nothing is wrong. We change the subject and talk about something else instead – something that makes us feel big and strong and safe. So the disciples started talking about which one of them was the greatest and soon the discussion escalated into an argument. That’s why Jesus had to sit them down and give them a leadership seminar right there and then. This was not something that could wait until later – it was far too important.

In Jesus’ leadership team, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” He showed them what he meant by taking a child in his arms. Small, limited vocabulary, unemployed, no money, no influence, nothing to commend himself as being great – and yet, the child, the last, the least is the example of how we come to know God.

Jesus wasn’t talking only about children either. He is talking about all the little ones in the world with no status, no income, no influence. He is daring us to welcome them as bearers of God. God does not judge human worth by human standards.

We’ve heard these kinds of things in the last few weeks as we’ve been reading portions of James’ letter. Remember the section about how we treat people who come into the church, whether we treat some better than others based on their outward appearance. That connects with our Gospel today. Jesus is telling us that our concern as Christians is not to be great by the world’s standards, but to be faithful by Christ’s standards and that one of the ways we do this is to welcome those who are considered the least and the last.

Some years ago St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City was seeking a new president. Over one hundred candidates applied for the position. The search committee narrowed the list to five eminently qualified persons. Then somebody came up with a brilliant idea: let's send a person to the institutions where each of the five finalists is currently employed, and let's interview the janitor at each place, asking him what he thinks of the man seeking to be our president. This was done and a janitor gave such a glowing appraisal of William MacElvaney that he was selected President of St. Paul's School of Theology .

Somebody on that search committee understood, in a flash of genius, that those who live close to Christ become so secure in his love that they no longer relate to other people according to rank or power or money or prestige. They treat janitors and governors with equal dignity. They regard everybody as a VIP. Children seem to do this intuitively; adult Christians have to relearn it.

Yesterday, during the installation of our new District Superintendent, Rev. Gary L. Shaw, he said something that was so obvious that you had to stop and think about it. He said, “If you want to grow a church just ask God to send you the people the other churches don’t want.” He was talking about those people that most of our churches don’t go out of their way to try to bring in. He might have been referring to single parents who have trouble scraping together enough money to put food on the table. He may have been referring to those who are out of work, not just temporarily but chronically. Perhaps he was talking about those who have mental illness and may act in ways that seem strange to us. Maybe he meant the parents who don’t really know how to take care of their children and need our help the most. Perhaps he meant the teenager with the purple spiked hair and a variety of body ornamentation.

James picks up this theme and reminds us that true wisdom, the wisdom that is from God is about the way we live our lives. Eugene Petterson puts it this way, “Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, over flowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.”

Real wisdom, God’s wisdom begins when we treat each person as one of the children whom Jesus took in his arms as a visual illustration of the topsy-turvy ways of God’s kingdom and our place in it. It’s a place where we are loved and cherished as a special child of God. It’s a place where everyone else is loved and cherished as a special child of God, and where the true measure of greatness is not that of the world, but that of God’s great love and the way that we show and share that love with others.

North Kingstown UMC

September 14, 2003

Text: Psalm: 19

Epistle: James 3:1-12

Gospel: Mark 8:27 -38

Title: A Tough Act to Follow

When you join an organization do you check out the requirements for membership and make a decision about whether or not you want to and can reasonably expect to fulfill those requirements? That’s the approach most of us take. It’s considered reasonable and prudent. It helps prevent us from committing to things we won’t be able to do. Hopefully it prevents some over commitment.

I wonder how many of us gave that same kind of thought to becoming a follower of Jesus. For some of us it was something that happened gradually. For others it may be the result of a sudden transformation or dramatic experience. Jesus’ disciples had given up a lot to follow Jesus and in today’s Gospel they start to get a glimpse that following him is not exactly what they thought it was going to be.

Like most good Jews they eagerly anticipated the coming of the Messiah and they were willing to do what needed to be done to overcome the Roman empire and give themselves a better life. In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks them who people say that he is and they respond with the names of some of those who were to be the forerunners of the Messiah: John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the prophets. When asked who they believe he is, Peter responds in faith, “You are the Messiah.”

Then, however, Jesus went on to explain to them what it really meant to follow the Messiah. It did not mean the overthrow of the Roman Empire . It did not mean glory and privilege and power. It meant that Jesus would suffer at the hands of those who would most expected to welcome and follow the Messiah. It meant that Jesus would be killed and that he would rise on the third day. This made absolutely no sense to the disciples and Peter rebuked him for even suggesting such a thing. Peter, I imagine tried to explain to Jesus that this was not a good military strategy; that it certainly would not accomplish the intended goals.

However, Peter’s goals and Jesus’ goals were two very different things. Today we know that and we often have trouble even understanding what Peter was looking for in a Messiah. For Peter and the other disciples it was a time to re-evaluate, to decide if they really wanted to follow this man. It was time to evaluate the cost to them in terms of their time, energy, priorities, values and their life itself. Many of the disciples would, in fact, ultimately die for their faith. Some of them would die on a cross.

This is a tough Gospel message to hear – and yet, it is an important one. It reminds us that we, too, need to stop and look at what it means to follow Jesus. We need to realize that he is a hard act to follow – yet, at the same time, in my opinion, he is the best act in the world to follow and the one which gives us more joy, peace, guidance, comfort, than any other way open to us. And, Jesus is the only way that offers us abundant grace, unmerited love and forgiveness and the promise of eternal life.

Being a follower of Jesus means that we must first have an understanding of what it means to be the Messiah. “That was Peter’s problem. Peter failed ot understand that Jesus preoccupied himself with people who were marginalized. He failed to understand that Jesus spent his time with those who could do little or nothing for themselves. Peter failed to understand that Jesus hung around with the rejects of his time. Jesus taught against the conventional wisdom, encouraging those who would be his followers to go against the tide of popular opinion.”[1]

Jesus demanded what some would think to be too much. If you are to be my disciples, Jesus says, you have to love your enemies, you have to mingle with those who are considered unclean, and most of all, you have to give up your life, and take on a radically different and new life.[2]

You see, the thing is, Jesus set new standards for moral and ethical behavior. He called us to accept God’s rule and in our lives and become part of the solution to today’s problems. You may remember the story of the college student who was discouraged by all the problems in the world. He went into the chapel one day and in his prayer, complained to God about everything that was wrong. His final words were, “Even I could do a better job.” The reply he heard was, “That’s what you are supposed to do.”

We become part of the solution not by choosing the easy path, the one that works best for us, or for our family, but by taking the hard path, making the tough decisions, the ones that will lead to life for all people, not just for some. We are to choose the high moral ground.

As followers of Christ, we are to choose God as the highest authority in our lives. When there is a tough decision to make, we should turn to God for guidance. Jesus should be our model of leadership. We have many good things in our lives – and I don’t believe that Jesus is asking us to give them up, but rather to put them in the right place in terms of priorities. If someone were to ask you, “What is the most important thing in your life?” how would you respond?

There are many things that are important to us, family, friends, jobs, homes, and some of our possessions. Yet, we know all too well, that all of these things are temporary. Any one of them can be gone in a moment. If any of these are the only thing that gives meaning to our lives, what will happen to us if we lose them? How will we face life without the thing that is most meaningful, without the thing that gives us meaning?

This is where we discover what is truly enduring, what truly gives meaning to life, what helps us face all of the terrible things that can happen in life. One of the cable news programs carried a story devoted to the memory of those who were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. There were two women out of Boston who were the focus of the story. These women along with the young daughter of one of them were traveling to Los Angeles . Initially, all three of them were to be on the same flight, but one of the women decided to use her husband’s frequent flyer miles and she was on a different flight. One woman and her daughter were on the first plane that hit the World Trade Center . The other woman was on the second plane. Their families in response to this tragedy exhibited to the world what it mans to really be a follower of Jesus Christ. Instead of responding with anger and vengeance, these two families came together, and decided to establish a foundation in the little girl’s name that would teach peace, tolerance and understanding to children here in our country.[3] This must have been a very difficult decision to make, but being a follower of Jesus is always difficult.

Throughout the Bible we find many passages that teach us what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Few are more practical than James’ letter. In today’s passage he writes specifically about the power of the tongue. How small it is and yet what damage it can do. He reminds us that from the same mouth come blessing and cursing. Then he says, “My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.” How true it is and how difficult it is. A word spoken in haste can cause much damage to another person. A word spoken in anger can cut like a sharp sword. Our angry hurtful words can make our pleasant loving words more difficult to believe. However, we also all know that as James points out, none of us is able to tame the tongue. So, we also pray that as we seek daily to follow Christ more closely our tongues will also become better witnesses of God’s love. When, without really meaning it, we speak the hurtful word, we pray that the rest of our lives as Christ’s follower will be a strong enough witness to help heal the hurt that can be caused.

In recent weeks, we have heard in other passages from James about being not only those who hear God’s word, but also those who do God’s word. We have heard that our actions proclaim our faith so loudly, that others may not be able to hear our words. Jesus is a tough act to follow, but Jesus is also the best act to follow.

In today’s Psalm we hear about the law of God and how wonderful it is. Let me share with you how Eugene Peterson paraphrases that in The Message. “The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy. The directions fo God are plain and easy on the eyes. … God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds. You’ll like ti better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries. There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool?”

The Psalm closes with a prayer that might be our prayer as we seek to be followers of Christ: Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words of my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar.” O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Throughout today’s scriptures we hear a theme of caring for the poor and for those who are marginalized in our society. James warns us against showing favoritism to those who are rich and ignoring those who are poor, or putting them in a lower position.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was appalled by the sufferings of the poor and was very troubled by the misuse of money and accumulation of wealth. A saying from his 1760 sermon, “The Use of Money,” exhorts believers to “gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”[1]

One of John’s favorite guidelines for living a faithful Christian life is contained in a brief song; the words are printed in your bulletin, listen as it is shared with us.

John Wesley's message to the poor was that Christ died for them and calls everyone to a life of holiness and service. George Whitefield, a preacher in Mr. Wesley's circles, took this message to the fields and experienced dramatic results. The lives of coal miners, poor people and others on the bottom of English society were transformed. This led Mr. Wesley to break out of the formal pulpit. Imagine a scene between Mr. Wesley and Mr. Whitefield:

Wesley: George! George! I know you are going to say "I told you so." It was so powerful. God is at work in the fields! I finally realized that Jesus did most of his preaching in the fields -- so why not try it?

Wesley: People heard God's word today who never would be allowed to sit in the pews of the church. The men who brew liquor sit proudly in their reserved pews but the poor miners get sucked into buying gin while their children go hungry. The poor heard the good news! They are turning from drink! They want a way out!

Whitefield: Now we can preach to thousands about Christ calling them to be new people. It's the first word of hope poor people have had all their lives.

Wesley: Pausing, in a more serious tone. George, I respect poor people. I know what it is to be poor. My mother had 19 children. Ten of us survived to be adults. She once had to go to the archbishop to ask for money for food. He had the gall to ask her, pompously, "Tell me, Mrs. Wesley, have you ever really wanted for bread?" Back to normal tone. My mother looked him straight in the eye and said, "Strictly speaking, no. But, sometimes the agony of getting bread and paying for it has been the next degree of wretchedness to having none at all!"

Whitefield: Pausing. John, I had heard things were difficult for you. I'm sorry.

Wesley: Trying to brush it off. It was a struggle, but we survived. It was most difficult when my father was sent to debtors' prison. We were not sure he would ever get out. I was young, but I knew what they did to poor people. Thousands of men, women and children have been hung outside London for stealing a loaf of bread or pair of shoes. I can't help but think of our Lord hanging on a cross, suffering like the powerless.

Whitefield: Trying to lighten the mood. Praise God, you and your father survived.

Wesley: Yes, but so many people don't. The women and children who are beaten senseless by drunk husbands, the hopeless drunks who think they are condemned to hell -- we have to tell them they are no less than children of God, called to love and be loved.

Whitefield: John, they heard you today! Boldly. You stood up there and quoted Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." They heard you and gave their lives to Christ -- our loving Christ who can transform lives.

Wesley: Yes! And now we need to serve our sisters and brothers like they were Christ among us. We will all learn to serve.

Wesley and Whitefield: Slowly walk off stage together thinking out loud about ideas of service and economic development for the poor.

Wesley: I have dreamed of starting an orphanage and a school for the children.

Whitefield: We need to organize a soup kitchen, and heal those who are sick.

Wesley: My mother had some wonderful home remedies. We could put together a book to teach people how to be healthy.

Narrator: Mr. Wesley and the Methodists went on to build all these ministries of service and many more. Our church's mission work is based on the ministry of Christ who broke the chains of the poor and outcast. The Wesleys saw this clearly and the church still serves to this day. Let's hear John Wesley's words one more time, and then I invite you to join in singing them together.

These are words with a high and lofty goal for us. There is no doubt in my mind, that the scriptures dramatically demonstrate God’s concern for the poor and the marginalized in society. There is equally no doubt in my mind that I fall short of this goal. However, through the years my consciousness level has been raised and I like to believe that I have grown in my response to the needs and also the issues affecting not only those who are poor, but those who are marginalized in any way.

In a strange way I draw comfort from today’s gospel reading. It is a passage that bothers many because Jesus’ interactions with the Syrophoenician woman are hardly those that we would expect from the compassionate loving Jesus that we have come to know. Jesus has traveled outside of his normal geographical boundaries. He has gone out of his way to seek retreat. Undoubtedly he was tired and frustrated when the woman came to him and interrupted his plans. No matter how you slice it, it’s not pleasant to hear Jesus say to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” I’ve read several commentaries that argue that Jesus was joking with the woman, that he is referring to little puppies, and that she caught the joke and went along with it. I find several things wrong with this interpretation.

The first is that, if it were a joke, it is the kind of biting humor that runs the risk of being extremely hurtful if the other person doesn’t get the joke. I can’t imagine Jesus engaging in that kind of humor, especially with a woman whom he didn’t know.

Secondly, it is my understanding that the Jews of Jesus’ day were not pet lovers. To them, dogs were dirty, unpleasant wild animals. The cleanliness laws of Judaism were strict enough that dogs would certainly not be allowed next to the table, and food meant for the children would not be thrown out to the animals. Jewish people often referred to Gentiles as dogs. Jesus’ response to her sounds blunt, curt, and intended to cut off any further verbal exchange.

On the other hand, some Gentiles did have a fondness for little pet dogs, and pets may well have been fed food scraps from the table. Her creative reinterpretation of Jesus’ remark was the desperate response of a mother of a sick child. Her concern for her daughter was great enough that she would not be refused. She would not be turned away as a nuisance or someone undeserving of Jesus’ attention. Her daughter was too important to her for that!

This Gentile, this Syrophoenician woman, became God’s representative and bearer of truth to Jesus. Her faith challenged Jesus to exercise his faith in a new way – to venture beyond the familiar voices of tradition and to hear a new word from God. I know that some people prefer to focus on Jesus as the Son of God, as someone who always knew who he was and what he was supposed to be doing. However, it is also true that Jesus, as he walked the earth, was truly a human man, brought up in a Jewish family, schooled in the very best of his tradition, as well as a citizen of his community, who also had been schooled in not being involved with Gentiles. Remember that Jesus spent much time in prayer, seeking God’s guidance, talking to God and listening to God. I imagine he often prayed, “Father, show me what you would have me do.”

In this case, God used a foreign woman to raise Jesus’ consciousness just a little bit more – to respond to the needs of a child who was vulnerable and suffering. Just had walked beyond his normal physical boundaries, now other boundaries came tumbling down. Her actions opened up new possibilities for all persons. She was persistent in her pursuit of healing for her child, and after this encounter, no one could be denied access to God’s blessings because of race or ancestry, or inherited religion and culture. She had truly extended the Lord’s table, and there was enough bread for all the children, Gentile, Jew, Greek, slave, free, men, women, and children.

I believe that her encounter with Jesus had a profound impact on his ministry from this point on. After his resurrection he told his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations – a far cry from not feeding the children’s food to the Gentile dogs. I believe that it is at least partly because of this encounter with the Syrophoenician woman that through the years, we have come to understand that our ministry is not only to and with those who are members of our immediate community, but also those whom we will never see sitting in the pews of this sanctuary. However, James reminds us of what we should do if they do come into our service, and indeed, of our obligation to invite, bring, and welcome all of God’s children.

The table is expanded to include all of God’s children – the boundaries have tumbled down and we are sent out to put our faith into action.

Jesus often spoke in parables to help teach his followers the things that were important for them to learn. Sometimes we have trouble understanding some of the parables because our culture is different than theirs. Our daily habits are different. The things we use are different.

I would like to follow in Jesus’ footsteps this morning by sharing a parable with you. It’s a modern parable, written by Max Lucado and contained in his book, “God Came Near.” Some of you may be familiar with it, but I think it is worth hearing again. For others of you it may be new. It is called, “Light of the… Storage Closet?” (read story)

Now a really good parable doesn’t need to be explained, but still the disciples frequently asked Jesus to explain his parable, so in that spirit, let me explain why I selected this as a parable of our scripture today.

We live in a culture where we expect to be rewarded for our actions. We have special cards used at particular grocery stores that entitle us to lower prices than those who do not have the cards. Often our credit cards or even telephone bills offer points. If you are a good customer and build up enough points, you are rewarded with rebates and free stuff. Good students are rewarded with good grades and discounts on car insurance. Good employees hope to be rewarded with a raise or increase in benefits.

This gets carried over into religion. I would be rich if I had a quarter for every time someone has said to me something like this, “I don’t think it’s really important to go to church and all that stuff. What’s really important is being a good person. Don’t you think so?” That’s a challenge that I sometimes prefer not to take up, because I’m reasonably certain the other person doesn’t really want an answer from me.

But that’s not the way Christianity works. We don’t earn points with God. We know all too well the reality that living a good life doesn’t guarantee that everything will go smoothly in our lives. So, we have spent much time trying to get ourselves to understand that God loves us no matter what; that we do not have to earn God’s love. Martin Luther reacting to the practices of the church proclaimed that we are saved through faith alone, and not by our works, the good things we do. This is very true. It is the very basis of Christianity.

We read in Romans 5:8 “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (NIV) This is really important for us to grasp, really important for us to cling to. It is a marvelous promise and an incredible hope, this undeserved love of God’s. Too many have not been able to accept this wonderful message.

However, many others have accepted the message, found solace in it, and decided to keep reveling in the enjoyment of it. Like the candle that sings, we gather on Sunday’s and make a joyful noise to the Lord. A few moments ago we sang a wonderful song that proclaims this kind of praise. Praise the Lord in so many different ways, “never let your voice be still.” “Praise the Lord every where in every way!”

Some of us understand that we are to go out into the world. We are so grateful for God’s love that we want to share this love with others. However, we may have heard preachers or others whose message really turned us off. We may know of some who have been so pushy that people have run in the opposite direction, so we think we need more preparation. We need more Bible Study. We need to improve our daily or occasional practice of prayer and study. While we sing, “Make me a servant” we pray, “but not yet.”

Some of us prefer to meditate on the wonders of Christianity. To continue to find out what others have said, and written. Others of us may think that we have nothing to offer to Christ or to anyone else, because our lives are so mixed up. We want to get our lives together before we go out witnessing to anyone else. “We pray, “Change my Heart, O God, may I be like you.” It is tempting to be like the candles, safe in the storage closet of our sanctuary. It is important to come apart from the world for a time to renew our faith, to be fed, and to be nourished.

Yet, James tells us in his very practical letter, that we are not only to be those who hear the word, but we are also to be those who do the word. We are to put our faith into action. When we do this, people will know that “We are Christians by our love.” There is a necessary balance between study and action, between meditation and moving out, between prayer and prayer in action. Christianity is about both – about hearing the word, and about doing the word.

I hope that George MacDonald will forgive me for slightly rearranging some important words he wrote to make them a little easier to understand today, “Get up, and do something the Master tells you; so make yourself his disciple at once. Instead of asking yourself whether or not you believe, ask yourself whether you have done one thing today because Christ 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 do anything he tells you. If you can think of nothing he ever said as having had an atom of influence on your doing or not doing, you have too good ground to consider that you are 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!”[1]

Like candles that are meant to give light in the darkness, we are meant to live, work, pray and sing so that God can use us, everyday and in everyway.

This reading invites us to join in the celebration of the dedication of Solomon’s magnificent temple on the day when the Ark of the Covenant is brought in. It fulfills the promise made to David that someone from his house would build a dwelling place for God.

This is to be a place of prayer, not ritual or sacrifice. This place is to be open to all to come and pray to God and sense His awesome grace. The temple is to be a point of joyful contact with God, not unlike where we are today.

For God is here. Solomon says in verse 29, “May your eyes be open towards this temple night and day, this place of which you said ‘my name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.

The Psalmist exclaims: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.”

The Psalmist echoes Solomon’s thoughts in describing the role of the Temple in unifying the community by drawing in those from the outside. Doesn’t this reflect one of the missions of our church? To be open to all and invite all inside.

As Jesus continues his teaching on eternal life, many of his disciples struggled with what he was saying. A number of his Disciples summed it up by crying, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” And many left and no longer followed Him, but the twelve stayed. When Jesus asked them if they also wanted to leave, it was Simon Peter who responded by asking, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”

Jesus’ speaking of the flesh and blood are not to be taken literally. They are a device to express the inexpressible.

For the past few weeks, our epistle reading has been from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. A new Christian community in Ephesus , a major city and center of trade in what is now

Turkey

. In the earlier parts of his letter, Paul raises and discusses major doctrinal issues, and then moves to very practical matters. Paul provides guidelines for the Believer’s life as a member of the body of Christ as respects his or her individual life and in all personal relationships. At the end of his letter, Paul introduces one aspect of their, and our, lives that has not yet been considered; and that is our struggle against the forces of evil. As Christians, we are asked to fight many battles; the war against drugs, the war against hunger and poverty, even the war against terrorism. But perhaps the greatest struggle we face as Christians is the war against evil, embodied by our greatest enemy, Satan himself. Paul’s closing segment of the letter is a section dealing with the Christian Believers’ spiritual warfare and how we are to be triumphant in it.

Generally speaking, we don’t like to think of ourselves as engaged in any kind of battle or war against evil. If we do, we think the battle has already been won by the death of resurrection of Christ. It’s easy to say “Let go and let God.” Yes Jesus has won the victory for us over sin and death by his atonement. He has defeated Satan in the sense that Satan’s power has been broken, but Satan still struggles on. He still brings his own spiritual forces to bear against us as Christians. We are assured of victory, but there are battles to be fought, and they will be fierce.

The forces of evil oppose the spreading of the Gospel at every level. And in every way they can. This is why Paul reminds and exhorts the believers in Ephesus of their warfare. Paul writes, “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.” Then he writes, “ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Paul reminds us in this combination of be strong in the Lord and put on your full armor of God that we are unequal to the battle on our own; we have no strength of our own. Our strength must come from God. Empowered by Him, we are to fiercely fight the foes that are arrayed against us.

And who are these foes? They operate in the realm of ideas and in our mind. Paul later speaks of opposing them “by the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.” This is not a long, sharp edged instrument of death, it is the sword of truth. In John 18:36-37, Jesus tells Pilate “my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. For this I came into the world to testify to the Truth.”

So what then is our field of battle? Paul writes of rulers, authorities, powers and the spiritual forces of evil. What is Paul thinking? Perhaps he is thinking of Satan’s control of certain areas of this world or of human life.

Paul means control like those who can control what we read, or hear, or see in contemporary media. But we have to think of this in terms of ideas, values, and morality involved. Paul’s phrase, “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” indicates that he is thinking of non-material concepts, like falsehoods and lies that are the devil’s chief weapons.

In verse 11, Paul mentions the devil as one of those spiritual forces. In the verses that follow Paul teaches three things about the devil; first, he is a powerful enemy, not as powerful as God, but powerful. He is not omnipotent, God is; he is not omniscient, God is. God knows everything, Satan does not, but he does know a great deal, and he is cunning; secondly, he is a wicked enemy. He stands behind the powers of “this dark world” and “the forces of evil in the Heavenly realms.” Third, he is crafty. He does not attack directly or in the same way every time. He uses a variety of methods.

Although it is worthwhile studying what the Bible says about Satan, why do we do so? There is a Sicilian adage that says “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” That’s not to say we should hold Satan close, but knowing the enemy puts our struggle in perspective and let’s us focus on God and His power, not the devil. We also learn of our own weaknesses and learn to turn to God. He is our defense and defender and the only one who can provide strength to stand against his evil schemes.

It is thought that Paul wrote this letter while languishing in a Roman prison. The last part of his letter is somewhat unexpected, compelling and strikingly beautiful. For here he writes about putting on the armor of God as our defense and weapon against the forces of evil. And where did he get this idea? Perhaps from the armor of the Roman soldier standing guard over his cell. But as a student of the Old Testament, perhaps he thought of Isaiah 59:17; As the Lord saw His people being oppressed and no one helping them and there was no justice, “He put on righteousness as his breastplate and the helmet of salvation on his head.”

What then is the armor of God that Paul commands us to put on? First, the belt of truth, tightened to give us a feeling of inner fortitude and strength. The belt is the truth. It is our inner strength. A tightened belt gives us confidence. It is interesting to note Paul put truth first. In our faith truth comes first, then action. Without truth, without the knowledge of who God is, who we are, what we have become in Christ, and what we have been called to do by God, we don’t really know what to do.

Then we shall put on the breastplate of righteousness to protect our heart, to be holy in God. To be holy is to resist Satan.

Now let our feet be fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace – boots or sandals, it doesn’t matter, as long as we are ready to talk about Christ wherever we go. To know the Gospel and to make it known to others. Our feet carry us from place to place and give us the ability to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Our shield of faith is very important. Our shield links us with others who believe and leaves not a portion of ourselves exposed to evil. When you take up the shield of faith in God’s love for you, you choose to believe that God will not let you down in any situation. Such faith is like a complete shield around you. No doubt is allowed in, nothing creates a wound of self-pity or bitterness, no one makes a bruise of discouragement or loneliness --- for God is with us.

Our final item in our armor is the helmet of salvation. The security of our mind is all important. Knowing that we are save from the wrath to come, saved from Satan’s power is to live secure from apprehension and to be at peace. Take the helmet and know that God will be with you.

So far our armor has been defensive in nature –that which protects us. But now, let us take up the sword, not the sharp edged instrument of killing, but the words and truth of God. For us today, that is the Bible. This is a sufficient and effective weapon against the lies of Satan. There is nothing more powerful than the Word of God. The Word of God can save you, give you life and bring you at last to the Father.

We must pick up this sword of the spirit, make it ours. Wield it skillfully and with power. The words of God are wonderful, but they must become ours to be effective.

The last thing Paul mentions is prayer, for this is our most powerful weapon; the weakest of us, at any time, and in any circumstances, can cry out to God for help and instantly have the resources of the infinite, sovereign God at our disposal. Even Paul confesses his need of prayer that he might overcome his anxieties.

God did not ‘draft’ us into his Christian church and then send us off into spiritual battle without the equipment needed to win the war. We are an all-volunteer force. If we use what God has given us, eternal victory is a choice, not a chance. So then, let us put on our armor of God. And remember, this is not an off the rack fit. Each of us must tailor our own, according to our own unique needs. And pray. Pray for yourself, your family, your friends and for all those others on whom you depend for so many things.

The suggested theme for this week’s readings is about Singing and Praising the Lord in our worship of Him. Don’t worry; I won’t subject any of you to one of my solos; that would just end the service right now. But when I read the passages for this week, I thought it was a shame that someone with more musical aptitude wasn’t leading this week’s service. But, this is the way it worked out, so it is up to me to try to keep the theme, even with my limited musical talent. To that end, I have incorporated what I thought were relevant hymns and Psalms into the service. The Psalms, as you know, were written as songs to the Lord. I have not just used the suggested reading, but also Psalm 100 as the Call to Worship.

As I thought about it, and proceeded to do a little research on the subject of singing as relates to the Bible, I found it very interesting and enlightening, and I’ll share what I learned shortly.

God is constantly reminding his people of their history and the great works done on their behalf. God knows that a key to faith is in people’s ability to know where they came from so that they can see how far they have come with the blessings of God. The Hebrew people were in constant need of reminders about God’s laws and will for them. Even after Moses (with the help of God’s miracles) delivered them out of slavery in Egypt, time and time again, they either forgot that God was with them or they tried to cover their bases by worshiping other gods when things didn’t seem to be going their way. Miracle after miracle was not enough to keep their memories of God’s blessings and power in the forefront of their minds.

But, fortunately for us, God knows our weaknesses and our limitations. I know, I myself often try to force my plan in life as the best option, even while praying to hear and accept God’s will for my life. When things don’t work out as I planned (or hoped), I have trouble remembering that God’s plans work in His time and are better that anything I could come up with. Only when I get myself out of God’s way, and let Him work through me, can I see more clearly and be most effective.

There is a story of a sole survivor of a shipwreck who washed up on a small, uninhabited island. No, this isn’t the Tom Hanks movie where he talks to the volleyball. This man prayed constantly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger.

“God, how could you do this to me!” he cried. Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. “How did you know I was here?” asked the weary man of his rescuers. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.

Even in the midst of our despair, when we think there is no way out or things are never going to get better, God can lift us out. Usually in such a way that shows his plan had been in the works for some time, even though we could not see it.

In fact, as I said, my experiences, like those of others I know, often result in a better situation than we could have devised for ourselves - and usually with a lesson or two to be learned in the process. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to take much for us to forget our lessons, and revert to our earlier behavior.

We need ways to remember God’s presence and involvement in our lives. One method the Hebrews used to aid in that process was the naming of locations and the building of altars in honor of each of God’s acts. Throughout the Old Testament, we read of stones, wells, and altars marking places where God made his presence or purpose known. This was to let future generations recall and praise God for the event that took place at that site. One example of this is when Abraham was spared from offering Isaac as a sacrifice.

He left an altar there and named the place “The Lord Will Provide”. Also, when Jacob had his dream, which we know as ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, he took the rock he was sleeping on, set it up as a pillar and poured oil on it and named the place Bethel which means ‘House of God’. These are just a couple of examples of this practice of making a place or event easier to remember how God blessed a person, place or situation.

Today, we remember the events important to our lives and our world. We have State and National holidays. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. All these are ways of saying these things are important and we remember them. We want to show that we do remember the sacrifices of others and recognize the importance of notable events in our lives. Just as we want to remember what others have done for us, it is God’s desire for us to remember all that He has done for us.

In the 1st King’s reading, we hear of the familiar story of Solomon asking God for wisdom. Because God was so pleased that he didn’t ask for riches or honor or a long life, God granted him the wisdom he sought AND the riches and honor he didn’t ask for. However, there’s a little catch there. Something I never noticed before. Verse 14 says, “And IF you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did”, THEN “I will give you a long life.”

So Solomon had to always remember what David had taught him about how to follow God’s way in order to be fully blessed in his life.

Another way we remember what God has done for us and how we have been blessed is through songs of worship and praise. When I thought about it, I realized how much of our worship is about remembering how the Lord has blessed us and has participated in our lives. Our hymns, particularly, are so often prayers that give thanks for all the blessings we have experienced in our world, with our friends, our families and ourselves. I admit that there have been many hymns that I may have sung that I hadn’t really paid attention to the words and was surprised and moved by some of the verses once I noticed what they were saying.

Before there was much written history, much of the historical events were told in song. People found it easier to memorize the words and order if done through verse and song. Many of the Psalms were used to tell the story of God and His people, and were handed down generation to generation without loss because they were learned as songs. In Psalm 111 we heard in verse 4 that God caused his wonders to be remembered. Again, He knows we need to remember the past if we are to follow Him in the future.

I’m reminded of another shipwreck story. This one is a Tom Hanks movie, but still NOT the one where his best friend is the volleyball.

Except for one scene, this was an otherwise very forgettable movie called Joe vs. the Volcano. Although the storyline is quite absurd, there is a scene where Tom Hanks is adrift in the South Pacific and is about to give up trying to live when the full Moon fills the horizon, and he looks at it in complete awe and wonder. It is at this point that he looks up and declares, “I’m so sorry… I forgot.” This is his turning point. He regains the will to live and has renewed spirit and strength. He remembered.

In Ephesians 5: 19, Paul says, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.

What is it about songs that make them so important and effective to our worship experiences?

David Sharp, a Presbyterian pastor, writes about how “a popular sentiment about song states that ‘to sing is to pray twice’. Now, music itself has the gift of touching the soul deeply, and so do words, when focused in a particular manner. But when poet and composer come together, this meeting produces something uniquely wonderful.”

There is a scientific and physiological basis for why songs are such powerful forms of expression. Pastor Sharp goes on to explain about the two sides of the human brain. As you probably know, “The left side is more analytical and practical. This is the side that produces the words.

The right side is more creative and emotional- closely tied to the passions of the heart. So, a song is a combination of the passion of the heart and the reflection of the mind. The left and right side of the brain join forces and allow the mind and heart to focus, pointing toward the same idea.

When the song is sung, the body completes this circuit of the mind, body, and soul. A song, then, becomes an arrow, pointing the whole being toward one point, one issue, one theme. It is commitment of the whole individual in an act of spiritual expression.

It is no accident that a song is one of the most powerful expressions of the human spirit. The word universe itself means ‘one verse’- the physical expression of the song of life.

Everything in the universe vibrates and so is making a joyful noise. The rocks, the trees, everything in nature is singing, even if we cannot hear their song because of our limited range of hearing.

We’ve all seen examples of how glass will shatter when the right note matches the vibrational signature of the object and the note is sung long enough to fill the object with itself. In the same way, song has the ability to break open the issues of life when the right words come together with the right music and both are pointed toward a particular issue of life; be it issues of justice in society, love between two people, or the myriad of challenges which we all face during the course of our lives. Song has the power to break open the human heart, much as in the example of glass breaking under the power of the right note sung in its direction. The heart fills with truth, and at some point, this truth is understood in the core of the listener and inspires a breakthrough. The heart breaks open and we can see tears of joy or tears of sadness – both a witness and testimony of the truth.

Another gift of song is the way it facilitates memory. Each of us, no doubt, can think of hundreds of songs. This is a product of the left and right hemispheres of the brain coming together for our whole soul to work. And when the song is sung, the vibration goes to every cell of the body, and the whole being remembers. The words and the music then, become truly alive in us, and serve to sustain us, encourage us, inspire us, and heal us. The work is done inside of us, even as we go through our days unaware. That is why we can find ourselves singing or humming for some unknown reason, sometimes unaware that we are even singing! The soul knows what it needs to do, and sometimes, it sings for us.

When we sing songs to encourage each other during difficult times, as Ephesians 5 suggests, we are doing great soul work.

Creating song is one expression of the genius of spirit. Song is: life supporting, life giving, and life sustaining.

No matter what we go through, no matter what we put each other through, as long as we can sing, we have hope. Great songs are a vivid witness of God’s presence through human activity. They reveal a great truth about humanity… that there is a hunger in the human heart for deep connection. When we sing in the midst of our suffering, even though there may be complete exhaustion or frustration, it is a powerful statement of faith; faith that the will has not been defeated. Song becomes the rallying point for strength, purpose, and hope.

I have heard and read of many accounts of people that were on their way to certain and immediate death, that broke into spontaneous singing as they faced their last moments of life. There are stories of Jews in the concentration camps, prisoners of war in Southeast Asia , and passengers on sinking ships that chose their last words to be in songs that reached into their inner beings to express themselves. This would certainly seem to support the notion of songs being the vehicle through which we can complete the joining of body, mind, and soul.

In a very real way, song is our root system. It nourishes us, keeps us alive, and helps us want to stay alive in impossible situations. It allows us to push forward or upward to the realization of our ultimate place in life. Song allows us to sink into the arms of God where light and joy can be found.

One of the foundations of the Methodist movement, as directed by John Wesley, was the use of singing in the worship service. In fact, in the front of the Hymnal, on page Roman numeral vii, are his seven “directions for singing”, along with a little commentary for each one. I won’t read them all at this time, but if you aren’t familiar with them, I would encourage you to read them- after the service.

To summarize the directions, they instruct the individual to learn the hymns as printed, to sing them lustily, yet modestly and, of course, in time. The seventh, and final, direction says: “Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this, attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.” So, we sing to praise the Lord, to support and sustain each other and to remind ourselves of God’s love, His laws and His way.

In the Gospel reading of John, we heard Jesus telling his disciples about the Lord’s Supper. He reminds them that their forefathers ate manna in the desert and died, but he said that “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”

Not only did Jesus offer himself up as a living sacrifice, he was the perfect sacrifice. When he died on the cross for our sins, he made all other sacrifices obsolete and unnecessary.

Although it pleased God, at the time, when Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings at Gibeon , no longer would animal sacrifices be necessary or acceptable. God’s own Son had given himself as the final and eternal sacrifice. This, we are to remember. When we celebrate Holy Communion, Jesus, in the Luke telling of the Last Supper says, to “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Let us remember that God keeps his promises and wants us to love him and keep his commandments.

Let us remember that God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Let us remember as we sing, with body, mind and soul- hymn number 77, How Great Thou Art.

In his introductory comments to the book of Ephesians, Eugene Peterson in The Message writes, “What we know about God and what we do for God have a way of getting broken apart in our lives… Paul’s letter to the Ephesians joins together what has been torn part in our sin-wrecked world. He begins with an exuberant exploration of what Christians believe about God, and then, like a surgeon skillfully setting a compound fracture, “sets” this belief in God into our behavior before God so that the bones – belief and behavior – knit together and heal. Once our attention is called to it, we notice these fractures all over the place. There is hardly a bone in our bodies that has escaped injury, hardly a relationship in city or job, school or church, family or country, that isn’t out of joint or limping in pain. There is much work to be done. So Paul goes to work.”

He is in the midst of this work in today’s reading from the letter to the Ephesians. Like last week’s passage this one focuses on the particulars of living in a community of faith and it calls for us to examine our behavior and make any needed changes. His exhortations are based in the context of living as the kind of community that God calls the church to be.

The Seasons of the Spirit curriculum for this passage focuses on three points which I think capture Paul’s teachings on this subject – three points which are valuable for us to reflect upon in our lives together as the Body of Christ and as individuals of faith.

First, living together in the kind of community that God calls us to be is not just about getting along together. It’s not just about sorting out who does what. It is about being the body of Christ. Sometimes when we talk about this we think about affirming the jobs of each part of our body. Our hand is as important as our foot. Out big toe is as necessary as our thumb and so forth. It’s a wonderful way of affirming everyone’s gifts, but I think it also misses an important point. We still have one body. My arm cannot decide to go shopping while my brain decides to read a good book at the same time my feet go to the gym to exercise. They have to work together with a unified purpose.

In our church the purpose is called our mission and it is defined in our mission statement. “The mission of the North Kingstown UMC , a community of God’s people is to use our time, talents, and treasures to grow disciples for Christ by educating, nurturing, and supporting one another in our town and beyond in the practice of Christian hospitality and the sharing of God’s loving word.”

As the body of Christ every part of our body should be working together toward this same purpose. I had a conversation with another pastor recently who told me that the church she is serving needs to do a major cleanup to prepare their Sunday School rooms for the fall as well as prepare several rooms that will be used for emergency shelter for homeless people during the winter. She suggested that they plan a large all church cleanup day and that the Sunday School superintendent and the Chair of the Trustees work together to organize this event. She was told that those two people would never be able to work together on a project like that.

As we move into the fall and the busy season that this includes, it is a good time for us to reflect upon how we live together as the Body of Christ. Do we identify responsibilities and happily leave them to that person or committee or do we recognize that some people may be in charge of planning something but that it takes many more of us to get it done? Do we turn our back on a project because it isn’t part of our committee so we don’t need to get involved? Someone has observed that a church member waiting to be asked to serve in his or her own church is just like the member of a family waiting to be invited to pull weeds in front of the house where he or she lives. Do we compartmentalize everything as Sunday School, Shepherding, Bible Study, Trustees, VBS, Harvest Fair, Youth Group, Evangelism, Missions, Big Cookie, Finance etc. or do we remember that being the body of Christ is about more than just getting along, and sorting out who does what?

In The Message, we read part of the passage this way, “Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry – but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.” That brings me to the second very important point of this passage. When a community is not afraid to faithfully and carefully address even the most difficult problems, the community is actually built up and strengthened. We can begin by acknowledging to each other the truth of our feelings, including the more challenging and difficult ones like anger, but we don’t stop there.

We’ve been hearing a lot this past week about a very difficult problem being faced by the Episcopal Church surrounding the vote to elect an openly gay bishop. This seems to be the religious crisis of the month – at other times it has been the child abuse charges against priests in the Roman Catholic Church, the ordination of women in various churches, the style of worship, and looking further back into history, the question of whether or not Christians should own slaves. These are subjects about which people believe very strongly, and as happens so many times when there is a religious flavor to the subject, both sides, or all sides appeal to God as their authority, insisting that they are right and anyone who doesn’t agree with them is wrong.

In a more local way, the questions can be should we have one worship service or two? Should we have a praise band or an organ? Which translation of the Bible should we use to read our scriptures? Should we raise money to repair or buy a new organ or should we be adding classroom space, or should we leave well enough alone? The number of questions is infinite and when they become a battleground for differing opinions then they break the bones of the body; they fracture belief and behavior and require a skilled surgeon to repair the damage. In our physical bodies, when our foot is sore, we may compensate by walking differently and then discover that the result is that our back is now sore also. When the church or community is afraid to faithfully and carefully address the issues that concern us then we may soon discover that although we have denied the pain in one part of our body, the pain is manifesting itself in other places.

Love and forgiveness are the “glue” that hold the community together. Love is as real as moving through anger to forgiveness. Love is as real and as necessary as the bread of life as Jesus identifies himself. Love is the power that guides our lives as Christians and our ability to be the community that God calls us to be.

How we live in community expresses the love of God. How that expression of love permeates the lives of those in the community and those on whom our community has an impact is our witness to the wider community. If you walk around town and ask people where our church is will they be able to tell you? What do people know or think they know about this church?

In one community there is a church known for its wonderful dinners. Another is known for its great music. A third is known for the food pantry that is there. Another is popular for the influential people who attend and the wonderful contact that can be made. Still another is known as the church that is always fighting, and a final one as the church that prays. We might ask ourselves what reputation we want to have in our community. Do others come to know God’s love through us – or in spite of us?

We are not perfect. No church and no individual is perfect. There are times when we can be proud of our behavior – when love’s power is strong, when our bones of belief and behavior are healthy – and there are times when they are not and we need a skilled surgeon. The writer of Ephesians sets forth a code of conduct for us as Christians, as the body of Christ. We cannot follow this code by sheer willpower, but only by love power – God’s love power. We cannot change others, or control the behavior of others, but we can through God’s love power change ourselves.

There is a legend from the Talmud which tells about a person who decided to set out to change the world. However, he soon realized that the world was too big for him to change. He decided to set his sights a little lower and change his country. Rapidly he realized that his country was also too large. “I know what I shall do, I shall change my neighborhood. Alas, my neighborhood is still too large. I know what I shall do. I shall change my family. No, I cannot do even that. At last I know, I shall change myself – for I am the only one over whom I have any control.”

Our loving God, you are the bread of life that nourishes us, sustains us and helps us grow. Only through the power of your love can we be the people you have called us to be. Only through the power of your love can we live as the community of Christ witnessing to your love. We remember the words of Saint Francis who prayed:

Back when the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication, there was a story, perhaps apocryphal, about a young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, noisy office. In the background a telegraph clacked away. A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.

The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other waiting applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. Why had this man been so bold? They muttered among themselves that they hadn't heard any summons yet. They took more than a little satisfaction in assuming the young man who went into the office would be reprimanded for his presumption and summarily disqualified for the job.

Within a few minutes the young man emerged from the inner office escorted by the interviewer, who announced to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has been filled by this young man."

The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and then one spoke up saying, "Wait a minute—I don't understand something. He was the last one to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That's not fair."

The employer responded, "I'm sorry, but all the time you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse code: 'If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. So the job is his."[1]

God uses many different ways to get our attention, to guide and direct us. Unfortunately there are also many different things that get in the way of our paying attention to God. The young men in this story were distracted from the sound of the telegraph by the many noises around them and by their preconceived ideas of how they would be summoned in for their interview. King David was distracted from following God’s way by the power and wealth that went with his position and by his human lust and desires. David had tried to live according to God’s will but like most of us, at some point in our lives, he allowed himself to be distracted and lured away.

He needed a wake-up call to get him back on track. That call came in the person of Nathan – a prophet – a man who took the risk of speaking the truth in love and confronting the man who held the power of life and death over him. As we heard in the reading from 2 Samuel, he told David a story about a rich man who took the one lamb belonging to a poor man. David’s sense of justice was inflamed and he pronounced a harsh judgment on the rich man. It was not until Nathan boldly told him, “You are the man!” and spelled out the circumstances that David, then, recognized himself in the story. To David’s credit, when the façade he had made was ripped away, he responded with remorse and humility and admitted, “I have sinned against the Lord.” He made no attempt to justify his actions. He recognized that not only had he behaved wrongly toward one of his trusted soldiers Uriah and his wife Bathsheba, but that his behavior had also been a sin against God. Perhaps David had begun to recognize that any wrong we do to another person is also a wrong against God.

In our Psalm we heard what has generally been accepted as David’s prayer following this encounter with Nathan. It is a plea to God to forgive his sins. It is an acknowledgment that God knows everything about us and that all of our actions have an effect upon our relationship with God. He prays, “Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight.” Rather than making promises that he won’t do these things again, David recognizes that he needs God’s help in his repentance. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” Hear the way the Contemporary English Version puts it: Create pure thoughts in me and make me faithful again. Don’t chase me away from you or take your Holy Spirit away from me. Make me as happy as you did when you saved me; make me want to obey!

To me that is one of the most beautiful prayers in the Bible. It shows an understanding that our actions do not take place in a vacuum – they come from the spirit which is within us. A mean spirit will produce mean actions. A greedy spirit will produce greedy actions. A gentle spirit will produce gentle caring actions. God’s spirit within us will lead us into godly actions.

However, like David it can be all too easy for us to get off track, get distracted by the noise of the world around us, by our preconceived ideas of how something should be. Like David we often need a mid course correction. Sailors and pilots know that they must constantly review the course they have set. Adjustments must be made for wind or turbulence. Vigilance is required to prevent the vessel from going off course – and that is true of our lives.

The good news is that God knows what is going on. In David’s case, God sent a prophet Nathan, to indict the king, but God did not abandon David. God was faithful to the covenant made with David. This deepens our sense of the tenaciousness of the good news that God is persistent in calling us to account for our sin, never abandoning us, and always calling us to a new life. This new life is what David pleaded for when he asked God to put pure thoughts in him, to make him faithful once again, and to make him happy again and wanting to obey.

One of the most famous stories that has to do with identity, confrontation, and repentance to a new life is that of a man who sat down to the morning paper and was shockingly surprised to find himself reading his own obituary. The caption read “Dynamite King Dies.” He was appalled to read his life’s summary in the words, “He was a merchant of death.” He had indeed been the inventor of dynamite and had amassed a great fortune because of the manufacture of weapons of destruction. But he had never really come to grips with the way in which his memory and identity would be perpetuated until he saw the words in the paper that morning. It was his moment of conversion. From that point on, the man devoted his energy and money to works of peace and human betterment. Were any of us to write his obituary today we would likely focus less on dynamite and more on peace. For the man was Albert Nobel, the founder of The Nobel Peace Prizes.

It is as if he heard the words of Paul, the apostle, in the letter to the Ephesians, “I beg you to live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen to be his own.” – The words that continue to call out to us. For we are, indeed, called to live in a way that is worthy of God’s people. We are called to live the kind of life that Paul describes. “Always be humble and gentle. Patiently put up with each other and love each other. Try your best to let God’s Spirit keep your hearts united. Do this by living at peace. All of you are part of the same body.”

I don’t know about you, but I find this hard to do sometimes. There are times when I think I’m right, and I need to convince those people who disagree with me that I am right and they are wrong. Sometimes it’s hard to patiently put up with other people and to keep loving them. I want us to be united but sometimes I want us to be united in my way. I think if we are honest with ourselves and with each other, all of us find ourselves in this situation from time to time.

We need those mid course corrections. As Paul writes, “We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings, which are like winds that toss us around from place to place. Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way, and be more like Christ, the head of the body.”

Don’t we find it easier sometimes to simply keep silent when someone is saying something that makes us uncomfortable, when someone is speaking unkindly about another person or group of people? Don’t we find it easier to go along with the crowd than to speak up and run the risk of having others disagree with us? Sometimes we think we are being kind to another by keeping quiet, when really we may be allowing the other person to be hurt by others or to hurt others when we are afraid to take the risk of speaking the truth in love. Nathan took a big risk in speaking to David, in confronting him with his behavior. Sometimes we need to speak the truth in love to another – sometimes we need to listen when someone else speaks that truth to us. At all times we are called to live in unity as the body of Christ and to live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen us to be. At all times our prayer should be “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. … Sustain in me a willing spirit.”

In 1960, expert testimony concerning time management was presented to a Senate subcommittee. The experts said that because of advances in technology, within twenty years or so, people would be radically cutting back on how many hours a week they worked, or how many weeks a year they worked, or else they would have to start retiring sooner. The great challenge, according to the experts of the sixties, was what people in our decade would do with all their free time. I'm sure all of you are struggling right now with all the free time you have, right?

Today we are in constant danger of becoming enslaved by the very things that were supposed to make our lives more convenient. Notebook computers, PDAs, instant messaging, fax machines, pagers, and cellular phones threaten to take us hostage. No matter where we go, our work can go with us. We can be constantly available –even while driving. No wonder it feels as if our time and sometimes our lives are not our own.