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How many of you have heard the term “Who’s Your Daddy?”--raise your hands if you have.

This term has been around for a few years. It can take on a lot of meanings--who takes care of you, who dominates or controls you, who you look to for guidance and support.

The relationship between a parent and a child is a special one (like the relationship between a person and their dog). With a new puppy in my house, I have been reminded a lot lately just what the responsibilities and joys of parenting are all about. There are obligations and duties on both sides of the relationship. When this relationship is good, it is one of the strongest and most special relationships that a human being can have. It is no wonder that when humans try to unravel the holy mystery that is God, the image of a loving Father is one of the most popular ways to picture him.

If I was to ask a Christian “Who’s Your Daddy?” the obvious answer is that God is our Daddy (especially when I ask that question in church). But if that simple answer was enough, I wouldn’t have much more to talk about this morning, would I?

We have lots of influences in our lives. We need to make a lot of choices about who our daddy is. We need to ask the question “Who is our Daddy?” every day. Not just in our relationship with God directly, but in choosing who and what we allow to influence the way we live our lives--who we listen to, who we follow, how we interpret things, how we guide others.

Not all relationships we have are healthy ones. We need to be careful who we allow to influence our lives and our thoughts. In the country-western song “Who’s Your Daddy?” recorded by singer Toby Keith in 2002, he describes a relationship that is not so healthy. We get the impression that the man singing the song is only willing to be a provider for the young girl who needs him, if she provides him something in return, and what the song implies is certainly not a beneficial relationship from her perspective.

But if we have courage, we can shape the relationships we have with other people, and with the world around us. Just before the 2004 American League playoffs, Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, after some tough encounters with the Yankees, made the mistake of referring to them as “his daddy.” So during those playoffs, the taunt of “Who’s your daddy?” followed the Red Sox, especially during the difficult first three games of the series. But then, in the greatest comeback in baseball history, the Red Sox won four games straight, took the American League pennant, and went on to win the World Series. Their answer to the taunt of “Who’s your daddy?” was a resounding “NOT YOU!”

We face challenges every day, as we pick and choose who we follow, and who and what ideas will shape our lives. And it is not just about following the rules, or reading the Bible. The Old Testament reading today tells the Hebrew people to obey the prophets that speak with God’s voice, but to kill the prophets that speak falsely. When Jesus came to them, the Jewish and Roman leaders had to make a choice, and they tragically chose to see him as a false prophet, and he was put to death. From their perspective, they could argue that they were following the rules.

The Bible is the cornerstone of a good Christian life. But in itself, it is not a complete guide for our behavior. No system of rules is complete in and of itself. In today’s Gospel, we heard how Jesus healed a man, casting out his demons. But did you notice that this took place on the Sabbath, when by Jewish law, no work should be done? Jesus did the right thing, his act was an act of love. But it was not by the rules. In this week’s Epistle, Paul argues that following rules and regulations for how you live is far less important than the principles that are the foundation for those rules. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus boils down the entire content of Jewish law to two basic fundamental commandments--to love God, and to love your fellow man. Recently, surprising many people, the new Pope, Benedict, issued his first encyclical, or statement on the faith. And the man who was seen as a stickler for the rules of the Catholic Church decided the first thing he wanted to talk about were not rules and regulations, instead the document was about general principles of love and charity. This was a welcome move on his part, choosing to speak on broad and positive issues. We can easily get lost in divisive details, and lose our way. And the answer is not just to blindly follow rules and listen to others, we need to remember the underlying principles of the faith, and think for ourselves.

Even if we have decided that God is “Our Daddy,” how do we know how to be good children of faith? In making choices in my faith journey, I like to use an intellectual tool developed by John Wesley. Like a compass, it does not tell you exactly where to go (unless you are a polar bear, not every journey should go due north). But it does give you a tool that helps you find your way. It is called the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, and helps you face challenging questions.

The first corner of the quadrilateral is SCRIPTURE. As I have said, Bible is the cornerstone of a good Christian life. But the Bible is also difficult to understand. I have been devoting a good amount of time in recent years to studying the Bible, and reading about religious history. While it is full of profound truths, it is also full of confusing stories and information. So, while the Bible is the cornerstone, it is not the only guide.

The second corner of the quadrilateral is TRADITION. We are not the first Christians to seek answers, and there is much we can learn from our history, and how those who came before us faced the challenges of this earthly life. The rituals and worship practices that have come down to us from times gone by can help bring us closer to God. I grew up in a Methodist, a simple white building with a stark interior, whose only real decoration was a few stained glass windows, the altar and the cross. So when I walked into this church, with its whitewashed interior, I felt right at home--in my heart, I felt like I had found a place where God was near.

The third corner of the quadrilateral is EXPERIENCE. As we live our lives, we learn many lessons, and many profound truths. When we face religious questions, we are not expected to check that experience at the door, instead, we can use it to fill in the gaps. The Bible only gives us hints of what the prophets and saints were like. But, from our experience with life and with other people, we can fill in the missing information, and develop a richer picture of our faith, and those who preceded us. And if you look around the church at the people beside you, you will see a wealth of experience that you can tap into without needing to do anything more than striking up a conversation.

The fourth corner of the quadrilateral is REASON. God gave us a brain so that we could use it, and the Methodist Church has a rich tradition of encouraging free thinking. If we look at the Jewish tradition, applying logic and sound arguments was a vital part of their thinking, and in their striving to understand God’s will. Jesus was a master of this tradition--just think about how brilliant he was in discussing the scripture, as he is described in the scripture we read today, truly a teacher with authority.

Now, some people take these other measures to an extreme. Because their experience does not include anything that they would call a miracle, they deny the fact that Jesus could have performed the kind of miracles that are described in today’s Gospel reading. They rule out anything they read in the Bible that cannot be confirmed by history books or that does not sound “logical” to them. But these additional principles of TRADITION, EXPERIENCE and REASON are an important balance to blind obedience. It is important for us to constantly study, and learn, and think for ourselves. This is why I find the term “born again” to be a slippery one. Taken by itself, it implies that faith is a single act. Yet in every part of our lives, we need to constantly think about who our Daddy is, what he would want us to do, and how we should act as Children of God.

There are a whole host of issues that require our careful thought and attention, and many of them are difficult ones, which do not have simple “either-or” answers. Think of “intelligent design” versus “evolution,” the morality of warfare, contraception, the “right to chose” versus “right to life,” euthanasia, divorce, and a whole host of other issues. These all call for a response from people of faith, and we need to make sure our response is thoughtful and appropriate.

Those of you who are sitting here have made a choice about who you want as your Daddy. You wouldn’t be here on a Sunday morning if you weren’t trying to be a faithful child of God. And our faith in that “Daddy” is a lifetime journey, a journey that we can navigate by using those four touchstones that will help us discern God’s will for us: SCRIPTURE, TRADITION, EXPERIENCE and REASON.

So, let us now sing hymn 144, and as we sing it, remember who our Daddy is, and what he wants us to do with our lives.

The story is told of a “fishing village on the shore of a great lake stocked full of fish. The fishermen of the village diligently debated and discussed what fishing is, how best to do it, which equipment to use. They invested millions in boats and gear and a fishing headquarters, hired a staff, and sent emissaries around the world to search other lakes and rivers for fish. One day, a little child stood up in their meeting and asked, `You all claim to be great fishermen – how come you’ve never caught a fish?’ Indeed, no one in the village had ever actually caught one. They had never even been fishing.”[i]

Last year our Bishop reported to us that a fairly high percentage of churches in our conference had not received even one person into membership by profession of faith. Sadly, many churches and many Christians go for years without bringing a single person to Christ. We are not called to be “keepers of the aquarium – Jesus calls us to be `fishers of people,’ to catch folk up in God’s grace, love, and salvation.[ii]

Many of us find it difficult or at least uncomfortable to talk with other people about our faith. We live in a culture where we try to be respectful of other peoples’ beliefs and we often use that as an excuse to not share what we believe. We are not the first to be reluctant about sharing our faith. One of the oldest books in the Bible is the story of Jonah from which we just heard a very small portion. Jonah is a reluctant evangelist if there ever was one. God told Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and tell the people there that they needed to repent of their evil ways. Nineveh was pretty much an enemy of most of the world, including Israel so Jonah didn’t want to go. He did the only logical thing; he hopped on board a ship headed in the opposite direction. According to the story, God caused a terrible storm to come upon the ship and the sailors started praying to their gods to be saved. To make a long story short, it was determined that Jonah was trying to hide from his god and that he should be thrown overboard so that the rest of the sailors could be saved.

Then we have the marvelous story of Jonah being swallowed by a whale and eventually spewed back onto shore. Jonah reluctantly went to Nineveh where much to his surprise the people repented. One might think that Jonah would be happy that the people of Nineveh were no longer going to live in the nasty ways known to the city, but that was not the case. Jonah became angry and bitter. Finally the truth came out, Jonah had not wanted to go to Nineveh because he was afraid that they would repent, that they would decide to change their ways and then he just knew that God would be merciful and let them live.

Hopefully we are not like Jonah secretly harboring the desire for people to “get what they deserve.” We have found and received something wonderful – something that we didn’t deserve – the incredible gift of God’s grace – God’s unlimited love poured out on us. When we truly become aware of God’s love for us then we should want others to know that love too.

Jan Karon is the author of the “Mitford Series” of books about Father Timothy Kavenagh, an Episcopal priest. In her most recent book, Father Tim is fond of the saying that, “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” Jonah did not want the sinners of Nineveh to have a future, but hopefully we do.

I think that deep down we really do want to bring people to Jesus but we just don’t seem to know how to go about doing it. Jesus was good at translating job skills from one position to a new one. He knew that people who fish learn some important lessons that can be applied to helping people come to know God’s grace and love. We often overlook the qualities that are part of our personalities, the skills that we have developed as part of our jobs and lives. We tend to forget that these same qualities can be sued by God in ways we haven’t thought about.

Let's think for a few minutes about the qualities of a good fisherman and how they would make someone good at fishing for people. First of all, a fisherman is patient. Some people may have had no experience of God’s love or may have had a negative experience with religion. They may be highly resistant to an invitation to hear the gospel or to come to church. Great patience is required to convey Christ’s love to a person whose only exposure to church is fire and brimstone sermons or negative publicity or experiences.

Peter was really very impetuous, but when it came to fishing, he had learned how to be patient. When we are doing God's work, we too, need to be patient. Most of us will never see great religious conversions because of our efforts. Jonah didn’t know that the sailors had turned to God – he had already been thrown into the sea by the time they responded. It may be years later that someone will tell us that something we said or did made a difference, and helped him or her come closer to Christ. Maybe nobody will ever tell us that, but it doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Think about the people who taught you about Jesus, through word or example, the ones who made a difference in your life. Did you ever tell them what it meant to you? We may never know the results of our faithfulness. We have to learn to be patient.

People who fish are perseverant. They will cast the line again and again even when the fish keep stealing the worms, or the line keeps getting caught in the weeds. The really great baseball sluggers, do not get a hit every time they come up to bat. In fact, they don't even get a hit a majority of the times they bat. If you invite someone to come to church with you and they say no, don't be discouraged, try again, or invite someone else.

Those who fish out on the sea must have courage. As we know from the stories in the Bible, a storm could come up very suddenly on the Sea of Galilee. We may not face the same kind of storms, but the ones we face are just as real. When we speak the truth or try to be faithful to the Gospel we may be met with opposition that can be very stormy. It takes courage to speak or take a stand when you know it will be unpopular. It takes courage to walk the difficult paths with another person. When someone has experienced a death, lost a job, or received a scary medical diagnosis, it takes courage for us to be a companion on the journey.

A good fisherman has an eye for the right moment. He or she knows when to cast a net and when there's no point in it. We, too, must often choose the moment. There are times to speak and there are times to be silent. One of the most difficult times can be when someone has just experienced a sudden death or a tragedy and you feel helpless. You want to say something to help make things better but the words just won't come. People are sometimes surprised to learn that often the response that is most helpful at that time is just to be there. No words. No advice. No promises that it will get better. No words about God's love. As true as they are, that's usually not the time when someone can hear those words. What they need and want is someone with flesh on, someone to be there, to listen if they want to talk, to hug if they need a hug, someone to be present.

Having an eye for the right moment, means being ready to try something when it seems appropriate. A program that didn't work 10 years ago, may work great today. The tried and true methods are good, but there are times when something new might be better. I've often seen a banner that says, "The Seven Last Words of the Church - `We never did it that way before.'" There's a reason they are considered to be the seven last words. We need to have an eye for the right moment. Society changes. The challenges we face in ministry change. Sometimes new and creative ideas are what are needed to meet new challenges. Sometimes a different approach can work in a surprising way.

Which brings us to the next quality of a good fisherman - fitting the bait to the fish. A different kind of bait is used for deep sea fishing than for fresh water fishing. A different kind of bait is used for tuna than for flounder or bass. The same approach will not be effective with all people. Some people love to hear a fire and brimstone sermon and others get nervous if a pastor raises his or her voice. Some people find a small discussion group a great way to explore their faith. Another person may cringe at a small group but be responsive to a personal visit. Some people like to read books, others watch videos or listen to music as a way of deepening their faith.

Just as different methods are effective with different people, so, too, our own personalities and life circumstances may place some limitations on the areas where we can work and where God will call us to serve. There are some people who are wonderful about sending a note to someone who needs some special prayers and there are others who would never think of doing that. There are some people who can sing as part of their ministry and others whose singing is best in the shower or confines of their car. Some people find it easy to talk about their faith; others have to work hard to say anything. However, we should never close ourselves to the possibilities that God may be calling us to an area we hadn't thought about. I’m fairly certain that Peter, Andrew, James and John had not pictured themselves as itinerant preachers. But Jesus saw something that they didn't see. Jonah certainly didn’t imagine himself as a prophet - or as a successful evangelist - but he was (even in spite of himself).

One last quality that a good fisherman learns, and that is essential for us as Christians, is to keep ourselves out of sight. The shadow of a person on the water will keep the fish from biting. In our witness we need to be presenting Jesus Christ, not ourselves. It may be helpful sometimes to share some of our experiences, but we do so, as an example of God's work, not as a way of building up ourselves.

We are people who have been called to fish for others so that they too will know about God's love. Along with Peter, Andrew, James, and John, we are the people who have been given the responsibility to continue to carry out Jesus work, and it is an awesome responsibility.

Sometimes we may find ourselves in Ninevah - and when we do, we may need to remind ourselves that God has been loving, compassionate, and gracious to us. That is God’s nature - not something upon which we have a monopoly. God will be loving, compassionate and gracious even when we don’t think that’s the appropriate response.

We are not responsible for the response of another person, or for that person’s relationship with God, but we are responsible for our relationship with God and that includes being faithful disciples, fishing for other people, and showing God’s love and compassion in our lives.

[i] Mosser, David N. editor, Abingdon Preaching Annual 2006, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2005, p.21

[ii] Mosser p.21

Sometimes it’s hard to hear what God is trying to say to us. We may have preconceived ideas about what can and cannot be, what should or should not be, what God will or will not do. In the gospel reading that we just heard, Nathanael seems to have that problem. Philip went to his friend Nathanael and said, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael responded, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding. Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Maybe Nathanael was just being flippant. He came from Cana, a rival town about ten miles from Nazareth. He might have been engaging in good natured village rivalry, but probably not. Perhaps “he had simply seen too much of life to even begin to hope that the age-old promise of God might actually be fulfilled in his lifetime. Perhaps, he was simply guarding himself against another letdown, another disappointment, calling the grapes sour before even tasting them. After all, then as now, false messiahs were a dime a dozen.”[i]

Sometimes it’s hard to hear God speaking to us because we don’t even know that God can speak to us or we don’t expect God to speak to us. That was the problem that Samuel had. Samuel was only a child living and studying in the temple with the Priest Eli. The Scripture tells us that “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” In other words people didn’t expect a message from God. They didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about God or focusing on what God wanted them to do. Other than the ritual, there wasn’t much of an expectation that their faith should make a difference in how they lived their lives. Samuel was a child, learning from his elders just as our children learn from us. The Scripture tells us that “Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.” So when God called, “Samuel! Samuel!” the young boy responded “Here I am!” and went running to Eli to find out what the old priest wanted. Samuel was ready to respond; he simply didn’t know who was calling him.

This happened three times before Eli finally figured out what was happening. The Bible tells us that Eli’s eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, but his blindness was more than physical; it was also spiritual. He also did not expect a word from the Lord. When Eli finally understood what was happening, he instructed Samuel to respond, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Into the darkness of the nation, the Lord told Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel that is going to shake everyone up and get their attention.”

A new thing! The Word of the Lord was spoken to someone who didn’t even know that he should be listening. The Word of God became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth and people like Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

What happened as a result of these two encounters? Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him. Everyone in Israel, from Dan in the North to Beersheba in the south, recognized that Samuel was the real thing – a true prophet of God. Nathanael went with his friend Philip and when Jesus saw Nathanael, Jesus identified Nathanael as a man with nothing false in him. Jesus said he had seen Nathanael sitting under the fig tree when Philip called him. I wonder if Nathanael remembered the words of the Psalm which we heard today, “You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You … are acquainted with all my ways.”

Nathanael had been sitting under a fig tree. In ancient Palestine a fig tree functioned for many as almost a private room. The fig tree grows to a height of about 15 feet and has branches that spread out as much as 25 feet. It was customary to have a fig tree near the door to a house. When people sought quietness to pray they would often seek out the privacy of the shade of a fig tree. Jesus seems to be saying to Nathanael, I saw you and know you because of the time you spend in prayer. Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

By the way, Philip who came to bring Nathanael to Jesus would eventually go to many places unfamiliar to him. Philip would talk with people whom he didn’t know, but as soon as he responded to Jesus’ call, “Follow me” he went to his friend to invite him to “come and see.”

God is still speaking! But are we listening? Are we open to hearing a new word of truth amid doubt and obscurity, when we’re not sure which way to go? Most of us are open to being moved by God in the presence of love and beauty and all that we commonly consider a blessing. But what about when we don’t see much beauty around us? What about when life looks bleak and we feel alone? What about when the conditions around us are frustrating or when we see injustice or apathy? What about when we see little around us that speaks of God? Are we still listening then?

Today is Human Relations Day. It is intentionally celebrated on the Sunday preceding the observation of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday. He had his own story to tell about listening to the voice when little around him would seem to speak of God. He had gone into the ministry mostly because his father was a pastor and he always did what Daddy King wanted him to do. Martin wanted a quiet life as a professor, possibly President of Morehouse College in Atlanta someday. He did not intend to be a national civil rights leader.
Through an odd turn of events, as a young pastor he was thrust into the forefront of the Montgomery bus boycott. He came home late one night, tired, frightened. The phone rang. An angry voice on the other end said, "We're gonna get you, Nigger!" Martin Luther King stood in his kitchen, frozen in fear.
He wanted to call Daddy King for reassurance and advice. But Daddy King was not there. Then he said it was like a voice. "Martin, you do what's right. You stand up for justice. You be my drum major for righteousness. I will be with you." He had heard his name called. He knew what God wanted. His life was forever changed and through his life, so was the world.[ii]

God is still speaking to you and to me. Are we listening? Sometimes it’s hard to listen because of all the noise around us. There are many voices demanding our attention and God’s voice often comes more like a whisper than a roar of a lion. If we want to hear God’s voice, we need to quiet ourselves from the outside distractions and simply listen. That’s one reason why a regular time of daily prayer and devotions is so important in our spiritual life. We need to take time to be silent, to step back from the noise and concentrate on the still small voice that still whispers in any ear that will listen.

How is God speaking to you today? Are you listening? Listening is not quite enough however. After hearing God’s voice, we need to have a spirit of persistent availability to God. It is one thing to listen and another to be actively available. Samuel could have stayed in bed instead of responding to what he thought to be Eli’s voice, but instead he consistently went to Eli and said, “Here I am!” How available are we for God’s use?

In his book “Living Faith,” former President Jimmy Carter recounts a humbling experience. He says that when he was preparing to run for governor a second time, he was invited to speak to a Christian men's group about his activities as a Christian witness. In preparation for that talk, he took account of the witnessing he had done. He added up the times when he had shared the faith with other people, one on one, and they had made commitments to Christ. The total number came to 140. But then, said Carter, "The Lord must have been looking over my shoulder because immediately I remembered my 1966 political campaign when Rosalynn and I had traveled the state and had shaken hands with 300,000 Georgians, extolling my good points, and asking them to vote for me. I had asked 300,000 to support me, but only 140 to affirm Jesus. The terrible difference in those numbers brought me to my knees."[iii]

How available are we when God calls? Do we respond, “Speak God, I’m listening”? I get numerous e-mails telling me about critical matters coming before Congress, things that affect the life and well-being of some of the most vulnerable people in our country. I believe that is one way that God calls us to act out our faith telling us, “Get involved. Tell your Representative or Senator what you believe. Let them know that you consider a budget to be a moral document not simply a balance sheet of numbers. Tell them that it’s important for children to have enough food and for poor people to have health insurance. Tell them that we are supposed to take care of those who are not able to take care of themselves.”

I look around our community, our state, our nation, and our world and I hear God calling in so many ways. Our work to help Saffiatu have life saving surgery is one response. Providing food for the food pantry is another. Supporting the missions of our church through our budget and our regular giving as well as through special offerings is yet another. There are as many ways of responding as there are people here.

Each of us is chosen and called by God in our daily lives. The Biblical stories for today challenge us to respond to God’s presence even while we are still learning to recognize it. Samuel responded even though he didn’t at first know who was calling him. Nathanael responded even though he was at first skeptical. Philip responded even though he didn’t know where it would take him. Martin Luther King Jr responded even though it would have been easier to continue on his preferred academic career path.

Being available for God includes being available for others and this is one very important way that we are called to respond to God. Availability includes listening to others, affirming, forgiving, helping, giving, caring, impacting lives with the light and the love of God. We do not know everything about what God wants us to do, but we are called and challenged to respond to God’s presence while we are still learning to recognize it. We are called, invited, and pushed to look and listen in new places and to new messengers, and to be carriers of God’s message in new ways, inviting others as Philip did, to “come and see.”

We are called and challenged to listen to the voice of God calling us and to respond, “Speak God, I’m listening.” As we come together in prayer, I invite you to respond throughout the prayer with those words, “Speak God, I’m listening.”

[i] Carter, William G. editor, Speaking of Stewardship, “Come and See” by Paul Debenport. Geneva Press, Louisville, KY 1998, p.123

[ii]Dr. David E. Leininger cited in e-sermons 1/19/03

[iii]Collected Sermons, Dr. Bill Bouknight, ChristianGlobe Network, 2002, cited in e-sermons 1/19/03

[iv] Adapted from a call to worship written for Evangelical United Church of Christ, 1997. Copyright Katherine Hawker from “Out of the Box”website.

Today’s gospel lessons tell of two different times in Jesus’ life. First is the visit of the Magi – a story told only in Matthew’s Gospel. Secondly, many years later is the story of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by his cousin John. Both stories include some important and parallel truths.

In Matthew’s account of the Magi or the Wise Men visiting Jesus we have one of only a few stories of Jesus’ early life. We really don’t know who the Magi were. Most of what we think we know is the result of stories, hymns, and speculations that have grown up through the years. The original Greek calls them “magi” which covered a conglomeration of astronomers, fortune-tellers, and magicians. To good Jewish readers they would be the epitome of religious quackery and idolatry. But they followed the new star and eventually arrived where the child Jesus was. Being warned in a dream not to return to King Herod they went home another way.

Encountering Jesus has always meant traveling a different road. In Mark’s gospel today we hear of John the Baptizer who was preaching at the edge of the Jordan River. Here he was on the edge of the wilderness – the place that reminded Jews of their long trek from Egypt to the Promised Land. It was also the place that reminded them of their ancestors having been forced by foreign powers to leave their land and live in another place. It reminded them of the prophet Isaiah who said that a road would be prepared in the desert, getting the way ready for the coming of the Lord. It reminded them of the way that their ancestors had returned to Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Once again, they were under the domination of a foreign power – this time Rome – and John, in the wilderness is telling them to get ready for the greatest moment in Jewish history and in world history.

As their ancestors had crossed the Red Sea and left Egypt behind, as their ancestors had crossed the Jordan River and left the wilderness behind, they were to enter the water and figuratively lead behind their current Egypt. They were to leave behind the sin that enslaved them, the way of life that involved rebelling against the Living God. As a nation and as individuals they were looking in the wrong direction and it was time to turn around, repent of their sin, enter into the River of Life and then travel a different road.

In the original Exodus story, God’s presence with them was seen in the pillar of cloud and fire that went before them as they wandered through the wilderness. This time, there would be a different expression of God’s presence with them. Remember that Jesus was to be called Emmanuel which means “God is with us.”

The Christian Church has always been somewhat uncomfortable with Jesus’ baptism. John was calling people to repent of their sin and turn to God. How could Jesus have needed to be baptized? Jesus had no sin of which to repent and he was so completely in tune with God that he didn’t need to change directions.

Ann Patchett wrote a novel in 1992 called “The Patron Saint of Liars.” The story is set in the 1960’s in Kentucky at Saint Elizabeth’s Home for Unwed Mothers. One of the primary characters is Celia Clinton the 15 year old daughter of the cook Rose. Celia liked to talk with the girls who came there. One day a new girl arrived, Lorraine. As they talked, Celia gave her advice about what to tell Mother Corinne the nun who was in charge. Lorraine asked Celia what she had told Mother Corinne. Celia wrote later, ““I sat there, absolutely frozen. I felt like I had just been mistaken for some escaped mass murderer. I felt like I was going to be sick, but that would only have proved her assumption. No one had ever, ever mistaken me for one of them, not even as a joke. The lobby felt small and airless. I thought I was going to pass out.”

It wasn’t that Celia didn’t like the girls who came to Saint Elizabeth’s. She was always welcoming and kind and often gave good advice. It was just that she never expected to be mistaken for one of them because in her own mind she was a different kind of person; she was a virgin and thought everyone could see that.[i]

If we take Celia’s story and lay it next to our gospel and the life of Jesus we see the opposite kind of thing happening. Jesus went into the water just like the sinners. Jesus wasn’t concerned about being identified with the sinners, about being thought to be one of them.

If Jesus had listened to his public relations people, he would have been more like Celia wanted to be – a friend to sinners, a kind of loving helper, but never mistaken for one of them. He would have stood on shore, shouting encouragement to those going into the water. He could have held out his hand to those who struggled out of the water in their heavy wet clothes, but he would not, under any circumstances, have gone into the water to be baptized.[ii]

The Christian church talks a lot about God’s love for sinners, but often we go to a lot of trouble not to be mistaken for one of them. Jesus wasn’t concerned about that. Jesus is Emmanuel, God-with-us right in the river. He is with us in the turning away from sin. He is with us when we succumb to temptation and fall back into sin. He is with us in the repentance. He is with us in the joy of new life that follows repentance.

As “Jesus came out of the water, he saw the sky open and the Holy Spirit coming down to him like a dove. A voice from heaven said, `You are my own dear Son, and I am pleased with you.” (Mark 1:10-11 CEV) Baptism confirmed Jesus’ identity and baptism today tells us who we are. There are many people ready to tell us who we are and what is expected of us. The older we get the more we know that we cannot satisfy everyone’s expectation and we will drive ourselves crazy if we try. Baptism tells us that we are first and finally a Child of God. That is the lens through which we are to view all of the other expectations that people try to place upon us.

In baptism we are entering into the River of Life. In the United Methodist Church most of our baptisms take place using very little water so it’s hard to think about baptism as being a River of Life – but that is what it is. Just as a river flows along its course, we are setting ourselves or those whom we baptize on a course that is different than that which most of our world tells us to live. We are setting on a course that is one of viewing life through the eyes of God to the very best of our ability and trusting God to keep our vision clear and true.

Generally when I baptize a child here, one of the things I say to the child (and to any adults who are listening) is “God loves you and has great plans for your life. But you will need the rest of us to tell you the Story. We shall need to remind you from time to time, who you are, and to keep you in God’s family.”

This is true not only for children but for all of us. There are times in our lives when each of us needs to be reminded of who we are and whose we are. There are times in our lives when we need to be reminded that God chose us, long before we even had the ability to think about responding to God. Many of us have had times in our lives when we have wandered away or when we have been full of questions or doubts. That’s okay. God is big enough to handle all of our wandering and all of our questions and doubts. God is still “God-with-us” wherever we may be.

Once we have seen the Lord, once we have been touched by God’s love we are never the same and the road is always at least a little bit different than it was before. When we see the Christ as the Magi did – we are changed. When we are baptized, or when we encounter God in the beauty of nature, the smile of a friend, the trauma of a life event, or in any other way, we are changed and we find ourselves on a different road as the Magi did.

Taking a different route may mean that with God’s help we are able to overcome an addiction or a way of life that has been destructive to us or to someone else. It may mean no longer being a victim and beginning the long road to healing and wholeness. Following a different road may mean that our motivation for what we do will become finding the best way to serve the Lord. For some it may mean a career change; for many it means dedicating our current career as a ministry to God’s people. For parents it often means recognizing that raising children for God is a high and privileged calling which requires God’s very present help at all times.

The Magi came and saw and worshipped. The temple authorities, the good religious people, couldn’t be bothered. The Magi went home by a different route. The temple authorities stayed in their rut. Matthew included this account of the wise men so that we might understand that God came not just to the establishment, but to the outsiders; to the ones who were not respectable, to the ones who had no authority or power or influence; to the ones who were hurting, and broken, and to the sinners in the river who knew that they were in need of a Savior.

Jesus came to us, and entered into the river with the sinners. In his baptism, God proclaimed who he was. In our baptism, and in our lives, God proclaims who we are. God lays claim to us as precious, chosen children of God - called to walk the roads of life with God as our guide and our companion.

[i] Barbara Brown Taylor tells the story of Celia in a sermon “River of Life” in Home By Another Way, Cowley Publications, Boston, 1999, pp.32-36. I am indebted to her for this story and her comparison with Jesus.

[ii] Much of the language for this paragraph comes from Barbara Brown Taylor.

Leo Piguet is the author of a small book called 100 Prayers for Celbrating the Liturgical Seasons.[i] One of the reflections in this book is titled, “Organizing Those New Year’s Resolutions”. I don’t know about you but my New Year’s Resolutions usually don’t survive past January 4^th or 5^th – and that’s in a good year, so I was interested in his reflection. He wrote, “Maybe one of the reasons New Year’s resolutions are so hard to keep is because they are not organized around some familiar and often repeated formula. May I suggest there is such a formula we may have overlooked? It’s called the Lord’s Prayer. Have you ever noticed when praying the Lord’s Prayer that the work is divided between God and us? We ask God in the prayer to `Give us our daily bread, forgive us our sins, lead us not … and deliver us.’ But before we ask God to do anything we pray that God’s name will be kept holy, that God’s kingdom will come, and that God’s will be done. Now who is supposed to do all this? Not God – us!”[ii]

He goes on to remind us that we know the difference between keeping God’s name holy and defiling God’s name and that we know if we need to change our language to keep God’s name holy.

When we think about God’s kingdom it may get a little more complicated. Some think in terms of Christ’s second coming and the political changes that they think need to take place to usher that in. There are some religious leaders that have a high stake in the events in Israel because they want to bring about the conditions that will cause Christ to come again. Unfortunately they seem to forget that Jesus, himself, said that none of us would know when that time would come.

Others focus more on the adjectives that describe God’s kingdom and when we do we think of peaceful, harmonious, just, loving, gentle, and kindly. Piguet reminds us that it is not God’s job to make the world fit this description – it is ours and that we have the power to make this happen. He reminds us that we determine whether many situations are destructive or life-giving; that we can often resolve conflicts peacefully and that we can choose whether to make interventions that produce harmony or chaos.

The same is true of “God’s will be done….” We frequently use this phrase with a sort of resignation. We pray fervently for something and then end by saying, “nevertheless, not my will by thine be done.” That is, of course, scriptural, it was the way that Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane when he prayed that there might still be a way to avoid the cross, but that not his will but God’s should be done. What we tend to forget, is that Jesus had a hand in having God’s will done even in this situation. He could still have run away somewhere, gone into hiding, stopped teaching and healing and undoubtedly the authorities would have soon forgotten about him. But those actions would not have been consistent with God’s will for him. Hiding is not God’s way.

It was Jesus’ job to do God’s will and it is our job to do God’s will. We know that God never wills evil, only good. But God needs us to make good things happen. God needs us to do the things that reflect God’s love and God’s will for the world and for the individuals in the world. Piguet suggests that it makes good sense to organize our resolutions around the Lord’s Prayer: to “Ask yourself, what can I do to keep God’s name holy, to make God’s kingdom be real in the here and now, and to make God’s will be done today?”[iii]

These are good thoughts and helpful ones on this first day of a new year. They are also good thoughts when we reflect upon the scriptures for today. We have heard the story of Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. What is remarkable about the story are the two encounters that took place at the temple. Mary and Joseph met two people, Simeon and Anna, both of whom recognized Jesus for who he was. It had been revealed to Simeon that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. When he saw Jesus, he praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Simeon’s words were full of prophetic utterance – an unexpected word that the Messiah would be for all people – not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles.

In the temple also was Anna, a prophet, and an elderly widow. The scripture says she “never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” Now I don’t know whether to take that literally or more in the line of the kind of comment we might make that someone is in the church every time the door is open. Either way, Anna spent much time in the temple and she, too, recognized Jesus as the Messiah.

Simeon and Anna were people who were devoted to the worship of God. They were open to the Holy Spirit and they were able to recognize the Christ child when he was brought to the temple. If Jesus were born in our day, who would be likely to recognize him and receive him? Don’t be too quick to try to answer that question. We’d like to think that we would recognize the Son of God and receive him, don’t we? But if we truly examine our lives, if we look at the way we live, at our interactions with others, do we truly recognize and receive Christ when he comes to us?

If we fast forward about thirty two years from Simeon and Anna, we find Jesus asking and answering that same question. Jesus was preparing his disciples for his death and he was trying to teach them how to live until he came again. Over and over he told them to be prepared, to live life so that they would ready for him at any time. Then he described how he would know who had been his obedient followers and who had been only pretenders or unbelievers. We heard that in the section of Matthew’s gospel we just read. The real evidence of belief would be seen in the way we act. We are to treat all persons we encounter as if they are Jesus. That is no easy task. What we do for others demonstrates what we really think about Jesus’ words to us to feed the hungry, give the homeless a place to live, look after the sick.

Most of the actions described by Jesus in this passage are simple acts of mercy that we can do everyday. They do not depend upon wealth, ability, or intelligence, they are simple acts freely given and freely received.

I’ve seen a lot of these actions take place within this church family. You have responded generously to the needs of victims of a tsunami, hurricanes and earthquakes. You give freely to provide gifts and needed items for Project Outreach and for the Domestic Violence Resource Center. Our building provides hospitality and a safe place for many community and support groups. The food pantry which is a town wide project, but housed here and supported by us provides food for many of our neighbors. Our Bible studies offer that proverbial drink of water to some in the community who are thirsting for the word of God.

Several years ago we came together as a community to raise money to help provide for a child in our congregation who needed a liver transplant. We watched and rejoiced as the transplant took place and the child became a teenager who is a vital part of our congregation. Now we are responding to a similar need but one that is much farther from home. Daniel and Dorcas Kamanda presented us with an 11 year old girl, Safiatu Bah, who needs surgery to repair a hole in her heart. The Dallas family has taken Safiatu’s need to heart and have spent many hours trying to locate a place where Safiatu would be able to have the necessary surgery.

Safiatu is a Moslem child living in Sierre Leone. Unless we travel to Sierre Leone, it is unlikely that any of us other than Daniel and Dorcas will ever actually meet Safiatu face to face. And yet, she is one of those in whom we can recognize and receive Christ. Safiatu is one of whom Jesus spoke when he said, “Whatever you do for the least of these my children who do for me.” After consultation with the appropriate people and the Administrative Council, our church is responding to Safiatu’s need by committing the balance of the funds in the Fiona Fund to help another child. Approximately $9,000 will be available from this source. Currently about half of the money needed has been raised and we still need about $12 - $13,000 to bring this surgery to fruition. Donations to help Safiatu can be made out to CITA International (Christ is the Answer) and sent here to the church.

Safiatu is just one of many ways that we can respond to those who need us the most and one of the many ways that we can help to make God’s kingdom real in the here and now. This is one way that we can help God’s will be done today. There are many many other opportunities that will present themselves to us each and every day. May we, like Simeon and Anna be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, be open to recognizing and receiving Christ wherever and however we meet him. It is my prayer that we would organize our resolutions and our lives around the Lord’s Prayer and seek to keep God’s name holy, to make God’s kingdom be real in the here and now, and to make God’s will be done today.

[i] Piguet, Leo. 100 Prayers for Celbrating the Liturgical Seasons, Thomas Moor Publishing, Allen, Texas, 2002

[ii] Piguet, p.26

[iii] Piguet, p.26

By The Rev. F. Richard Garland
Christmas Eve

Did you see the moon a week ago Thursday? On a cold December night this full moon was one of the brightest in recent years. You could walk in the back yard and see almost everything. Light at night is a powerful presence. There are those who are afraid of the dark - children ask for night-lights - we light up parking lots for safety's sake. Some of the fears are real, some imagined. There are other kinds of darkness as well. I have always been fascinated by the nighttime sky. I remember as a child lying on my back on a blanket while my mother and I watched the Persides Meteor shower. I remember the distant bloom of light over cities as I drove all night across Nebraska. I remember a shooting star making its transit across the NH sky. I remember going out to see comets. I remember the welcome lights of the shoreline towns as our fishing boat returned home after a week on the Atlantic Ocean. I remember seeing the milky way last October in Maine as I waited for my son and his family to return from the summit of Mt. Katahdin. Light at night can be a powerful presence.

Sometimes, despite the light and beauty of Christmas, darkness can loom like a warning out of our greatest fears and can be almost more than we can bear. And there is so much in our world that makes a person want to just give into it: tsunamis in the far east, hurricanes on the south coast, an earthquake in Kashmir, not to mention the misplaced priorities of world leaders, the growing gap between the rich and the poor, worry over how to pay electric and fuel bills, grief over personal illness or tragedy or the loss of someone dear. This kind of darkness holds little light or beauty for those who experience it.

The poets saw God in the dawn of creation, sweeping across a formless void and darkness with words of life: Let there be light! The truth they told is that God meets every darkness with light! So it was, a long time ago, the Magi in the east observed a star at its rising. They saw it as a sign of a new born king. They came to pay him homage. Again the power of light in the darkness became a transforming presence. W.H. Auden, in his Christmas Oratorio entitled "For the Time Being," wrote of why the Magi followed the star. The star, according to Auden, deprived the three Magi of their minor tasks, and called them on a long and difficult journey. Said the first: "To discover how to be truthful now is the reason I follow this star." Said the second: "To discover how to be living now is the reason I follow this star." Said the third: "To discover how to be loving now is the reason I follow this star." Said all of the Magi: "To discover how to be human now is the reason we follow this star." Those who follow the star, even today, find truth, life, and love, and thereby reclaim their humanity.

The birth of Jesus the Christ bids us get our priorities straight, especially in the face of the darkness around us. He is the one who has said: "Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest for your souls.â€ If we are hurting, for ourselves or for others, he will bear us up as on eagle's wings and make us whole. He is the one who has said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." If we love him and serve him, it will change how we live. As one person has put it: "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." Scripture reminds us, "God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only son into the world that we might have life through him." A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. To follow the star is to acknowledge that our humanity is a gift from God.

Sometimes it may seem like we have been a people who walk in darkness, but the promise of the prophet Isaiah remains true: we have seen a great light that shines to increase joy! For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace! The Star of Bethlehem holds more than a time of vain wishing. It bids us do more than make a wish - the Star of Bethlehem is an invitation to follow to where God has planted the seed of hope. As it shows us to the place where God becomes Emmanuel, it invites us to be faithful. It teaches us how to choose life. It shows us the path of love. It is as we kneel before the Christ child that we discover how to be human. God has shown a light into the darkness, and it is very good, indeed! Follow it, look to Christ and you will find life!

After years and years of waiting, the annunciation, the angel’s announcement to Mary, turns the tide. Here, at last, is the day you have been longing for, O Israel! Here is the time you knew must be, the time for which you prayed and yearned and raged and wept! Here is the secret of the ages, here is the great mystery of all time and here are the angels with all the appropriate heraldry to announce it! Now, if you will only sit tight for another thirty years and nine months, we’ll be ready to roll.

The annunciation demands patience, the patience of a mother. The messiah does not simply appear, fully formed. He has to be carried and labored over, born and raised, loved and nurtured, taught and disciplined. He comes to be through the love and care of a human family, and that requires what it has always required: more love and time than you thought you had to give. But that is the announcement. God in Christ is coming to live among us as one of us. God in Christ requires no army’s protection; only a mother’s and a father’s love.

Here we have the cataclysmic moment in world history, the instant which changed everything for all humanity. He have here the divine promise that Love in all its fullness will now break forth upon the world, accessible to all who desire it.

God takes the initiative in human lives. Just as the Holy Spirit came to Mary with a life’s mission, so the Holy Spirit attempts to approach each of us. Perhaps we have a much more dramatic example here than happens to most of us, but there is every reason to think that God doesn’t just wait for us to come looking for God. Christianity is God’s search for each one of us.

In the Methodist Church we call God’s initiative prevenient grace. It means God reaching out to us, loving us, and calling us before we recognize it. Long before we even begin to recognize God, God already has a long history loving us. If you think back to how you came to be here today, you may be able to recognize people who had an influence on your life that brought you here. There may have been parents, or teachers who planted seeds in you that never quite disappeared as you grew up. Our children have those seeds growing in them now. Youth faced with all the conflicting thoughts and emotions of being a teenager have those seeds planted within them, struggling to grow and needing to be fed and nurtured so that they bear fruit.

Even if you have never been in a church until the time you walked through the doors this morning, there has been something happening in your life - a still small voice of God calling you, loving you, and seeking you. God takes the initiative in human lives.

Mary certainly experienced that. Everything was coming up roses. She was engaged to an established craftsman. They would have a decent income. There would be stability in her life. Her parents were even happy about the engagement. Their wedding would happen soon. She was making plans. She had decorations all figured out. They had planned their honeymoon and registered their china. They were looking for a nice apartment and trying to find furniture ... probably apple crates for a while. (Well, maybe they hadn’t really registered their china, but you get the idea.)

Everything was coming up roses. Then God showed up. Mary was busy getting all her ducks in a row; carefully setting up her dominoes. And then God came and changed everything. At first, God’s coming created more problems in Mary’s life including quite literally the possibility that she would be killed because of the pregnancy.

However, God can handle any problem. When God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus, God also made plans to care for her. Elsewhere we can read about Joseph, Mary’s fiancee, who had a dream in which he was told that Mary’s child really was from the Holy Spirit and that he should go ahead with the plans to marry her. When God comes into our lives, we need to be careful not to try and put limits on what God can and will do.

God always acts in love. The Christ child would become the embodiment of this truth. It means that when we act in love in this life, God will empower us. Quite frankly it doesn’t do us any good to pray for help in selfish or hurtful endeavors. The people we meet in everyday life, even those who oppose us or who disappoint us, are still loved by God equally as much as we are. But when we are acting in love God will help us in our actions. I believe this is true whether our actions are out of our love for another person or our love for God. Actually they are pretty much the same thing, because whenever we act in love toward another person, we are showing our love for God.

In God’s hands our earthly life as well as our eternal fate are safely in the hands of love. It was true for Mary, and it is true for us.

In the harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts, there is a Roman Catholic Church called Our Lady of the seas. The steeple bears a statue of Mary, looking out to sea, with a fishing boat cradled in her hands. It is an image of tremendous power for this community because Gloucester is a fishing village, and in its three-hundred-year history, more than thirty thousand fisherman - many of them Portuguese and Italian immigrants - have lost their lives at sea. Even today, fishing remains one of the most dangerous occupations and one of the poorest. When the storms come and the radios give out, there is nothing to do but pray. For generations, fishing wives have gone to the church to pray for their husbands’ safety, and fishermen have carried the statue down to the harbor for the annual blessing of the fleet. Mary, Our Lady of the seas. She offers no miracles. She can only cradle the boat as it puts out to sea, as she once cradled her baby who was destined to die. In her strength, her resolve, the community finds its own.

Mary left behind safety when she said to the angel. “Let it be to me according to your word.” She left proper and comfortable and secure far behind her, and traded them for a vision of God incarnate in every single human life, no matter how poor or dirty or lost at sea.

In many ways, Mary is a model of faith. When visited by the angel, she didn’t try to hide her doubts, her questions or her fears. She knew that a pregnancy at this point meant that she could be killed by those who did not believe this story. But she took the risk of faith. She was obedient to God’s will for her. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, she agreed to cooperate with the divine, to be a partner with God in the on-going plan for the salvation of the world. She agreed to work with God, not against God. She agreed to bear the Christ child, to endure the suffering that would go with being his mother, and to share in the joy of watching the child grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually in a relationship with God.

I read an Advent devotional about a pastor trying to prepare for all the things that are required at this time of year. He had gotten a little bit behind on his sermon preparation. It was Friday morning - bulletin deadline! - and Pastor Phil didn’t have a title for his sermon yet. By the way, in this church, bulletin deadline is Tuesday morning, - and - you may have noticed, it’s not uncommon for there to not be a sermon title. Anyway, the music director in a sarcastic effort to be helpful asked him, “Does your sermon have any trumpets in it?” “No,” Phil answered. “Does it have any drums in it?” “None,” Phil replied. “Then how about `Without Trumpets or Drums?’” And that’s what he titled his sermon that Sunday, as he preached on the way in which Mary fulfilled God’s call upon her life. No trumpets. No drums. No fanfare. Just faithfulness!

“No wonder so many Christians hold Mary in such high regard. Didn’t she prove to be a most amazing servant of God? Young, unmarried and pregnant, Mary trusted that God’s plan for her life was sufficient.”[i]

When Mary arrived at her cousin’s, Luke tells us that Elizabeth’s baby leaped in her womb. I’m sure that the baby had moved many times, but this time, this particular time, the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth and she recognized this as more than just a baby’s movement. It was a leap of hope and joy the kind that occurs when there is the recognition of God on the move to fulfill the promises of God’s covenant. Elizabeth’s baby, who according to the angel was to prepare the way for the Lord, was already fulfilling that role. The baby’s leap and the Holy Spirit’s presence gave Mary one more confirmation that the child she carried was really the one whom the angel proclaimed.

The leap of the baby was the leap of hope and joy that occurs long before there is much of any visible sign that it is, in fact, God on the more. It is the anticipatory leap of hope and joy that Christmas is all about. The one God sends, whose presence caused John to leap in the womb, brings hope to those who have no hope. He brings joy to those who cannot imagine any prospect other than bitter tears for the future. He brings life to those who bear within themselves a great emptiness and sadness because life has passed them by. All of us, no matter what our situation in life, are called to get our hopes up, to prepare to rejoice. We are called to join in John’s anticipatory dance.

There were no trumpets or drums when the angel appeared to Mary or when she went to see Elizabeth. No trumpets or drums, but there was an angel, and Mary’s faithfulness, and her trust that God’s plan for her life was sufficient. There are no trumpets or drums when we give a faith filled response to God’s call to us. But maybe, just maybe, there is the rejoicing of an angel when God’s people say yes and agree to be Christ-bearers for others.

[i] Molin, Steven. A is for Advent Creative Communications, St. Louis Mo. 1998 p. 16

[ii]Weems, Ann. Kneeling in Bethlehem “The Christmas Spirit” Westminster Press, Philadelphia 1980 p. 51

Once again this week we have the sharp contrast of “Santa Claus is Coming to town” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The Santa Claus is Coming to town is a little less boisterous than it was last week, but still overshadowing the plea calling for Emmanuel, “God with Us” to come to us. All around us the sales abound, decorations are becoming more prolific and Santa Claus is making his appearance in the malls. If we are to believe the commercial messages, it should be a “holly, jolly Christmas”.

But for all too many of us it doesn’t exactly feel “holly, and jolly”. I know personally that this has been a very difficult week. I’ve spent more time in the hospital and related to the hospital than I care to think about. Maybe that’s why I appreciate the passage from Isaiah so much. My first reaction to it is to hear pieces of Handel’s Messiah pouring forth. First there is the wonderful tenor voice singing, “Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith the Lord” until you are sure you have heard the message loud and clear. But my problems are too great, you protest, and then the voice continues, “every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low.” Valleys lifted up, mountains leveled off – only a mighty God could accomplish such a tremendous feat – a God mighty enough to really give comfort during those rough times in life.

Then come the powerful exultant voices of the chorus singing and repeating, “The glory, the glory of the Lord, shall be revealed.” It’s enough to give one goose bumps. It’s enough to remind you that God really is mighty enough to give comfort and strength even in the midst of facing the most difficult circumstances of life.

This message was a powerful one to the Israelite people who first heard it. They were living in exile in a foreign land. Their homeland had been destroyed by invaders from Babylon and they had been required to leave the familiar and move to a foreign land and live among people whom they did not know and didn’t understand. Even worse than this, they felt that they had been abandoned by God. They thought of God as being in a specific place – in the temple in Jerusalem. Now the temple had been destroyed – the most sacred touchstone of their lives was gone, and they felt that even their God was no longer.

But the word came, “Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God.” They are still God’s people and God is bringing comfort. The prophet told to proclaim this message of comfort can’t image what word of comfort there can be in such horrible circumstances. He didn’t want nice religious platitudes – just as we don’t want them when we are in the midst of something terrible. For many of us there are few things less helpful to someone whose loved one has just died than to be told, “it was God’s will.” I suppose that there are people who find this comforting, but it was never made sense to me and it doesn’t sound to me like it fits with a God who says, “speak tenderly to Jerusalem,” or says that God will feed his flock like a shepherd, carry the lambs in his arms and gently lead the mother sheep.

No, Isaiah doesn’t want simple answers, soft religious platitudes. He wants and needs something that makes sense. And the word comes. We are like grass; grass withers, and flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever. In the vision of what we see at the moment what is happening to us seems monumental, overwhelming and all consuming. If our viewpoint were all there was, if the moment were forever then we would be consumed and destroyed by the circumstances of life. But there is a bigger view, one in which God’s word stands for eternity. It is a reminder to us that whatever we are facing today is not the final answer. No matter how horrendous it may seem right now, it is not the ultimate result – it may seem like it, but the Word of God assures us that there is more to life than right now.

Many years ago when I was at the beginning stages of a divorce, I heard someone say that after seven years she was just starting to feel like really living again. That was not good news to me. I wanted to feel alive and happy much sooner than that. But in a strange way, that was also a message of hope. It might take time for me to really recover, but I would – and I did.

Like many of you, I can look back on parts of my life and recall how I wasn’t sure I could get through whatever was happening, but now I can look back and know that I did survive and that God was with me helping me, holding me like a little lamb gently held in the strong arms of a God who knows how to be gentle and strong at the same time. Today when you or I begin to feel that sense of being overwhelmed or abandoned, we can remember that as horrible as it may feel at the time, it will come to an end because the Word of God does stand forever – far longer than whatever it is that threatens to overwhelm you now.

The wilderness is not a fun place to be, whether it be a physical wilderness or an emotional or spiritual one. During Advent we are reminded that there was another who went out voluntarily into the wilderness. John the Baptizer went out, away from the city, away from the conveniences of life, out into the wilderness. Unlike most street corner preachers who stand where it is most busy so that they will be seen and so that it is hard to get away from them, John went out into the wilderness. Incredibly people went out into the wilderness to see him, to hear him. They recognized the significance of the wilderness in their history – they knew that their ancestors had wandered in the wilderness for forty years after escaping from slavery in Egypt. They knew that their ancestors had been led by the Babylonians through the wilderness to a foreign land where they were forced to live. They knew that their ancestors had eventually made a return trip through the wilderness back to the city of Jerusalem which had been destroyed, and which they painstakingly rebuilt over a period of many years. They knew the significance of the wilderness in their history.

They knew also the wilderness of life. They were living under the domination of another foreign power – the government of Rome. They knew the wilderness of life – crises of health and death. They went out into the wilderness to hear one who proclaimed the word of the Lord.

John was a prophet, one who like the prophet Isaiah before him, was a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. In John’s case, he was preparing, announcing the arrival of the Messiah, the Christ, the long awaited one, the one about whom the angels had announced, “he will save his people”. This long awaited one, Jesus of Nazareth, turned out to be everything they expected and nothing that they expected. He was the one who would save his people, but not in the way they anticipated. He did not lead a military force and overthrow the Roman government, but he was the one who had the power to forgive sins, to heal, to baptize with the Holy Spirit, to save his people in a way that was ultimate and eternal, not transitory.

Often God doesn’t act the way we want. Our most fervent prayers may seem not to be answered, but they are – even if they are not answered the way we want them to be. God doesn’t shield us from the difficulties of life. Indeed, sometimes being a follower of Christ may lead us into some extra difficulties. God doesn’t guarantee us good health, or long lives. God doesn’t put a protective bubble around us and our loved ones to save us from trouble.

God walks with us, carries us gently, leads us, guides us, sustains us, and strengthens us even in the midst of the multiple difficulties of life. In the much beloved 23^rd Psalm the psalmist proclaims, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

John was a voice calling out in the wilderness – both physically and symbolically – the wilderness – the place we least want to be and yet, the place we often find ourselves. Sometimes we know that our journey in the wilderness will be a short one, but other times it feels as if it will never end. Yet, we have the promise that God is with us, that God has come to save us from what might otherwise destroy us. Our loved ones may still die. We will still die. But even death is not the ultimate loss – it is a temporary one, a loss of a physical presence. Human death and its finality melt in the face of the resurrection. Our wilderness transitions into a place of grass and flowers when we rely fully on the God who comes to us, Emmanuel, God with us.

I hope that there are some of you thinking, well, Beverly really missed the mark today. I’m not in any wilderness and haven’t been for awhile. All of that might have been true when I did walk through the wilderness but right now my life is going just great and I have so many blessings to be thankful for and this is going to be the best Christmas ever. If that is the case, and I pray for some of you that it is – then there is still a word here. You have family and friends who are in the wilderness. Part of this family of Christ is hurting right now in many different ways. People you know at work or at school are in the wilderness.

If you are not in the wilderness that is great! But would you be willing to take a walk out into the wilderness with those who right now need to know God’s comfort? If you are not in the wilderness yourself, if you’ve been there in the past, then your voice is needed now. Your voice is needed in the wilderness bringing comfort and a message of hope and of God’s power.

It is the season of Advent, the time to prepare for a new beginning. A time of new beginnings is in store for all of us, those in the wilderness and those who are not. Advent is a time of new beginnings for those who are in their wilderness of unforgiveness, the wilderness of pain and hopelessness, the wilderness of loneliness and resentment. Who needs to hear the message of hope and power and love? Who needs to hear your voice in their wilderness?

When you looked at the sermon title for today, what did you think? If I asked you what the scandal of Christmas was, what would you say? Would you think that it was about a young pregnant girl giving birth to a child? Today we are hardly likely to think twice about it, but in Mary’s time, the penalty for adulterous relations would be death. However, even if her family and friends didn’t know it or believe it, we know she did nothing wrong. The child within her was not conceived in the ordinary way. Is that the scandal of Christmas?

The scandal of Christmas to which I’m referring has nothing to do with Mary and her pregnancy. The scandal of Christmas has to do with us and our lives. I’m grateful to J. Ellsworth Kalas, a professor of preaching and prolific writer for this title and for heading me in a new perspective. He wrote a sermon called the “Scandal of Christmas” based on the creation story. But as I read the scriptures assigned for today, I realized that the scandal that he identified was alive and well in today’s passages too.

It’s easy to avoid the scandal of Christmas because we’ve sanitized and romanticized the events surrounding Christmas. We picture a pretty baby, a beautiful young mother, and a stable that glows brightly with the holy events taking place there. We tend to get upset if someone suggests that the stable is today’s equivalent of a homeless shelter or sleeping in your car.

The Christmas music of our culture – that began playing before Thanksgiving – focuses on joy, celebration, and childhood memories. Just like the beginning of our service today, there is a sharp contrast between “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” or “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”.

Christmas, in our culture, has become a mega-shopping event, a time of parties, a walk down memory lane – and it’s not necessarily our memory lane that we are walking but rather Norman Rockwell’s idyllic dream world. Perhaps that’s why the Christmas season is so difficult for many people; when these elements are missing people are more susceptible to feelings of melancholy, loneliness, or depression. It has a lot to do with our lack of grounding in the theology of Christmas. That’s one reason why a Blue Christmas Service is so important, it focuses on the theology of Christmas, the hope, the presence of God in the midst of the most horrible or difficult circumstances of life.

In the passage from Isaiah, we heard the plea that God would tear open the heavens and come down. Isaiah’s people had returned to Jerusalem after having lived in exile for many years in a foreign land. They had returned to a Jerusalem that had been destroyed. They knew it would be bad, but couldn’t really imagine it until they stood in the midst of the devastation. They remind me of what the people of New Orleans or Biloxi or other cities and towns must be experiencing as they return home to incredible destruction. “Rip the heavens apart! Come down, Lord.”

Christmas came as part of God’s response to a people who prayed, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down.” God did not forget the cry of God’s people! Jesus is our God come looking for us.

The reality is that there wouldn’t be a Christmas, wouldn’t be a need for Christmas, if it weren’t for our need, for our scandal. The season of Advent – that begins today and ends on Christmas Eve is all about our scandal. The scandal of Christmas is about us and about our sin. Isaiah recognized this when he said, “You help all who gladly obey and do what you want, but sin makes you angry. Only by your help can we ever be saved.”

Now I know that sin is not a popular topic and we go out of our way to cover it over or dismiss it. We have a new synonym for sin – we call it “making a mistake”. A mistake is not the same thing as a sin.

The basic sin of our lives – of all of our lives – is disobeying God. The ways we do that may be simple or complicated, sophisticated or naïve. Sin has its focus on self – on caring more about ourselves than anyone else, on focusing on what we want rather than what God wants or what someone else needs. It gets complicated because we also need to have a positive view of self if we are to survive. But if that view becomes distorted, or all-consuming, it destroys us.

Let me bring this a little closer to home. Kalas wrote, “When we live below our best potential, when we’re mediocre when we ought to be fine, cheap when we ought to be noble, shoddy when we should be upright – this is sin. When we’re anything less than godly, it’s because we’re involved in this scandal called sin.”

What makes it worse is how we choose to deal with it. We use many wonderful things to focus on ourselves and keep God at a distance. We absorb ourselves with family, work, civic activities, sports, politics, music – all of them good things, some of them very good. But we can so easily use these good things to distract ourselves from God.

Kalas said, “Well, this is a scandal. God has provided a wonderful potential for our human race, and we squander it. Then to make it worse, we flee from God,” and we use God’s own gifts to distract ourselves from God.

“And that’s why we need Christmas. Christmas didn’t come to our human race because we worked ourselves up to it, or because we evolved to a state of deserving such a favor; Christmas came because we’re a scandalous lot. Christmas is, indeed, a Gift, the ultimate Gift, because it is a Gift undeserved and unjustified.”[ii]

We try to avoid these facts about the Christmas story. That’s why we don’t really understand Advent. We sang earlier, “from our sins and fears release us, let us find our rest in thee.” Did you pay attention to those words? More than likely, for many, they were nothing more than words on a page, and a definite disconnect with the strange opening to the service. Did you hear the scandal that was still perpetuated in the dialogue around the 1 Corinthians passage? People who knew about Jesus were squabbling among themselves about which of them were the best, the most religious, and held the true beliefs. Doesn’t that sound familiar even today?

It’s ironic that the secular Christmas stories that we love best are remarkably true to the original Christmas story in one important aspect. Think of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol. Hear how Dickens, himself, describes Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character. “Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!” Did you get that? Dickens called Scrooge a sinner! He was so focused on himself that he seemed to almost enjoy making other people miserable.

Remember how the story ends? Scrooge is converted. Dickens doesn’t use that word, but that’s what happened. Dickens summed it up this way, “It was always said of Scrooge, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.” The man who violated Christmas worst became the man who kept it best. What a conversion![iii]

Today one of the most popular Christmas stories is Dr. Seuss’s, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He has become so much a part of our culture, that the term “Grinch” competes with the name “Scrooge” as the epitome of everything that’s bad. At the end of the story, the Grinch has been converted, or changed, so much that his heart grew three sizes that day.

These secular Christmas stories can’t help saying what the original Christmas Story is about – that we humans have a scandal to deal with, a scandal of sin and we all need to be converted, born again, changed. That’s why we have Christmas.

Unfortunately, humans being who we are, we didn’t change permanently at Christmas. When Jesus died, when he rose from the dead, he promised to return again. That brings us to the other focus of Advent. Advent is a time of preparation not for the coming of Jesus as a quiet, lovable baby; but it is a time of preparation for the return of Christ that will come at some unknown time in the future. Throughout history it has been almost a sport to try to figure out when Christ was coming again. People have looked to the signs of the times and tried to match them with sections from the Bible. However, Jesus told his disciples and us, in the reading from Mark, “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.”

This is one of the places where there tends to be a deep split among Christian churches. This second coming has become the focus and the motivation for many churches. Many mainline churches and pastors refusing to put our focus there have tended to ignore the subject completely, but Advent doesn’t allow us to do that. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins have made millions from their Left Behind series – a sensational fictionalized account of what they think will happen when it gets closer to the time for Christ to come again.

I am indebted to Von W. Unruh, the author of the adult Advent Bible Study, who gives words to my thoughts on this subject. When the conversation turns to the Day of the Lord, to the second coming of Christ, “we need to steer clear of all who engage in sensationalized end-times gossip that pretends to be gospel. Despite their loud and oft-repeated warnings, our God is neither angry with our world nor fed up with all the `miserable sinners’ who populate this world. Nor is Jesus gearing up for a return cameo appearance in which he will reprise the role of the grim reaper, the very role he came the first time to oppose.

“What nonsense! Our God’s character does not change. He only becomes more godly! The God who took on our flesh, who was accused of carousing with sinners, who said he came to save the lost and heal the sick, whose dying words were, `Father, forgive them’, has not in the intervening centuries become so thoroughly disgusted with his creation that he has no more time for us. …

“In this great paradox we call faith, it is the seeking who find, the hungry who are fed, the tired who are refreshed, the foolish who are wise, the last who are first, the weak who are strong, the afflicted who are comforted, and those who give up everything who are rewarded with more. Hope springs eternal for us children of God, not because we are deluded or because we are such naïve optimists, but because we `serve a risen Savior, he’s in the world today; we know that he is living, whatever foes may say.’ That is the truth that grounds our hope. Jesus is the one for whom we long.

“It is precisely because God love us that he is returning, this time to stay.”[iv] Then he concludes with this penetrating question, “Why should we ever expect our world to adore our God if we keep making God out to be a capricious giant intent on smashing our world to smithereens, and us with it?”

Christmas happened because of God’s loving response to our scandal of sin; our need. Christ will come again because of God’s loving response to our ongoing scandal, our ongoing need. In the meantime, we are to live as Christ’s faithful followers, not pulling up an easy chair and rocking our time away, but by using the gifts that God has given us to witness to the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives and to prepare God’s people for the very real presence of God in their lives.

[i] Sermon Title from: Kalas, J Ellsworth, Christmas from the Back Side, Abingdon Press, Nashville TN, 2003, sermon pp.11-18.

[ii] Kalas, p.16

[iii] Kalas, p.16-17

[iv] Unruh, Von W. Advent 2005, Come and Behold. Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2005, pp.11-12

Today is Consecration Sunday, the day we dedicate our plans for underwriting the ministry and mission of this church for next year. There are some subtle clues that will help you recognize this – first, there is a notice in the bulletin describing how we will receive our offering this morning and blank pledge cards for anyone who forgot their card this morning and is ready to make that commitment, and secondly, the order of worship has changed so that the sermon comes before the offering. There is good liturgical reason for this – the giving of our offerings is one of the many ways that we respond to the proclamation of God’s word – and today, the hope is that you will be inspired to respond generously and out of a sense of gratitude for all that God has done for you.

Today’s Gospel lesson lends itself well to a Stewardship Sermon, and it is actually one of those passages that has changed in meaning for me through the years. When I was younger I used to identify strongly with the third servant, the one who dug a hole and hid the master’s money, kept it safe and returned it to him intact. He was afraid of his master whom he saw as a harsh man and he didn’t want to take any risks. That made sense to me. I thought the first two servants were taking a risk that quite frankly could be dangerous. Of course, that was when I thought the story was primarily about money.

Now, I believe that it’s more about discipleship. It’s about what we do with what God has given us – and it can be summed up in the title today, “You do better when you try.” Notice the third servant’s response, “I was afraid, so I went off and hid your money in the ground.” I was afraid. His fear caused the third servant to become a guard of what he had been given, rather than a steward. He guarded his master’s money well. A steward is not the owner, but is the manager. A steward is entrusted with the master’s possessions, and is expected to act on the master’s behalf and for the benefit of the household as a whole. The owner could be trusted to renounce a bad steward who placed the household in jeopardy simply to protect his own claims. This servant was filled with fear. Fear and guilt create guards – not stewards. Grace and love create stewards.

During a financial stewardship campaign we have to recognize some hard truths. While we have responsibilities as a church to meet certain obligations, and the finance committee and Administrative Council are charged with the responsibility to help us be fiscally responsible, our stewardship campaign is only partly about money. People who give or who tithe out of a sense of fear, afraid that God will be angry if they do not, are guards, no matter how much they give. Those who love God and God’s world, and respond out of gratitude for the grace of God, these people are stewards. The steward takes risks, the guard does not. The steward acts as he or she believes Christ would, if he were physically present, believing that faithful behavior will bring Christ’s blessing. Stewards are people who try – and who do better by trying.

There’s a baseball statistic about Ty Cobb who still holds the #4 record for all time stolen bases. In 1915 when he set the record of 96 stolen bases in one season he made 134 attempts. Seven years later Max Carey became second best with 51 stolen bases in one season. He did so in only 53 attempts. Cobb’s success percentage was much lower than Carey’s but Cobb’s additional 81 attempts produced 44 more stolen bases. Cobb has gone done in history as one of the greatest base runners of all time. Why? Because he tried. He wasn’t afraid to fail. Lou Brock, Baseball hall-of-famer and the holder of the #2 place in career stolen bases said, “Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.”

The same is true in our lives as Christians – and that’s essentially what stewardship is about. Financially, we are hearing a lot about the expected cost of oil this heating season and I can tell you right now that our treasurer is already panicking about how to pay the oil bill. As a church we can take several different approaches. We can sit and wring our hands and worry about paying the bills – by the way, this has been proven to be ineffective. It produces only grumpiness, headaches and tension. We can ignore the financial implications and set a budget that is focused only on what we think God wants us to do. This would be great, but is probably not what wise and faithful stewards should do. We can be good stewards and look at a middle of the road approach – which we have chosen to do.

We have tried to produce a realistic plan of spending that takes into account the financial realities and at the same time is faithful to the mission and the ministry to which God calls us. We believe that we are not to skimp or make unrealistic cuts in the areas that impact your lives and the lives of your children, and the lives of those whom God sends to us. We do not cut education programs, spiritual formation, or outreach which by the way are made possible, in part, by electricity and oil. We recognize that all of our church budget – or spending plan – is really a plan of investing our resources in the ministry of Jesus Christ in the most responsible and faithful way possible, seeking to be open to God’s call to us. We pray that each of you will also be prayerful about how you might best respond to that call to invest in the work of God in this location. We believe that we do better if we try to be faithful and if we take risks for the work of Jesus Christ. We are stewards not armed guards protecting what we have been given.

Now, as I said earlier, this parable, stewardship, and discipleship is not primarily about money, so let’s move on to the rest of discipleship. Remember that the parable deals with what was given to the servants or stewards for a time, not what belonged to them. This is true of all of our life and the talents, abilities we have. This is true of our health, our families, our very lives. We do not really own any of these and quite frankly, we really have very little control over them. But we seek to be faithful stewards and take care of them to the best of our ability, hopefully recognizing where they really come from.

Phyllis Faaborg Wolkenhauer who has served parishes in North Dakota and Iowa, wrote a sermon about this parable around ten years ago. She reminds us that Jesus always used images that people would understand. She retold this parable using images and illustrations that we, as twenty-first century Christians, can understand. I think she did a wonderful job of it, so I want to share her retelling with you:[i]

Jesus was preparing his disciples for the time when he would have to leave this world. He told them that his departure would not be permanent - that he would return. Before he left, he wanted to entrust each of his followers with his special talents. To one he entrusted the talent to teach. To another, the gift of compassion. To another, the ability to faithfully interpret the scriptures.

He entrusted his servants with the abilities to listen attentively to others, to make music, to be hospitable, to do acts of kindness, and to be understanding to those who are often misunderstood. One follower received five talents, another received two and the third disciple received one talent. Jesus instructed them to use what he had given them. He asked them to use their talents as often as they could. He promised that as they used them, others would come to know him and be saved. Then Jesus departed from his followers, for a long time.

When he returned, he called his disciples to him, and asked each person, one at a time, what he or she had done with the talent he had entrusted to them. The first was excited about what had happened when she used the gifts Jesus had given her. She said, "I used my talents to teach as often as I could. I taught children, young adults and the elderly all about you, Jesus. I was able to get through to them. They seemed to understand. At first I was a little afraid that I didn't know enough about you and about the Bible, but the more I taught, the more I learned. The more I used my gifts to help others come to know you, the better I got at it. I must have taught hundreds of people about God's love." Jesus responded, "Well done, my trustworthy follower! Because you have been so faithful with these talents, I will give you more abilities that will enable you to become an even better teacher. You will be able to reach still more people with my love on an even deeper level."

The second disciple was excited, too. His gifts of compassion and empathy had allowed him to touch the lives of people in a way he had never experienced before. He told Jesus, "When you entrusted me with the gifts of compassion and empathy, I was a little shocked. As I was growing up, people would always tell me that it wasn't manly to hug, or share feelings, or cry. But after you gave me the gift of compassion, I found myself wanting to reach out to my son, at times, with a hug rather than a handshake. I began noticing what other people were feeling and sometimes I had to hold back tears when someone was crying in my presence. I resisted those instincts for quite a while.

“Then I remembered. Before you left, you entrusted me with the gifts of compassion and you told me to use them. It took a while, but it finally dawned on me that you said if I hugged and felt and cried with people, they would come to know you. So I began trying to do as my instincts guided. At first I was kind of clumsy at it, and it made me feel nervous. But the more I expressed my compassion to others, the easier it got, and the better I became at being with people wherever they were." Jesus responded, "Well done, good and trustworthy disciple. The more you use your gifts of compassion, the more effective you will become at showing my love to others. Because you have been faithful with these talents, I will give you more."

Then the third disciple came to Jesus, head bowed low in reverence. He said, "All these years, I protected your talent to interpret the scriptures. I kept it to myself. I didn't discuss my insights with anyone, just in case I was wrong. I didn't want to upset you by leading people astray. I kept my mouth shut whenever there was a Bible study. I know that you wouldn't want people disagreeing, so even if I thought someone's interpretation of scriptures made your gift of salvation into something they could earn, I didn't say a word. I know that it makes you angry when people misuse the gifts that you give them, so I was careful not to use mine at all."

Jesus responded in anger, "I entrusted you with the talent of faithfully interpreting the scriptures so that you could help others learn more about me and my love. Just think how many people never heard my message of love and forgiveness because you wouldn't use your talent. All the people whom you encountered in your life who were questioning and wondering about me never experienced my presence because of you and your unwillingness to share your talent. You live your life as if I hadn't given you a thing. My work is too important to waste on such an unfaithful disciple. Because you have not been a good steward of the talent I have given you, I will take it away and give it to the teacher. She will use the ability to interpret the scriptures faithfully. She will use that talent to reach people with my love."

You do better when you try, when you are willing to take a risk, when you trust God to show you the way. The more you use the talents that Jesus entrusts to you, the stronger those abilities will become. You will become better at what you do and more effective at proclaiming the Word of God. When you show faithfulness in the use of the gifts Jesus gives you, he will entrust you with still more. So go, good and trustworthy disciples. Use your abilities. Don’t hide your talents in the ground somewhere. Put them to work and be involved in proclaiming the love of Jesus!

Stewardship, discipleship is about being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. It is not about measuring your ability. It’s about how much of your ability you are willing to use and how much of a risk you are willing to take when God calls you to faithful action whether it be in this church, or at home, at school, at work, or in the marketplace. It is about how you use all of the resources entrusted to you, in whatever measure you may have them, - your finances, your health, your brain, your sense of humor, your compassion, your ability to listen, and to speak. It is about how you use everything that makes you a child of God and a disciple of Jesus Christ.

May our prayer not be that of the Pew Potato who prayed, “Dear Lord, please leave me alone. Just let me sit here in my pew on Sunday, and Lord guard my seat. Please don't let anyone else try to sit here Lord... You know that's my seat and dear Lord please get me home quickly after the service on Sunday, before these church people try to recruit me to actually do something that I don't want to do. Lord make them understand that I'm happy and content just to show up on Sunday. Thank you for hearing my prayer but I've got to Go! The Pastor was long-winded today and kickoff is only a minute away!! You understand. See you next Sunday Lord. Amen.[ii]

[i]Wolkenhauer, Phyllis Faaborg, Invitations to the Light CSS Publishing Company, Lima, Ohio. 1995 pp. 42-45

[ii] Adapted from: Joan Stock, Sermon: The Investment of a Lifetime as carried on e-sermons.

We love weddings, and the people who listened to Jesus loved them too. When he started to tell the story from Matthew’s gospel, they must have leaned forward eagerly. Traditionally this story is understood to be about the second coming of Jesus, the Messiah, and every detail of the story is assigned a meaning. It was an important story to those early Christians who heard Mathew’s Gospel – 50 or so years after Jesus’ resurrection - because they were anxious for Christ to return and this reminded them of the need to stay ready. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians deals also with this issue. Believers were dying and Christ had not yet returned. The early church had to figure out what that meant, and why it was taking so long for Christ to come back and bring about God’s kingdom on earth.

We, who are living, almost 2000 years after Jesus’ resurrection may not think much about Christ’s coming – although we profess it every time we celebrate communion when we proclaim, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” For us the question that seems much more important is how to live our lives on a day to day basis in a way that is faithful to God’s will. Given that perspective, we, like the psalmist, are charged with teaching our children so that the next generation and the next will know the truths of God, the stories of our faith, the things that have formed us and make us who we are today.

In that spirit, let us look again at the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids. When we look at the big picture, we find that the story begins with a wonderful invitation to a magnificent party. We like the party, the open invitation. We can understand the middle part – the delay. The end of the story, however, is very difficult and distressing – the door was shut. That’s why this parable is not one of our favorites – it has a sense of finality that is uncomfortable. It seems to say that even for the faithful, who came with their lamps and their oil, time can run out. Decisions must be made about discipleship and we can’t keep putting them off forever, because “forever” finally does come.

In some respects this story also seems to accurately describe the way many of us experience our religious life. We begin with the thrill and joy of the party. We start off with energy and enthusiasm, and we look forward to great things happening. But then there are days of disappointment or delay. Life doesn’t work the way we think it should. We discover that people at the church are real people with warts and all, not angelic perfect beings. The challenge of being Christian every day, day after day, requires persistence and the willingness to face questions and hopes, fears, and even indifference.

That is where stewardship comes into play. Stewardship, remember, is the way we live our lives, the way we use all of our resources – our time, our energy, our abilities, our money, everything – in response to God. Traditionally, in Jewish thought and writing, oil was symbolic of good works. That’s where this story gets interesting.

At the beginning, all ten bridesmaids had oil, but by the time the bridegroom arrived in the story, only five of them had oil. Let me tell you what I think of this. The lamps and the oil that the women had are symbolic of good works, of light in their lives, of the Spirit of God in their lives and ours. They all had oil at the beginning. What happened?

I think it has to do with how we live in the day to day. It’s a funny thing about the light in our lives, the Spirit of God – the more we use it, the more of it we have. Sunday School teachers often discover that when they teach children about our faith, they learn more about their own faith. People who work in soup kitchens often discover that their faith is made more real by helping those who need our help the most. Choir members and worshipers discover that the songs sung in worship come back to you during the week and may provide comfort or strength or a sense of peace at a time when it is most needed.

We are called to be bearers of the light to the dark places of the world. We do that best by making sure that our lamps are filled. We are coming into what is often the busiest season of the year. As we prepare for Advent and Christmas many of us will feel stressed and frazzled. There is sometimes a temptation to skip worship and grab a few extra hours at the store or in the preparations. There is a danger in not recognizing that worship is a crucial part of the preparation and participation in the season. Many will arrive at Christmas Day with nothing but empty stockings, bloated stomachs, and tired souls. Today’s parable reminds us that such inadequate preparations are dangerous paths for God’s followers.

Today’s parable can challenge us to find ways to fill our lamps and shine Christ’s darkness into a world of darkness. We want to have the resources at the ready to shine into the darkness; to face the future whatever it may hold with a flask full of oil. Regular participation in worship, time spent in Bible Study and prayer are crucial to our lives and to the lives of those around us.

I often wondered when I read this parable why the women with the extra supply of oil did not share at least a little with those who had none. I understood the rationale, but somehow it seemed a little selfish to me. But, I’ve come to realize that if we think of the oil as being our good works, as being symbols of our faith, as being the Holy Spirit active in our lives then those who still have oil are not being harsh. They are simply underlining a fact of life. No one can make it on another person’s oil – another person’s faith. We have to buy the oil ourselves. We can encourage another person. We can pray for another person. We can do many things to help, but when it comes down to the wire, we cannot give our faith to another person – that is something we all must do for ourselves. We can’t make it on our parents’ supply of oil, or our spouses’ or a dear friend. We can’t get the oil for our children or our friends. Each of us has to come to God and get the oil for ourselves.

In one way it is like a skill. Many years ago I knew how to play the violin and I played fairly well. But after 6 or 7 years, I stopped playing. Today I don’t even remember the names of the strings, or where to place my fingers to shorten the string and make the appropriate sound come out. If I picked up a violin today it would probably sound as horrible as it did the first day I put bow to string as a child. If I had continued all these years to play the violin, imagine how proficient I might be today – but I didn’t and that is a skill that is essentially lost to me. I suppose that if I really decided to start playing again, and took lessons again, the knowledge and skill would come back, but if playing the violin were demanded of me today, I would be like the bridesmaids rushing off to buy more oil, it wouldn’t work, – the door would be shut, I would not be able to do what would be required.

In Matthew’s parable it’s not the coming of the bridegroom that makes some wise and some foolish; the coming merely reveals who is. The issue is our behavior and how we live our lives.

Some of that revealing takes place every stewardship season in the church. All of us have been invited to the great celebration that awaits the faithful. All of us have been given resources to use for good in the meantime. The question is, do we use some of those resources to light the way, to share Christ with others, or do we try to hold back, trying to make excuses about why supporting good works is better down tomorrow than it is today?

No denomination, and no individual congregation is perfect. But we work hard to light enough lamps so that we can bring light into the darkness of the world and so that we can glimpse the coming celebration.

We work hard to make sure that at least some will not go to bed hungry tonight, or have to rummage around trying to find shelter. We provide a place where our children will know that they are loved, welcomed and accepted, and we try to reach out so that other children can find that safe place. We provide visits to people going through difficult times. We pray for those in need. We proclaim God’s Word and offer songs of praise in this sanctuary. We support learning in this church and great centers of learning and hospitals in this country and around the world.

All of this takes resources and we have them. The question is how we are going to use them. Will we hoard and hold back until another day, thinking we have the future all figured out, and some day when it’s more convenient we’ll share a little, or do we share now so that we can be ready for whatever God calls us to be and do?

The story is told of a pastor who went to visit a wealthy lawyer asking for a donation to help the church. The lawyer refused but told the pastor to go see the young lawyer in the next office and said, “You tell him that I said he should give you a generous donation!” The confused pastor asked, “Why are you sending me to him when you are refusing to help.” The lawyer responded, “I wish I could help you, and there was a time when I would have given gladly and counted it a privilege. But you see I’ve become so accustomed to my wealth, that I can’t bear to part with it. But you go talk to my young friend, he hasn’t yet learned to love his money the way I have and perhaps it will not be too late for him.”

Among us we have the resources to support many good and worthy causes and we are asked to decide how we will use them. You have to make the choice about supporting this congregation and its work. Like the bridesmaids in the story we can choose to provide the oil that keeps an active vital ministry for Jesus Christ in this place and outside our doors. Like the bridesmaids, we get to decide how to live our lives on a daily basis. We can choose to live our lives constantly replenishing our supply of oil and keeping our lamps full, or we can choose to let our lamp go out because it runs out of oil and we have forgotten how and where to get more. Keep your lamps burning brightly and full of oil.

Choices! Choices! Choices! Who can argue that we don’t have a plethora of choices available to us everywhere we turn? “Pick whatever you want” seems to be the slogan of our country and our daily lives. We have choices about everything. Before we even decide which television show we want to watch, we first get to choose which system we want: Cable, satellite, or good old fashioned antenna. After that decision, you have to decide which package you want: basic, expanded, digital, premium channels and so forth. And by the way, if you combine your television with your internet and telephone, we are told you can save money over ordering each of them individually from different companies.

Do you want your internet access to be dial-up, broadband, DSL, cable? Do a simple search on the Internet and you’ll find thousands of web sites on almost any given topic. Are you hungry? Are you eating low carb, low fat, low protein, South Beach, Atkins? Do you want fast food, cooked to your specifications, something in between? The amount of information we receive is overwhelming. We can’t process it all. The choices are too many.

This is even true of religion. There are somewhere in excess of ten thousand different religious denominations in our country. You could switch churches every two or three days if you wished. I’ve heard of church shopping, but that would be ridiculous.

We are faced with so many choices that it is easy to think that we can have it all. Our culture prefers “both/and” to “either/or”. Children around the age of 2 often become fascinated with the word “no” but at any age we don’t like to hear that said to us. It has even become fashionable to ask, “What part of “NO” don’t you understand?” We don’t like it when someone tells us “no” and sadly, it often seems as if we have forgotten how to say the word “no” ourselves. We take on more and more commitments, refusing to let go of the old ones.

However, choices must be made; choices about where to focus our energy, time, skills, resources. Making a decision to do one thing is the same as saying no to something else. Although we may have hundreds of television channels to choose from, even with the latest technology, we can only watch one or two programs at the same time. Kids may want to play several sports but they can only participate in one game at a time. We may want to be in several places at one time, but we are truly only able to be in one place at a time. In an effort to do otherwise, we become proficient at multi-tasking. Maturity involves choice: either/or.

This is most clearly shown in our faith. To choose to live a Christian life is to close out other possibilities. I cannot profess to be a Christian while I am out stealing from someone else. That one’s easy enough isn’t it? Most of us aren’t really tempted to steal – at least not in big ways, like robbing banks or stores. But what about stealing from a store by not correcting an error at the register, or stealing – oops, using office supplies for personal use. Somehow the easy obvious temptations become more like a continuum, and some of them don’t seem as bad as others.

Can we say that we are Christians without giving up contradictory behavior? Can we claim to be Christians without giving up other claims?

Joshua understood the danger. The people of Israel had come through a harrowing period of their history. After being slaves in Egypt they had wandered in a desert wilderness for forty years. They had fought and won the land that they believed had been promised to them. Things were going to get easier now; they were in the land flowing with milk and honey. All they needed would be provided. Joshua understood that this was the most dangerous time of all.

It has been said that there are no atheists in fox-holes. The greatest time of danger for faith is when things are going well, when the hardships are over and when there are many options available to us. In those countries where Christianity has been forbidden, we have discovered that an underground church has continued and often thrived. I read that today in North Korea many underground churches still meet in private homes to hold worship services. Because of the need to maintain strict security, members use indirect means to find out a person’s thinking about Christian churches before beginning the careful process of introducing them to the tenets of the faith. In North Korea, religious activity is covered under the same criminal statutes as anti-state activities.[ii] In a country where we are free to talk about our faith, think about the last time, you shared your faith with a neighbor or someone at work.

Dick Gregory, a comedian and activist, once spoke about how the lack of commitment in American churches stems from freedom. As long as we are free to go to church on Sunday or not to go, there will not be much zeal. To illustrate this, Gregory said that if a tank were put in front on the church doors on Sunday to keep people away, attendance would increase significantly. As soon as you tell us we cannot go inside, we get fiery. Faced with freedom and choice, we become lethargic. Faced with oppression, we fight to the death. Isn’t it true that our children seem to want most what we forbid? Youth, when your parents tell you that you can’t do something or hang around with a particular person, doesn’t your resolve to do it often increase? What would happen if someone told you that you couldn’t come to church anymore? Would that be okay with you – or would you take a risk for what’s important to you?

Ironically, in a land of choice and religious freedom, we become lethargic. We can see the results in the decline of the church. Christians are becoming increasingly illiterate about our faith. There was a time when preachers could reference an event in the Bible and most of the congregation knew what they were referring to, that is no longer the case. In an attempt to reach people with the news of Jesus Christ, many kinds of alternative services have been offered. Some large churches specialize in what are called “seeker” services where everything is either printed or shown on a large screen, no hymnbooks are used and no assumptions are made about what people know or believe.

Other churches offer contemporary services with praise bands and music designed to reach those who are not traditional church goers. Some churches are realizing that we are competing with many options in a consumer culture and that unless worship is stimulating or fresh it is hard to attract non-church people. Yet, we have a crucial message for a hurting world. Following 9-11 churches were full – for a short time. Once the shock wore off and the fear lessened, many went back to their pre-9/11 habits.

We have many choices about how to spend Sunday mornings, and we have many competing offerings. It is a sad fact that when many of our youth reach the age of 15 or 16 and start looking for a part-time job, they are frequently expected to work on Sunday mornings. Sport events are often held on Sunday mornings. In one church I was told by town recreation officials, well the kids can go to church on Saturday night if its important to them. I explained patiently that I was the pastor of a small country Protestant church with one service at 10:00 on Sunday mornings. “That’s your problem.” I was told.

So churches, too, have started to offer many options. Our Catholic churches offer several masses on Sundays as well as Saturday evening masses. We offer two worship services, but we started to do so not so much to offer an alternative as to try to reduce the crowding that took place when we are all tried to worship together. That was a good problem to have – and offered us some great opportunities to explore.

In a land of choice and religious freedom, Christianity has become for many a hobby rather than a faith that requires our minds, hearts, bodies and souls. Instead of integrating faith into the very core of our beings, it is tempting to relegate it to the margins. When I was a teenager, I remember a discussion about attending a dance on Saturday night. The pastor was asked what he thought of youth dancing. His reply was, “If they can go to a dance and in the middle of the dance be able to proudly claim that they are Christians then I don’t see any problem with it.” In today’s culture it may seem archaic that such a conversation even took place, but it makes a point. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that youth don’t play sports, or play in bands or have jobs. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that you have no social life. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that you don’t have fun. Being a Christian means being a Christian in the middle of the dance, the band, the job, the party, wherever you are.

Joshua could imagine what would happen to the Israelite people. Settling in a land where people worshiped many different gods it would be tempting to not only tolerate but also reap the benefits from worshiping these gods too. Why not put all truths and beliefs on an equal footing so that no one can take offense? Wow! That’s not an ancient question is it? It’s a today question! In the name of pluralism and toleration and global society it is tempting and politically correct to honor all different religions.

Honoring the beliefs of others is admirable – and it is important - but it is best done when we know what it is that we believe. Joshua is urging the Hebrew people not to give up their zeal for the Lord; he offers them a choice of a god – theirs, or the gods of the communities. But he calls them to choose Yahweh alone, the God who led them out of bondage and into freedom and to the Promised Land. Likewise for us, today, to be a Christian means to put Christ first and not to worship anything or anybody else. It means worshiping Christ – not success, possessions, or even family or government. All these fall in line behind our top priority – that which we worship. All of them are given more meaning when seen through the lens of our top priority. Christianity by its very nature cannot be practiced on the edges of our lives, but only at the center of our lives. When you say yes to God, you have to say no to something else.

Through the years there have been those who have made worshiping God a burden to bear, a heavy list of demands, something that I cannot imagine to be even a remotely attractive choice – much like we heard in today’s Gospel. But if we focus again on what Joshua says, he reminds the people of what God has already done for them. They responded, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. … Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

The question for us, is what will be our choice concerning our commitment to God? How shall we respond to God’s goodness to us? Shall we be loyal to the God whose love is steadfast toward us? How will we show our loyalty? One of the documents that answers that question better than almost any other is our checkbook. We spend money on the things that are most important to us. A very large portion of our money generally goes for the essentials: food, lodging, heat, etc. But what about the rest of our money? Where and how do we spend that? What does our checkbook tell us about what’s really important to us? Do you know that more money was spent on lotteries last year than was given to charities? More money was spent on tickets to sporting events than was given for the work of God. What gods do we serve?

It is the time of year for choosing financial stewardship. We have another choice to make. How shall we respond to God’s grace and steadfast care? Shall we give sacrificially? Can we tie our giving to a proportion of our income? The choice we make involves more than money. Which God do we serve? “Choose this day, whom you will serve,” says Joshua to the Israelites and to us.

The kids had it right several years ago, when the fad was the WWJD slogan. What would Jesus do? When we ask that question as we make the many choices in our lives then we will be making the choice to follow Christ in all that we do. Sometimes that choice will lead us to a church event, sometimes to a family activity, sometimes to a social gathering, sometimes to some well deserved “R & R”, but always it will lead us to the choice that puts Christ in the center of our lives and helps us live in the way most pleasing to God.

Choose this day, whom you will serve. As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord. How about you?

[i] Large portions of the ideas and some content of this sermon comes from a sermon called, “Choose, This Day, Whom You Will Serve” by Roger P. Howard, in Speaking of Stewardship, William G. Carter, Editor, Geneva Press, Louisville, KY, 1998, pp.99-101

[ii] World Peace Herald, 10/17/05 www.wphearld.com Chang In-soo, The Segye Times

Forty years ago some Methodists thought that there might be a need for a Methodist church in North Kingstown. A dream was born and today we reap the benefits of that vision. In September we held a three hour town meeting as part of the work of the Learning team. On Friday of this week, a mailing was sent out giving more details of what took place on that day. We heard stories of the faith of those who nurtured the dream; who helped bring it into fruition. We heard about the love of those who spent many hours visiting in the neighborhood – many of them people from the Annual Conference who helped water the seeds of the dream. We heard about those who through the years donated hours of labor to physically build the church and those who served in so many ways to provide a meaningful ministry. We have wonderful stories of the men who went to New York and carefully dismantled an organ, meticulously labeling each piece and then reassembling the organ here in this sanctuary. The pews that you sit on every week came to us from the chapel at Quonset when the Navy left.

Today when you look around you, you are surrounded by expressions of love that have built this house of worship, service, education, fellowship, and mission. Parenthetically, this might be a good time to also draw to your attention the mailing that you received about a week ago that had a colorful brochure in it about the Together for Tomorrow Campaign of our Annual Conference. Some of the money raised in that campaign will be used to set up an endowment fund to help begin other United Methodist Churches in areas where there is a need – just as there was here 40 years ago.

It is a wondrous experience for me to see the many ways that people of this congregation respond to the needs of this church, our community, and our world. Because of the many many hours of work of so many people, I no longer have to live with the mold in the basement of the parsonage. The new floor and paint make the rooms there look wonderful and above all the house is now a healthier place to live.

Why do so many people donate so many hours? Why do you give generously to hurricane and tsunami relief? Why do you faithfully support the ministry and mission of this church? I believe that it has to do with roots of love. Most of you know that I don’t know much about gardening. However, I know enough to know that a strong root system is crucial to good growth. When the broken waterline to the parsonage was replaced this week, I saw the ditch that was dug through the parking lot and the front yard. I looked at the roots of the trees in the yard and wondered how much damage was done to the root system. I’ve been advised that we need to pay attention to the trees for the next few years to see whether or not the disruption to the root system was enough to kill the trees; the results will be seen gradually not immediately.

I believe that it is the root system of Christians that explains the stewardship of our lives – the way we use our money, our time, our energy, our skills. That root system is like the foundation of a house and according to our Gospel reading today it is about love. “`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

I believe that it is this love that is manifest in so many ways in the lives of each person that builds this house of love and helps to maintain it – not just physically but emotionally and spiritually. We know all too well that life is not without its storms. We know that floods come, buildings are destroyed, thieves break in and steal valuable possessions, disease comes and damages health, death steals dreams but there is an indomitable spirit in humans that gives us the strength to face all of these things, not with ease, but with courage and with the knowledge that we are not alone.

The commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind comes not as an arbitrary command, but as a response to the love that God has first shown to us. It comes as a response to the realization that God has loved us in a way that can only truly be responded to by returning that love.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is questioned by a lawyer – who in Biblical days was really more of a biblical scholar. It is a question designed to provoke debate and to discredit Jesus. Jewish scholars had counted the laws of Moses and had come up with 613 separate commandments. The lawyer is asking Jesus to pick out one of these as the greatest and thus to expose himself to criticism over the 612 commandments he didn’t choose.

If the lawyer had been asking about baseball, Jesus might have responded, “Three strikes and you’re out.” But then the lawyer could have produced a counter argument, “what about four balls and you walk?” Jesus’ removes any possibility of this kind of debate. He begins by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This verse would have been well known to all of Jesus’ hearers. It was part of the Shema, a key element in Jewish worship. Devout Jews would have recited this verse several times a day and would have known it by heart. It would be like someone quoting part of the Lord’s Prayer to us.

Then Jesus quoted Leviticus 19:18 as a second commandment, which is like the first, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus accomplished two things by his answer. First he showed himself to be completely orthodox by giving a response that was straight from the treasury of Jewish devotional life. It was impossible to challenge the idea of loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as the core of the law.

The story is told of Karl Barth, a renowned theologian who was asked “What is the most important truth you have learned in your theological study?” His response was, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Who can argue with that? Even the smallest child would recognize this truth.

But Jesus did more than just prove his orthodoxy. What Jesus did was to remove the opportunity for debate. He undermined the whole notion of the law as rules and regulations. Jesus claimed that the entire law is about love, not rules; about really loving God and one’s neighbor, not about figuring out how to avoid stepping on cracks in the legal sidewalk.

This understanding of the law is the reason that Jesus can heal people on the sabbath; why he can touch a leper who would be considered unclean. Jesus said that all of the laws are really about love of God and that love is the measuring stick used to test the actions of life. The scholars of the law had a picture in their mind of every law hanging by a strand to a peg, to some key verse of scripture. Jesus refreshes that image by portraying the whole law and the prophets, everything as hanging by a cord to the twin pegs of love of God and love of neighbor.[ii]

It is this love – love of God and love for neighbor – that builds this house. It is this love that builds the additions to it, the places where this house of love extends into the community. On Friday, I received a call from a woman who was disabled and was moving into an apartment that had not been cleaned by the landlord. She was physically unable to do the work that needed to be done to make this place livable. Usually I get calls from people looking for financial assistance, but she was looking for elbow grease, time and help. By 4:30 that afternoon, the love and work of 5 people had transformed a very dirty, unhealthy, and unsafe space into one that is more inhabitable. Equally as important, someone’s life was touched by the love of God in a way that will not be soon forgotten. Quite literally, her apartment became a house that love built.

This love is not always free of conflict. In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, we heard that he had the courage to declare the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. This courage comes not from personal strength but by being entrusted by God with the message of the gospel. Paul knew who it was who had sent him. He knew to whom the message belonged. He knew to whom he would answer if he were not faithful. He knew that his job was not to please the people to whom he came but to please God, who knew his heart.

It’s wonderful when what we do to please God is also pleasing to people. The action of those who helped to clean the apartment on Friday was pleasing to God and very definitely pleasing to the woman who was assisted that day.

But sometimes what is pleasing to God is confronting those things that are not of God, those things that are contrary to God’s will. The next step in the apartment situation would be confronting a landlord who would provide an apartment in that condition to someone. That would certainly not be pleasing to the landlord, but raising the issue might well be pleasing to God. Having the courage to take a stand, to speak the truth may be what God calls us to do, even when it sometimes is not pleasing to others. However, there is also an appropriate way to do this.

Paul continues to say that “we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.” Isn’t that a wonderful image of the way we should care for those around us. Paul continues, “So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.”

How do we share ourselves? Do we expect only the parents of children in the Sunday School or youth fellowship to be involved in these ministries – and do we expect them to work only their own children, or do all of us have a responsibility and a love for the children and youth God has brought into this house of love? Should each of us be concerned only with our own spiritual journey confining ourselves to our personal devotions and study, or does love call us to interact with others as we learn and grow together? Should we wait and see what kind of extra change we have in our pockets when we come to worship on Sunday and toss that into the offering plate, or does love call us to put God’s work first and make our gift to God out of what we have received, rather than out of what we have left after all of our wants have been fulfilled?

The questions are many, but the guidance is simple. “`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

[i] The sermon title comes from a sermon by Wanda Sevey in the book Speaking of Stewardship, edited by William G. Carter. Geneva Press, Louisville, KY,1998, p.45

[ii] This image from Long, Thomas G. Matthew, Westminster Bible Companion, John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1997, p.255

A few years ago as part of my trip to Israel, I went to Caesarea Philippi, a coastal city and a big place in the Roman occupation of 1^st century Israel. Our guide pointed out to us a rock with an inscription that she said was a New Testament reference about paying taxes. As I recall no one asked her specifically what it said. This week I found myself wondering if it might have been Jesus’ words, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

The Pharisees and the Herodians came to ask Jesus whether or not it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor. His answer has been used as a justification for separation of church and state, and for an approach that tries to keep the church out of politics. However, before we over simplify Jesus’ response, let’s look at the context.

The first thing to realize is that the society in which Jesus lived was very different than our society. We live in a democracy, where we elect our leaders and where we have a right and an obligation to hold them accountable and to challenge actions that we believe are inappropriate. The Jewish people were one of many nations that were under Roman domination. They had no say about how the government operated. Indeed, their very belief that the land itself was a gift from God made the Roman occupation intolerable.

Within 1^st century Judaism there were some, notably the Herodians who were a priestly group whose power base in Israel was founded largely on a set of alliances forged with the occupying Roman government. The Pharisees, by contrast, were a lay group within Judaism with a fervor to obey the law of Moses and to keep alive the zeal of the prophets. They saw Roman occupation as something they had to put up with and they counseled submission as long as Rome didn’t interfere with the practices of religion. For the Pharisees, compromises with the pagan Romans would have been theologically unthinkable. What brought these two groups together at this time was only their mutual distaste for Jesus.

They came simply to trap him. The tax in question was a hated head tax instituted about 25 years earlier when Judah had become a Roman province. When the tax was established in A.D. 6, there was a small-scale revolt. If Jesus said that it was lawful to pay the tax then he would lose support among those who followed him and who hoped that he might, indeed, be the Messiah they had been waiting for, the one whom they expected to overthrow the Roman empire and bring freedom to them. If Jesus said that it was unlawful to pay the tax, then the Pharisees and the Herodians had ammunition to take to the Roman authorities so that Jesus could be accused of sedition and be arrested as a traitor to Rome.

There was no safe answer and Jesus knew what they were trying to do. He asked how they dared to put him to the test when they, themselves, were hypocrites. Then he asked them to show him a coin. This simple act exposed their own hypocrisy. You see, Jewish law prohibited the making of any idol. The coin which they produced would have shown the head of Caesar Tiberius, and the words, “Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus and high priest.” The coin, itself, added insult to injury. Here in the temple in Jerusalem, in the most holy space in the holy land, Jesus’ adversaries promptly produced a coin that violated the dictates of their religion! Their hypocrisy is obvious. They are happy to do business with Caesar’s coins. Why then should they raise a religious question about giving Caesar his due?

The real question isn’t really whose image is on the coin, but whose image is on your heart. It’s not that the emperor gets into your pocket; it’s whether or not the emperor gets into your head and your soul. “Give to the emperor the things that belong to the emperor.” That’s what Jesus said, but it’s tricky, isn’t it?

Penn State, Ohio State, Purdue, Texas A&M and many other football teams all wear the Nike swoosh on their uniforms. So do they belong to Nike or to their respective colleges? Notre Dame wears the Adidas emblem. Does that mean that their players run better in Adidas than Nike? Or is this all about which company is willing to pay the most money? How far can one go and not lose something essential?

Political campaign financing raises the same questions. The deals made to push through certain pieces of legislature sometimes leave us asking who our legislators are representing – us, or some special alliance? That’s politics as usual, we say. But what if it’s more than just pockets? What if these alliances or funding sources get into one’s soul? Don’t give your conscience which belongs to God to some other alliance, company or government.

Whose face is on the coin? Whose name? What belongs to the emperor? What belongs to God? The real question is not about surfaces but about depths. The real question is not whose inscription is on the coin but whose inscription is on us? The real question is not whether the coin belongs to the emperor but how much of us belongs to the emperor and how much of us belongs to God?

Remember the story of creation – and God made them, male and female, in God’s image. What belongs to God? Where to begin? If we look at Psalm 24 the answer is clear enough, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.” Everything and everybody belongs to God. That complicates things a little doesn’t it? If we are to give to God the things that are God’s and everything is God’s then we are to give God everything.

At baptism we are marked with the cross on our forehead. The issue is not who owns the coin, but who owns the person. This division between what belongs to the emperor and what belongs to God is not an even division. In the second half of his statement, “Give to God what belongs to God” Jesus demands far more of his followers than in the first half of his statement where they are to give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor.

We give ourselves according to our love. We see parents taking a second job to pay for a child’s college tuition. We see adult children traveling back and forth across the country to take care of an ill parent. When Jesus says, “Give to God the things that are God’s,” this is about love, not obligation.

We have God’s fingerprints all over us, but sometimes we tamper with the evidence. We smudge the print and try to bear the image of conflicting loyalties.

Hopefully you have received the first of the stewardship mailings this week. Stewardship is not just about a pledge to the church. If you don’t believe that the church is of God, you shouldn’t give. Stewardship is about our lives, every part of our lives. When we give an offering to the church we should do so in love. We are not giving away what we own, but rather giving to the God to whom we belong.

So how much of you belongs to the emperor, or to the company? Certainly government and the company sometimes do the work of God. If they did not then we really shouldn’t have anything to do with them. It is our responsibility to make sure that more of what is being done is consistent with the will of God. When we vote to provide children with the kind of education they need we are giving God’s love to the children. When we work for affordable housing or provide assistance to the poor we are responding to God’s call to care for those who are in need. When we act with integrity, treat others with kindness and respect, we are giving to God what is God’s – us, our lives lived in agreement with the will of God.

What we offer here on Sunday is a symbol of what we do through the week. Our offering on Sunday is a rehearsal, a practicing of the act of giving ourselves in preparation for our giving Monday through Saturday. Out in the world we still bear the image of God, and we don’t tamper with the evidence. In the church we give to God what is God’s …. and in the world whatever we give of ourselves also belongs to God.[i]

[i] The last couple of paragraphs and the title are influenced greatly by William R. Leety’s sermon “Tamper with Evidence” found in Speaking of Stewardship, William G. Carter, editor. Geneva Press, Louisville KY, 1998, pp.32-34

Restlessness seems to be a given in our world. It goes beyond dissatisfaction. There seems to be a feeling of being unsettled, a general anxiety about conditions in the world and a sense of helplessness about them. The three major headlines in Saturday’s New York Times were about a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that had reduced villages to rubble in Pakistan and India killing hundreds of people, New York and Washington officials trying to explain their starkly different public statements about the current threat to the New York City Subway system, and that the United States plan to deal with a deadly pandemic flu shows us to be unprepared. It describes how hospitals would become overwhelmed, riots would engulf vaccination clinics and even power and food would be in short supply.

When you read the newspaper or listen to the daily news it is hard not to either feel a rising sense of anxiety, restlessness and concern or a desire to hide your head in the sand like an ostrich. Mental health professionals are even recommending that people occasionally take a health break from listening to and reading the news. Apart from the news many of us feel the pressure of meeting our financial needs and the pressure of schedules that can only be described as crazy. In the midst of all this we wonder if it is even possible to feel a sense of peace in the restlessness of our lives and our world.

We read then this passage from Paul’s letter to the Philippians about rejoicing, not worrying, being gentle, and being filled with the peace of God and we might wonder if Paul was some kind of Pollyanna out of touch with reality. Yet, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Paul was quite familiar with the restlessness of the world of his day. He was in prison; his life was in danger. He had few possessions and was quite familiar with the anger, conflict, dissatisfaction, and restlessness in his world. Yet Paul was at peace. So let’s look at what Philippians 4:1-9 can teach us about finding peace in our own restless world.

The first question to ask is, “what is this peace that we seek?” Peace in the Bible and in life is always peace in the midst of difficulty and trouble rather than the absence of difficulty and trouble. Peace is an inner sense of well-being that exists even as we deal rightly and constructively with the restlessness of our world and our lives. If we really want peace in a restless world then we must seek that kind of peace that flowers and grows even in droughts and storms, as well as on the days of abundance and calm.

How can we get that peace? This passage of Philippians is full of ideas and maybe one or two of them will be helpful to you.

(1) We can get peace in our lives by building positive relationships with people. Paul mentions two women Euodia and Syntyche who are caught in some kind of conflict between themselves. Paul urges them to find a way to agree in the Lord – and that may mean that they agree to disagree about whatever it is that is causing the conflict. They have worked with Paul in the important work of spreading the gospel and now he urges others to help them resolve their conflict. Trying to see the best in others can go a long way to building positive relationships. Being reconciled with people with whom we are in conflict is important if we want to have peace in our lives. If your skin crawls or grates every time you come in contact with a particular person it is hard to have peace.

(2) We can have peace by learning to “rejoice in the Lord always.” That doesn’t mean that we deny the dark side of life, but a song in our hearts goes a long way toward bringing peace in our lives. One of the most impressive stories I ever heard about this involved Corrie and Betsy ten Boom. They were Christian Dutch sisters who were in one of the German concentration camps because of their work in sheltering and assisting Jews who were trying to hide. In one of the camps conditions were just horrible and there were lice in the area of the bunk beds. Corrie shocked Betsy by telling her that they should rejoice even in the lice because the presence of the lice meant that the guards stayed away from the bunks and often would not even come into the barracks. This meant that Corrie and Betsy were free to hold their Bible studies and prayer meetings and witness to and talk with the other women prisoners. In the midst of the most horrible circumstances we can often find someway that God is working and something for which we can rejoice.

(3) We can help to find peace by being gentle with people. Before we say harsh words to someone we could help ourselves as well as them by waiting a moment and reconsidering our words. The old adage of counting to ten before saying anything is still good advice. We can be gentle with people by realizing that every one of us has circumstances in our lives that others do not know about. This year’s domestic violence slogan “it’s closer than you think” is a powerful way of reminding ourselves of this. We don’t know what is happening in the life of another person – treat each other gently because the other person might bruise easily.

(4) We can have peace by remembering that the Lord is near. God is closer to us than our breath. We are never alone but always surrounded by God’s presence. Looking at every day from the perspective of eternity will go a long way toward bringing peace into our lives. Taking a long look will help us to see what is truly important in life rather than only what is worrying us at the moment.

(5) We can have peace by praying instead of worrying. Most of us spend time worrying about things we can’t do anything about. Quite frankly that is a waste of energy that could be used in working on those things we can do something about. Instead of worrying about our children and our health, let’s be the best parents we can be and take good care of our bodies, souls and mind. Instead of worrying about the weather read a good book. Instead of worrying about people who have been displaced by hurricanes make a donation to a relief agency, become a Red Cross volunteer or do something else that will be helpful.

a. Some of you have heard me tell suggest that perhaps you should take some of your worries and join the Wednesday afternoon worry group. If Wednesday afternoon doesn’t work for you, find a different time, because you are the only one who needs to be there for the meeting.

b. Take all the things you need to worry about and write them on separate pieces of paper. Don’t worry about them yet! Put them all in a box and wait until Wednesday afternoon.

c. On Wednesday afternoon, or whenever you decide to hold your meeting, open the box and carefully read each item. Ask yourself one question, “Do I still need to worry about this?” If the answer is, “no” then rip the paper up and throw it away. If the answer is “yes” put it carefully in a pile. Don’t worry yet, just put them in a pile.

d. When you have read everything in the box and thrown away the items that don’t need worrying anymore, pick up the pile of things that still need to be worried about. Put them back in the box until next Wednesday. Put the box away out of sight and get up and walk away. Go do something useful or helpful or better yet, spend some time in prayer.

e. We can have peace of mind by praying instead of worrying. Relying on God rather than worrying is a better way for our hearts to have peace.

(6) We can have peace if we think, especially if we think the right thoughts. When we fill our minds with degrading thoughts about ourselves or about others, we should not be surprised when we do not have peace in our lives. Paul says, that we should think about whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, whatever is excellent and worthy of praise. If we think about these things we will find peace creeping into our lives and then flowing into our lives in ways we could not have imagined.

(7) Finally we can have peace if we keep doing the things that we have learned from God through our experiences of worship, Sunday School, retreats, workshops, fellowship and life. We can have peace if we do the things that we have seen in the lives of others who exude the peace of God and whose lives witness to the love of Christ.

What will this peace do for you? In verse 7 we read, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The Greek word translated “guard” suggests that God’s peace is like a guard at a fortress, keeping out those things that are harmful. God’s peace, which really means God, stays awake, watching for danger, so that we can live and breathe in grow in the peace of God knowing that the God of peace is with us.

Do you want this peace? If you do, you can have it as you surrender to the God and to God’s way and practice in your life the things that make for peace.

The sermon title and basic outline for this sermon is adapted from The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2005 Edition, David Mosser editor.

“The Senate made John G. Robert Jr. the 17^th chief justice of the United States (Thursday), inaugurating a new legal era that could last more than three decades. The 50-year-old former appeals judge, the third-youngest chief justice in history, takes charge of a court at the center of culture wars over abortion, affirmative action and religion in public life.”[i] Regardless of whether you or overjoyed, dismayed, or somewhere in between by this, Roberts will have a great deal of influence in the interpretation of the laws of this country for some time to come.

The Supreme Court is charged with the responsibility of making sure that the laws that are passed and the judgments of other courts are consistent with the United States Constitution. The difficulty comes because there are many different ways of interpreting the Constitution and what the framers of the Constitution intended and the ways that we understand it today.

Depending upon our perspective the law may be something very restrictive preventing us from doing what we want – like a 16 year old in Rhode Island who has to wait until age 16 ½ to get a drivers license. Or the law may be something wonderful that protects people from those who would take unfair advantage. Get people talking and you’ll hear a lot of different opinions about the effect of various laws.

The history of Judaism includes the attempt by an equally dedicated group to understand and interpret one of the foundation documents of Jewish law – the Ten Commandments. Let me give you just one example, the fourth commandment says, “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.” What does it mean? Strict legalists within the Jewish faith tried to help people understand exactly that by focusing on what could not be done on the Sabbath – the Lord’s day. By the time of Christ, there were 1,521 things you could not do on the Sabbath day. Many of these interpretive laws were ridiculous, and virtually all of them were negative, prohibitive and restrictive.

Is that the way you think of the Ten Commandments? Do you see it as a list of “Thou shalt nots”? Many people do. But the psalmist didn’t. Listen to part of Psalm 19, from 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 of God are plain and easy on the eyes. God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree. God’s word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds. You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.” Does that sound like something negative, prohibitive and restrictive?

God is not a God of “thou shalt nots” who frowns on our fun, slaps our hands and says, “Naughty, naughty.” If that is what you believe then, I suggest, that you have been given a real misunderstanding of the Christian faith. It’s not a coincidence that the first four books of the New Testament are called Gospels, and that the word Gospel means, “good news.” Ours is a God of comfort, joy, a giver of life, real life, abundant life, full life, eternal life.

The Ten Commandments are not a set of burdensome, narrow rigid prohibitions but rather, I suggest to you that they are a positive call to a courageous and meaningful life of love and service to God and to other people. They tell us how things are, how things work, how life holds together, and how God meant things to be. James W. Moore, a United Methodist pastor and a prolific writer, wrote a book called, When All Else Fails, Read the Instructions.

In that book, he writes, “Anyone who is awake enough to `smell the coffee’ can easily see that life is better when we love God and other people; life is better when we respect our parents and tell the truth; life is better when we are honest, faithful, kind, and generous in all our relationships. That’s the way God meant it to be, and life works better for us when we live daily by these dependable spiritual laws.”[ii]

One of the questions that has come before the Supreme Court is whether or not it is legal to display the Ten Commandments in public places. There are some who want to require the display of the Ten Commandments in schools and other public places. Personally, I rather hope that this doesn’t happen, because I suspect that many of those who want so desperately to display them are among those who interpret them as narrow rigid prohibitions and I do not want that interpretation to be taught to our children or youth.

Long before the Ten Commandments, God established a covenant with Abraham, “I will be your God and you shall be my people.” The Ten Commandments tell us what that means.

The first four commandments define that first phrase, “I will be your God”. It means that God comes first, no other gods. Don’t bow down to anything else and worship it. Believe it or not, this is not an out of date commandment. It means that God comes first, not success or possessions, not even family, friends, or country. It doesn’t mean that these things are bad; on the contrary we know that some of these are very important and precious. What it means though is that when they are more important to you than God, something is mixed up. Whatever is most important in your life is your god and ultimately one loyalty has to be more important than all others. For life to really make sense, that loyalty must be to God. When God is first, everything else fits together.

Have you seen the generic greeting card? It fits every occasion – birthday, anniversary, Halloween, Easter. Out the outside, is printed: Generic Greeting Card. When you open it up, it says: Whatever! Many people go through life like that giving their allegiance to whatever the latest fad is that grabs them. But the Ten Commandments say, “Wait a minute! That will not work! You can’t chase every new wind that blows. God comes first![iii]

In a society that stresses “do your own thing,” maybe we should stress, “Do God’s thing.” That’s what this is all about.

All the rest of the commandments show us what it means to be God’s people. When we are living as God’s people then we will respect our parents, the sacredness of life, the property of others, the vows of marriage, the truth, and the good fortune of others. Jesus summed it all up in a positive note when he said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbors as yourself.”

This is the goal of our lives as Christians, to live a life that is pleasing to God, a life that shows God’s love to others, a life that puts God first, that makes Jesus the cornerstone of our lives. The Gentle hands of God reach out to each and every one of us - not to punish or make life a heavy burden of rules and regulations, but rather to lift us up, embracing us with the offer of life itself.

“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 of God are plain and easy on the eyes. God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree. God’s word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds. You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.”

[i] Dallas Morning News, 9/30/05

[ii] Moore, James W. When All Else Fails, Read the Instructions, Dimensions for Living, Nashville, TN, 1993, p.95

[iii] Moore, p.99

One of my favorite books in the Bible is Paul’s letter to the Philippians, “written to the first church that Paul established on European soil, in the Roman province of Macedonia. It was written while Paul was in prison and troubled by the opposition of other Christian workers toward himself and was distressed by false teaching in the church at Philippi. Yet, this letter breathes a joy and confidence that can be explained only by Paul’s deep faith in Jesus Christ.”[i]

Can’t you hear Paul? He is writing to people who share a strong faith in Christ. In the Good News Translation we read, “Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit, and you have kindness and compassion for one another.” Because they have all this in common, Paul can then go on to encourage them to make him completely happy by “having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind.” Then he goes on to explain what this looks like.

This letter could be written to us in North Kingstown or to Christians gathered anywhere. When Paul calls for them, and us, to be of one mind or have the same thoughts, he doesn’t mean what we might think at first reading. This is one of the many places where knowledge of Greek helps with the understanding of the passage. This is when I thank God for Greek and Hebrew scholars and the wonderful commentaries they write that help with the translations. Paul is not saying that we should agree about everything. That’s a real relief. If you knew the viewpoints of the people in our congregation on any given Sunday, you’d discover that we are all over the map in regard to many subjects. We are politically and philosophically diverse on many topics. However, what Paul is saying is that we should have a common attitude or orientation.

That attitude or orientation should be a part of who we are as followers of Christ. It involves sharing that same love that Christ has and has shared with us, and being joined in our souls and, again, our minds.

Our lives as Christians can be seen as a sort of progression that we can see illustrated in each of the readings for today. First we start like the Hebrew people coming out of Egypt expecting God to give us everything we need without any effort on our part. I think this is well illustrated by the very familiar story of the man who was caught in a flood. At first a truck offered him a ride out before the water got too high. He refused saying that God would take care of him. As the water rose he climbed to the top of his roof where a boat came by and once again offered a ride to safety. Again he refused saying that God would take care of him. With only the tip of his roof above the water, a helicopter came along and urged him to come aboard. Yet again, he refused, insisting that God would take care of him. When he died he complained to God, “You promised to take care of me. What gives?” God replied, “Give me a break will you! I sent a truck, a boat, and a helicopter. What more did you want?”

At other times, this story would provoke laughter, but right now it has a certain poignancy about it since hurricanes and the resulting floods have made it all the more obvious that we need to be active and proactive in providing for the safety of so many people. We are painfully aware that sometimes there have not been enough vehicles and roads in order to get everyone to safety. We have learned a lot during the last month about the very complicated process of evacuating an entire city of people to a place of safety.

As we mature, as we learn from our experiences we come to understand that God expects something from us as well. Yet, what God requires and what we want to provide are not always the same thing. So we go to church, go through the motions, give a donation here and there, pray for the poor, the lost and sick. We pray the right prayers, express the appropriate Christian attitudes about poverty and economic inequities, but like the second son in today’s parable, we sometimes say the right thing and leave it at that. Words only, no action.

There's a wonderful scene near the end of the movie "My Fair Lady" in which Liza Doolittle sings words that God must also sing. She says, "Words! Words! Words! I'm so sick of words! I get words all day through; first from him, now from you! Is that all you blighters can do? Don't talk of stars burning above; If you're in love, Show me!… Never do I ever want to hear another word. There isn't one I haven't heard… Don't talk of love lasting through time. Make me no undying vow. Show me now!"

In Philippians, Paul helps us to see what that showing looks like, how we can show our love for God. First he urges Christians to be selfless and humble in attitude and action by putting others before themselves.

“E. Stanley Jones, a well-known Christian missionary to India, tells of a situation where the fellow members of his ashram helped him in a problem regarding his spiritual reputation. It seems that for a number of years Jones had supported a prominent man financially. And when the time came that he could no longer support him, the man turned on Jones and attacked him in the public press. So E. Stanley Jones sat down and wrote a letter of reply of a few sentences, the kind of reply in which you don’t give your opponent a leg to stand on. As he put it, `the kind of reply you are proud of the first five minutes, the second five minutes you’re not so certain, and the third five minutes you know you’re wrong.’ But before he mailed this letter he sent this reply to the people of the ashram to get thir opinion of it. They sent it back with three words written on the margin, `not sufficiently redemptive.’ As Jones read those words he was devastated. He knew that he was winning the argument, but losing the man. He knew immediately that the `Christian is not in the business of winning arguments, but of winning people.’ So he tore up the letter and said, `Lord, you’ll have to take care of my reputation.’ A few weeks later he received a letter of apology from the man who had turned on him.”[ii]

When we are focused on ourselves we tend to be touchy, easily provoked and unable to bear insults or slights. When we have surrendered ourselves to Christ and the love of Jesus fills and cleanses us, then we can bear all things, endure all things, and men and women are impacted by our lives. What would happen if the next time someone in the church, or in school, or at work did something that bothered you, you thought about that person instead of thinking about yourself? Would it change your response?

We don’t know exactly what the conflict was that existed in Philippi but we do know that Paul regarded as inappropriate to the body of Christ: the selfish eye, the pompous mind, the ear hungry for compliments and the mouth that spoke none, the heart that had little room for others, and the hand that served only the self. Paul was certainly not opposed to individualism in the sense that each of us is responsible for ourselves and bearing our own burdens. However, if this kind of individualism meant being unwilling to help bear another’s burden, or distancing oneself from partnership in the gospel, an aloofness from the common joy and suffering, a coldness to all the ways that we are members of one another, then such individualism is destructive to the community and a contradiction of the gospel which speaks and sings of a Christ who was first and always the servant of others.[iii]

Within the church we should be able to make some basic assumptions about the people with whom we worship, work, play, and study. We should be able to assume that they, like we, are trying their best to live a life that reflects their faith; that their faith does make a difference to them, and that they would not intentionally do something that would bring pain to another person, or to Christ. When we think that way, then we start to have the same mind that was in Christ.

When we have the same mind that was in Christ and the same love then we will want to reach out to those who Christ helped, the poor, the sick, those with the greatest needs. Paul says that we should look not to our own interests but to the interests of others. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take care of ourselves and our families, but it does mean that we should also take care of others. This church had a tremendous outpouring of response to the needs following Hurricane Katrina.

When we have the same mind that was in Christ, we will talk and dream together about ways that God is calling us to be in ministry. Perhaps you think that you don’t have any particular gifts. Let me tell you about a man who “applied for a job as a handyman. The prospective employer asked, "Can you do carpentry?" The man answered in the negative. "How about bricklaying?" Again the man answered, "No." The employer asked, "Well, what about electrical work?" The man said "No, I don't know anything about that either." Finally the employer said, "Well, tell me then what is handy about you." The man replied, "I live just around the corner."

“Sometimes the greatest ability we can have is availability. To be where God can call us, to be within whisper range of his summons, that is the beginning of a life of meaningful discipleship.”[iv]

We all have to start somewhere in this life of discipleship. Often we start in the place the Hebrew people were at the time of the Exodus reading, expecting God to take care of them and complaining when things weren’t working out. Then we may progress to the point of saying the right words but not following with the actions. Hopefully, we come to the point of thinking about what it is that God really wants us to do and then doing it. As we grow into a life of meaningful discipleship, we will join hands with others on the journey, be of the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, having the same love that he had, looking to the needs of others, and being thankful that God can work in and through us to come to the point of wanting the same things God wants, and working for the same things that please God.

[i] Introduction to Philippians, Good News Bible

[ii] Hewett, James L., Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale House, Wheaton Il, 1988, p.443 #1

[iii] Craddock, Fred, Interpretation – Philippians, John Knox Press, Atlanta GA, 1985, p. 38

[iv] E-sermons. 9/25/05

A young woman comes into work early every morning to make sure things are organized for the day. She answers the telephone until her tardy co-workers arrive. She works through her lunch time to make sure the filing is done and she stays late to fill out reports for her supervisor who has come to know that she is the only one who really knows what is going on. When it comes time for the annual review, she is given a glowing report by her supervisor who then tells her that there will be no merit increases this year, only cost of living increases that will be the same across the board. Her supervisor thinks that this will be best for morale and might encourage others to work harder. She will receive the same increase as her tardy co-workers; whose work is mediocre at best. Life isn’t fair.

We know that, but we think that there must be someplace where things are fair – certainly God can be counted on to be fair. God should be the one authority that can be counted on to reward people for what they do. Then we hear today’s gospel reading – a parable that makes many of us want to cry out against its unfairness.

Before we do that, however, let’s look at what this parable is not. Jesus was not trying to develop a new policy for employer-employee relationships, nor was he offering a manual on business economics. Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven and about grace and about justice. The workers who were hired early in the morning were hired for an agreed wage – an amount equal to the normal wage for a day laborer – the amount that was necessary in order to feed the family for the next day.

The workers who were hired later in the day, at 9:00, noon, and 3:00 were not told what they would receive but were told that they would be paid what was right. They were probably thinking that although there would not be enough money for what they really needed the next day, at least there would be something. The children would be able to eat and he and his wife would eat less but at least they would have something to eat. The workers standing around the marketplace at 5:00 in the afternoon with only one hour left in the workday were most likely feeling quite discouraged. There might not be anything to eat tomorrow, but they hadn’t given up. They hadn’t gone home and gone back to bed when most other people had been called to work. They waited and hoped. When the landowner came and sent them to work their spirits must have leaped a little – at least there would be a tiny amount of money – not much with only an hour left of the workday, but enough for a small amount for the children to eat. At least the little children would not cry themselves to sleep with their stomachs hurting. He and his wife and the older children would make do, it wouldn’t be the first time they’d been hungry and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

When the time for payment came, the men who were hired at the end of the day were overjoyed. The generous landowner gave them enough money to buy food for the whole family. They would all eat tonight. They didn’t deserve to be paid a full days wage, but by some miracle they had been. And yet …..

In a strange way, it wasn’t that they didn’t deserve a full days wage – they had been in the marketplace looking for work – it was not their fault that none had been given to them to do. They had not earned a full days wage, but a full days wage was what they needed in order to provide life for them and their families. The landowner had not given what they had earned, but what they needed.

The workers hired mid-morning, at noon and mid-afternoon also received more than they had earned – they too received a full days wage. They too received what they needed and no one would go to bed hungry in their home tonight. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your generosity.

It was only the workers hired first thing in the morning who were upset. They received what they earned. They received the amount for which they had agreed to work. They received what they needed – but they were not happy. They wanted more. It was not fair that the landowner gave what was needed to everyone, even when not everyone had worked as hard as they had.

Most of us can understand their feeling, can’t we? If we’ve worked hard we deserve more. That’s the American Work Ethic – we’ve heard it all our lives. And yet, it isn’t really the way our society functions either is it? Does a baseball player work harder or perform a job that is more deserving of an incredibly high pay than, say, a teacher, whom we trust to educate the future generation of our country? The top salary among active baseball players this year belongs to the New York Yankees A Rod at 26 million dollars. I would imagine that I’m pretty safe in saying that the highest paid teacher in our country doesn’t come anywhere close to anything like that. In fact if we took the salaries of Alex Rodrigues and Manny Rameriz we could pay all the teachers in North Kingstown and have money left over. So let’s get over the idea that life is fair.

The landowner’s actions were not fair – at least not by the standard of the workers who were hired first and worked all day. Fairness has everything to do with where you stand in the line – and it is interesting that the vast majority of people when they hear this parable place themselves among those who were hired first in the morning or at least among the second batch.

But what if that’s not the group in which we belong? What if God really were fair? What if God kept a set of ledgers and counted all the things you do for God? Would you really want to be measured against Mother Teresa or the Apostle Paul or Billy Graham or anyone else of legendary Christian standing? If God worked that way, then we might be dismayed to discover that we would be in the last group hired.

We know all kinds of things that need to be done that we do not do much about. There are so many things that we mean to do, but we don’t get around to doing. Even when we do our best, things get in the way. Only God can sort all this out. Fortunately this isn’t a parable about rewards or getting what we deserve, it is a parable about grace – God’s Grace – God’s Eternal Unfairness.

I spent some time at the Family Resource Center this week talking with some of the evacuees from Hurricane Katrina and working with the many agencies that were there trying to help sort things out. I also read some of the articles in the newspapers and I know that some people think that not everyone deserves the same help in getting started again, in picking up the pieces, in finding a place to live or a job. Granted there are people with many different abilities, but following a hurricane of such devastating proportions, everyone needs help and those with the least need the most help. The aftermath of this hurricane has also shown us that the poorest were not even adequately considered in the crisis management plan. Doesn’t the Bible somewhere tells us that what we do to, or for, the least of these – the hungry, the naked, the homeless, we do to, or for, Christ! If you are looking for that, you’ll find it also in Matthew’s Gospel (25^th chapter)

If you look again at the parable, you discover that the landowner – who symbolizes God – has his concern always focused on the laborers, not on his crop or on his own profits. His actions are motivated by the need of the laborers not his need for workers. We never hear him saying that he needs more workers, all we hear is that he saw people who were not working and he hired them. He didn’t try to get the best deal out of them. He promised to pay them what was right – and at the end of the day, he did. He paid each of them what they needed in order to continue to provide life and sustenance for their families.

At the end of the day all who have labored in God’s vineyard will be lavished with the daily wage of heaven – and this is not a meager wage – it is a lavish treasure – it is all the treasure of God. We receive so very much from God and yet so often, we, like the first workers, are whining because we think we deserve more. God chooses to be generous despite our schemes of religious merit and competition. God is generous to the leper, the lame, the Gentile, to the last, the lost, and the least. God is merciful. God is merciful and generous to us; loving us far more than we deserve; pouring blessings upon us more than we could ever earn or deserve. How can we deny or try to limit God’s generosity to anyone else?

By the way, if you are still convinced that you are in that first group of laborers, listen once again to the last group. “Finally, about five in the afternoon the man went back and found some others standing there. He asked them. `Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ `Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. Then he told them to go work in his vineyard.” They wanted to work. They wanted to be employed – that’s why they had been in the marketplace all day.

Those standing in the marketplace late in the afternoon represent a waiting world. They represent the millions of people who go through their lives with an almost unceasing emptiness while they wait for someone to show them a purpose in living. They represent the millions who have not heard the gospel message in a way that has touched their hearts so that they truly know God’s great love for them. To get an idea of the seriousness of this, consider how many people in our world seem always to be seeking an escape from life through drugs or alcohol or some kind of frantic running about. Consider how many take their own lives each year, and how many more think of it but can’t quite bring themselves to do it.

If you or I are laboring in God’s vineyard thinking that the work is drudgery and that it is something we have to do in order to earn our way, then we are among those still standing in the marketplace. If, on the other hand, we know the joy of working for the Lord then we will be eager to help others know that same joy; we will be eager to share the gift we receive with others.

The Christian life is its own reward – it is not something we do in order to earn a greater reward. If we truly understand this then on that great and glorious day when we find the person we least expected standing next to us, we may be more likely to exclaim, “oh give part of my silver piece of eternity to this person who didn’t come to faith in Christ until he was sixty years old … and to that woman who became a believer only when she was dying. I’ve been employed all my days, have been blessed with a purpose, even by communion with God. Give them part of my reward, because they stood in the marketplace for so long, because no one hired them, while my life was filled with purpose.”[i]

In the meanwhile, let us look around the marketplace of life and see if there is someone who is waiting to be introduced to the landowner; someone who is looking for meaning in life, someone who is aching to know God’s love, someone with whom we can share the glorious adventure of working in God’s vineyard and doing God’s will.

[i] This last section – the concept of the unhired persons being those still waiting to hear the word – comes from J. Ellsworth Kalas, Parables from the Back Side, sermon: “The Case for the Un-hired Hand” Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1992, pp.90-92

Earlier this week I was at an interfaith meeting formed by the Domestic Violence Resource Center in Wakefield, formerly known as the Women’s Resource Center. Many of you know that domestic violence is an area of great concern to me and, at least partially because of this, I think, our church has become more aware of and involved in dealing with this important subject. Part of our discussion was about the ways that religions have sometimes been used to excuse or ignore horrible things like domestic violence and the reluctance that pastors often have about preaching about such subjects.

Suddenly I thought of today’s gospel and realized that this is one of those passages that has been so often misunderstood. The way we understand these passages and so many others has a great deal to do with how we understand God. I also realized that the way we see God also affects the way we respond to events like those of four years ago today – so infamous, we now only need to say the date – 9-11 and Americans know exactly what we are talking about. It affects how we respond to great tragedies like Hurricane Katrina.

Let me ask you now, to simply give me the one or two words that come to your mind immediately when you think about God. (pause for answers – and respond to them; i.e. probably heard “love, grace,” and words like that. Did I hear “Judge, vengeful”? )

How we see God makes a difference in how we understand many passages in the Bible and most events in life. Do you recall almost immediately after 9-11 that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson indicated that the horrible events of that day were in part God’s judgment upon our nation because of the actions of the ACLU, feminists, gays, lesbians, and people who are pro-choice? At the same time, others were seeing God’s love in the response of people rushing to find ways to help. When you or someone you love becomes ill do you see it as God’s punishment or as something that God will help you get through.

The story is told of a little boy who was drawing a picture. His mother asked what he was drawing and he responded that it was a picture of God. Mother said, “but nobody knows what God looks like.” With the confidence of a young child, he responded, “They will when I’m finished.”

If you were to draw a picture of God would it be a picture of a God with a set of scales or ledger books to keep track of the things we do right and the things we do wrong? Would it be a picture of a God with a fist clenched and raised in anger with eyes blazing? Would it be a picture of a God with tear filled eyes grieving over the tragedies and injustices that occur in life? Would it be a picture of a God with arms outstretched in welcome? Sometimes it might be more than one of these or many others but it makes a difference how we see God.

Peter had an idea how he saw God when he asked Jesus, “How many times should I forgive someone who does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?” Peter had an idea that God wanted him to be generous in forgiving. Rabbinic tradition held that you should forgive 3 times, but not a fourth time. Peter was being generous in offering to forgive seven times. Jesus responded “not seven times, but seventy-seven times”, some translations say, seventy times seven which would be 490. The real question is not about how many times we forgive, but what we forgive, how we forgive and indeed what forgiveness really is. The real question calls us to look at our picture of God.

Jesus then went on to illustrate what the kingdom of heaven would be like by telling a story about a king and some servants. You heard how one servant owed an amount that could never be repaid. The servant begged for mercy and the king cancelled the debt. But then the servant refused to do the same for another servant who owed him a much more manageable amount, throwing him into jail until the amount could be repaid. The first servant is then thrown into prison himself, to be tortured for the rest of his life and the story ends with “That is how my Father in heaven will treat you, if you don’t forgive each of my followers with all your heart.” Did you hear the God of judgment there? If you are anything like me, then there are some deep hurts in your life that you just can’t wipe away and pretend didn’t happen. There are some things that you can’t say were okay. If your picture is of a God of judgment then you and I have just been condemned to eternal torture.

This is one of the places where religious teachings have sometimes done more harm than good. It is not only foolishness, it is evil to tell a battered spouse to forgive and allow dangerous behavior to continue in the mistaken idea that we are to forgive seventy-seven times if we want God to forgive us for what we do. If the behavior is going to continue then it is not even safe to stay in the situation. Misbehavior of an alcoholic is not a joke – it is something to be confronted and held accountable for. Ministers or others who fail to control sexual impulses are not to be lightly excused and moved. Teenagers who betray parents trust are not simply to be forgiven. A far more loving course of action is to insist that they amend their behavior so that they can regain their parents trust. There are so many cases where a surface or literal reading of this text contradicts so much else that Jesus taught.

First, let’s look at what forgiveness is or is not. I said that there are some things I can’t wipe away or pretend that they didn’t happen – and that is true. And that is true when violence or abuse to one’s body, mind, or soul is involved. It is true when trust has been violated. But that is not what forgiveness is about.

We are involved in forgiveness everyday and much of it involves things that are trivial or unintentional. The other day on Route 95 a car in the next lane to mine had a ladder on its roof. Part of it came loose and started to swing towards my car. Because of quick work on the part of the driver of the car and myself, an accident was averted. The driver had no intention of scaring me or potentially hurting me or anyone else. I forgave him for scaring me and will soon forget about it. In the large scheme of things it will be as something that never happened.

Most people do not have a problem with forgiving those simple day to day things that happen, like being cut off in traffic. Unfortunately there are some who think that everyone is out to get them; they hold onto relatively minor things and make their own lives miserable because they are unable to let go. But the real problem in forgiveness for most of us comes when the trespasses are more serious, intentional, or especially when they are repeated.

Jesus’ counsel to forgive has nothing to do with ignoring what has taken place. It has nothing to do with saying that what happened is okay. In the verses just preceding this passage, Jesus has given a model for how to deal with behavior among Christians. It begins by speaking with the person who has offended you. When we do that, we often discover that the person never meant to hurt us, and may not even be aware that he or she has done so. Sometimes we can realize that and simply let go. In other cases we feel the need to confront an offense and in Jesus’ counsel we should do so lovingly with a goal of reconciliation. This works for a lot of offenses. Sometimes, Jesus indicated it may be that we need to get someone else involved in helping us work through the situation and again the goal is always changed behavior and reconciliation. This is a process that can and should be used with offenses that threaten the Christian fellowship. I read about a church where people walk on eggshells around members of two families that do not get along. They are intentional about never putting people from both families on the same committee. They are worried about showing more attention to one than the other. That is a situation crying out for church intervention because it threatens the very fellowship of the Christian family and its witness.

It is not a process that should even be considered when a person’s safety is at risk. Confronting this behavior must involve another person who will first make sure that the victim is safe and cannot be hurt again. Then, and only then, can the behavior be confronted by someone who can hold the offending person accountable. The goal then is not necessarily reconciliation – the first goal is dramatic change of behavior. Reconciliation may or may not be a possibility in the future.

Let’s look again at the exchange between Peter and Jesus. Peter being generous offers to forgive as many as seven times. Jesus responds, “not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Aside from making this a much larger number, I think Jesus is making another point – a point about how we live.

Jesus might have been remembering Lamech, a man in the Jewish scripture - We can find him in the 4th chapter, 24th verse in Genesis. He was a descendent of Cain’s - of Cain and Abel fame. Lamech remembered the family stories that if anyone took Cain’s life - seven lives would be demanded in payment for it. Lamech proudly boasted to his wives that if anyone dared to attack him then seventy seven lives would be required as revenge.

Jesus is giving us a theological reason for forgiving another, and with it a way of living. If you had been forgiven an incredible debt – had it totally wiped out, don’t you think your response would be extreme gratitude? That’s what is it stake here. Recognizing that God has forgiven us for so many things in our lives our attitude should be the opposite of seeking revenge or trying to get even with someone who offends us. This is true even in cases of domestic violence or abuse. Justice is essential, accountability is required, but revenge is not.

But this story isn’t about this kind of behavior. Notice the difference in the magnitude of what has been forgiven or not forgiven in the story. This is a parable, a story, pointing out a truth. It is not an allegory where every action must stand for something perfectly. The servant who had been forgiven a tremendous debt was not only unwilling to forgive a much smaller debt but he sought revenge – he threw the other servant in jail. If he felt that he couldn’t forgive the smaller debt, he could have worked out a payment plan or discussed the situation, but he didn’t. He acted harshly and cruelly.

The theological center of this story is the astounding magnitude of the king’s generosity in forgiving – that is the astounding magnitude of God’s generosity in forgiving us over and over again. Yes, we are to imitate God in forgiveness, but it is not always something we can do on our own. Only by being totally dependent upon God can we transcend our human tendency to want to hurt those who hurt us. We cannot earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving others – that is not the reason to forgive. When we are unable to forgive, we cannot insist that God is then unable to forgive us. We cannot limit God’s actions because of ours.

It is more about an attitude of living. It is about being grateful for God’s forgiveness in our lives and then realizing that the way we live should reflect God’s presence, forgiveness, love and mercy. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, ‘Whether we live or die, it must be for God, rather than for ourselves.” Living for God means that we seek God’s help in overcoming the desire to get even or to make ourselves feel better by making someone else suffer for what they have done to us, or what we perceive they have done to us. Consequences come with behaviors, but revenge is not really sweet, ultimately, it only hurts us. Living for God means seeking God’s help to have a generous spirit and willing heart to forgive those who are repentant, those who did not intend to hurt us, or those who seek to change their behavior. Forgiveness ultimately is something we do for ourselves because it eliminates the bitterness and hatred that eats at our souls. Forgiveness makes walking through life easier than carrying a suitcase filled with grudges that weigh us down. With God’s gracious help and love each day, we can learn to accept others in the same way that God has accepted us.

Merciful God, Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.” We pray that you do not limit your mercy by our unforgiving hearts, but that you pour out once again your abundant forgiveness upon us. Let it melt our icy behavior. Let it tear from our minds the lists of grievances we keep. Let it correct our short-sighted vision, that we may see the peace and joy that comes from forgiving others. It is knowing how much you have forgiven, that moves us to forgive others. Amen.

I was reading a light-hearted book called Letters from Maybe[i]. It is written as a series of letters from a woman to a previous pastor of her church. Each letter begins with, “Dear Mike, Well, church got out late on Sunday. I didn’t get too much out of the last half of the sermon.” In the letter I was reading yesterday she wrote, “We go to church to get our mind off our troubles, not be reminded of them.” I suppose that there may be some truth in that, but at the same time, it is foolishness on the part of a pastor to pretend that the troubles are not there. I think that when people come to church, they come with their problems and they come especially asking, “Is there a word from the Lord that applies to my problem? Is there a word of hope, of comfort, of strength? How does my faith help me face this problem, deal with the crisis, face the future, keep going?”

As I already indicated, I changed part of today’s service because I think we need to respond to what is happening around us and today’s gospel is a very good place to start. While much of what I have to say today will relate specifically to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the basic pieces of it are true for whatever is happening in your life or in the lives of those around you.

Part of today’s gospel teaches us about how to get along with each other; how to work out conflict and deal with hurt feelings. The ultimate goal is living together in Christ’s love. The passage ends with the words, “whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you.” This is shown in another way later in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus tells us that whatever we do for the person who is hungry, sick, or in need, we do for Jesus. A crucial part of our faith in action is the reality of seeing Christ in the eyes of another person and responding as we would to Christ.

Jim Wallis tells of an elderly lady who was serving food at a soup kitchen. Her prayer before beginning was, “When we meet you in line today, help us to recognize you.” Have you seen Jesus this week? He’s been there in the faces of the thousands who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The newspapers and news reports right now are full of questions about why it is taking so long to get assistance to the places it is needed, why people have been without water for three days and whether or not disaster plans and response have been adequate. Speaking of being sheltered in the Superdome in New Orleans, some people said that it was worse than being in prison because at least in prison there were meals and bathrooms; which is true under normal conditions. As thousands are evacuated from the Superdome to Houston’s Astrodome and other places, many more thousands have poured in thinking that this is their best hope of a way out of the destroyed city.

When I read all of this, it is easy to become overwhelmed and filled with despair. So I have found myself looking also for stories of hope and action. The first place I looked was today’s gospel. “Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you.” I look there, because I know the power of having Christ present with me – and I believe that most of you know that power also. You know that if Christ is with you, in some unexplainable way you will be able to cope with whatever horrible things are happening in your life and around you. I look to this passage also because of the numbers “two or three”. I don’t know how to deal with tens of thousands, but I do know how to deal with two or three.

Some of my training in disaster response has taught me that if you look at the big picture and try to run around doing everything at once, you will do nothing and end up burned out and overwhelmed. If you focus on the place where you are, the situation in front of you and ask what you can realistically do right here and now then Christ’s power will flow through you to reach the need that you are able to handle.

There are many agencies collecting money and products for the recovery efforts. I focus on the United Methodist Committee on Relief or UMCOR because I know that the administrative costs of this agency are paid for by our mission shares. Because of this every penny sent to them in response to a need will go directly to that need. One of the benefits of the connectional system of the United Methodist Church is that people are on the ground in our name and in the name of Christ immediately – indeed, they were there in advance gathering information and making plans and bringing in supplies. I went looking to find some of the needs that are being met and I’d like to share a few of those stories with you.[ii]

Nickie and Maria Simmons of Gulfport, Miss had planned on getting married during this past week. Hurricane Katrina forced the couple to flee with five of their six children ranging in age from 7 months to 14 years. They ended up at Whitfield United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala which was offering shelter to evacuees. “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.” Upon their arrival, the church learned about the couple’s marriage plans. Residents of the shelter collected the $40 needed to buy a marriage license. Church members arranged for clothing for the wedding, bouquets, and a wedding cake. “Whenever two or three of you come together in my name. I am there with you.” The church also provided meals, showers, a children’s nursery, and other services for those seeking assistance.

As victims of Hurricane Katrina evacuated throughout the Southeast, many of them made their way into Alabama and West Florida. United Methodist churches provided shelter and emotional support to victims even as church members suffered alongside them.

Bayou La Batre in Alabama is a town of 2300 inhabitants, 2000 were flooded out of their homes and those homes likely lost. The United Methodist Church suffered damage to the roof but is operating as a local headquarters for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a distribution point for resources from the Untied Methodist Committee on Relief. The Headland Alabama United Methodist Church delivered a truckload of 500 pounds of ice, tarps and a generator to the Bayou La Batre church on Thursday. “Whenever two or three of you come together in my name. I am there with you.”

Rev. Bill Elwell, Mobile District Superintendent said that “if every church will make flood buckets – even three would be a great help – or health kits, that would involve them in working toward bringing light in the midst of so very much darkness. If every person who gets up in the morning and finds all is OK would simply find a person or a family who is not OK and find a way, in the name of Christ, to make someone else’s day, we can go a long way in bringing the message that love is more powerful than the strength of a storm.” That’s good advice, not just following a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, but every day of our life.

Through online giving alone, United Methodists and others had donated more than $900,000 to UMCOR as of Friday afternoon. The Texas Conference has submitted a separate plea for money specifically to feed evacuees who have streaming into the state and have committed to raising $1 million for the week of Sept. 14-20^th. Conference volunteers will serve three meals per day and will need 240 trained servers per shift. Providing 75,000 meals a day for the week will cost $1 million. Training began yesterday. Volunteers will also be present to people for pastoral care. “People want to tell their stories. They need to tell their stories. And frequently what they need is just somebody to sit and listen to them tell what has happened to them, to hear their loss, to grieve with them about what has been lost, and to offer a word of hope and healing for the future.” “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.”

Churches in the Houston area opened shelters and took in as many people as they could, providing showers, clothing, food and shelter. Lakeview Methodist Conference Center agreed to accommodate 106 refugees from New Orleans who are mentally challenged. “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.”

Emmanuel Galloway carried only clothes as he and some 250 other Dillard University students fled the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. He watched in horror as one of their buses caught fire, destroying the few belongings those students were taking from New Orleans to Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. Freddie Hill, vice president for campus life said, “We’ve seen day-to-day miracles. We needed a bus to take students home; a church gave us a bus. One man paid $900 for three cabs to drive students home to Dallas. The campus, one of the United Methodist Church’s historically black colleges, is flooded with 5 – 8 feet of water. The college had both flooding from the levee break and wind damage from the actual storm. The Rev. Betsy Eaves, chaplain at Centenary, another Methodist institution, said that despite the strain of the bus fire and leaving their belongings at the dorms in New Orleans, the Dillard students were “in good spirits.” “They’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of the churches and individuals.”

There are so many ways that we can respond. Pray, pray, pray. Make health kits or flood kits and bring them here to the church. Gathering points will be set for bringing them together so that they can be shipped efficiently and more economically. Donate money toward the shipping - $1 with each kit is suggested. Make a donation to UMCOR through this church, or by calling their 800 number and making a credit card donation.

Beyond the hurricane and the incredible needs there, remember that among us are people who grieve the death of loved ones, who sit by the bedside of those they love, who look for jobs, housing, food, and other needs. Be the hands and feet of Christ wherever you are able to do so.

“Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.” “Whenever two or three of you come together in my name. I am there with you.” “In all things we are more than conquerors through the Christ who loved us. We are sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor hurricanes, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thanks be to God! Amen!

O God, you divided the waters of chaos at creation. In Christ you stilled storms, raided the dead, and vanquished demonic powers. Tame the earthquake, hurricane, wide, and fire, and all the forces that defy control or shock us by their fury. Keep us from calling disaster your justice. Help us, in good times and in distress, to trust your mercy and yield to your power, this day and for ever. Amen.

[i] Pearson, Michael, Letters from Maybe, CSS Publishing, Lima, OH, 2005, p.64

[ii] Stories come from United Methodist News Service On-line e-mails for this week.

There are many stories throughout the Bible about how God calls us to His service --- but none is more dramatic than His call to Moses. Moses had been living the life of an exile, hiding out in the desert for 40 years because he killed an Egyptian who had been torturing a Hebrew. During those years, he learned how to survive in the desert and he learned patience from leading sheep. Skills that he would need when God called him to be the shepherd who would lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

God appears as a burning bush and summons Moses: “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

The Lord’s introduction is so powerful, Moses covers his face, afraid to look at God. God declares he has heard the cry of His people, and sees how the Egyptians are oppressing them. “Now,” He commands Moses, “I am sending you to go the King of Egypt so that you can lead my people out of his country.”

God delivers the call in a huge fashion because it’s a huge mission for Moses. And the beleaguered Moses is overwhelmed. “Lord, I am nobody. How can I go to the King and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” he protests. God’s answer to this reasonable question is simple: “I will be with you …”

In other words, take it on faith that you can do it because “I will be with you.” God will even give him the words to say. It’s a leap of faith for sure because God is calling Moses to do much more than free His people. God is calling Moses to what will be a lifetime of service to God.

Paul in his letters to the Christians in Rome is also calling for ‘a life of service to God.’ No burning bush, just plain talk, quiet eloquent scripture about what it is to live the life of a Christian, what it is to live in Christian love. But the sacrifices and hardships Paul asks are anything but plain and quiet. Extraordinary behavior: Serve the Lord, but also ask God to bless those who persecute you. Share your belongings with the needy. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink.” Conquer evil with good. Never take revenge. Pretty heady stuff.

Pastor Ray Stedman tells the story of some officers during the Korean War who rented a house for themselves and hired a Korean houseboy to work for them. He was a cheerful, happy soul, and they were young and had a lot of fun playing tricks on him – some of those tricks not very nice. They would nail his shoes to the floor, and they would put water up over the door so that when he pushed it open, the bucket would fall on him. They played all kinds of tricks, but he always took them in such a beautiful, good humor that they finally became ashamed for themselves. They called him in one day and said, "We've been doing all these mean things to you and you have taken it so beautifully. We just want to apologize to you and tell you that we are never going to do those things again." In his broken English, the young man said, "You mean no more nail shoes to floor?" They said, "No more." He said, "You mean no more water on door?" They said, "No more." "Okay then," he said, "I no more spit in soup!"1

Yes, it’s easy to take revenge – even a silent revenge. We all do it. But Paul urges us as Christians not to do it.

For many years I worked in television news. It was exciting and I always felt it was valuable work because I believe responsible reporters write the first draft of history; but I came to learn, later than I should have, the really important stories are not the ones on the daily newscasts. The really important stories are the stories of life: “the times we rejoice with those who rejoice and the times we mourn with those who mourn.” The births, the weddings, the baptisms, the graduations, the time we spend on the little league fields with our kids, the friendships we make … the celebration of the life of a close friend, a mother, father, brother, or spouse we lost. And, the values we pass from one generation to another, the love we give in doing things to help each other.

There are several kinds of love in the world, but the kind of love that Paul speaks about, the kind of love that Jesus taught is based on the Greek word agape. Agape is the noblest form of love. It is different than romantic love or love of our own family. William Barclay describes it well, noting that “Agape has to do with the mind: it is not simply an emotion which rises unbidden in our hearts; it is a principle by which we deliberately live.” It is the kind of love that we must have for all men and women – even our enemies. The Christian must always act out of love, in the best interest of his fellow human beings.2

When I read Paul’s words, I think of many examples of Christian love. I think of our own church members, Daniel and Dorcas, and their efforts to bring a child from West Africa to America for heart surgery. I think of the loving volunteers from our church who responded this week to work on the renovation of the church parsonage. And I also think of Ryan White, the courageous Indiana youngster who became infected with HIV from blood products as part of his treatment for hemophilia. As a result he was expelled from his school, ostracized and became a victim of fear from a community that in the 1980s had not yet understood HIV and AIDS. But Ryan White and his family never gave up and he never responded in kind to the fear and hatred.

Testifying before a Presidential Commission, Ryan White said: “It was difficult at times, to handle; but I tried to ignore the injustice, because I knew the people were wrong. My family and I held no hatred … we had great faith that with patience, understanding, and education, that my family and I could be helpful in changing minds and attitudes.”3 Remarkable words from a teenager who knew he was dying.

Before he died in 1990, Ryan White’s courage and love had taught a world how to be accepting of people infected with HIV and AIDS. After his death Congress enacted the first major piece of legislation to help victims of AIDS. Ryan White acted out of love in the best interest of his fellow human beings. His life became living proof of Paul’s words. In his own way, Ryan White answered God’s call. And out of human tragedy, God brought goodness.

Although agape love and love of family are different, I think there is a connection and I want to make the point so bear with me. I’ll get there in a few minutes.

A few weeks ago, my cousins Sally and Eric entrusted to me three family treasures – an old typewriter that belonged to grandfather Price whom I never had the chance to know, an album with old photos of my ancestors, and a 3-inch thick Bible -- with very worn pages -- that has been passed from generation to generation in my father’s family since the 1800s. They lovingly gave these treasures to me because they knew I would cherish them and keep them safe for the next generation.

For many years I have been researching the genealogy of my family. I got interested in genealogy because I never experienced the joy and love of grandparents –- they all died before I was born or before I was old enough to know them. So I’ve come to know them and love them by tracing our family history. My mother’s mother, Grandma Cora Denton, had nine children – one still living. My Aunt Dorothy tells me when Grandma Denton “held you in her arms the love you felt was overwhelming.” But that’s true of all you grandmothers.

I found my mother’s family goes back to England and 8th Great grandfather, The Reverend Richard Denton, who came to America in 1635. This is how one of his contemporary friends described Rev. Denton: “He was a highly religious man with strong Presbyterian beliefs. He was a small man with only one eye, but in the pulpit he could sway a congregation like he was nine feet tall."

I also found my father’s maternal family – an interesting story there. Two brothers named Bullymore who came on a ship from England and during passage met two Langdon sisters. The brothers fell in love with the two sisters and eventually married in the new world and together started a butcher shop in Buffalo, NY. If great, great grandfather Thomas Bullymore had not made that trip with his brother Jewett, you wouldn’t have to listen to this sermon today…. Sorry.

For years though, I have been stuck on the Price name. I couldn’t get past my great grandfather, Sylvester Price. A few months ago, I finally confirmed his father’s name: Jonas W. Price. Jonas was born in 1816. He was a wagon maker by trade. I tell you this story because there is evidence he may have descended from Quakers.

If you have Quaker roots, you should be proud of the heritage. There are some wonderful lessons of agape love among Quakers. True Quakers believe in acting out of love in the best interests of their fellow man. Many followed their beliefs of non-violence and despite persecution refused to serve in the military. Others made the equally difficult decision to serve their country and had to leave the Quaker Society of Friends.

Quakers also debated the issue of slavery long before the Civil War. Yes, there were Quaker families in the South who owned slaves, but as early as the 1600s, Quakers were among the first to lead the movement against slavery. And in the small Western New York town where I grew up, several Quaker families risked prosecution of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act by operating Underground Railroad Stations in their homes to help runaway slaves from the south escape to nearby Canada.

When you look back at our history, it’s hard to understand why it took this nation so long to understand the evil and injustice of slavery… and why it took yet another century to end segregation. Despite centuries of scripture reading on how God called Moses to end the bondage of his people, slavery was still brought to the shores of the new world. It is shocking to look at original census rolls from 1840 and see God’s people actually enumerated in three categories: ‘free white’, ‘free colored’ or ‘slave’.

Quakers were among the first to recognize the injustice because they knew in their Christian hearts it was the right thing to do. Quakers originally came to America to pursue their religious freedom because they themselves had been persecuted in Europe. When they debated the issue of slavery, here is what one Quaker said: "There is a saying, that we shall do to all men, like as we will be done our selves: making no difference of what generation, descent, or colour they are. And those who steal or rob men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike?"

There are lessons of Christian love in all our family trees. Jesus had a family tree too. The bible tells us He was a descendant of Abraham and David. He was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. Detailed in the Bible, his earthly family was born of the Jewish faith, but it also included gentiles. And like our families, it included the righteous and it had its sinners. The Scriptures are not selective in only giving us the famous and righteous in Jesus’ tree. They also detail the sinners and outcasts – a clear message of Christ’s acceptance of all peoples.

Look, here’s the point I promised you. You’ve got a family tree, Jesus has a family tree, we’ve all got a family tree. And at first you think you’re just part of one small tree. Then you stand back and take a look and it appears there is a forest of family trees that includes everyone from believers to non-believers, from wagon makers, ministers and butchers to Quakers, Presbyterians, and Methodists. Then you find the branches of each tree extend to another tree and yet another. And if you go back far enough, you realize it’s not a forest … it’s all one huge, beautifully diverse tree with the light of God’s loving creation streaming through it.

When you see a family tree branch of a single name grow to two names, and then from two to four, and then multiply to thousands and thousands of names; when you see a family name move from one place to many different places on the planet; when you think about the marvel of birth – each us created with a unique personality and talent – but all needing, seeking and willing to give love … THEN … THEN you begin to sense it all just didn’t happen without a higher presence. We are all one struggling family with one creator – the God who made us all.

And I really think God wants us to act like one family -- not always liking each other’s behavior, but always helping, forgiving, and loving one another because that’s what a family does and that’s the way God feels about us. We’re all in this together and we need each other’s help and love to make it work as God intended. And we can’t let prejudice, hate or revenge divide us. And when we adopt that attitude – that concept of agape love -- Paul’s words begin to take on stronger meaning.

Just as a family tree expands to include more and more people, Paul’s scripture expands with each verse to enlarge the circle --- including more and more people. It starts with the character and ethics of each of us and expands to how we should treat others until we are urged to include all people --- even our enemies.

I’m sure it was difficult for that soldier not to hate those who tormented him in the lesson from our Children’s Sermon. I’m sure it was difficult enough for Ryan White not to hate those who did not understand him and his condition. And I don’t begin to know how a family who lost a loved one in the World Trade Center or the war in Iraq accepts the words: “Do not take revenge.” Only God provides that grace when we’re with Him in prayer.

But to me the larger message is that this love that Paul speaks of comprises the fundamental values that we as Christians should strive to achieve. And by trying to live them as best we can, we are really accepting God in our lives. God’s plan does not include the evil that we as humans may bring into the world. It does include the love we offer one other and the free will we have been given to decide whether we want to be connected to God’s love.

And thankfully, God’s plan included Jesus. Jesus knew this when he told the disciples of the ordeal He himself would face. In our scripture from Matthew, He says “I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much.” And when Peter, who loved Jesus so much, says he won’t let that happen, Jesus rebukes him: “Get behind me. You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." In other words, this is God’s plan. You need to follow it, not disrupt it.

One of the leading themes of Paul’s ministry was that God accepts us freely when we respond to His love. He implants the Spirit of Christ in our hearts so we may extend God’s love to others.

Mother Teresa once said: “We cannot do great things on this earth. We can only do small things with great love.”5 Well, to someone in great need, those small things done with great love can be great things.

The power of the burning bush is that it was a one-time, dramatic event of truly Biblical proportions to awaken Moses to God’s call. We may never hear the voice of God from a burning bush, and I really don’t think we see the image of Jesus in that grilled cheese sandwich that was sold on eBay. But we surely do feel God’s presence in our hearts when we clothe the poor, feed the hungry, and look at all the world as God’s family. We’re always looking for miracles like the burning bush. You want to see a miracle? Understand the Ryan Whites of the world. You want to see a miracle? Comfort a friend who is dying. You want to see a miracle? Help a child you don’t even know come to America for life-saving heart surgery. If we want to see a miracle, we need only to be a miracle to someone in need. Evangelism is not selling Jesus, but showing Jesus; evangelism is not merely telling about Christ, but about living the example of a compassionate Jesus Christ.

We all have ancestors who came to America seeking a better life for their families and among the few possessions that many of them carried with them was a family bible. They carried it because it represented the faith that sustained them in the past, gave them courage in the present and offered hope for the future.

God’s call is not always about a burning bush. It’s about the smallest spark that kindles our burning passion as Christians to serve the Lord. Whether it be as dramatic as a burning bush or as quiet as God’s love gently rustling a branch of our family tree, let us be open to His call. In the words of the 105th Psalm: “Seek the Lord and His strength; seek the Lord’s presence continually.”

⁵ Mother Teresa quote from Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, by Richard Carlson, PHD

Today I am going to talk about heroes of the faith, people who answered God’s call to action, and became protectors of God’s people.

The story of Moses is a familiar one to all of us. It is the story of a young boy, touched by destiny at an early age, who went on to lead his people to freedom. I have been doing some research lately, and to my surprise found that there are a surprising number of scholars, with Jewish scholars among them, who think that the story of Moses is a folk tale. And there are some that say that there may be a germ of truth in there, but with folk elements added. I don’t know about that, I am not a scholar enough myself to comment on it. I do know, however, that of the many stories of heroes I have read in my life, the character of Moses is one that rings the truest. Unlike many of the heroes of folk tales, Moses was a real, complex and fallible human being. He had his doubts, he complained, he had trouble getting his followers pointed in the right direction. There were more ‘whines’ in the journey across the Sinai than there are in the Napa Valley of California. BUT, Moses had faith in his God to bring them all to the Promised Land. He had the courage to lead his people into a barren desert, where only God could sustain them. And as we all know, that faith was rewarded.

In our gospel reading today, we heard the story of how Jesus charged Peter with a great responsibility, to be the “rock” on whom the church would be built. Peter is another fallible human being. From what we see of him in the gospel, he could be stubborn, doubtful, and unfaithful. But we can see that his stubbornness was also a sign of courage and conviction, of a heroic temperament, that in the long run, led to the success of the Christian church. This passage is used by the Catholic Church as rationale for their claim that they are the heirs of Peter, of the special place their heirarchy has in leading the Christian faith. There has been much debate on this topic. And in recent years, in scholarship and in fiction, there has been a lot of questions raised about exactly what this charge means. There are arguments that others truly received the charge to lead the work of Christ in the world. One of the central conceits of the fictional book “The Da Vinci Code,” is that Mary Magdalene was the true heir to the teachings of Jesus. Myself, I don’t think that Jesus stopped with Peter, or with Mary for that matter, he calls to us all.

As Methodists, we are heirs to a proud tradition. That tradition is founded on the role of the individual in studying, interpreting and carrying out God’s word. Long before the English church broke from the Roman Catholic church, there were individuals who worked for freedom of worship, for translation of the Bible into the common language so that all could read it and interpret it for themselves. People like John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, Miles Coverdale, and many others whose names are lost to history. People who were even willing to die for their convictions. John Wesley was called by this tradition to move in a new direction, a direction that led to the founding of our denomination, and ultimately to the establishment of this congregation, and to you sitting in the pews here today. We Methodists truly stand upon the shoulders of heroes.

A few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to see real life heroes. I got to hear words that to many in New England are almost like a call to worship, words that caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up and a lump to develop in my throat: “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Fenway Park.” And there were the heroes, striding across the field right in front of me: Ortiz... Ramierez... Damon... Varitek... Schilling, and all the rest. I was in awe, and fascinated by the skill they brought to the game (after the bums came back from giving up three runs in the first inning, that is). But because others cannot play as well as them, does that mean that others should not play baseball? Should the kids in T-ball or Little League, the youngsters in high school and college, the poorly paid hopefuls in the Single A, Double A and Triple A teams give up the sport? After all, the vast majority of them will never be heroes like the World Series Champions that I was watching that sultry evening in Fenway Park.

One of the things I dislike about our culture is that we seem increasingly content to leave things to other people to do for us. We would rather watch a game on TV than pick up a glove ourselves. We would rather put on a CD than pick up a guitar and sing a song. We expect others to help us overcome adversity--in fact, some people I have encountered seem to think that the world owes them a comfortable living. Some Christians seem content to wait for the Second Coming to bring God’s Kingdom to the world, as if there is nothing for us to do in the mean time. Now, there is nothing wrong with being in the audience sometimes, nor depending on others for help from time to time. But there are limits, and it seems too easy today to give in to laziness. And if we let this laziness infect our church, then the church will die. If we leave it to the minister to do everything, or the paid staff, look at all the activities that would cease in our church. Our church needs ushers and choir members, and people to put on pot luck suppers, and teach our youth, and help others study the scripture, and pray, and visit the sick, and fix the windows, and a whole host of other activities. And we need people to reach out to their neighbors and their friends, to share the Good News of our faith, to invite them to join us in worship.

In today’s Epistle, Paul reminds the Romans that they all have gifts that God needs to bring His kingdom to the world--and that each of these different gifts are precious. Paul exhorts his readers to give themselves to God in service. And not just certain special people, not just Peter, or Mary or Moses. It is not just the talented or the famous who are called to be heroes, it is each and every one of us, it is me, and you, and you, and you, and you, and everyone in this church today, and indeed everyone in the world around us. The challenge Jesus gave to Peter is a challenge that he gives to all of us. A foundation does not consist of a single stone, and the Christian faith cannot be built on the foundation of a select few. We all need to answer that call, to trust and obey, to answer Jesus’ call, to take time in our lives to be holy, and to serve the Lord. With God’s help, we can all find the faith and the courage we need to be heroes of the faith. And God is relying on us to do that, to make the world a better place, to bring our faith to others.

Would you all turn to page 481 in your hymnal. There you will find the Prayer of Saint Francis. This prayer is a call from a hero of the faith to all of us to become heroes ourselves. Look at it quietly for a minute. I am going to ask you to make a pledge, to use this prayer as a promise to God. If there is something in the prayer, or part of the prayer, that you are not comfortable with, you can remain silent. But if you are willing to make this pledge, then speak out, and speak out loudly, and proudly.

As the framers of Iraq’s constitution struggle to develop the urgently needed document that will allow people of sharply different cultures, beliefs, and political and religious aspirations to live harmoniously side by side under a single government, they grapple with a variety of concerns. The world waits expectantly. Ongoing tensions with neighboring Kuwait add to the pressure.

Although the details are specific to Iraq the constitutional impasse highlights the challenge familiar to increasing numbers of people as we attempt to learn how to live in peace with nations and peoples of widely divergent perspectives in a rapidly shrinking global village. The struggle of people to live together is a problem that is growing more acute. Growing population pressures combine with ease of travel and communication and the sheer weight of history to place ever-greater numbers of incompatible neighbors very much in each other's laps.[i]

“As religious fundamentalism, whether Christian, Muslim, or Hindu threatens peace and security worldwide, we all share the challenge of Iraq. How can we construct a nation and a world where very different peoples, many with legitimate grievances against one another, and all with their unique identities and aspirations, can live in peace, security, and a reasonable degree of fulfillment?”[ii]

This week’s scripture readings offer us some rich material for reflection because all of them probe the dynamics between people who may not necessarily get along.

Our Psalm for today began, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” The saga of Joseph, found in Genesis, reminds us that family connections are no protection against betrayal and do not guarantee love. One thing that is clear is that there was definitely no harmony or unity in that family. Joseph’s brothers plotted to kill him, but instead, sold him into slavery and told their father that he was dead. We aren’t given a lot of details but are left to wonder about many things, not the least of which is how Joseph came to the point of being not only able, but most willing, to forgive his brothers for their cruel treatment of him.

The reconciliation, however, that takes place is incredible. For Joseph’s father it is nothing short of a resurrection. The son he believed to be dead is alive. Joseph’s response to the entire experience was that although his brothers had evil motivations God was able to bring good things out of the experience. Indeed, had it not been for Joseph’s wisdom and his position of power in Egypt, his family might well have died during the intense and widespread famine that lasted for several years.

The story doesn’t give us a neatly packaged plan for how to bring about harmony, but it gives us a story to excite our imagination, to cause us to think outside the box. It offers wonderful possibilities that maybe, just maybe, something could be different. In many ways Joseph’s story gives us a preview of the good news of the gospel in the New Testament. Joseph’s brothers sought to get rid of Joseph, just as the religious authorities of Jerusalem tried to get rid of Jesus. Rather than seek revenge upon them, Joseph came to a point of forgiving and reconciling, just as Jesus did when he prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” God used Joseph’s situation to save the lives of untold numbers of people during the famine in Egypt; God used Jesus’ crucifixion to bring about our salvation. Resurrection and reconciliation are the themes that capture the day in both events.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry we find numerous examples of reconciliation; of Jesus reaching out to people who were considered outcasts to bring them back into the fold and bring them closer to God. In today’s Gospel we find one of those stories, and probably one of the more difficult ones.

In this case, it is not Jesus who makes the overture but the Canaanite woman. Commentators have long struggled with the initial conversation between Jesus and the woman. We don’t like the image of Jesus refusing to help this desperate mother. We hear Jesus’ words, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and we cringe, but then it gets worse. She pleads, “Lord, help me.” Jesus responds, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” Various commentators have argued that Jesus was joking with her, or that his comments were intended to get his disciples thinking, or that Jesus was simply using the common language of his people to refer to Gentiles as dogs.

I find it more helpful, though, to realize that Jesus was truly human and here we see him in all his humanity – tired, frustrated, focused on his goal and a product of his culture. “Jesus was also, however, the Son of God. Throughout his gospel, Matthew depicts Jesus as the true Child of God who shows the way of just or righteous behavior, which is the opposite of sin. The righteous way is shown in the fact that he listened to the woman, was open to hearing another viewpoint, and changed his behavior. He responded to her and demonstrated how people are to relate in the House of Heaven. He was a just man.

“Oppressed people of different cultures identify with the Canaanite woman and her strength to insist on just treatment by Jesus.”[iii] That’s a central point of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus looked at the situation and considered what was merely human tradition and what is the Word or the Law of God. What this woman desired on earth, was consistent with what God desires in Heaven. Jesus was able to look at her request and hear her argument with the divine vision for human wholeness and life.

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” Jesus recognized a kindred connection that went beyond religion or race. He recognized the Canaanite woman as a child of God. This story witnesses to the grace of God finding its way beyond the religious and national lines of ethnic Israel. It is, in many ways, a pivotal event, glimpsing the future where the power of God is extended to all people of faith. It tells us in a dramatic way that the time for universal grace is now.

Too often we live as if we are waiting for permission or directions to extend God’s grace to all persons in all places. But this story tells us not to wait for permission – it has already been granted. It tells us not to wait for directions – Jesus showed us how.

The Canaanite woman showed us that when any person or group is oppressed or denied justice or the rights that go with being human, then it is our responsibility to speak for them because they are our brothers and sisters in the House of Heaven.

The psalm is a brief but eloquent hymn to the blessing of unity. “Like the rich and sacred oil ordaining the high priest, or the life-giving dew that sparkles so beautifully in the morning, harmony partakes of holiness and makes life itself more possible.”[iv] Imagine what it would be like if we could focus on the extraordinary value of harmony between people. If we could think about how much better our lives would be, we might be more willing to make the sacrifices and the investment in each other that would allow such a spirit of harmony to take root. It seems that we focus too often on our differences and on the wrongs we have suffered at each others' hands, creating ever deeper rifts among ourselves, instead of keeping before us the blessings that would come from making the effort to live together in unity.

The Psalm is one that was sung by pilgrims as they went into Jerusalem to celebrate one of the great festivals with fellow Jews from all over Israel. It is a hymn praising their unity. However, that reminds us that in our global world we are not one tribe or nation and we do not share a common faith. This is where all of us need to take a hard look at ourselves. On the one hand it is important to affirm the beliefs and values of a particular religion. We must know who we are but at the same time we must remember that we are part of a complex human mosaic. While we cherish our beliefs, identity and values, it is important to allow others the integrity of their beliefs.

Many people find this difficult to do. In all religions there are some who hold their beliefs in such a way that they find it difficult to accept the legitimacy of those who differ from them. An appalling number still think it is not only possible but imperative to coerce conformity to their vision of life. Although this has failed repeatedly throughout history, many have still not learned how much we all lose by trying to force others to believe as we do.

Like Paul, we need to wrestle with the problem of relations between people with competing truth claims. Paul didn’t find the Gospel’s inclusiveness easy for Christians to embody. His letters witness to how hard it is to keep churches operating harmoniously and productively when the church is made up of people from different cultural, social, economic, and religious backgrounds. But, the story of Joseph and his brothers and the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman offer hope that transformation can occur when we are willing to keep God in the dialogue and keep the goals of God’s kingdom constantly in front of us.

The story of Joseph and his brothers does not excuse the evil that the brothers did, but offers a glimpse of how God can transform even that which is evil for a good purpose. For us, as Christians, that was even more fully revealed in the cross which was meant for evil but was transformed by God into the means of the world’s redemption.[v] Imagine the impact on our relationships with each other if in place of judging we asked what God might be seeking to accomplish by bringing us together.

Today’s readings do not give us much in the way of easy solutions, but they offer many points of entry into the problems – and opportunities – of living with the stranger next door. There is no quick route from these passages (or any other!) to the development of a satisfactory constitution for Iraq, or to the resolution of ethnic and racial tensions, or of building peace in the face of fundamentalism. What these readings offer is the evidence that many people have walked this way before and have left us the witness that the barriers between people can and should be transcended.[vi]

[i] This approach and some of the words of this and the preceding paragraphs come from Chris Ewing, The Immediate Word, 8/14/05

[ii] Ewing, Chris

[iii]Carter, Nancy A. Who Do You Say That I Am? 1993 General Board of Global Ministries, UMC. New York, NY, pp. 59-60

[iv] Ewing, Chis

[v] McCutchen, Stephen The Immediate Word

[vi] Ewing, Chris