O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
These oft-quoted words are the words that begin the book, A TALE OF TWO CITIES, by Charles Dickens and I repeat them to you today because they are words that are true about the times in which we live - just as they were true in Dicken's day, and indeed in the days of Mary and Joseph.
It was, and is, the best of times, And it was, and is, the worst of times.
Today as we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent and we look at the candles that have been lit, the candles of hope, peace, love and joy; I want to ask you all to remember that in these times there is much to celebrate and that this is always true, that there is always much to celebrate, no matter how bad the times are and no matter how much worse we think the times may become.
The Christmas message is that God is with us - Lord Emmanuel, and no matter how many Grinches may try to steal our Christmas, no matter how many negative forces may try to rob us of the hope, the peace, the love and the joy that God intends for us nothing can take from us that which is good, and true, and pure, and lovely, and gracious.
Jesus was born in a world like ours, in fact, in a world even worse than ours, it was a world in which tyranny ruled everywhere, and poverty and hunger and suffering was overwhelming for all but a very few.
When you look at the time of Jesus realistically you might easily think that it was the height of foolishness for Mary to sing for joy to God as she did: what after all was there for her to celebrate but some strange dream, some vision; and a pregnancy that had almost led to her being rejected by her betrothed one, by Joseph?
The times were bad - and everyone knew that they were going to get worse. This was as plain to see as Caesar's armies and Herod's tax-collectors, and the crosses that so often appeared along the roads and highways.
What was there to celebrate in Judea over 2000 years ago?
And what today - is there to celebrate?
People we love get sick and die, children kill by a shooter, our jobs and our security are continually threatened, our children's futures are uncertain, and around the world newly won freedom is turning to into anarchy and chaos, even as millions starve in the midst of plenty.
It was then, and it is now, the worst of times.
But my friends, it was then, and it is also now, the best of times.
I say that because the Spirit that took hold of Mary, and conceived within her a child, is here with us today.
And just as the Spirit, working in Mary, brought forth life and light to the world in the person of Jesus - so it still brings forth life and light to the world through its working in us and in those around us.
That light and that life cannot be destroyed - no matter how bad the times are. In fact that light and that life often appears stronger the worse things get in the world.
The Grinch who stole Christmas in the Dr. Seuss story, tried to steal Christmas by taking from the villagers all their Christmas decorations, all their trees, all their presents, all their food, all the exterior things that they enjoyed so much - and yet Christmas continued despite this theft because the villagers had Christmas inside them.
And as it was with Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and Zechariah, and so it is and so it can be today with us. So it should be for us today.
I have listened patiently for a number of years as people have told me how Christmas is not like it used to be.
These people, these grinches, keep on trying to steal Christmas by looking at the bad things and forgetting that good things exist too, and that good things exist not in some kind of splendid isolation, but in the midst of all that is, and that goodness shine brightest in those places where it is most needed - right next to the bad things - indeed - often right in the middle of them.
As it says in the Gospel of John - The Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth.
Where is Christmas today as it used to be?
Where it has always been - among the humble and lowly, and with those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and with those moved by the Spirit of love, the spirit of Christ.
Where is Christmas to be found?
It is to be found in the Beavers, Cubs, and Scouts who collected items for
the poor, and in adults who donated to Operation Santa Claus.
It is to be found too in those cartoonists, who give us in the comic pages some beautiful messages to remind us what Christmas is about.
And it is found even in the most commercial of all places, our Shopping Malls. In one such last week a couple was taking their little girl out of the mall near closing time, and she spied Santa Claus and the helpers getting ready to go home for the night.
She had never met him before and was so excited by seeing him that she literally shook and trembled at the sight. The helprs glared at her and her parents, making it clear that closing time had come and gone and further visitors were not welcome. The little girl tried to break free to run and see Santa, but her parents held her back and tried to explain to her that Santa had a long day and that he had to get back home, but despite all this discouragement the girl just kept shaking and trembling and staring at Santa and struggling to see him, and this too despite the real dangers posed by the swinging around of the camera equipment and rope barriers that was occurring as the photographer packed his equipment.
And then, suddenly, Santa Claus pushed past all his helper and his photographer, and swept the little girl up into his arms. And she stopped trembling, and she was speechless.
He asked her if she had been a good girl - Good Girl, she said. He asked her if she wanted a doll. A doll, she said. A few more questions - and the meeting was over - and the girl went away with her parents and she could not stop talking as she left about what she had seen.
Christmas is found wherever there is caring and sharing, and caring and sharing my friends exists all around us, and nothing and nobody can steal this from us, even when, and if, we live in the worst of times.
God chooses to dwell in the midst of his people, his son was born in Bethlehem, one of the least of the towns of Judah, and he was born to be the servant of many, rather than to be a king.
He spent his time with ordinary people, and he healed and he helped those that others ignored, and he was killed.
But his life was not destroyed. He rose, and he bestows upon all who would receive it his spirit, the spirit of love, and of hope, the spirit of joy, and of peace, and this makes Christmas what it is...it makes this the best of times, for those who believe.
The spirit of Jesus - the spirit of Christmas - is alive this year everywhere.
So many - so very many - are giving birth to hope, to love, to joy and to peace in this way - so many are giving birth to Jesus Christ.
This Christmas ponder the events around you
- consider what God has done
- consider God's very great promises to us
- accept his commands
- act on the promises and you too will give birth to Jesus.
Through you, as through Mary, God will come to bless this world and we will be able, with joy, to say with Mary:
"Our souls magnify the Lord and our spirits rejoice in God our Saviour!"
and with Zechariah:
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people!"
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Sandy Hock Elementary School
the Rev. David Hicks
Lord, we come to you stunned, shocked, grieving … our hearts linked to those for whom this tragedy shall veil their hearts for a long time to come.
Lord, come to comfort us, and come to offer healing and hope to those whose spirits are wounded by the sudden death of ones they love.
Father, where can we turn when the senselessness of hatred and violence rips apart our complacency, save to you? Where is our peace, save in your arms of mercy?
Lord, we cry, Abba, Father! Comfort these your children, you who lost your only child. Embrace the ones among us for whom grief is so raw and fresh today.
We confess our sin, the violence that lurks in us all. We call it anger, hatred, revenge … whatever its name, it is a compelling power within us.
Lord, pull the root of bitterness, the whirlwind of anger, the deadened heart of hatred out of us and restore to us a heart of flesh. Refill us with your peace. Let your love be a lamp to light the way that leads us home.
When all else is stripped away, when all that the world offers us for meaning and purpose is removed, still you, your word, your will, your grace, your holy presence will remain.
ALL: Lord, we place our trust in you. We find our comfort in you. We find meaning that defeats random and chaotic violence in you. For you will wipe away every tear from our eyes and the eyes of our sisters and brothers, and we will be your people, and you will be our God.
In the power of the Resurrection, we pray. Amen.
Lord, we come to you stunned, shocked, grieving … our hearts linked to those for whom this tragedy shall veil their hearts for a long time to come.
Lord, come to comfort us, and come to offer healing and hope to those whose spirits are wounded by the sudden death of ones they love.
Father, where can we turn when the senselessness of hatred and violence rips apart our complacency, save to you? Where is our peace, save in your arms of mercy?
Lord, we cry, Abba, Father! Comfort these your children, you who lost your only child. Embrace the ones among us for whom grief is so raw and fresh today.
We confess our sin, the violence that lurks in us all. We call it anger, hatred, revenge … whatever its name, it is a compelling power within us.
Lord, pull the root of bitterness, the whirlwind of anger, the deadened heart of hatred out of us and restore to us a heart of flesh. Refill us with your peace. Let your love be a lamp to light the way that leads us home.
When all else is stripped away, when all that the world offers us for meaning and purpose is removed, still you, your word, your will, your grace, your holy presence will remain.
ALL: Lord, we place our trust in you. We find our comfort in you. We find meaning that defeats random and chaotic violence in you. For you will wipe away every tear from our eyes and the eyes of our sisters and brothers, and we will be your people, and you will be our God.
In the power of the Resurrection, we pray. Amen.
Isaiah 61:1-4,8-11; Luke 1:47-55; I Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8,19-28
Let us Pray - Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
If we were still using Latin in our services, the first word we would have heard in today's liturgy would have been "Gaudete", or "rejoice". The word is sprinkled throughout today's readings: in the first reading from Isaiah, the prophet proclaims that God has sent him to bring "glad tidings to the poor" and "I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul". The psalm of the day is taken from Mary's Magnificat, in which she exclaims "My soul rejoices in my God, my spirit finds joy in God my savior". The second reading from Paul's letter to the Thessalonians begins with the words "Rejoice always".
These readings have their basis in the Hebrew language, which has more words for joy and rejoicing than any other language and this from a language known for having few words. In the Old Testament, 13 Hebrew roots, found in 27 different words, are used primarily for some aspect of joy or joyful participation in religious worship.
1) Hebrew religious ritual proclaims God as the source of joy.
2) In contrast to the rituals of other faiths of the East, Israelite worship was essentially a joyous proclamation and celebration.
3) The good Israelite regarded the act of thanking God as the supreme joy of his life.
4) As noted in our readings, pure joy is joy in God as both its source and object, like a circle: God gives joy to us and we return it back to God. The Old Testament is a book of joy! The New Testament is a book of Good News! This is God's will for us to be joyful, to pray continuously and to give God thanks in all circumstances.
There is a story told about a man from Louisville, Kentucky, who had to travel to St. Louis on business. This was years ago when Christians still kept Sunday as a very special day. For this man, "keeping the Sabbath" meant not riding the trains on Sunday. Thus, after he finished up his business late Saturday night, he had to stay over in St. Louis until the following Monday morning. On Sunday morning, he left the hotel looking for a place to worship. The streets were quite deserted, but finally he saw a policeman and asked him for directions to the nearest Protestant church. The stranger thanked the policeman for the information and was about to walk off when he turned and asked the policeman: "Why have you recommended that particular church? There must be several churches nearby that you could have recommended." The policeman smiled and replied: "I'm not a church man myself, but the people who come out of that church are the happiest looking church-people in St. Louis. I thought that would be the kind of church you would like to attend."
One thing many people have forgotten in their Christian pilgrimage the duty to be joyful. Maybe one of the reasons that Jesus used a little child as the sole embodiment of the kingdom of God is the innate joyfulness of children.
One writer tells of her trepidation at seeing the slums of Mumbai. The poverty was overwhelming and hygiene all but lacking. Nonetheless, the air was filled with the laughter of children at play.
Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speaks movingly of an even worse situation. Visiting a children's barracks in one of the German death camps after the Second World War, she had expected to see evidence of horror. Instead, the walls were covered with drawings of butterflies, a universal symbol of joy.
For those of us who are adults, one of the things that make Christmas so joyful is seeing the wide-eyed expressions of wonder on little faces. Children know about joy. Somehow we adults seem to lose that awe and wonder somewhere along the road to grownuphood.
There's a story I read to which some of you may be able to relate about a woman's remembrances of her grandmother, Gagi. At the time of her grandfather's death, at 90 years of age, her grandparents had been married for over 50 years. Gagi felt the loss deeply. The central focus had been taken from her life, and she retreated from the world, entering into an extended period of mourning. Her grieving lasted nearly five years, and during that time, her granddaughter visited her every week or two.
One day, she visited Gagi expecting to find her in her usual state of quiescence. Instead, she found her sitting in her wheelchair beaming. When she didn't comment quickly enough about the obvious change in her demeanor, Gagi confronted her: "Don't you want to know why I'm so happy? Aren't you even curious?" She went on to explain: "Last night I got an answer. I finally know why God took my husband and left me behind to live without him. Your grandfather knew that the secret of life is love, and he lived it every day. He had become unconditional love in action. I have known about unconditional love, but I haven't fully lived it. That's why he got to go first, and I had to stay behind. All this time I thought I was being punished for something, but last night I found out that I was left behind as a gift from God. He let me stay so that I too could turn my life into love. You see, you can't learn the lesson after you die. Love has to be lived here on earth. Once you leave, it's too late. So I was given the gift of life so that I can learn to live love here and now."
On one of her subsequent visits, Gagi told her of something that had happened to her that day. "This morning, your uncle was upset and angry with me over something I had done. I didn't even flinch. I received his anger, wrapped it in love and returned it with joy." Her eyes twinkled as she added, "It was even kind of fun, and his anger dissolved."
Though age continued on its course, Gagi's life was vigorously renewed. In the last days of her life, the granddaughter visited her often in the hospital. As she walked toward her room one day, the nurse on duty looked into her eyes and said, "Your grandmother is a very special lady, you know...she's a light." Yes, love and joy lit up her life and she became a light for others until the end.
The nurse in the story speaks of Gagi as a light. In John's gospel, when our Lord receives news of John the Baptist's death, he comments to his disciples: "This man was a light, consuming and revealing, but you wished to rejoice exceedingly for a while in his presence."
That one verse has stayed with me for many years and I have tried to live it to the best of my ability.
If we were to take Gagi's theory to heart, we would realize that obviously we're not ready to go yet either. We are still "works-in-progress".
At this time of year, we need to let joy into our hearts. If your heart is aching this Advent season for any reason: the loss of love in a marriage, the memory of someone you love who is now with God, concern about a teenage child, concerns about your health, don't let despair defeat you. If you have recently lost a loved one and that person could come back and stand before you right now, they wouldn't tell you to continue to grieve for them. They would tell you: "I am at peace; you be at peace also. That is my wish for you." If something stands in the way of joy, let it go.
One of the things which I have seen stand in the way of joy is people taking themselves or what they do too seriously. We need to laugh at ourselves, because others will be more than willing to do so for us. When I believe someone is being too serious, I will often joke with them in the hope that laughter will bring them back to reality. We are eminently laughable at - I know that I am - and what we do is just a job or an appointed position, something that in the big picture is not worth getting upset about with another person and something which could be taken away in the twinkling of an eye.
Enjoy life, relish every moment, for we know not the day nor the hour. Find someway this special season to defeat the blues. Consider doing something for shut-ins who have no one to care for them. Do something positive, something heart-warming, something that will bring someone else joy. For joy has a way of boomeranging and giving the person who gives it more joy than the one who receives it. I read recently that we ought to "practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty".
Next week we celebrate the second most important feast in the Church's liturgical year after Easter. It is a day of rejoicing and of "joy to the world". Love came down at Christmas, as one seasonal song goes, and with it came joy, the ability for us to overcome sin and sadness, because our Lord loved us enough to become one like us. As in the chorus of the song we just sang last week, "Rejoice and be glad. Blessed are you, holy are you. Yours is the kingdom of God."
May joy be yours this Christmas season.
If we were still using Latin in our services, the first word we would have heard in today's liturgy would have been "Gaudete", or "rejoice". The word is sprinkled throughout today's readings: in the first reading from Isaiah, the prophet proclaims that God has sent him to bring "glad tidings to the poor" and "I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul". The psalm of the day is taken from Mary's Magnificat, in which she exclaims "My soul rejoices in my God, my spirit finds joy in God my savior". The second reading from Paul's letter to the Thessalonians begins with the words "Rejoice always".
These readings have their basis in the Hebrew language, which has more words for joy and rejoicing than any other language and this from a language known for having few words. In the Old Testament, 13 Hebrew roots, found in 27 different words, are used primarily for some aspect of joy or joyful participation in religious worship.
1) Hebrew religious ritual proclaims God as the source of joy.
2) In contrast to the rituals of other faiths of the East, Israelite worship was essentially a joyous proclamation and celebration.
3) The good Israelite regarded the act of thanking God as the supreme joy of his life.
4) As noted in our readings, pure joy is joy in God as both its source and object, like a circle: God gives joy to us and we return it back to God. The Old Testament is a book of joy! The New Testament is a book of Good News! This is God's will for us to be joyful, to pray continuously and to give God thanks in all circumstances.
There is a story told about a man from Louisville, Kentucky, who had to travel to St. Louis on business. This was years ago when Christians still kept Sunday as a very special day. For this man, "keeping the Sabbath" meant not riding the trains on Sunday. Thus, after he finished up his business late Saturday night, he had to stay over in St. Louis until the following Monday morning. On Sunday morning, he left the hotel looking for a place to worship. The streets were quite deserted, but finally he saw a policeman and asked him for directions to the nearest Protestant church. The stranger thanked the policeman for the information and was about to walk off when he turned and asked the policeman: "Why have you recommended that particular church? There must be several churches nearby that you could have recommended." The policeman smiled and replied: "I'm not a church man myself, but the people who come out of that church are the happiest looking church-people in St. Louis. I thought that would be the kind of church you would like to attend."
One thing many people have forgotten in their Christian pilgrimage the duty to be joyful. Maybe one of the reasons that Jesus used a little child as the sole embodiment of the kingdom of God is the innate joyfulness of children.
One writer tells of her trepidation at seeing the slums of Mumbai. The poverty was overwhelming and hygiene all but lacking. Nonetheless, the air was filled with the laughter of children at play.
Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speaks movingly of an even worse situation. Visiting a children's barracks in one of the German death camps after the Second World War, she had expected to see evidence of horror. Instead, the walls were covered with drawings of butterflies, a universal symbol of joy.
For those of us who are adults, one of the things that make Christmas so joyful is seeing the wide-eyed expressions of wonder on little faces. Children know about joy. Somehow we adults seem to lose that awe and wonder somewhere along the road to grownuphood.
There's a story I read to which some of you may be able to relate about a woman's remembrances of her grandmother, Gagi. At the time of her grandfather's death, at 90 years of age, her grandparents had been married for over 50 years. Gagi felt the loss deeply. The central focus had been taken from her life, and she retreated from the world, entering into an extended period of mourning. Her grieving lasted nearly five years, and during that time, her granddaughter visited her every week or two.
One day, she visited Gagi expecting to find her in her usual state of quiescence. Instead, she found her sitting in her wheelchair beaming. When she didn't comment quickly enough about the obvious change in her demeanor, Gagi confronted her: "Don't you want to know why I'm so happy? Aren't you even curious?" She went on to explain: "Last night I got an answer. I finally know why God took my husband and left me behind to live without him. Your grandfather knew that the secret of life is love, and he lived it every day. He had become unconditional love in action. I have known about unconditional love, but I haven't fully lived it. That's why he got to go first, and I had to stay behind. All this time I thought I was being punished for something, but last night I found out that I was left behind as a gift from God. He let me stay so that I too could turn my life into love. You see, you can't learn the lesson after you die. Love has to be lived here on earth. Once you leave, it's too late. So I was given the gift of life so that I can learn to live love here and now."
On one of her subsequent visits, Gagi told her of something that had happened to her that day. "This morning, your uncle was upset and angry with me over something I had done. I didn't even flinch. I received his anger, wrapped it in love and returned it with joy." Her eyes twinkled as she added, "It was even kind of fun, and his anger dissolved."
Though age continued on its course, Gagi's life was vigorously renewed. In the last days of her life, the granddaughter visited her often in the hospital. As she walked toward her room one day, the nurse on duty looked into her eyes and said, "Your grandmother is a very special lady, you know...she's a light." Yes, love and joy lit up her life and she became a light for others until the end.
The nurse in the story speaks of Gagi as a light. In John's gospel, when our Lord receives news of John the Baptist's death, he comments to his disciples: "This man was a light, consuming and revealing, but you wished to rejoice exceedingly for a while in his presence."
That one verse has stayed with me for many years and I have tried to live it to the best of my ability.
If we were to take Gagi's theory to heart, we would realize that obviously we're not ready to go yet either. We are still "works-in-progress".
At this time of year, we need to let joy into our hearts. If your heart is aching this Advent season for any reason: the loss of love in a marriage, the memory of someone you love who is now with God, concern about a teenage child, concerns about your health, don't let despair defeat you. If you have recently lost a loved one and that person could come back and stand before you right now, they wouldn't tell you to continue to grieve for them. They would tell you: "I am at peace; you be at peace also. That is my wish for you." If something stands in the way of joy, let it go.
One of the things which I have seen stand in the way of joy is people taking themselves or what they do too seriously. We need to laugh at ourselves, because others will be more than willing to do so for us. When I believe someone is being too serious, I will often joke with them in the hope that laughter will bring them back to reality. We are eminently laughable at - I know that I am - and what we do is just a job or an appointed position, something that in the big picture is not worth getting upset about with another person and something which could be taken away in the twinkling of an eye.
Enjoy life, relish every moment, for we know not the day nor the hour. Find someway this special season to defeat the blues. Consider doing something for shut-ins who have no one to care for them. Do something positive, something heart-warming, something that will bring someone else joy. For joy has a way of boomeranging and giving the person who gives it more joy than the one who receives it. I read recently that we ought to "practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty".
Next week we celebrate the second most important feast in the Church's liturgical year after Easter. It is a day of rejoicing and of "joy to the world". Love came down at Christmas, as one seasonal song goes, and with it came joy, the ability for us to overcome sin and sadness, because our Lord loved us enough to become one like us. As in the chorus of the song we just sang last week, "Rejoice and be glad. Blessed are you, holy are you. Yours is the kingdom of God."
May joy be yours this Christmas season.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8
Let us Pray - Creator and maker of us all - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts - grow thou in us and show us your ways and inspire us to live by your truth. Amen
Hagar the Horrible is one of my favourite cartoon strips.
One of my favourite Hagar strips is the one in which Hagar is addressed by a Monk.
In the first frame, the monk, Bible tucked under his arm, an expression of peace on his face, says to Hagar, "Remember, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
In the next frame, we see the monk disappearing over the horizon, and we see Hagar, looking out at us - saying - "But I enjoy cursing the darkness"
How many of us enjoy cursing the darkness?
How many of us would rather complain about what is wrong than to add to what is right? To feel sad or upset, or angry, about what is going on around rather than to change it? To cast stones and criticize what is happening, rather than to gather up the stones and build from them a new and better thing?
You think it is a silly question maybe? That no sane person would want to feel upset or angry?
Well, all I can say is perhaps we are not as sane as we might be.
Advent and Christmas is a strange times of year for many of us. A time in which, as we prepare for the coming of the Son of God, we often feel down, disappointed, and anxious. A time in which instead of feeling joy, we feel despair. A time in which instead of rejoicing, we fret and worry and drive others insane.
You know, as I anticipate the coming of the Lord, as I look forward to Christmas Eve, to the candles, to the hymns, to receiving in my hands the bread and the wine, I am amazed by the number of grinches that exist around me, the number of people who grump and complain about how Christmas is corrupt, how our songs have been stolen, our gifts cheapened, our hopes made trivial, and our dreams destroyed.
I am amazed by how I hear around me the voices of doom, by how people tell me that nothing is as it was, and that Christmas has become nothing but a merchant's delight, and that what is supposed to be a time of faith and hope has become nothing but a time of a greed and despair.
Where is our faith?
Where is our conviction?
Where is our sense that indeed God has come to us in Jesus and that he had overcome the power of darkness?
Do we enjoy cursing the darkness?
Do we enjoy it more than we enjoy lighting a candle?
This is the season of good news, the season of preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord, the season of celebration, of rejoicing, of praising God for what he has done, and what he is doing, and what he will yet do.
But can you tell? Can people look at us and say "Yes, something special is happening! Something good is going on?"...
Every year at Christmas I want to cry with John the Baptist and with Isaiah the prophet. I want to cry with them:
Get with it. Get an attitude! See what is really happening! Prepare ye the way for God! Look for his coming in power! Make his paths straight! Know that the time of vindication and of peace is at hand! Rejoice and be glad - for while there is darkness in the world - there is also light, and the light is stronger than the darkness, the darkness cannot overcome it."
I want to cry - Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Comfort,, O comfort my people. The Lord comes with might, his arm rules for him, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom..."
There is so much good around us. There is so much power and righteousness at hand.
What does the Monk say to Hagar??? It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness...
My friends,. a candle has been provided to us. A light has been granted unto the world, and it 's power is unquenchable.
So what are we doing???
Are we letting the enemy win???
Are we cursing the darkness rather than lighting a candle???
Are we dithering, rather than preparing the way of the Lord??
Think of the good news! Get an attitude! Prepare the way of the Lord. Celebrate the good news instead of cursing the bad news....
Do you really want good news? Then look for what is good, look for God - and you will see that not only is he is coming, you will see that he is here.
Who can account for the mothers who feed their children before they feed themselves? Who can explain the men who spend their spare time in lodges and societies dedicated to helping others? Who can account for the little ones who hug and play with their neighbours?
What keeps the food banks going? What explains the tenderness of a young married couple? What makes sense of the feelings that come to us when we see a baby take her first steps?
Advent is about preparing for the coming of the Lord - but you know - that getting ready is not, for us, a getting ready for a future coming, it is an opening to the God who is already with us, an opening to the Prince of Peace - who came to us as a babe in Bethlehem, and who, after his resurrection, is Lord in heaven above.
Are we prepared?
Are we open?
Fred Craddock, a well known preacher and scholar, tells the story about a young pastor who visited an old lady who was very sick in a hospital.
He entered the room and saw person lying on the bed, gasping for breath. H decided to have a short visit, not to tire her. He asked, "Would you like me to pray for you?"
She nodded yes.
"What would you like me to pray?" asked the young preacher?
"I want you to pray that I will be made well, that God will give me health.", the old lady said.
The young preacher gulped. But he prayed, praying something like, "God, if it be thy will, restore this sister to health. However, let us accept thy will, so that whether she receives her health or not, she will know that you are still close to her."
When the prayer ended, the old lady's eyes flashed open. She sat up. She startled the preacher by throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She stood up. She stretched out her arms. She turned around to the astonished young preacher and said, "I feel better. I feel a great deal better. In fact, I feel like I have been healed.!"
With that she walked out of the room, headed down the hall toward the nurse's station, shouting, "I am healed!"
The young preacher staggered out, went down the stairs, out the door of the hospital and into the parking lot. As he stood at his car, before opening the door, the young preacher looked up. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" he said.
There are a lot of people who believe in God, and who yet miss the good news.
For them God is always coming, but never here. God is always promising, but never delivering. God is always near, but never quite in touch....
But it ain't so!
God lives. God is here. And God is coming here.
You can see it in the face of a new born baby. You can see it in the gaze of young lovers. You can see it in the look of old married couples. You can see it within your own hearts, when you take time to look.
God will accomplish his purpose. The kingdom will come. The question for us is - will we get an attitude? Will we be a part of the fulfilment of God's purpose? Will we light a candle? Or will we curse the darkness?
May his name be praised day by day. Amen!
Hagar the Horrible is one of my favourite cartoon strips.
One of my favourite Hagar strips is the one in which Hagar is addressed by a Monk.
In the first frame, the monk, Bible tucked under his arm, an expression of peace on his face, says to Hagar, "Remember, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."
In the next frame, we see the monk disappearing over the horizon, and we see Hagar, looking out at us - saying - "But I enjoy cursing the darkness"
How many of us enjoy cursing the darkness?
How many of us would rather complain about what is wrong than to add to what is right? To feel sad or upset, or angry, about what is going on around rather than to change it? To cast stones and criticize what is happening, rather than to gather up the stones and build from them a new and better thing?
You think it is a silly question maybe? That no sane person would want to feel upset or angry?
Well, all I can say is perhaps we are not as sane as we might be.
Advent and Christmas is a strange times of year for many of us. A time in which, as we prepare for the coming of the Son of God, we often feel down, disappointed, and anxious. A time in which instead of feeling joy, we feel despair. A time in which instead of rejoicing, we fret and worry and drive others insane.
You know, as I anticipate the coming of the Lord, as I look forward to Christmas Eve, to the candles, to the hymns, to receiving in my hands the bread and the wine, I am amazed by the number of grinches that exist around me, the number of people who grump and complain about how Christmas is corrupt, how our songs have been stolen, our gifts cheapened, our hopes made trivial, and our dreams destroyed.
I am amazed by how I hear around me the voices of doom, by how people tell me that nothing is as it was, and that Christmas has become nothing but a merchant's delight, and that what is supposed to be a time of faith and hope has become nothing but a time of a greed and despair.
Where is our faith?
Where is our conviction?
Where is our sense that indeed God has come to us in Jesus and that he had overcome the power of darkness?
Do we enjoy cursing the darkness?
Do we enjoy it more than we enjoy lighting a candle?
This is the season of good news, the season of preparing ourselves for the coming of the Lord, the season of celebration, of rejoicing, of praising God for what he has done, and what he is doing, and what he will yet do.
But can you tell? Can people look at us and say "Yes, something special is happening! Something good is going on?"...
Every year at Christmas I want to cry with John the Baptist and with Isaiah the prophet. I want to cry with them:
Get with it. Get an attitude! See what is really happening! Prepare ye the way for God! Look for his coming in power! Make his paths straight! Know that the time of vindication and of peace is at hand! Rejoice and be glad - for while there is darkness in the world - there is also light, and the light is stronger than the darkness, the darkness cannot overcome it."
I want to cry - Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Comfort,, O comfort my people. The Lord comes with might, his arm rules for him, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom..."
There is so much good around us. There is so much power and righteousness at hand.
What does the Monk say to Hagar??? It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness...
My friends,. a candle has been provided to us. A light has been granted unto the world, and it 's power is unquenchable.
So what are we doing???
Are we letting the enemy win???
Are we cursing the darkness rather than lighting a candle???
Are we dithering, rather than preparing the way of the Lord??
Think of the good news! Get an attitude! Prepare the way of the Lord. Celebrate the good news instead of cursing the bad news....
Do you really want good news? Then look for what is good, look for God - and you will see that not only is he is coming, you will see that he is here.
Who can account for the mothers who feed their children before they feed themselves? Who can explain the men who spend their spare time in lodges and societies dedicated to helping others? Who can account for the little ones who hug and play with their neighbours?
What keeps the food banks going? What explains the tenderness of a young married couple? What makes sense of the feelings that come to us when we see a baby take her first steps?
Advent is about preparing for the coming of the Lord - but you know - that getting ready is not, for us, a getting ready for a future coming, it is an opening to the God who is already with us, an opening to the Prince of Peace - who came to us as a babe in Bethlehem, and who, after his resurrection, is Lord in heaven above.
Are we prepared?
Are we open?
Fred Craddock, a well known preacher and scholar, tells the story about a young pastor who visited an old lady who was very sick in a hospital.
He entered the room and saw person lying on the bed, gasping for breath. H decided to have a short visit, not to tire her. He asked, "Would you like me to pray for you?"
She nodded yes.
"What would you like me to pray?" asked the young preacher?
"I want you to pray that I will be made well, that God will give me health.", the old lady said.
The young preacher gulped. But he prayed, praying something like, "God, if it be thy will, restore this sister to health. However, let us accept thy will, so that whether she receives her health or not, she will know that you are still close to her."
When the prayer ended, the old lady's eyes flashed open. She sat up. She startled the preacher by throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She stood up. She stretched out her arms. She turned around to the astonished young preacher and said, "I feel better. I feel a great deal better. In fact, I feel like I have been healed.!"
With that she walked out of the room, headed down the hall toward the nurse's station, shouting, "I am healed!"
The young preacher staggered out, went down the stairs, out the door of the hospital and into the parking lot. As he stood at his car, before opening the door, the young preacher looked up. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" he said.
There are a lot of people who believe in God, and who yet miss the good news.
For them God is always coming, but never here. God is always promising, but never delivering. God is always near, but never quite in touch....
But it ain't so!
God lives. God is here. And God is coming here.
You can see it in the face of a new born baby. You can see it in the gaze of young lovers. You can see it in the look of old married couples. You can see it within your own hearts, when you take time to look.
God will accomplish his purpose. The kingdom will come. The question for us is - will we get an attitude? Will we be a part of the fulfilment of God's purpose? Will we light a candle? Or will we curse the darkness?
May his name be praised day by day. Amen!
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Isaiah 64:1-9 and Mark 13:24-37
Let us Pray - Creator and maker of us all - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts - grow thou in us and show us your ways and inspire us to live by your truth. Amen
I imagine that each of us can remember what happened when we were students back in school and the teacher announced that she was just going to step out of the class for a minute.
I am sure you can remember words like
"Now class, I'm going down the hall to the office to make a call. While I am gone I am going to trust each one of you to act like ladies and gentlemen. Each of you have your work to do - I am going now and I'll be right back."
And I am sure you can remember what happened after she got out the door.
When the teacher is away, there is a test, a test that many people failed.
In my school days I remember vividly that all heck broke loose. Some kids worked - or tried to - while other kids made spit-balls, paper air-planes, and other missiles; others wandered around between the desks - talking to one, poking another, and so forth.
Sometimes the whole affair got organized - one or two kids would stand near the door, listening for the teachers return, while their buddies ransacked the room, wrote notes on the board, or did something to one of the teachers books.
My friends, right now the teacher is away - we are living between times, in the times between Christ's first coming -as a babe in the manger and his second coming - as Lord and Judge.
We live between beginnings. And the question that the gospel poses for us today, while we are in this state is quite simply: are we going to pass the test set for us by our teacher's absence? Or are we going to fail that test - just as so many of us did back when we were in school?
The way I figure it - most of the New Testament is concerned with the problem of God's absence. When Jesus was here with us in the flesh - that was one thing. But in his absence, in the time between his first Advent and the next - what of our discipleship?
Things between us and God tend to be fine, when we are in here, at worship, eating the bread, drinking the wine, touching and tasting the goodness, the near presence of God. But what about later, when you walk out the church door and you are back in the world? What then?
Isn't a little bit like it was back in our school days? Some do their work - some can be trusted, and some can not.
You know - the amazing thing about our faith - is the faith that God puts in us.
Especially when you consider how so many of us behave.
Yet, even so, God has put us in charge of the classroom, each with our own work to do, and all he says to us as He does this is "do a good job - behave well - and be alert for my return."
Christ is coming again, and we need him to come again, too many of his class have become unruly.
But, while we long for his return, as Israel longed for his coming in the Old Testament reading this morning, while we long for the time when the classroom will be a place of harmony and peace - for the time when all things will be finally straightened out, the time when the wicked will perish and the faithful at last receive their reward, while we long for this time, we need not be overly concerned about just when it will come we need not worry because we have our work to do in the meantime and because we can trust God to honour that work, and to keep his promise to be merciful and kind to those who have lived by faith in him.
The teacher will come, and the faithful and the unfaithful alike will see him coming, they will see him coming with his angels in the clouds with great power and glory - and the angels will be sent out to gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven, and there will be justice, and there will be peace - a peace greater than that which came when our earthly school teachers returned to their classes - a justice more just than that which was meted out when the teacher opened her classroom door to behold what her students had done.
This is our hope. This is our Christian faith. And this is the time in which we show our Lord that we can be trusted.
I imagine that each of us can remember what happened when we were students back in school and the teacher announced that she was just going to step out of the class for a minute.
I am sure you can remember words like
"Now class, I'm going down the hall to the office to make a call. While I am gone I am going to trust each one of you to act like ladies and gentlemen. Each of you have your work to do - I am going now and I'll be right back."
And I am sure you can remember what happened after she got out the door.
When the teacher is away, there is a test, a test that many people failed.
In my school days I remember vividly that all heck broke loose. Some kids worked - or tried to - while other kids made spit-balls, paper air-planes, and other missiles; others wandered around between the desks - talking to one, poking another, and so forth.
Sometimes the whole affair got organized - one or two kids would stand near the door, listening for the teachers return, while their buddies ransacked the room, wrote notes on the board, or did something to one of the teachers books.
My friends, right now the teacher is away - we are living between times, in the times between Christ's first coming -as a babe in the manger and his second coming - as Lord and Judge.
We live between beginnings. And the question that the gospel poses for us today, while we are in this state is quite simply: are we going to pass the test set for us by our teacher's absence? Or are we going to fail that test - just as so many of us did back when we were in school?
The way I figure it - most of the New Testament is concerned with the problem of God's absence. When Jesus was here with us in the flesh - that was one thing. But in his absence, in the time between his first Advent and the next - what of our discipleship?
Things between us and God tend to be fine, when we are in here, at worship, eating the bread, drinking the wine, touching and tasting the goodness, the near presence of God. But what about later, when you walk out the church door and you are back in the world? What then?
Isn't a little bit like it was back in our school days? Some do their work - some can be trusted, and some can not.
You know - the amazing thing about our faith - is the faith that God puts in us.
Especially when you consider how so many of us behave.
Yet, even so, God has put us in charge of the classroom, each with our own work to do, and all he says to us as He does this is "do a good job - behave well - and be alert for my return."
Christ is coming again, and we need him to come again, too many of his class have become unruly.
But, while we long for his return, as Israel longed for his coming in the Old Testament reading this morning, while we long for the time when the classroom will be a place of harmony and peace - for the time when all things will be finally straightened out, the time when the wicked will perish and the faithful at last receive their reward, while we long for this time, we need not be overly concerned about just when it will come we need not worry because we have our work to do in the meantime and because we can trust God to honour that work, and to keep his promise to be merciful and kind to those who have lived by faith in him.
The teacher will come, and the faithful and the unfaithful alike will see him coming, they will see him coming with his angels in the clouds with great power and glory - and the angels will be sent out to gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven, and there will be justice, and there will be peace - a peace greater than that which came when our earthly school teachers returned to their classes - a justice more just than that which was meted out when the teacher opened her classroom door to behold what her students had done.
This is our hope. This is our Christian faith. And this is the time in which we show our Lord that we can be trusted.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Revelation 1:1-8; Psalm 132; John 18:33-37
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Every year, at the end of the church year, we observe a tradition that is 2000 years old, one that dates from the time the three magi bent their knees in homage
to the Baby of Bethlehem.
We name Jesus, here in our worship together, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. We hold him up as the one anointed by God, to be the Messiah, the King of the Jews, the one chosen by the ancient of days to be the deliverer and the Saviour of the world.
Jesus the King - it is an interesting and an important title in our tradition about Jesus - a title that bears looking at.
Being a king really meant something in Jesus' day. A king was the most powerful human being on earth. A king speaks, common people tremble.
For nations, the king was the only means of securing order and peace. The king was, civilization and domestic tranquillity personified in one person. He was to be honoured and respected and served. He was to be revered and feared and obeyed.
A king was everything and everybody rolled up into one. He was of upmost importance - so much so that time itself was calculated on the basis of when the King began his reign.
In the fifth year of the reign of Julius Caesar, In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King David, In the year of our Lord, two thousand...
As your preacher the question I am struggling with this morning is: What does it mean for us to name Jesus King?
Especially when you consider what we have done to kings in our day and age, indeed what we have done to all sources of authority.
There is no respect, there is no honour, there is no reverence in us, for those who rule over us in the political realm.
We regard no-one as better than us. No-one as ultimate more important than us. No-one as really, in the end, worthy of our unquestioning obedience and our unflagging dedication.
We have reduced our royalty to the status of soap opera stars; we almost universally regard our politicians as corrupt and uncaring and out of touch; our judges and our police we condemn as ineffective; and the laws that they make and enforce, when they are applied to us, we often call unfair and arbitrary, and we seek to get around them.
The image of Jesus as King, is an image that is hard to get hold of, and once gotten hold of, it is an image that is hard to take seriously. It is, I believe for most of us, a fantasy image, an image that belongs to stories that begin with the words "Once upon a time, in a land far far away..."
What does it mean to call Jesus King?
In our scripture reading this morning Pontius Pilate clearly wondered this - albeit for different reasons than we here many wonder it today.
Pilate, who served the most powerful king in the world, knew what a king was. He knew about the power that a King has, the authority that he wields, the unquestioning obedience that he demands, and the power that he has to compel that obedience should it not be volunteered.
Pilate was a creature of his time, one who knew and accepted the rules, one who in fact was charged with making and enforcing the rules, and while he, like people today, sought to use those rules to his advantage, he knew what the consequences of ignoring or scoffing the rules were.
One of the rules that Pilate was called to enforce was the rule that anyone who claimed to be a king, anyone who dared to set themselves up as an authority over and against the lawful authority of Caesar, was to be executed.
It was a rule that Pilate had no scruples about enforcing. it was a rule that he had enforced thousands of times throughout Galilee.
And so when Jesus is brought before Pilate the charge that is laid against him is that he is a revolutionary - that he is one who unlawfully claims to be the Messiah, the King of the Jews.
The very idea that the bruised and beleaguered man that stood before him could be taken for a king must have seemed ridiculous to Pilate. He knew what Kings acted like. He knew what they looked like. He knew what even those who pretended to be kings acted like and looked like.
Nevertheless Pilate does his duty. He asks Jesus if the charge against him is true. He asks Jesus if he is, or if he claims to be, King of the Jews.
Jesus answers Pilate that he is a king - but that his kingdom is not of this world, and then he says:
"If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities."
Pilate understands this - he knows what a King is, and after checking Jesus once more by asking him "So you are a king?" and hearing Jesus respond with that he was born to testify to the truth, he tells Jesus' accusers that he finds there is no case against him.
Pilate cannot image Jesus as a King, the image that he has of a King, like the image that many of us have, just doesn't fit Jesus.
And so - while in the end Pilate allows Jesus to be crucified with the word's "King of the Jews" posted over his head in three different languages, Pilate himself does not believe what he has caused to be written.
And today I wonder if it is the same for us.
I wonder if we, like Pilate, name Jesus as King but for one reason or another just don't believe it, or take it seriously, or understand what it means.
We take a lot of things about Jesus rather lightly after all. We often name the name of Christ and either do not accept or comprehend or believe what we are saying.
So when we here in the church today name Jesus as King, when we call him Lord, do we know what we are doing? Do we accept it and believe it? And if we accept it and believe it, do we understand it?
Clearly the more radical feminists amongst us do not accept it or understand it.
They reject Jesus as their king because they know that not only are Kings male, which is bad enough for some of them, they also know that Kings rules autocratically, that they dictate rather than consult, that they make orders rather than arrive at consensus, that they demand obedience to themselves rather than seeking to serve others.
Radical Feminists take too seriously the image of King that Pilate had - the image that history hands down to us of Kings, and not seriously enough the words of Jesus - "My Kingdom is not of this world, it if were, my disciples would be fighting to prevent me from being handed over."
Others among us take up those words of Jesus, words that were meant to describe the nature and the source of his authority, and twist them so that his kingdom ends up being "other-worldly".
They accept and believe that Jesus is a King, but regard his kingdom as being something we hope to experience someday, in the great beyond as it were, but not as being something NOW for us, or if it is NOW - it is now only in some vague "spiritual sense" - it is not meant to have real impact on how we conduct our lives and act together as social beings.
Some do this by saying that business is business, and that religion has no place in it, just as it has no place in politics.
Others do it by making excuses for their behaviour, they withhold from Christ the obedience he asks of us in witnessing to others about him because it is too pushy or because they do not want to offend; they refuse to obey his command to love and forgive others as he loves and forgives us because the person they have a grudge against doesn't deserve to be loved or forgiven; they fail to help their brothers and sisters in the Lord and to contribute to the needs of the saints as he asks because they have already tithed the mint and dill from their gardens and the rest of their wealth they have "dedicated to the Lord" in some other way.
Still others accept and believe that Jesus is King and misunderstand, by trying to force Christ's teachings upon others, as if is kingdom was from this world.
They do this by insisting that laws be made to compel prayer in the school, by seeking to ban gambling as contrary to the Spirit of Christ, and working to enact legislation to abolish abortion clinics as an abomination to the Lord.
What does it mean for us to name Jesus King? Well, it certainly doesn't mean any of the above.
Jesus is not a worldly king. His power is not from this world, nor is it meant to be exercised in the way that the world exercises power.
Jesus exercised his power by serving others, by forgiving others, by healing others, by giving to others, by sacrificing himself for others. His power is the power of truth, the power of faith, the power of hope, the power of love - the power of life itself.
On the other hand Jesus' kingdom is not something that is in the sky by and by. It is real, it is present, and it makes demands upon us.
Jesus calls us to obedience, to faith, and to love here and now. But Jesus does not force or compel us. He calls us to allow God to enter into our lives and to rule our lives. He invites us to walk by the light he himself has shed. And he shows us in his own person and in the lives of those who follow him that when we turn to him that there is healing and wholeness to be found.
Pilate found Jesus not guilty of being a King like the kings we normally think of. But he executed him anyway - to please the crowd which had assembled before him.
But Pilate's question to Jesus - are you a king - remains as an important question - a fundamental question.
It is a question about sovereignty, about rule, about who is in charge when it is dark and the world is falling apart, about who we can turn to when we are in need or when others are in need, about who we should go to when we seek justice for others and when we look for mercy for ourselves.
Jesus answered that he is in charge - not in the way of the world - not with force and violence, but with love and with life.
He answers that he has control over the darkness - that he is the one that, because of the faithfulness of God to him, vanquishes death and brings healing and peace to all who follow him.
It is this king that I name today and seek to follow.
It is this king that I pray you will also name and follow,
for in him is life, and that abundantly. Amen
Every year, at the end of the church year, we observe a tradition that is 2000 years old, one that dates from the time the three magi bent their knees in homage
to the Baby of Bethlehem.
We name Jesus, here in our worship together, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. We hold him up as the one anointed by God, to be the Messiah, the King of the Jews, the one chosen by the ancient of days to be the deliverer and the Saviour of the world.
Jesus the King - it is an interesting and an important title in our tradition about Jesus - a title that bears looking at.
Being a king really meant something in Jesus' day. A king was the most powerful human being on earth. A king speaks, common people tremble.
For nations, the king was the only means of securing order and peace. The king was, civilization and domestic tranquillity personified in one person. He was to be honoured and respected and served. He was to be revered and feared and obeyed.
A king was everything and everybody rolled up into one. He was of upmost importance - so much so that time itself was calculated on the basis of when the King began his reign.
In the fifth year of the reign of Julius Caesar, In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King David, In the year of our Lord, two thousand...
As your preacher the question I am struggling with this morning is: What does it mean for us to name Jesus King?
Especially when you consider what we have done to kings in our day and age, indeed what we have done to all sources of authority.
There is no respect, there is no honour, there is no reverence in us, for those who rule over us in the political realm.
We regard no-one as better than us. No-one as ultimate more important than us. No-one as really, in the end, worthy of our unquestioning obedience and our unflagging dedication.
We have reduced our royalty to the status of soap opera stars; we almost universally regard our politicians as corrupt and uncaring and out of touch; our judges and our police we condemn as ineffective; and the laws that they make and enforce, when they are applied to us, we often call unfair and arbitrary, and we seek to get around them.
The image of Jesus as King, is an image that is hard to get hold of, and once gotten hold of, it is an image that is hard to take seriously. It is, I believe for most of us, a fantasy image, an image that belongs to stories that begin with the words "Once upon a time, in a land far far away..."
What does it mean to call Jesus King?
In our scripture reading this morning Pontius Pilate clearly wondered this - albeit for different reasons than we here many wonder it today.
Pilate, who served the most powerful king in the world, knew what a king was. He knew about the power that a King has, the authority that he wields, the unquestioning obedience that he demands, and the power that he has to compel that obedience should it not be volunteered.
Pilate was a creature of his time, one who knew and accepted the rules, one who in fact was charged with making and enforcing the rules, and while he, like people today, sought to use those rules to his advantage, he knew what the consequences of ignoring or scoffing the rules were.
One of the rules that Pilate was called to enforce was the rule that anyone who claimed to be a king, anyone who dared to set themselves up as an authority over and against the lawful authority of Caesar, was to be executed.
It was a rule that Pilate had no scruples about enforcing. it was a rule that he had enforced thousands of times throughout Galilee.
And so when Jesus is brought before Pilate the charge that is laid against him is that he is a revolutionary - that he is one who unlawfully claims to be the Messiah, the King of the Jews.
The very idea that the bruised and beleaguered man that stood before him could be taken for a king must have seemed ridiculous to Pilate. He knew what Kings acted like. He knew what they looked like. He knew what even those who pretended to be kings acted like and looked like.
Nevertheless Pilate does his duty. He asks Jesus if the charge against him is true. He asks Jesus if he is, or if he claims to be, King of the Jews.
Jesus answers Pilate that he is a king - but that his kingdom is not of this world, and then he says:
"If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities."
Pilate understands this - he knows what a King is, and after checking Jesus once more by asking him "So you are a king?" and hearing Jesus respond with that he was born to testify to the truth, he tells Jesus' accusers that he finds there is no case against him.
Pilate cannot image Jesus as a King, the image that he has of a King, like the image that many of us have, just doesn't fit Jesus.
And so - while in the end Pilate allows Jesus to be crucified with the word's "King of the Jews" posted over his head in three different languages, Pilate himself does not believe what he has caused to be written.
And today I wonder if it is the same for us.
I wonder if we, like Pilate, name Jesus as King but for one reason or another just don't believe it, or take it seriously, or understand what it means.
We take a lot of things about Jesus rather lightly after all. We often name the name of Christ and either do not accept or comprehend or believe what we are saying.
So when we here in the church today name Jesus as King, when we call him Lord, do we know what we are doing? Do we accept it and believe it? And if we accept it and believe it, do we understand it?
Clearly the more radical feminists amongst us do not accept it or understand it.
They reject Jesus as their king because they know that not only are Kings male, which is bad enough for some of them, they also know that Kings rules autocratically, that they dictate rather than consult, that they make orders rather than arrive at consensus, that they demand obedience to themselves rather than seeking to serve others.
Radical Feminists take too seriously the image of King that Pilate had - the image that history hands down to us of Kings, and not seriously enough the words of Jesus - "My Kingdom is not of this world, it if were, my disciples would be fighting to prevent me from being handed over."
Others among us take up those words of Jesus, words that were meant to describe the nature and the source of his authority, and twist them so that his kingdom ends up being "other-worldly".
They accept and believe that Jesus is a King, but regard his kingdom as being something we hope to experience someday, in the great beyond as it were, but not as being something NOW for us, or if it is NOW - it is now only in some vague "spiritual sense" - it is not meant to have real impact on how we conduct our lives and act together as social beings.
Some do this by saying that business is business, and that religion has no place in it, just as it has no place in politics.
Others do it by making excuses for their behaviour, they withhold from Christ the obedience he asks of us in witnessing to others about him because it is too pushy or because they do not want to offend; they refuse to obey his command to love and forgive others as he loves and forgives us because the person they have a grudge against doesn't deserve to be loved or forgiven; they fail to help their brothers and sisters in the Lord and to contribute to the needs of the saints as he asks because they have already tithed the mint and dill from their gardens and the rest of their wealth they have "dedicated to the Lord" in some other way.
Still others accept and believe that Jesus is King and misunderstand, by trying to force Christ's teachings upon others, as if is kingdom was from this world.
They do this by insisting that laws be made to compel prayer in the school, by seeking to ban gambling as contrary to the Spirit of Christ, and working to enact legislation to abolish abortion clinics as an abomination to the Lord.
What does it mean for us to name Jesus King? Well, it certainly doesn't mean any of the above.
Jesus is not a worldly king. His power is not from this world, nor is it meant to be exercised in the way that the world exercises power.
Jesus exercised his power by serving others, by forgiving others, by healing others, by giving to others, by sacrificing himself for others. His power is the power of truth, the power of faith, the power of hope, the power of love - the power of life itself.
On the other hand Jesus' kingdom is not something that is in the sky by and by. It is real, it is present, and it makes demands upon us.
Jesus calls us to obedience, to faith, and to love here and now. But Jesus does not force or compel us. He calls us to allow God to enter into our lives and to rule our lives. He invites us to walk by the light he himself has shed. And he shows us in his own person and in the lives of those who follow him that when we turn to him that there is healing and wholeness to be found.
Pilate found Jesus not guilty of being a King like the kings we normally think of. But he executed him anyway - to please the crowd which had assembled before him.
But Pilate's question to Jesus - are you a king - remains as an important question - a fundamental question.
It is a question about sovereignty, about rule, about who is in charge when it is dark and the world is falling apart, about who we can turn to when we are in need or when others are in need, about who we should go to when we seek justice for others and when we look for mercy for ourselves.
Jesus answered that he is in charge - not in the way of the world - not with force and violence, but with love and with life.
He answers that he has control over the darkness - that he is the one that, because of the faithfulness of God to him, vanquishes death and brings healing and peace to all who follow him.
It is this king that I name today and seek to follow.
It is this king that I pray you will also name and follow,
for in him is life, and that abundantly. Amen
Sunday, November 18, 2012
I Samuel 1:4-20; I Samuel 2:1-10; Hebrews 10:11-14,19-25; Mark 13:1-8
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
I don't know about you - but I get scared at times. At times I feel afraid.
The fear I am talking about is the kind of fear that arises when a person walks into a crowded room and suddenly it goes silent, the fear that can overwhelm you when you see two people look at you and then begin to whisper to each other, the fear that arises when someone you love and need is angry at you, the fear that happens when your father criticizes you, the fear that clutches at you when you have been told for weeks how your company has to cut staff and suddenly your boss calls you and says he wants to talk to you about your annual performance evaluation.
I don't feel this fear as often as I used to, buut every now and then it reaches out and tries to grab me, every now and then I am overwhelmed by self-doubt, every now and then - I wonder if I am good enough, and fear that I am not.
At such times I stop for a minute and remember that God thinks that I am good enough. And that if God thinks I am good enough - it matters not what I think of myself, or what my fear is trying to make me think of myself.
And the moment passes.
The reason I mention this today - is because both the Gospel reading and the Reading from Paul's Letter to the Hebrews speak about having confidence - about not being alarmed by the signs of the end of our world - nor being fearful when it appears that we are about to meet God.
As I thought about these texts during this past week - as I thought about how Jesus encourages his disciples in the Gospel to not be alarmed when the temple is destroyed and nations rise against nations, and earthquakes and famines overwhelm various parts of the world, and about how Paul tells us that because of Christ's sacrifice we can enter the Holy of Holies with confidence and hope and there meet the living God - the God that, at one time, no mortal could look upon and live, I wondered why it was so important for Jesus and for Paul to say these things.
I wondered why so much stress is laid upon holding fast to our hope without wavering and upon encouraging one another when we see the Day of the Lord approaching.
You see, to a large extent I have lost track of my fear.
When I was younger I lived in a house of fear, a house of physical and emotional violence. I knew what it was to cower and cringe and what it was to hide my fear so that I would not be picked on again. But I moved from that house and I discovered the healing love of God in people around me.
I knew too one time the fear of failure, the fear of criticism, the fear of not being good enough. That fear was a constant companion for many years, but - except for the occasional time it reaches out to grab me, those times I mentioned at the very beginning of the sermon, I have left that fear behind, I know that God loves me - I have experienced his acceptance from the hands of others, and in the depths of my prayer and my meditations.
Nor do I worry about the end of the world, or about earthquake, famine or flood or war. I pray for the coming of a better world - for the coming of the kingdom, and on the simplest level of total and undeserved grace. I know that the trailer is on solid ground, that forest grows abundantly, that the creek in near where I am living has not flooded over its banks for many years, and that wars are something that happen when people fail to obey God. My duty is to share and to work for peace. My only fear is that I will forget to do all that I can do and forget to love as well as I can love.
As for meeting God face to face - while I have a certain desire to avoid the moment coming too soon, I also have an eagerness for it - a longing for it - that is based on a long standing assurance that God will treat me mercifully and justly and a long standing set of experiences that tell me that God has not yet once judged me as harshly as I judge myself or as others judge me.
I have lost track of almost all that I once feared. And so I suspect have most of you.
So when Jesus tells his disciples to not be alarmed when they see the temple thrown down so that not one stone is left standing upon another - and Paul speaks about how we can enter the inner sanctuary of God with confidence and hope - the full impact of those words can easily be lost.
While they are good words, encouraging words, they are not words that normally startle us or strike us with any sense of urgency, specially those of us who have been in the faith for a long time, those of us who have tested and trusted in the claims of Jesus for many years, and those of us who have, like me, achieved a certain number of years upon the face of this earth and have in those years been touched by genuine love - by Christ-like love.
But - my friends - if not for ourselves, then for the sake of others we need to relate strongly to the words of today's readings from the New Testament.
Fear for the most part may have passed us by, we may have outgrown it, or we may have become so familiar and so comfortable with the good news of God's love and care that fear rarely reaches out to grab us, but for many people fear is a all-pervasive presence: it shapes their behaviour during the daytime and moulds the dreams that they have at night. It leads ever greater numbers of teenagers to commit suicide, and it cripples the emotional and social lives of millions upon millions of adults.
For some there is no such thing as a day without fear, and I don't mean the physical fear that overwhelms us with Adrenalin when a car swerves towards us on the highway, nor do I mean the fear that rises in us when we hear that a loved one has cancer - the fear that we will be left alone - though that is getting closer to what I mean. NO, I mean the fear that life is pointless, the fear that no one will ever love us, the fear that every hand is either set against us - or totally ignorant of our existence. The fear that our children, our friends, and our lovers will never reach the goals we dream of for them, the fear that God does not exist and that if he exists - we are going straight to hell, the fear that when all is said and done - we will perish utterly from the face of this earth and that not one thing that we have done or will ever do will make a difference to anyone or anything, and I mean the fear that the World really is ending, that war and earthquake, and flood and famine will destroy everything and that in its place there will come nothing - nothing for the universe and nothing for me - that there will be no new heaven and no new earth for myself or my children - that all that is good now will cease to be and no good will arise in its place.
For the sake of those who feel these fears as a present reality - as a daily reality, we need to get in touch with the fears we have overcome and the confidence we have been given.
And we have to share that confidence, that faith, with those around us.
We have to share our confidence and our faith with those teenagers who believe that when a friend died the light went out of the world - and with the likes of the lonely old woman in the nursing home who, despite her relatively good health, keeps on saying that there is nothing to live for.
We have to bring out the treasure that we carry hidden in our hearts and hold it up before our work-aholic brothers or sisters - and tell them of the peace that comes from working less and playing with and loving our neighbours more.
We have to reveal the light that has placed in our lives by God to those whose whole world is the darkness of fear and inadequacy - sharing with them the fact that God truly does love us as we are - and that there are no conditions - no demands - no qualifications put on that love.
We have to reveal and live out the vision we have received of a new heaven and a new earth - of a kingdom of justice and truth, of joy and love, and of peace and plenty to those who fear that the end of this world is coming....
At one time my friends I could not imagine a day without fear. Now, because of what God has given me, because of how I have discovered God's love for me, I find it hard to imagine a day that has fear in it.
But for the sake of others - both you and I are called to imagine the fear that dwells in the hearts of so many around us, and to meet together and encourage one another with the encouragement that we have received.
We have to speak forth our faith and live out our belief so that all can hear and see.
Our help is in the name of The One who made heaven and earth, and in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. He will not suffer your foot to be moved - He is your keeper, your defence at your right hand, from every evil he shall keep your soul, goodness and mercy will follow you all your life, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen
I don't know about you - but I get scared at times. At times I feel afraid.
The fear I am talking about is the kind of fear that arises when a person walks into a crowded room and suddenly it goes silent, the fear that can overwhelm you when you see two people look at you and then begin to whisper to each other, the fear that arises when someone you love and need is angry at you, the fear that happens when your father criticizes you, the fear that clutches at you when you have been told for weeks how your company has to cut staff and suddenly your boss calls you and says he wants to talk to you about your annual performance evaluation.
I don't feel this fear as often as I used to, buut every now and then it reaches out and tries to grab me, every now and then I am overwhelmed by self-doubt, every now and then - I wonder if I am good enough, and fear that I am not.
At such times I stop for a minute and remember that God thinks that I am good enough. And that if God thinks I am good enough - it matters not what I think of myself, or what my fear is trying to make me think of myself.
And the moment passes.
The reason I mention this today - is because both the Gospel reading and the Reading from Paul's Letter to the Hebrews speak about having confidence - about not being alarmed by the signs of the end of our world - nor being fearful when it appears that we are about to meet God.
As I thought about these texts during this past week - as I thought about how Jesus encourages his disciples in the Gospel to not be alarmed when the temple is destroyed and nations rise against nations, and earthquakes and famines overwhelm various parts of the world, and about how Paul tells us that because of Christ's sacrifice we can enter the Holy of Holies with confidence and hope and there meet the living God - the God that, at one time, no mortal could look upon and live, I wondered why it was so important for Jesus and for Paul to say these things.
I wondered why so much stress is laid upon holding fast to our hope without wavering and upon encouraging one another when we see the Day of the Lord approaching.
You see, to a large extent I have lost track of my fear.
When I was younger I lived in a house of fear, a house of physical and emotional violence. I knew what it was to cower and cringe and what it was to hide my fear so that I would not be picked on again. But I moved from that house and I discovered the healing love of God in people around me.
I knew too one time the fear of failure, the fear of criticism, the fear of not being good enough. That fear was a constant companion for many years, but - except for the occasional time it reaches out to grab me, those times I mentioned at the very beginning of the sermon, I have left that fear behind, I know that God loves me - I have experienced his acceptance from the hands of others, and in the depths of my prayer and my meditations.
Nor do I worry about the end of the world, or about earthquake, famine or flood or war. I pray for the coming of a better world - for the coming of the kingdom, and on the simplest level of total and undeserved grace. I know that the trailer is on solid ground, that forest grows abundantly, that the creek in near where I am living has not flooded over its banks for many years, and that wars are something that happen when people fail to obey God. My duty is to share and to work for peace. My only fear is that I will forget to do all that I can do and forget to love as well as I can love.
As for meeting God face to face - while I have a certain desire to avoid the moment coming too soon, I also have an eagerness for it - a longing for it - that is based on a long standing assurance that God will treat me mercifully and justly and a long standing set of experiences that tell me that God has not yet once judged me as harshly as I judge myself or as others judge me.
I have lost track of almost all that I once feared. And so I suspect have most of you.
So when Jesus tells his disciples to not be alarmed when they see the temple thrown down so that not one stone is left standing upon another - and Paul speaks about how we can enter the inner sanctuary of God with confidence and hope - the full impact of those words can easily be lost.
While they are good words, encouraging words, they are not words that normally startle us or strike us with any sense of urgency, specially those of us who have been in the faith for a long time, those of us who have tested and trusted in the claims of Jesus for many years, and those of us who have, like me, achieved a certain number of years upon the face of this earth and have in those years been touched by genuine love - by Christ-like love.
But - my friends - if not for ourselves, then for the sake of others we need to relate strongly to the words of today's readings from the New Testament.
Fear for the most part may have passed us by, we may have outgrown it, or we may have become so familiar and so comfortable with the good news of God's love and care that fear rarely reaches out to grab us, but for many people fear is a all-pervasive presence: it shapes their behaviour during the daytime and moulds the dreams that they have at night. It leads ever greater numbers of teenagers to commit suicide, and it cripples the emotional and social lives of millions upon millions of adults.
For some there is no such thing as a day without fear, and I don't mean the physical fear that overwhelms us with Adrenalin when a car swerves towards us on the highway, nor do I mean the fear that rises in us when we hear that a loved one has cancer - the fear that we will be left alone - though that is getting closer to what I mean. NO, I mean the fear that life is pointless, the fear that no one will ever love us, the fear that every hand is either set against us - or totally ignorant of our existence. The fear that our children, our friends, and our lovers will never reach the goals we dream of for them, the fear that God does not exist and that if he exists - we are going straight to hell, the fear that when all is said and done - we will perish utterly from the face of this earth and that not one thing that we have done or will ever do will make a difference to anyone or anything, and I mean the fear that the World really is ending, that war and earthquake, and flood and famine will destroy everything and that in its place there will come nothing - nothing for the universe and nothing for me - that there will be no new heaven and no new earth for myself or my children - that all that is good now will cease to be and no good will arise in its place.
For the sake of those who feel these fears as a present reality - as a daily reality, we need to get in touch with the fears we have overcome and the confidence we have been given.
And we have to share that confidence, that faith, with those around us.
We have to share our confidence and our faith with those teenagers who believe that when a friend died the light went out of the world - and with the likes of the lonely old woman in the nursing home who, despite her relatively good health, keeps on saying that there is nothing to live for.
We have to bring out the treasure that we carry hidden in our hearts and hold it up before our work-aholic brothers or sisters - and tell them of the peace that comes from working less and playing with and loving our neighbours more.
We have to reveal the light that has placed in our lives by God to those whose whole world is the darkness of fear and inadequacy - sharing with them the fact that God truly does love us as we are - and that there are no conditions - no demands - no qualifications put on that love.
We have to reveal and live out the vision we have received of a new heaven and a new earth - of a kingdom of justice and truth, of joy and love, and of peace and plenty to those who fear that the end of this world is coming....
At one time my friends I could not imagine a day without fear. Now, because of what God has given me, because of how I have discovered God's love for me, I find it hard to imagine a day that has fear in it.
But for the sake of others - both you and I are called to imagine the fear that dwells in the hearts of so many around us, and to meet together and encourage one another with the encouragement that we have received.
We have to speak forth our faith and live out our belief so that all can hear and see.
Our help is in the name of The One who made heaven and earth, and in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. He will not suffer your foot to be moved - He is your keeper, your defence at your right hand, from every evil he shall keep your soul, goodness and mercy will follow you all your life, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen
Sunday, November 11, 2012
I Kings 17:8-16; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
At first reading, today's gospel passage from Mark seems to have a lot to do with money.
Given that the widow puts in money, Jesus is sitting watching people put their offerings into the money box, and then Jesus talks about money, this is obvious.
There are some good messages about money here. It is good to give. Jesus doesn't condemn the rich who give lots. And his comments and approval are given toward the poor widow who gave what she had.
Giving money is good. And if we take what Jesus says about the widow seriously, giving till it hurts is good - in fact giving till its has gone way past hurting may even be better.
However, there's more to today's Gospel than just money and giving. You see, I believe that for us to give something, and let's stick to money here, is not hard.
Any of us can throw a few coins into a UNICEF box, a couple of hundred dollars for Po Leung Kuk, or a few dollars on the offering plate as it goes around each week, and not suffer too badly for it.
A few dollars here or a few dollars there. Ten or twenty dollars another place. In the bigger picture, it doesn't matter. It's not going to kill us. It may mean one less coffee at break time, or one less dim sum lunch at our favourite restaurant or even one less supper at our favourite steak house, seafood restaurant or Japanese restaurant - but not much more. We can each give.
In fact, I believe that we all like to give. That we are good at it.
If someone in the community came forward with a problem; financial or otherwise; we would respond. Chores would be done for them. Donations of goods, clothes, food, shelter, would be found.
We are reasonably good givers. In fact most of us are very good givers.
We know that God wants us to give and love and help where we can.
We know that Jesus calls us to look after our church and the people around us. We know that there are always people who are worse off than we are. We know all that. And that places us firmly into the story we read today from Mark.
If Jesus was sitting down there watching as we put our envelopes or our cash onto the offering plate he would see a lot of giving. And I don't believe that he would get up and storm out in a huff because we weren't givers. However, the question must be asked, would we be credited in the same class as that widow? Would we be worthy of special notice? As an example of real sacrificial giving?
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be put in that class.
Even though I give a fixed percentage of my next income, when I ask myself the question, "Do I give out of my surplus?" the answer is pretty well, "Yes." When I look at the "stuff" I own, and the stuff I keep thinking I need to buy yet, I have to say, "Yes, I do tend to give from my surplus."
Yet in today's Gospel story, as in today's old testament reading, we are faced with this widow who gave everything she had.
Widows were right down at the bottom of the social order in Jesus' time. They had no male to defend them, or work to support them. They were like unclaimed baggage.
People weren't sure how they fit in, or what to do with them, but they were sure that widows were not theirs to take care of. So widows and poverty went pretty well hand in hand. Especially in the rural areas. To expect a widow to have money to give away, was totally unrealistic. It is no surprise that this particular widow only gave two small copper coins. Yet, those two coins were noteworthy to Jesus.
Imagine if you will, that the next time this offering plate comes around, you would place on it say $50,000. Or maybe you're feeling really extravagant, so you put $100,000 on instead.
Where would the money come from?
What would you not have once the money was gone?
How would you feed the family this week, this month?
Would you lose your house or your car?
OK maybe that example is pushing it a bit, but what I'm talking about here isn't just generosity. It isn't just giving, or tithing, or donating. It's not even about money. What I'm talking about here is faith.
The faith to really risk - to really sacrifice - to really give all that one has to God. To really give all that one has for what is right and good and true in the trust that God somehow, someway, will use that sacrifice and honour it.
Honour it not for the sake of me - the giver, rather honour it for the sake of the work of God in this world. Honour it for the sake of the Kingdom, for the sake of others in need, for the sake of the peace that God promises to the world.
Today, as I speak - I look out upon a number of you who are (or were) involved in Scouting, a number of you who are Beavers, or Cubs, or Scouts, and who believe in the principles outlined by Lord and Lady Baden Powell 100 some years ago.
Aside from the hardness of the pews you look pretty comfortable, and you live pretty comfortably, even as you give your time and effort and your money in the cause of Scouting.
Some years ago - in Goma - near the border of Rwanda - three Scouts who were working in Katale Refugee Camp, were injured and put in hospital after bandits attacked the camp.
At first it was thought 30 Scouts had been killed while working there. Thankfully it was not that bad.
But the story is instructive for us as on Remembrance Day.
From the start of the dramatic events in Rwanda, the Scout Associations of Burundi, Zaire, Rwanda, and Tanzania mobilized their forces to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees that fled the massacres being carried out there.
The first action undertaken by the Scouts in the camps was to carry out a census of displaced persons. This enormous task, carried out with very few means and with no official recognition, enabled many families to find relatives, even though they were sometimes in camps more than one hundred kilometres apart.
Then hundreds of Scout volunteers collected and buried the bodies of the victims of starvation, exhaustion, and cholera. In twelve days, in appalling conditions, conditions that resemble the worst scenes from Hiroshima after the Atom Bomb was dropped, the Scouts collected and disposed of twenty-six thousand, six hundred and thirty-four bodies.
This in addition to caring for orphaned children, distributing food to as many needy persons as they could, and attempting, with other volunteers, to dig sanitation ditches and provide clean water to the thousands of people moving into the region each day.
How do we give in comparison to this? How much do we sacrifice for the work of bringing health and hope to the world? What kind of faith do we have?
We read in the Old Testament this morning about another widow, a widow like the one Jesus saw put her two small coins in the temple treasury.
Like the widow in the temple, the widow of Zarephath gave everything she had for God's work, she gave her son's, and her own, last meal to a foreigner, to the prophet Elijah - whose God she did not even worship.
She gave everything. As the Scouts working in Zaire and Rwanda were giving everything, as the veterans of both world wars as well as the United Nations and NATO's current peace keepers gave and are giving everything, because it was the right thing to do, the loving thing to do.
Think of it for a minute: Neither of the two widows in today's scripture readings knew for sure what the outcome of their giving would be for themselves - they did not know if they would live or die because of it. In fact the widow of Zarephath expected to die - one meal earlier than she had planned.
The same can likely be said about the widow Jesus saw in the temple making her free-will offering to God. Her two small copper coins were all that she had.
As for the Scouts in Zaire and Rwanda - well they expected to eat, but they also expected, as do all the volunteers working in places like Rwanda, and all the soldiers peace-keeping in foreign countries, and all those who served in Holland and France during the last war, to be beaten, attacked, shot at, and endure hardships beyond our wildest nightmares - and all for the sake of others - all for the sake of freedom - all for the sake of dignity - all for the sake of their love for their fellow human beings.
What is our faith like?
We'd like to imagine we are the widow giving all we have, even our whole living remembering God to the final hours of our lives.
But are we like her?
As scouts are we like those who are giving of themselves in Rwanda and Zaire? As citizens are we like those who have served our country and other nations for the sake of freedom? As people of faith - do we care so much for those around us - that we actually give up our comfort? Not to mention our pride, our ability to be hurt by the thoughtless words of others, and our desire to be recognized and approved by those around us?
Brothers and sisters, we're often uncertain of our calling, what it means. We don't know if or how our experiences can be put to use in "The Church". We don't know if we are really able to serve God. We often feel inadequate when we look at ourselves in comparison to others, especially if those others are characters from the bible...
Aside from our ready cash, and our desire to care for others, many of us come with nothing evident to offer.
We bring fear, vulnerability, ignorance, neediness, confusion, embarrassment, loneliness, and a profound lack of time and energy.
We bring our poverty. And that is OK!
In times when we feel this way. In times when we don't know what to do, or we know what to do, but feel that there is no way we can do it, remember, remember and trust in God by offering what you have:
Remember the Scouts who, at the risk of their very lives, do a good turn each day in places like Rwanda, and recall that you have neighbours who need comfort and support, that there desperate needs to be fulfilled in our own backyard, needs which your real sacrifice of money and of time, and of love can go along way to meeting.
Remember those who served in the last war to win our freedom and those who still serve, and become involved it the fate our country by doing such simple things as voting and helping others to obtain justice from their village councils, District Councils and Legislative Councillors by making phone calls and writing letters.
Remember the widow of Zarephath who gave her last meal and the widow who gave her last coins, and trust - as did they - and as did Jesus - when he gave us life for us on the cross. AMEN.
At first reading, today's gospel passage from Mark seems to have a lot to do with money.
Given that the widow puts in money, Jesus is sitting watching people put their offerings into the money box, and then Jesus talks about money, this is obvious.
There are some good messages about money here. It is good to give. Jesus doesn't condemn the rich who give lots. And his comments and approval are given toward the poor widow who gave what she had.
Giving money is good. And if we take what Jesus says about the widow seriously, giving till it hurts is good - in fact giving till its has gone way past hurting may even be better.
However, there's more to today's Gospel than just money and giving. You see, I believe that for us to give something, and let's stick to money here, is not hard.
Any of us can throw a few coins into a UNICEF box, a couple of hundred dollars for Po Leung Kuk, or a few dollars on the offering plate as it goes around each week, and not suffer too badly for it.
A few dollars here or a few dollars there. Ten or twenty dollars another place. In the bigger picture, it doesn't matter. It's not going to kill us. It may mean one less coffee at break time, or one less dim sum lunch at our favourite restaurant or even one less supper at our favourite steak house, seafood restaurant or Japanese restaurant - but not much more. We can each give.
In fact, I believe that we all like to give. That we are good at it.
If someone in the community came forward with a problem; financial or otherwise; we would respond. Chores would be done for them. Donations of goods, clothes, food, shelter, would be found.
We are reasonably good givers. In fact most of us are very good givers.
We know that God wants us to give and love and help where we can.
We know that Jesus calls us to look after our church and the people around us. We know that there are always people who are worse off than we are. We know all that. And that places us firmly into the story we read today from Mark.
If Jesus was sitting down there watching as we put our envelopes or our cash onto the offering plate he would see a lot of giving. And I don't believe that he would get up and storm out in a huff because we weren't givers. However, the question must be asked, would we be credited in the same class as that widow? Would we be worthy of special notice? As an example of real sacrificial giving?
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be put in that class.
Even though I give a fixed percentage of my next income, when I ask myself the question, "Do I give out of my surplus?" the answer is pretty well, "Yes." When I look at the "stuff" I own, and the stuff I keep thinking I need to buy yet, I have to say, "Yes, I do tend to give from my surplus."
Yet in today's Gospel story, as in today's old testament reading, we are faced with this widow who gave everything she had.
Widows were right down at the bottom of the social order in Jesus' time. They had no male to defend them, or work to support them. They were like unclaimed baggage.
People weren't sure how they fit in, or what to do with them, but they were sure that widows were not theirs to take care of. So widows and poverty went pretty well hand in hand. Especially in the rural areas. To expect a widow to have money to give away, was totally unrealistic. It is no surprise that this particular widow only gave two small copper coins. Yet, those two coins were noteworthy to Jesus.
Imagine if you will, that the next time this offering plate comes around, you would place on it say $50,000. Or maybe you're feeling really extravagant, so you put $100,000 on instead.
Where would the money come from?
What would you not have once the money was gone?
How would you feed the family this week, this month?
Would you lose your house or your car?
OK maybe that example is pushing it a bit, but what I'm talking about here isn't just generosity. It isn't just giving, or tithing, or donating. It's not even about money. What I'm talking about here is faith.
The faith to really risk - to really sacrifice - to really give all that one has to God. To really give all that one has for what is right and good and true in the trust that God somehow, someway, will use that sacrifice and honour it.
Honour it not for the sake of me - the giver, rather honour it for the sake of the work of God in this world. Honour it for the sake of the Kingdom, for the sake of others in need, for the sake of the peace that God promises to the world.
Today, as I speak - I look out upon a number of you who are (or were) involved in Scouting, a number of you who are Beavers, or Cubs, or Scouts, and who believe in the principles outlined by Lord and Lady Baden Powell 100 some years ago.
Aside from the hardness of the pews you look pretty comfortable, and you live pretty comfortably, even as you give your time and effort and your money in the cause of Scouting.
Some years ago - in Goma - near the border of Rwanda - three Scouts who were working in Katale Refugee Camp, were injured and put in hospital after bandits attacked the camp.
At first it was thought 30 Scouts had been killed while working there. Thankfully it was not that bad.
But the story is instructive for us as on Remembrance Day.
From the start of the dramatic events in Rwanda, the Scout Associations of Burundi, Zaire, Rwanda, and Tanzania mobilized their forces to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees that fled the massacres being carried out there.
The first action undertaken by the Scouts in the camps was to carry out a census of displaced persons. This enormous task, carried out with very few means and with no official recognition, enabled many families to find relatives, even though they were sometimes in camps more than one hundred kilometres apart.
Then hundreds of Scout volunteers collected and buried the bodies of the victims of starvation, exhaustion, and cholera. In twelve days, in appalling conditions, conditions that resemble the worst scenes from Hiroshima after the Atom Bomb was dropped, the Scouts collected and disposed of twenty-six thousand, six hundred and thirty-four bodies.
This in addition to caring for orphaned children, distributing food to as many needy persons as they could, and attempting, with other volunteers, to dig sanitation ditches and provide clean water to the thousands of people moving into the region each day.
How do we give in comparison to this? How much do we sacrifice for the work of bringing health and hope to the world? What kind of faith do we have?
We read in the Old Testament this morning about another widow, a widow like the one Jesus saw put her two small coins in the temple treasury.
Like the widow in the temple, the widow of Zarephath gave everything she had for God's work, she gave her son's, and her own, last meal to a foreigner, to the prophet Elijah - whose God she did not even worship.
She gave everything. As the Scouts working in Zaire and Rwanda were giving everything, as the veterans of both world wars as well as the United Nations and NATO's current peace keepers gave and are giving everything, because it was the right thing to do, the loving thing to do.
Think of it for a minute: Neither of the two widows in today's scripture readings knew for sure what the outcome of their giving would be for themselves - they did not know if they would live or die because of it. In fact the widow of Zarephath expected to die - one meal earlier than she had planned.
The same can likely be said about the widow Jesus saw in the temple making her free-will offering to God. Her two small copper coins were all that she had.
As for the Scouts in Zaire and Rwanda - well they expected to eat, but they also expected, as do all the volunteers working in places like Rwanda, and all the soldiers peace-keeping in foreign countries, and all those who served in Holland and France during the last war, to be beaten, attacked, shot at, and endure hardships beyond our wildest nightmares - and all for the sake of others - all for the sake of freedom - all for the sake of dignity - all for the sake of their love for their fellow human beings.
What is our faith like?
We'd like to imagine we are the widow giving all we have, even our whole living remembering God to the final hours of our lives.
But are we like her?
As scouts are we like those who are giving of themselves in Rwanda and Zaire? As citizens are we like those who have served our country and other nations for the sake of freedom? As people of faith - do we care so much for those around us - that we actually give up our comfort? Not to mention our pride, our ability to be hurt by the thoughtless words of others, and our desire to be recognized and approved by those around us?
Brothers and sisters, we're often uncertain of our calling, what it means. We don't know if or how our experiences can be put to use in "The Church". We don't know if we are really able to serve God. We often feel inadequate when we look at ourselves in comparison to others, especially if those others are characters from the bible...
Aside from our ready cash, and our desire to care for others, many of us come with nothing evident to offer.
We bring fear, vulnerability, ignorance, neediness, confusion, embarrassment, loneliness, and a profound lack of time and energy.
We bring our poverty. And that is OK!
In times when we feel this way. In times when we don't know what to do, or we know what to do, but feel that there is no way we can do it, remember, remember and trust in God by offering what you have:
Remember the Scouts who, at the risk of their very lives, do a good turn each day in places like Rwanda, and recall that you have neighbours who need comfort and support, that there desperate needs to be fulfilled in our own backyard, needs which your real sacrifice of money and of time, and of love can go along way to meeting.
Remember those who served in the last war to win our freedom and those who still serve, and become involved it the fate our country by doing such simple things as voting and helping others to obtain justice from their village councils, District Councils and Legislative Councillors by making phone calls and writing letters.
Remember the widow of Zarephath who gave her last meal and the widow who gave her last coins, and trust - as did they - and as did Jesus - when he gave us life for us on the cross. AMEN.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Hebrews 9:11-14, Psalm 146; Mark 12:28-34
Let us Pray - Nurturing God - we do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from you mouth. Make us hungry for this heavenly food and pour it down upon us - that the words of my lips andthe meditations of our hearts may draw us closer to thee and lead us to walk in the way of life. Amen
As we meditate today on God's word - that word found in the Gospel reading wherein we see a scribe, a teacher of the law, ask Jesus which of the commandments of God was first of all - most important of all, I want you to think not only about Jesus' answer - the answer that goes (as we read in verse 29)
"Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength - and - you shall love your neighbour as yourself"
but I want you to think as well about the Scribe's response to Jesus reply. About how the Scribe affirms Jesus and the truth of God by saying:
"You are right teacher.... this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices"
and how then Jesus recognizes the wisdom of the scribe and says to him, as he says to no other teacher of the law, to no other scribe that we have record of in this book:
"You are not far from the kingdom of God"
What interesting words these are...You are not far from the kingdom of God.
I thought about these words all this week. And the more I thought about them the more I wondered and marvelled at them.
What interesting words - when applied to a scribe - when applied to a member of a class of persons that so often are portrayed negatively in the Gospels - to that class of persons so many of us have been taught were more concerned about the letter of the law than the spirit; more concerned with observance than with the motivation behind observance.
It just goes to show that there is wisdom in the law of God and that those who study it - can find the truth within it; the truth that love is more important than sacrifice, and that mercy is more important than burnt offerings, and that these things are that from which all laws worthy of the name flow.
You are not far from the Kingdom of God. You who really try to do what is right. You who believe that God is One and that God is Good - and that to love him and your neighbour as yourself is what God's will for us is all about.
You are not far from the Kingdom of God.
Good words to hear from the teacher, from the one who bears the Kingdom within his very being and radiates the light of that kingdom for all to see.
Yet - yet in the words "not far" - it is possible also to hear that "there is some distance yet to go", that we are on the right track - but we have not yet arrived.
In a park in Europe, so I have been told, next to a beautiful flower bed, there is a sign, written in three languages:
In German the sign says: Picking flowers is prohibited.
In English: Please do not pick the flowers.
In French: Those who love flowers will not pick them.
It seems to me that in this sign lies part of the key as to what distinctions of distance we might read into Jesus' statement: "You are not far from the kingdom of God".
What is our motivation for doing God's will, obeying God's commands? Fear of authority? A desire for God's approval? And the approval of others? Or love?
What in fact does it mean "to love God"? What does it mean "to love our neighbours as ourselves?"
One wonders - at least this one does - one wonders when looking at the scribe in today's reading if he lacked a little something in his passion and in his understanding of the law of God? If perhaps there was a little bit too much duty and routine in his life of obedience and not quite enough eagerness and passion? A bit too much holiness - of being apart from the world - and not quite the right amount of compassion and of empathy?
Whatever it is - if there is anything - that implies a sense of distance between the scribe and the Kingdom of God - in a most profound sense it does not matter; it is enough most surely for him, and for us, to hear the words "you are not far from the kingdom of God".
You of sincere heart and sincere purpose
you who believe and who try to do what is right,
you who try to love as God wants you to love,
are not far from the kingdom of God.
A story:
A thoughtful, curious young man went to the desert to visit an elderly man, a monk, who had lived in the desert for many years.
Arriving at the holy man's cave, the young man encountered the monk, who was sitting out enjoying the sun, his dog lying lazily at his side.
This spiritual seeker asked, "Why is it, teacher, that some who seek God come to the desert and are zealous in prayer, but leave after a year or so, while others, like you, remain faithful to the quest for a lifetime?"
The old man smiled and replied, "Let me tell you a story. One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog. Suddenly a large, white rabbit ran across in front of us. Well, my dog jumped up, barking loudly, and took off after that big rabbit. He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion. Soon other dogs ran barking across the creeks, up stony embankments, and through thickets and thorns. Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the course and frustrated by the chase. Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit. In that story, young man, is the answer to your question.
The young man sat in confused silence. Finally, he said, "Teacher, I don't understand. What is the connection between the rabbit chase and the quest for God?"
"You fail to understand," answered the old hermit, "because you failed to ask the obvious question. The question is, why didn't the other dogs continue the chase? And the answer to that question is that the other dogs had not seen the rabbit. They were attracted by the barking of my dog. But once you see the rabbit, you will never give up the chase. Seeing the rabbit, and not following the commotion, is what keeps me in the desert."
"Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength - and - you shall love your neighbour as yourself"
You shall love.
Shall love?? How can we not love? How can we who have seen the white rabbit do anything else but chase after it! And how can we who have only heard the commotion and smelled the scent not avoid the temptation of giving up the chase?
Sincere and deep commitment to the commands of God, to the command to love - versus the eager desire to return the affection and the love that we have experienced from God - to God and to what God has made.
There is a distinction here. But it is not one to become anxious about unless you are about to give up chasing the rabbit.
When Jesus speaks to the scribe and affirms his wisdom and his insight, when Jesus tells him that he is very near to the kingdom of God, he is talking to all of us who strive to follow in the way of God, to all who seek to walk by God's light and to do good rather than evil.
He is telling us such folk draw close to the kingdom of God even when they do not use the name that we here in this church use - even when they do not name the name of Jesus - and even when they do not understand the fullness of God's mercy for them in Jesus.
But how much better to have seen the rabbit; how much better to allow God's love for us in Christ to penetrate our hearts and to well up from inside us.
I urge you today as you consider the greatest of all the commandments and as you think about the words of Jesus to the scribe "you are not far from the kingdom of God"; I urge you to not hear those commandments as if God's love for you depended on your fulfilling them but rather to hear what a wonderful place you have come to in your pursuit of righteousness and how much more wonderful it will be as your love grows ever more perfect through the Spirit that is alive in you.
God loves you and God calls you to draw close to him so that you may know the fullness of his love. In the strength of that love - love as deeply and as passionately and as truly as did Jesus.
Blessed be God Day by Day, AMEN
As we meditate today on God's word - that word found in the Gospel reading wherein we see a scribe, a teacher of the law, ask Jesus which of the commandments of God was first of all - most important of all, I want you to think not only about Jesus' answer - the answer that goes (as we read in verse 29)
"Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength - and - you shall love your neighbour as yourself"
but I want you to think as well about the Scribe's response to Jesus reply. About how the Scribe affirms Jesus and the truth of God by saying:
"You are right teacher.... this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices"
and how then Jesus recognizes the wisdom of the scribe and says to him, as he says to no other teacher of the law, to no other scribe that we have record of in this book:
"You are not far from the kingdom of God"
What interesting words these are...You are not far from the kingdom of God.
I thought about these words all this week. And the more I thought about them the more I wondered and marvelled at them.
What interesting words - when applied to a scribe - when applied to a member of a class of persons that so often are portrayed negatively in the Gospels - to that class of persons so many of us have been taught were more concerned about the letter of the law than the spirit; more concerned with observance than with the motivation behind observance.
It just goes to show that there is wisdom in the law of God and that those who study it - can find the truth within it; the truth that love is more important than sacrifice, and that mercy is more important than burnt offerings, and that these things are that from which all laws worthy of the name flow.
You are not far from the Kingdom of God. You who really try to do what is right. You who believe that God is One and that God is Good - and that to love him and your neighbour as yourself is what God's will for us is all about.
You are not far from the Kingdom of God.
Good words to hear from the teacher, from the one who bears the Kingdom within his very being and radiates the light of that kingdom for all to see.
Yet - yet in the words "not far" - it is possible also to hear that "there is some distance yet to go", that we are on the right track - but we have not yet arrived.
In a park in Europe, so I have been told, next to a beautiful flower bed, there is a sign, written in three languages:
In German the sign says: Picking flowers is prohibited.
In English: Please do not pick the flowers.
In French: Those who love flowers will not pick them.
It seems to me that in this sign lies part of the key as to what distinctions of distance we might read into Jesus' statement: "You are not far from the kingdom of God".
What is our motivation for doing God's will, obeying God's commands? Fear of authority? A desire for God's approval? And the approval of others? Or love?
What in fact does it mean "to love God"? What does it mean "to love our neighbours as ourselves?"
One wonders - at least this one does - one wonders when looking at the scribe in today's reading if he lacked a little something in his passion and in his understanding of the law of God? If perhaps there was a little bit too much duty and routine in his life of obedience and not quite enough eagerness and passion? A bit too much holiness - of being apart from the world - and not quite the right amount of compassion and of empathy?
Whatever it is - if there is anything - that implies a sense of distance between the scribe and the Kingdom of God - in a most profound sense it does not matter; it is enough most surely for him, and for us, to hear the words "you are not far from the kingdom of God".
You of sincere heart and sincere purpose
you who believe and who try to do what is right,
you who try to love as God wants you to love,
are not far from the kingdom of God.
A story:
A thoughtful, curious young man went to the desert to visit an elderly man, a monk, who had lived in the desert for many years.
Arriving at the holy man's cave, the young man encountered the monk, who was sitting out enjoying the sun, his dog lying lazily at his side.
This spiritual seeker asked, "Why is it, teacher, that some who seek God come to the desert and are zealous in prayer, but leave after a year or so, while others, like you, remain faithful to the quest for a lifetime?"
The old man smiled and replied, "Let me tell you a story. One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog. Suddenly a large, white rabbit ran across in front of us. Well, my dog jumped up, barking loudly, and took off after that big rabbit. He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion. Soon other dogs ran barking across the creeks, up stony embankments, and through thickets and thorns. Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the course and frustrated by the chase. Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit. In that story, young man, is the answer to your question.
The young man sat in confused silence. Finally, he said, "Teacher, I don't understand. What is the connection between the rabbit chase and the quest for God?"
"You fail to understand," answered the old hermit, "because you failed to ask the obvious question. The question is, why didn't the other dogs continue the chase? And the answer to that question is that the other dogs had not seen the rabbit. They were attracted by the barking of my dog. But once you see the rabbit, you will never give up the chase. Seeing the rabbit, and not following the commotion, is what keeps me in the desert."
"Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength - and - you shall love your neighbour as yourself"
You shall love.
Shall love?? How can we not love? How can we who have seen the white rabbit do anything else but chase after it! And how can we who have only heard the commotion and smelled the scent not avoid the temptation of giving up the chase?
Sincere and deep commitment to the commands of God, to the command to love - versus the eager desire to return the affection and the love that we have experienced from God - to God and to what God has made.
There is a distinction here. But it is not one to become anxious about unless you are about to give up chasing the rabbit.
When Jesus speaks to the scribe and affirms his wisdom and his insight, when Jesus tells him that he is very near to the kingdom of God, he is talking to all of us who strive to follow in the way of God, to all who seek to walk by God's light and to do good rather than evil.
He is telling us such folk draw close to the kingdom of God even when they do not use the name that we here in this church use - even when they do not name the name of Jesus - and even when they do not understand the fullness of God's mercy for them in Jesus.
But how much better to have seen the rabbit; how much better to allow God's love for us in Christ to penetrate our hearts and to well up from inside us.
I urge you today as you consider the greatest of all the commandments and as you think about the words of Jesus to the scribe "you are not far from the kingdom of God"; I urge you to not hear those commandments as if God's love for you depended on your fulfilling them but rather to hear what a wonderful place you have come to in your pursuit of righteousness and how much more wonderful it will be as your love grows ever more perfect through the Spirit that is alive in you.
God loves you and God calls you to draw close to him so that you may know the fullness of his love. In the strength of that love - love as deeply and as passionately and as truly as did Jesus.
Blessed be God Day by Day, AMEN
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Job 42:1-17; Psalm 34; Mark 10:46-52
Let us Pray - O God, light of the minds that know you, life of the souls that love you, and strength of the hearts that seek you - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen
There is a prayer from the Eastern Orthodox tradition that is widely prayed by people of faith all over the world. It is short - and it is meant to be said over and over again - almost like a mantra. It is a prayer that is meant to cover all the bases as it were - and goes like this.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner....Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Let us try that out together.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.....
and again...
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
The root of that prayer is found today in our Gospel reading. There we hear the story of a man who is blind. His name is Bartimaeus - son of Timeaus. He is sitting by the roadside on the way up to Jerusalem - begging. Indeed as a blind man that is likely all that he can do. Without his sight, he, like most blind people of his day - and indeed ours, is cut off from the normal transactions of daily life. He not only can't see to work in the fields planting and harvesting, or to labour at home making pots or tables or jewelry, he can't see the expressions on the faces of his parents or his brothers and sisters or anyone else. He dwells in darkness. He is cut off, isolated - and for the most part he is regarded as a burden by all - by his family and by society. A burden - nothing more - and nothing less. Someone who is accursed - someone who has been struck down - perhaps by God because of some sin in his life - perhaps by Satan perhaps simply by chance.
Bartimaeus is a man in dire straights - but he does have a pair of ears - and as he sits by the side of the road begging he is aware that a large crowd is approaching - and he hears that Jesus - Jesus of Nazereth is approaching - and because he has ears to hear - and because of what he cries out - we can assume that he has heard that Jesus is special - that he is a healer - that he has power - and he cries out - he cries out loudly so that he may be heard
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me
and again and again -- "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me" and when he is rebuked and sushed by people in the crowd, people who see him as a burden and as an annoyance to them and to the master, he shouts out all the more
Son of David, have mercy on me.
We know how the rest of the story goes.
Jesus stops and says to those near to him, "Call him." And they do - saying to him "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." And Bartimaeus throws his cloak aside and jumps to his feet and comes to Jesus - and when Jesus asks him "What do you want me to do for you?" he replies "Rabbi, I want to see."
And Jesus - Jesus the Son of David, Jesus the Son of God,has mercy on him and says "Go," your faith has healed you."
And Immediately Bartimaeus receives his sight - and rather than going to make for himself a new life in the town from which he has come he follows Jesus along the road - he becomes a disciple of our Lord.
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." A prayer of desperation - and a prayer of faith.
Bartimaeus recognizes in his cry, in his plea who he is - and who Jesus is.
He recognizes in his cry that Jesus is the Messiah - the promised one of God the one who has come to heal the blind, and make the lame to walk, the one who has come to preach good news to the poor and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord - the year of liberation - the time of setting free.
And he knows that he needs these things within his own life that he needs the mercy and love of God to heal him - that God is his only hope.
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
This is a meditation - and a prayer - for millions upon millions of people, a prayer uttered for over 20 centuries - a prayer that is part of my life and which may well be - or should be - a part of your life.
Have mercy on me. Lord, have mercy on me - I do not do the good that I would do and the bad that I would not do - I do.
Lord, have mercy on me. My life is out of control. All that I love - has been taken from me. I have lost my job, my family, my health, I have been reduced to sackcloth and ashes. I grieve and I see no light in front of me. I dwell in darkness.
Lord, have mercy on me.
We heard read today the conclusion to the story of Job. Job was a righteous man, a man of faith, a man who had everything and regarded it all as a blessing of God. And he lost it all.
The story goes that Satan wanted to test his faith - to see if it was anchored on the blessings - or the blesser, to see if Job believed in God because of what it was God could do, and had done for him, or if he believed in God because of who God is - and nothing more.
Would Job, when he lost everything, curse God and die - as his wife suggested to him he should do, or - as he himself says to his wife - before she is taken from him, would he be one who not only accepted good from God - but trouble as well?
The story goes that Job has three friends visit with and mourn with him and that after a while they try to explain to Job why he is suffering - that it is perhaps because he has been sinful - a charge that he refutes in the strongest terms possible, and which God himself refutes when, at long last, God replies to the cries of Job, to his cries of innocence and of accusation - the accusation that he, that God, does not care.
Job in all this does not curse God, nor does he give up his faith that God is able to do all things.
God's response to Job is a reminder to him - and to Job's three friends, that God is a mystery greater than all the things we know, that He is the source of all things - the creator of all things - and to whom all things must in the end answer. And then we hear - in today's concluding story from the Book of Job, that Job repents of his attitude - the attitude that questions the goodness of God towards him, saying to God,
You said, "listen now and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me." My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
An ancient prayer indeed. It is the prayer of the righteous - as Job was righteous - even though he questioned God; and it is the prayer of those who, unlike Job, may in fact have done more to offend God than simply question him.
Job - knowing at last - when he sees at last with the eyes of faith - that God is indeed even greater and more powerful and more mysterious than he had ever thought before, and willing to accept that as he told his wife when she advised him to curse God and die - that he should indeed be willing to accept not only good from God's hands - but trouble as well, repents and receives from God a new life, a new life with a new blessings - children, land, a wife, wealth, and length of days in which to enjoy them.
Take note of this - it was not the old life he had, which he had enjoyed so much, that was restored to him; just as it was not the old life that Bartimaeus had - that he did not enjoy so much, that was restored to him.
It was a new life. A life based in a vision of who God is - and who we are before God.
It is hard for us to accept - this vision of God as all powerful, all knowing, and totally in charge.
As hard as it is for us to accept that perhaps we do not know how the world should be run, and what it is God should and should not do day by day in this world - and in our lives.
But accept it we should - for in accepting it - we let God into the deepest places of our hearts.
The Jesus Prayer - Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner; has many parts - each of which is worthy of meditation but the two main parts focus on who God is - who Jesus is - and who we are.
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.
Bartimaeus knew, with his eyes of faith - that Jesus was the promised one, the one with power - the one whom his ancestors called the "son of God", and believed that Jesus was fully able to help him. And he knew that he was one who needed help. One who needed mercy. Mercy, not necessarily because he was a wicked man but more simply thought - one who needed mercy because he was but a man. A man - like us - a man not able, in the end, to control the world around him. Just as Job finally accepted that it was not his place to question God - but simply to trust in him.
Today as I stand before you - I urge upon you the humility of Bartimaeus and the repentance of Job,
I urge upon you the wisdom and the power of the Jesus Prayer - the prayer that says so much in so few words.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
I cannot promise to you that this prayer will work like magic and that you will receive back into your life health that you have lost, or the wealth that you may need to enjoy life in the way that Job enjoyed life before his many afflictions.
I cannot promise you, that as happened with Mary and Martha, that your loved ones will come forth like Lazerus from his tomb and sit and dine with you and continue on till age or a new disease takes them once again from you.
But I can promise to you a new life - a different life than that which you have had - or even now have. A life that will allow you to enter into the most mysterious and most glorious place of all; a life that will allow you to dwell in the Kingdom of God - to dwell in that Kingdom both here: where we even now can taste and smell and touch that Kingdom and know it's truth and its goodness - and to dwell in that Kingdom beyond here, in the place beyond the grave, where all that is good and true and glorious and full of love abides forever in peace and in joy.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Bartimaeus sees and so receives his sight. Job sees, and so receives his new life. And both follow in the path of God - Bartimaeus by following Jesus - Job by praying for his friends.
What will we do?
We who are hurting?
We who like Job, may be angry at God?
We who like Bartimaeus may be suffering an affliction?
We who like Mary and Martha may be grieving?
All I can say - all I want to say - and all I need say - is pray. Pray with Bartimaeus -- Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Pray with those of the church around the world who know God and themselves, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Pray it over and over again - even when the crowd tells you, like it told Bartimaeus, not to pray it. Pray it over and over again - even if your wife or your friends or your own heart tells you "curse God and die".
Pray it - pray, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, and God will answer you.
Blessed be His name, now and forever. Amen.
There is a prayer from the Eastern Orthodox tradition that is widely prayed by people of faith all over the world. It is short - and it is meant to be said over and over again - almost like a mantra. It is a prayer that is meant to cover all the bases as it were - and goes like this.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner....Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Let us try that out together.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.....
and again...
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
The root of that prayer is found today in our Gospel reading. There we hear the story of a man who is blind. His name is Bartimaeus - son of Timeaus. He is sitting by the roadside on the way up to Jerusalem - begging. Indeed as a blind man that is likely all that he can do. Without his sight, he, like most blind people of his day - and indeed ours, is cut off from the normal transactions of daily life. He not only can't see to work in the fields planting and harvesting, or to labour at home making pots or tables or jewelry, he can't see the expressions on the faces of his parents or his brothers and sisters or anyone else. He dwells in darkness. He is cut off, isolated - and for the most part he is regarded as a burden by all - by his family and by society. A burden - nothing more - and nothing less. Someone who is accursed - someone who has been struck down - perhaps by God because of some sin in his life - perhaps by Satan perhaps simply by chance.
Bartimaeus is a man in dire straights - but he does have a pair of ears - and as he sits by the side of the road begging he is aware that a large crowd is approaching - and he hears that Jesus - Jesus of Nazereth is approaching - and because he has ears to hear - and because of what he cries out - we can assume that he has heard that Jesus is special - that he is a healer - that he has power - and he cries out - he cries out loudly so that he may be heard
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me
and again and again -- "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me" and when he is rebuked and sushed by people in the crowd, people who see him as a burden and as an annoyance to them and to the master, he shouts out all the more
Son of David, have mercy on me.
We know how the rest of the story goes.
Jesus stops and says to those near to him, "Call him." And they do - saying to him "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." And Bartimaeus throws his cloak aside and jumps to his feet and comes to Jesus - and when Jesus asks him "What do you want me to do for you?" he replies "Rabbi, I want to see."
And Jesus - Jesus the Son of David, Jesus the Son of God,has mercy on him and says "Go," your faith has healed you."
And Immediately Bartimaeus receives his sight - and rather than going to make for himself a new life in the town from which he has come he follows Jesus along the road - he becomes a disciple of our Lord.
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." A prayer of desperation - and a prayer of faith.
Bartimaeus recognizes in his cry, in his plea who he is - and who Jesus is.
He recognizes in his cry that Jesus is the Messiah - the promised one of God the one who has come to heal the blind, and make the lame to walk, the one who has come to preach good news to the poor and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord - the year of liberation - the time of setting free.
And he knows that he needs these things within his own life that he needs the mercy and love of God to heal him - that God is his only hope.
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
This is a meditation - and a prayer - for millions upon millions of people, a prayer uttered for over 20 centuries - a prayer that is part of my life and which may well be - or should be - a part of your life.
Have mercy on me. Lord, have mercy on me - I do not do the good that I would do and the bad that I would not do - I do.
Lord, have mercy on me. My life is out of control. All that I love - has been taken from me. I have lost my job, my family, my health, I have been reduced to sackcloth and ashes. I grieve and I see no light in front of me. I dwell in darkness.
Lord, have mercy on me.
We heard read today the conclusion to the story of Job. Job was a righteous man, a man of faith, a man who had everything and regarded it all as a blessing of God. And he lost it all.
The story goes that Satan wanted to test his faith - to see if it was anchored on the blessings - or the blesser, to see if Job believed in God because of what it was God could do, and had done for him, or if he believed in God because of who God is - and nothing more.
Would Job, when he lost everything, curse God and die - as his wife suggested to him he should do, or - as he himself says to his wife - before she is taken from him, would he be one who not only accepted good from God - but trouble as well?
The story goes that Job has three friends visit with and mourn with him and that after a while they try to explain to Job why he is suffering - that it is perhaps because he has been sinful - a charge that he refutes in the strongest terms possible, and which God himself refutes when, at long last, God replies to the cries of Job, to his cries of innocence and of accusation - the accusation that he, that God, does not care.
Job in all this does not curse God, nor does he give up his faith that God is able to do all things.
God's response to Job is a reminder to him - and to Job's three friends, that God is a mystery greater than all the things we know, that He is the source of all things - the creator of all things - and to whom all things must in the end answer. And then we hear - in today's concluding story from the Book of Job, that Job repents of his attitude - the attitude that questions the goodness of God towards him, saying to God,
You said, "listen now and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me." My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
An ancient prayer indeed. It is the prayer of the righteous - as Job was righteous - even though he questioned God; and it is the prayer of those who, unlike Job, may in fact have done more to offend God than simply question him.
Job - knowing at last - when he sees at last with the eyes of faith - that God is indeed even greater and more powerful and more mysterious than he had ever thought before, and willing to accept that as he told his wife when she advised him to curse God and die - that he should indeed be willing to accept not only good from God's hands - but trouble as well, repents and receives from God a new life, a new life with a new blessings - children, land, a wife, wealth, and length of days in which to enjoy them.
Take note of this - it was not the old life he had, which he had enjoyed so much, that was restored to him; just as it was not the old life that Bartimaeus had - that he did not enjoy so much, that was restored to him.
It was a new life. A life based in a vision of who God is - and who we are before God.
It is hard for us to accept - this vision of God as all powerful, all knowing, and totally in charge.
As hard as it is for us to accept that perhaps we do not know how the world should be run, and what it is God should and should not do day by day in this world - and in our lives.
But accept it we should - for in accepting it - we let God into the deepest places of our hearts.
The Jesus Prayer - Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner; has many parts - each of which is worthy of meditation but the two main parts focus on who God is - who Jesus is - and who we are.
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.
Bartimaeus knew, with his eyes of faith - that Jesus was the promised one, the one with power - the one whom his ancestors called the "son of God", and believed that Jesus was fully able to help him. And he knew that he was one who needed help. One who needed mercy. Mercy, not necessarily because he was a wicked man but more simply thought - one who needed mercy because he was but a man. A man - like us - a man not able, in the end, to control the world around him. Just as Job finally accepted that it was not his place to question God - but simply to trust in him.
Today as I stand before you - I urge upon you the humility of Bartimaeus and the repentance of Job,
I urge upon you the wisdom and the power of the Jesus Prayer - the prayer that says so much in so few words.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
I cannot promise to you that this prayer will work like magic and that you will receive back into your life health that you have lost, or the wealth that you may need to enjoy life in the way that Job enjoyed life before his many afflictions.
I cannot promise you, that as happened with Mary and Martha, that your loved ones will come forth like Lazerus from his tomb and sit and dine with you and continue on till age or a new disease takes them once again from you.
But I can promise to you a new life - a different life than that which you have had - or even now have. A life that will allow you to enter into the most mysterious and most glorious place of all; a life that will allow you to dwell in the Kingdom of God - to dwell in that Kingdom both here: where we even now can taste and smell and touch that Kingdom and know it's truth and its goodness - and to dwell in that Kingdom beyond here, in the place beyond the grave, where all that is good and true and glorious and full of love abides forever in peace and in joy.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Bartimaeus sees and so receives his sight. Job sees, and so receives his new life. And both follow in the path of God - Bartimaeus by following Jesus - Job by praying for his friends.
What will we do?
We who are hurting?
We who like Job, may be angry at God?
We who like Bartimaeus may be suffering an affliction?
We who like Mary and Martha may be grieving?
All I can say - all I want to say - and all I need say - is pray. Pray with Bartimaeus -- Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. Pray with those of the church around the world who know God and themselves, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Pray it over and over again - even when the crowd tells you, like it told Bartimaeus, not to pray it. Pray it over and over again - even if your wife or your friends or your own heart tells you "curse God and die".
Pray it - pray, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, and God will answer you.
Blessed be His name, now and forever. Amen.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Isaiah 53:4-12; Psalm 104; Mark 10:35-45
Let us pray - in the silence of the stars, in the quiet of the hills and in the heaving of the sea, you speak O Lord. In the words of the prophets and the message of the apostles, you speak O Lord. Now we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
How should we think about James and John, the sons of Zebedee? How should we think about the day they went to Jesus and said to him:
"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
And when Jesus answered, "What is it you want me to do for you?" They replied:
"Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
How should we think about these two who were so forward that they not only wanted to stand out from the crowd, they also wanted to stand ahead of the other disciples and have the highest positions of power and privilege that they believed Jesus could grant.
We know how Peter and Matthew and Levi and the others reacted to James and John when they heard what James and John had asked Jesus to do for them. We know that they were angry with the sons of Zebedee, that they resented the two brothers' attempt to claim a position of privilege in the Kingdom of God.
And we know too how Jesus dealt with James and John, and what he said to all the disciples when he noticed their anger and resentment.
But that still doesn't answer the question - how should we think about James and John?
Should we regard them as being overly ambitious? Should we think less of them because they quite clearly seem to think too much of themselves?
Or should we just kind of ignore them and their obvious lack of sensitivity? Their lack of tact? Should we just kind of gloss over the affair and the reaction of the other disciples and of Jesus himself to their request?
My feeling is that we need to regard James and John and their audacious request with far more seriousness than we may want at first to give them.
My belief is that we should regard James and John as if they were us. And that then we should really listen to what Jesus had to say to them and to the other disciples.
Now let me qualify this.
I have never dreamed, and I doubt that any of you have ever dreamed, of actually sitting at the right hand of God and receiving all the glory and honour and respect and power that position has.
Most of us - even when we get into a really good political discussion with our friends and try to solve all the problems of Hong Kong - don't even really want to be in the government, let along to be the Chief Executive. No matter how much we may dream about what we do if we were in that position.
So for me to say that we should regard James and John as if they were us may seem to you to be a bit much, it may seem to you to be something that you can't relate to: something that only applies to those few people who are crazy with ambition, those few people who really do want, as Jesus states about the gentiles, to Lord it over others, those few arrogant ones who think that they are better, or that they know more, than everyone else.
But, my friends, that is too easy, it lets us off the hook that Jesus wants us on, the hook, which, when we embrace it, leads to wholeness for us and for our world.
We should regard James and John as if they were us. And we should listen o what Jesus had to say to them and to other disciples.
HOW MANY OF YOU, in your younger years, worked at odd jobs in the summer doing summer jobs, whether it be in shops, restaurants or offices.
Most of us have...
I think that its safe to say that we've usually had these jobs because they were expedient. We needed the money so we could have some pocket money, or because we needed to survive for a while until something else came along.
But we probably didn't aspire to these jobs as a life long profession - nor would we be delighted if one of our children said that she wanted to be a waitress when she grew up, or that he wanted to sweep the streets for the rest of his life.
We know that these jobs are important in that we think that they need to be done - but we probably don't think people should do them as a career - we probably think that they are best reserved for the very young, or for those who have no education and little hope of advancing their station in life.
We want better things then babysitting and street sweeping and waiting on tables for ourselves and for our children. We want to be paid well and we want our kids to earn a "decent" living. We want them to do something worthwhile. We want others to respect them and what they do. Like maybe they could become doctors or lawyers or accountants or run the family business or own their own computer repair business or nurse or teach or be computer programmers or x-ray technicians or heavy duty mechanics or owner-operators of their own business.
And that is good stuff - that's stuff that I want for my kids and I, like most parents, push my kids towards that stuff, I push them to get ahead.
As my father and mother did before me - so I do.
I ask them when they seem to be slacking off at school or when they are grumbling about the chores they have to perform, "Do you want to work at MacDonalds for the rest of your life? Do you want to dig ditches for a living?"
But you know - when I go to a restaurant - I want polite and attentive service.
And in the days I needed a babysitter for Ruth - I wanted someone who really cared for my child and knew how to keep an eye on her and how to react when she were getting into trouble.
If I hire to get someone to paint my house - I want it done right.
And I expect my garbage to be picked up promptly, the ditches along the highways to be properly dug, and all the debris on the streets and on the beaches I go to be cleaned up and stowed away in an environmentally friendly manner.
I want to be served, and to be served well. And so I believe so do we all.
I want to be respected, and listened to, and to have my opinions valued, and so I believe so do we all.
And I know and I believe that these wants are not wrong. And I know and I believe that these wants can easily go very wrong, and lead one first to insensitivity, and then to rudeness, and then to arrogance, and finally to tyranny.
And so my friends, when I really think about things, I have to struggle with myself. And I have to have help in that struggle, I have to have guidance: the guidance to realize that while I really don't want to be the Chief Executive of SAR Hong Kong or to Lord it over anyone else as the Gentiles do, I still, in one part of me at least, want more than I want to give or to have my children give. I need the guidance to realize that in me is a seed, that if watered, if indulged, can grow into an evil plant.
All of us have inside us somewhere James and John, all of us, in some part of our hearts and minds would rather be served than serve.
Indeed I think that even the most righteous among us occasionally dreams of the luxury of winning the Mark Six lottery and of living in ease the rest of our days rather than of the satisfaction of serving others and serving them well.
And so today, in the name of God, I deliver you a reminder.
A reminder about what Jesus had to say, and about what Jesus did.
Jesus said, "Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant. And whoever wishes to first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Jesus could not tell James or John who would end up sitting at his left or his right hand. As he said to them, it was not even something that he could grant. But I can tell you that Jesus himself sits at the right hand of God.
He sits there because he gave himself to us wholly and completely, because he served God and served us all with all of his heart and soul and body.
I can tell that you when he entered Jerusalem in triumph just a few days before his death, He rode an ass, not a stallion; and that he stayed in the humble home of a friend, not in some pretentious palace.
I can tell you that he gave food to the hungry and that he visited the sick, and that when he performed miracles he fled from the crowds that wanted to make him a king because of the power that they knew lay behind those acts.
I can tell you that Jesus didn't just wash people's souls clean of sin, he kneeled beside them and washed their feet clean of dust and dirt.
And not once did he complain that no one appreciated him, nor did he open his mouth when he was reviled and persecuted because he was a friend of sinners.
I offer you today a reminder of who is at the right hand of God and of some of the reasons for why he is there.
I offer you this reminder in the name of God, so that when you speak to your children, and when you consider what is worth while and what is worthy of respect and what jobs are beneath your dignity, and what insults you cannot bear, you will know what is right, and which seeds you should water, and which ones you should not.
I call you this day to remember James and John, and how you yourselves are like them.
And finally I call you to remember that James and John, were among the chosen ones and remained among the chosen ones, and that Jesus served them and gave his life for them.
As he has given his life for you.
Our reward is indeed in heaven - whether to the right or to the left or to the front or to the rear of our Servant King I cannot say - but I can say that God will embrace us and wipe every tear from our eyes and that all we will find there will make the glory we sometimes seek here seem like so much trash.
Praise be to God for the salvation he grants us through Christ Jesus our Lord, our brother, our friend, and our servant. Amen.
How should we think about James and John, the sons of Zebedee? How should we think about the day they went to Jesus and said to him:
"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
And when Jesus answered, "What is it you want me to do for you?" They replied:
"Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
How should we think about these two who were so forward that they not only wanted to stand out from the crowd, they also wanted to stand ahead of the other disciples and have the highest positions of power and privilege that they believed Jesus could grant.
We know how Peter and Matthew and Levi and the others reacted to James and John when they heard what James and John had asked Jesus to do for them. We know that they were angry with the sons of Zebedee, that they resented the two brothers' attempt to claim a position of privilege in the Kingdom of God.
And we know too how Jesus dealt with James and John, and what he said to all the disciples when he noticed their anger and resentment.
But that still doesn't answer the question - how should we think about James and John?
Should we regard them as being overly ambitious? Should we think less of them because they quite clearly seem to think too much of themselves?
Or should we just kind of ignore them and their obvious lack of sensitivity? Their lack of tact? Should we just kind of gloss over the affair and the reaction of the other disciples and of Jesus himself to their request?
My feeling is that we need to regard James and John and their audacious request with far more seriousness than we may want at first to give them.
My belief is that we should regard James and John as if they were us. And that then we should really listen to what Jesus had to say to them and to the other disciples.
Now let me qualify this.
I have never dreamed, and I doubt that any of you have ever dreamed, of actually sitting at the right hand of God and receiving all the glory and honour and respect and power that position has.
Most of us - even when we get into a really good political discussion with our friends and try to solve all the problems of Hong Kong - don't even really want to be in the government, let along to be the Chief Executive. No matter how much we may dream about what we do if we were in that position.
So for me to say that we should regard James and John as if they were us may seem to you to be a bit much, it may seem to you to be something that you can't relate to: something that only applies to those few people who are crazy with ambition, those few people who really do want, as Jesus states about the gentiles, to Lord it over others, those few arrogant ones who think that they are better, or that they know more, than everyone else.
But, my friends, that is too easy, it lets us off the hook that Jesus wants us on, the hook, which, when we embrace it, leads to wholeness for us and for our world.
We should regard James and John as if they were us. And we should listen o what Jesus had to say to them and to other disciples.
HOW MANY OF YOU, in your younger years, worked at odd jobs in the summer doing summer jobs, whether it be in shops, restaurants or offices.
Most of us have...
I think that its safe to say that we've usually had these jobs because they were expedient. We needed the money so we could have some pocket money, or because we needed to survive for a while until something else came along.
But we probably didn't aspire to these jobs as a life long profession - nor would we be delighted if one of our children said that she wanted to be a waitress when she grew up, or that he wanted to sweep the streets for the rest of his life.
We know that these jobs are important in that we think that they need to be done - but we probably don't think people should do them as a career - we probably think that they are best reserved for the very young, or for those who have no education and little hope of advancing their station in life.
We want better things then babysitting and street sweeping and waiting on tables for ourselves and for our children. We want to be paid well and we want our kids to earn a "decent" living. We want them to do something worthwhile. We want others to respect them and what they do. Like maybe they could become doctors or lawyers or accountants or run the family business or own their own computer repair business or nurse or teach or be computer programmers or x-ray technicians or heavy duty mechanics or owner-operators of their own business.
And that is good stuff - that's stuff that I want for my kids and I, like most parents, push my kids towards that stuff, I push them to get ahead.
As my father and mother did before me - so I do.
I ask them when they seem to be slacking off at school or when they are grumbling about the chores they have to perform, "Do you want to work at MacDonalds for the rest of your life? Do you want to dig ditches for a living?"
But you know - when I go to a restaurant - I want polite and attentive service.
And in the days I needed a babysitter for Ruth - I wanted someone who really cared for my child and knew how to keep an eye on her and how to react when she were getting into trouble.
If I hire to get someone to paint my house - I want it done right.
And I expect my garbage to be picked up promptly, the ditches along the highways to be properly dug, and all the debris on the streets and on the beaches I go to be cleaned up and stowed away in an environmentally friendly manner.
I want to be served, and to be served well. And so I believe so do we all.
I want to be respected, and listened to, and to have my opinions valued, and so I believe so do we all.
And I know and I believe that these wants are not wrong. And I know and I believe that these wants can easily go very wrong, and lead one first to insensitivity, and then to rudeness, and then to arrogance, and finally to tyranny.
And so my friends, when I really think about things, I have to struggle with myself. And I have to have help in that struggle, I have to have guidance: the guidance to realize that while I really don't want to be the Chief Executive of SAR Hong Kong or to Lord it over anyone else as the Gentiles do, I still, in one part of me at least, want more than I want to give or to have my children give. I need the guidance to realize that in me is a seed, that if watered, if indulged, can grow into an evil plant.
All of us have inside us somewhere James and John, all of us, in some part of our hearts and minds would rather be served than serve.
Indeed I think that even the most righteous among us occasionally dreams of the luxury of winning the Mark Six lottery and of living in ease the rest of our days rather than of the satisfaction of serving others and serving them well.
And so today, in the name of God, I deliver you a reminder.
A reminder about what Jesus had to say, and about what Jesus did.
Jesus said, "Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant. And whoever wishes to first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Jesus could not tell James or John who would end up sitting at his left or his right hand. As he said to them, it was not even something that he could grant. But I can tell you that Jesus himself sits at the right hand of God.
He sits there because he gave himself to us wholly and completely, because he served God and served us all with all of his heart and soul and body.
I can tell that you when he entered Jerusalem in triumph just a few days before his death, He rode an ass, not a stallion; and that he stayed in the humble home of a friend, not in some pretentious palace.
I can tell you that he gave food to the hungry and that he visited the sick, and that when he performed miracles he fled from the crowds that wanted to make him a king because of the power that they knew lay behind those acts.
I can tell you that Jesus didn't just wash people's souls clean of sin, he kneeled beside them and washed their feet clean of dust and dirt.
And not once did he complain that no one appreciated him, nor did he open his mouth when he was reviled and persecuted because he was a friend of sinners.
I offer you today a reminder of who is at the right hand of God and of some of the reasons for why he is there.
I offer you this reminder in the name of God, so that when you speak to your children, and when you consider what is worth while and what is worthy of respect and what jobs are beneath your dignity, and what insults you cannot bear, you will know what is right, and which seeds you should water, and which ones you should not.
I call you this day to remember James and John, and how you yourselves are like them.
And finally I call you to remember that James and John, were among the chosen ones and remained among the chosen ones, and that Jesus served them and gave his life for them.
As he has given his life for you.
Our reward is indeed in heaven - whether to the right or to the left or to the front or to the rear of our Servant King I cannot say - but I can say that God will embrace us and wipe every tear from our eyes and that all we will find there will make the glory we sometimes seek here seem like so much trash.
Praise be to God for the salvation he grants us through Christ Jesus our Lord, our brother, our friend, and our servant. Amen.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Hebrews 4:12-16; Psalm 22:1-18; Mark 10:17-31
Let us Pray - O God, light of the minds that know you, life of the souls that love you, and strength of the hearts that seek you - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen
The gospel story today is one of the most familiar stories of the New Testament and one of the most problematic - both for what it says about those who are wealthy - and for what it says about who in fact can inherit eternal life, who in fact can enter the Kingdom of God.
A man, who is both young and a ruler among his people (according to the Gospels of Luke and Matthew) approaches Jesus with a question. "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" he asks.
It is a question which reveals much and Jesus knows it, which is why he responds the way he does.
This is a man who doesn't have to worry about the life he already has. In modern terms, his mortgage is paid off. His creditors have been looked after. His stock portfolio is brimming over with only blue chip merchandise. He is truly blessed in the ways that the world, and indeed many of the church, count blessings. And he wants even more: he wants the blessings of heaven - he wants to enter the Kingdom of God and there dwell with Abraham and all who gone before him.
Let us not have any doubts about the sincerity of this man. His integrity is beyond question. When Jesus asks him if he has kept the commandments - and in particular those that relate to how we treat one another. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother, he responds that he has kept them all faithfully from the days of his childhood and Jesus, we are told, looked at him and loved him.
And then he tells the man that he lacks one thing, "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor", Jesus says, "and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
We never really hear how things turn out for the rich young ruler. We do know that he goes away from Jesus very sad, because he had great wealth. What we do not know is whether or not he later follows the command that Jesus gave him. Whether he does or doesn't is never mentioned and at one level it is not important for us to know. But Jesus does say something after the young man goes away that astonishes and perplexes his disciples. He says to them:
"How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God."
and when the disciples are amazed by these words, he goes on to say
"Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."
I wish I could tell you just how perplexing it was for the disciples to hear these words. They, like so many of us, were raised to believe that earthly wealth - especially that wealth acquired by those who adhered to the customs, traditions, and laws of Moses - was a sign of God's blessing.
And in a very real sense it is.
Consider the story of Job - righteous before God and blessed with everything that a person could want till tested by Satan. And how those blessings were restored many times over when he passes his time of testing.
Consider the law itselfm which says, for example, in Deuteronomy, chapter seven: (12-14)
If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land - your grain, new wine and oil - the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young.
The disciples were even more amazed, our story today continues, when they heard these words of Jesus concerning how hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, and they said to each other "Who then can be saved?"
Indeed, who can be saved?
I received a letter not so long ago that reminded me of so many conversations and letters I have had or received over the past as a part of the church of Christ Jesus.
It said, in part.
I have been attempting to learn more about God's word to calm my fears and reassure myself that I will indeed be welcomed into God's kingdom when the time comes. Well, that is not happening....instead I am feeling that there is no chance of that happening. I feel further from God every time I try to understand. I know that I am a perfectionist and I know all of my faults, shortcomings and downfalls and what a letdown I have been to God who created me in His perfect image. I have really been trying to put great whole hearted effort into listening to God and trying to do the things that He wants me to. I feel that I just keep falling short of the mark, then haunt myself hour after hour as I lay awake at night. Why am I getting farther from God instead of closer. Then I begin to analyse and become more critical.
"If I had more faith..... my feet would be healed"
"If I had more faith..... I could forgive my sister"
"If I had more faith..... I would not think mean, critical or harsh thoughts of others"
"If I had more faith..... I would not speak gossip, criticize or scold"
"If I had more faith..... I would have the same type of wisdom and insight that can be seen in all the other past and present members of my prayer group."
"If I had more faith..... I would not have to work so hard to be a Christian"
I really do try hard, but the more scriptures that I read and try to understand the more convinced I am that I am doomed.....
"Who then can be saved" the disciples ask Jesus.
What a question that is. One that echoes in my heart not only as I consider the rich young ruler or as I consider the plea of the person who wrote the letter I just read, but which echoes in my heart as I consider how much I love God and yet how far I am from the perfection that God demands of me.
One thing you lack....
I think every one of us here today, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, realizes that we lack one thing - perhaps even more than one thing.
As the reading from Hebrew's today says, and as the letter I read from my friend indicated
"the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heat. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
That Word most surely judges us - and finds in us - not just one thing that is lacking - but in many cases, many things lacking.
"The more scriptures that I read and try to understand the more convinced I am that I am doomed."
Could have the rich young man given everything away and followed Jesus and thereby entered the Kingdom of God. Was his problem simply that he loved money more than he loved God.
Perhaps.
The love of money is most certainly an evil and Jesus' words about the danger of being rich should give us all pause. When the truth is told it is all too likely true that for us, as it seems it may have been for the rich young ruler, that when it comes to giving it away most people stop at nothing, or next to nothing.
You know as well as I that there are many affluent people - and most of us are that - who will quickly profess their indifference to money - or disdain for it - as if to protect themselves from the charge that they are over attached to it - but who by their habits of spending - even on the Sabbath Day - show that they value a big lunch or a shopping trip far more than they value contributing to the work of God in their church and their community.
It is easy to fool ourselves when it comes to which we love more - God or Mammon. But that can change - for us - as much it could have changed for the rich young ruler.
But all in all, money is but a symbol of what stands in the way of our of entering the Kingdom of God and it is entirely possible to give up everything for God - and still not have the heart that we need to enter into his presence.
The Apostle Paul, who was one who had a religious pedigree and a zealousness for God that was among the best, writes in the third chapter of his letter to the Philippians:
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
And then, in his first letter to the Corinthians he reminds us and undoubtedly himself:
If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
"Who then can be saved", the disciples ask.
It is a profound question. And Jesus answers it by saying, "With man this is impossible, but with God; all things are possible with God."
The scriptures today speak to us of those things that are impossible to us and of how the word of God reveals to us, sometimes in the starkest fashion, just who we are and how far we are from entering the Kingdom of God. A message, in short, that would be thoroughly depressing - if it were not for the fact that the core message in today's reading is this answer of Christ - that all things are possible with God.
My friends, as it says in the Letter to The Hebrews - in Christ we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with us and help us. He knows all our flaws and imperfections and yet intercedes on our behalf. Because of his goodness we can approach the throne of grace with confidence - and we called to do so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Inheriting eternal life is not something that we can earn - nor is entering the Kingdom of God something we can work for. There is nothing we can give to obtain it. It is free gift. All we have to do is hold out our hands and accept the gift. It's both the easiest and the hardest thing we can ever do.
The easiest - because the gift is free.
The hardest - because our hands are so often filled with other things.
I tell you today - keep holding out your hands - trust in God to show you the love he has promised even as he reminds you over and over again to let go of all those other things you worry about or value.
Praise be to God.
The gospel story today is one of the most familiar stories of the New Testament and one of the most problematic - both for what it says about those who are wealthy - and for what it says about who in fact can inherit eternal life, who in fact can enter the Kingdom of God.
A man, who is both young and a ruler among his people (according to the Gospels of Luke and Matthew) approaches Jesus with a question. "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" he asks.
It is a question which reveals much and Jesus knows it, which is why he responds the way he does.
This is a man who doesn't have to worry about the life he already has. In modern terms, his mortgage is paid off. His creditors have been looked after. His stock portfolio is brimming over with only blue chip merchandise. He is truly blessed in the ways that the world, and indeed many of the church, count blessings. And he wants even more: he wants the blessings of heaven - he wants to enter the Kingdom of God and there dwell with Abraham and all who gone before him.
Let us not have any doubts about the sincerity of this man. His integrity is beyond question. When Jesus asks him if he has kept the commandments - and in particular those that relate to how we treat one another. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother, he responds that he has kept them all faithfully from the days of his childhood and Jesus, we are told, looked at him and loved him.
And then he tells the man that he lacks one thing, "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor", Jesus says, "and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
We never really hear how things turn out for the rich young ruler. We do know that he goes away from Jesus very sad, because he had great wealth. What we do not know is whether or not he later follows the command that Jesus gave him. Whether he does or doesn't is never mentioned and at one level it is not important for us to know. But Jesus does say something after the young man goes away that astonishes and perplexes his disciples. He says to them:
"How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God."
and when the disciples are amazed by these words, he goes on to say
"Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."
I wish I could tell you just how perplexing it was for the disciples to hear these words. They, like so many of us, were raised to believe that earthly wealth - especially that wealth acquired by those who adhered to the customs, traditions, and laws of Moses - was a sign of God's blessing.
And in a very real sense it is.
Consider the story of Job - righteous before God and blessed with everything that a person could want till tested by Satan. And how those blessings were restored many times over when he passes his time of testing.
Consider the law itselfm which says, for example, in Deuteronomy, chapter seven: (12-14)
If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land - your grain, new wine and oil - the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young.
The disciples were even more amazed, our story today continues, when they heard these words of Jesus concerning how hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, and they said to each other "Who then can be saved?"
Indeed, who can be saved?
I received a letter not so long ago that reminded me of so many conversations and letters I have had or received over the past as a part of the church of Christ Jesus.
It said, in part.
I have been attempting to learn more about God's word to calm my fears and reassure myself that I will indeed be welcomed into God's kingdom when the time comes. Well, that is not happening....instead I am feeling that there is no chance of that happening. I feel further from God every time I try to understand. I know that I am a perfectionist and I know all of my faults, shortcomings and downfalls and what a letdown I have been to God who created me in His perfect image. I have really been trying to put great whole hearted effort into listening to God and trying to do the things that He wants me to. I feel that I just keep falling short of the mark, then haunt myself hour after hour as I lay awake at night. Why am I getting farther from God instead of closer. Then I begin to analyse and become more critical.
"If I had more faith..... my feet would be healed"
"If I had more faith..... I could forgive my sister"
"If I had more faith..... I would not think mean, critical or harsh thoughts of others"
"If I had more faith..... I would not speak gossip, criticize or scold"
"If I had more faith..... I would have the same type of wisdom and insight that can be seen in all the other past and present members of my prayer group."
"If I had more faith..... I would not have to work so hard to be a Christian"
I really do try hard, but the more scriptures that I read and try to understand the more convinced I am that I am doomed.....
"Who then can be saved" the disciples ask Jesus.
What a question that is. One that echoes in my heart not only as I consider the rich young ruler or as I consider the plea of the person who wrote the letter I just read, but which echoes in my heart as I consider how much I love God and yet how far I am from the perfection that God demands of me.
One thing you lack....
I think every one of us here today, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, realizes that we lack one thing - perhaps even more than one thing.
As the reading from Hebrew's today says, and as the letter I read from my friend indicated
"the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heat. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
That Word most surely judges us - and finds in us - not just one thing that is lacking - but in many cases, many things lacking.
"The more scriptures that I read and try to understand the more convinced I am that I am doomed."
Could have the rich young man given everything away and followed Jesus and thereby entered the Kingdom of God. Was his problem simply that he loved money more than he loved God.
Perhaps.
The love of money is most certainly an evil and Jesus' words about the danger of being rich should give us all pause. When the truth is told it is all too likely true that for us, as it seems it may have been for the rich young ruler, that when it comes to giving it away most people stop at nothing, or next to nothing.
You know as well as I that there are many affluent people - and most of us are that - who will quickly profess their indifference to money - or disdain for it - as if to protect themselves from the charge that they are over attached to it - but who by their habits of spending - even on the Sabbath Day - show that they value a big lunch or a shopping trip far more than they value contributing to the work of God in their church and their community.
It is easy to fool ourselves when it comes to which we love more - God or Mammon. But that can change - for us - as much it could have changed for the rich young ruler.
But all in all, money is but a symbol of what stands in the way of our of entering the Kingdom of God and it is entirely possible to give up everything for God - and still not have the heart that we need to enter into his presence.
The Apostle Paul, who was one who had a religious pedigree and a zealousness for God that was among the best, writes in the third chapter of his letter to the Philippians:
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
And then, in his first letter to the Corinthians he reminds us and undoubtedly himself:
If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
"Who then can be saved", the disciples ask.
It is a profound question. And Jesus answers it by saying, "With man this is impossible, but with God; all things are possible with God."
The scriptures today speak to us of those things that are impossible to us and of how the word of God reveals to us, sometimes in the starkest fashion, just who we are and how far we are from entering the Kingdom of God. A message, in short, that would be thoroughly depressing - if it were not for the fact that the core message in today's reading is this answer of Christ - that all things are possible with God.
My friends, as it says in the Letter to The Hebrews - in Christ we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with us and help us. He knows all our flaws and imperfections and yet intercedes on our behalf. Because of his goodness we can approach the throne of grace with confidence - and we called to do so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Inheriting eternal life is not something that we can earn - nor is entering the Kingdom of God something we can work for. There is nothing we can give to obtain it. It is free gift. All we have to do is hold out our hands and accept the gift. It's both the easiest and the hardest thing we can ever do.
The easiest - because the gift is free.
The hardest - because our hands are so often filled with other things.
I tell you today - keep holding out your hands - trust in God to show you the love he has promised even as he reminds you over and over again to let go of all those other things you worry about or value.
Praise be to God.
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