Loving God, quicken our hearts again, that we may receive Your Word afresh and anew. Send the refreshing wind of your Spirit upon us Lord that your voice may be heard in our hearts and your loving presence seen in all that we say and do, bless indeed your Word to us - oh though our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen
Today Wisdom calls us, she calls to all living to hear her voice and live. She has built her house; she has made her bread and mixed her wine; she has set her table.
She calls us to come and to eat and drink, to lay aside immaturity and live and walk in the way of insight.
This is the image of the Book of Proverbs concerning the Wisdom of God.
Wisdom calls us - God calls us. The Spirit calls us Christ calls us.
And today in a public manner, in a sacramental manner, in a holy and sacred manner, we celebrate as a community the answering of that call.
From little Ruth and her mother young in years to Annie wise with experience, faith in God is being expressed and from Ming and Edward - to you and me and the rest of the people of this congregation a desire is being made manifest:
- the desire to indeed eat and drink at the table of wisdom
- the desire to be filled with the Spirit and to be at one with the God who made us all,
- and to be at one with his people in a specific way and in a specific place - at a specific table.
Today, however, we celebrate more than the sacraments of belonging - we celebrate more than baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - we celebrate more than the meal that signifies the forgiveness of God and our union with God and with one another, today we celebrate the truth of our faith, today we celebrate the wisdom of our God. A wisdom that is beyond our wisdom - a truth that is beyond our truth. A wisdom that is saving. A truth that is healing.
We celebrate how Wisdom became incarnate in Christ Jesus. We celebrate how truth took on substance in him, how the word of God took on flesh and dwelt among us - calling us towards salvation and becoming salvation to us; taking us by the hand to bring us to the gates of heaven and with his love opening those gates - offering himself for us - his body - and his blood - so that we might eat and live forever, so that we might be filled with light, so that we might be made whole, so that we might be instruments of grace and of love.
So how do we do this how do we actually eat and drink and live? How are we made whole? How are we saved?
It is a matter of faith and belief. Of confession and of commitment.
Paul writes that is:
the righteousness that comes from faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'who will ascend into heaven' (that is to bring Christ down), or 'who will descend into the abyss' (that is to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say?
It says that "the word is near you - on your lips and in your hearts" - that is the word of faith we proclaim - because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Confess with your lips Jesus is Lord - that he is the one promised of God, the one of wisdom and of gentleness, the one who is one with God and has the keys to heaven in his hand, the one to obey and believe in your heart that God in fact uses him to do what we cannot do for ourselves, that in him God's power is made manifest, God's power to give bring life out of death - hope out of despair, joy out of sorrow, order out of chaos....
The essence of Wisdom is the essence of God, and it is God we celebrate today, the love of God, the mercy of God, the forgiveness of God, the healing power of God, day by day, one day at a time, forever and ever.
Wisdom has set her table, she has sent out her servants, she calls us to come and eat her bread and drink her wine, she calls us to accept Christ as our wisdom and our life - our Lord and our companion, and to believe that God as God raised him from the dead, so he will raise us to new life through him.
We celebrate the truth and the wisdom of God today.
Paul write in the 12th chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews concerning those who confess Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised him from the dead:
You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
My dear sisters and brothers-in-Christ, each of us here today is an a spiritual pilgrimage and by the grace of God we have found, or are in the process of finding, our way to the table that wisdom has spread for us. We are making our way to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God.
From those of you who have found that there is a higher power that can help you with your problems, to those of you have looked upon the heavens above and the world below and sensed there is one whose glory is above the heavens and whose majesty is greater than the world that he has made, there is a recognition of the call that Wisdom has made and the truth that she reveals at the table she has spread.
We celebrate here today in the sacraments we observe, and the songs that we sing, and the prayers that we make, something that is truly great - something that is truly marvellous, something that speaks more eloquently than the blood of Abel, something that is not only beyond us in mystery but which is beyond us in love, and yet in love comes to us and calls us and - when we accept it in our hearts and begin making it real on our lips - makes us, and indeed our world - whole.
Blessed be God, day by day. Amen.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
I Corinthians 12:1-13; Acts 2:1-21
Loving God, quicken our hearts again, that we may receive Your Word afresh and anew. Send the refreshing wind of your Spirit upon us Lord that your voice may be heard in our hearts and your loving presence seen in all that we say and do once we leave this place of worship to walk by faith in the world that you send us out into. We ask in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.
Strange Day today in some ways strange because this is the Birthday of the Church, and not Easter as some people might think, or even Christmas, as others seem to believe.
Today is the day in which we celebrate the pouring out of the Spirit upon the first disciples of Jesus and how from that day the church began to reach out around the world, how they went from being timid and afraid in their testimony to Christ to to being bold and courageous in their witness; how they went from being inward looking to being outward looking, from seeking to save themselves to being ones who had a passion for showing others where healing is to be found.
Something strange happened on the day of Pentecost - as the Spirit overcame the confusion that has been upon the face of the earth since the days when the Tower of Babel was destroyed, and made it possible for the disciples to communicate with every person - regardless of differences of race, colour, or language.
Something strange and profound happened on the day of Pentecost - some 2000 years ago, and that something profound is still occurring as the Spirit continues to be poured out upon those who believe in and follow Christ - bringing order out of chaos, understanding out of confusion, unity out of diversity.
It should be the belief of the entire church, that everyone is important - and that all should see and understand that the person next to them from those who work in the kitchen to those who serve at the Communion Table - are an essential and important part of the body of Christ, that everyone - from those who pray quietly at home for their neighbours, both those near and those far way - to those who clean up the church, and those who set up coffee for our fellowship time each week - are fulfilling a ministry that God has given them.
You know, there has long been a tension in the church between celebrating the gifts of God and the individuals with those gifts, a tension between recognizing those people who serve in particular ways and the God who makes it possible for them to serve in the first place.
In the middle ages when the great cathedrals were built the architects were never named.
The great stained glass windows and works of art within them are unsigned.
The wonderful craftsmanship - unidentified.
It was all done for the glory of God, it was all made possible by the Spirit.
Yet even in those times it was recognized that God's gifts, the gifts poured out by the Holy Spirit in different quantities upon different people, took on flesh through the obedience and faithful service of individuals - and that is good and important to highlight the fact that this is so.
That is why Paul wrote what he wrote in Corinthians.
To remind the church in that place that everyone who follows Christ is gifted, gifted by God, gifted in different ways and to different degrees, but that each gift and each person is important - none more or none less than another: that those who preach are not greater than those who listen and that those who wait on tables are no greater than those who gather to eat.
Each one of us if we are being obedient to the call of God in our lives is used of God - some more particularly within the sanctuary and on the property that we share and some more particularly outside spreading the good news to those who need it in the world.
Where is the Gospel today? The good news?
It is in the fact of the Spirit, it is in the fact that God has poured himself out upon us, and in the fact that for those of faith God is at hand. God is here in us and around us.
The good news is in the fact that God has given us a diversity of gifts and that these are in use here in our midst and beyond this sanctuary - in the world to which we are sent as apostles of Christ.
We do have old men who dream dreams and young men who see visions.
We have sons and daughters who are moved by the Spirit to build up the body by sharing their faith, their hope, their worship of God.
We have those with gifts of administration of preaching and of teaching of music and of prayer.
We have those with gifts of helps and of service and those with the gifts of hearing and of counsel.
We have too those who have what Paul calls the gift of faith and those with what I call the gift of presence and of encouragement.
In all that we celebrate today the hand of God is evident and that hand calls us to rejoice and take heart. We earnestly pray that we leave no gift, no person out, because we know that God has not left us so incomplete, that God treasures and gifts each person here.
The good news is that we are equipped by the Spirit, we are equipped to do what the Spirit calls the church to do, which is to witness to the love and purpose of God as revealed through Christ Jesus our Lord and the Law and the Prophets.
As Lisa and Jones and David help us today to reflect on the different tasks that are done here in this place - both those that were done in the past and those that are still done do not hesitate to stand and be identified as one who is used of God.
And should there be no occasion for you to stand perhaps because we have named things according to the experience and history we have here at this church and you are new to our midst. or because you have served in a different way the will of God...then hear now our prayer and our sincerest desire for you and for us is that you may know your value as part of the WHOLE PICTURE that God is seeking to put together here - for God's Spirit is upon each one here today to will and accomplish his good purposes - within this body of his Church, and through us - in the world beyond.
Hear our prayer and rise and praise God in the testimony time for what God does through you or what you are seeing God doing.
The Spirit makes us one. May the walls that divide us from one another be broken down in our common service and celebration. And may God's name be praised - now and forever. Amen
Strange Day today in some ways strange because this is the Birthday of the Church, and not Easter as some people might think, or even Christmas, as others seem to believe.
Today is the day in which we celebrate the pouring out of the Spirit upon the first disciples of Jesus and how from that day the church began to reach out around the world, how they went from being timid and afraid in their testimony to Christ to to being bold and courageous in their witness; how they went from being inward looking to being outward looking, from seeking to save themselves to being ones who had a passion for showing others where healing is to be found.
Something strange happened on the day of Pentecost - as the Spirit overcame the confusion that has been upon the face of the earth since the days when the Tower of Babel was destroyed, and made it possible for the disciples to communicate with every person - regardless of differences of race, colour, or language.
Something strange and profound happened on the day of Pentecost - some 2000 years ago, and that something profound is still occurring as the Spirit continues to be poured out upon those who believe in and follow Christ - bringing order out of chaos, understanding out of confusion, unity out of diversity.
It should be the belief of the entire church, that everyone is important - and that all should see and understand that the person next to them from those who work in the kitchen to those who serve at the Communion Table - are an essential and important part of the body of Christ, that everyone - from those who pray quietly at home for their neighbours, both those near and those far way - to those who clean up the church, and those who set up coffee for our fellowship time each week - are fulfilling a ministry that God has given them.
You know, there has long been a tension in the church between celebrating the gifts of God and the individuals with those gifts, a tension between recognizing those people who serve in particular ways and the God who makes it possible for them to serve in the first place.
In the middle ages when the great cathedrals were built the architects were never named.
The great stained glass windows and works of art within them are unsigned.
The wonderful craftsmanship - unidentified.
It was all done for the glory of God, it was all made possible by the Spirit.
Yet even in those times it was recognized that God's gifts, the gifts poured out by the Holy Spirit in different quantities upon different people, took on flesh through the obedience and faithful service of individuals - and that is good and important to highlight the fact that this is so.
That is why Paul wrote what he wrote in Corinthians.
To remind the church in that place that everyone who follows Christ is gifted, gifted by God, gifted in different ways and to different degrees, but that each gift and each person is important - none more or none less than another: that those who preach are not greater than those who listen and that those who wait on tables are no greater than those who gather to eat.
Each one of us if we are being obedient to the call of God in our lives is used of God - some more particularly within the sanctuary and on the property that we share and some more particularly outside spreading the good news to those who need it in the world.
Where is the Gospel today? The good news?
It is in the fact of the Spirit, it is in the fact that God has poured himself out upon us, and in the fact that for those of faith God is at hand. God is here in us and around us.
The good news is in the fact that God has given us a diversity of gifts and that these are in use here in our midst and beyond this sanctuary - in the world to which we are sent as apostles of Christ.
We do have old men who dream dreams and young men who see visions.
We have sons and daughters who are moved by the Spirit to build up the body by sharing their faith, their hope, their worship of God.
We have those with gifts of administration of preaching and of teaching of music and of prayer.
We have those with gifts of helps and of service and those with the gifts of hearing and of counsel.
We have too those who have what Paul calls the gift of faith and those with what I call the gift of presence and of encouragement.
In all that we celebrate today the hand of God is evident and that hand calls us to rejoice and take heart. We earnestly pray that we leave no gift, no person out, because we know that God has not left us so incomplete, that God treasures and gifts each person here.
The good news is that we are equipped by the Spirit, we are equipped to do what the Spirit calls the church to do, which is to witness to the love and purpose of God as revealed through Christ Jesus our Lord and the Law and the Prophets.
As Lisa and Jones and David help us today to reflect on the different tasks that are done here in this place - both those that were done in the past and those that are still done do not hesitate to stand and be identified as one who is used of God.
And should there be no occasion for you to stand perhaps because we have named things according to the experience and history we have here at this church and you are new to our midst. or because you have served in a different way the will of God...then hear now our prayer and our sincerest desire for you and for us is that you may know your value as part of the WHOLE PICTURE that God is seeking to put together here - for God's Spirit is upon each one here today to will and accomplish his good purposes - within this body of his Church, and through us - in the world beyond.
Hear our prayer and rise and praise God in the testimony time for what God does through you or what you are seeing God doing.
The Spirit makes us one. May the walls that divide us from one another be broken down in our common service and celebration. And may God's name be praised - now and forever. Amen
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Acts 16:16-34 Psalm 97, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 John 17:20-26
Loving God, as you opened the tomb and raised Jesus to new life, so open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit that as your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today, and in confidence go forth to live what you show us. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
There is a story about an event which happened some 200 years ago to the Reverend Samuel Rutherford.
Rutherford was the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. One evening a stranger came to the parsonage door and asked if he could stay for the night. The stranger was welcomed into the house. It was the custom for the minister and his family to have devotions at the end of the day and the stranger was asked to join in this family service, which he did.
After the pastor read the scripture for the day, each person was asked questions about the Bible. When the time came for the stranger's question, he was asked an easy one, "How many commandments are there?............"
The stranger quickly answered, "Eleven".
The minister was surprised at the man's ignorance and immediately corrected him corrected him by saying, "There are only Ten Commandments."
The stranger then replied, "Have you never then read, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another"?"
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
It's an incredible thing isn't it? This kind of love that Jesus asks us all to show?
It's an incredible thing isn't it, the kind of love that Jesus showed:
- the love that is represented and remembered today at this table......
- the love that gives life
- the love that is prepared to sacrifice everything for the one that is loved?
I think that the popularity of Mother's day in our society is linked to this kind of love.
All kinds of things can be said about the commercialism of mother's day but when push comes to shove - I think that for many people, this day is a celebration of the fact that the love we see in our Saviour is often found in the love of our mothers.
There is, of course, many sad stories that can be told about mothers, just as there are many sad stories told about fathers:
- how love was lacking,
- how pain was not soothed with a loving kiss
- how sadness was not brushed away with a tight hug
- how needs were not met with a word of guidance and a tender helping hand;
but still, all in all, the failures of mothers and fathers, grievous as they may be, should not be allowed to overshadow the simple reality that it is possible - in human form - to love as God as loves - to love as our brother Jesus loved us - and that we see this love so very often in our parents, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.
As I was preparing this week and thinking about Mother's day and how to speak on it, it dawned on me that as Jesus gave his disciples the 11th Commandment he was doing it as a kind of last wish - the last words of advice - the final blessing as it were, for his disciples before his death.
At times such as these, times of last goodbyes, some people are gifted with the ability and the desire to summarize just what it is that they feel for those that they leaving, and just what it that they hope for them.
There was a tradition amongst the Hebrew people - as amongst many nations - that a person, when they felt death approaching, would gather their families together and make known to them their final wishes and give to them their blessing - as did Isaac, and Jacob, in the book of Genesis.
Of course, we do this kind of thing at other times as well. In less formal ways than that of the Last of Supper of Jesus, or the death bed blessings of Isaac and Jacob.
We do it often one on one in our family relationships, father to son, mother to daughter, sister to brother.
There is a special moment of sharing - or simply some sage words of advice given, advice that is meant to be really heard and to be taken to heart as a guide for all of living.
I am sure each of you here has been on the receiving end of such advice giving - and many of you have given it.
I always associate such moments, as a receiver of life abiding wisdom, with my Godmother - though for some of you it may be your father, or a step parent.
My adopted Godmother gave me, on several occasions, two key words of counsel, two major teachings by which she hoped I would live my life.
She would say: "My hope for you is that you will be happy all your days" and "In all that you do, try not to hurt other people"
She would say this in different ways.
For example if I was being hounded by my Godfather about what I intended to do when I grew up if I was going to go to university - and get a real job and all those kinds of things that we so often lay upon other people, especially our children, or Godchild, when they do not seem to be living "up to snuff", my Godmother would find opportunity some time later to say: "It doesn't matter what it is you do - as long as you happy in it and it isn't harming someone else."
Good words. Shared in love. Often shared at a time when I really needed some words of grace and encouragement.
I imagine that each of you can recall some such encouraging words, thoughts shared for your sake rather than for the sake of those uttering it - thoughts that got at the essence of your life - your spiritual, well being rather than the superficial things of career or education or money making ability - things which often are the reflection of the hopes of the speaker, rather the hopes of those listening....
That is where my mind moved this week as I considered the Gospel text that Jacqueline read, and the fact that we would honour mother's in midst today.
Now there are many fine things that could be said about mother's here today and fine examples drawn from the bible of what a good mother is, but I am not going to preach at you like that today.
Nor am I going to lift up before you some wonderful stories or poems or definitions of motherhood.
Rather, I am going to leave each of you to consider what kind of spiritual
advice did your mother or your father or a step parent give you for the
living of your lives?
And whatever that is if it was anything at all I want you to give thanks to God for the care that for you that was revealed in the fact that this counsel was given - whether the counsel was good - or not so good - it shows loving intention - indeed loving reality.
And then, thanks having been given for the counsel that you have received, I want you to do one more thing and think of the advice that you would give to a young person - today, be it to your most precious son or daughter, to your dearest nephew or niece, or to the teenager that you have taken under your wing, or the kids that you coach, or teach, or perhaps - if this is how God has arranged your life - simply to another adult, a friend, someone whom you believe your words may help.
What single - most important - thing would you say to them to help them live their lives? What single - most important thing have you in fact said - perhaps over and over again?
It doesn't matter what it is you do - as long as you happy in it and it isn't harming someone else.
Live and let live.
Look on the bright side of things.
Chase your dreams.
Be good.
Work hard and play hard.
Don't lie, cheat, or steal.
What is it that we tell people - that we tell those we love - is the most important thing we wish for them? That we hope that they will do and be?
As you are thinking about this I want to share with you a couple of quotations from a book entitled, "Dear God: Children's Letters To God" by David Heller:
Dear God, Thank you for my parents, my sister Anita, and for my grandma and grandpa. They are real warm and special. I forgive you for my brother Phil. I guess you didn't finish working on him - Sean
Dear God, You light up my life. So do mom and dad. I hope you like this. I am not sure what it means. Luv, Toni
Dear God, Girls are weird. Except for my mom. Love you, Timmy
Dear God, My mom and my father are divorced. For 3 years. Nobody's perfect. But why did you pick us? I wish we were all with each other. Maybe you could have them get along on weekends. Please, Stephen
Dear God, Do you think there's enough love today? I feel there's a shortage. Love, Ken......
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
My hope for all of you today - my hope for me is that you and I may indeed love as Christ loved - and still loves - us. For in him - and in God above is found all that makes life worthwhile. In him is the hope of the world. And through him comes that which gives life both now and eternally.
May His name be praised day by day. Amen!
There is a story about an event which happened some 200 years ago to the Reverend Samuel Rutherford.
Rutherford was the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. One evening a stranger came to the parsonage door and asked if he could stay for the night. The stranger was welcomed into the house. It was the custom for the minister and his family to have devotions at the end of the day and the stranger was asked to join in this family service, which he did.
After the pastor read the scripture for the day, each person was asked questions about the Bible. When the time came for the stranger's question, he was asked an easy one, "How many commandments are there?............"
The stranger quickly answered, "Eleven".
The minister was surprised at the man's ignorance and immediately corrected him corrected him by saying, "There are only Ten Commandments."
The stranger then replied, "Have you never then read, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another"?"
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
It's an incredible thing isn't it? This kind of love that Jesus asks us all to show?
It's an incredible thing isn't it, the kind of love that Jesus showed:
- the love that is represented and remembered today at this table......
- the love that gives life
- the love that is prepared to sacrifice everything for the one that is loved?
I think that the popularity of Mother's day in our society is linked to this kind of love.
All kinds of things can be said about the commercialism of mother's day but when push comes to shove - I think that for many people, this day is a celebration of the fact that the love we see in our Saviour is often found in the love of our mothers.
There is, of course, many sad stories that can be told about mothers, just as there are many sad stories told about fathers:
- how love was lacking,
- how pain was not soothed with a loving kiss
- how sadness was not brushed away with a tight hug
- how needs were not met with a word of guidance and a tender helping hand;
but still, all in all, the failures of mothers and fathers, grievous as they may be, should not be allowed to overshadow the simple reality that it is possible - in human form - to love as God as loves - to love as our brother Jesus loved us - and that we see this love so very often in our parents, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.
As I was preparing this week and thinking about Mother's day and how to speak on it, it dawned on me that as Jesus gave his disciples the 11th Commandment he was doing it as a kind of last wish - the last words of advice - the final blessing as it were, for his disciples before his death.
At times such as these, times of last goodbyes, some people are gifted with the ability and the desire to summarize just what it is that they feel for those that they leaving, and just what it that they hope for them.
There was a tradition amongst the Hebrew people - as amongst many nations - that a person, when they felt death approaching, would gather their families together and make known to them their final wishes and give to them their blessing - as did Isaac, and Jacob, in the book of Genesis.
Of course, we do this kind of thing at other times as well. In less formal ways than that of the Last of Supper of Jesus, or the death bed blessings of Isaac and Jacob.
We do it often one on one in our family relationships, father to son, mother to daughter, sister to brother.
There is a special moment of sharing - or simply some sage words of advice given, advice that is meant to be really heard and to be taken to heart as a guide for all of living.
I am sure each of you here has been on the receiving end of such advice giving - and many of you have given it.
I always associate such moments, as a receiver of life abiding wisdom, with my Godmother - though for some of you it may be your father, or a step parent.
My adopted Godmother gave me, on several occasions, two key words of counsel, two major teachings by which she hoped I would live my life.
She would say: "My hope for you is that you will be happy all your days" and "In all that you do, try not to hurt other people"
She would say this in different ways.
For example if I was being hounded by my Godfather about what I intended to do when I grew up if I was going to go to university - and get a real job and all those kinds of things that we so often lay upon other people, especially our children, or Godchild, when they do not seem to be living "up to snuff", my Godmother would find opportunity some time later to say: "It doesn't matter what it is you do - as long as you happy in it and it isn't harming someone else."
Good words. Shared in love. Often shared at a time when I really needed some words of grace and encouragement.
I imagine that each of you can recall some such encouraging words, thoughts shared for your sake rather than for the sake of those uttering it - thoughts that got at the essence of your life - your spiritual, well being rather than the superficial things of career or education or money making ability - things which often are the reflection of the hopes of the speaker, rather the hopes of those listening....
That is where my mind moved this week as I considered the Gospel text that Jacqueline read, and the fact that we would honour mother's in midst today.
Now there are many fine things that could be said about mother's here today and fine examples drawn from the bible of what a good mother is, but I am not going to preach at you like that today.
Nor am I going to lift up before you some wonderful stories or poems or definitions of motherhood.
Rather, I am going to leave each of you to consider what kind of spiritual
advice did your mother or your father or a step parent give you for the
living of your lives?
And whatever that is if it was anything at all I want you to give thanks to God for the care that for you that was revealed in the fact that this counsel was given - whether the counsel was good - or not so good - it shows loving intention - indeed loving reality.
And then, thanks having been given for the counsel that you have received, I want you to do one more thing and think of the advice that you would give to a young person - today, be it to your most precious son or daughter, to your dearest nephew or niece, or to the teenager that you have taken under your wing, or the kids that you coach, or teach, or perhaps - if this is how God has arranged your life - simply to another adult, a friend, someone whom you believe your words may help.
What single - most important - thing would you say to them to help them live their lives? What single - most important thing have you in fact said - perhaps over and over again?
It doesn't matter what it is you do - as long as you happy in it and it isn't harming someone else.
Live and let live.
Look on the bright side of things.
Chase your dreams.
Be good.
Work hard and play hard.
Don't lie, cheat, or steal.
What is it that we tell people - that we tell those we love - is the most important thing we wish for them? That we hope that they will do and be?
As you are thinking about this I want to share with you a couple of quotations from a book entitled, "Dear God: Children's Letters To God" by David Heller:
Dear God, Thank you for my parents, my sister Anita, and for my grandma and grandpa. They are real warm and special. I forgive you for my brother Phil. I guess you didn't finish working on him - Sean
Dear God, You light up my life. So do mom and dad. I hope you like this. I am not sure what it means. Luv, Toni
Dear God, Girls are weird. Except for my mom. Love you, Timmy
Dear God, My mom and my father are divorced. For 3 years. Nobody's perfect. But why did you pick us? I wish we were all with each other. Maybe you could have them get along on weekends. Please, Stephen
Dear God, Do you think there's enough love today? I feel there's a shortage. Love, Ken......
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
My hope for all of you today - my hope for me is that you and I may indeed love as Christ loved - and still loves - us. For in him - and in God above is found all that makes life worthwhile. In him is the hope of the world. And through him comes that which gives life both now and eternally.
May His name be praised day by day. Amen!
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; John 14:23-29
Loving God, as you opened the tomb and raised Jesus to new life, so open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit that as your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today, and in confidence go forth to live what you show us. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
One of the hardest things for people to grasp about faith and the salvation that arises from faith is the connection between what we do - and what God does, the connection between the work of God in our lives and the work that we must do if God is, in fact, to be in our lives, in our lives in a way that makes a difference to us, in a way that makes a difference to our world.
Our story today from the Book of The Acts of The Apostles tells us that when Paul arrived in Philippi and began to preach the good news there, a woman by the name of Lydia - a dealer in purple cloth (which was an extremely valuable commodity in those days) responded to Paul's message and, with the members of her household - was baptized.
The scripture says this about that event: She was a worshipper of God. And the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.
The implication seems to be that it is "God's action that opens people's hearts", that it is God who brings people to faith in Jesus Christ.
Yet, almost in contrary fashion, in the Gospel reading this morning, we hear say Jesus say this:
If anyone loves me, they will keep my word, and God will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
The implication seems to be that if we don't keep God's word, if we don't obey the commandments that God gives us, that Jesus gives us, that God won't love us or make a home with us.
This seems to a problem:
Just how much of faith and love is a result of God's doing and how much is our part? Just how much of the peace God gives comes because God gives it freely, and how much comes because we are doing what God wants.
There is no simple answer to this. In fact I think it is one of the mysteries of our faith; but I think that it is a wonderful mystery; a mystery that both keeps the grace of God held high as a grace, a gift; and the individual's response to grace held high as an important part of what it means to be a believer.
The Methodist tradition - from which our Church, in part, arose, speaks to this issue by talking of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives - by speaking of how the Spirit seeks to lead all people to respond to God's love and to come to a deep and saving faith in him - and in Christ.
This work of the Spirit in our lives - before faith is discovered - is called "Prevenient Grace." God is seen as something like the "Hound of Heaven" - pursuing us - seeking to claim us.
And God - in this view - seeks us all. God seeks to work in all our lives. God seeks to bring all people to an awareness of his love. God desires that everybody comes to a faith that He can use to change their lives.
But persons who are thus called - those who are thus sought - those who are thus desired, and that is all of us here, must eventually respond with Faith, they must make a decision if the fullness of the love of God, the fullness of the peace of God, is to inhabit them; just as one who receives a proposal of marriage must eventually respond, yes or no if they are to enter in the fullness of the love of the one who freely proposes to them and if they are to inhabit with each other in the fullness of the way that only marriage can provide.
In this sense then - Lydia's heart, like our own hearts, is opened by God, to respond to the Gospel. But - in that - it is Lydia who decides to say yes to the message that she finally "hears" through Paul just as we, have responded today - responded to the degree that we are here to listen to the Word of God, to seek God's wisdom - and just as we - to one degree or another - have said yes to the message of God's love - yes - I believe - yes - I want to follow Jesus and to keep his word - Yes - I want to have him, to have God, dwell fully in me.
In short - God is not to blame for those who do not respond to Him, but God is to be praised for opening our hearts, and God is not to blame for those who do not experience the fullness of his presence in their lives, but God is be praised for helping us follow Christ and in that following for dwelling in us and granting us an ever greater sense of peace, an ever increasing ability to love, an ever growing sense of the assurance of our immortality and an ever expanding sense of how God will in fact bring his kingdom to pass and create a new heaven and new earth in which there is no darkness - no pain - no evil.
I recall the story of a little girl who, when trains were popular transportation, was taking her first train ride with her parents. As night descended, the mother took the girl, who was clearly quite anxious, and placed her on the upper bunk of the sleeper. She told her little one that up there she would be nearer to God and that God would watch over her.
As silence enveloped the young lady she became afraid and called softly, "Mommy, are you there?"
"Yes dear," came the response.
A little later, in a louder voice, the child called, "Daddy, are you there, too?"
"Yes dear," was the reply.
After this had been repeated several times one of the passengers sharing their sleeper car finally lost his patience and shouted loudly, "Yes, we're all here, your father, your mother, your brother, and all your aunts and cousins; now settle down and go to sleep!"
There was a moment of silence and then, in hushed tones a little voice asked, "Mommy, was that God?"
Jesus, in offering peace, in offering to dwell within us, does not say, "I'm here, the Holy Spirit's here and God is here, now be at peace!"
The peace that Jesus offers cannot be had simply by desiring it. The peace of God is a gift.
A gift that can only be received as a by-product of faith - as a by product of saying yes, I believe; and yes - I am going to keep your word - I am going to obey you as best I can.
I am going to keep your word, O Lord, knowing that it is in your word and by your word that the gifts you offer to us all arrive.
Keeping the Word of God is not as common as it might be in our world. That's why the world is largely a stranger to the peace of God. That is why there is still darkness. And that is why it is so important to share the word of God with as many people as we can.
By accepting the word, the word comes to dwell in us. By living the word the word lives in us.
And the word that lives in us does what the living word does best, it shines - and it attracts others, It gives them the opportunity to hear - and to see - and to feel - to have their hearts opened, opened to the degree that they decide to say yes to the marriage proposal of God or - no - not at this time - because I do not want to live in the house you have made nor to have you live in my house.
In two week we celebrate the pouring out of the gift of the Holy Spirit upon all who believe; a gift that enables the apostles and disciples of our Lord to move from being men and women afraid to speak the message lest they be mocked, scorned, or killed - to ones who not only speak the message - but speak it in a way that everyone, regardless of their language - or culture - or background - could hear.
In two weeks we celebrate the manner in which Christ - in which God - comes to live with us and in us, and we celebrate what that relationship does for us - and for the world.
What is that God does? And what is it that we must do?
God proposes to us a kind of marriage - and I thank God for that - God does everything God can do to lay the foundation - and then God proposes to me - and to you - and to all people saying: "love me and let me live with you and in you and give to you all that I am, let me change your life. Let me build a wonderful home for you in which we can dwell a home of joy and peace - a home that has room for all who are one with us."
The response - well that is ours to make, and ours to pray for and work for so that others might make it to.
And when we say yes and keep the word of God, the word of Christ - the word keeps us.
I note about Lydia's story what she did after her heart was opened to Paul's message, she did what God wants us all to do - she believed.
She kept his word by being baptised - and then she opened her home to Paul and his companions, saying to them, "If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house."
Isn't that a fascinating connection with the Gospel reading?
Lydia invites Paul and his companions - strangers to her city - but now brothers to her in faith - to come and stay at her house. In the Gospel today it is promised that God will come to make a home with us.
Both stories point to the faith which is lived as one of hospitality and home making.
As the Spirit makes a home with us, so we are moved to make a home for others. And as we make a home for others - as we keep God's word - so God makes a home with us.
A mystery and a marvel. God loves us - and calls us to himself. God dwells within us and loves us - even as we say yes - and love him.
Blessed be the name of God, day by day. Amen
One of the hardest things for people to grasp about faith and the salvation that arises from faith is the connection between what we do - and what God does, the connection between the work of God in our lives and the work that we must do if God is, in fact, to be in our lives, in our lives in a way that makes a difference to us, in a way that makes a difference to our world.
Our story today from the Book of The Acts of The Apostles tells us that when Paul arrived in Philippi and began to preach the good news there, a woman by the name of Lydia - a dealer in purple cloth (which was an extremely valuable commodity in those days) responded to Paul's message and, with the members of her household - was baptized.
The scripture says this about that event: She was a worshipper of God. And the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.
The implication seems to be that it is "God's action that opens people's hearts", that it is God who brings people to faith in Jesus Christ.
Yet, almost in contrary fashion, in the Gospel reading this morning, we hear say Jesus say this:
If anyone loves me, they will keep my word, and God will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
The implication seems to be that if we don't keep God's word, if we don't obey the commandments that God gives us, that Jesus gives us, that God won't love us or make a home with us.
This seems to a problem:
Just how much of faith and love is a result of God's doing and how much is our part? Just how much of the peace God gives comes because God gives it freely, and how much comes because we are doing what God wants.
There is no simple answer to this. In fact I think it is one of the mysteries of our faith; but I think that it is a wonderful mystery; a mystery that both keeps the grace of God held high as a grace, a gift; and the individual's response to grace held high as an important part of what it means to be a believer.
The Methodist tradition - from which our Church, in part, arose, speaks to this issue by talking of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives - by speaking of how the Spirit seeks to lead all people to respond to God's love and to come to a deep and saving faith in him - and in Christ.
This work of the Spirit in our lives - before faith is discovered - is called "Prevenient Grace." God is seen as something like the "Hound of Heaven" - pursuing us - seeking to claim us.
And God - in this view - seeks us all. God seeks to work in all our lives. God seeks to bring all people to an awareness of his love. God desires that everybody comes to a faith that He can use to change their lives.
But persons who are thus called - those who are thus sought - those who are thus desired, and that is all of us here, must eventually respond with Faith, they must make a decision if the fullness of the love of God, the fullness of the peace of God, is to inhabit them; just as one who receives a proposal of marriage must eventually respond, yes or no if they are to enter in the fullness of the love of the one who freely proposes to them and if they are to inhabit with each other in the fullness of the way that only marriage can provide.
In this sense then - Lydia's heart, like our own hearts, is opened by God, to respond to the Gospel. But - in that - it is Lydia who decides to say yes to the message that she finally "hears" through Paul just as we, have responded today - responded to the degree that we are here to listen to the Word of God, to seek God's wisdom - and just as we - to one degree or another - have said yes to the message of God's love - yes - I believe - yes - I want to follow Jesus and to keep his word - Yes - I want to have him, to have God, dwell fully in me.
In short - God is not to blame for those who do not respond to Him, but God is to be praised for opening our hearts, and God is not to blame for those who do not experience the fullness of his presence in their lives, but God is be praised for helping us follow Christ and in that following for dwelling in us and granting us an ever greater sense of peace, an ever increasing ability to love, an ever growing sense of the assurance of our immortality and an ever expanding sense of how God will in fact bring his kingdom to pass and create a new heaven and new earth in which there is no darkness - no pain - no evil.
I recall the story of a little girl who, when trains were popular transportation, was taking her first train ride with her parents. As night descended, the mother took the girl, who was clearly quite anxious, and placed her on the upper bunk of the sleeper. She told her little one that up there she would be nearer to God and that God would watch over her.
As silence enveloped the young lady she became afraid and called softly, "Mommy, are you there?"
"Yes dear," came the response.
A little later, in a louder voice, the child called, "Daddy, are you there, too?"
"Yes dear," was the reply.
After this had been repeated several times one of the passengers sharing their sleeper car finally lost his patience and shouted loudly, "Yes, we're all here, your father, your mother, your brother, and all your aunts and cousins; now settle down and go to sleep!"
There was a moment of silence and then, in hushed tones a little voice asked, "Mommy, was that God?"
Jesus, in offering peace, in offering to dwell within us, does not say, "I'm here, the Holy Spirit's here and God is here, now be at peace!"
The peace that Jesus offers cannot be had simply by desiring it. The peace of God is a gift.
A gift that can only be received as a by-product of faith - as a by product of saying yes, I believe; and yes - I am going to keep your word - I am going to obey you as best I can.
I am going to keep your word, O Lord, knowing that it is in your word and by your word that the gifts you offer to us all arrive.
Keeping the Word of God is not as common as it might be in our world. That's why the world is largely a stranger to the peace of God. That is why there is still darkness. And that is why it is so important to share the word of God with as many people as we can.
By accepting the word, the word comes to dwell in us. By living the word the word lives in us.
And the word that lives in us does what the living word does best, it shines - and it attracts others, It gives them the opportunity to hear - and to see - and to feel - to have their hearts opened, opened to the degree that they decide to say yes to the marriage proposal of God or - no - not at this time - because I do not want to live in the house you have made nor to have you live in my house.
In two week we celebrate the pouring out of the gift of the Holy Spirit upon all who believe; a gift that enables the apostles and disciples of our Lord to move from being men and women afraid to speak the message lest they be mocked, scorned, or killed - to ones who not only speak the message - but speak it in a way that everyone, regardless of their language - or culture - or background - could hear.
In two weeks we celebrate the manner in which Christ - in which God - comes to live with us and in us, and we celebrate what that relationship does for us - and for the world.
What is that God does? And what is it that we must do?
God proposes to us a kind of marriage - and I thank God for that - God does everything God can do to lay the foundation - and then God proposes to me - and to you - and to all people saying: "love me and let me live with you and in you and give to you all that I am, let me change your life. Let me build a wonderful home for you in which we can dwell a home of joy and peace - a home that has room for all who are one with us."
The response - well that is ours to make, and ours to pray for and work for so that others might make it to.
And when we say yes and keep the word of God, the word of Christ - the word keeps us.
I note about Lydia's story what she did after her heart was opened to Paul's message, she did what God wants us all to do - she believed.
She kept his word by being baptised - and then she opened her home to Paul and his companions, saying to them, "If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house."
Isn't that a fascinating connection with the Gospel reading?
Lydia invites Paul and his companions - strangers to her city - but now brothers to her in faith - to come and stay at her house. In the Gospel today it is promised that God will come to make a home with us.
Both stories point to the faith which is lived as one of hospitality and home making.
As the Spirit makes a home with us, so we are moved to make a home for others. And as we make a home for others - as we keep God's word - so God makes a home with us.
A mystery and a marvel. God loves us - and calls us to himself. God dwells within us and loves us - even as we say yes - and love him.
Blessed be the name of God, day by day. Amen
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