Bless, O Lord, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to you, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen
A old children's story goes like this: One child asks another:
Would you forget me in an hour? No.
Would you forget me in a day? No.
Would you forget me in a month? No.
Knock knock. Who's there?
I thought you said you wouldn't forget me.
Today we heard the story of the covenant God made with Noah. It is a covenant where God promises that He will never forget us, nor any of the creatures that he made.
It is a covenant that promises that God will never again destroy the earth because of the sinfulness of man, and as a sign of this covenant - this promise - God creates the rainbow so that whenever it raining God and all of us here who see it will remember that promise.
The beautiful thing about this covenant, this agreement that God made is that is has no conditions upon it.
It is a covenant without any "if" clauses, csuch as "if you love me" or "if you obey me" or "if you worship me" or if you brush your teeth or help old ladies across the street - then I will be good to you!
No - the covenant God made Noah is an unconditional covenant. It is a covenant of love wherein God promises to remember us even if we forget him.
That is what God's love is like. He remembers us even when we forget him.
No matter what we have done - when we stand at the door and knock, God won't ask "who's there" he will instead open the door and welcome us in.
God can be grieved by us. We can make God sad and we can make God angry, but God swore to Noah that he would never be so angry that he would destroy the people and the world that he made.
Despite our sinfulness, despite all that we do to hurt each other and to hurt ourselves, God has promised not to abandon us, to not to forget us and seek our destruction, but rather to remember us and his love for us.
Indeed - God does remember us - and God seeks us out. He calls us to love him as he loves us.
No matter what we have done, God calls to us like a parent calls to his child, God calls us to turn around and try once more to be the person that we were born to be, and God reaches out his hand and tries to deliver us from the judgements that we set ourselves up for with our foolishness and our pride.
God wants to help us, not destroy us.
This is the meaning of the covenant sealed with a rainbow, and this is the meaning of all God's covenants with us.
Abraham was chosen by God to raise up a great nation, so that the world would be blessed by a Holy People. David's children were chosen by God to be Kings over Israel, so that one day the world might be saved by a Messiah. And Jeremiah was chosen to announce a new covenant, where God would place the Law in each person's heart and where each person might personally come to know God and his salvation.
That last covenant, the once announcement by Jeremiah, has been fulfilled, and each of us here is now privileged, if we so choose, to be a part of that covenant, a covenant that is signed by the cross of Jesus and sealed by our baptism into his death and resurrection.
God remembered the promise he made to Noah, and even though we have provoked God in a manner worse even than that of the people who lived before the flood, God has kept his promise.
God sent his Son instead of a flood to deal with our sin, and he died for our sin - the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God and to allow us to live well both now and forever.
Through Jesus - God remembers us. In fact through Jesus, God stands at our door and knocks, and he tells us
"Here I am. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
What then shall we say to this love of God, what shall we say about the signs of his love? The cross and the rainbow? The Bread and the Wine? What shall we about his knocking at our door what shall we say about his invitation to come and dine?
God wants us to say "Yes" to his love; He wants us to see the signs and wonders He has left for us; He wants us to open the door to our lives and let Him come in and do his work
- a work in which he makes us more and more like his son Jesus,
- a work in which he makes us holy, and saves us from our own sin, our own foolishness.
Recall today, as we begin Lent, my friends, the story of Jesus, and how after he was baptized he spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted, and how, he then went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God saying:
"The Kingdom of God is near, repent and believe in the good news."
God wants us to try our best to be like Jesus, He wants us to believe in His love, He wants us to know that He is near to us and ready to help us, He wants us to turn to Him in faith, and strive to lead a new life with Christ.
The word of the gospel, the good news, is that God forgives us our sin, that he remembers his love for us, and extends his saving hand towards us.
God's love for us is a marvel and a grace. But, as we begin Lent, let us remember that our forgiveness comes at a cost, that a price is paid for our sin, a price in pain and suffering, and that, as long as we yield to sin, as long as we yield to temptation, not only do we hurt ourselves and others - we hurt God.
What we can do as people who have heard Christ and accepted his invitation to believe in Him, in the saving love of God the Father, is to repent of our sinful ways and to struggle as best as we can - as did Jesus in the wilderness - to live a sin free life.
If the truth be told I think that everyone here has not struggled quite hard enough with sin, that we have sometimes given in too easily to temptation, especially in the simple things - the things like the temptation to gossip, or the desire to get just a little bit of revenge, or the desire to kid ourselves about our lifestyle and tell ourselves that it is really OK.
There is a story told about a man called Sam.
Sam wasn't make much headway with his diet. He was one of those folks who could resist everything but temptation. One day he came into the office with a whole box of freshly baked Danish.
When his friends questioned him about his diet he explained that really wouldn't have gotten the Danish if it hadn't been for God.
"What do you mean"? one of his friends asked.
"Well", he said, "as I was about to pass the bakery I prayed that if it were God's will for me to have these Danish today I would be able to find a parking place in front of the building. Sure enough I found a space right in front on the eighth time around the block"
Most of us have a tougher time with temptation than we like to think.
We try to tell ourselves that the things that we do, the little things that hurt others or ourselves, aren't really all that important or all that harmful, or that someone else is really to blame for them.
When we get angry, or feel terribly anxious or upset, and then yell at our husbands or our wives, or rebuke our children and slight our friends, we often tell ourselves that it is because of something that they did - that it is justified by the circumstances.
We do not like to think that maybe, just maybe, even when we have been provoked, that while our reaction is justifiable, maybe our behaviour is not.
We forget the lesson of the rainbow and of the cross, the lesson that tells us that even though we anger God, even though we do things that God cannot approve of, God still loves us, and while He calls us to live a better life, He does not push us away, He does not reject us, He does not condemn us.
It is a good thing I think, to cultivate the sense that we do not resist sin enough. I believe that this kind of humility, this kind of realism about ourselves, can only be pleasing to God.
Acknowledging our weakness in the face of temptation gives us a foundation upon which we can build a new life, for it is only as when we recognize our need, that we can be open enough to have our needs met.
Our sins arise primarily because we do not readily recognize the need we have to struggle with ourselves.
Most of the things we do that are harmful do not come out of some great issue which we must decide about, rather they arise out of the habits we have, habits that are comfortable and whose correction requires some effort.
A lot of what we do is like what we do with our old sweaters.
Old sweaters, even though they may be natty, even though they may be losing their shape and have the odd tear or run, are very comfortable, and we often wear them, even though there is new one is in our cupboard.
We say bad things about some people because it makes us feel good, because it makes us feel just a bit better than they are, and because it is easier to say what we say than to look for the good that may be in the person, and because it is easier to condemn them than to forgive.
We throw junk out our car window and add to the pollution of our world because it is easier to do so than to have to pack around garbage bags.
We use more of the world's resources than we have to because recycling requires just a bit more effort than we like to make.
We give into temptation, we hang onto our sinful ways, because no matter what we might say, we are comfortable with them.
The good news that Jesus announced is that God does not forget us, that His kingdom is at hand and we can enter if we desire to do so.
God loves us, God forgives us, and God calls us to his side and offers to us a new beginning in Jesus, a new life in Christ.
God calls us to be like Jesus, to struggle with temptation, and to hold firmly onto His word, this so that we might experience the blessings of a good life, and so that our world will not suffer so much needless pain and suffering.
This Lent I call you to examine your life, to look at all that you do, how you treat your family, and how you act at work or at school and ask yourself if you are taking the easy way, or if there is something you can do to be a more loving and caring person.
I call you to examine how you live. Do you do your best to be aware of the environment? Do you really struggle with what you use and what you waste?
And I call you to examine how you treat yourself. Do anger and fear constantly sweep over you? Does your daily walk take you constantly to extremes? Do you love yourself as well as God loves you?
God, my friends, has something better in mind for us all than that which we now do and experience.
God created this world to be good, and he placed us in a magnificent garden and gave us company and asked us to take care of that garden and each other.
God made us to keep company with Him, and despite all that we do to reject Him, and all that we do to harm each other and ourselves,
God reaches out to us and calls to us to come to his side and to love and enjoy the world that he has made.
No matter what we have done - when we stand at the door and knock, God won't ask "who's there" he will instead open the door and welcome us in.
Trust God to help you struggle with temptation and with yourself, and ask God for His continual forgiveness and eternal blessings to be upon you and the world that His son Jesus Christ died for.
The promises that God have made, the promises we see in signs like the rainbow and the cross, are forever; they have not been and will not be broken.
Accept those promises for yourself. Struggle with sin, and thank God for all his mercies. Amen
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
I Kings 2:1-12; Mark 9:2-9
Let us Pray - O Lord, in the light of your presence we turn our attention to your teaching, seeking what you want to say to us. May the light of your gospel so illuminate us that we may receive a double portion of your Spirit and the assurance that we are indeed your beloved servants. For Christ's sake we ask it. Amen.
I was at a meeting the other day when the treasurer handed the secretary an envelop. A bit later in the meeting the chairperson asked the secretary for some information - but the secretary replied that she didn't have that information. At the point the treasurer rose and said "yes - you do - it is was on the envelop I gave you."
The secretary replied, "Oh, I didn't know what that was - so I threw it away "
Everyone laughed - including me - but I was struck at the time by just how normal the secretary's actions had been.
Often when we encounter something which we do not know or understand we throw it away; or at the very least - we ignore it - we put it on hold - we neglect it.
So it is with stories like those we heard today from the scriptures. Many of us hear about visions of chariots of fire, of water being parted to reveal a path across a river, and of a man being taken up into heaven - and mentally shrug our shoulders and dismiss the matter as an idle tale.
Others hear about how Jesus was transformed upon a mountaintop, so that he shone as bright as the sun, and about how he is visited by two men - long dead, and say to themselves - that's all very nice, but what does it have to do with me - and then they go on about their lives as if these things had never happened,as if they never can or will happen.
Most sermons I have had heard on today's gospel reading ignore the experience that the disciples witnessed Jesus undergo.
Very little is said in them about the overwhelming brightness of Jesus' appearance, very little is made of the fact that Peter, James, and John saw Moses and Elijah talking with Christ and heard a voice from heaven.
Most of these sermons have in fact quickly passed over the wonder of the experience and go on to stress how Christians are called to come down off the mountain and serve in the valley below.
I find that to be a great shame.
I find it to be a great shame as well how so many of us ignore, neglect, devalue, or scorn the prophet's ecstasy, the dreamer's vision, and the worshipper's conviction that he or she has heard God speak.
Most of us are convinced that our faith is about doing good things, about showing love and care for one another, and it is so - this is what our faith is about.
But our faith is also about the yearning to see God and experience his power, it is about being touched by the Spirit and being moved by the voice of the Lord whispering in our ears.
Our faith is so rich - our God so good - that it makes no sense at all to limit what is possible for us to the dry bones of what we should or should not do each day.
Our faith is about entertaining angels, every bit as much as it is about seeking to comfort the afflicted and to heal the sick. It is about seeing visions of a new heaven and a new earth, every bit as much as it is about seeking justice and resisting evil.
It is about being refreshed by God, as much as it is about refreshing others in God's name.
A little boy, around the turn of the century, lived far back in the New Territories. He had reached the age of 12 and had never, in all his life, seen a circus.
You can imagine his excitement when a poster went up at school that on the next Saturday a travelling circus was coming to Hong Kong. He ran home with the glad news, and then came the question - "Dad, Mom, can I go?"
The family was poor, but the father sensed how important this was to the boy, so he said, "If you do your chores ahead of time, I'll see to it that you have the money to go."
Come Saturday morning the chores were done and the boy stood ready in best clothes by the breakfast table. His father reached down into his overalls and pulled out some money - the most money the boy had ever had at one time - and gave it to him. After the usual cautions about being careful the boy was sent on his way.
The boys was so excited that his feet barely touched the ground all the way to the town. When he got there, he noticed people were lining the streets and he worked his way through the crowd until he could see what was going on. There in the distance approached the spectacle of a circus parade. It was the grandest thing that the boy had ever seen. There were exotic animals in cages and bands and midgets, acrobats, and all that goes to make up a great circus.
After everything had passed by where he was standing, a circus clown, with floppy shoes and baggy paints and brightly painted face, came by bringing up the rear. As the clown passed by where he was standing, the boy reached into his pocket and got out the precious he was given that morning. Handing the money to the clown, the boy then turned around and went home.
The mistake that the boy made - is the same mistake we can make in our spiritual lives - we can end up settling for less than the real thing, for a portion - instead of for the whole, and all because we either do not believe in what God can do, or because we do not look at or understand what we have been given.
I did not know what it was, so I threw it away.
I believe the most common problem faced by members of most churches is not the fact that they spend too much time seeking spiritual visions and revelations - thereby neglecting the important truths and duties of everyday life in Christ, rather it is the fact that they do not believe in and thus are not open to the special moments, the special touches, that only God can give.
Some of the faithful say that people have no energy for living the Christian life because they do not get fed by the church - I say - some people are out of energy because they fail to recognize the food that is before them - because they fail to take and eat what God seeks to give them.
When I lived in England there was a weekly prayer meeting held at our church. Of the hundred or so adults that attended church every week, only about 15 or so attended this meeting.
There they sought spiritual food for their daily journey in the Lord. There they found it.
I remember one time when a guest preacher was present at the meeting.
We prayed for one another with the laying on of hands, we prayed for healings - for people to have the power to overcome some grief or suffering in their lives - for others to discover what God wanted them to do about a particular situation.
Finally my turn came to be prayed for - and I asked that all might pray that God would fill me with his Spirit - that he might make my faith come even more alive.
When the hands came down on my head and shoulders and the people gathered around me began to pray - I felt a energy go through my body like electricity, and I shook in my chair as the words of prayer washed over me, and then, in a moment of sudden silence, one word came strongly from the guest - a word came strongly from God - "You shall be used to do great things in my service."
To this day those words have stayed with me and shaped my thoughts - making me wonder what the greatness is - making me wonder - is it the power and glory like that of great evangelist or theologian, - or is it the greatness that was revealed by Christ as he went about as the servant of all, stooping down even to wash his own disciple's feet?
It was a moment that fed me and still feeds me - a profoundly spiritual moment.
My friends - I can't explain out to you what a holy moment is; nor can I tell you just how special and sacred events come to pass, nor can I even promise you that you will have such a moment if you only do this or that, but I can tell, and I do now tell you, that these moments are real, and that they come to us most often when we put ourselves in the way of them.
As another preacher put it one time You can't have a mountain top experience if you don't climb the mountain.
Elisha followed his teacher Elijah around the country despite Elijah telling him not to when he had his experience; he actively sought a double portion of the spirit that filled Elijah and was patient to receive it.
Peter, James, and John were obeying Jesus when they witnessed his transfiguration, they had climbed the mountain with him as he went to pray.
The sacred experiences that are recounted in the bible, the experiences of the divine that are recorded there, are still needed today - and they still occur today.
Some catch sight of God in the beauty around them, some glimpse him during a close encounter with death, some meet him in a special way during a period of suffering, others while they are praying at special gatherings or at worship.
Don't throw away those strange and mysterious experiences that have happened in your lives. Don't let go of those things that you do not understand or cannot explain. Rather meditate on them, delight in them, and use them as a source of strength for your time of service in the valleys below.
Oh how lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the Living God. Amen
I was at a meeting the other day when the treasurer handed the secretary an envelop. A bit later in the meeting the chairperson asked the secretary for some information - but the secretary replied that she didn't have that information. At the point the treasurer rose and said "yes - you do - it is was on the envelop I gave you."
The secretary replied, "Oh, I didn't know what that was - so I threw it away "
Everyone laughed - including me - but I was struck at the time by just how normal the secretary's actions had been.
Often when we encounter something which we do not know or understand we throw it away; or at the very least - we ignore it - we put it on hold - we neglect it.
So it is with stories like those we heard today from the scriptures. Many of us hear about visions of chariots of fire, of water being parted to reveal a path across a river, and of a man being taken up into heaven - and mentally shrug our shoulders and dismiss the matter as an idle tale.
Others hear about how Jesus was transformed upon a mountaintop, so that he shone as bright as the sun, and about how he is visited by two men - long dead, and say to themselves - that's all very nice, but what does it have to do with me - and then they go on about their lives as if these things had never happened,as if they never can or will happen.
Most sermons I have had heard on today's gospel reading ignore the experience that the disciples witnessed Jesus undergo.
Very little is said in them about the overwhelming brightness of Jesus' appearance, very little is made of the fact that Peter, James, and John saw Moses and Elijah talking with Christ and heard a voice from heaven.
Most of these sermons have in fact quickly passed over the wonder of the experience and go on to stress how Christians are called to come down off the mountain and serve in the valley below.
I find that to be a great shame.
I find it to be a great shame as well how so many of us ignore, neglect, devalue, or scorn the prophet's ecstasy, the dreamer's vision, and the worshipper's conviction that he or she has heard God speak.
Most of us are convinced that our faith is about doing good things, about showing love and care for one another, and it is so - this is what our faith is about.
But our faith is also about the yearning to see God and experience his power, it is about being touched by the Spirit and being moved by the voice of the Lord whispering in our ears.
Our faith is so rich - our God so good - that it makes no sense at all to limit what is possible for us to the dry bones of what we should or should not do each day.
Our faith is about entertaining angels, every bit as much as it is about seeking to comfort the afflicted and to heal the sick. It is about seeing visions of a new heaven and a new earth, every bit as much as it is about seeking justice and resisting evil.
It is about being refreshed by God, as much as it is about refreshing others in God's name.
A little boy, around the turn of the century, lived far back in the New Territories. He had reached the age of 12 and had never, in all his life, seen a circus.
You can imagine his excitement when a poster went up at school that on the next Saturday a travelling circus was coming to Hong Kong. He ran home with the glad news, and then came the question - "Dad, Mom, can I go?"
The family was poor, but the father sensed how important this was to the boy, so he said, "If you do your chores ahead of time, I'll see to it that you have the money to go."
Come Saturday morning the chores were done and the boy stood ready in best clothes by the breakfast table. His father reached down into his overalls and pulled out some money - the most money the boy had ever had at one time - and gave it to him. After the usual cautions about being careful the boy was sent on his way.
The boys was so excited that his feet barely touched the ground all the way to the town. When he got there, he noticed people were lining the streets and he worked his way through the crowd until he could see what was going on. There in the distance approached the spectacle of a circus parade. It was the grandest thing that the boy had ever seen. There were exotic animals in cages and bands and midgets, acrobats, and all that goes to make up a great circus.
After everything had passed by where he was standing, a circus clown, with floppy shoes and baggy paints and brightly painted face, came by bringing up the rear. As the clown passed by where he was standing, the boy reached into his pocket and got out the precious he was given that morning. Handing the money to the clown, the boy then turned around and went home.
The mistake that the boy made - is the same mistake we can make in our spiritual lives - we can end up settling for less than the real thing, for a portion - instead of for the whole, and all because we either do not believe in what God can do, or because we do not look at or understand what we have been given.
I did not know what it was, so I threw it away.
I believe the most common problem faced by members of most churches is not the fact that they spend too much time seeking spiritual visions and revelations - thereby neglecting the important truths and duties of everyday life in Christ, rather it is the fact that they do not believe in and thus are not open to the special moments, the special touches, that only God can give.
Some of the faithful say that people have no energy for living the Christian life because they do not get fed by the church - I say - some people are out of energy because they fail to recognize the food that is before them - because they fail to take and eat what God seeks to give them.
When I lived in England there was a weekly prayer meeting held at our church. Of the hundred or so adults that attended church every week, only about 15 or so attended this meeting.
There they sought spiritual food for their daily journey in the Lord. There they found it.
I remember one time when a guest preacher was present at the meeting.
We prayed for one another with the laying on of hands, we prayed for healings - for people to have the power to overcome some grief or suffering in their lives - for others to discover what God wanted them to do about a particular situation.
Finally my turn came to be prayed for - and I asked that all might pray that God would fill me with his Spirit - that he might make my faith come even more alive.
When the hands came down on my head and shoulders and the people gathered around me began to pray - I felt a energy go through my body like electricity, and I shook in my chair as the words of prayer washed over me, and then, in a moment of sudden silence, one word came strongly from the guest - a word came strongly from God - "You shall be used to do great things in my service."
To this day those words have stayed with me and shaped my thoughts - making me wonder what the greatness is - making me wonder - is it the power and glory like that of great evangelist or theologian, - or is it the greatness that was revealed by Christ as he went about as the servant of all, stooping down even to wash his own disciple's feet?
It was a moment that fed me and still feeds me - a profoundly spiritual moment.
My friends - I can't explain out to you what a holy moment is; nor can I tell you just how special and sacred events come to pass, nor can I even promise you that you will have such a moment if you only do this or that, but I can tell, and I do now tell you, that these moments are real, and that they come to us most often when we put ourselves in the way of them.
As another preacher put it one time You can't have a mountain top experience if you don't climb the mountain.
Elisha followed his teacher Elijah around the country despite Elijah telling him not to when he had his experience; he actively sought a double portion of the spirit that filled Elijah and was patient to receive it.
Peter, James, and John were obeying Jesus when they witnessed his transfiguration, they had climbed the mountain with him as he went to pray.
The sacred experiences that are recounted in the bible, the experiences of the divine that are recorded there, are still needed today - and they still occur today.
Some catch sight of God in the beauty around them, some glimpse him during a close encounter with death, some meet him in a special way during a period of suffering, others while they are praying at special gatherings or at worship.
Don't throw away those strange and mysterious experiences that have happened in your lives. Don't let go of those things that you do not understand or cannot explain. Rather meditate on them, delight in them, and use them as a source of strength for your time of service in the valleys below.
Oh how lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the Living God. Amen
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and Matthew 5:21-37
Bless thou, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
One day Abraham invited a beggar to his tent for a meal.
When grace was being said, the man began to curse God, declaring that he could not bear to hear his name.
Seized with indignation, Abraham drove the blasphemer away.
When Abraham was at his prayers that night, God said to him, "This man has cursed and reviled me for fifty years, and yet I have given him food to eat every day. Could you not put up with him for a single meal?"
On this Sunday just two days before St. Valentine's Day I want to tell you simply this - love each other.
Love each other - not with the love that depends on chemistry, mood, and feelings - nor even with the love that depends on the behaviour of others, but love each other with the kind of love that Christ refers to in today's reading from the Sermon on the Mount.
You know the kind of love I mean - it is the love that goes beyond what seems right according to the letter of the law, and enters into the Spirit of what God wants for us, the love that enters into feeding others, into healing others, into showing grace to others, into giving peace to others, the love that values others, regardless of who they are or what they have or have not done.
.
Someone once caught WC Fields reading the Bible.
"What are you doing?" asked the person.
"Looking for loopholes.", growled Fields.
With love - my friends - there is no loophole, no escape hatch, no clauses that say the deal can be revoked if this or that condition is not met.
Love is total - it is unconditional - or it is not love at all.
Think of the words of Jesus we heard read a few minutes ago. They were words addressed to a people used to compromising - to altering love's demands as they are found in the law of God so that those demands would be easier to fulfil.
You have heard it was said you shall not murder - but I say to you that if you are angry with your brother or sister - you will be liable to judgement."
"You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, but I tell you that everyone who looks with lust at another has already committed adultery..."
"You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbours, but I say to you, love your enemies. and pray for those who persecute you..."
There are no loopholes to found in Jesus' words.
No compromises.
No deals.
No escape hatches.
What Jesus does is crystallize the issues involved in loving God and our neighbours so that we can know - without doubt - just where we stand, and exactly what we need to aim for.
Think about where you stand for a minute - Think about how you love others and ask yourself - is my love up to the standards set by Christ?
If you haven't killed someone - who have you called a fool? What emotion did you pour out upon him or her when you became angry with them? If you haven't committed adultery - and felt good about this - consider what you have wanted to do.......Or consider who holds a grudge against you because of something you did - something for which you have not apologized? Or again - what promises and vows have you broken and then justified yourself in doing so? When was the last time you criticized Chinese people from China for buying up all the baby milk powder, or expressed your dislike for the person who took the promotion that belonged to you?
Perhaps these are poor examples - but most of us you know love only our friends and our family - and we are not sure about our family at times....
We greet those who greet us.
We do good to those who do good to us.
We lend to those who will pay back.
We welcome those who welcome us.
As for everyone else - well - if asked, most of us have a reason for what we do, and an excuse for what we do not do.
What we aim for as Christians - is to break through the limitations of our excuses, we aim to destroy all reasons that we might offer to treat one person as less than another and to enter into relationships with each other that are based upon our equality before God.
An old pilgrim was making his way to the Himalayan Mountains in the bitter cold of winter when it began to rain.
An inn keeper said to him, "How will you ever get there in this kind of weather my good man?"
The old man answered cheerfully, "My heart got there first, so it's easy for the rest of me to follow."
The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that we can meet all the demands of love that are expressed in the law in one way - and only in one way - we can do so if we our hearts go there first.
Today I urge you - let your hearts go - love God and love each other as deeply as you can.
When you do - you will find, no matter how many mistakes you may make on the way, that goodness and blessedness will blossom along your path, and all that God has planned will come to pass. Amen.
One day Abraham invited a beggar to his tent for a meal.
When grace was being said, the man began to curse God, declaring that he could not bear to hear his name.
Seized with indignation, Abraham drove the blasphemer away.
When Abraham was at his prayers that night, God said to him, "This man has cursed and reviled me for fifty years, and yet I have given him food to eat every day. Could you not put up with him for a single meal?"
On this Sunday just two days before St. Valentine's Day I want to tell you simply this - love each other.
Love each other - not with the love that depends on chemistry, mood, and feelings - nor even with the love that depends on the behaviour of others, but love each other with the kind of love that Christ refers to in today's reading from the Sermon on the Mount.
You know the kind of love I mean - it is the love that goes beyond what seems right according to the letter of the law, and enters into the Spirit of what God wants for us, the love that enters into feeding others, into healing others, into showing grace to others, into giving peace to others, the love that values others, regardless of who they are or what they have or have not done.
.
Someone once caught WC Fields reading the Bible.
"What are you doing?" asked the person.
"Looking for loopholes.", growled Fields.
With love - my friends - there is no loophole, no escape hatch, no clauses that say the deal can be revoked if this or that condition is not met.
Love is total - it is unconditional - or it is not love at all.
Think of the words of Jesus we heard read a few minutes ago. They were words addressed to a people used to compromising - to altering love's demands as they are found in the law of God so that those demands would be easier to fulfil.
You have heard it was said you shall not murder - but I say to you that if you are angry with your brother or sister - you will be liable to judgement."
"You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, but I tell you that everyone who looks with lust at another has already committed adultery..."
"You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbours, but I say to you, love your enemies. and pray for those who persecute you..."
There are no loopholes to found in Jesus' words.
No compromises.
No deals.
No escape hatches.
What Jesus does is crystallize the issues involved in loving God and our neighbours so that we can know - without doubt - just where we stand, and exactly what we need to aim for.
Think about where you stand for a minute - Think about how you love others and ask yourself - is my love up to the standards set by Christ?
If you haven't killed someone - who have you called a fool? What emotion did you pour out upon him or her when you became angry with them? If you haven't committed adultery - and felt good about this - consider what you have wanted to do.......Or consider who holds a grudge against you because of something you did - something for which you have not apologized? Or again - what promises and vows have you broken and then justified yourself in doing so? When was the last time you criticized Chinese people from China for buying up all the baby milk powder, or expressed your dislike for the person who took the promotion that belonged to you?
Perhaps these are poor examples - but most of us you know love only our friends and our family - and we are not sure about our family at times....
We greet those who greet us.
We do good to those who do good to us.
We lend to those who will pay back.
We welcome those who welcome us.
As for everyone else - well - if asked, most of us have a reason for what we do, and an excuse for what we do not do.
What we aim for as Christians - is to break through the limitations of our excuses, we aim to destroy all reasons that we might offer to treat one person as less than another and to enter into relationships with each other that are based upon our equality before God.
An old pilgrim was making his way to the Himalayan Mountains in the bitter cold of winter when it began to rain.
An inn keeper said to him, "How will you ever get there in this kind of weather my good man?"
The old man answered cheerfully, "My heart got there first, so it's easy for the rest of me to follow."
The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that we can meet all the demands of love that are expressed in the law in one way - and only in one way - we can do so if we our hearts go there first.
Today I urge you - let your hearts go - love God and love each other as deeply as you can.
When you do - you will find, no matter how many mistakes you may make on the way, that goodness and blessedness will blossom along your path, and all that God has planned will come to pass. Amen.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-11; Mark 1:29-39
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.
The story is told about how Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.
In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their saviour. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken."
So let them go to their churches; let them have their Pot Luck Suppers and fellowship events, but steal their time so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus."
"This is what I want you to do", said the devil.; "Distract them from gaining hold of their Saviour and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice trying to talk to them. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive; to keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home; and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogues, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes."
"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night. Give them headaches too! Make them dissatisfied with one another so they begin to look elsewhere. That will fragment their families quickly!"
"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas. Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and his power over sin and death."
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive! Have them return from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. And when they do go out on the mountains or to the shoreline - get them do it on their day of worship - and make them so active in what they do there that they don't have time to pray, time to think, time to remember their God or thank him for his goodness.
"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, leave them with troubled consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. It they must talk to God, make sure that they don't take time to listen to God. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."
"Do this and it will work!", Satan concluded.
"It will work!" His demons replied.
So they the convention ended. The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to have little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives and to meet their real needs.
I guess the question is, has the devil been successful at his scheme?
You be the judge!
Are you being drained? Are you failing to see what the point of it all is. Are you losing hope? Is joy harder and harder to find? Are you finding it harder and harder to remember the goals and the dreams that God has placed in your hearts? Are you feeling besieged from all sides and unable to get it together?
In today's Gospel reading we see Jesus on the Sabbath doing many things - he has already, as we can see from earlier paragraphs of the same chapter, attended worship at the Synagogue and there, during worship, cast an unclean spirit out of man and brought him healing. Then he went with his disciples to Peter and Andrew's home - and there he brought healing to Peter's mother-in-law. Later, in the evening. a huge crowd gathered at the door and Jesus healed many of the sick - many of the possessed. It was a full day. Very full. Very busy.
The next morning, very early in the morning - while it was still dark, we hear that Jesus got up, left the house and went to a solitary place, a quiet place, where he prayed. It must have been for quite a while, because we discover in the passage that Simon Peter and his companions go looking for him - and when they find him - they tell him that everyone is looking for him back in Capernaum - people with needs, people who want healing, people who want his touch, his word, his hope.
The passage concludes with Jesus telling his disciples - "Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." And so he does.
He travels through Galilee, preaching and healing and driving out demons - spreading by word and deed the good news of God's Kingdom - the news that God is near at hand, the news that God is coming to deliver his people, the news that God is forgiving, that news that God will raise up all who wait upon him, the news that God will give strength to those who turn to him; the news that God loves all people and wants everyone to draw near to him, everyone to repent and to believe in him, everyone to trust, to know, and to follow him so that he may shower them with the blessings that last forever, so that they may have peace in their hearts and live in peace with one another and with God..
And always - always, we find as we read the Gospel accounts - we see Jesus drawing aside from the crowds that gather to hear him and to be healed by him to go and to pray. Always we find Jesus leaving his disciples for a time and going to a quiet place by himself for a talk with God, for a time of waiting upon the Lord, for a time of developing his relationship - and maintaining his relationship with God - for a time of strengthening - a time of remembering - a time of being "re-attached" to the Father.
How about us? Do we remember why we are here in the first place? Do we recall the simplicity of what God wants of us? Do we recall the glory of what God has promised us? Do we recall how God has helped us in the past?
Do we remember where there is fuel for our tanks, food for our journey, supplies for our task, recovery for our soul, hope for hearts, and direction for our days?
Do we turn aside from the hustle and bustle - the fret and the worry - and allow God to inhabit us - to fill us - to restore us - to guide us so that we can do with those days what God wants us to do? So that we can be what God wants us to be? What God has made us to be?
The message of God for us today in the prophet Isaiah is precisely this.
It is a call to a people who are living in exile - in bondage - to take heart.
It is a call to them to remember who God is and how God has helped them in the past.
It is a call to them to come to God so that everything can be put into perspective.
It is a call to them to wait upon God, to listen to God - as well as to speak to God, so God can raise them up, so God can restore them to health, so God can unfold his plan for them, a plan in which their freedom is to be restored, their nation rebuilt, and their cup of suffering replaced with the cup of eternal joy.
In his address to the nation on the day of the Shuttle Disaster President George Bush quoted from this section of Isaiah as he sought to bring comfort to the nation.
As he spoke of the 7 men and woman who died in their quest to help bring people to get closer to the stars, he called everyone to remember the big picture - and how God cares for each one within it.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? Remember that God brings out the starry host one by one, that He calls them each by name, that because of his great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing.
Not one of them is missing.....God knows each star by name. He knows us by name.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God"?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
Remember what God has done - who God is - what God's purpose is.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Why did Jesus go the synagogue on the Sabbath Day? Week in and week out?
Why did he worship at the temple with God's people as well as keep the Law of God?
Why did he continually turn aside during his busy days of doing God's work, of preaching, and go to a quiet place and pray?
Why did he withdraw from his disciples and from the crowds to go up on the mountainsides - or into garden groves to wait upon God?
Might I suggest to you that he did this because that is what helped him keep on track? Might I suggest to you that he did this because that is what gave him strength? Might I suggest to you that he did this because without doing it - he could not have done all he did?
God has a purpose for us.
God will redeem us.
God will raise us up.
And when we hope in that. When we feed ourselves with God's word. When we allow God to speak to us - instead just us talking to him all the time. When we take time aside - when we take time to be holy - God moves in us to do what we cannot do on our own. God moves in us to give us the strength and the peace that lasts.
Recall with me the first verse and chorus of Psalm 91 again and think of what it says.
You who dwell in the shelter of our God, who abide in this shadow for life; say to the Lord, "my refuge, my Rock in whom I trust"
And I will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of my hand.
Praise be to God who raises us up. May his Word - his Gospel - his promises - his direction be heard by you, be loved by you, be clung to by you, day by day. Amen
The story is told about how Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.
In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their saviour. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken."
So let them go to their churches; let them have their Pot Luck Suppers and fellowship events, but steal their time so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus."
"This is what I want you to do", said the devil.; "Distract them from gaining hold of their Saviour and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice trying to talk to them. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive; to keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home; and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogues, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes."
"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night. Give them headaches too! Make them dissatisfied with one another so they begin to look elsewhere. That will fragment their families quickly!"
"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas. Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and his power over sin and death."
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive! Have them return from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. And when they do go out on the mountains or to the shoreline - get them do it on their day of worship - and make them so active in what they do there that they don't have time to pray, time to think, time to remember their God or thank him for his goodness.
"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, leave them with troubled consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. It they must talk to God, make sure that they don't take time to listen to God. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."
"Do this and it will work!", Satan concluded.
"It will work!" His demons replied.
So they the convention ended. The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to have little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives and to meet their real needs.
I guess the question is, has the devil been successful at his scheme?
You be the judge!
Are you being drained? Are you failing to see what the point of it all is. Are you losing hope? Is joy harder and harder to find? Are you finding it harder and harder to remember the goals and the dreams that God has placed in your hearts? Are you feeling besieged from all sides and unable to get it together?
In today's Gospel reading we see Jesus on the Sabbath doing many things - he has already, as we can see from earlier paragraphs of the same chapter, attended worship at the Synagogue and there, during worship, cast an unclean spirit out of man and brought him healing. Then he went with his disciples to Peter and Andrew's home - and there he brought healing to Peter's mother-in-law. Later, in the evening. a huge crowd gathered at the door and Jesus healed many of the sick - many of the possessed. It was a full day. Very full. Very busy.
The next morning, very early in the morning - while it was still dark, we hear that Jesus got up, left the house and went to a solitary place, a quiet place, where he prayed. It must have been for quite a while, because we discover in the passage that Simon Peter and his companions go looking for him - and when they find him - they tell him that everyone is looking for him back in Capernaum - people with needs, people who want healing, people who want his touch, his word, his hope.
The passage concludes with Jesus telling his disciples - "Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." And so he does.
He travels through Galilee, preaching and healing and driving out demons - spreading by word and deed the good news of God's Kingdom - the news that God is near at hand, the news that God is coming to deliver his people, the news that God is forgiving, that news that God will raise up all who wait upon him, the news that God will give strength to those who turn to him; the news that God loves all people and wants everyone to draw near to him, everyone to repent and to believe in him, everyone to trust, to know, and to follow him so that he may shower them with the blessings that last forever, so that they may have peace in their hearts and live in peace with one another and with God..
And always - always, we find as we read the Gospel accounts - we see Jesus drawing aside from the crowds that gather to hear him and to be healed by him to go and to pray. Always we find Jesus leaving his disciples for a time and going to a quiet place by himself for a talk with God, for a time of waiting upon the Lord, for a time of developing his relationship - and maintaining his relationship with God - for a time of strengthening - a time of remembering - a time of being "re-attached" to the Father.
How about us? Do we remember why we are here in the first place? Do we recall the simplicity of what God wants of us? Do we recall the glory of what God has promised us? Do we recall how God has helped us in the past?
Do we remember where there is fuel for our tanks, food for our journey, supplies for our task, recovery for our soul, hope for hearts, and direction for our days?
Do we turn aside from the hustle and bustle - the fret and the worry - and allow God to inhabit us - to fill us - to restore us - to guide us so that we can do with those days what God wants us to do? So that we can be what God wants us to be? What God has made us to be?
The message of God for us today in the prophet Isaiah is precisely this.
It is a call to a people who are living in exile - in bondage - to take heart.
It is a call to them to remember who God is and how God has helped them in the past.
It is a call to them to come to God so that everything can be put into perspective.
It is a call to them to wait upon God, to listen to God - as well as to speak to God, so God can raise them up, so God can restore them to health, so God can unfold his plan for them, a plan in which their freedom is to be restored, their nation rebuilt, and their cup of suffering replaced with the cup of eternal joy.
In his address to the nation on the day of the Shuttle Disaster President George Bush quoted from this section of Isaiah as he sought to bring comfort to the nation.
As he spoke of the 7 men and woman who died in their quest to help bring people to get closer to the stars, he called everyone to remember the big picture - and how God cares for each one within it.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? Remember that God brings out the starry host one by one, that He calls them each by name, that because of his great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing.
Not one of them is missing.....God knows each star by name. He knows us by name.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God"?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
Remember what God has done - who God is - what God's purpose is.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Why did Jesus go the synagogue on the Sabbath Day? Week in and week out?
Why did he worship at the temple with God's people as well as keep the Law of God?
Why did he continually turn aside during his busy days of doing God's work, of preaching, and go to a quiet place and pray?
Why did he withdraw from his disciples and from the crowds to go up on the mountainsides - or into garden groves to wait upon God?
Might I suggest to you that he did this because that is what helped him keep on track? Might I suggest to you that he did this because that is what gave him strength? Might I suggest to you that he did this because without doing it - he could not have done all he did?
God has a purpose for us.
God will redeem us.
God will raise us up.
And when we hope in that. When we feed ourselves with God's word. When we allow God to speak to us - instead just us talking to him all the time. When we take time aside - when we take time to be holy - God moves in us to do what we cannot do on our own. God moves in us to give us the strength and the peace that lasts.
Recall with me the first verse and chorus of Psalm 91 again and think of what it says.
You who dwell in the shelter of our God, who abide in this shadow for life; say to the Lord, "my refuge, my Rock in whom I trust"
And I will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of my hand.
Praise be to God who raises us up. May his Word - his Gospel - his promises - his direction be heard by you, be loved by you, be clung to by you, day by day. Amen
Sunday, January 29, 2012
I Corinthians 1:18-31 and Matthew 5:1-12
Bless thou, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Today I want to talk about where we meet God and where God meets us.
I think all of us are familiar with the idea that God is best met in special times, times in which we go to special places, most often by ourselves, and dwell in silence.
Most of us have felt specially blessed when we have been able to spend time away from the bustle and hustle of daily life and to actually go up on a mountain side and look around and see nothing for miles and miles but clouds passing by and hills and valleys receding into the distance.
The scriptures tell us that this is what Jesus did.
Others have the same feeling when they go deep into the woods where they can hear nothing but birds singing in the trees and the sound of their own breathing, still others contemplate by a river with the eddies of water swirling by, carrying leaves and bits of wood to a destination hundreds of miles from where they sit.
For some - it is the beach - an ocean beach where the waves roll in one after another, pushing and pulling the gravel and sand and making whispering rattling sounds punctuated by the noise of the waves crashing and breaking on the shore.
I like going out at late at night and staring up at the stars and the moon and the planets.
All of us have our places of refuge, our places where we go to meet God and to allow him to minister to us in the midst of the beauty, and the quiet, and the loneliness.
We have a great sense of peace in these places, we can think - or even better - we can let go of thinking, and just sense the wonder and beauty of the moment, and then, sometime later, we return to our normal world, feeling more refreshed and stronger than we were than we left it.
This kind of retreat is marvellous - it is one of the ways - one of the important ways, in which we meet God.
Others ways exist of course - ways which involve other people - ways which are not quite as quiet - but which bring us into God's presence none-the-less.
Anyone who has ever seriously prayed with a group of fellow believers about matters that are of deep concern to them or those that they are with - anyone who has sat in a chair and had his brothers and sisters in the faith lay their hands on his head and shoulders and intercede for him - anyone who has gone to church for a number of years and kept her ears and eyes and heart open during the hymns and sermons and readings - anyone who has ever heard the scriptures read and then interpreted by a close friend has - as is promised to those who do these things - met God.
The interesting thing about all these encounters with God is that we are often seeking them...
We do something special.
We expend effort.
We set aside time.
We go somewhere that is different or out of the ordinary.
We seek out privacy - or the company of certain people.
We - as the old hymn goes - take time to be holy.
And that time makes us holy. Whether we feel it or not. Whether we are immediately aware of it or not. Whether we have a fantastic emotional experience or simply come away feeling that we have done "the right thing", we have sought God and we have received from God. We have met God.
But - what about where God meets us?
If we search for God - and I believe we all do at one time or another. If we search for God in special times and places. Where does God search for us? Where does God meet us?
A lot of us you know - do not think we have met God unless we FEEL that we have met him.
We gauge the success of our search for God, our meeting God, by whether or not we feel certain things.
We judge whether or not we have met the Lord, by whether or not we gain a sense of peace, by whether or not we have an emotional high - an emotional rush, by whether or not we have the Spirit send those marvellous chills and tingles up and down our backs.
And by those criteria - most of the time - even in those times when we seek God out in the special places and in the special ways we know about - we fail to meet him.
Life is not, after all, full of special times, full of special moments. Life is full of other stuff, it is full of routines, of ordinary things: we work, we eat, we sleep, we play and relax, we suffer and feel pain, we sorrow and grieve, we are insulted and injured, we struggle and fight against trials and tribulations.
In these ordinary times we are as well in ordinary places, at home, at work, in hospital, visiting with a friend, driving in our cars, standing in elevators, or sitting in a lobby or a meeting room.
What about these ordinary times, and these ordinary places, these times when we are not taking time to be holy, and those places where we do not expect to meet God but are actually getting on - or trying to get on - with living our lives?
Well - those are the times and the places where God meets us...
There was a TV commercial that played a fair bit a few years ago that I really enjoyed.
A fellow is setting up a blind date with a young woman over the telephone. They agree to meet at a certain street corner at a certain time and then she asks him "How will I know you". He replies "I'll be driving a Volkswagon". The next scene is at the street corner. He is standing by this sleek looking car and she comes wandering along looking for him - and goes right by him because parked just around the corner from him is a classic BEETLE or BUG.
Do any of you remember that Ad?
I remember it because that is kind of like us when it comes to God - we expect to meet God in a certain way - and we often end up missing His presence in our lives BECAUSE HE HAS COME TO MEET US - but he has done so, he has come to meet us, in a slightly different way - in a slightly different form or place - than that which we expect.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit - for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn - for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek - for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are the those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful - for they shall obtain mercy...
Blessed are the pure in heart...
Blessed are the peacemakers ...
Blessed are those who are persecuted falsely...
What these words mean is quite simply this:
Those who are living out their lives in faith; those who go about - seeking to do what is right; those who are able to feel their pain and express it; those who are trying to show mercy; those who are willing to accept insult and injury for the sake of doing what is right; those who seek to make peace; those who are walking humbly before God - are met by God.
God encounters them.
God inhabits them.
God strengthens them.
God rewards them.
They did not have reach out to God in some special manner, though that is what all of us are called to God, so that they might meet God. God comes to them, and meets them - where they are.
Some years back I knew a woman who was dying of cancer. She had struggled with the disease for quite some time. She went through radiation and chemotherapy and all the ills associated with both the disease and its treatment.
I asked her about how she felt about the whole ordeal and where it was surely leading her. She said that it was very difficult at times, she knew she was dying, but even so she felt an astonishing amount of peace and joy. When I asked her if she was scared of what was coming she replied "Why should I be afraid? I believe in God. I know where I came from and where I am going."
She was blessed and she felt it - and others knew it - even when they could not accept what she was suffering.... Blessed are the pure in heart.
I met a woman not so long ago who was the victim of child abuse. She had no real anger left, she understood what had happened - she did not like it - but she prayed for her father that he might prosper, that he might learn, that he might love better. At the time I met her she was helping her brother work on his relationship with her father - and she was helping.
She was a peace maker.- and she was blessed. God was with her. God met her in what she suffered and gave her a vision of himself..
I meet a lot of people who have lost someone - a lot of people who mourn.
The ones who do the worst - are the brave ones - the ones who refuse to let it get them down, the ones who "carry on" with a stiff upper lip - never seeking help, never seeking to understand what is really going on in their hearts..
The ones who do best - are the ones who feel their loss and express it, the ones who cry and get angry, the ones who really sense their loss and can talk about it. Always they are comforted, always - after the days in the tomb - they find new hope and new life
Blessed are they that mourn.
Similar things can be said about all the beatitudes. Similar stories can be told.
God meets us in ways we do not expect, at least those of us who think in the way of the world, rather in the way of God.
He meets us in our weakness, in our grief, in our hunger for salvation, in our attempt to do what is right, in our pain and suffering when we are persecuted.
He meets us in the cross that we share with Jesus.
Paul writes: about this in his letter to the Corinthians - he reminds us that God has chosen the way of foolishness - because in wisdom the world does not acknowledge God that he has chosen the way of weakness, because in strength the world does not accept God.
The proof that God meets us ultimately is found in us -
That proof is not found in our great visions and great moments of religious ecstasy, though these are wonderful things. It is found
in our growth in understanding,
in our increase in love,
in our acceptance and faith in the midst of continual tribulation,
in our doing of justice,
in our love of kindness,
in our humble walking,
Peace I give you, said Jesus - not as the world gives it do I give to it you.
We can go to meet God in many special ways and places and that is good - but know and celebrate this - God comes to meet us - in all ways and in all places. And all he asks us of us as he comes is that we trust and believe in his name. Praise be to him, now and forevermore. AMEN
Today I want to talk about where we meet God and where God meets us.
I think all of us are familiar with the idea that God is best met in special times, times in which we go to special places, most often by ourselves, and dwell in silence.
Most of us have felt specially blessed when we have been able to spend time away from the bustle and hustle of daily life and to actually go up on a mountain side and look around and see nothing for miles and miles but clouds passing by and hills and valleys receding into the distance.
The scriptures tell us that this is what Jesus did.
Others have the same feeling when they go deep into the woods where they can hear nothing but birds singing in the trees and the sound of their own breathing, still others contemplate by a river with the eddies of water swirling by, carrying leaves and bits of wood to a destination hundreds of miles from where they sit.
For some - it is the beach - an ocean beach where the waves roll in one after another, pushing and pulling the gravel and sand and making whispering rattling sounds punctuated by the noise of the waves crashing and breaking on the shore.
I like going out at late at night and staring up at the stars and the moon and the planets.
All of us have our places of refuge, our places where we go to meet God and to allow him to minister to us in the midst of the beauty, and the quiet, and the loneliness.
We have a great sense of peace in these places, we can think - or even better - we can let go of thinking, and just sense the wonder and beauty of the moment, and then, sometime later, we return to our normal world, feeling more refreshed and stronger than we were than we left it.
This kind of retreat is marvellous - it is one of the ways - one of the important ways, in which we meet God.
Others ways exist of course - ways which involve other people - ways which are not quite as quiet - but which bring us into God's presence none-the-less.
Anyone who has ever seriously prayed with a group of fellow believers about matters that are of deep concern to them or those that they are with - anyone who has sat in a chair and had his brothers and sisters in the faith lay their hands on his head and shoulders and intercede for him - anyone who has gone to church for a number of years and kept her ears and eyes and heart open during the hymns and sermons and readings - anyone who has ever heard the scriptures read and then interpreted by a close friend has - as is promised to those who do these things - met God.
The interesting thing about all these encounters with God is that we are often seeking them...
We do something special.
We expend effort.
We set aside time.
We go somewhere that is different or out of the ordinary.
We seek out privacy - or the company of certain people.
We - as the old hymn goes - take time to be holy.
And that time makes us holy. Whether we feel it or not. Whether we are immediately aware of it or not. Whether we have a fantastic emotional experience or simply come away feeling that we have done "the right thing", we have sought God and we have received from God. We have met God.
But - what about where God meets us?
If we search for God - and I believe we all do at one time or another. If we search for God in special times and places. Where does God search for us? Where does God meet us?
A lot of us you know - do not think we have met God unless we FEEL that we have met him.
We gauge the success of our search for God, our meeting God, by whether or not we feel certain things.
We judge whether or not we have met the Lord, by whether or not we gain a sense of peace, by whether or not we have an emotional high - an emotional rush, by whether or not we have the Spirit send those marvellous chills and tingles up and down our backs.
And by those criteria - most of the time - even in those times when we seek God out in the special places and in the special ways we know about - we fail to meet him.
Life is not, after all, full of special times, full of special moments. Life is full of other stuff, it is full of routines, of ordinary things: we work, we eat, we sleep, we play and relax, we suffer and feel pain, we sorrow and grieve, we are insulted and injured, we struggle and fight against trials and tribulations.
In these ordinary times we are as well in ordinary places, at home, at work, in hospital, visiting with a friend, driving in our cars, standing in elevators, or sitting in a lobby or a meeting room.
What about these ordinary times, and these ordinary places, these times when we are not taking time to be holy, and those places where we do not expect to meet God but are actually getting on - or trying to get on - with living our lives?
Well - those are the times and the places where God meets us...
There was a TV commercial that played a fair bit a few years ago that I really enjoyed.
A fellow is setting up a blind date with a young woman over the telephone. They agree to meet at a certain street corner at a certain time and then she asks him "How will I know you". He replies "I'll be driving a Volkswagon". The next scene is at the street corner. He is standing by this sleek looking car and she comes wandering along looking for him - and goes right by him because parked just around the corner from him is a classic BEETLE or BUG.
Do any of you remember that Ad?
I remember it because that is kind of like us when it comes to God - we expect to meet God in a certain way - and we often end up missing His presence in our lives BECAUSE HE HAS COME TO MEET US - but he has done so, he has come to meet us, in a slightly different way - in a slightly different form or place - than that which we expect.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit - for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn - for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek - for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are the those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful - for they shall obtain mercy...
Blessed are the pure in heart...
Blessed are the peacemakers ...
Blessed are those who are persecuted falsely...
What these words mean is quite simply this:
Those who are living out their lives in faith; those who go about - seeking to do what is right; those who are able to feel their pain and express it; those who are trying to show mercy; those who are willing to accept insult and injury for the sake of doing what is right; those who seek to make peace; those who are walking humbly before God - are met by God.
God encounters them.
God inhabits them.
God strengthens them.
God rewards them.
They did not have reach out to God in some special manner, though that is what all of us are called to God, so that they might meet God. God comes to them, and meets them - where they are.
Some years back I knew a woman who was dying of cancer. She had struggled with the disease for quite some time. She went through radiation and chemotherapy and all the ills associated with both the disease and its treatment.
I asked her about how she felt about the whole ordeal and where it was surely leading her. She said that it was very difficult at times, she knew she was dying, but even so she felt an astonishing amount of peace and joy. When I asked her if she was scared of what was coming she replied "Why should I be afraid? I believe in God. I know where I came from and where I am going."
She was blessed and she felt it - and others knew it - even when they could not accept what she was suffering.... Blessed are the pure in heart.
I met a woman not so long ago who was the victim of child abuse. She had no real anger left, she understood what had happened - she did not like it - but she prayed for her father that he might prosper, that he might learn, that he might love better. At the time I met her she was helping her brother work on his relationship with her father - and she was helping.
She was a peace maker.- and she was blessed. God was with her. God met her in what she suffered and gave her a vision of himself..
I meet a lot of people who have lost someone - a lot of people who mourn.
The ones who do the worst - are the brave ones - the ones who refuse to let it get them down, the ones who "carry on" with a stiff upper lip - never seeking help, never seeking to understand what is really going on in their hearts..
The ones who do best - are the ones who feel their loss and express it, the ones who cry and get angry, the ones who really sense their loss and can talk about it. Always they are comforted, always - after the days in the tomb - they find new hope and new life
Blessed are they that mourn.
Similar things can be said about all the beatitudes. Similar stories can be told.
God meets us in ways we do not expect, at least those of us who think in the way of the world, rather in the way of God.
He meets us in our weakness, in our grief, in our hunger for salvation, in our attempt to do what is right, in our pain and suffering when we are persecuted.
He meets us in the cross that we share with Jesus.
Paul writes: about this in his letter to the Corinthians - he reminds us that God has chosen the way of foolishness - because in wisdom the world does not acknowledge God that he has chosen the way of weakness, because in strength the world does not accept God.
The proof that God meets us ultimately is found in us -
That proof is not found in our great visions and great moments of religious ecstasy, though these are wonderful things. It is found
in our growth in understanding,
in our increase in love,
in our acceptance and faith in the midst of continual tribulation,
in our doing of justice,
in our love of kindness,
in our humble walking,
Peace I give you, said Jesus - not as the world gives it do I give to it you.
We can go to meet God in many special ways and places and that is good - but know and celebrate this - God comes to meet us - in all ways and in all places. And all he asks us of us as he comes is that we trust and believe in his name. Praise be to him, now and forevermore. AMEN
Sunday, January 22, 2012
II Corinthians 5:16-21, Psalm 62, Mark 1:14-20
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
The very first words of Jesus when he met Simon Peter and his brother Andrew on the shores of the Sea of Galilee were "Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men."
Most of you knew that before - and if you didn't - you heard them read today from the first chapter of the Gospel According to Mark.
But how many of you know what the last words of Jesus to Simon Peter were? Words also spoken down by the waters of the sea of Galilee - just before Jesus was taken up into heaven?
Yes - this is a bible test... something for you to think about - but to have mercy - I will give you the answer.
His very last words to Peter, words spoken just before he was taken up into heaven, words spoken after Peter and the others had been his daily companions for three years, were virtually the same as the first: "Feed my sheep, Follow me."
Our calling - the calling of every single person here - and the call that is extended to all of God's children is the same as that of Peter.
Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Follow me and feed my sheep.
We have a twofold calling - you and I.
We are called to be disciples - to be ones who walk with Jesus and who learn from him and we are called to be apostles - to be ones who go forth, and in the particular way that God gifts us for, act as Christ's ambassadors in the world
- to be ones who allow Jesus to speak through us.
- to be ones who minister God's reconciling love to the world,
- to be one's who bring God's word of forgiveness and of hope, God's life giving word to all who need it.
A twofold calling.
The first aspect of our calling is to enter into a relationship with Jesus, that is one of complete and utter trust. To come to him as he asks us to come - and to give to him our weariness, our burdens, our anxieties - and to receive from him those things he wants to give us - peace, hope, joy, truth, love, strength, wisdom....To come to him - and to follow him - where-ever he leads - even if it be to a cross. To come to him and to learn from him. To come to him and to live in him - and have him live in us. To come to him and to be made new by him and in him.
This is not easy.
It is not easy
- not because Christ is unable to bear our burdens and to give us rest,
- nor because Jesus does not have the power to make us new and turn us into the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
It is not easy because it demands of us more than most people are willing to give.
It demands discipline, single-mindedness, a determination to indeed make Christ the centre of our lives.
It demands of us the resolve to do those things that our Lord asks us to do, to go where-ever our Lord leads us - even if that involves leaving behind things precious and dear to us - even if that involves doing things we think we can't do - or wish that we would not have to do.
In certain church circles there is a story told about Dr. George Darby who
served as a missionary Doctor for over 45 years.
"I hope that no one will ever say to me that I stuck it out here", Darby said at a retirement party way back in 1959. "It was a privilege, and I thank you."
When Doctor Darby graduated from Medical School in 1914 his professors recognized in him a great deal of surgical skill and tried to persuade him to take up a lucrative practice in the city, but he was determined to minister in Christ's name and out of his love for a people who needed someone to care.
And he did - in tiny fishing and logging camps and Indian villages, and under conditions that were frequently harsh and almost always uncomfortable.
Compare that to the choices some people make.
Compare it to those folk who can't even spend a hour or so a week at worship or three or four hours a week helping children or youth learn about or experience the love of God because these activities take place at the same time as mahjong games or might interfere with a favourite TV show, or some money making activities.
The benefits, my friends, of the Christian life, can only come if we actually live the Christian life, if we actually follow Christ where he went and learn and do what Christ taught and did.
Christ prayed every day - indeed he prayed continually. Christ went to the synagogue to worship and to learn every week. And Christ allowed his meals to be interrupted and his time of relaxation to be interfered with by the hungry, the crippled, and the needy.
Does this few, relatively little things I have lifted up, describe our lives? In whole? Or even in part.
Discipleship involves discipline.
No one, as Paul puts it in another place in his letter to the Corinthians can win the prize if he doesn't run the race. No one can receive the crown of victory - if he doesn't persevere to the end of the course.
Or as Jesus said - "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other."
Jesus spoke those words about choosing between God and Money. But they apply to every area of our lives. We either serve God - we either follow Christ - or we follow after the desires of our own hearts.
Our call to be disciples and our life as disciples is perhaps best described as a choice - a choice between living like everybody else, or living in the way Christ shows how to live: living in the way of the cross - knowing that the this will lead us as well to the resurrection.
Peter and Andrew, James and John and all the rest were told over and over again by Jesus that they must chose and that all who would follow him must choose: that they must chose between seeking to save their lives - between pursuing their own desires and wants - and the cross, his cross.
We sang about that choice a few minutes ago:
Jesus calls us from the worship of the vain world's golden store from each idol that would keep us, "saying Christian, love me more". In our joys and in our sorrows, days of toil and hours of ease, still he calls, in cares and pleasures, "Christian love me more than these"
Our Apostleship flows forth from our discipleship.
Those who are called to follow are also sent forth, they are given a ministry - what Paul calls the ministry of reconciliation, and told variously to feed Christ's sheep, to fish for men, to be Christ's Ambassadors, to allow God to make his appeal to all humankind through us.
This is not a hard thing - though it may involve hardships. This is not a difficult thing - though it may involve difficulties.
It - as I said - flows forth from our discipleship; it flows forth from the fact that as we follow Jesus we are made new in him, - by his power we are equipped and made ready to do all that we are called to do, - we are made to be, as Paul puts it in our epistle reading today, "the righteousness of God" - we are made to be people who embody the saving love of God - and who share it.
When we join God's team - when we follow Christ day by day, God equips us, God empowers us, God uses us, God supports us, God helps us.
We are all called to the ministry of reconciliation. And we are all equipped to discharge that ministry.
We are made, by the power of Christ within us, to be the salt of the earth. We are made, by our daily choosing to follow Christ, the light of the world.
All of us are called - each in our own way - to follow and to serve. All of us are called - each in our own way - to be made new in Christ - and to allow Christ to speak through us, to allow God to act within us and to reach out and touch others using our hands - our hearts - our words.
When we follow Christ, when we learn from him and obey him, when we allow him to come in and live in us and then go out and carry him to the world, great things happen - no matter who we think we are - or who others might think us to be.
Rick Warren, in the book "The Purpose Driven Church" writes:
Small ministries often make the greatest difference. The most important light in my home is not the large chandelier in our dining room, but the little nightlight that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up to use the bathroom at night. It's small, but it's more useful to me than the show-off light."
In the dark night of the soul that our friends, our neighbours, our co-workers, might be experiencing, the light we have because we are disciples of Christ - because we are followers in his way - might be the most important thing in their lives.
We are called to let it shine.
Our Christian life revolves around two poles
- discipleship - following Christ
- and apostleship - carrying Christ into the world.
May you indeed be fully resolved to follow him and live up to your calling as fishers of men, as ones who feed his sheep.
May His Name be praised day by day. Amen.
The very first words of Jesus when he met Simon Peter and his brother Andrew on the shores of the Sea of Galilee were "Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men."
Most of you knew that before - and if you didn't - you heard them read today from the first chapter of the Gospel According to Mark.
But how many of you know what the last words of Jesus to Simon Peter were? Words also spoken down by the waters of the sea of Galilee - just before Jesus was taken up into heaven?
Yes - this is a bible test... something for you to think about - but to have mercy - I will give you the answer.
His very last words to Peter, words spoken just before he was taken up into heaven, words spoken after Peter and the others had been his daily companions for three years, were virtually the same as the first: "Feed my sheep, Follow me."
Our calling - the calling of every single person here - and the call that is extended to all of God's children is the same as that of Peter.
Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Follow me and feed my sheep.
We have a twofold calling - you and I.
We are called to be disciples - to be ones who walk with Jesus and who learn from him and we are called to be apostles - to be ones who go forth, and in the particular way that God gifts us for, act as Christ's ambassadors in the world
- to be ones who allow Jesus to speak through us.
- to be ones who minister God's reconciling love to the world,
- to be one's who bring God's word of forgiveness and of hope, God's life giving word to all who need it.
A twofold calling.
The first aspect of our calling is to enter into a relationship with Jesus, that is one of complete and utter trust. To come to him as he asks us to come - and to give to him our weariness, our burdens, our anxieties - and to receive from him those things he wants to give us - peace, hope, joy, truth, love, strength, wisdom....To come to him - and to follow him - where-ever he leads - even if it be to a cross. To come to him and to learn from him. To come to him and to live in him - and have him live in us. To come to him and to be made new by him and in him.
This is not easy.
It is not easy
- not because Christ is unable to bear our burdens and to give us rest,
- nor because Jesus does not have the power to make us new and turn us into the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
It is not easy because it demands of us more than most people are willing to give.
It demands discipline, single-mindedness, a determination to indeed make Christ the centre of our lives.
It demands of us the resolve to do those things that our Lord asks us to do, to go where-ever our Lord leads us - even if that involves leaving behind things precious and dear to us - even if that involves doing things we think we can't do - or wish that we would not have to do.
In certain church circles there is a story told about Dr. George Darby who
served as a missionary Doctor for over 45 years.
"I hope that no one will ever say to me that I stuck it out here", Darby said at a retirement party way back in 1959. "It was a privilege, and I thank you."
When Doctor Darby graduated from Medical School in 1914 his professors recognized in him a great deal of surgical skill and tried to persuade him to take up a lucrative practice in the city, but he was determined to minister in Christ's name and out of his love for a people who needed someone to care.
And he did - in tiny fishing and logging camps and Indian villages, and under conditions that were frequently harsh and almost always uncomfortable.
Compare that to the choices some people make.
Compare it to those folk who can't even spend a hour or so a week at worship or three or four hours a week helping children or youth learn about or experience the love of God because these activities take place at the same time as mahjong games or might interfere with a favourite TV show, or some money making activities.
The benefits, my friends, of the Christian life, can only come if we actually live the Christian life, if we actually follow Christ where he went and learn and do what Christ taught and did.
Christ prayed every day - indeed he prayed continually. Christ went to the synagogue to worship and to learn every week. And Christ allowed his meals to be interrupted and his time of relaxation to be interfered with by the hungry, the crippled, and the needy.
Does this few, relatively little things I have lifted up, describe our lives? In whole? Or even in part.
Discipleship involves discipline.
No one, as Paul puts it in another place in his letter to the Corinthians can win the prize if he doesn't run the race. No one can receive the crown of victory - if he doesn't persevere to the end of the course.
Or as Jesus said - "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other."
Jesus spoke those words about choosing between God and Money. But they apply to every area of our lives. We either serve God - we either follow Christ - or we follow after the desires of our own hearts.
Our call to be disciples and our life as disciples is perhaps best described as a choice - a choice between living like everybody else, or living in the way Christ shows how to live: living in the way of the cross - knowing that the this will lead us as well to the resurrection.
Peter and Andrew, James and John and all the rest were told over and over again by Jesus that they must chose and that all who would follow him must choose: that they must chose between seeking to save their lives - between pursuing their own desires and wants - and the cross, his cross.
We sang about that choice a few minutes ago:
Jesus calls us from the worship of the vain world's golden store from each idol that would keep us, "saying Christian, love me more". In our joys and in our sorrows, days of toil and hours of ease, still he calls, in cares and pleasures, "Christian love me more than these"
Our Apostleship flows forth from our discipleship.
Those who are called to follow are also sent forth, they are given a ministry - what Paul calls the ministry of reconciliation, and told variously to feed Christ's sheep, to fish for men, to be Christ's Ambassadors, to allow God to make his appeal to all humankind through us.
This is not a hard thing - though it may involve hardships. This is not a difficult thing - though it may involve difficulties.
It - as I said - flows forth from our discipleship; it flows forth from the fact that as we follow Jesus we are made new in him, - by his power we are equipped and made ready to do all that we are called to do, - we are made to be, as Paul puts it in our epistle reading today, "the righteousness of God" - we are made to be people who embody the saving love of God - and who share it.
When we join God's team - when we follow Christ day by day, God equips us, God empowers us, God uses us, God supports us, God helps us.
We are all called to the ministry of reconciliation. And we are all equipped to discharge that ministry.
We are made, by the power of Christ within us, to be the salt of the earth. We are made, by our daily choosing to follow Christ, the light of the world.
All of us are called - each in our own way - to follow and to serve. All of us are called - each in our own way - to be made new in Christ - and to allow Christ to speak through us, to allow God to act within us and to reach out and touch others using our hands - our hearts - our words.
When we follow Christ, when we learn from him and obey him, when we allow him to come in and live in us and then go out and carry him to the world, great things happen - no matter who we think we are - or who others might think us to be.
Rick Warren, in the book "The Purpose Driven Church" writes:
Small ministries often make the greatest difference. The most important light in my home is not the large chandelier in our dining room, but the little nightlight that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up to use the bathroom at night. It's small, but it's more useful to me than the show-off light."
In the dark night of the soul that our friends, our neighbours, our co-workers, might be experiencing, the light we have because we are disciples of Christ - because we are followers in his way - might be the most important thing in their lives.
We are called to let it shine.
Our Christian life revolves around two poles
- discipleship - following Christ
- and apostleship - carrying Christ into the world.
May you indeed be fully resolved to follow him and live up to your calling as fishers of men, as ones who feed his sheep.
May His Name be praised day by day. Amen.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27; I Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
When Christ called the first disciples he set himself a task - the task of making them into fishermen.
"As he walked by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea - for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "follow me, I will make you fish for people."
That is what God wants us all to do.
- It's what Jesus did - in Galilee and in Samaria and in Jordan and Judea and Jerusalem,
- And it's what we are supposed to do - in Wanchai, in Central, in Shumshuipo and in Mongkok.
We are supposed to fish for people, to seek to bring them into that great net known as the Kingdom of God - into that creel known as salvation, as redemption, as everlasting peace.
But are we? Are we fishing that is? And if we are fishing - who are we fishing for?
For God and God's glory?
For the sake of those we talk to each day?
Or for ourselves and for the sake of those people to whom we are loyal - albeit in a worldly way?
There is so much power that flows when you witness to the love of God - when you share with others what it does for you and what it can do for them - when you have a chance to engage someone who is troubled, or curious, or hungry, and bring them before the one who can sooth their pain, satisfy their yearnings, and feed their soul.
I was talking to someone the other day whose father is an alcoholic. He was sharing with me how his family coped with the problem - and naturally Alcoholics Anonymous came up in the conversation. From that it was but a short step to the concept of the Higher Power which is at the heart of that program - and then to the concept of believing that the Higher Power can help you with your problem and that one should surrender to that Power - to "Let go and let God."
What a prescription for life that is - and how wonderful it was to be able to share it - as any believing person is able to share it - whether or not they have read through the AA program.
It was wonderful to be able to share with someone that God ready and able to help them.
There is power in witnessing - in sharing one's faith - in being a person who fishes for people, because there is power in the message and power in the God the message is about.
But sometimes we don't experience that - most often - perhaps - we don't experience that.
We don't experience the power and we don't succeed at the task of fishing for people - indeed most often we don't even begin that task, because we are involved with and committed to the wrong stuff.
Although every one of us believes in God - our energy - our focus - is all too often fixed elsewhere.
It is as if we belonged to another - and indeed we often do. We often belong to other things - to other people - to other teams - and God gets the short end.
But my friends, when God gets the short end from us, so do the people around us, so do our families, so does our church, and so do we ourselves.
When Paul wrote his First Letter to the Corinthians there were a lot of problems in the congregation.
There was arrogance, there was pride, there was indifference. There was gluttony and laziness and intolerance, and there was depression, and anger, and despair. And it all tracked itself down to one simple fact - the people in the congregation at Corinth had fixed their focus on themselves and on one another instead of fixing it on Christ and on the power of his cross.
That's not to suggest that the Corinthians never paid attention to God - or that they totally ignored Jesus. Far from it. It's simply to say that most of their attention went elsewhere.
Instead of using the gospel as a filter by which to see the world around them and of asking God at each moment of decision to direct their words and their actions - they fell into their old routines, routines that are programmed into us by our genes and by the expectations that others have of us and by our own reluctance to really trust God for everything.
They relied upon the teachings of others for their own understanding of the gospel. They formed loyalties with those who first showed them the love of God and quite naturally they defended those teachers when questioned about them. And because their was a contrary spirit in Corinth, they soon began to quarrel about who was better and who was worse - some saying Paul, others Apollos, and still others Cephas, and even some entered the fray saying that they belong to the party Christ and that he was, and therefore they were, better.
In short the Corinthians missed the point of what the gospel is all about and instead of knowing the joy and the peace that comes with the fellowship of the faithful - instead of being powerful in their witness and being able to catch people for God - their congregational life collapsed and their sense of well being evaporated.
People complained about each other and about their leadership, they became confused about what was right and wrong, and they bickered about issues that made no sense to then and even less now.
The King James Version of the Bible says that problems at Corinth could be traced to the believers there having a party spirit.
When I was younger I used to joke around a bit and say that this meant that the Corinthians stayed up too late and drank and danced a bit too much - that they played even more than they worked - but really it is no joking matter.
The Corinthians placed their loyalty in things other than the things of God - in persons other than the person of Jesus Christ, and they suffered because of it
- they suffered a loss of power
- they suffered a loss of love
- they suffered a loss of joy in believing and in sharing.
The Corinthians did this
- they misplaced their loyalty
- they missed the point of the gospel
- they formed up into party, cliques, and factions, not because they were wicked or mean or stupid, but because they looked elsewhere and forgot what they were to be about, because, most of all, they forgot who they believed in and what who they believed in was, and is, about.
The effective Christian life is based on three simple facts
- the fact that God loves us unconditionally,
- the fact that apart from God we can do nothing that is worthwhile,
- and the fact that God is pleased to work through us if we allow him to, and around us if we will not.
Sometimes we look out upon our families, upon our congregation, or upon our club or lodge, or upon our place of employment and we say to ourselves
- "things would be better if only Joe would cut x and y out", or
- "if only Wai Ching would do this or that everything would be fine".
Who hasn't heard the old song that is sung by close to everyone
if only my father hadn't been so stern,
if only my parents hadn't gotten divorced
if only my mother had been more affectionate,
if only my high secondary had a better program
if only my boss wasn't such a boob.
Who do we belong to? What holds onto us because we hold on to it?
Do you look out and assign blame for what problems exist upon some people - and apportion credit for what good is happening to still others instead of alternately - either asking God to work through you to make things better or thanking God for making things as fine as they are.
Too many judge things, too many judge people just as they always used to instead of judging them by the standard show them by Christ when he went to the cross for them
We prefer our friends to our enemies quite naturally.
We prefer our comfort to our discomfort quite naturally.
We would rather fit in than stand out.
We would rather be praised than be criticized, and we would rather be served than serve - all quite naturally.
But we are not meant to be natural people any longer - we are meant to be the children of God - to be a spiritual people who live by spiritual principles to be a people who live by the power of the cross of Christ rather than a people who live by the ways of the world.
Do you recall what it is like to wake up in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar place?
Sometimes a night light glows down the hall, providing a small amount of light, of security, against the darkness of the night. Sometimes a light has been left on in the den down the hall and its steady glow allows you to navigate safely when you have rise to raid the fridge or do what is necessary. And that's great.
But what foolishness it would be if you got up, as you do when you are at home, and, ignoring the fact of whether there is any light on or not, you try to navigate your way to the kitchen or the bathroom by making all the usual twist and turns. It's a sure fire way to experience some form of pain - I mean think of what happens if someone simply moves something in your home without telling you about it, if for some reason they leave the seat up instead of down, or some other unexpected thing...
But we do this all the time - in a metaphorical sense at least.
We forget that we have been called to a new way of living, and that we are meant to navigate our way through our new life by the light that God provides rather than by our old channel markers.
Do you have a problem - don't worry about fixing blame - check out the possible solutions in the word of God. Do we have something that is hampering our life together - let not accuse one another - lets pray together and then let's work the works that God calls us to, both individually and collectively.
The church at Corinth was a weak church.
It was weak because the people there forgot that they were called to a new way of life. It was weak because they forgot that the true and only real source of transforming and healing power comes from the cross of Jesus Christ. And it was weak because they forgot that their sole and only task as his followers was to show his love to others - that they were to live in such a manner and to speak in such a manner that others might be touched by God - that others might know the lure - the attraction - the wonder of God through us -and so be moved to claim Christ as their own.
I started this message today by saying we are supposed to fish for people, to seek to bring them into that great net known as the Kingdom of God into that creel known as salvation, as redemption - as everlasting peace.
That is, my friends, the central calling of every disciple and every apostle, and every teacher, and every evangelist, and indeed of everyone who bears the name of Christ.
And it is a wonderful calling
- a calling in which we have the privilege of witnessing God at work,
- a calling in which we are shown a portion of the love and the joy that exists in heaven.
Turn to Christ and place your allegiance in his person, your focus on his cross, your energy on his work, and all that God has in mind for you will be yours in this life as well as in the next.
Blessed Be God, Day by Day, Amen
When Christ called the first disciples he set himself a task - the task of making them into fishermen.
"As he walked by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea - for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "follow me, I will make you fish for people."
That is what God wants us all to do.
- It's what Jesus did - in Galilee and in Samaria and in Jordan and Judea and Jerusalem,
- And it's what we are supposed to do - in Wanchai, in Central, in Shumshuipo and in Mongkok.
We are supposed to fish for people, to seek to bring them into that great net known as the Kingdom of God - into that creel known as salvation, as redemption, as everlasting peace.
But are we? Are we fishing that is? And if we are fishing - who are we fishing for?
For God and God's glory?
For the sake of those we talk to each day?
Or for ourselves and for the sake of those people to whom we are loyal - albeit in a worldly way?
There is so much power that flows when you witness to the love of God - when you share with others what it does for you and what it can do for them - when you have a chance to engage someone who is troubled, or curious, or hungry, and bring them before the one who can sooth their pain, satisfy their yearnings, and feed their soul.
I was talking to someone the other day whose father is an alcoholic. He was sharing with me how his family coped with the problem - and naturally Alcoholics Anonymous came up in the conversation. From that it was but a short step to the concept of the Higher Power which is at the heart of that program - and then to the concept of believing that the Higher Power can help you with your problem and that one should surrender to that Power - to "Let go and let God."
What a prescription for life that is - and how wonderful it was to be able to share it - as any believing person is able to share it - whether or not they have read through the AA program.
It was wonderful to be able to share with someone that God ready and able to help them.
There is power in witnessing - in sharing one's faith - in being a person who fishes for people, because there is power in the message and power in the God the message is about.
But sometimes we don't experience that - most often - perhaps - we don't experience that.
We don't experience the power and we don't succeed at the task of fishing for people - indeed most often we don't even begin that task, because we are involved with and committed to the wrong stuff.
Although every one of us believes in God - our energy - our focus - is all too often fixed elsewhere.
It is as if we belonged to another - and indeed we often do. We often belong to other things - to other people - to other teams - and God gets the short end.
But my friends, when God gets the short end from us, so do the people around us, so do our families, so does our church, and so do we ourselves.
When Paul wrote his First Letter to the Corinthians there were a lot of problems in the congregation.
There was arrogance, there was pride, there was indifference. There was gluttony and laziness and intolerance, and there was depression, and anger, and despair. And it all tracked itself down to one simple fact - the people in the congregation at Corinth had fixed their focus on themselves and on one another instead of fixing it on Christ and on the power of his cross.
That's not to suggest that the Corinthians never paid attention to God - or that they totally ignored Jesus. Far from it. It's simply to say that most of their attention went elsewhere.
Instead of using the gospel as a filter by which to see the world around them and of asking God at each moment of decision to direct their words and their actions - they fell into their old routines, routines that are programmed into us by our genes and by the expectations that others have of us and by our own reluctance to really trust God for everything.
They relied upon the teachings of others for their own understanding of the gospel. They formed loyalties with those who first showed them the love of God and quite naturally they defended those teachers when questioned about them. And because their was a contrary spirit in Corinth, they soon began to quarrel about who was better and who was worse - some saying Paul, others Apollos, and still others Cephas, and even some entered the fray saying that they belong to the party Christ and that he was, and therefore they were, better.
In short the Corinthians missed the point of what the gospel is all about and instead of knowing the joy and the peace that comes with the fellowship of the faithful - instead of being powerful in their witness and being able to catch people for God - their congregational life collapsed and their sense of well being evaporated.
People complained about each other and about their leadership, they became confused about what was right and wrong, and they bickered about issues that made no sense to then and even less now.
The King James Version of the Bible says that problems at Corinth could be traced to the believers there having a party spirit.
When I was younger I used to joke around a bit and say that this meant that the Corinthians stayed up too late and drank and danced a bit too much - that they played even more than they worked - but really it is no joking matter.
The Corinthians placed their loyalty in things other than the things of God - in persons other than the person of Jesus Christ, and they suffered because of it
- they suffered a loss of power
- they suffered a loss of love
- they suffered a loss of joy in believing and in sharing.
The Corinthians did this
- they misplaced their loyalty
- they missed the point of the gospel
- they formed up into party, cliques, and factions, not because they were wicked or mean or stupid, but because they looked elsewhere and forgot what they were to be about, because, most of all, they forgot who they believed in and what who they believed in was, and is, about.
The effective Christian life is based on three simple facts
- the fact that God loves us unconditionally,
- the fact that apart from God we can do nothing that is worthwhile,
- and the fact that God is pleased to work through us if we allow him to, and around us if we will not.
Sometimes we look out upon our families, upon our congregation, or upon our club or lodge, or upon our place of employment and we say to ourselves
- "things would be better if only Joe would cut x and y out", or
- "if only Wai Ching would do this or that everything would be fine".
Who hasn't heard the old song that is sung by close to everyone
if only my father hadn't been so stern,
if only my parents hadn't gotten divorced
if only my mother had been more affectionate,
if only my high secondary had a better program
if only my boss wasn't such a boob.
Who do we belong to? What holds onto us because we hold on to it?
Do you look out and assign blame for what problems exist upon some people - and apportion credit for what good is happening to still others instead of alternately - either asking God to work through you to make things better or thanking God for making things as fine as they are.
Too many judge things, too many judge people just as they always used to instead of judging them by the standard show them by Christ when he went to the cross for them
We prefer our friends to our enemies quite naturally.
We prefer our comfort to our discomfort quite naturally.
We would rather fit in than stand out.
We would rather be praised than be criticized, and we would rather be served than serve - all quite naturally.
But we are not meant to be natural people any longer - we are meant to be the children of God - to be a spiritual people who live by spiritual principles to be a people who live by the power of the cross of Christ rather than a people who live by the ways of the world.
Do you recall what it is like to wake up in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar place?
Sometimes a night light glows down the hall, providing a small amount of light, of security, against the darkness of the night. Sometimes a light has been left on in the den down the hall and its steady glow allows you to navigate safely when you have rise to raid the fridge or do what is necessary. And that's great.
But what foolishness it would be if you got up, as you do when you are at home, and, ignoring the fact of whether there is any light on or not, you try to navigate your way to the kitchen or the bathroom by making all the usual twist and turns. It's a sure fire way to experience some form of pain - I mean think of what happens if someone simply moves something in your home without telling you about it, if for some reason they leave the seat up instead of down, or some other unexpected thing...
But we do this all the time - in a metaphorical sense at least.
We forget that we have been called to a new way of living, and that we are meant to navigate our way through our new life by the light that God provides rather than by our old channel markers.
Do you have a problem - don't worry about fixing blame - check out the possible solutions in the word of God. Do we have something that is hampering our life together - let not accuse one another - lets pray together and then let's work the works that God calls us to, both individually and collectively.
The church at Corinth was a weak church.
It was weak because the people there forgot that they were called to a new way of life. It was weak because they forgot that the true and only real source of transforming and healing power comes from the cross of Jesus Christ. And it was weak because they forgot that their sole and only task as his followers was to show his love to others - that they were to live in such a manner and to speak in such a manner that others might be touched by God - that others might know the lure - the attraction - the wonder of God through us -and so be moved to claim Christ as their own.
I started this message today by saying we are supposed to fish for people, to seek to bring them into that great net known as the Kingdom of God into that creel known as salvation, as redemption - as everlasting peace.
That is, my friends, the central calling of every disciple and every apostle, and every teacher, and every evangelist, and indeed of everyone who bears the name of Christ.
And it is a wonderful calling
- a calling in which we have the privilege of witnessing God at work,
- a calling in which we are shown a portion of the love and the joy that exists in heaven.
Turn to Christ and place your allegiance in his person, your focus on his cross, your energy on his work, and all that God has in mind for you will be yours in this life as well as in the next.
Blessed Be God, Day by Day, Amen
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Isaiah 49:1-7, Psalm 40; I Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
The scripture readings for today are each so rich.
We have the prophet Isaiah declaring how the promised one - was called from his mother's womb to be the one who brings salvation to the people of Israel - and more - who is appointed to be a light to the gentiles.
It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."
And we have Paul speaking to people of Corinth - to the believers in that city - and saying that they will be kept strong and blameless till the time of the promised one's return - strong through the spiritual gifts that God has poured out on Christ's people through the Holy Spirit - and blameless because of the what Christ has done for us on the cross.
Very rich readings indeed. As is today's Gospel lesson with it's account of the testimony that John the Baptist makes about Jesus - and it's description of how Andrew (for whom this church is named) first visited with Jesus and then, on the following day, brought his brother - Simon Peter - to meet Jesus.
Today I want to focus mainly on the gospel lesson - and within that - mainly upon part of the testimony that John the Baptist made about Jesus on two separate days. The first part.
"Look" said John on the first day, pointing to Jesus as Jesus draws near to him and his disciples "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
And on the second day John again says to his disciples as Jesus approaches. "Look, the Lamb of God".
What does John the Baptist mean when he calls Jesus the Lamb of God? What is a Lamb of God - that Jesus could be called "The Lamb of God?
Is John referring to the thousands of lambs that were sacrificed daily at the temple in Jerusalem? Those lambs whose blood was spilled as a means of connecting the people with God? Those lambs whose death expressed the worshippers' acknowledgement of God's power over life and death?
The lambs that were sacrificed at the temple each day died as a way of thanking God for the abundance of the harvest, for the increase in the people's herds and flocks, and as a thank offering for the birth of a new child.
The time of sacrifice was a time of communion
- of communion between those who came to worship as the law required
- and of communion between them and God.
The flesh of the lamb was consumed by the worshippers and by the priests who offered the sacrifices. Much as we do today as we gather to commune with God and to thank God for being our God - prayers were said, psalms were sung, scripture was read, and the people affirmed by their presence and by their offering that they were the children of God and brothers and sisters to one another.
Is it these lambs of thanksgiving - of communion that John refers to when he calls Jesus 'The Lamb of God'?
Or is John referring to another kind of lamb - to the Passover Lamb, that lamb that every household in Israel slaughtered each year and whose blood was then painted on the doorposts of their homes as a way of remembering the first Passover - that time when the angel of the Lord passed over the homes of the children of Israel as they suffered in slavery in Egypt and struck down the first born of their taskmasters?
The flesh of the Passover Lamb was entirely consumed on the night of the Passover - thus commemorating the strength that God gave the people to make their escape from bondage in Egypt - an escape that led them to the land of promise - to the land where God would give to them - in abundance - every good thing they needed.
Which kind of lamb is 'The Lamb of God'?
We believe that it is both kinds of lambs - but in particular - we believe that it is the Passover Lamb that John the Baptist had in mind - that Lamb whose blood signified that those who sheltered behind it were to be spared death and given new life in a new land.
But when John points at Jesus and says "behold the lamb of God" - he says something more about Jesus than the images of the Passover Lamb and the Lambs of Thanksgiving might suggest to us. He says that this person, this Lamb of God, provided by God's own hands, does more than simply spare the lives of his chosen people and help to bring them to the promised land.
He is saying that this particular lamb - this particular person - has been given by God to take away the sins of the whole world.
Sin, as every child of Israel knew, leads to death.
Permanent Death.
Final Death.
Caput.
Fini.
That is - indeed the point of the story of Adam and Eve - who upon eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - come under the sentence of death. And that is the message of the story of Noah and the flood and the message of every prophet sent by God to the people of Israel.
Sin leads to death. Not just for the people that God has chosen - but for all humankind.
As the Apostle Paul so simply puts it in his letter to the Romans "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God"
What John is indicating when he points to Jesus and says "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" is that this man - this Jesus - is the one promised by Isaiah and so many of the other prophets: that he is the one who is sent by God to bring salvation to the ends of the earth - the one who will free all people from slavery to sin and reconnect them to the perfect and holy God who created and austains us.
He is saying that Jesus will free all people from the sentence of death, not just those people God chose at the beginning to be his people - and he is giving to those who hear him - to his own disciples - an indication of how that would come about, namely by the offering of his body and his blood.
Just as the Passover lamb is slain so that it's blood may cause death to pass by the homes of the children of Israel and it's flesh may sustain the people as they escape from their bondage, and just as lambs in the temple were killed so that the prayers of thanksgiving and dedication might be heard by God and so that the people might rejoice and eat together, so the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the World will offer his body and his blood for us - and to us - once and for all.
From the time of his baptism by John, Jesus is led like a lamb to his eventual slaughter in Jerusalem.
His teachings and his healings, the miracles he works and the journeys that he makes during his ministry entire ministry, leads to one moment - his sacrifice on the cross.
"Here is the Lamb of God" we say, as we stand stunned, watching our Saviour's blood drain from his body for our salvation.
Here is one who was unblemished - one who was with out sin - an innocent one taking upon himself the punishment that should be ours; giving his life that we may have life.
As all the saints and the angels in heaven say
"Worthy is the Lamb, the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!"
A tourist visited a church in Germany and was surprised to see the carved figure of a lamb near the top of the church's tower.
He asked why it was there and was told that when the church was being built, a workman fell from a high scaffold. His co-workers rushed down, expecting to find him dead. But to their surprise and joy, he was alive and only slightly injured.
How did he survive? A flock of sheep was passing beneath the tower at the time, and he landed on top of a lamb. The lamb broke his fall and was crushed to death, but the man was saved.
To commemorate that miraculous escape, someone carved a lamb on the tower at the exact height from which the workman fell.
That expresses a tiny bit of what it means when John says "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" The sense indicated by Isaiah with his promise of one "who will bring salvation to the ends of the earth".
And with it's visible symbol, the carving on the bell tower that gives testimony to what happened, it expresses a tiny bit of another important part of the Gospel reading today - that of John calling out to his own disciples - and to all those who would hear his voice: "Look - the Lamb of God."
As you know it was because John the Baptist said "look" that Andrew and another disciple - most likely the Apostle John - turned and followed Jesus and became excited by what they experienced with him and became his disciples.
And it was because of Andrew telling his brother Simon "We have found the Messiah" and then bringing Simon to him - that Simon became Peter - the Rock of the Church.
I call you to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Like John the Baptist, I do not want you to follow me
- I want you to follow the one who gives everyone who comes to him life and that abundantly.
- I want you to follow the innocent one, the pure one, the one of God and from God who offered himself as the unblemished sacrifice for our sins, once and for all.
I want you to follow Jesus and have the angel of the Lord's judgement pass over your house and for you to escape from bondage and enter the promised land.
And more - I want you to be like John - and Andrew - and Simon Peter - and every disciple since.
I want you to call to those who trust you and to those who will hear your voice - I want you to call to them and say "look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is still with us - to make us free and to make us holy and to give us eternal life"
There is not one of us who does not need to draw closer to the Lamb of God. There is not one of us who does not need to come to Jesus and be cleansed and forgiven and given life. There is not one of us who does not need to experience Jesus and his transforming love on a deeper basis - day by day.
The Lamb of God my friends is here - here in the book we read, here in the songs we sing and the prayers that we pray, here in the love that we share and the forgiveness we grant in his name, here in the laughter and here too in the pain. He is here in the Spirit that God poured out upon the world in response to his sacrifice.
He is here - and he is in heaven above interceding for and protecting his people and calling to all the world to come and be healed.
Blessed be his name - now and forevermore. Amen.
The scripture readings for today are each so rich.
We have the prophet Isaiah declaring how the promised one - was called from his mother's womb to be the one who brings salvation to the people of Israel - and more - who is appointed to be a light to the gentiles.
It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."
And we have Paul speaking to people of Corinth - to the believers in that city - and saying that they will be kept strong and blameless till the time of the promised one's return - strong through the spiritual gifts that God has poured out on Christ's people through the Holy Spirit - and blameless because of the what Christ has done for us on the cross.
Very rich readings indeed. As is today's Gospel lesson with it's account of the testimony that John the Baptist makes about Jesus - and it's description of how Andrew (for whom this church is named) first visited with Jesus and then, on the following day, brought his brother - Simon Peter - to meet Jesus.
Today I want to focus mainly on the gospel lesson - and within that - mainly upon part of the testimony that John the Baptist made about Jesus on two separate days. The first part.
"Look" said John on the first day, pointing to Jesus as Jesus draws near to him and his disciples "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
And on the second day John again says to his disciples as Jesus approaches. "Look, the Lamb of God".
What does John the Baptist mean when he calls Jesus the Lamb of God? What is a Lamb of God - that Jesus could be called "The Lamb of God?
Is John referring to the thousands of lambs that were sacrificed daily at the temple in Jerusalem? Those lambs whose blood was spilled as a means of connecting the people with God? Those lambs whose death expressed the worshippers' acknowledgement of God's power over life and death?
The lambs that were sacrificed at the temple each day died as a way of thanking God for the abundance of the harvest, for the increase in the people's herds and flocks, and as a thank offering for the birth of a new child.
The time of sacrifice was a time of communion
- of communion between those who came to worship as the law required
- and of communion between them and God.
The flesh of the lamb was consumed by the worshippers and by the priests who offered the sacrifices. Much as we do today as we gather to commune with God and to thank God for being our God - prayers were said, psalms were sung, scripture was read, and the people affirmed by their presence and by their offering that they were the children of God and brothers and sisters to one another.
Is it these lambs of thanksgiving - of communion that John refers to when he calls Jesus 'The Lamb of God'?
Or is John referring to another kind of lamb - to the Passover Lamb, that lamb that every household in Israel slaughtered each year and whose blood was then painted on the doorposts of their homes as a way of remembering the first Passover - that time when the angel of the Lord passed over the homes of the children of Israel as they suffered in slavery in Egypt and struck down the first born of their taskmasters?
The flesh of the Passover Lamb was entirely consumed on the night of the Passover - thus commemorating the strength that God gave the people to make their escape from bondage in Egypt - an escape that led them to the land of promise - to the land where God would give to them - in abundance - every good thing they needed.
Which kind of lamb is 'The Lamb of God'?
We believe that it is both kinds of lambs - but in particular - we believe that it is the Passover Lamb that John the Baptist had in mind - that Lamb whose blood signified that those who sheltered behind it were to be spared death and given new life in a new land.
But when John points at Jesus and says "behold the lamb of God" - he says something more about Jesus than the images of the Passover Lamb and the Lambs of Thanksgiving might suggest to us. He says that this person, this Lamb of God, provided by God's own hands, does more than simply spare the lives of his chosen people and help to bring them to the promised land.
He is saying that this particular lamb - this particular person - has been given by God to take away the sins of the whole world.
Sin, as every child of Israel knew, leads to death.
Permanent Death.
Final Death.
Caput.
Fini.
That is - indeed the point of the story of Adam and Eve - who upon eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - come under the sentence of death. And that is the message of the story of Noah and the flood and the message of every prophet sent by God to the people of Israel.
Sin leads to death. Not just for the people that God has chosen - but for all humankind.
As the Apostle Paul so simply puts it in his letter to the Romans "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God"
What John is indicating when he points to Jesus and says "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" is that this man - this Jesus - is the one promised by Isaiah and so many of the other prophets: that he is the one who is sent by God to bring salvation to the ends of the earth - the one who will free all people from slavery to sin and reconnect them to the perfect and holy God who created and austains us.
He is saying that Jesus will free all people from the sentence of death, not just those people God chose at the beginning to be his people - and he is giving to those who hear him - to his own disciples - an indication of how that would come about, namely by the offering of his body and his blood.
Just as the Passover lamb is slain so that it's blood may cause death to pass by the homes of the children of Israel and it's flesh may sustain the people as they escape from their bondage, and just as lambs in the temple were killed so that the prayers of thanksgiving and dedication might be heard by God and so that the people might rejoice and eat together, so the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the World will offer his body and his blood for us - and to us - once and for all.
From the time of his baptism by John, Jesus is led like a lamb to his eventual slaughter in Jerusalem.
His teachings and his healings, the miracles he works and the journeys that he makes during his ministry entire ministry, leads to one moment - his sacrifice on the cross.
"Here is the Lamb of God" we say, as we stand stunned, watching our Saviour's blood drain from his body for our salvation.
Here is one who was unblemished - one who was with out sin - an innocent one taking upon himself the punishment that should be ours; giving his life that we may have life.
As all the saints and the angels in heaven say
"Worthy is the Lamb, the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!"
A tourist visited a church in Germany and was surprised to see the carved figure of a lamb near the top of the church's tower.
He asked why it was there and was told that when the church was being built, a workman fell from a high scaffold. His co-workers rushed down, expecting to find him dead. But to their surprise and joy, he was alive and only slightly injured.
How did he survive? A flock of sheep was passing beneath the tower at the time, and he landed on top of a lamb. The lamb broke his fall and was crushed to death, but the man was saved.
To commemorate that miraculous escape, someone carved a lamb on the tower at the exact height from which the workman fell.
That expresses a tiny bit of what it means when John says "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world" The sense indicated by Isaiah with his promise of one "who will bring salvation to the ends of the earth".
And with it's visible symbol, the carving on the bell tower that gives testimony to what happened, it expresses a tiny bit of another important part of the Gospel reading today - that of John calling out to his own disciples - and to all those who would hear his voice: "Look - the Lamb of God."
As you know it was because John the Baptist said "look" that Andrew and another disciple - most likely the Apostle John - turned and followed Jesus and became excited by what they experienced with him and became his disciples.
And it was because of Andrew telling his brother Simon "We have found the Messiah" and then bringing Simon to him - that Simon became Peter - the Rock of the Church.
I call you to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Like John the Baptist, I do not want you to follow me
- I want you to follow the one who gives everyone who comes to him life and that abundantly.
- I want you to follow the innocent one, the pure one, the one of God and from God who offered himself as the unblemished sacrifice for our sins, once and for all.
I want you to follow Jesus and have the angel of the Lord's judgement pass over your house and for you to escape from bondage and enter the promised land.
And more - I want you to be like John - and Andrew - and Simon Peter - and every disciple since.
I want you to call to those who trust you and to those who will hear your voice - I want you to call to them and say "look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is still with us - to make us free and to make us holy and to give us eternal life"
There is not one of us who does not need to draw closer to the Lamb of God. There is not one of us who does not need to come to Jesus and be cleansed and forgiven and given life. There is not one of us who does not need to experience Jesus and his transforming love on a deeper basis - day by day.
The Lamb of God my friends is here - here in the book we read, here in the songs we sing and the prayers that we pray, here in the love that we share and the forgiveness we grant in his name, here in the laughter and here too in the pain. He is here in the Spirit that God poured out upon the world in response to his sacrifice.
He is here - and he is in heaven above interceding for and protecting his people and calling to all the world to come and be healed.
Blessed be his name - now and forevermore. Amen.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Isaiah 63:7-9; Psalm 148; Hebrews 2:10-18; Matthew 2:13-23
Today I wish to share with you a wonderful Christmas tale written by Raymond MacDonald Alden many years ago. It is a story that is delightful and warm and I pray that you may be blessed by it as have many others. It is called "Why the Bells Chimed".
There was once, in a far-away country where few people have ever travelled, a wonderful church. It stood on a high hill in the centre of a great city; and every Sunday, as well as on sacred days like Christmas, thousands of people climbed the hill to its great archways, looking like lines of ants all moving in the same direction.
When you came to the building itself, you found stone columns and dark passageways, and a grand entrance leading to the main room of the church. This room was so long that one standing at the door-way could scarcely see to the other end, where the choir stood by the large altar. In the farthest corner was the organ, and this organ was so loud that sometimes when it played, the people for miles around would close their shutters and prepare for a great thunderstorm. Altogether, no such church as this was ever seen before, especially when it was lighted up for some festival, and crowded with people, young and old.
But the strangest thing about the old building was the wonderful chime of bells. At one corner of the church was a great, grey tower, with ivy growing over it as far up as one can see. I say as far as one can see because the tower was quite grand enough to fit the grand church, and it rose so far into the sky that it was only in fair weather that anyone claimed to be able to see the top. Even then one could not be certain that it was in sight. Up and up climbed the stones and the ivy, and, as the men who built the church had been dead for hundreds of years, everyone had forgotten how high the tower was supposed to be.
Now, all the people knew that at the top of the tower was a chime of Christmas bells. They had hung there ever since the church had been built, and were the most beautiful bells in the world. Some thought it was because a great musician had cast them and arranged them in their place; others said it was because of the great height, which reached up where the air was cleanest and purest. However that might be, no one who had ever heard the chimes denied that they were the sweetest in the world. Some described them as sounding like angels far up in the sky; others, as sounding like strange winds singing through the trees.
But the fact was that no one had heard them for years and years. There was an old man living not far from the church who said that his mother had spoken of hearing them when she was a little girl, and he was the only one who was sure of as much as that. They were Christmas chimes, you see, and were not meant to be played by men or on common days. It was the custom on Christmas Eve for all the people to bring to the church their offerings to the Christ- child; and when the greatest and best offering was laid on the altar, there used to come sounding through the music of the choir the Christmas chimes far up in the tower. Some said that the wind rang them, and others that they were so high that the angels could start them swinging. But for many years they had never been heard.
It was said that people were growing less careful of their gifts for the Christ-child, and that no offering was brought great enough to deserve the music of the chimes. Every Christmas Eve the rich people still crowded to the altar, each one trying to bring some gift better than any other, without giving anything he wanted for himself, and the church was crowded with those who thought that perhaps the wonderful bells might be heard again. But although the services were splendid and the offerings plenty, only the roar of the wind could be heard, far up in the stone tower.
Now, a number of miles from the city, in a little country village where nothing could be seen of the tower when the weather was fine, lived a boy named Pedro, and his little brother. They knew very little about the Christmas chimes, but they had heard of the service in the church on Christmas Eve, and had a secret plan, which they had often talked over when by themselves, to go and see the beautiful celebration.
"Nobody can guess, Little Brother," Pedro would say, "all the fine things there are to see and hear; and I have even heard it said that the Christ-child sometimes comes down to bless the service. What if we could see Him!"
The day before Christmas was bitterly cold, with a few lonely snowflakes flying in the air, and a hard white crust on the ground. Sure enough, Pedro and Little Brother were able to slip quietly away, early in the afternoon; and although the walk was hard in the frosty air, before nightfall they had trudged so far, hand in hand, that they saw the lights of the big city just ahead of them. Indeed, they were about to enter one of the great gates in the wall that surrounded it when they saw something dark on the snow near the path, and stepped aside to look at it.
It was a poor woman who had fallen just outside the city, too sick and tired to get in where she might have found shelter. The soft snow made of a drift a sort of pillow for her, and she would soon be so sound asleep in the wintry air that no one could ever waken her again. All this Pedro saw in a moment, and he knelt down beside her and tried to rouse her, even tugging at her arm a little as though he would have tried to carry her away. He turned her face toward him so that he could rub some of the snow on it, and when he had looked at her silently a moment, he stood up again and said:
"It's no good, Little Brother. You will have to go on alone."
"Alone?" cried Little Brother, "And you not see the Christmas Festival?"
"No," said Pedro, and he could not keep back a bit of the choking sound in his throat. "See this poor woman. She will freeze to death if nobody cares for her. Everyone has gone to the church now, but when you come back you can bring someone to help her. I will rub her to keep her from freezing, and perhaps get her to eat the bun that is left in my pocket."
"But I cannot bear to leave you, and go on alone," said Little Brother.
"Both of us need not miss the service," said Pedro, "and it had better be I than you. You can easily find your way to the church; and you must see and hear everything twice, Little Brother, once for you and once for me. I am sure the Christ-child must know how I should love to come with you and worship Him; and oh! if you get a chance Little Brother to slip up to the altar without getting in anyone's way, take this little silver piece of mine, and lay it down for my offering when no one is looking. Don't forget where you have left me, and forgive me for not going with you."
In this way he hurried Little Brother off to the city, and winked hard to keep back the tears as he heard the crunching footsteps sounding farther and farther away in the twilight. It was pretty hard to lose the music and splendour of the Christmas celebration that he had been planning for so long, and spend the time instead in that lonely place in the snow.
The great church was a wonderful place that night. Everyone said that it had never looked so bright and beautiful before. When the organ played and the thousands of people sang, the walls shook with the sound and little Pedro, outside the city wall, felt the earth tremble around him, for the sound was so great.
At the close of the service came the procession with offerings to be laid on the altar. Rich men and great men marched proudly up to lay down their gifts to the Christ-child. Some brought wonderful jewels, some baskets of gold so heavy that they could scarcely carry them down the aisle. A great writer laid down a book that he had been making for years and years.
And last of all walked the king of the country, hoping with all the rest to win for himself the chime of the Christmas bells. There went a great murmur through the church as the people saw the king take from his head the royal crown, all set with precious stones, and lay it gleaming on the altar as his offering to the holy Child. "Surely." everyone said, "we shall hear the bells now, for nothing like this has ever happened before."
But still only the cold old wind was heard in the tower, and the people shook their heads, and some of them said, as they had before, that they never really believed the story of the chimes, and doubted if they ever rang at all.
The procession was over, and the choir began the closing hymn. Suddenly the organist stopped playing as though he had been shot, and everyone looked at the old minister who was standing by the altar holding up his hand for silence. Not a sound could be heard from anyone in the church, but as all the people strained their ears to listen there came softly, but distinctly swinging through the air, the sound of the chimes in the tower. So far away and yet so clear the music seemed - so much sweeter were the notes than anything that had been heard before, rising and falling away up there in the sky, that the people in the church sat for a moment as still as though something held each of them by the shoulders. Then they all stood up together and stared straight at the altar to see what great gift had awakened the long-silent bells.
But all that the nearest of them saw was the childish figure of Little Brother, who had crept softly down the aisle when no one was looking, and had laid Pedro's little piece of silver on the altar......
May His Name be praised day by day! Amen.
There was once, in a far-away country where few people have ever travelled, a wonderful church. It stood on a high hill in the centre of a great city; and every Sunday, as well as on sacred days like Christmas, thousands of people climbed the hill to its great archways, looking like lines of ants all moving in the same direction.
When you came to the building itself, you found stone columns and dark passageways, and a grand entrance leading to the main room of the church. This room was so long that one standing at the door-way could scarcely see to the other end, where the choir stood by the large altar. In the farthest corner was the organ, and this organ was so loud that sometimes when it played, the people for miles around would close their shutters and prepare for a great thunderstorm. Altogether, no such church as this was ever seen before, especially when it was lighted up for some festival, and crowded with people, young and old.
But the strangest thing about the old building was the wonderful chime of bells. At one corner of the church was a great, grey tower, with ivy growing over it as far up as one can see. I say as far as one can see because the tower was quite grand enough to fit the grand church, and it rose so far into the sky that it was only in fair weather that anyone claimed to be able to see the top. Even then one could not be certain that it was in sight. Up and up climbed the stones and the ivy, and, as the men who built the church had been dead for hundreds of years, everyone had forgotten how high the tower was supposed to be.
Now, all the people knew that at the top of the tower was a chime of Christmas bells. They had hung there ever since the church had been built, and were the most beautiful bells in the world. Some thought it was because a great musician had cast them and arranged them in their place; others said it was because of the great height, which reached up where the air was cleanest and purest. However that might be, no one who had ever heard the chimes denied that they were the sweetest in the world. Some described them as sounding like angels far up in the sky; others, as sounding like strange winds singing through the trees.
But the fact was that no one had heard them for years and years. There was an old man living not far from the church who said that his mother had spoken of hearing them when she was a little girl, and he was the only one who was sure of as much as that. They were Christmas chimes, you see, and were not meant to be played by men or on common days. It was the custom on Christmas Eve for all the people to bring to the church their offerings to the Christ- child; and when the greatest and best offering was laid on the altar, there used to come sounding through the music of the choir the Christmas chimes far up in the tower. Some said that the wind rang them, and others that they were so high that the angels could start them swinging. But for many years they had never been heard.
It was said that people were growing less careful of their gifts for the Christ-child, and that no offering was brought great enough to deserve the music of the chimes. Every Christmas Eve the rich people still crowded to the altar, each one trying to bring some gift better than any other, without giving anything he wanted for himself, and the church was crowded with those who thought that perhaps the wonderful bells might be heard again. But although the services were splendid and the offerings plenty, only the roar of the wind could be heard, far up in the stone tower.
Now, a number of miles from the city, in a little country village where nothing could be seen of the tower when the weather was fine, lived a boy named Pedro, and his little brother. They knew very little about the Christmas chimes, but they had heard of the service in the church on Christmas Eve, and had a secret plan, which they had often talked over when by themselves, to go and see the beautiful celebration.
"Nobody can guess, Little Brother," Pedro would say, "all the fine things there are to see and hear; and I have even heard it said that the Christ-child sometimes comes down to bless the service. What if we could see Him!"
The day before Christmas was bitterly cold, with a few lonely snowflakes flying in the air, and a hard white crust on the ground. Sure enough, Pedro and Little Brother were able to slip quietly away, early in the afternoon; and although the walk was hard in the frosty air, before nightfall they had trudged so far, hand in hand, that they saw the lights of the big city just ahead of them. Indeed, they were about to enter one of the great gates in the wall that surrounded it when they saw something dark on the snow near the path, and stepped aside to look at it.
It was a poor woman who had fallen just outside the city, too sick and tired to get in where she might have found shelter. The soft snow made of a drift a sort of pillow for her, and she would soon be so sound asleep in the wintry air that no one could ever waken her again. All this Pedro saw in a moment, and he knelt down beside her and tried to rouse her, even tugging at her arm a little as though he would have tried to carry her away. He turned her face toward him so that he could rub some of the snow on it, and when he had looked at her silently a moment, he stood up again and said:
"It's no good, Little Brother. You will have to go on alone."
"Alone?" cried Little Brother, "And you not see the Christmas Festival?"
"No," said Pedro, and he could not keep back a bit of the choking sound in his throat. "See this poor woman. She will freeze to death if nobody cares for her. Everyone has gone to the church now, but when you come back you can bring someone to help her. I will rub her to keep her from freezing, and perhaps get her to eat the bun that is left in my pocket."
"But I cannot bear to leave you, and go on alone," said Little Brother.
"Both of us need not miss the service," said Pedro, "and it had better be I than you. You can easily find your way to the church; and you must see and hear everything twice, Little Brother, once for you and once for me. I am sure the Christ-child must know how I should love to come with you and worship Him; and oh! if you get a chance Little Brother to slip up to the altar without getting in anyone's way, take this little silver piece of mine, and lay it down for my offering when no one is looking. Don't forget where you have left me, and forgive me for not going with you."
In this way he hurried Little Brother off to the city, and winked hard to keep back the tears as he heard the crunching footsteps sounding farther and farther away in the twilight. It was pretty hard to lose the music and splendour of the Christmas celebration that he had been planning for so long, and spend the time instead in that lonely place in the snow.
The great church was a wonderful place that night. Everyone said that it had never looked so bright and beautiful before. When the organ played and the thousands of people sang, the walls shook with the sound and little Pedro, outside the city wall, felt the earth tremble around him, for the sound was so great.
At the close of the service came the procession with offerings to be laid on the altar. Rich men and great men marched proudly up to lay down their gifts to the Christ-child. Some brought wonderful jewels, some baskets of gold so heavy that they could scarcely carry them down the aisle. A great writer laid down a book that he had been making for years and years.
And last of all walked the king of the country, hoping with all the rest to win for himself the chime of the Christmas bells. There went a great murmur through the church as the people saw the king take from his head the royal crown, all set with precious stones, and lay it gleaming on the altar as his offering to the holy Child. "Surely." everyone said, "we shall hear the bells now, for nothing like this has ever happened before."
But still only the cold old wind was heard in the tower, and the people shook their heads, and some of them said, as they had before, that they never really believed the story of the chimes, and doubted if they ever rang at all.
The procession was over, and the choir began the closing hymn. Suddenly the organist stopped playing as though he had been shot, and everyone looked at the old minister who was standing by the altar holding up his hand for silence. Not a sound could be heard from anyone in the church, but as all the people strained their ears to listen there came softly, but distinctly swinging through the air, the sound of the chimes in the tower. So far away and yet so clear the music seemed - so much sweeter were the notes than anything that had been heard before, rising and falling away up there in the sky, that the people in the church sat for a moment as still as though something held each of them by the shoulders. Then they all stood up together and stared straight at the altar to see what great gift had awakened the long-silent bells.
But all that the nearest of them saw was the childish figure of Little Brother, who had crept softly down the aisle when no one was looking, and had laid Pedro's little piece of silver on the altar......
May His Name be praised day by day! Amen.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Luke 2:1-14
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ.
I would like you to pretend that you are back 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, you wake up on this day, get the morning newspaper and you read about some strange happenings which occurred in your town during the night. As most newspaper do, this one, the Daily Bethlehem covered the story from every angle. You read....There is a story about astronomy in which the strange bright star over Bethlehem is explained The top astronomers of the day give their opinions concerning this latest appearing in the sky.
As you read further, you find on article concerning the many miles people traveled and the crowded conditions in your town especially last night. A special human interest story appeared which told of a pregnant woman traveling 70 miles on top of a donkey, then arriving so late that Mary and Joseph find no room in the inn, so they have to settle for a stable.
Then in the police reports, you find that a group of shepherds invaded your town during the night. The report gives little detail, but the shepherds were reported to have gone to that stable to see a little baby who was suppose to have been born. The police kept close track of those shepherds because of their reputation for causing trouble whenever they come to town. The report said something about the shepherds seeing angels in the sky and hearing the angels singing and telling them about a special baby being born this night in a stable. The report went on to say that the police were very suspicious of the shepherd's story.
Finally in the birth announcements you read about a baby born who as yet has not been named being born in a stable behind the inn. You find out that the parents, Mary and Joseph were of the house and lineage of David and that is why they are in your town because of the census ordered by Herod.
By all the accounts, there were some strange happenings in your town last night. As you read these stories, you come to the conclusion that these were all unrelated events. You wonder how the baby is doing since little was said concerning his welfare.
Using your imagination, those might have been the stories you read concerning the strange events in Bethlehem. Notice every angle was covered, but the story which was the short shortest concerned the baby born in that stable. Is that how it should have been? Maybe not, but that is the way it was and I bet if it happened today, it would be reported in the same manner.
The most important event of Christmas, the birth of God's Son would probably receive the least print, except the human interest side, the baby being born in a stable.
Is the human interest side of the story the reason God thought of Christmas? Did God think of Christmas so that everyone would fell for Mary and the Baby born in a cold, drafty stable in the middle of the night?
Why did God think of Christmas?
God thought of Christmas because God wanted to give us the gift of Himself. God to be with us, in a human form. God wanted to give us the gift of salvation. God wanted to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to love us, to forgive us, to bring peace and contentment into our lives.
A story entitled The Miraculous Staircase by Arthur Gordon explains the gift of Christmas very well It seems in 1878 a chapel was built and completed and named Our Lady of Light and run by the sister of Loretto . But a problem developed, it seemed that the plans for the chapel came from Paris and the architect who drew them forgot to put a staircase leading to the choir loft. After the chapel was built, it was soon discovered that there was no room for a staircase.
One cold December day a carpenter came hearing about the problem and offered to build a staircase. The mother superior Magdalene was leaving to help in a village with sickness and couldn't talk with the Carpenter.
The best ones in Santa Fe and New Mexico couldn't figure out how to guild a staircase so she figured this one wouldn't either. She left giving orders for him to be fed and then he could go on his way. While fighting the sickness in the village she received some strange letters from home. It seemed that the carpenter was working late, into the night on something.
The Mother Superior having completed her mission in the village hurried home. Because of a snow storm she arrived late at night on Christmas Eve. The chapel was ablaze with light. She hurried in and was met by excited sister ushering her quickly into the chapel to the choir loft area.
"Like a curl of smoke the staircase rise before them as insubstantial as a dream. Two completed spirals it made, nothing seemed to support it. One sister whispered, it has 33 steps, One for each year of the Lord. Mother Magdalene moved toward the staircase, stepped up and began to climb. She reached the choir loft, she was ecstatic
"How did he do it?" she asked, "How did he finish it in time? What is his name?"
The sister answered,"He finished today, he left when he was done."
A young girl who had been mute came forward trying to form words and uttered, "his name was Jose" Jose is the name in Spanish for Joseph. The sisters bowed their heads.
This staircase can be seen today in Santa Fe. No one can explain how it was built. 33 Steps make two complete turns without central support. There are no nails, only wooden pegs. The curved stringers are put together with precision and the wood is spliced in seven places on the inside and nine on the outside!
That mysterious staircase was a gift, an unexplainable gift just as the baby born in the manger is an unexplainable gift from God to us.
Why did God think of Christmas, easy, to give us a gift, a gift of love which was freely given. A gift which is just as masterful as that staircase in Santa Fe.
This closing story tells it all, why God gave us Christmas!
I would like you to pretend that you are back 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, you wake up on this day, get the morning newspaper and you read about some strange happenings which occurred in your town during the night. As most newspaper do, this one, the Daily Bethlehem covered the story from every angle. You read....There is a story about astronomy in which the strange bright star over Bethlehem is explained The top astronomers of the day give their opinions concerning this latest appearing in the sky.
As you read further, you find on article concerning the many miles people traveled and the crowded conditions in your town especially last night. A special human interest story appeared which told of a pregnant woman traveling 70 miles on top of a donkey, then arriving so late that Mary and Joseph find no room in the inn, so they have to settle for a stable.
Then in the police reports, you find that a group of shepherds invaded your town during the night. The report gives little detail, but the shepherds were reported to have gone to that stable to see a little baby who was suppose to have been born. The police kept close track of those shepherds because of their reputation for causing trouble whenever they come to town. The report said something about the shepherds seeing angels in the sky and hearing the angels singing and telling them about a special baby being born this night in a stable. The report went on to say that the police were very suspicious of the shepherd's story.
Finally in the birth announcements you read about a baby born who as yet has not been named being born in a stable behind the inn. You find out that the parents, Mary and Joseph were of the house and lineage of David and that is why they are in your town because of the census ordered by Herod.
By all the accounts, there were some strange happenings in your town last night. As you read these stories, you come to the conclusion that these were all unrelated events. You wonder how the baby is doing since little was said concerning his welfare.
Using your imagination, those might have been the stories you read concerning the strange events in Bethlehem. Notice every angle was covered, but the story which was the short shortest concerned the baby born in that stable. Is that how it should have been? Maybe not, but that is the way it was and I bet if it happened today, it would be reported in the same manner.
The most important event of Christmas, the birth of God's Son would probably receive the least print, except the human interest side, the baby being born in a stable.
Is the human interest side of the story the reason God thought of Christmas? Did God think of Christmas so that everyone would fell for Mary and the Baby born in a cold, drafty stable in the middle of the night?
Why did God think of Christmas?
God thought of Christmas because God wanted to give us the gift of Himself. God to be with us, in a human form. God wanted to give us the gift of salvation. God wanted to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to love us, to forgive us, to bring peace and contentment into our lives.
A story entitled The Miraculous Staircase by Arthur Gordon explains the gift of Christmas very well It seems in 1878 a chapel was built and completed and named Our Lady of Light and run by the sister of Loretto . But a problem developed, it seemed that the plans for the chapel came from Paris and the architect who drew them forgot to put a staircase leading to the choir loft. After the chapel was built, it was soon discovered that there was no room for a staircase.
One cold December day a carpenter came hearing about the problem and offered to build a staircase. The mother superior Magdalene was leaving to help in a village with sickness and couldn't talk with the Carpenter.
The best ones in Santa Fe and New Mexico couldn't figure out how to guild a staircase so she figured this one wouldn't either. She left giving orders for him to be fed and then he could go on his way. While fighting the sickness in the village she received some strange letters from home. It seemed that the carpenter was working late, into the night on something.
The Mother Superior having completed her mission in the village hurried home. Because of a snow storm she arrived late at night on Christmas Eve. The chapel was ablaze with light. She hurried in and was met by excited sister ushering her quickly into the chapel to the choir loft area.
"Like a curl of smoke the staircase rise before them as insubstantial as a dream. Two completed spirals it made, nothing seemed to support it. One sister whispered, it has 33 steps, One for each year of the Lord. Mother Magdalene moved toward the staircase, stepped up and began to climb. She reached the choir loft, she was ecstatic
"How did he do it?" she asked, "How did he finish it in time? What is his name?"
The sister answered,"He finished today, he left when he was done."
A young girl who had been mute came forward trying to form words and uttered, "his name was Jose" Jose is the name in Spanish for Joseph. The sisters bowed their heads.
This staircase can be seen today in Santa Fe. No one can explain how it was built. 33 Steps make two complete turns without central support. There are no nails, only wooden pegs. The curved stringers are put together with precision and the wood is spliced in seven places on the inside and nine on the outside!
That mysterious staircase was a gift, an unexplainable gift just as the baby born in the manger is an unexplainable gift from God to us.
Why did God think of Christmas, easy, to give us a gift, a gift of love which was freely given. A gift which is just as masterful as that staircase in Santa Fe.
This closing story tells it all, why God gave us Christmas!
Sunday, December 18, 2011
II Samuel 7:1-11,16; Luke 1:47-55; Luke 1:26-38
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
Christmas is a wonderful time of year, many good things happen - family gatherings
- baking
- candy treats
- rich food (am I dwelling on the tummy?)
- also music that lifts our hearts (carols, anthems)
- people dress up as well as they can
- visiting, sleigh rides, many other things,
it is a great time - a wonderful time, a time of promise,
But there is more than this to Christmas
There is a serious side
- the side that makes it all meaningful
- the side that was promised thousands of years ago...to Adam and Eve, to David the King, and to the prophets
The promise of God about this season came long before Jesus was born, it was a promise that evil would be defeated, a promise of a lasting peace, of lasting hope, of lasting joy and of lasting love. It was a promise that a king would be born... an everlasting king, who would rule his people with justice and truth, a king like David, but greater yet. A king whose reign would never end, a king who would look after the poor and give justice to the widow and orphan
And all of this goodness, all of this hope, rested one day, upon a young girl, barely a woman, who was engaged to a simple carpenter in the Land of Israel.
Imagine her with me... imagine yourself in her place...
Mary visited by an angel
- perhaps in a dream in a hot summer night...
- perhaps while carrying water from the village well...
And she is told by this angel that she is loved by God, that she is favoured by Him, and when she reacts with fear, and who could not be afraid of such a divine messenger, she is told to not be afraid, but to listen, and to understand that God was going to do something special to her, and through her, that God was going to cause her to become pregnant and to give birth to a son - a son who would become the promised king, the Messiah.
Mary's response was very predictable, it was like ours, HOW CAN THIS BE - SHE SAID - SINCE I AM A VIRGIN
How indeed can God work through us?
- We are nothing
- We are inadequate
- God is spirit, but we are flesh
- We are not important people,
- God would not use us,
- God could not use us,
except perhaps in very small things, like loving our neighbours, or helping the poor and the lonely during a difficult time, AND THESE OF COURSE ARE REALLY OUR ACTIONS, God does not actually direct them, or cause them, does he?
HOW CAN THIS BE - HOW CAN I GIVE BIRTH TO THE MESSIAH, I AM A VIRGIN?
But the angel persisted saying that the power of God would come over her - that she would conceive a son and that she should call him Jesus - which means "The Lord Saves"
And Mary replied - I AM THE LORD'S SERVANT, MAY IT BE TO ME AS YOU HAVE SAID."
Mary agreed to what God asked. Mary obeyed the Lord.
And a wonderful thing happened - she became pregnant.
BUT CONSIDER MORE Once Mary obeyed the Lord, once she accepted his word, there were imaginable difficulties, for after all - she was a single woman - who was pregnant - she had a fiance who was troubled, and did not know what to do for quite a while. Although there were difficulties, once she accepted God's message, once she really believed it, incredible Joy came.
In the words of day's canticle which we just said, Mary's soul magnified the Lord.
- She realized in way she could not before that God was in fact real
- that his promises to Israel, to Abraham and his children would come true
- that the world was save, for the saviour was coming.
Mary's soul magnified the Lord - it exalted the Lord - and God filled her, and gave her the joy and the peace and the hope and the love that our toys, our gifts, our carols, and our gatherings can only at best hinted at.
Our Souls too - we when we accept God's word and when we obey his commands, will realize great joy. God will expand in us, and use us - and give us the joy, peace, hope and love we need for ourselves and that which we need to be a light to the world around us.
The hope of Israel and the hope of the world rested on Mary, and she obeyed and Jesus was born.
The hope of our world rests today on us - will we be like her? Will we give birth to God in our actions and thoughts. Will we obey the Lord, and walk in his ways?
John's call to the people of Israel was Prepare Ye The Way of The Lord.
Advent and Christmas - a time of goodness - a goodness that can last and spread throughout the world - if we indeed do prepare ourselves, if we hope and obey like Mary - for with God nothing is impossible.
When we accept God's message to us through the angels, through the prophets, and through Jesus, not only our souls will magnify the Lord, but the souls of every man, woman and child who encounters us, for they will see the promise of God coming true in our lives. Thanks be to God for the gift of his word - Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN
Christmas is a wonderful time of year, many good things happen - family gatherings
- baking
- candy treats
- rich food (am I dwelling on the tummy?)
- also music that lifts our hearts (carols, anthems)
- people dress up as well as they can
- visiting, sleigh rides, many other things,
it is a great time - a wonderful time, a time of promise,
But there is more than this to Christmas
There is a serious side
- the side that makes it all meaningful
- the side that was promised thousands of years ago...to Adam and Eve, to David the King, and to the prophets
The promise of God about this season came long before Jesus was born, it was a promise that evil would be defeated, a promise of a lasting peace, of lasting hope, of lasting joy and of lasting love. It was a promise that a king would be born... an everlasting king, who would rule his people with justice and truth, a king like David, but greater yet. A king whose reign would never end, a king who would look after the poor and give justice to the widow and orphan
And all of this goodness, all of this hope, rested one day, upon a young girl, barely a woman, who was engaged to a simple carpenter in the Land of Israel.
Imagine her with me... imagine yourself in her place...
Mary visited by an angel
- perhaps in a dream in a hot summer night...
- perhaps while carrying water from the village well...
And she is told by this angel that she is loved by God, that she is favoured by Him, and when she reacts with fear, and who could not be afraid of such a divine messenger, she is told to not be afraid, but to listen, and to understand that God was going to do something special to her, and through her, that God was going to cause her to become pregnant and to give birth to a son - a son who would become the promised king, the Messiah.
Mary's response was very predictable, it was like ours, HOW CAN THIS BE - SHE SAID - SINCE I AM A VIRGIN
How indeed can God work through us?
- We are nothing
- We are inadequate
- God is spirit, but we are flesh
- We are not important people,
- God would not use us,
- God could not use us,
except perhaps in very small things, like loving our neighbours, or helping the poor and the lonely during a difficult time, AND THESE OF COURSE ARE REALLY OUR ACTIONS, God does not actually direct them, or cause them, does he?
HOW CAN THIS BE - HOW CAN I GIVE BIRTH TO THE MESSIAH, I AM A VIRGIN?
But the angel persisted saying that the power of God would come over her - that she would conceive a son and that she should call him Jesus - which means "The Lord Saves"
And Mary replied - I AM THE LORD'S SERVANT, MAY IT BE TO ME AS YOU HAVE SAID."
Mary agreed to what God asked. Mary obeyed the Lord.
And a wonderful thing happened - she became pregnant.
BUT CONSIDER MORE Once Mary obeyed the Lord, once she accepted his word, there were imaginable difficulties, for after all - she was a single woman - who was pregnant - she had a fiance who was troubled, and did not know what to do for quite a while. Although there were difficulties, once she accepted God's message, once she really believed it, incredible Joy came.
In the words of day's canticle which we just said, Mary's soul magnified the Lord.
- She realized in way she could not before that God was in fact real
- that his promises to Israel, to Abraham and his children would come true
- that the world was save, for the saviour was coming.
Mary's soul magnified the Lord - it exalted the Lord - and God filled her, and gave her the joy and the peace and the hope and the love that our toys, our gifts, our carols, and our gatherings can only at best hinted at.
Our Souls too - we when we accept God's word and when we obey his commands, will realize great joy. God will expand in us, and use us - and give us the joy, peace, hope and love we need for ourselves and that which we need to be a light to the world around us.
The hope of Israel and the hope of the world rested on Mary, and she obeyed and Jesus was born.
The hope of our world rests today on us - will we be like her? Will we give birth to God in our actions and thoughts. Will we obey the Lord, and walk in his ways?
John's call to the people of Israel was Prepare Ye The Way of The Lord.
Advent and Christmas - a time of goodness - a goodness that can last and spread throughout the world - if we indeed do prepare ourselves, if we hope and obey like Mary - for with God nothing is impossible.
When we accept God's message to us through the angels, through the prophets, and through Jesus, not only our souls will magnify the Lord, but the souls of every man, woman and child who encounters us, for they will see the promise of God coming true in our lives. Thanks be to God for the gift of his word - Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN
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