Keep Awake

Keep awake. We only have three Sundays left in our church lectionary year that will restart with the coming first Sunday of Advent. For these three final Sundays, our gospel readings will all be read from my favorite chapter of Matthew, chapter 25. Here we find Jesus has left the Temple, where he confronted the scribes and Pharisees, and is now sitting up on the Mount of Olives speaking to the disciples. The Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem, has prophetic significance that is important to Matthew’s specifically Jewish audience. The Mount of Olives is mentioned in Zechariah 14 as the place where The Lord will return, signaling the Messianic Age. Jesus and his disciples would have been sitting on the mountain, across the Kidron Valley, looking down on the city and the Temple’s courts as Jesus compared the coming Kingdom of God to ten bridesmaids waiting for the arrival of a groom.

Those in the early church had to come to terms with the reality that Jesus did not return to them as soon and as fully as they expected. When they began to accept this and adjust, their objective changed. It was around the time of this realization that the people decided to write down what they knew of Jesus to preserve the stories of the Gospel for generations to come.

They continued waiting expectantly while living faithfully, courageously, and hopefully.

Jesus tells this story of the ten young women in order to clarify for his audience the kind of time in which they live. For Matthew, the bridegroom’s delay is more of an opportunity than a problem. Greek has two different words for time. “Chronos” is what is used to describe physical time and what we consider to be minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years. “Kairos,” on the other hand, is the time transcendent of physics. Kairos is God’s time, the time of the Kingdom of Heaven to come.

Christians live in a perpetual state of watchfulness, waiting on the coming Kingdom of God to interrupt our lives here on earth. Even if and when the faithfully people of God fall asleep waiting on the bridegroom, their preparations displayed in how they have shown mercy and forgiveness to one another while restoring fractured relationships, leave them prepared and ready for the sudden arrival. Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Keep awake because God exists in kairos and not chronos time.

And Jesus says there will be two kinds of people at that time. There will be wise and faithful servants, and there will be less wise, or foolish servants. The wise and faithful ones are those that God will find living as good stewards of what The Lord has provided to them to use as best they are able to spread the love of God in and to the world. The less wise are those who have taken advantage of what God has provided. The wicked are those who have abused the people in their lives. The less wise have spent too much of their lives surrounded by those whose lifestyles are centered around self-pleasure and fulfillment. These are they who miss out on knowing the fullness of what a life with God can bring. These are they who the groom will not know when he finally comes.

The foolish women were so similar to the wise. They too desired just as much to meet the bridegroom. They too spent their life waiting and living for this moment. They had gone out with the others. But when the groom did not come as soon as they expected, they found themselves distracted and distraught. When the time came, they recognized their mistake of neglecting the oil. They were suffering from a real oil crisis. The only difference between the wise and foolish women is the wise women brought extra oil with them and came prepared to wait.

At this time last year I was serving the historic Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, which is a block away from the Ryman Auditorium. Our sanctuary was used as a venue for the Americana Music Awards where this year the show opened with a song, Going Down to the River, by Doug Seegers. Doug wrote his first song at 16, and, after finishing high school, joined a country band and moved to Austin, performing under the stage name Duke the Drifter. It was hard and one day, Duke the Drifter just split."I didn't even say goodbye to anybody," Seegers says. "For Pete's sake. I just, like, hitchhiked down the road." He headed back to New York, learned a trade and started a family — but the music bug never left him. Some 20 years later, Seegers said goodbye to his now-grown children and former wife, and headed for Nashville, to play music. But again, his music career stalled. Another 17 years passed — and after many years of unsteady work, Seegers ended up homeless, living under a bridge and busking for coins.

Then, last fall, something incredible happened. Jill Johnson, a Swedish singer with her own TV show, came through Nashville. She was shooting footage for a segment about down-and-out musicians and visited a food pantry where Seegers hung out. When Doug began to play Going Down to the River, she was overwhelmed. Before he knew what was happening, Seegers was whisked off to a studio to record the song for the show. Days after it aired, the song went to No. 1 on Swedish iTunes.

"I was slapping myself in the face," Seegers says. "I kept saying, 'Am I dreaming? When am I going to wake up and go back to living under the bridge?' " People started sending money to help Seegers. A Swedish label offered him a record deal. A prominent record producer back in Nashville signed on to make the record, and they finished it in three days.

For one track, someone called in a favor with one of Seegers' longtime heroes, Emmylou Harris. Harris recorded her tracks separately — but she was so moved by Seegers' voice that she called him to let him know.

"I pick up the phone and she says, 'Doug, this is Emmylou Harris,' " Seegers says. "And I immediately start crying. I couldn't even talk, I was crying so hard. It was a dream come true for me."[1]

Keeping awake and waiting on God is a part of faith. Faith is our oil that sustains our lamp and keeps it burning. Faith is the oil for our existence, it is our connection to God. Our empowerment found in God’s Spirit and our relationships both with God and with one another.

Jesus wants us to know: this life, as we are living it, is not as good as it gets. The bridegroom’s delay does not mean he will not come. Keep awake. The wise bridesmaids ask us to live in hope for what has been promised, for what will be but is not complete yet. We each need in order to best do our part to keep our own lamps lit. This oil crisis is about putting things in the right order. While one lesson in this text is that there are some preparations you have to make for yourself, another lesson is this: you can help other people after you’ve filled your own lamp. It is as simple as putting on your own oxygen mask before assisting someone else with theirs. What will it take for you to refill your lamp with oil? What are the reserves you need to shore up so that you will be able to light a path for someone else?

Jesus comes when Christians live in hope and never give up. Jesus comes when faithful disciples express love and compassion for others while working for justice and peace. The challenge for us is to keep enough oil on hand for the lamps when the bridegroom appears, and in the meantime to roll up our sleeves and work for the kingdom that is already and always coming and breaking into history. Keep awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour. May it be so?

---

[1] Pearson, Vince (2014) Homeless In Nashville, Huge in Sweden. National Public Radio Morning Edition broadcast October 9. Retrieved online http://www.npr.org/2014/10/09/354642327/homeless-in-nashville-huge-in-sweden

Denying Oneself

A sermon given by Rev. Jonathan ScanlonGenesis Presbyterian ChurchAugust 31, 2014The 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 16:21-28   ²¹ From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.  ²² And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you."  ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."  ²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  ²⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.  ²⁶ For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?  ²⁷ "For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.  ²⁸ Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Over the last few weeks we have discussed Jesus’ disciple Simon Peter. In these recent discussions, you have heard me say how I believe Peter has been given a bad rap as the disciple who embodies what disciples are not to do. Peter is known as the disciple who begins to sink when attempting to walk on the water, he cuts off the ear of the solder arresting Jesus, and he will deny knowing Jesus three times in the night. Despite all of these character flaws, Jesus sees great potential in Peter. He and his brother Andrew were the first Jesus called to be disciples. Jesus believed if anyone could model a life of faithful discipleship it is Peter.

As we pick up with of Gospel lesson today, Jesus has complimented Simon Peter, called petros the Greek word for rock, and declared on this rock the church is to be built. Peter is the foundation for how we as the church are to live. He was given the keys to the kingdom and considered the gatekeeper as Jesus told him anything he fastens on earth with be fasted in heaven and anything he made loose on earth with be loosened in heaven. In this moment Peter, the bumbling disciple who is remembered for doing so many things wrong, is honored with great responsibility.

The moment didn’t last long. As soon as Jesus began to describe what was going to happen when they entered Jerusalem, Peter became angry and argumentative. “God forbid it,” he cried out. Peter does not want Jesus to suffer. He can’t imagine his teacher and mentor, who has just begun to help him turn his life around, journeying toward an abrupt and violent demise. Peter could not understand why Jesus would plan to walk into such a trap, when he might avoid the confrontation by turning to walk away from it. Why take a risk you do not have to take?

In this moment, Peter has exchanged Jesus’ revelation of God’s action in the world for his own merely human perspective. Peter begins to think about himself and fails to represent God. Fear, self-interest, self-centeredness, and pride block any of Peter’s progress in his understanding of God that he has made up to this point. Peter, petros, the rock upon which the church is to be built, has stumbled and has become the impediment, the stumbling block, for the faith of others instead of the model of discipleship.

Jesus quickly responds to Peter’s remark with the words, “Get behind me, Satan.” You Simon Peter, of all people, can’t say that; because you are not on the side of God. When you make such a suggestion you become nothing more than a stone that may cause me and others to stumble and fall; for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but rather your own human thoughts. You, of all people, will deny me because when push comes to shove, you are a stumbling block to faith.

If those who wish to follow me are sincere, let them deny what stumbling blocks are keeping them from living faithful discipleship. Let them deny themselves of what is keeping them from living on the side of God. Pick up your cross and follow me.

 These are not easy words to hear, and never will be easy to swallow, but we know they are not the end of the story. This invitation to follow Jesus, toward such a sacrifice, does not end with death but rather is transformed to new life through the resurrection. Our fear of death, suffering, and scarcity often causes us, just like Peter, to forget who we are as disciples, and whose we are as God’s people, and why we are living on this rock of a planet in the first place.

This isn’t the first time Jesus has mentioned picking up a cross in order follow as a faithful disciple. It may be the first time they understood what he meant. Back in Matthew chapter 10, Jesus sends out his twelve disciples with the words, “³⁷ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;  ³⁸ and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  ³⁹ Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

Very few of us have to suffer such a great sacrifice for our faith. We living in our country and culture will not have to die for the sake of professing a faith in Jesus Christ. Much of our Christian faith and values have become deeply commingled with, and I dare saying co-opted and compromised by, the individualism and self-centered, self-serving values of our larger society. Because it is not as much of a sacrifice for us to gather and worship God, it has become more difficult for us living in such a free individualistic society to articulate, affirm, and demonstrate our faith to those around us.

Do we worship a God of personal salvation, believing, “I know I’m saved and that is all that matters?” Or do we worship a God who sends us out into the world on a mission to build the community of discipleship? Is God more interested in our individualistic beliefs or the faithful response of our community? There are plenty of self-proclaimed Christians in the world who disagree with me when I claim the call to deny oneself, to take up the cross and lose one’s life for the sake of the message of the Gospel is not focused on personal salvation, and yet denying one’s self and individualism is the very means Jesus intends for us to achieve such an end. Jesus says, if you want to follow me, deny yourself; if you want to find your life, give up living your life for yourself and live for God.

Discipleship involves shifting from being a hearer to being a doer. It is not simply the passive belief in Christ that matters but the more active following of Christ that transforms lives and builds faith. Jesus wants us to begin think with a different mindset on divine things rather than on human things. Instead of thinking of our individual lives with God, we are to think of the whole community. After all, an individual does not, and cannot, exist alone but rather only as part of the whole.

                  

Discipleship is a call away from being self-centered toward living a life that is Christ-centered. The church exists to make disciples. Disciples are those who make and carry the way of the cross as their way of life. Once we become Christian disciples, we are no longer our own. Disciples begin to lose themselves by forgetting their possessions and focusing on God’s action in the world. None of us will ever be perfect in this regard, but we may begin to help remind one another how we belong to God. Just as Paul writes in Romans, it is now for us to live and die for God in Christ.

Discipleship requires us taking steps outside of our comfort in new and different circumstances. It involves sharing what we have instead of hoarding for our own comfort and consumption. Deny yourself what you don’t need because our true worth is found in the giving of ourselves to other. Standing with and for those who have no voice, we must be willing to make sacrifices in our lives for the gospel.  

A few years ago NPR ran a short story about someone who inspires me. Julio Diaz at the time was a thirty-one year old social worker living in the Bronx. After work, he often got off his subway one stop early to eat dinner at his favorite diner. One night he was approached by a teenage boy who came up on him from behind, pulled out a knife which he jabbed into Julio’s back and demanded his wallet.

            As the boy ran off with his wallet, Diaz yelled to him offering for the assailant to take his coat on a cold night when the boy had nothing warm to wear. Surprised the boy came back, accepted the coat and asked why he was offered this coat. Julio’s response was that from his perspective, if he was going to stay out in the cold and risk his life mugging people for a little money, he seemed to need the coat more.  Diaz then said he was on his way to get something to eat and offered to take the robber to his favorite diner for a meal.

            While sitting in a booth at the diner all of the employees of the restaurant, from the manager to the dishwashers, came over to the table to speak with Diaz and his attacker. The dumbfounded mugger questioned his victim, “You know everybody in here. Do you own this place?"

"No, I just eat here a lot," Diaz told the teen.

 “But you're even nice to the dishwasher,” the boy exclaimed.

Diaz replied, "Well, haven't you been taught you should be nice to everybody?"

"Yea, but I didn't think people actually behaved that way."

Diaz proceeded to ask him what he wanted out of life. The boy’s face turned sad.

Either he couldn't answer or he didn't want to.

Later the bill arrived, Diaz quickly said, “You’re going to have to pay for this because you have all my money. If you give me my wallet back, I'll gladly treat you."

With his wallet returned he paid the restaurant as well as gave the boy $20 asking only for the teenager’s knife in return.

Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, "You're the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you’d give them your watch." To which Julio Diaz responded, "I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It's as simple as it gets in this complicated world."[1]

            Whatever we do here in the church together, how we worship, what we learn, how much we give, whose lives we touch, and who we assist must all bear witness to the transformative power of the cross or else it will have been done for nothing more than self-serving vanity. We may choose to turn from all that which hinders our faithful and lived commitment. To deny oneself and to follow is the take up the cross and all that comes with it. 

            In a few minutes we will sing Lift High the Cross, a great hymn of the Church. Before you join in singing today, perhaps you may want to ponder what it means for you to pick the cross and lift it high as you follow as Jesus’ disciple. What are we to deny ourselves till all the world adores Christ’s sacred name? It is as simple as it gets in this complicated world. So, may it be so. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

---

[1]Michael Garofalo. A Victim Treats His Mugger Right. Retrived from Web: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89164759 November 25, 2010 

29 June 2014 “Welcome All” Matthew 10:40-42

  Today I celebrate the anniversary of my ordination to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. It was nine years ago this month at the First Presbyterian Church in Uvalde where I was ordained and installed as pastor.  While it was a first for me, this church has witnessed many installation services as new pastors were called to Trinity or Wilshire. I can only imagine the number of ordination and installation services there have been for the elders. Many of you can remember yours.

 In our remembrance of those times it is fitting to recall our faithful laboring through study, and training, and the years we  have labored faithfully worshiping, and doing God’s ministry to one another and to the world.  We can be mighty proud of our work thus far.

 Ordination is the act by which the church sets apart persons who have been called, through election by the church, to service. In our Presbyterian tradition and according to scripture, we call them presbyters. These presbyters may be ministers of Word and Sacrament or teaching elders, and active members of session, or ruling elders.

 Most importantly, the service itself is rooted in our baptism, which “is the basic Christian ‘ordination’.  In baptism, we are individually claimed as God’s own beloved sons and daughters and grafted into the body of Christ – the community of faith – the church.

 It was in our own baptism we were made disciples of Jesus Christ and called to serve others as if we were serving Christ himself.  This is a good day to remember and celebrate our baptism into the faith, for we are all called to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

  I was drawn to reminisce about these times by this morning’s scripture which reminds us of our personal call to service.  We hear it in Matthew’s gospel at the end of chapter 10 in the form of a call to welcome those doing God’s work, and to hear about their reward.

  “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple – truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

 Our call to welcome and give to “one of these little ones” God brings to us is clear. The promise of a reward, whether it is the reward of the righteous, or never losing our reward can be a bit tricky though.

 It sounds like welcoming the word of God connects us to God and being connected to God connects us to the reward of God’s salvation. That is what the reward of the righteous is. Our reward is found in being in a right relationship with God. God grants salvation through Christ’s cross, this is God’s atoning act of righteousness.

   This is a beautiful truth for this day of worship in our church. This is the sort of good news we want to hear. This is our day to celebrate who we have been as a church and as the faithful, who we are now, and who we will become.

 So it is right and good that we celebrate this day being ordained, all of us, being set apart, made holy. It is God’s truth and it is for each of us. It is God’s truth and it may be understood as our reward. A reward we may expect to receive this day, and every day. It is our reward for our faithfulness.

  Reward, I wonder if we should feel a little uncomfortable about this notion of being rewarded, being so lifted, and exalted, and the center of attention.

 Ernie Hinojosa began a new congregation in San Antonio. The place was doing well, far better than Pastor Ernie had dreamed. One day he found sanctuary in his office and prayed a lament to God: “I’m too young, I’m not strong enough to do this!” to which God very clearly replied, “Ernie, what made you think it was about you? It’s not about you; it’s about me. This is my work.”

 I am always struck by that line, “What made you think it was about you?” I have written that phrase in my journal, and wish I could burn it in my psyche because I need to be reminded of that truth every day.

 In the midst of an American culture that seems at every turn to tell us what we deserve, it is truly difficult to believe we are not the center of the universe where we deserve the best our world has to offer. That point of our deserving the best is reinforced time and time again. This world clearly proves to us, it is about us!

 Is it possible we are surrounded by false prophets who tell us what we want to hear? Jeremiah thought so. We read this morning his response to the prophet Hananiah.

 Hananiah was clearly preaching and prophesying what the people of Israel wanted to hear. They were in exile in Babylon. They wanted to go home, to their land, their temple, and their old way of life.

 So Hananiah took up the cry. He assured them all the temple vessels would be returned to Jerusalem and they were about to be set free from their exile. Jeremiah hoped so. He truly did. He wanted to go home too.

 But, that was not happening. The words Hananiah was saying had not come true. He preached exactly what the people wanted to hear, rather than taking the route of God’s truth, which was what Jeremiah had done.

 We are most familiar with another prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, who also decided to not preach what the people wanted to hear. Instead he preaches the way of God’s truth. Jesus says exactly what God wants him to say, even when it is not what we want to hear.

 In Matthew’s tenth chapter, Jesus has called us as his disciples and he sends us out to do God’s work, God’s work, where we will be on God’s side.

  Dear ones, this is the real meaning of our day of honor. This is our real reward, being about God, and not ourselves. The cost and reward of being a disciple is that we must surrender to the fact that it is not about us.

 Barbara Brown Taylor is a respected preacher and author. About this passage she says, “What the Bible tells us over and over again – what our lives tell us – is that the only reward for doing God’s work is doing God’s work. Period.”

 Susan Langhauser, another great preacher, says, “Let’s face it ‘What’s in it for me?’ is not a biblical question!”

 Brother Lawrence, a humble 17^th-century monk, having nothing found himself quite well off, which he attributed to the fact that he sought only God, and not Gods gifts. He was not interested in any ones, “What’s in it for me?” question. He believed that God is much greater than any of the simple gifts God gives us. Rather, he chose to look beyond the gift, hoping to learn more about God as God. It actually became his desire to avoid receiving any reward, so that he would have the pleasure of doing something solely for God. He would agree with Taylor. The reward for doing God’s work is doing God’s work, period.

  God has placed within our hearts a desire to be in relationships and when in a genuine relationship we do not ask, what is in it for me. A true relationship should not be about us.

 We see the fruits of a true relationship when the line between our self and the other become blurred. Two in a relationship become one as they become friends, as they fall in love, as they become parents, or as they become the right thing they have done. It is not about us as an individual. We die to self, remember, and are born anew.

  This point was made in the story of a women’s Bible study group. They had chosen to study Malachi 3:3, where God “will sit as a refiner, a purifier of silver.”

 Not really understanding that concept, one of the women volunteered to find out about the process of refining silver. She made an appointment and on arriving at the silversmith’s shop, was escorted to the place of refining. The smith held the piece of silver right in the center of the flame. The woman thought about what that might say about how God deals with us, and she asked the smith, “Do you have to hold the silver in the hottest part of the fire?” “Oh yes, “he replied. “If I look away for a moment it could get too hot and be destroyed. If I don’t let it get hot enough, it will not become pure and therefore workable for my purposes.” “But how do you know when it is refined?” asked the woman. The silversmith replied, “When I can see my own image in the silver, I know it is pure.”

 This is Gods’ truth.  God sits as a refiner, a purifier of each of us. Our baptism, our individual refinement as God’s own beloved sets us apart to serve God. It is so not about us. The reward of doing God’s work is simply doing God’s work.

 Our celebration this morning, our reward, is not about you or me. It is about God, and our union with God, and all that God has created.

Our celebration and reward in this new light naturally draws us together for we do desire God’s truth. In this desire we live with the conviction God has given us authority for our journey and in that journey we are living to do Gods’ work.

 So let us do that work until the moment when the Creator’s image can be seen in us. For at that moment we will know for certain, it is most definitely not about us.

 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen                                                                   062914.gpc

22 June 2014 “A Word of Challenge” Matthew 10:24-39

 My friend from Tennessee, Mary Rogers, reminded me one day, “God promises to teach us if we will get in touch with his word.” Mary is right. There is no substitute for our reading and hearing Scripture. We know it is God’s Word.  We know it tells the story of God’s son Jesus Christ. We know its teaching deepens our love, knowledge, and service of God with Jesus as our Savior and Lord through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We know it is the Holy Spirit who spoke through the prophets and apostles, and who inspires us with the desire for the truth that Scripture contains.  

 We also know there are many ways God teaches. But God’s word, when read from scripture, is inspired by God and is, as 2 Timothy says, “useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” We also know what others have said. “The gospel is a message the world, by and large, does not want to hear.”

 Our text this morning may have provoked such a claim.  Jesus tells us that he comes not to bring peace, but a sword. He tells us he has come to set a son against his father, and a daughter against her mother. This is strong language. Perhaps not what you would expect to hear on Sunday.

 Who wants to be part of a God who comes not to bring peace, but a sword? Who wants to be part of a God who comes to set children against their parents? This is a God we are likely to tell, “no, thanks, we are fine, please do not come near us.” Do not come into our world and especially do not come to this town, on our street, and into our life.

 This particular sense of the God of power and might is all too familiar. It is hell fire and damnation and the God of the law bringing a very clear and harsh message of a life of following orders.  Do this, do not do that. We know the commitment to a life with this God is directed to stop us from a life of self-interest and maximized personal pleasures, but it is repressive.

 Then there is another view. It is the view of that sword being two-edged. God’s message does cut through our demi-god life styles. But, on the other side of that edge we find the God of love, the God of the covenant, the promise of forgiveness and eternal salvation.

 Of course this two-edged sword cuts both ways. One way, the self-centered way, is to be cut off from God. The other, the God centered way, is to be in covenant with God to receive God’s grace through faith.

  In the Old Testament the early language for God’s covenant agreements with Noah, Abraham, and David used the word “cut” as if to cut a deal. The cutting of the sacrificial animals was a sign that a deal, a covenant, a promise, had been cut, or made, with the people of Israel. This is the good side of God’s sword. God cuts a deal with us, a covenant promise of eternal salvation.

  Clayton Schmit has written, “Jesus came to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed. While we are probably not poor, or captive, or blind, or oppressed we do have our own personal prayers for healing, for a return to a better day, for release from addictions   The gospel is bad news for those who are of the world and do not know of their need to be made new in Christ.”

  In these truths the message of Christ becomes personal and perhaps even offensive. It is bad news because Jesus called for people to change. But, we do not want to change. We are like the rich man who asked God how he could enter the kingdom of heaven. Proclaiming his devotion to the church and to his stewardship of time and talents he followed all the rules. Jesus told him to sell all he has, then come and follow only me. Dare to be on my side. He faltered and stumbled and turned from Jesus.

 Abraham Lincoln had great insight on these truths. He said, “Our task should not be to invoke religion and the name of God by claiming God’s blessing and support for us, our family, our jobs, our plenty – saying in effect that God is on our side. Rather, Lincoln said, we should pray and worry earnestly whether we are on God’s side.” 

 What a wake up call from Lincoln. We do not draw God to our side. No, we leave our side and ask if we are on God’s side.  God’s side is often so different than ours. We start out in this world, we live in it, we conform to it, and we mirror it. But with age, and experience, we discover a better way, we discover grace, hope, joy, and love and our desire is to share these things. Living this way we discover the world to be oppressive and living the way of the world becomes offensive.

 God does call us to change. Not to live according to law alone, but according to love. To be inclusive, to be willing to touch the filthy, unholy, mess of humanity just as Jesus did. This is not the view of life our world has, is it?

 Perhaps it is that sword thing again. We are being cut off from the rest of the world when we profess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are being cut off from our friends and yes, even our families, when they choose the path the world has provided to the exclusion of the gospel message of a better world to come. Some folks who know us as Christians who not only talk the talk, but walk the walk ignore us. Most just tolerate us because we really don’t push our faith, our belief, even our love, on them. Folk are tolerant because we hide our true passion.

 Then we hear from Jesus, “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.”

  Now what do we say? What do we do? Are we to say and live the same message that has always gotten Christians in trouble, that Jesus has come to change the world. People who do not know Jesus, people who live solely focused on making their life better for themselves, do not like to be told what to do. Especially if the message is they will have to abandon their worldly focus, centered on themselves, and sell it all.

 That sword from Christ separates the faithful from the rest of the world. It even may separate us from our father on earth, our mother too, if we sell it all to follow Jesus.

 Our world, society, family, friends do not want things upset. Jesus’ message, the one we are to live by, the one we are to shout from the rooftop, is a message too radical for this world. The hippies were right, we are to live by love, we are to forgive one another, we are to seek justice, and be agents of reconciliation. The world merely groans.

 But we are tired. We have done our part. We have changed. We are here aren’t we? Surely we are done with changing? What more have we to give up? What more are we to shout from the rooftops? This world is filled with endless needy people and if we go on shouting from the roof tops the world will hate us for it.

 Perhaps, but this is bigger than this world can imagine. It is bigger than us. Those who live for their life in the world alone are not living at all, for they will die an earthly death with no hope of the good news of Jesus Christ. Oh, you hear them talk about their faith in God. They claim God is on their side. They see their success and their stuff as evidence that God is on their side.

Jesus said it, those who find their life on their own terms first, as they see fit to value it, to live it according to their self-styled set of rules and regulations for their sole benefit, their life will be lost. No matter how loudly they shout from the rooftops, “Follow me to the riches the world has to offer, God is on my side.”

 On the other hand, Jesus said, those who lose their lives for my sake will find it. The life we loose is the life of the self-proclaimed. We faithfully do not let it be our reason for living. We turn instead to see whether we are on God’s side.

 Being on God’s side joins us with God’s passion for caring for all in God’s world. It is welcoming, inclusive, and inviting to all who draw a breath and discover their life changes them in ways they love, and in ways they feel cut to the quick. No one, even those who want to claim God is on their side, is left out of the conversation.

 The two-edged sword of the gospel cuts deeply for those who follow it today. Yet, it does cut both ways. For the godly life is not just a life of separation and sacrifice. It is also a life of fullness and satisfaction.

  Dear ones, we do not have more to give up. We have more to receive. When we die to the seductive ways of the world we live in the richness of God’s hope, God’s love, and God’s grace. So filled with the unbridled passion and love we have for God we proclaim a contrary message to the world that is filled with faith, honesty, compassion, freedom, justice, and joy. We live a changed life. A life on God’s side.

  This church, and these few hard scrabble folk who have gathered, have shown the world whose side we are on. Oh, we may not always have our “I have decided to follow Jesus” t-shirt on. Some day’s life is just too raw.

  But we have changed. We know to play God’s card. We know this place, and our love for it, and our love for one another, and God pull’s us through.

 This is the edge we prefer. Being on God’s side, being faithful as servants doing God’s work on our little corner of this world, ignoring the screams of another way. Having changed to become people who love, who bring hope where all seems lost, our desire is to live this good news.

  Jesus Christ has never changed, nor will we.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

062214.gpc

01 June 2014 “The Voice” John 17:1-11

 Since Easter we have been in a long period of farewell with Jesus. We have been wearing the white of the Easter season to mark the time. Then, this past Thursday, Jesus led his disciples “as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” It was the day of the Ascension of our Lord.

 We recall our collective sigh of relief on April 20 when Jesus rose from his grave. Since then we have lived with him through the scriptures as he has been meeting with his disciples, having long walks with them, staying in their homes, sharing meals with them, hearing of their hopes and dreams, and teaching them.

 By now we should finally understand God loves us. Jesus is our Messiah, he is our Christ.  He was not kidding when he told us about himself from the beginning. He has come to save the world and to save each of us.

 Central to these stories in John, when compared to Matthew, Mark and Luke, is the unique and unprecedented access we have through Jesus to God.  Jesus, we have learned, shares in God’s character and identity.

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) and it is as the Word made flesh that Jesus brings God fully to the world. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a fathers’ only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

 Following his time on earth, and during these post-resurrection days we have been taught to remember that Jesus has prepared a place for us to be eternally with him. We know firmly the way to that place is through Jesus. That way is not known from a book, or a place, or what anyone says they believe to be the truth about who Jesus is, even who God is. No. Jesus Christ, himself, He is the only way.

 Knowing this, our desire is to be with him always, to hear his voice again, and to never let him go. Our desire is the desire of disciples past. It is to really feel, and know, and be present, today, this very moment, and the next, with Jesus.

 Yet, in the midst of our chaotic lives we hardly feel Jesus’ presence.

Where is he when we pray we need all the Godly help we can get? Where is he when we pray he show us how to live a faith filled life so we can be sure about his promises?

 We just wish Jesus would show up for us. We wish we could hear his voice speaking clearly to our heart and soul. So many times we ask, where could he possibly be?  John’s reading this morning tells us.

 “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”

 Jesus’ last words to his disciples are this prayer. We learn from it he prays the way we pray. Holy Father, protect them. Holy Father, guard them. Holy Father, keep them. They are still in the world.

 Then he prays for us in a way only Jesus could pray. It follows today’s scripture. “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.”

 What a strange thing to say. How can we be in the world, but not of it? Perhaps Jesus’ point is as his disciples, as folk who believe in him, trust in him, wish we could live in obedience and love him, we do not belong to this world. We belong instead to Jesus’ world.

 Perhaps our life long quest is to finally discover that world.

 I have read of a family that has given up television. They want to remind themselves and their children: this box does not own us!

 I have heard it said there are people who designate one day a week as their “car-less” day. They won’t drive, or accept a ride in anyone else’s car. If they need to go some where, they walk or ride their bike. They want to remind themselves: this gasoline does not own me!

  A colleague knows a family that keeps a supply of homemade paper sack lunches in the trunk of the car. The children wrap up peanut butter sandwiches, and then pack them with pieces of fruit, granola bars, cookies, and such. If they see a person asking for assistance on the way to school, they stop the car. The children offer a paper sack lunch and a smile. They want to remind us: this myth of scarcity does not own us! This love less world does not own us!

 There is a pastor who takes himself on an ‘artists date’ once a week. He sets aside two hours to do something completely different, like walking around an art gallery, or going to see a foreign film, or sitting at the bus station and just watching the people who get off, to see life in different ways. The practice feeds his soul, and rejuvenates his spirit. It gives him energy to manage his overloaded calendar. He wants to remind himself: time or the lack of it, does not own me!

 We see these responses to life all around us. Folk volunteer at the hospital or at hospice. Folk help out in the schools or at the library. Folk volunteer at church to help keep the community going, to help bring fellowship to a gathering of the faithful, to visit with a sick friend, an aging parent, to help a stranger, a foreigner, a widow, a child. Living and speaking the voice of love. We want to remind ourselves: this world does not own us!

 But, God’s world, and God’s love does!

  We have experienced this truth in this church. We have heard this voice from God in the form of the love that is here.  At the pulpit, as some of you read our blessed texts, we have heard the voice of love. From this choir loft; in these pews, at fellowship, when we sing with our hearts unfettered, or gather for Bible study, or at session meetings, or congregational dinners, or impromptu gatherings around town, we have heard the voice of God’s love.

 This real life person, Jesus Christ has brought us this voice of love. A voice teaching us who we are, a voice teaching us to which world we belong.

 Jesus spent this Easter season to teach us his life on earth was not a thirty three year once in a life time incursion. The truth of the gospel is God is still present, as physical and real today as God was in the historical time. The body of Christ is still with us today.

 Dearest ones, in many ways we are the believers the apostle Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians when he affirms, “We are Christ’s body.” Literally, the body of believers, like the Communion Eucharist we take this morning, is the Body of Christ in an organic way. We believers are not a mystical reality, not something that represents Christ, we are something that is Christ. We have within our mind, and heart, and soul the spark of divinity.

  Ronald Rolheiser, in his book “The Holy Longing”, says “if it is true that we are the Body of Christ, and it is, then God’s presence in the world today depends very much upon us. We have to keep God present in the world in the same was as Jesus did. We have to become, as Teresa of Avila so simply put it, God’s physical hands, feet, mouthpiece, and heart in this world.”

  Dear ones, Christ Jesus is the spark in our souls. We are where he has gone. We are his hands, his feet, his mind, his heart. We live so that he may live. He has ascended into heaven, but we are here to carry on his work. We are here to glorify him and bring his hope, and his strength, and his love to this hurting world.

 We do not belong to this world. This world does not own us. We are one with God and God alone.  So we can live in this world as God’s protected, and we can show God to the world letting our spark bring eternal light, lasting hope, and eternal love.

  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen                                      060114.gcp

18 May 2014 “Dependents” John 14:15-21

   This John passage is one of my favorites. It is, I believe, a great comfort and promise when we struggle with life and particularly with death.

   I heard it read during the telecast of the funeral for President Gerald Ford. I was so captured by the grandeur of the cathedral where the service was being held I was not paying particular attention to what was being said. Speakers and pastors came and went when one in particular surprised me. As the scripture was being read I recognized it immediately.

 My first thought was, oh no, not here, this reading is so deeply personal. I thought the televised proceedings and the very public nature of the event was not the place for this passage. For those weeping for their loved one I feared this reading might be too raw a reminder that death filled the room.

  But there is such a reverence and sincerity about the piece.  It is Jesus’ boldest promise and at the time, I realized, the world will hear it! There were former Presidents, world leaders, and dignitaries at the service and these words of hope were the ones promising a power greater than the greatest power this world has to offer. Influence, and prestige, and dominance were being shown a safer place.

 These simple, intimately personal words directed to the family and friends of the President of the United States of America trumped the greatest powers this world has known. These same words were true not just for them; they are true for us too.

 The effect of these words and Jesus’ promise means he has extended his power to include all of us, the highest and the lowest, President and pauper alike. We all have a place with God in heaven. God’s power gives eternal life, and gives it in abundant love.

 John spoke to the hurting world that day as he does this, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”  Jesus tells us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” No matter the trouble, no matter what happens, we have a place with God.

  It is not uncommon for us to find such a place prepared for us growing up. It was true for my brother, sisters, and cousins. At some point in our young lives we all found ourselves living with my grandparents. It was the place God had prepared for us when our young worlds were crumbling. It was our sanctuary, our safe place to be. When troubling waters began to swell at home, our parents knew one safe place for their children. Grandmother and Granddaddy’s was such a place. Unknown to us and perhaps even undeserving, God had prepared that way for us.

 Not only was it a safe place to be, it was a safe place to grow. We lived through our teens relatively intact. We were told we had to have jobs. We had to finish high school. Everyone living there had to work.  Everyone had to follow the rules. Everyone had to carry their weight. We learned to live the right way.

 Along the way we were deeply loved and safely cared for and we felt safe and our lives began to have meaning. We discovered life and relationships in a place prepared for us where our lives might do the works that Jesus had for us. God had prepared that place for us and we were not alone.

  In her book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the author Annie Dillard tells how God prepared her in her safe place for the work Jesus had for her.

 She says, “When I was six or seven years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, I used to take a precious penny of my own and hide it for someone else to find. It was a curious compulsion; sadly, I’ve never been seized by it since. For some reason I always ‘hid’ the penny along the same stretch of sidewalk up the street. I would cradle it at the roots of a sycamore, say, or I a hole left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk. Then I would take a piece of chalk, and starting at either end of the block, draw huge arrows leading up to the penny from both directions. After I learned to write I labeled the arrows: Surprise ahead or Money this way. I was greatly excited, during all the arrow-drawing, at the thought of the first lucky passerby who would receive in this way, regardless of merit, a free gift from the universe.”

 It seems God has been drawing arrows from the time of creation. Come here, I have prepared a place for you. Live with your grandparents. Follow this way. Find a gift greater than a penny. Follow this way and discover your savior, discover the unmerited gift of God’s grace.

 This story of God’s grace is told again and again throughout scripture. For Abraham and the nation of Israel God attempted to direct them to the promised land. God sent Moses to lead his people out of slavery, through the wilderness and toward that same promised land.

 God sent Moses to give the people God’s law. God sent prophets to speak of a Messiah who would bring new direction to God’s grace. That Messiah, Jesus, came with completed directions to God’s grace and even paved our way to it.

 Yet with all this help we have difficulty following God’s directions.

 These two we read about this morning were no different. They were fearful and Jesus’ attempt to calm them and give them peace shows the depth of their struggle. Jesus wants them to know peace following his death and assures them he will prepare a safe place for them.

 But Thomas does not buy it. “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

 Jesus assures them he is the arrow on the sidewalk that will lead them and us to God. He promises he is the grace they will receive to which the arrow points. Yet, like those before us, we have difficulty following God’s direction.

 The truth in John’s gospel of our life being centered in God’s grace is what is difficult for us to believe. We are the ones doubting. We are the ones who rebel and strike out on our own thinking God needs our help. God must, for our life plan is not working out like we think it should!

  There is a wonderful story of a traveler from Italy who came to the French town of Chartres to see the great church that was being built. He encountered a workman, covered with dust and asked what he did. The man replied he was a stonemason. He had spent his days carving rock.

 A second man responded he was a glass-blower and spent his days making colored glass. Still another replied he was a blacksmith who hammered iron for a living.

 Finally, the traveler came upon an older woman with a broom in her hand. She was sweeping up stone chips, wood shavings, and glass. He asked what she was doing and she responded. “Me? I’m building a cathedral for the Glory of Almighty God.”

  Is this not what we are doing here at Genesis Presbyterian Church?

 Jesus would tell us we are building a cathedral for the glory of God. Jesus would tell us we are drawing arrows on the sidewalk pointing the way to God’s kingdom.

It is time for us to bring out our brooms and our mops and our hammers and saws and perhaps even our sidewalk chalk and continue our work. For we are called by God to hide pennies in sycamore trees and in a hole left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk and write with bold letters for all to see, Surprise ahead, Jesus is this way.”

 Come, therefore, dear ones to this place to receive in Jesus, regardless of merit, a free gift from God’s kingdom. Receive the unearned gift of this safe place to be, this church, this place in the arms of God’s grace, this place of unconditional love God has prepared solely for you and for me.

 Resist no more the many rooms, some familiar, some strange, some darkened by our reluctance to enter there. Come to those places opened by our Lord who sees our need before we approach him with heart or voice and know his way.

 For He is forevermore our way, he is for all time our truth, and he is, beyond death, the love of our life.

These are the places God has prepared for us.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen                                                         051814.gpc

04 May 2014 Our Journey Luke 24:13:35

  I wonder how many of us thought we would retire and travel and wine and dine in leisurely bliss. Now we chuckle at the thought.  Or maybe it’s just me. I think of the energy it would take and sit for the moment to pass. But we are travel minded folk. Many of us take our day trip, or the one night stay, or occasionally a traditional vacation.

 This morning’s travel story began innocently enough. The men are on their way to Emmaus. It is an easy day trip of roughly seven miles from Jerusalem. It is a road we too take for it is the story of the Christian walk. It is the one where we encounter life and are found along the way by the one we pursue, our Jesus.

 These men in Luke’s gospel were on their way, talking about the things they had heard about Jesus, the one they thought would be their savior, and how things had gone wrong, and how now they hear he has been raised from the grave. One day he was hanging on the cross, and then three days later people they know said he had actually appeared to them alive.

 Then Jesus came along and walked with them, though their eyes were kept from recognizing him. They were on their road going about their going about when Jesus shows up. This innocent trip is innocent no more.

 Being so overwhelmed with what was happening in their world, our men cannot stop themselves from telling even this assumed stranger about their world. They did not know their way down this road filled with worry, and concern, and lost hope was now Jesus’ way too.

  This is where Jesus always wants to be in our lives. Those places where our heart is broken and we ache from the distress of life forcing life upon us. Jesus does not shy away from such a road and he longs to go with us on ours as we unload what troubles our minds and burdens our hearts. He walks with us listening as only one who loves us listens. Just as likely, all too often it seems, like these two on their way to Emmaus, we do not see Jesus either.

  Yet, with this story we hear there is hope for us. These two travelers ultimately recognized him. It happened when he was with them at table. He blesses the bread, breaks it and says, “Take, eat, this is my body, broken for you.” At these words their eyes were opened to who he was. “This is our Jesus and he is breaking bread with us. He was here with us all along. Oh, how blind we can be!”

 Perhaps we do not need to be reminded of how blind we can be. Sometimes Jesus is the last thing on our minds. Sometimes we go all day long without a simple, “Hey Lord, what’s up with you today. I’m a bit busy and I pray you hold on to us while I sort things out.”

 It is sad to admit but our separation from Jesus goes largely unnoticed. I wonder how often we make the ride to work, or stop at the store, or do our chores at home finding activity and time steal our attention from everything but the task at hand?

 How often are we blind to the daily bread we pray for, not realizing in our activity and our longings Jesus has been with us all along? But our eyes so often do not recognize him. We seldom see nutrition and sustenance in the drama of our time, or our life, or our daily tension. We actually feel starved time and time again not knowing what really ails us is our desperate hunger for Jesus.

 If we realize Jesus is with us always, walking along the road we pave with our daily stuff, our Emmaus wanderings even here in Austin, or wherever we may be, wherever we are going, we give ourselves a chance to see with a new clearness and understanding. Our faith can do that for us.

When we are struggling with life, Jesus will be the friend who walks hand in hand and prays with us. When we are walking in the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus will be the woman at the bank who helps us through the red tape of wills, insurance, and safe deposit boxes. When we are anxious about a new home, or a new health circumstance, Jesus will be the one who walks with us to show us where our new store is or where our new support services for health care are.

 Dear ones, we do not walk alone.

 Life naturally unfolds for us in ways unexpected and we find ourselves thinking, what has happened to me. Like those fellow travelers to Emmaus we try and understand about life, and our hopes, and dreams, especially when things go wrong. We dissect and rehash and are in disbelief. How have things become so out of control? What did I do?

 These are the times we need a long walk and a long talk with ourselves. These are the times Jesus will have things to say to us. These are the times Jesus feels what is deepest in our hearts and knows what we do not know about ourselves or what we will not admit to ourselves.

 These are the times Jesus shows up as a spouse, a friend, a trusted sibling, a pew mate, or even a stranger. And we will know in our hearts his love has found us. We will feel it in our very souls, Jesus is with us. Jesus is speaking through this other, living through the one we lest expect, loving through the one loving us back.

 With Jesus, we never walk alone.

  I suppose we need not be reminded we find ourselves on such walks all too often. When we are not walking it ourselves we fall in with someone else who is taking their turn. Look around you this morning. See who is here and who is not.

 We know, without thinking twice, who has had to walk the road of despair, yesterday or today, and we know for some it will be a day trip, and for others it will take longer. We know too who needs us to fall in with them, so they will not walk alone. Because we love one another, we do not want anyone to walk alone. So we fall in with one another; you and me, and of course, our savior, Jesus falls in too.

 Some of you may remember seeing the movie, Schlinder’s List. The movie is a powerful and extremely difficult story about the Holocaust. It tells the story of Oskar Schindler, who was a wartime profiteer. Yet, for reason even Schindler apparently did not understand he became obsessed with the idea of saving as many Jews as he could. As a result, he saved some eleven hundred of them.

 The movie is filmed almost entirely in black and white like a documentary or an old newsreel. But, every now and then, usually in some crowd scene of children playing, or people running, or being herded into freight cars, you see, flickering like a candle flame in the dank grayness, one single touch of color in the form of a little girl dressed in red.

  Frederick Buechner tells us he believes, “that although the two disciples did not recognize Jesus on the road to Emmaus, Jesus recognized them. That he saw them as if they were the only two people in the world. He believes Jesus also sees us like that. In this dark world with little hope, where we see so little because of our unrecognizing eyes, Jesus, whose eye is always on the sparrow, sees each one of us as the child in red.

 As Buechner says, hope “is the word that on Easter Sunday is sounded forth on silver trumpets. And when Easter is past and the silver trumpets have faded,” and we have sung Joy to the World, hope “is the word that flickers among us like a red dress in a grey world.”

  In our grief we cannot see enough to go looking for Jesus, so he finds us. He walks with us and takes a place at our table where he opens our eyes to his presence. The filters of life are stripped away – filters of disappointment, loss, isolation, and fear and we recognize him.

 That is what Jesus does with us because he loves us. Breaking the daily bread, feeding our fractured souls we now see our way to hope clearly.

 Those two on that road were right, Jesus Christ has risen indeed, and we do not walk alone.

 Let the people of God say, amen.

050414.gpc