GENESIS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Monday, June 30, 2014

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 17th-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.

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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