13 March 2011 Matthew 4:1-1

Matthew’s gospel doesn’t spend a lot of time drawing out the story of the birth of Jesus nor does it spend any time telling us about Jesus’ life as a child, a teenager, or even a young adult. The movement in the gospel is from his birth directly to John the Baptist proclaiming Jesus as the one who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. God then declares, “This is my Son, the Beloved with whom I am well please.” Then Jesus is lead into the wilderness.

 Apparently, temptation is what is in store for those with whom God is well pleased. I’m not sure how we should respond knowing temptation is our fate as believers. Or, thinking about it in another way, perhaps our comfort comes from knowing Jesus’ life was not so different from ours after all, even Jesus lived for a time in wilderness, pain and distress. It is comforting hearing how Jesus, though he had gone 40 days and forty nights without food, and even with great temptation, He did not loose his way.

 Our beginning with God is no less dramatic and we are no less vulnerable. For God makes a beginning with each of us. A beginning God initiates. God seeks us out and God engages us to be in a relationship of God’s own doing. This is dramatic and life changing stuff because we can know God only as God seeks and finds us.

 Henri Nouwen, the late Dutch Roman Catholic spiritual writer, wrote in his book “In the Name of Jesus” about how we just as well be ready, because in our relationship with God, with our fellow-creatures, and with ourselves as body and soul, we will have times of temptation similar to Jesus’.

 First, there will be the temptation to be relevant to the world and not to God, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” the tempter said to Jesus.

 Nouwen realized the temptations of this world when he moved from a 20 year career teaching at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard Universities, to live and work with people with mental and physical handicaps who could not read and knew nothing of his former life.     

 About that he said, “These broken, wounded and completely unpretentious people forced me to let go of my relevant self – the self that can do things, prove things, build things…” He found himself completely vulnerable and “open to receive and give love regardless of any of my former life accomplishments.” He goes on to affirm, “I am deeply convinced that the Christian disciple of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self.”

 Our accomplishments, he thought, are not important. Underneath the world’s accomplishments is a deep current of despair, emptiness, and depression. What matters is that “God has created and redeemed us in love and has chosen us to proclaim that (only) God’s love is the true source of all human life.” Jesus said, “It is written, one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

 Second, there is the temptation to be spectacular, important in the eyes of the world, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple,” the tempter said to Jesus.

 Nouwen describes this temptation as the pressure to do something that will win great applause. Stardom and individual heroism are, he feels, aspects of our competitive society pervasive even in the church. In contrast, the authentic task is heard from the lips of Jesus to Peter, “Feed my sheep” (John 21). Nouwen affirms that we followers of Jesus Christ are “sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for.” Jesus said, “Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

 And finally, there is the temptation to be powerful, “”All these kingdoms of the world I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”, his tempter said to him.

 As a university professor, Nouwen had been “in charge” and a powerful person. Among these people who were handicapped, it was different. He writes, “one of the greatest ironies of the history of Christianity is that its disciples constantly gave in to the temptation for power – political power, military power, economic power, moral and spiritual power”. It is easier to control people than to love them, he found. But our task is to empty ourselves and follow Jesus. The way of power is chosen, he writes, “when intimacy is a threat. Many Christian believers have been people unable to give and receive love.” Jesus said, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

 Here are God’s beginnings for us this Lenten season. Here is God’s way of getting what God wants with us by saying no to the tempter and by lifting up for us the greater goods God has in mind for us. We will have to adopt Jesus way with temptation and learn to begin our new relationship with God by saying No to ourselves. Saying No to our distracting habits and lifestyles, those ones that distract us from God’s grace and God’s glory never forgetting Jesus can give us the grace we need to deny ourselves.

  I believe our greatest challenge this lent may be to begin again, with Jesus, to remember who he has called us to be. For Jesus has called us to be a follower, not of our own disciplines, but of his, loving sinners, feeding the hungry, bringing peace and justice to our families, our community, our church and our world. Giving something up would be so much easier.

 Jesus comes from the wilderness hungry and tired and just wanting a warm bath, a bite to eat and a moment to rest his weary body. But life won’t cooperate, Monday has come and he has that meeting he has been dreading the entire month. All he has to offer is scripture, the Word of God. His responses to the tempter come right out of Deuteronomy, God’s holy word. That’s what he knows by heart and God’s word is all he has the heart to respond with. The world of God becomes his response to life’s trials and temptations. That and the promise given him at his baptism, “This is my Son, the Beloved,” Jesus is God’s beloved, no matter what, all Jesus has is who he is. God’s beloved.

 And this is the only truth left in our own hearts, our promise, made to us at our baptism that we are somebody, we too are loved by God, we too are children of God. That is a lot to offer and all we really need to sustain us in the valley of the shadows in our lives.

 As Anna Florence wrote, “The waters of baptism are so warm and soft, and we don’t get to stay in them very long. The way back from the Jordan leads straight through the wilderness, and we go round and round until we are famished. We start to wonder, will I survive?

 We forget, we do not have to prove we are loved by God, being loved by God is God’s description of who we are, his beloved.

 We are the ones God has chosen to not have to live by bread alone, but we live by every word from the mouth of God.

 We are the ones God has chosen to not have to put the Lord our God to the test. That Jesus is our savior is evident because Jesus is the sign God has given us. And we confirm the truth of Jesus by trusting in him and looking to him and giving our lives to him.

  Dear ones, we are the children chosen by God to worship and serve God alone. Our proper response this Lenten season is thankfulness and gratefully getting on with the life God has chosen for us, a life not of our making, but of God’s making.

 The true bread of life, the real security where our lives will not be dashed against a stone, and the assurance of our heavenly kingdom might elude us if we allow ourselves to be lead by anyone other than God.

 It is only by grounding our identity in the life of Christ, as Christ alone claims us by the grace of God, that we will emerge from the wilderness and be fed, loved, comforted, and glorified by God.

  God seeks us out for this life, and we need not worry, whomever God seeks, God finds.

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

Additional resources:

“Christian Century”, Christian Coon, January 29, 2008, pg. 21.

“Pulpit Resources”, William Willimon, February 10, 2008, pgs. 25-28.

“The Presbyterian Outlook”, January 28/February 4, 2008, pg. 15, 19.

20 March 2011 “God’s Love” John3:1-17

  No one seems more confused this morning than poor Nicodemus. To be fair, we should hear how he has been set up. From John 2:23-25; “When Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the sings that he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, would not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone, for he himself knew what was in everyone.”

 It is clear Nicodemus didn’t have much of a chance with Jesus. He comes to him by night. He was, after all, a leader of the Jews. It wouldn’t be good for his career for him to be seen with Jesus.  Not realizing Jesus’ full power, Nicodemus starts out slow. He begins by stating the obvious. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.” Jesus, for his part, gets right to the point; he knows Nicodemus has come to him with a hidden question. He knows what is in his heart.

 Nicodemus’ unasked question is similar to the one in Matthew 19:16, when the rich young man asks, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” Nicodemus, we discover, is really worried about his future. He wanted to be with God. This was to his credit. God offered safety and security in this world and the next. Nicodemus wanted to be saved and he saw Jesus as the way to his salvation.

  Jesus knew this was his real desire, so he teaches him about who can see the Kingdom of God.  He teaches him that to be in the Kingdom of God, we must be born from above. Now, this is where we join with Nicodemus in his confusion and nod our heads as he asks Jesus, “How can these things be?”

 We were keeping our grandsons in San Antonio a few years back. One night, just before I fell asleep, the coyotes starting howling like only coyotes can. I chuckled. Here we were in a nice part of northwest San Antonio and behind the houses across the street, in the arroyos behind those houses, was quite a large pack of yapping coyotes. Even home security systems won’t keep that sound from invading your psyche.

 We know the world is a dangerous place. We read about it in the newspapers, hear about it on the radio and television, know it with far too much detail from the stories our friends and neighbors tell and from the trials and tribulations in our own lives. Howling coyotes are just a gentle reminder. Inner and outer demons lurk about and we seem comforted by the security systems that cut the risks of invasions of space in our lives.

 Nicodemus responds to Jesus’ claim with a confused question about entering as babies again in our mothers. Clearly, the idea that before we were born we lived safely in our mother’s womb has merit. We were all attached to the secure system our mother’s provided for us before our birth. Then life takes over and we search for what is missing. We search for a missing security. But Nicodemus is right. We cannot enter there a second time.

 Jesus explains to a confused Nicodemus, no one will be safe in this world unless they seek the kingdom of God by being born from above.  What Nicodemus doesn’t see is that Jesus is inviting him to a new inward birth where he will find eternal security, where he will become a disciple of Christ, where we will all see the Kingdom of God when we are born anew from water and Spirit.  In our baptism we have this new inward birth.

 What Jesus meant was the Holy Spirit must implant in our lives that which has its origin not on earth, but in heaven.  In our baptism we are participating in a washing away of our old self, the sinful self, to dissolve us from all previous behavior that separated us from God in our sin. In a real sense we experience, just as Jesus did, a death and a resurrection. We experience the death of our old self and the birth of a new life, where we accept a new baptismal name, that of disciple.

 We join Nicodemus this morning in this search for eternal life and like him we come to Jesus in the night, for we too have our desires and our questions. Because he loves us, Jesus answers our questions of substance by first revealing to us who he is. For in our knowledge of who Jesus is all questions are answered.  

 So, we join Nicodemus and ask: Are you the one who will bring security back into our lives? We hear the coyotes howling and we want to know. Are you the one?

 These are fair questions, like Nicodemus, we have heard things about Jesus. How he performs miracles and water is turned into wine, evil spirits are taken from people, people are healed from disease and from infirmities, people are even raised from the dead, and thank you Jesus, our sins are forgiven. But can we be sure? Are we so skeptical? No miracle like those in scripture has ever happened to us. How can it be true what they say about Jesus?

 I don’t know, perhaps the worst thing we can do is ask Jesus a direct question. We see what good it did Nicodemus, Jesus read his heart and his answer just may have made things even more confusing. Be born from above? Be born of water and spirit? Believe in Jesus and we will not perish and we will have eternal life? Really, who is this Jesus anyway?

 It has been suggested that those of us who are confused and filled with questions about Jesus should take Nicodemus as our patron saint during Lent. We should strive to be as Nicodemus was these 40 days of Lent, come in out of the dark and ask Jesus anything that is on our minds, absolutely anything. Jesus can handle it. Jesus can answer any question.

 We must prepare ourselves however. Jesus will likely read our hearts and tell us about the inward change that will be necessary if we are to ever truly know who he is.

 The unexpected truth we will discover is that Jesus is the sovereign, living God who, rather than our making sense of God, God makes sense of us. Do we understand how impossible this seems? God, being God, will make sense out of us. We may think our life is grounded and secure as we try and make sense of God but, no matter how hard we try or how good our intentions, we cannot.  

 The totality of our security rests instead in the comforting truth that God has made sense of us all along. God seeks us out and liberates us from ourselves. God finds the core ‘us’ that we have hidden from ourselves and loves us. God finds us and, if we will listen, God will make complete sense of our lives.

 God can do this because God made us and it is God’s desire that the Holy Spirit will live in us. It is God’s desire that the power of Jesus’ love and redeeming grace will consume our lives and we will be made one with God for we will be born anew, becoming one with the kingdom of God, believing in a God who so loved the world he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

 This dear one’s is our real security.  Ben Campbell Johnson tells us, “This is the depth of relationship we have with God when we learn to be open to God so that we can learn to love God with all of our hearts; it is to know ourselves as we appear to God; it is to respond to the initiatives of God’s grace that shape our lives and transform us so that we participate intelligently in God’s plan for the world.” A plan that includes us in God’s kingdom when we have the desire that God’s will becomes ours.

  Most of us are familiar with the letters in the paper written to Ann Landers. One recently could have come from Nicodemus. It read;  “Dear Ann: I am not a religious man. In fact, I consider myself an atheist. I am also very ethical and have high moral standards. I donate to more than a dozen charities. I am kind to animals, children, and the environment.  I would never raise my hand to my wife or children, and I treat them as the precious people they are. I strive to make the world a better place and understand those different from myself. I am intelligent and kind, and stand up for what I believe.  I never impose my beliefs on those around me. So, why is it that as soon as people find out I don’t believe in God, they tell me I am going to hell? One woman said, “You cannot possibly have good morals if you don’t believe. “ This is non-sense. I know plenty of “God-fearing, church going folk” who have rotten moral standards, I am sick and tired of people making moral judgments about me based solely on the fact that I do not believe in religion. How can I get these well meaning, but mistaken people off my back? Signed, Unbeliever in Maryland.”

  Ann responded;  “Dear Unbelieving friend, You sound a lot like someone else I know, a man named Nicodemus. Oh, Nicodemus was a religious person, in every sense of the word. He went to the synagogue, kept the laws and was a believer. That is not what you have in common with him. Nicodemus also lived an upright life: he was kind and responsible, intelligent and thoughtful. He was as comfortable with his life as you seem to be with yours.

 Yet Nicodemus seemed to know there was something missing. When a new prophet, preaching a message of love and forgiveness came to town, Nicodemus realized he was searching. He was searching for the presence of God in his life. He went by night, anonymously to see Jesus.

 You have come anonymously as well. I wonder if you, too, are seeking God’s presence. I wonder if you are seeking love and forgiveness. Do you, too, sense something missing in your life? The language you use to describe yourself is telling; you say that you are ‘sick and tired.’

 There is good news for you. It is the same good news that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus. It is the good news of life, born of water and spirit, life for Nicodemus, life for you, life for all people. The good news for all of us is that God is present in our lives, bidden or unbidden, God is present.

 Your friend, Ann”

 Dear friends, here is our Lenten focus, the desire to have God’s will in our lives. Living God’s will brings the security we desire. Living God’s will fills the missing void in our lives. Living God’s will frees us to live by God’s love and God’s grace. As God’s will fills our heart with joy and our lives with strength and security, we are being saved.

 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him many not perish but may have eternal life.”

Let the coyotes stop their howling, we can truly rest now in peace.

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

Additional Resources:

“Lectionary Homiletics”,  Volume XIX, pgs. 21 – 27.

06 March 11 “It’s a fearful thing to be with Jesus” Matthew 17:1-9

 Growing up it did not take much for my father to get my attention, especially when something had gone wrong. I could see it in his face before he spoke. During those times, I was quite attentive, as you might imagine, so I would miss nothing he said. My very behind depended on it!

 When we are afraid, there is something about how our attention becomes so, well, attentive! It is as if there is an automatic survival response system that becomes fully alert and our senses fix in rapt attention to our situation. Survival and anxiety and fear all play into this system.

 From our gospel reading this morning we can only imagine the fear Peter and James and his brother John must have felt.  The day had begun innocently enough. They had been taken by Jesus, whom they trusted completely, and led up a high mountain. They were alone there, with him.

 Then suddenly and unexpectedly, Jesus was transfigured before them. “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.” Just as suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them and began talking with Jesus. They must have shouted, “Where did these guys come from, what’s going on, should we run or what!”

 Peter, wanting to make sense of what was happening, tried to ground these sudden and unexpected changes to something that made sense to him. He offers to build a place out of the sun and the wind and the extreme conditions for Jesus and Moses and Elijah. Peter was trying to control the scene and perhaps his own sanity.

 Then, BAM, while he was speaking, God showed up! God showed up in the form of a bright cloud. And from that cloud God spoke, saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased, listen to him!”

 Peter and James and John were laid out on the ground after this, they were overcome with a fear they had never thought possible.

 Admittedly, this scene would change any ones understanding of fear.

 How could these relatively new apostles, who were still trying to understand who Jesus was, ever pay attention to what God was saying in the midst of such fear? They must have thought their world had come to an end. Even if they understood what was going on, how could they find comfort knowing who Jesus was if power such as this were in him, the power of God, a power that brings people from the beyond, a power that brings God to speak to mortals.

 There is, of course, something otherworldly about Jesus. But, being his disciple could get you killed! How could anyone possibly be safe following Jesus up to any mountain top or anywhere else for that matter after this?

 Lord, we want desperately to follow you, but we don’t want to die in the process. At least not until we understand who you truly are. Isn’t that the key? Our ultimate safety just might depend on our understanding who Jesus truly is and who we will become in return if we live our life listening to him and accept his call to come and follow him.

 So, we try. Jesus underwent a metamorphoses, his human nature began to be affected by his divine attributes. Moses and Elijah show themselves so we will know Jesus’ life is aligned with God’s law and God’s prophets. These were the folk Jesus was being compared too, yet there was more to come. God trumps everything. God shows up too.

 It was God, speaking from a bright cloud, who in his great love for his Son, clothed Jesus with glory and encouraged him with a bracing re-affirmation of his continued love, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased”. One reason God says this is so Jesus will be comforted, will get up and not be afraid of his fast approaching agony there on the cross. Next week is Ash Wednesday. Next week Lent begins.

 God was showing us that Jesus and the apostles need not be afraid for God is a God of love. Jesus and the apostles need not remain overcome to the point of falling down in their life because when God shows up, we can have courage, our God is a God of hope.

 God’s message to the disciples gives us this hope. God tells us, listen to my Son, my beloved, listen to his teaching about who I am, so you will know who you are to be.

  So, we try. This story is a foretaste, a glimpse of our future, where we will be receiving Gods’ love, receiving God’s grace, receiving God’s peace and then, the most radical thing, giving these same gifts away. Giving them away to a world hungry for peace, for love, for justice for all.

But, we must be prepared for the shock to our system and our life when we finally begin to sense the power of who our God is. Our shock will be immediate and sudden when we truly know God. Yet, just as suddenly, Jesus will respond to calm us because of his love for us. This is the good news that is at the heart of the Christian life. Jesus calms us because Jesus loves us.

  While we know this is true we cannot ignore our fear. Our very behinds may depend on it. Jesus’ disciples were perhaps the most fearful of all. In one case, they were innocently out fishing, it was what they did for a living. Jesus is with them asleep, the winds rise. It seems all is lost. They are afraid. In another, the women coming out of the tomb feel all is lost, they have discovered Jesus’ body is missing. They too are afraid. Often Jesus tells his followers, “Don’t be afraid,” but they experience fear anyway, especially in the presence of Christ, and perhaps we do too.

 We become anxious when our normal life becomes abnormal even in the smallest ways and our brains revert to fight or flight or hide mentalities. This is normal and all too familiar.

 Yet, New Testament fear is not your normal kind of fear. With Jesus, if we want to follow him we must be on fullest alert to pay attention, to take up our own cross and to follow him. When we sense his demands on our lives, the narrow way to which he calls us, then we become afraid and our attention must be absolute. It is essential, because we do not really know the way. But Jesus assures us, I am the way, and the truth and the light.

 So, we try. We try and we begin to see that our God, who comes to us in Jesus Christ, is a living God. We see his loving, but demanding face, and we sense the dangerous journey that lies ahead when we follow him, when we devote our fullest attention to him. That attention then brings Jesus to us. Remember, he loves us. He will touch us and say, get up and do not be afraid, for I am with you, this day and for the rest of your life, in this world and the next. I am with you.

  I’ve said before, we come to church hoping to come into real and direct contact with our living Lord. We come knowing that if we do have a glimpse of Jesus, if we do feel the warmth of his presence in our hearts, we will have to give up any notions that our life will ever be the same. We’ve had glimpses enough to know that when the Holy Spirit really gets a hold of us, well, we in return, cannot get enough of that same spirit. When we begin to live in holy union with Jesus, we want more, until we are consumed with Jesus’ being in our lives and ours in his.

As Methodist Bishop, William Willimon says, “Church is about the possibility of a threatening, though life-changing encounter with the Risen Christ. Church is about seeing God’s way and will in our world – a way so very different from our ways - and then having to say yes or no to walking that way.”

 The truth of who God is, known to us in Jesus Christ and brought into communion with us in the Holy Spirit, scares people to death. For believers like me and you, why, we gather each Sunday knowing this is the truth, we have encountered Jesus here, and we are scared of life. Life without Jesus that it is.

 As Willimon says, “Jesus has appeared to us in all of his radiant glory. He has reassured us, told us to rise and follow him, promised to be with us every step of the way, no matter what the journey holds.”

 We follow him because this story this morning about the Transfiguration of Jesus before his disciples on a mountaintop, where God speaks, is actually a story about each of us.

 The face of God is seen in the transfigured Jesus. We who are believers know about Jesus being God as well as man. We too, on our own journey, have discovered God in Jesus Christ and believe he is our Lord and our Savior, we believe we are to be his disciples for we believe he is our God.

So, we try. We try, remembering the wise counsel we have received. We cannot escape the light God will shed on our path. We cannot escape God, Immanuel among us. God will find us in our homes and in our work-places. God will find us when our hearts are broken and when we discover joy. God will find us when we run away from God and when we are sitting in the middle of what seems like hell. So “get up and do not be afraid.”

 Get up and do not be afraid, and share this radiant hope with the world, follow Christ. Get up and be not afraid, for Jesus is the Son of God, beloved, with him God is well pleased, and if we will listen to him, God will be well pleased with us too.

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

Additional helps:

“Feasting on the Word,” David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors, Year A, Volume 1, pg. 456.

27 Feb 2011 “Consider These” Matthew 6:24-34

27 Feb 2011     “Consider These”       Matthew 6:24-34

 I read recently about a man named Anthony. Anthony was on the waiting list for a heart transplant. He awoke each morning with the knowledge that at any time, his cell phone could ring with the news that a donor heart had become available, and he would be whisked off to the hospital for transplant surgery.

 He also knew that at any time his seriously damaged heart might give out. Because his immune system was so fragile, Anthony was cautious about exposure to germs, since having even a mild infection would be enough to delay the transplant that he so desperately needed. Each day involved a carefully monitored routine of medication, diet, and limited exertion.

 For Anthony, life was a waiting game. He did what he could to follow his doctor’s orders and prolong his chances of staying alive until a heart became available. Anthony also lived with the gnawing awareness that his hopes for life would only come with the death of another person.

He certainly had much to be anxious about. Like anyone who faces a serious health issue, Anthony was concerned for the future. He worried about what would happen to him and what that would mean for his family. Only 48, Anthony had much to live for. He was looking forward to his son’s wedding and his daughter’s graduation from college. He was frustrated that he was unable to work, and longed for the day when he would have enough energy again to do the physical activities that he used to enjoy. He worried each day that he would receive a heart in time, yet he tried not to think about what kind of tragic accident might lead to someone losing their life for his.

 Anthony prayed, and he grounded his anxiousness in scripture. He kept an index card propped up against the napkin holder on his kitchen table. On it he had written these words from Matthew’s gospel: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?”

 Anthony found comfort and reassurance in those verses. He repeated them often, committing them to memory. Whenever the waves of fear or worry arose, Anthony recalled these words that he had come to know by heart. They reminded him that he was loved by God, and that no mater what happened, he could trust in God’s steady care for him. They reminded him that he was of infinite worth and value in God’s eyes, and that God would watch over him and be with him.

  Anthony also took comfort in Jesus’ teaching and promise, “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

 The Reverend Julie Kanarr has written about this passage, to remind us, “In our living and in our dying, we belong to God; God will not abandon us to face our troubles alone. Indeed, our hopes for life do rest with the death of another. Jesus Christ. The suffering and death of Jesus on the cross brings life to us. Through his death and resurrection, Christ proclaims that death does not have the last word for our lives. Trusting in that promise, we can face our struggles with the confidence and hope that God stands with us, with grace sufficient for each day.”

  There are times when I wonder about the wisdom of this truth. I can certainly follow the line of thinking. I can agree with the reasoning behind not being anxious. But, I wonder, does Jesus not know about our modern world. Does he not know about our entire industry of helping drugs created because of our inability to avoid anxiety? Does Jesus not realize that Western economies depend on massive spending on things we do not actually need?

 Truthfully, aren’t some things worth being anxious about? Providing for ones’ family, securing a viable future for our children’s children, finding peace between nations, aren’t these things worth our anxiety?

 Jesus has a simple one word answer for us, NO. First, we must realize that this reading to “not worry” is not a suggestion, it is a command. Jesus really wants us to know, we are not to worry about our life. We are to fear nothing.

 I have read that this is the most often repeated command in the bible. When angels appear to announce the incarnation, they tell Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, “Fear not.” When the disciples see the majesty of Jesus’ grandeur, he has to follow up very quickly with a caution against fear. When Jesus is taken from them, whether in his death or when he ascends to heaven, he comforts his followers against fear.

  While the command to not be afraid is the most often repeated command in the bible, it is also the least obeyed. Verse 32 tells us, “Do not worry, that’s what Gentiles do.”

I must confess, being simply told NOT to worry is somewhat irksome and a bit patronizing. Don’t our feelings count for something? Does saying, “Therefore do not worry,” take away the worry? No, it doesn’t, does it.

 Jesus, it seems wants to bring this troubling command to us personally. Just when we feel good about how we have developed an unmovable and frantic look about ourselves and hone in on our worry fixation, Jesus heads us off from within a bible verse.

 It’s as if he stands before us and cautions, “Now just a minute”. There is then a pause, a smile comes to his face and he allows our breath to slow down a bit and all of our attentiveness to be on him. Then he tells us why we need not worry, we hear Jesus’ revelation of perhaps the greatest mystery of the universe as he says so simply, “Consider the lilies.”

 A pastor colleague tells a story of shopping on a Saturday morning at a local flea market where she bought a silver bracelet shaped like a ring of lilies. Though it was more expensive than she could really afford and a little to big for her wrist she bought it anyway.

  She wore it for years. It clanked by her side, it flashed in the light, it could not be ignored when worn. Twice a day it captured her complete attention, when she took it off at night and when she put it on in the morning. And during these times prayer was easier.” Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” There is no worry in God’s created lilies.

 One day her Dad was admiring her bracelet and noticed there was no safety chain. He worried a bit and asked her, “But what if the clasp comes undone? The bracelet will fall right off, and you’ll lose it.” Boys being boys, Dad took the bracelet to a jeweler to ‘fix it.’ That’s what men do. We fix things. Obsessive, perfectionist behavior?  Perhaps. A loving parents way to overcome worry? Surely.

 At some point in our worry filled life we can no longer avoid facing what it really is that is keeping us up at night. We can no longer avoid what truly, at the deepest level in our being, worries us. The unnamed source must be named.

 Jesus meets us at this place of discovery in this mornings teaching with these questions that redirect us from ourselves.  Do we want to live in a world in which God is in control, or a world in which we are?  Can we let God be God, or do we really think that we have to take over God’s job?

 But, we say, to worry is to be faithful to our humanity. Perhaps, but how disingenuous. If we come this morning seeking justification of our humanity as our excuse for unfaithful living, well, I bring no such justification. I am sorry if you thought I would have finely honed and deeply life changing theological advice for us this morning. Advice that would pick up the missing pieces and complete our life puzzle, advice that would take away all sorrow and pain and fear and yes, especially worry. Obviously, I cannot say or do anything that will make that happen. Just as obviously, God can!

 Worry is a part of life. What isn’t a part of life, or what need not be, is the conviction that it is all up to us to ‘fix it,’ that we are responsible and in control, that if we do not worry on behalf of everyone and everything, we are somehow shirking our responsibility.

God is God. We are not. There isn’t anything else so beautifully clarifying. Consider the lilies, how they grow. We didn’t make them, did we?! Of course not!  So let it go, take a deep breath! Let the lilies grow and bloom without our worry.

 I think God can probably handle this, if we can stand to step aside and make a little room in our lives for God. To let God be God, God can bring the deeply rich teaching we so desire. God can fix this!

 Or, would a new bracelet help, one that would remind us to consider the lilies of the field? Would we need a safety chain with our bracelet?

 Yes, of course, we would. But, we need not go to any jeweler.  Our lives have already been fixed with that safety chain. It is a special gift from God.   It is our Lord and savior Jesus Christ who is our safety chain.

 Jesus Christ is why we need not worry, why we need not try and fix anything. There, in that baptismal font, there on that communion table, and there, on that cross, that is where we have been fixed, where our worry has been taken away, where our safety has become grounded. Grounded in Jesus’ love, Jesus’ grace and Jesus’ blessed forgiveness.

 Our safety has been secured for all eternity. We need not worry one bit. For, consider the lilies, and how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, yet they thrive in the most unlikely of places, here with us, in the kingdom of God.

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

Additional helps:

“Christian Century”, Tom McGrath, May 20, 2008, pg. 20.

“The Minster’s Annual Manual”, Julie A. Kanarr, May 25, 2008, pgs. 372 – 374.

022711.gpc

1

20 February Matthew 5:38-48

20 February Matthew 5:38-48

My recent study at seminary has given me the wonderful assignment to hear your stories, your stories about your faith and this church. Though we have a ways to go, I’m hearing again and again your fascinating stories of a deep and rich faith in God and an unshakable love for Genesis Church, for our history, and an unwavering commitment to staying together.

I’m also beginning to learn more about you, intimately and personally, and how your compelling stories of steadfastness have woven you to be who you have become. Throughout these visits and in our informal conversations, I hear again and again the important stories that have formed your life, grounded your faith, and brought you to proudly say, we are this church, this is our home, we love one another and we wouldn’t be anywhere else.

As you speak your mind, I have heard you use distinct words and phrases. Though different, you all speak with your own unique and individual voice as you are describing, explaining and professing the facts, beliefs and the feelings in your lives. While there are common themes, there is no one voice, no single phrase or term you have all used.

That is not true of Jesus. In these weeks we’ve spent with the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has often repeated the same familiar refrain when speaking with his followers. It is sort of a yes, but statement. Jesus uses it to draw us in, “You have heard that it was said,” and then to set us apart, “But I say to you…”

So often Jesus will acknowledge what this world is saying about life and faith and then stop us in our thinking with his, “But, I say to you.” Jesus sets us up to recognize ourselves, our stories, the way we view life, the way we find our lives to have unfolded in this time and space only to then say, yes, but, I say to you there is another truth, there is another way, there is another life for you to consider.

The Sermon on the Mount has grown to be larger than we can live. How often as our life unfolds has someone told us, yes, but. How often have we heard society tells us, in the all too familiar tapes, to look out for number one?

Then Jesus interferes, “Yes, but”, listen instead to my opposition teaching, the teaching we all learn when we come to church with phrases like; “Turn the other cheek.” “Go the second mile.” “Love your enemies.” “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

We understand the point, we know the teaching, we’ve been told again and again - difficult, yes, but, all things are possible with God. But, we aren’t God, and some days we don’t feel we are even with God. Far too many days, we feel utterly alone in this world.

Alone, yes, but not so alone. You see, we have our own yes, but, responses, don’t we. Love our enemies? But wait, surely not these ones. They are such enemies. Respond to body blows opening ourselves up to more blows? But wait, surely we are not to stand for abuse. Pray for our persecutors? But wait, they persecute, surely they are to be judged!

With these justifications on our lips we never quite hear Jesus’ final command. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Yes, but, wait, like the woman in the car insurance commercial claims, I was perfect all along!

Now it’s Jesus’ turn. He has heard it said, by us, how justified we have made ourselves. Yes, but, Jesus says, listen to my commands. And he means it.

We do listen to Jesus’ commands, we know them well. It’s just that we are surrounded by the reinforcement that in this world, in this time and place, it is all about me, or you. Yet, we know all too well that there is little perfect about us or our station in life or even our potential. We are inherently flawed, aren’t we? Yes, but, Jesus offers us an alternative. Jesus offers that today we can be perfect. Yet, we resist.

Barbara Essex, Minister for Higher Education and Theological Education for the United Church of Christ counters Jesus’ claim with her reminders, “it is easier to be mean, hold grudges, ignore those in need. If we give to everyone who begs, we will have nothing left for ourselves. If we turn the other cheek, we will get slapped again, if we get sued, we are hiring the best lawyer we can afford to find a loophole in our favor. If we love our enemies, we will be more persecuted or even killed. If we are too nice, we will be seen as weak, a pushover, a doormat.

Jesus doesn’t say what the payoff will be: to inherit the reign of God. What do we get for loving, forgiving, being kind and gracious, and offering generosity?

And what about the claim to perfection, anyway? How many of us have labored under the burden of the elusive quest for perfection, be it for grades, the right job, the right spouse, or house or kids, only to realize the folly, the vanity of it all. Then, being reduced to depression and feelings of unworthiness and failure, we dig ourselves deeper into despair. Yes, but, others will say, “I’m only human.”

Jesus will not let us get away with any of our excuses. Jesus has climbed to the top of the mountain to teach us. To teach us, in no uncertain terms, in God’s community there are people who think of others first. In God’s community decisions and actions are made for the common good. For in God’s place, all are sister and brother to one another and act out of love.
For Jesus, this love he preaches is possible due to the overpowering love of God, who is perfect love.

As we are reminded, we are able to be gracious, forgiving, hospitable, and generous because we are children of the God who showers us with abundant grace, mercy, love, and protection. Once we know God’s love in these ways, we can love our enemies; once we experience God’s forgiveness, we can forgive those who persecute us; once we realize God’s gift of generosity, we can give back to those who have little or nothing. We become able to do these things because in Jesus Christ, we live in God’s community of believers.

Even here, Jesus has a yes, but, teaching for us. Yes, these things are true, “but I say to you”. You no longer have to rely on hearsay, the written word alone, what your elders teach you, or what your preachers preach to you. To understand God and God’s will for us and for all people and for all creation we simply have to look and listen to Jesus. Jesus alone.

Yes, but, we want to say. We have to stay up on our current events, we have to listen to the experts or we will lose everything. We are present here and now. Jesus, well, Jesus has been silent for so long.

Dear ones. God’s word was made flesh. God’s word, made flesh, continues to live in our midst. Here. Now. God’s word is Jesus Christ. Alive, in us, here with us, for us, present and moving us toward our fulfillment as a Christian community. Within us are the marks of those fully embraced by God and empowered by God’s will. We have that mark upon us, received at our baptism, nourished as we come to table to receive the body and blood of our savior, empowered, energized and directed by God’s will.

There, I see it, in each of you. You wear your mark, your story, on your face, you tell your story by your blessing, you live your story by your duty, your calling to faithful discipleship, you wear it in your Christian maturity that results in more and more Godlike behaviors and motivations. It is there, you told me of it, you have shown it to me in your love for God, for one another and this church. Sorry, you cannot play your “yes, but,” card here.

We who profess Jesus as Lord and Savior cannot play a “yes, but” card because Jesus does not seek to set impossible goals for us. Jesus does not seek to shame folk who cannot reach perfection. No, instead, Jesus sets forth God’s vision of God’s world, where love, genuine and unconditional love, reigns. Jesus set forth God’s vision of God’s world, where to be perfect is not to add pressure to already overwhelmed lives; no, it is to assure us that we are not alone in the world and that God continues to work in and through us.

Barbara Essex reminds us, “Perfection is less about getting things right and more about living as God loves, and Jesus is God’s concrete example of that love.” And we are God’s concrete example of that love to one another and to those desperate for this Good News.

The world has seen us be that example. The stories we have heard: the survivor of a violent crime who is able to forgive her tormenter; black South Africans who work with their former oppressors to rebuild their country; the Mother Teresa’s of the world who give selfless service to outcasts; those who live modestly so they can contribute to the well-being of the less fortunate; and those who make a choice to commit random acts of kindness. And this church, rising like a phoenix to serve others.

Missionaries, who have grown up in the poorest of slums in Brazil, have been asked how they could live among the poorest of the world’s poor without danger of being robbed. They have said, “Simple. You can’t own anything anyone would want to steal. Lend to anyone who asks, give to all who want to borrow. Then you can live among God’s poor and receive the blessing of possessing nothing. For Jesus, God incarnate, possesses nothing, except our hearts.”

We are surrounded by our own stories from our upbringing, from our formative years through our adult life, random acts of love where we’ve experienced God’s realm as already alive and active and filled with grace.

Jesus’ teaching this morning is not an indictment; it is a voice of promise, a good news story to the world that offers the real possibility that we may love the world as God has loved us – fully, richly, abundantly, and completely.

A good news story, not to seek the perfection this world may allude to, but to seek the perfection of God’s pure love, a perfection God offers to us, a perfect love so powerfully available to us, that when we embrace it, I say to you, we become filled with God’s perfect son, our loving Lord and savior, Jesus, our Christ. This is the one story card God wants us to play.

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

Additional resources:
“Feasting on the Word”, Year A, Volume 1, D. Bartlett and B. Taylor, eds., pgs. 380 – 385.



4

Kingdom of Heaven

30 January 11 What Jesus Did Say” Matthew 5:1-12

My question from last week lingers. What is a church to do? With the radical changes to our church these past few years still fresh on our minds, with the fear and uncertainty settling in from the newest changes on our campus, we have pause. Yet, realizing God’s amazing grace as seen in our renewed church leadership, the complete reversal of our financial picture and many other loving blessings, we have joy and elation. In the mix, what is Genesis Church to do?

What we dare not do, is try and figure it out by ourselves. As Christians, we know we walk this walk with God. So, we turn to prayer, to reflection in scripture, and to vital and healthy discussion and discernment.

If this morning’s scripture will help us know God’s will for our church we may have some work to do. These Beatitudes - at first we may be struck by what seems to be their sheer impracticality for the world we live in. We live in a time when the blessings given are to those who succeed, often at the expense of others. To be poor in spirit, peaceful, merciful and meek will get us nowhere in a culture grounded in competition and fear. Who can possibly survive in attempting to live into the spirit of the Beatitudes? More importantly, when Jesus turns the values of the world upside down, like he’s done in these Beatitudes, what does that mean for us as church?

What exactly are we as church to do when faced with an upside down world? Well, we are good Presbyterians, so we have a meeting! We held our Annual Session retreat yesterday. Knowing full well how upside down our world has been and may still seem to be we took the time to read and remind ourselves of our Mission and Vision statements. That’s a good place to start when trying to make sense of what seems to make no sense. Turn to God. Invite God into the conversation. That’s what our session did yesterday.

Listen again to our Mission Statement: In the name of Christ, we welcome and serve all of God’s people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.

And our Vision Statement: Rooted in Worship – we are here to participate in worship that affects the way we live every day. Growing in Christ – We are here to learn how following Christ can change our lives. Reaching to Neighbors – we are here to love our neighbors. Everyone is our neighbor. We embrace diversity.

Our session has begun what should be a long journey. To prayerfully consider the world of our church and to try to live into the will of God is no easy task. None the less, if we be faith full followers of Jesus Christ, it is a task we must all prayerfully join. Our session needs each and every one of you, we need your collective wisdom. Our future depends on it.

The Beatitudes are the opening phrases to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, his first major sermon and teaching in Matthew’s gospel. From the first, lets be clear about what Jesus did and did not say. The author James Howell reminds us, Jesus did not say, Blessed are those who invest shrewdly; they will own a second home. Or, Blessed are those who shop, for they will own neat things. Or, Blessed are the good-looking, for they will find plenty of friends. Jesus certainly did not lift up to blessed status those who succeed in life at the expense of others, or those rooted in the life of competition and fear.

But neither is Jesus a stick in the mud. Jesus does want us to know pleasure, to find enjoyment and happiness. While we may struggle to not go to far in these areas, we may, ironically, fall short of God’s expectations.
C. S. Lewis, in his sermon “The Weight of Glory” challenges us to know God’s expectations for our lives as Christians and as church.

He offers that, “indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with life and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

No one would argue that Genesis church is far too easily pleased. We have lived in a real world of fear and concern for our very existence. And for some, that fear persists. Might infinite joy be on our horizon?

Archbishop Oscar Romero understood our struggles as Christians and as a struggling church in a difficult world when he challenged his congregation with these words: “The world does not say: blessed are the poor. The world says: blessed are the rich. You are worth as much as you have. But Christ says: wrong. Blessed are the poor…because they do not put their trust in what is so transitory. Blessed are the poor, for they know their riches are in the One who being rich made himself poor in order to enrich us with his poverty, teaching us the Christian’s true wisdom.”

Blessed is Genesis Presbyterian Church because you did not put your trust in what is so transitory. We know our riches are in Jesus, the one who though rich, made himself poor in order to enrich us through his poverty, teaching us true Christian wisdom. Jesus Christ has made the way for Genesis Church to follow. Come and follow me, he has told us. Our life mission is to discover that way as people and as church.

Discernment and discovery of the presence of God and the will of God and our future path with God takes tremendous energy, faith and staying power.
Jesus found help with such staying power in the Jewish daily prayer. It is called the Shema; Hear O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

Jesus was also disciplined to find his energy, faith, and staying power in the command that follows. “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

For us to be faithful to Jesus’ teaching these disciplines should become our habits too. We might treat these Beatitudes the same way we treat the Lord’s Prayer. Memorize them, sing them, find a magnet at the Cokesbury Bookstore and put them on the refrigerator. It takes time for teaching and discipline to translate into living.

Oh yes, living, who are we as Genesis Church to become?

“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The “poor in spirit” are those who recognize their need for God in all things. Like the poor and destitute who depend on others, the poor in spirit know that only God can save and protect them. Every time we take our primary self out of the life equation and make room for God in our hearts and in our lives, the poor will be blessed and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn. “Those who mourn” refers to people wishing God would send his Messiah, hoping God will restore his kingdom and set the world right. In Isaiah we learn of the Messiah who will “comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion”. These are people who understand the mess the world is in and wish for God’s redemption. Every time we place our fear and the future of this church with Jesus, those who mourn will be blessed and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the meek. This beatitude alludes to Psalm 37, “But the meek will inherit the land…” The Psalm is comparing the “evil” and “wicked” with the meek. “Trust in the Lord and do good… Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him…” Every time we remember to trust that God knows what God is doing, the meek will be blessed and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Just as poverty leads to hunger, the recognition of one’s spiritual poverty leads to a hunger for right living. Jesus is talking to people who desire God’s rule. It is a rule that brings justice for all. It is a reign in which God will satisfy the hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Every time we insist on living in God’s right way, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the merciful. Mercy is part of God’s own nature. “The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…” God expects mercy from his people: “he has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Every time we risk our own comfort for the good of another, the merciful will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the pure in heart. Seeing God is one of our greatest hopes as believers. But only the pure in heart may receive this blessing. Purity of heart, the heart that desires only what God wants, is not the result of personal effort, God works in and through us. Every time we faithfully seek God’s way, pray and act on what God wants, the pure in heart will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the peacemakers. This Beatitude brings together two important Old Testament concepts: peace and the son of God. Peace is a central characteristic of the kingdom of heaven. “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them.” Those who would normally be at war with each other will be in harmony. All things are made right and peace prevails. The Old Testament applies the title of “son of God” to the Messiah. However, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul explains that when we are in Christ, we “receive the full rights of sons;” in other words, we are made adopted children of God. Every time we invite the others into our lives, the peacemakers will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Just as the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit, it also belongs to the ones persecuted because of righteousness. Every time we take up the cause for doing the right thing, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

Through these Beatitudes, and our own Mission and Vision statements we hear from God, our calling as church is to help God bring about the kingdom of heaven here on earth. We will realize God’s kingdom when we recognize these blessings. Every time we are church, the Kingdom of heaven is near. Every time we are church, this blessedness will be the result of the coming of this kingdom.

It is important to remember, the Beatitudes are not calls to action. They are not commands. They are descriptions of the way things are to be. They do not call us personally to be poor in spirit, to mourn, or to be meek. No, these Beatitudes are promises of how the kingdom of heaven will be.

As such, these promises define our faith and assure us, “Christianity is not a scheme to reduce stress, lose weight, advance in one’s career, or preserve one from illness. Christian faith, instead, is a way of living based on the firm and sure hope that meekness is the way of God, that righteousness and peace will finally prevail, and that God’s future will be a time of mercy and not cruelty. So, blessed are those who live this life now, even when such a life seems foolish, for we will, in the end…” , have our fear taken away by God.

Is this the church we are to be? I believe so. It’s where our mission and vision statements will lead us. It’s where God will lead us, if we but dare to follow.


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


Additional resource:
“Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary”, Year A, volume 1, David L. Bartlett and Barbara B. Taylor, Editors, pgs. 308-313.

What Jesus Did Say”

30 January 11                  What Jesus Did Say”                               Matthew 5:1-12

   My question from last week lingers. What is a church to do? With the radical changes to our church these past few years still fresh on our minds, with the fear and uncertainty settling in from the newest changes on our campus, we have pause. Yet, realizing God’s amazing grace as seen in our renewed church leadership, the complete reversal of our financial picture and many other loving blessings, we have joy and elation. In the mix, what is Genesis Church to do?

 What we dare not do, is try and figure it out by ourselves. As Christians, we know we walk this walk with God. So, we turn to prayer, to reflection in scripture, and to vital and healthy discussion and discernment.

 If this morning’s scripture will help us know God’s will for our church we may have some work to do. These Beatitudes - at first we may be struck by what seems to be their sheer impracticality for the world we live in. We live in a time when the blessings given are to those who succeed, often at the expense of others. To be poor in spirit, peaceful, merciful and meek will get us nowhere in a culture grounded in competition and fear. Who can possibly survive in attempting to live into the spirit of the Beatitudes?  More importantly, when Jesus turns the values of the world upside down, like he’s done in these Beatitudes, what does that mean for us as church?

 What exactly are we as church to do when faced with an upside down world? Well, we are good Presbyterians, so we have a meeting!  We held our Annual Session retreat yesterday. Knowing full well how upside down our world has been and may still seem to be we took the time to read and remind ourselves of our Mission and Vision statements. That’s a good place to start when trying to make sense of what seems to make no sense. Turn to God. Invite God into the conversation. That’s what our session did yesterday.

  Listen again to our Mission Statement: In the name of Christ, we welcome and serve all of God’s people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.

  And our Vision Statement: Rooted in Worship – we are here to participate in worship that affects the way we live every day. Growing in Christ – We are here to learn how following Christ can change our lives. Reaching to Neighbors – we are here to love our neighbors. Everyone is our neighbor. We embrace diversity.

 Our session has begun what should be a long journey.  To prayerfully consider the world of our church and to try to live into the will of God is no easy task. None the less, if we be faith full followers of Jesus Christ, it is a task we must all prayerfully join. Our session needs each and every one of you, we need your collective wisdom. Our future depends on it.

 The Beatitudes are the opening phrases to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, his first major sermon and teaching in Matthew’s gospel. From the first, lets be clear about what Jesus did and did not say. The author James Howell reminds us, Jesus did not say, Blessed are those who invest shrewdly; they will own a second home. Or, Blessed are those who shop, for they will own neat things. Or, Blessed are the good-looking, for they will find plenty of friends. Jesus certainly did not lift up to blessed status those who succeed in life at the expense of others, or those rooted in the life of competition and fear.

 But neither is Jesus a stick in the mud. Jesus does want us to know pleasure, to find enjoyment and happiness. While we may struggle to not go to far in these areas, we may, ironically, fall short of God’s expectations.

 C. S. Lewis, in his sermon “The Weight of Glory” challenges us to know God’s expectations for our lives as Christians and as church.

 He offers that, “indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with life and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

 No one would argue that Genesis church is far too easily pleased. We have lived in a real world of fear and concern for our very existence. And for some, that fear persists. Might infinite joy be on our horizon?

Archbishop Oscar Romero understood our struggles as Christians and as a struggling church in a difficult world when he challenged his congregation with these words: “The world does not say: blessed are the poor. The world says: blessed are the rich. You are worth as much as you have. But Christ says: wrong. Blessed are the poor…because they do not put their trust in what is so transitory. Blessed are the poor, for they know their riches are in the One who being rich made himself poor in order to enrich us with his poverty, teaching us the Christian’s true wisdom.”

 Blessed is Genesis Presbyterian Church because you did not put your trust in what is so transitory. We know our riches are in Jesus, the one who though rich, made himself poor in order to enrich us through his poverty, teaching us true Christian wisdom. Jesus Christ has made the way for Genesis Church to follow. Come and follow me, he has told us. Our life mission is to discover that way as people and as church.

 Discernment and discovery of the presence of God and the will of God and our future path with God takes tremendous energy, faith and staying power.

 Jesus found help with such staying power in the Jewish daily prayer. It is called the Shema; Hear O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

 Jesus was also disciplined to find his energy, faith, and staying power in the command that follows. “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

  For us to be faithful to Jesus’ teaching these disciplines should become our habits too. We might treat these Beatitudes the same way we treat the Lord’s Prayer. Memorize them, sing them, find a magnet at the Cokesbury Bookstore and put them on the refrigerator. It takes time for teaching and discipline to translate into living.

  Oh yes, living, who are we as Genesis Church to become?

 “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The “poor in spirit” are those who recognize their need for God in all things. Like the poor and destitute who depend on others, the poor in spirit know that only God can save and protect them.  Every time we take our primary self out of the life equation and make room for God in our hearts and in our lives, the poor will be blessed and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

 Blessed are those who mourn.  “Those who mourn” refers to people wishing God would send his Messiah, hoping God will restore his kingdom and set the world right. In Isaiah we learn of the Messiah who will “comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion”. These are people who understand the mess the world is in and wish for God’s redemption. Every time we place our fear and the future of this church with Jesus, those who mourn will be blessed and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

 Blessed are the meek.  This beatitude alludes to Psalm 37, “But the meek will inherit the land…” The Psalm is comparing the “evil” and “wicked” with the meek. “Trust in the Lord and do good… Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him…” Every time we remember to trust that God knows what God is doing, the meek will be blessed and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Just as poverty leads to hunger, the recognition of one’s spiritual poverty leads to a hunger for right living. Jesus is talking to people who desire God’s rule. It is a rule that brings justice for all. It is a reign in which God will satisfy the hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Every time we insist on living in God’s right way, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

 Blessed are the merciful.  Mercy is part of God’s own nature. “The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…” God expects mercy from his people: “he has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  Every time we risk our own comfort for the good of another, the merciful will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

 Blessed are the pure in heart.  Seeing God is one of our greatest hopes as believers. But only the pure in heart may receive this blessing. Purity of heart, the heart that desires only what God wants, is not the result of personal effort, God works in and through us.  Every time we faithfully seek God’s way, pray and act on what God wants, the pure in heart will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

 Blessed are the peacemakers. This Beatitude brings together two important Old Testament concepts: peace and the son of God. Peace is a central characteristic of the kingdom of heaven. “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them.” Those who would normally be at war with each other will be in harmony. All things are made right and peace prevails. The Old Testament applies the title of “son of God” to the Messiah. However, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul explains that when we are in Christ, we “receive the full rights of sons;” in other words, we are made adopted children of God.  Every time we invite the others into our lives, the peacemakers will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Just as the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit, it also belongs to the ones persecuted because of righteousness. Every time we take up the cause for doing the right thing, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.

 Through these Beatitudes, and our own Mission and Vision statements we hear from God, our calling as church is to help God bring about the kingdom of heaven here on earth. We will realize God’s kingdom when we recognize these blessings.  Every time we are church, the Kingdom of heaven is near. Every time we are church, this blessedness will be the result of the coming of this kingdom.

 It is important to remember, the Beatitudes are not calls to action. They are not commands. They are descriptions of the way things are to be. They do not call us personally to be poor in spirit, to mourn, or to be meek. No, these Beatitudes are promises of how the kingdom of heaven will be.

 As such, these promises define our faith and assure us, “Christianity is not a scheme to reduce stress, lose weight, advance in one’s career, or preserve one from illness. Christian faith, instead, is a way of living based on the firm and sure hope that meekness is the way of God, that righteousness and peace will finally prevail, and that God’s future will be a time of mercy and not cruelty. So, blessed are those who live this life now, even when such a life seems foolish, for we will, in the end…” [1], have our fear taken away by God.

 Is this the church we are to be? I believe so. It’s where our mission and vision statements will lead us. It’s where God will lead us, if we but dare to follow.

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

Additional resource:

“Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary”, Year A, volume 1, David L. Bartlett and Barbara B. Taylor, Editors, pgs. 308-313.

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[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VIII, pg. 180.