Rooted in Christmas!

In his last days my grandfather didn’t know who I was.

He didn’t know who his daughters were, or his wife.

But pretty much at any moment you could walk into his room and start singing, “Jesus love me” and he would start singing along.

Something that deeply imbedded in his mind, in his person, kicked in and even though he lost touch with most of the world he knew that song.

It is these types of roots that really sustain us.

And we all have roots.

We have places that we come from, people that influenced us, and made us who we are today.

This morning the prophet Isaiah tells us that out of the stump of Jesse God is going to bring renewal to God’s people.

Funny thing about stumps is that when a tree gets to that point we think of it as dead.

But really as long as the roots are still in the ground it is still alive.

In fact, lots of trees when they get down to their stumps will be able to regenerate because of the roots.

In order to really remove a tree you have to take out the roots.

That is not so easy.

Getting rid of the roots is almost impossible.

It is no wonder that this is the image that the prophet uses to describe God’s on going action.

Even when it appears that all is lost that nothing remains God is not done yet.

Even if we cut everything off the tree, the roots remain.

This is why it is so important for us to plant good roots.

This is why it is important to give our children love, discipline, and forgiveness.

It is why it is important to sing “Jesus loves me this I know with them.”

It is those roots that will always be with them, just as God is always with us.

“Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.”

This is one of the simplest lines of any song and yet one of the most profound.

It is not just a song for Sunday school and children it is a song for us too.

What happens when we forget this?

What happens when we forget that Jesus loves us no matter what?

I wonder if Isaiah’s audience had forgotten that God loved and cared about them.

In Isaiah’s time, just like ours, the rulers had forgotten to care for the widow’s and the poor.

They had forgotten that it was their job to protect the least among them just as God does.

Isaiah was reminding them of their roots.

Just as God once gave his people a land, a country, a home, a king so too will God once more establish all these things.

This is why Jesus has to be born in Bethlehem, because of the roots of God.

The writers of the Gospels want to make sure that they plant Jesus firmly within the history of God’s saving activity.

It is not just about having some predictions that were written in the prophets come true.

But it was about roots.

One of the questions that follows Jesus is who is he?

“Who is this that even demons obey him?”

“Is he not the son of a carpenter?”

Jesus is more than this because he was rooted in the teachings of Torah, and the prophets.

Jesus was a person who was rooted in the history of his people.

Jesus did not so much tell people something new, what he did was remind them of what God continually would say, “You are my people and I love you.”

To root Jesus in this history the Gospel writers have him born in Bethlehem because it was the city of David.

Jesse was David’s dad, and it would be from here that Jesus would come.

Both the Gospel of Matthew and Luke have genealogies at the beginning of their Gospels.

They are not exactly the same, but their intention is, it is to root Jesus in the history of God’s people.

It is to plant Jesus firmly in God’s plan of salvation.

What God desires is for us to have roots that come from God.

God desires to know God at our core and fundamental level.

To be able to recall the basic love that God gives to us through Jesus Christ.

A good question to ask in advent is?

What are our roots?

Where are we planted?

Here is why I think it is critical.

Because what is going to happen when the tree is cut down?

What happens when the tree gets too old and falls down or collapses?

What happens when we lose everything in our lives?

Where are we going to go?

What will we do?

For my grandfather the roots were so deep that even when everything had failed him.

Even when he was in a nursing home with very little to his name, he had that song still in his soul.

“Jesus loves me this I know….”

He still knew that Jesus loved him.

He knew that he was week but Jesus was strong for him when he needed it.

Here is the amazing thing even when we are dead, the roots still remain.

God is still there and brings life from the stump.

God shoots a seed from what appears to be dead.

Roots are important.

They matter a great deal, because they make everything else possible.

They make the tree blossom and thrive.

The deeper the roots the harder it is to tear it up.

I was thinking about what are some things that I might not loose.

How about the Lord’s Prayer?

I have been with people while they were dying, and I have said the Lord’s Prayer and seen people’s mouths moving with the words.

What about the 23 psalm?

This is another well known piece of scripture that we can recite.

Perhaps that is something that never leaves us.

I was once praying with a family in a waiting room as they waited for a loved one who had been in a car crash.

After I was done praying all 15 members of this family in unison started to recite the 23 psalm from memory.

It was powerful.

It was rooted into this family that even in this time God was right there with them.

And they went back to those roots for their strength.

What if we don’t have those roots?

It is never too late to start planting.

We have the opportunity to lay those foundations today.

God is always waiting and eager to have us discover the love and grace he has in store for us.

This advent is a great time to become reacquainted with our roots.

Advent is a time to not only waiting, but to remember what Jesus means for us.

Lots of people have bumper stickers and buttons that say, “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

I hope those stickers and battens are about more than merely spending less money, having the clerk at Target say Merry Christmas instead of happy holidays, or having a Christmas tree in the town square.

It is about reconnecting to the source, to the roots of who we are and what we are about as God’s people.

Are we about Good News for all people?

Are we about love?

Are we about grace?

Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.

The root of all things is this simple song.

This Christmas may we be rooted in that love.

May we share it with the world.

May we revel in God’s redemptive act, of sending Jesus Christ into our lives and into the world.

Amen

Being a Pastor Is a Joy!

Lots of posts by pastors and other church workers have been about the negative side of being called to serve the Church. I have read lots about pastors not being appreciated; not being paid enough, being run out of town by hard headed church members. Recently Jared Moore had a Blog post called, “Ministry Isn’t for Wimps”. He talks about how the blessings of ministry outweigh the realities in his post, but how difficult it is to be a pastor. He went on to list difficult things about being a pastor. I would never call into question anyone's experience. I know that being a pastor has difficult moments. However, I wanted to offer the blessings of being a pastor. My experience of being a pastor has been overwhelming positive. Sure, I have moments that have been difficult, but not many. I have served in a small congregation on Long Island for six years. Those were rich years filled with great ministry. I have been serving for the last four years at a small congregation in Concord, New Hampshire. Again, my life has been richly blessed at this congregation. Here are some reasons why being a pastor is such a great calling.

Every day is an adventure: There are some tasks that need to be done. (i.e. Writing sermons, setting budgets, council meetings, worship planning.) However, every day I have something new to tackle, some new wrinkle that I never thought I would have to confront. I love that feeling when I wake up that today anything can happen. People will walk off the street come to the church looking for something and I have the opportunity to be part of their lives for that time. A parishioner will call to ask something of me. I will get to testify at a hearing against the death penalty, or for food stamps. I will get to plan an interfaith worship service about AIDS. These are all different things that make this a very interesting and exciting calling.

I get to be there at the most precious moments of people’s lives: I am there when people are first born, when they first receive communion, when they are learning about faith, when they get married, when they are sick, and when they die. People come to me when things in life fall apart. I always feel that is such a great honor. To have people trust you with their most vulnerable and a broken self is really a sacred and holy thing.

Every week I get to make a speech: I love preaching. I love writing sermons. I love thinking about the people in the pew and what message they might need to hear this week. I love reading the Bible and figuring out how to make these old stories of God’s love come alive and give life to people today.

I love that I am part of the community: At both places I served I felt/feel that I am more than the pastor of the Church. I am also the pastor of a community. I have always felt that people who are not members of our congregation still feel they are able to come to me with issues they face. I have always believed that people serving in public office like having the moral voice of the Church as part of the discussion. I have always lived next door to the Churches I have served and feel like this has only been a blessing to me and my family. It has made me more than a pastor of x church, but a full blown participant in the life of the community I serve.

Lots of time my job is fun: A couple of years ago during the advent season I had a couple of weekends of doing some really great things. I went with our youth group into New York City to see a play and have dinner in china town. I went with the seniors of our congregation to a holiday luncheon. I took a bus ride to Pennsylvania to see a nativity play with people from the congregation. I got paid for doing these things! I get to go to synod assemblies and bishop convocations were I get to be with my colleagues and parishioners in a fun way. My wife will often accuse me of not working because I am having too much fun.

I get to serve others in need: I could do this without being a pastor. However, my job involves serving other people and this is a joy. Sometimes it is heartbreaking because you can’t live someones life for them, but lots of time I get to see miracles happen right in front of me. Someone who was struggling with drugs or alcohol get sober. Someone who was homeless get a job, car, and a house. A family ripped apart by infidelity finds a way to forgiveness. Someone give a moving eulogy for someone they love. I always feel that it is a privilege to serve others.

People thank me often: Lots of people go to work and never get a thank you for doing those jobs. People all the time are telling me how thankful that they are for me as their pastor. Even something little like visiting someone in the hospital is an occasion for people to say how grateful they are that I showed up and prayed with them. Through the years I have gotten hundreds of thank you cards from parishioners, people in the community, and others who thanked me for merely doing what I am called to do. I don’t know many other professions were that happens.

            Every job has things that are hard about it. Pastors are no different, but there are so many blessings to being a pastor. In the ten plus years that I have served as being a pastor I feel every day that it is an honor and privilege to serve in this way. It is not for everyone, but if you are called it is a great profession.

The Jesus Equation

This morning we are going to be talking about the death penalty.

I want to make a few disclaimers at the begging of my sermon.

This is an issue that I know has people on both sides.

I would guess that if I were to do a poll that half of us would be for it, and the other half would be against it.

I am taking a chance this morning that we as a community can handle difficult issues together.

That even when we disagree we can talk to each other about our views.

There is an old saying that pastors are like whale they don’t get harpooned until they start spouting off.

But I am going to take that chance that I might get harpooned this morning I will be spouting off.

And I am not asking this morning that you agree with me.

But I am asking that you be willing to enter into a dialogue.

I never see it as my job to tell you what to believe, or how to think.

Rather my job is to raise questions about what it means to be a person of faith.

To help us to see God at work in our lives, and to help us discern how we live as people of faith.

My sermon this morning is offered in that same spirit, to encourage you to think about this issue not from a political or a philosophical point of view, but from a spiritual point of view.

I trust you all to be able to hear my sermon in that light.

Ever since I was a kid, and I started to think about such things, I was against the death penalty.

To me it does not make sense to kill someone so we can prove that killing is wrong.

I never really thought about it in spiritual terms.

But the more I study the issue, the more I pray about it, I realize that there are many spiritual dimensions to it.

Those are the things I want to talk about this morning.

This morning is Christ the King Sunday.

It is a day when we consider what it means when we say that rules our lives?

What does it mean that we praise a king, who did not win a military victory, but was killed on a cross?

What does the cross mean for us as believing Christians who follow Jesus’ example?

Not too long ago I was talking to a friend who has had a fairly tough time lately.

He lost a lot of things in his life.

Most of it was his fault.

He lost his family and friends because he was an alcoholic.

During that time in his life he had an affair.

He got a rather difficult divorce.

His kids no longer talk to him.

I asked him if he thought that there were simply things that can’t be fixed.

That sometimes there are wrongs that cannot be undone.

He said, “No”.

I asked him why.

“Because I have to believe, and have hope, that I can get back all the things I have lost in my life.”

As people of faith this I think is an essential part of what it means to be a spiritual person.

We have hope that no situation is completely hopeless or lost.

We believe that every day and every moment there is a chance of redemption, of grace, of forgiveness.

Lots of times when we talk about the death penalty we talk about the worst cases.

We talk about people whose acts are reprehensible, makes our stomachs turn, and who do just plain evil things.

Can God work with such a person?

Let us go back to Jesus hanging on a cross.

In Luke’s Gospel Jesus says something really remarkable.

After having been tried in a sham of a trial,

being whipped,

having to carry his own cross beam,

being nailed down with his hands and feet,

while being mocked and spit on, Jesus says, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

We can skip over this moment if we want, we can rationalize it away, but I think this is really extraordinary.

Because Jesus could have said something like, “Father, just wait until I get to heaven with you then we are going to really get revenge on these evil people.”

The death penalty is about revenge.

It is about us making ourselves feel better because, “they got what was coming to them.”

Perhaps Jesus words can be a guide for us.

That forgiveness is better.

Not just for the one who did the horrible thing, but for us as well.

Our spiritual selves are better when we can find our way to compassion and forgiveness.

Hatred, spiritually speaking, only eats at our souls.

Another significant thing happens on the cross.

Jesus is not alone in being crucified.

He is there with two other criminals.

Jesus while dying decides to have a Jesus moment.

He talks to them.

He offers them a hope of redemption.

Sure one of them doesn’t seem to want it, or need it, but it is there as an option.

We say those same words as the criminal.

Jesus remember me.

I am wondering if the criminals of our day know that Jesus does remember them.

Do they know that even when we sin, when we do evil things that Jesus remembers us and calls us by name?

Do we know the power that comes with us calling on the name of Jesus?

Using Jesus name does something significant in our lives.

It is a redeeming act of forgiveness, hope, and redemption.

Also, for me, I am always aware that it was the state sanctioned death penalty that killed Jesus.

No way to get around it.

The Romans killed Jesus, and it was perfectly legal.

Now Jesus was innocent we know that.

But this is exactly one of the issues is what happens when we kill innocent people in a vain attempt to get rid of the evil.

Jesus in another parable warns us against trying to get rid of evil.

Instead Jesus tells us to let the good and bad grow together, and let God sort out the rest.

Spiritually, from a perspective of faith, although we can judge good and bad behavior, we can’t say who is good and who is evil.

That is only up to God.

Perhaps I should make one other disclaimer is that I am not advocating for letting people get away with murder.

When people do evil things then we have to judge them and they have to pay for those crimes.

But death is final.

It gives no room for redemption, for God to work forgiveness in us with us.

It gives no room for miracles.

So the question that we are left with is what will be in our hearts?

What will be left…revenge, hatred?

Will we find hope and the possibility of redemption?

Will we allow for the criminal to be in paradise with us?

Will we allow God to work in the lives of people who do evil?

This morning I am not pointing to any of my clever arguments.

I am pointing to our Lord and savior, ruler of our lives, who hangs on a cross and pleads for God to forgive those around him.

I am pointing us to Jesus as an example of what is possible with God.

Like I said at the beginning this is not to say that you have to come to the same conclusions I do.

All I am asking is that we put Jesus into the equation when we ask such questions just like we should with everything in our life.

Because when Jesus is our guide and is example, then Jesus is truly the ruler of our lives.

Amen