Last week we all heard the horrible news of the shooting in Arizona killing 6 people and wounding 13 others including Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford.
Since then there has been a lot of talk about what caused this horrible event.
The sheriff in Pima county got the ball rolling by stating that, "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government.
The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous, and unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
The sheriff was then attacked for making a political statement.
Sarah Palin said, “Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own.
They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.”
Who is right?
Who is wrong?
To ask this another way is sin simply personal or is it societal?
Am I an individual or a product of my environment?
I would like to argue that it is both.
There is no doubt that I carry personal responsibility for my actions.
My parents from an early age taught me that there were consequences for my actions and that I would have to live with those consequences.
I was to blame for the decisions I made.
There is no doubt that the shooter in Arizona is responsible for his actions and will have to face the consequence of those actions.
But to say that outside forces have no bearing on who we are, the way we think, and the way we react to stimuli would be an equally ridiculous thing to say.
We are all tied together.
We react to certain things partially because of the times in which we live.
People of other times thought differently about the universe and our place in it.
I am a product of my upbringing both good and bad, and the society in which I am a part.
We cannot divorce ourselves from the reality we find ourselves.
Our sin is always tied up with the sins of the entire world.
And my sin however personal affects more than me.
For example, I am sometimes rather lazy about my environmental responsibilities.
It is not that I don’t agree with the scientific evidence of global warming or that I don’t believe in being a good steward of God’s creation it is just that sometimes it is more convenient to drive then to walk, or just throw out the can of soda in the regular trash rather than recycle.
It is my own love for conveniences, and yes that has some consequences for me, but it also affects all of you.
I believe that how we act, or don’t act, is about more than an individual choice but has communal consequences.
And sin is bigger than one person.
The sin of the shooter was about more than a bad choice that he made, about more than he had some serious psychological problems.
He lives in a world where we tend to settle disputes through violence.
He lives in a world where guns are made that are able to take out a lot of people in a small period of time.
He lives in a world where we ignore the signs of people in trouble because, “We don’t want to get involved.”
We live in a world where politicians take the quick route to sound bite instead of the thoughtful way to understanding.
We live in a world filled with inflamed rhetoric, and vitriol.
He lives in a world where you can buy ammunition at Wal-Mart like a pack of gum.
And this world has been around a lot longer than merely what happened last weekend in Arizona.
Consider that tomorrow is Martin Luther King day.
On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King was shot to death by a man who did not like his politics.
This despite the fact that Martin Luther King preached non-violence, love of enemy, and peace.
You can go back even further 2,000 years ago on a hill outside the city walls the place called the skull.
Jesus was hung on a cross in a most savage and violent manner.
This despite the fact that he raised no army, never hurt anyone, and was God’s son.
This despite the fact that he preached to the poor, welcomed sinners, and talked of God’s love.
For a long time we have lived in a world filled with sin and death.
We have lived in a world where people solved problems with vitriol, hard words, and violence.
The question that we are left with this morning is what shall we do?
What is left to be said or done?
As Christians, as people who follow Christ, we have to look towards Jesus.
We have to see the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Jesus on the cross became the symbol of the violence and hatred in the world.
Jesus became the one onto whom we put all of our hate and violence in order to redeem that world.
Dr. Martin Luther King knew this truth.
He knew that Jesus was the source of his strength, life, and courage.
For us it has to be too.
And this is our way out.
We can be part of this world.
The world that filled with sin.
The world that speaks in vitriol tones.
The world that allows a man to kill 6 people and wound 13 on a Saturday morning at a grocery store.
Our place in the world is in the middle of all that mess.
It is in the middle of the debate.
We enter that debate with a great sense of humility knowing that we are not perfect, knowing that no human endeavor is perfect, and that only in working together are we made whole.
And it is always with the knowledge that Jesus is the one who takes away the sins of the world.
That God has called this world good.
That Jesus Christ pointed us toward the light and what is good.
And maybe we can help the debate be about something more than winning elections, but about the way we care, the way we serve one another, the way we love our enemies, and show empathy.
As Mother Teresa once said, "Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness."
Our role in the world can be to spread the light.
We can remind people that we are tied together in this world.
As Martin Luther King once said, “All life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
Because we look not to ourselves, but we look towards the one who takes away the sin of the world, and replaces it with love, understanding, and peace we can help point others towards the light of Christ.
I want to end today with a video I made for the worship tomorrow at Concord’s Martin Luther King day service sponsored by the Greater Concord Interfaith Council.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Righteousness
This sermon was a conversation that Edwina Landry (first year seminary student at Gettysburg seminary) and I had on Facebook the week leading up to Sunday January 9th.
Sermon – Jan. 9, 2011
Text: Matthew 3:13 -17
Jonathan Hopkins
What struck me about this morning's readings was the righteousness.
In the passage from Isaiah we hear that God will send a "servant" and he has been called in "Righteousness".
Jesus before being baptized tells John that they should do this so that all "righteousness" might be fulfilled.
Righteousness is a word that happens to be part of the Biblical witness and our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.
I was realizing that I never really thought about righteousness before. I have given lots of thought to justice, justification, and sanctification but not righteousness.
So my question is what does it mean to be called in righteousness, and to fulfill righteousness?
Edwina Landry
According to Webster's dictionary, righteous means to act in accord with divine or moral law; free from guilt or sin; morally right such as a justifiable or righteous decision.
Jesus is free from guilt and sin and therefore can be called righteous, but by that definition how can people be righteous when we are all sinners?
Job was considered a righteous man and he was certainly not sinless.
In the case of Job, he was righteous because he was faithful in following God.
I think righteousness therefore, has more to do with a right relationship with God and Jesus unites us with God therefore making us righteous.
Jonathan Hopkins
I can tell you are in your first year of seminary all about the Old Testament :-)
I believe you are right that it is Jesus uniting us with God that makes us righteous.
In our Baptisms we are drowned in the water and cleansed from sin and death.
Not that we will never sin again (that is a heresy. I forgot which one, but you will probably know since you are at seminary) or that we won't die.
In Jesus Christ we are given forgiveness from our sins and eternal life.
Baptism is what gives us the ability, strength, and call to go out and live righteous.
Meaning we follow the will of of God.
This of course is a slippery slope because the question becomes what is the will of God?
How do we follow it?
Help me out here.
Edwina Landry
Old Testament - ha, ha - it is important you know. :-)
As far as heresies, we have not learned about those yet.
What is the will of God?
That IS the question isn't it.
We all ask ourselves that question.
We wonder if the decisions we make are the will of God or if they are merely our own will, at least I wonder that.
I guess that is why Jesus asked us to pray The Lord's Prayer and ask for God's will to be done and not ours.
And we can study the Scriptures to see what God's will is for us.
Prayer and Scripture study are what help us determine God's will for our lives.
Edwina Landry
Or...as Pastor Jon Hopkins said in the first sermon at Concordia when faced with deciding between two choices, "it's all a crap shoot" because God is with us no matter what choice we make.
Ah, still one of my favorite sermons! :-)
Jonathan Hopkins
You should be careful who you listen to.
I hear that Pastor Jon Guy has long hair and is weird. Well, Pastor Jon Hopkins is on to something, but I think that righteousness is about doing something.
I think the texts itself gives some ideas on this matter.
Jesus is the messiah, Son of God, or whatever other great title you want to give him.
Jesus gets that title not because he rules over people with an iron fist but because he gives himself away.
Jesus is not afraid of John's ministry and therefor has no problem being baptized by John.
Likewise, John submits his own feelings thoughts about the Messiah to the will of God.
I often think the will of God is whatever the opposite of my personal desires is.
God wills what is good for the neighbor and for others not what is good for me.
Righteousness comes from putting others ahead of ourselves and putting God above all things. What do you think?
Edwina Landry
Yes, and Jesus exemplified this righteousness.
He did not want to suffer and die on the cross, but it was necessary.
He agonized in the garden and prayed "let this cup pass from me" but only if it was God's will.
He relinquished His own desire for the will of the Father.
The concerns of others came before what Jesus wanted.
He asked us to do the same when He gave us the new commandment to love our neighbor.
This leads me to another thought.
The commandments are considered righteous (Psalm 119) - Sorry to quote the OT again! - and the pharisee in the NT thought he was being righteous by following the law.
But Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, so righteousness is not just following the law, but following Jesus who is the new commandment.
What do you think?
Edwina Landry
In looking at the text I also am struck by the phrase that "John would have prevented him..." I wonder if this means that by John or anyone of us not fulfilling our role in the ministry of Jesus, by not doing what we were sent here to do, we prevent the will of God. We are necessary, as John was, for the fulfillment of all righteousness.
It is a relationship and that is what baptism does. It brings us into that relationship. Thoughts?
Jonathan Hopkins
This is amazing a person from Gettysburg seminary and another from Philadelphia seminary agree!
It is a great point that John is necessary in this case.
John just like Jesus has to be open to the will of God as do all of us.
We have to play our part and listen for the ways that Jesus is calling us even if we don't think this is what we want.
The key for me is to maintain that relationship with Jesus and to listen to the places I am being called.
I think this is a good time to stop talking all this theological mumbo-jumbo and to talk about our lives.
Tell me a time when you found it hard to follow God so that you might fulfill righteousness?
Edwina Landry
I know there are several examples in my own life, but the most obvious one is the one I am struggling with right now and that is my time at seminary.
I felt for a long time that this was God's will, but I fought it.
How did I know it was God's will and not my own?
For one, my resistance, but more importantly, it was the people of God who saw that it was God's will and kept encouraging me to follow this path.
I did not want to go and leave my family, get rid of all the possessions I worked hard to get, face the loss of some people in my life because they did not agree.
It is incredibly hard physically and emotionally, but I am really getting to know God more deeply through this experience.
I think that is key to knowing when it is God's will because when we follow God, our relationship becomes deeper and despite moments of doubt and fear there is a peace that transcends it.
Following the will of God does not mean we always want to do what is asked of us, but we know it is necessary and in that respect it fulfills righteousness.
I think of the people every day who get up and work at jobs they don't particularly like - sometimes even hate - but they do so because they put their families first.
Or, the kids in high school who are so tempted to follow the wrong crowd and make bad decisions, but they don't and because of that may feel alone.
Sometimes people do make the wrong choices and get themselves into serious trouble and they check themselves into rehab and make the tough choices to turn their lives around.
These people are following God even if it is hard, and in doing so fulfill righteousness.
Edwina Landry
What about you?
Can you tell me of a time when you found it hard to follow the will of God so that you might fulfill righteousness?
Jonathan Hopkins
The issue of call is not just for pastors of course.
All of us need to consider God's call to us.
What is our Baptismal call?
What has God called us to do in this world for our neighbor?
I was thinking about the everyday decisions I have to make.
How hard it is to fulfill righteousness.
In particular there was this one time when my wife asked me to call my mother to ask her about when we would be having dinner.
I totally forgot about it.
When she asked me if I had called my mother my first thought was to lie and tell her I did.
As a husband I am called to tell my wife the truth.
I was going to lie because I thought it would save her from being mad at me, and save me the embarrassment of having to admit I failed her.
This is the thing about righteousness it cost us something of ourselves.
This cost me some of my honor.
The Good News is that my wife forgave me and we moved on in our relationship.
That is the key in our relationship with Jesus the more honest we make the easier it is to get back on the right track.
Here is the other problem.
The story I told did not just happen that one time.
It happened many times, and will probably happen again.
I think that living in righteousness is not so much about always doing the right thing (impossible anyway) as it is about truthfully owning up to our failures.
On a deeper level it is about recognizing our desire to protect ourselves from embarrassment, shame, or from being the best.
This is what is really so extraordinary about Jesus that he is God's only begotten Son but he lived as one of us.
He fully took on our humanity and shared in the same baptism as us.
Righteousness comes from his humility at being human.
Ours should come from that same place.
Edwina Landry
Yes, I can think of times when I was late for work due to my own poor time management and I could have easily made up an excuse because I didn't want to look bad in my boss's eyes. But I knew that telling the truth was the right thing to do and I had to accept the consequences if there were any.
There have also been moments when I have lost my temper and yelled at my children when I shouldn't have. I had to apologize and confess that I was wrong. I think it's critical to say I'm sorry when we have made a mistake and re-open the lines of communication and get the relationship back on track.
As a person who is plagued by perfectionist tendencies, it is important to value the righteousness that as you say comes from humility at being human. We cannot, as you said, be perfect, but in acknowledging our failures we are humbled and drawn closer to Jesus who makes us right with God.
I recently watched an episode of Oprah who interviewed J.K.Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books.
She went from being desperately poor to now one of the wealthiest people in the world, but she remains extremely humble.
And she remains humble by understanding and talking about the benefits of failure.
In a 2008 commencement speech at Harvard, she said "failure is a stripping away of the in-essentials" and through failure she stopped pretending she was anything more than what she was. She went on to say that "rock bottom (failure) was the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life and it is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all."
Edwina Landry
Through baptism - not just once, but a daily baptism - we acknowledge our failures and are stripped away of the in-essentials.
What is essential is the righteousness of God.
And relying on God's grace that we receive through baptism and the sacraments, we have the courage to really live life boldy and not cautiously.
We are not afraid to avoid failure, but live in the promise of the grace and forgiveness of God.
Jonathan Hopkins
Well said, even for someone who is going to that other seminary :-)
Let us go forth and live in our baptisms stripped of our in-essentials. So that we too might fulfill all righteousness.
Amen
Sermon – Jan. 9, 2011
Text: Matthew 3:13 -17
Jonathan Hopkins
What struck me about this morning's readings was the righteousness.
In the passage from Isaiah we hear that God will send a "servant" and he has been called in "Righteousness".
Jesus before being baptized tells John that they should do this so that all "righteousness" might be fulfilled.
Righteousness is a word that happens to be part of the Biblical witness and our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.
I was realizing that I never really thought about righteousness before. I have given lots of thought to justice, justification, and sanctification but not righteousness.
So my question is what does it mean to be called in righteousness, and to fulfill righteousness?
Edwina Landry
According to Webster's dictionary, righteous means to act in accord with divine or moral law; free from guilt or sin; morally right such as a justifiable or righteous decision.
Jesus is free from guilt and sin and therefore can be called righteous, but by that definition how can people be righteous when we are all sinners?
Job was considered a righteous man and he was certainly not sinless.
In the case of Job, he was righteous because he was faithful in following God.
I think righteousness therefore, has more to do with a right relationship with God and Jesus unites us with God therefore making us righteous.
Jonathan Hopkins
I can tell you are in your first year of seminary all about the Old Testament :-)
I believe you are right that it is Jesus uniting us with God that makes us righteous.
In our Baptisms we are drowned in the water and cleansed from sin and death.
Not that we will never sin again (that is a heresy. I forgot which one, but you will probably know since you are at seminary) or that we won't die.
In Jesus Christ we are given forgiveness from our sins and eternal life.
Baptism is what gives us the ability, strength, and call to go out and live righteous.
Meaning we follow the will of of God.
This of course is a slippery slope because the question becomes what is the will of God?
How do we follow it?
Help me out here.
Edwina Landry
Old Testament - ha, ha - it is important you know. :-)
As far as heresies, we have not learned about those yet.
What is the will of God?
That IS the question isn't it.
We all ask ourselves that question.
We wonder if the decisions we make are the will of God or if they are merely our own will, at least I wonder that.
I guess that is why Jesus asked us to pray The Lord's Prayer and ask for God's will to be done and not ours.
And we can study the Scriptures to see what God's will is for us.
Prayer and Scripture study are what help us determine God's will for our lives.
Edwina Landry
Or...as Pastor Jon Hopkins said in the first sermon at Concordia when faced with deciding between two choices, "it's all a crap shoot" because God is with us no matter what choice we make.
Ah, still one of my favorite sermons! :-)
Jonathan Hopkins
You should be careful who you listen to.
I hear that Pastor Jon Guy has long hair and is weird. Well, Pastor Jon Hopkins is on to something, but I think that righteousness is about doing something.
I think the texts itself gives some ideas on this matter.
Jesus is the messiah, Son of God, or whatever other great title you want to give him.
Jesus gets that title not because he rules over people with an iron fist but because he gives himself away.
Jesus is not afraid of John's ministry and therefor has no problem being baptized by John.
Likewise, John submits his own feelings thoughts about the Messiah to the will of God.
I often think the will of God is whatever the opposite of my personal desires is.
God wills what is good for the neighbor and for others not what is good for me.
Righteousness comes from putting others ahead of ourselves and putting God above all things. What do you think?
Edwina Landry
Yes, and Jesus exemplified this righteousness.
He did not want to suffer and die on the cross, but it was necessary.
He agonized in the garden and prayed "let this cup pass from me" but only if it was God's will.
He relinquished His own desire for the will of the Father.
The concerns of others came before what Jesus wanted.
He asked us to do the same when He gave us the new commandment to love our neighbor.
This leads me to another thought.
The commandments are considered righteous (Psalm 119) - Sorry to quote the OT again! - and the pharisee in the NT thought he was being righteous by following the law.
But Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, so righteousness is not just following the law, but following Jesus who is the new commandment.
What do you think?
Edwina Landry
In looking at the text I also am struck by the phrase that "John would have prevented him..." I wonder if this means that by John or anyone of us not fulfilling our role in the ministry of Jesus, by not doing what we were sent here to do, we prevent the will of God. We are necessary, as John was, for the fulfillment of all righteousness.
It is a relationship and that is what baptism does. It brings us into that relationship. Thoughts?
Jonathan Hopkins
This is amazing a person from Gettysburg seminary and another from Philadelphia seminary agree!
It is a great point that John is necessary in this case.
John just like Jesus has to be open to the will of God as do all of us.
We have to play our part and listen for the ways that Jesus is calling us even if we don't think this is what we want.
The key for me is to maintain that relationship with Jesus and to listen to the places I am being called.
I think this is a good time to stop talking all this theological mumbo-jumbo and to talk about our lives.
Tell me a time when you found it hard to follow God so that you might fulfill righteousness?
Edwina Landry
I know there are several examples in my own life, but the most obvious one is the one I am struggling with right now and that is my time at seminary.
I felt for a long time that this was God's will, but I fought it.
How did I know it was God's will and not my own?
For one, my resistance, but more importantly, it was the people of God who saw that it was God's will and kept encouraging me to follow this path.
I did not want to go and leave my family, get rid of all the possessions I worked hard to get, face the loss of some people in my life because they did not agree.
It is incredibly hard physically and emotionally, but I am really getting to know God more deeply through this experience.
I think that is key to knowing when it is God's will because when we follow God, our relationship becomes deeper and despite moments of doubt and fear there is a peace that transcends it.
Following the will of God does not mean we always want to do what is asked of us, but we know it is necessary and in that respect it fulfills righteousness.
I think of the people every day who get up and work at jobs they don't particularly like - sometimes even hate - but they do so because they put their families first.
Or, the kids in high school who are so tempted to follow the wrong crowd and make bad decisions, but they don't and because of that may feel alone.
Sometimes people do make the wrong choices and get themselves into serious trouble and they check themselves into rehab and make the tough choices to turn their lives around.
These people are following God even if it is hard, and in doing so fulfill righteousness.
Edwina Landry
What about you?
Can you tell me of a time when you found it hard to follow the will of God so that you might fulfill righteousness?
Jonathan Hopkins
The issue of call is not just for pastors of course.
All of us need to consider God's call to us.
What is our Baptismal call?
What has God called us to do in this world for our neighbor?
I was thinking about the everyday decisions I have to make.
How hard it is to fulfill righteousness.
In particular there was this one time when my wife asked me to call my mother to ask her about when we would be having dinner.
I totally forgot about it.
When she asked me if I had called my mother my first thought was to lie and tell her I did.
As a husband I am called to tell my wife the truth.
I was going to lie because I thought it would save her from being mad at me, and save me the embarrassment of having to admit I failed her.
This is the thing about righteousness it cost us something of ourselves.
This cost me some of my honor.
The Good News is that my wife forgave me and we moved on in our relationship.
That is the key in our relationship with Jesus the more honest we make the easier it is to get back on the right track.
Here is the other problem.
The story I told did not just happen that one time.
It happened many times, and will probably happen again.
I think that living in righteousness is not so much about always doing the right thing (impossible anyway) as it is about truthfully owning up to our failures.
On a deeper level it is about recognizing our desire to protect ourselves from embarrassment, shame, or from being the best.
This is what is really so extraordinary about Jesus that he is God's only begotten Son but he lived as one of us.
He fully took on our humanity and shared in the same baptism as us.
Righteousness comes from his humility at being human.
Ours should come from that same place.
Edwina Landry
Yes, I can think of times when I was late for work due to my own poor time management and I could have easily made up an excuse because I didn't want to look bad in my boss's eyes. But I knew that telling the truth was the right thing to do and I had to accept the consequences if there were any.
There have also been moments when I have lost my temper and yelled at my children when I shouldn't have. I had to apologize and confess that I was wrong. I think it's critical to say I'm sorry when we have made a mistake and re-open the lines of communication and get the relationship back on track.
As a person who is plagued by perfectionist tendencies, it is important to value the righteousness that as you say comes from humility at being human. We cannot, as you said, be perfect, but in acknowledging our failures we are humbled and drawn closer to Jesus who makes us right with God.
I recently watched an episode of Oprah who interviewed J.K.Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books.
She went from being desperately poor to now one of the wealthiest people in the world, but she remains extremely humble.
And she remains humble by understanding and talking about the benefits of failure.
In a 2008 commencement speech at Harvard, she said "failure is a stripping away of the in-essentials" and through failure she stopped pretending she was anything more than what she was. She went on to say that "rock bottom (failure) was the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life and it is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all."
Edwina Landry
Through baptism - not just once, but a daily baptism - we acknowledge our failures and are stripped away of the in-essentials.
What is essential is the righteousness of God.
And relying on God's grace that we receive through baptism and the sacraments, we have the courage to really live life boldy and not cautiously.
We are not afraid to avoid failure, but live in the promise of the grace and forgiveness of God.
Jonathan Hopkins
Well said, even for someone who is going to that other seminary :-)
Let us go forth and live in our baptisms stripped of our in-essentials. So that we too might fulfill all righteousness.
Amen
Monday, January 3, 2011
Beginnings
In the beginning....
St. John’s Gospel brings us back, all the way back, to the book of Genesis.
John’s Gospel starts by reminding us that God made all things.
In the beginning God spoke and the world came into being.
I thought this was a very appropriate theme for today, because it is a beginning of a new year.
We all like a new year because it means for us possibility, fresh starts, and the ability to right the wrongs of last year.
If we ate too much we leave that behind and we start our diet again.
If we drank too much we give ourselves the opportunity to finally practice moderation.
If we picked up some bad habits this is the year to stop and live healthier or better.
Perhaps this year we will be kinder, more forgiving.
Even more a new year is the opportunity to turn the page on bad luck.
This might be the year we meet Mr. Right, we recover from a health issue, we get a better job.
This is the beginning of something and every year at this time we feel it, or at least we say it.
This is why every year we make resolutions.
We say that we are going to do better.
I know that I made the resolution to go and exercise more at the YMCA.
Just out of curiosity how many of you made some type of New Year resolution?
This is the time to get out and do the things we wished we had done last year, or to stop the things we shouldn’t be doing.
In this time of beginnings we should remember that indeed it is God who creates all things.
At our New Year ’s Eve party some of our friends have babies just born in 2010.
My wife was saying that they had a lot to look forward to in 2011.
Like sitting up, crawling, walking, and beginning to talk.
In these little ones we see God working creating them into who they will be.
And the same should be said for our lives.
We should be on the lookout for what God is going to create in us this year.
One of the ways we describe God is that God creates things.
We should never forget that God is always creating.
God is always creating new things in our world and in all of us.
It is not that God once upon a time created the world and then stopped.
No this very year God will create a whole new things in our lives.
This is a year of new beginnings.
What I would like us to think about is what does God have in store for 2011?
What new things will God create in your life in 2011?
The prologue to John’s Gospel that we read this morning can be very helpful in seeing what God has in store for us.
God brings light from darkness, life from death, grace from ugliness, and truth from falsehood.
These are things that we can look forward to God creating in our lives in 2011.
The God who created all things in the beginning is not done creating.
That same God who spoke and made the world still speaks to us today.
In that way, all days are really about the beginning.
Today is a beginning another day and another chance to see light, life, grace, and truth in my life.
What I believe is that those things are around us all the time, and we usually miss them.
Just like the people of Jesus day missed his presence among them.
“He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.”
In the moment when Jesus was born God was beginning something and lots of people missed out.
Jesus was not good enough, not powerful enough, not splashy enough, and not at all what they wanted or expected.
We can fall into that same trap we can miss the beginning that God creates for us all the time.
We can miss the ways that God comes to us and brings light into the world.
Maybe this will be especially true in the months and weeks to come.
The celebrations are over.
The carols are done, the trees are thrown out, the sparkle and magic of Christmas is over.
I suspect that we will have a little coming down from all the good times.
We have to go back to life.
We have to deal with snow and cold weather.
We have to go back to work and business as usual.
And another year begins.
There is a beginning.
It is the beginning of the everyday, of being human, of living, of loving, of dying, of sweating, of feeling let down, and dragged out.
Into the middle of all this God comes.
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”
Jesus Christ has and is living among us, with us.
And in this we see God’s glory.
In this New Year we will see God’s glory amongst the everyday things of life.
Louisa Fletcher Tarkington once wrote, “So I wish there were some wonderful place called the Land of Beginning Again, where all our mistakes and all our heartaches and all our poor selfish grief could be dropped, like a shabby old coat at the door, and never put on again."
I think that God through Jesus Christ has given us that land of “Beginning Again”, because this year God is beginning something new and exciting in our lives.
God this year is going to show us God’s glory.
I might keep that New Year’s resolution and get more exercise this year.
I might lose the 20 pounds I gained this year.
I might be kinder, more merciful, and more compassionate.
But really none of that matters, because I have seen the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
And this year you will too.
This year believe in the possibility of God being a part of your life.
This year believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh to show you God.
This year believe that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it then you will see the Glory of God.
This past year I have been to too many funerals of people that I love and care about.
I was thinking about how I once would go to weddings and baptisms.
And these days I go to more funerals.
2011 will not be much different I suppose in that regard.
In fact, this week my mom’s uncle Al died.
I will start 2011 with a funeral.
But in each case I do not see death, but life.
I see in each case the life given to us through Jesus Christ.
This does not mean I am not sad, it means that I can see in this life God’s glory, because Jesus made God known to me.
I see through death to God’s eternal life.
Where will you see God in 2011?
What does God have in store for you?
We only know this we will see light, life, truth and grace.
We will see the glory of God this year in our lives.
May all of you have a new beginning this year.
May all of you have a very Happy New year.
Amen
St. John’s Gospel brings us back, all the way back, to the book of Genesis.
John’s Gospel starts by reminding us that God made all things.
In the beginning God spoke and the world came into being.
I thought this was a very appropriate theme for today, because it is a beginning of a new year.
We all like a new year because it means for us possibility, fresh starts, and the ability to right the wrongs of last year.
If we ate too much we leave that behind and we start our diet again.
If we drank too much we give ourselves the opportunity to finally practice moderation.
If we picked up some bad habits this is the year to stop and live healthier or better.
Perhaps this year we will be kinder, more forgiving.
Even more a new year is the opportunity to turn the page on bad luck.
This might be the year we meet Mr. Right, we recover from a health issue, we get a better job.
This is the beginning of something and every year at this time we feel it, or at least we say it.
This is why every year we make resolutions.
We say that we are going to do better.
I know that I made the resolution to go and exercise more at the YMCA.
Just out of curiosity how many of you made some type of New Year resolution?
This is the time to get out and do the things we wished we had done last year, or to stop the things we shouldn’t be doing.
In this time of beginnings we should remember that indeed it is God who creates all things.
At our New Year ’s Eve party some of our friends have babies just born in 2010.
My wife was saying that they had a lot to look forward to in 2011.
Like sitting up, crawling, walking, and beginning to talk.
In these little ones we see God working creating them into who they will be.
And the same should be said for our lives.
We should be on the lookout for what God is going to create in us this year.
One of the ways we describe God is that God creates things.
We should never forget that God is always creating.
God is always creating new things in our world and in all of us.
It is not that God once upon a time created the world and then stopped.
No this very year God will create a whole new things in our lives.
This is a year of new beginnings.
What I would like us to think about is what does God have in store for 2011?
What new things will God create in your life in 2011?
The prologue to John’s Gospel that we read this morning can be very helpful in seeing what God has in store for us.
God brings light from darkness, life from death, grace from ugliness, and truth from falsehood.
These are things that we can look forward to God creating in our lives in 2011.
The God who created all things in the beginning is not done creating.
That same God who spoke and made the world still speaks to us today.
In that way, all days are really about the beginning.
Today is a beginning another day and another chance to see light, life, grace, and truth in my life.
What I believe is that those things are around us all the time, and we usually miss them.
Just like the people of Jesus day missed his presence among them.
“He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.”
In the moment when Jesus was born God was beginning something and lots of people missed out.
Jesus was not good enough, not powerful enough, not splashy enough, and not at all what they wanted or expected.
We can fall into that same trap we can miss the beginning that God creates for us all the time.
We can miss the ways that God comes to us and brings light into the world.
Maybe this will be especially true in the months and weeks to come.
The celebrations are over.
The carols are done, the trees are thrown out, the sparkle and magic of Christmas is over.
I suspect that we will have a little coming down from all the good times.
We have to go back to life.
We have to deal with snow and cold weather.
We have to go back to work and business as usual.
And another year begins.
There is a beginning.
It is the beginning of the everyday, of being human, of living, of loving, of dying, of sweating, of feeling let down, and dragged out.
Into the middle of all this God comes.
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”
Jesus Christ has and is living among us, with us.
And in this we see God’s glory.
In this New Year we will see God’s glory amongst the everyday things of life.
Louisa Fletcher Tarkington once wrote, “So I wish there were some wonderful place called the Land of Beginning Again, where all our mistakes and all our heartaches and all our poor selfish grief could be dropped, like a shabby old coat at the door, and never put on again."
I think that God through Jesus Christ has given us that land of “Beginning Again”, because this year God is beginning something new and exciting in our lives.
God this year is going to show us God’s glory.
I might keep that New Year’s resolution and get more exercise this year.
I might lose the 20 pounds I gained this year.
I might be kinder, more merciful, and more compassionate.
But really none of that matters, because I have seen the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
And this year you will too.
This year believe in the possibility of God being a part of your life.
This year believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh to show you God.
This year believe that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it then you will see the Glory of God.
This past year I have been to too many funerals of people that I love and care about.
I was thinking about how I once would go to weddings and baptisms.
And these days I go to more funerals.
2011 will not be much different I suppose in that regard.
In fact, this week my mom’s uncle Al died.
I will start 2011 with a funeral.
But in each case I do not see death, but life.
I see in each case the life given to us through Jesus Christ.
This does not mean I am not sad, it means that I can see in this life God’s glory, because Jesus made God known to me.
I see through death to God’s eternal life.
Where will you see God in 2011?
What does God have in store for you?
We only know this we will see light, life, truth and grace.
We will see the glory of God this year in our lives.
May all of you have a new beginning this year.
May all of you have a very Happy New year.
Amen
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Jesus Is Welcome Here
Indeed Jesus is welcome here.
Welcome relief from the messages we normally receive.
Messages that tell us we are not rich enough, not good looking enough, not smart enough, and not worthy enough.
Is it not a welcomed relief to hear the message this night of the Angels, “To you this night is born a savior”?
To see the majesty of God dwelling not in palace, not in the grandeur, but in a simple teenage mother, and father.
Not in royalty or religious splendor but with shepherds.
Jesus is a welcome relief from all the things in our life that we are trying to work towards.
That is why we love this story so much, because it is simple.
It is a story about things we can easily understand.
We can understand a Mother’s love.
We can understand a Father’s care.
We can understand having to look for a place to stay but not finding it.
Perhaps Joseph forgot to make the arrangements in advance.
I know that I have done that once or twice in my day.
What we see in Jesus is hope, joy, and love.
Indeed Jesus is welcome here.
In your life this Christmas what is it that makes you worry?
What is it that makes you feel inadequate?
Into our failures, our worries, our vulnerability, our sufferings Jesus comes.
Perhaps this night you are worried about your job.
You are worried that the economy is not going to truly recover.
Perhaps someone you love is serving in the military and is overseas.
Perhaps you are worried that your plans will not work out.
Maybe you or someone you love is dealing with sickness or death.
Maybe tonight you don’t feel like you are worth anything.
Whatever is going on in your life God this night has entered in to our lives, into the history of the world.
Here in the manger wrapped in cloth is a baby the hope and light of the world.
Here in this beloved story we hear angels declare, “Glory to God in the highest”.
Indeed Jesus is welcome here.
This week I have been doing some running around filling some last minute Christmas request for people who are having a hard time.
In each case what I have been thinking about is that in the midst of these lives is Jesus.
In the midst of trouble and sin is Jesus.
In the midst of the stores were people are buying presents eagerly anticipating the joy they will bring is Jesus.
In the mother searching for the perfect gift for her children is Jesus.
I guess that Christmas is a hectic time, but it is also the time when Jesus comes into the chaos.
Not to tell us that everything is wrong, that we should think or feel different about Christmas but redefining the meaning of what we are doing.
On that first Christmas there are lots chaos and lots of things going on.
There is a census ordered by the political authorities.
There are plans to be made for traveling.
Then there is a birth.
There are shepherds hard at work in the fields.
There are Mary and Joseph with their own fears of being parents for the first time.
What makes the scene calm and bright is the glow of God.
“Peace” is the words from the angels, and we feel it not because everything is fine, but because Jesus has come into our lives.
This year I really enjoyed the work of Christmas.
I enjoyed being with my wife as we cooked and cleaned for Christmas festivities.
I enjoyed the chaos of getting our tree, putting it up, and decorating it.
I enjoyed sitting on the floor wrapping presents for the people we love.
I enjoyed taking my kids shopping so they could pick out a present for their mother.
In each of those things I saw and felt God working in the midst of them.
I am not sure it is useful to rail against the over commercialism of Christmas because it is the world that we live in.
It is a world so loved by God that he gave us his son to be our savior.
And Jesus presence in our world, in our lives is what changes everything.
It is what takes it from chaos to calm from fear to peace.
Jesus takes what is sin and makes it forgiveness.
Therefore we can embrace Christmas, all of it, instead of feeling guilty that we are not being more holy.
Because the Christmas story tells us that the holy shows up in what is thought to be unholy.
God shows up to shepherds in a manger, to a teenager mother, in a baby, to you and me.
What brings calm into our lives is not our actions not rejecting Christmas, not rejecting consumerism, but the redeeming grace of God.
Jesus is welcomed here.
Into our lives filled with busyness, with shopping, parties, and trees the savior is born.
So where has Jesus been for you this Christmas?
Where have you welcomed Jesus into your life so that he can save and redeem your life?
The theologian Meister Ekhart said, “What good is it that Mary gave birth to Christ so many years ago if we do not give birth to him today?”
In faith welcome Jesus into your life, because Jesus will bring calm and peace into your life.
What are the parts of your life that need saving?
What are the parts that need redeeming?
Jesus is welcomed here.
This week on NPR I was listening to segment where people would call in and tell stories about gifts they received.
All of the stories were heartwarming and really inspiring.
One of the callers told of when she was in second grade.
She noticed that the biggest present under the tree that year was for her.
It was from her godfather.
It was a globe and a Graham’s guide to the galaxy.
She said that her godfather “really got her”.
She still has the book and today she runs the Christa McAuliffe planetarium here in Concord.
She said it was the perfect gift.
Tonight we have been given the perfect gift.
God knows us so well that he gave all of us what we need.
Whatever it is that has been going on in your life God sent his son to save us, to give us peace.
What a perfect gift.
Jesus is welcomed here because Jesus is the perfect gift for us and our lives.
Jesus takes away the sin, guilt, fear, and worry.
And Jesus replaces it with peace calm.
With a silent night in a stable with teenage parents, and shepherds that visit.
Jesus replaces the darkness of the world with light.
As Isaiah foretold, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.”
Tonight the darkness has lifted and God has given us the perfect present, the one we all need the one that sheds light on our lives.
So tonight open your hearts, minds, and spirit and in faith welcome Jesus Christ your savior into your life.
Amen
Welcome relief from the messages we normally receive.
Messages that tell us we are not rich enough, not good looking enough, not smart enough, and not worthy enough.
Is it not a welcomed relief to hear the message this night of the Angels, “To you this night is born a savior”?
To see the majesty of God dwelling not in palace, not in the grandeur, but in a simple teenage mother, and father.
Not in royalty or religious splendor but with shepherds.
Jesus is a welcome relief from all the things in our life that we are trying to work towards.
That is why we love this story so much, because it is simple.
It is a story about things we can easily understand.
We can understand a Mother’s love.
We can understand a Father’s care.
We can understand having to look for a place to stay but not finding it.
Perhaps Joseph forgot to make the arrangements in advance.
I know that I have done that once or twice in my day.
What we see in Jesus is hope, joy, and love.
Indeed Jesus is welcome here.
In your life this Christmas what is it that makes you worry?
What is it that makes you feel inadequate?
Into our failures, our worries, our vulnerability, our sufferings Jesus comes.
Perhaps this night you are worried about your job.
You are worried that the economy is not going to truly recover.
Perhaps someone you love is serving in the military and is overseas.
Perhaps you are worried that your plans will not work out.
Maybe you or someone you love is dealing with sickness or death.
Maybe tonight you don’t feel like you are worth anything.
Whatever is going on in your life God this night has entered in to our lives, into the history of the world.
Here in the manger wrapped in cloth is a baby the hope and light of the world.
Here in this beloved story we hear angels declare, “Glory to God in the highest”.
Indeed Jesus is welcome here.
This week I have been doing some running around filling some last minute Christmas request for people who are having a hard time.
In each case what I have been thinking about is that in the midst of these lives is Jesus.
In the midst of trouble and sin is Jesus.
In the midst of the stores were people are buying presents eagerly anticipating the joy they will bring is Jesus.
In the mother searching for the perfect gift for her children is Jesus.
I guess that Christmas is a hectic time, but it is also the time when Jesus comes into the chaos.
Not to tell us that everything is wrong, that we should think or feel different about Christmas but redefining the meaning of what we are doing.
On that first Christmas there are lots chaos and lots of things going on.
There is a census ordered by the political authorities.
There are plans to be made for traveling.
Then there is a birth.
There are shepherds hard at work in the fields.
There are Mary and Joseph with their own fears of being parents for the first time.
What makes the scene calm and bright is the glow of God.
“Peace” is the words from the angels, and we feel it not because everything is fine, but because Jesus has come into our lives.
This year I really enjoyed the work of Christmas.
I enjoyed being with my wife as we cooked and cleaned for Christmas festivities.
I enjoyed the chaos of getting our tree, putting it up, and decorating it.
I enjoyed sitting on the floor wrapping presents for the people we love.
I enjoyed taking my kids shopping so they could pick out a present for their mother.
In each of those things I saw and felt God working in the midst of them.
I am not sure it is useful to rail against the over commercialism of Christmas because it is the world that we live in.
It is a world so loved by God that he gave us his son to be our savior.
And Jesus presence in our world, in our lives is what changes everything.
It is what takes it from chaos to calm from fear to peace.
Jesus takes what is sin and makes it forgiveness.
Therefore we can embrace Christmas, all of it, instead of feeling guilty that we are not being more holy.
Because the Christmas story tells us that the holy shows up in what is thought to be unholy.
God shows up to shepherds in a manger, to a teenager mother, in a baby, to you and me.
What brings calm into our lives is not our actions not rejecting Christmas, not rejecting consumerism, but the redeeming grace of God.
Jesus is welcomed here.
Into our lives filled with busyness, with shopping, parties, and trees the savior is born.
So where has Jesus been for you this Christmas?
Where have you welcomed Jesus into your life so that he can save and redeem your life?
The theologian Meister Ekhart said, “What good is it that Mary gave birth to Christ so many years ago if we do not give birth to him today?”
In faith welcome Jesus into your life, because Jesus will bring calm and peace into your life.
What are the parts of your life that need saving?
What are the parts that need redeeming?
Jesus is welcomed here.
This week on NPR I was listening to segment where people would call in and tell stories about gifts they received.
All of the stories were heartwarming and really inspiring.
One of the callers told of when she was in second grade.
She noticed that the biggest present under the tree that year was for her.
It was from her godfather.
It was a globe and a Graham’s guide to the galaxy.
She said that her godfather “really got her”.
She still has the book and today she runs the Christa McAuliffe planetarium here in Concord.
She said it was the perfect gift.
Tonight we have been given the perfect gift.
God knows us so well that he gave all of us what we need.
Whatever it is that has been going on in your life God sent his son to save us, to give us peace.
What a perfect gift.
Jesus is welcomed here because Jesus is the perfect gift for us and our lives.
Jesus takes away the sin, guilt, fear, and worry.
And Jesus replaces it with peace calm.
With a silent night in a stable with teenage parents, and shepherds that visit.
Jesus replaces the darkness of the world with light.
As Isaiah foretold, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.”
Tonight the darkness has lifted and God has given us the perfect present, the one we all need the one that sheds light on our lives.
So tonight open your hearts, minds, and spirit and in faith welcome Jesus Christ your savior into your life.
Amen
Monday, December 20, 2010
Listening to Angels
I have to start this morning by saying that I am not a huge fan of angels.
In my faith life they simply have not played a major role.
I find them a little hokey.
Kind of like those religious bumper stickers you sometimes see, “too blessed to be stressed”, “put the Christ back in Christmas” etc..
So I was struggling with how I was going to talk about angels this morning.
One thing I know for sure is that Angels do play a major role in the Biblical story.
Angels are God’s messengers, in other cases they are sent to protect, and in the case of Jesus after his temptation they are there to tend and comfort him.
So I cannot say that angels are not important for our faith.
They are important enough in the Biblical text.
This morning we see that they played a major role in the birth of Jesus.
If not for the angel then the story would have unfolded very differently.
Joseph is convinced by an angel not to divorce Mary but to take her as his wife.
We don’t think about Joseph that much in this story Mary seems to get most of the attention, but Joseph like Mary has to be open to this extraordinary thing that God is doing too or else it would not have happen.
Joseph has to accept that Mary’s story about being with child and a virgin are true.
If not then Mary will be outcast and possibly stoned to death for committing adultery.
Instead Joseph is open to the Angel’s message and follows God’s plan even though it seems rather crazy and inconceivable to him.
I guess we can be thankful that Joseph did believe in angels and did believe that God was speaking to him.
It is good for all of us to hear that God uses a variety of ways to speak to us, to get our attention so that we will follow God in our lives even when it seems inconceivable and crazy.
This past couple of weeks we sent out eleven people with $100.00 each and told them to use the money to help other people.
I can’t wait for all of you to hear all of these amazing stories of people doing such great work for God.
I have heard a couple of people tell how they used the money.
Every story is different, but one thing that connects them all is that people felt called by the spirit to do the good they did.
People felt God directing them in some way to help certain people.
I know that all of you are going to be moved by all the good that those 11 people did.
What has also been amazing is how much was done with so little.
$1,100 is not a lot of money.
Yet so many people were helped with it.
So much good was done in this world.
I was thinking this week about all the people that our congregation has helped this year.
It really is extraordinary.
The amount of good we did.
I feel blessed when people come to my office often times looking dejected and hopeless and because of all of you and your giving I get to help them.
This year I was able to give people gas for their cars, I was able to help people move into new apartments, I was able to buy some food for people, I was able to help some people out with other needs, all because our congregation is so generous with God’s money.
This doesn’t take into consideration all of the others ways we have helped the clothes we collected, the food we collected, the coats, hats, mittens, health kits, kitchen items, thermal underwear, games, and socks.
Doesn’t make you feel good to hear of all the ways that we have helped others.
Doesn’t make you feel good about being part of this faith community that doesn’t just talk about God but follows God.
I think all of this is possible because we remain open to the ways God is calling us to follow.
Maybe some of you have seen angels in your dreams telling you what to do, and how to help.
Maybe some of you get a sense of what it is God is telling you what to do.
Perhaps some of you received some sort of sign from God.
Whatever the mode of delivery we can all be sure of one thing.
God is speaking to us all the time.
God is always calling us to follow down some extraordinary path.
Just like God was calling Joseph to trust that God had a greater purpose and plan for his life.
We too must trust that what we do is for something greater than we can imagine.
The truth is that all those people whose lives we have touched individually and as a congregation we don’t know what it really meant to them.
We don’t fully know what our acts of God’s love and grace will do for them in their lives.
Something simple like giving a coat might totally change someone’s life.
Who knows what God has in store?
Here is something I absolutely believe about angels.
We can be angels in this world for one another.
We can be messengers of God’s love and grace.
We can be comforters to those in need.
We can protect others when they are at their most vulnerable.
I know that at times there have been people that have showed up at just the right time and delivered exactly what I needed.
I always believe those people to be heavenly sent.
This week on NPR I heard the story of a woman who lived in the Midwest.
During the major snow storm that they experienced she took people into her home who were stranded on the street in front of her house.
She took them in and gave them coffee, some toast, and a warm place to spend the night.
In fact, she even gave up her own bed so her guest would be comfortable.
It seems crazy in these times to let complete strangers into your house.
When she was asked about it she simply said, “It was the right thing to do. The neighborly thing to do.”
She said the thanks that she got from those she took in meant more than anything else.
Indeed she was an angel to those who were stranded.
She was God’s comforter, and helper.
We have angels in our midst all the time, all around us.
This week a great person in my life died.
His name was Ronnie Simeonson.
Ronnie was a member of Triumphant Lutheran Church in Salem New Hampshire.
This was the church my wife and I grew up going to.
Ronnie was a special person.
He was heavenly sent.
Ronnie had multiple disabilities both physical and mental.
He spent his life doing God’s work.
Every Christmas Eve Ronnie would sing “O Holy Night”.
He had perfect pitch; I have never heard that song sung so wonderfully with such feeling and heart.
My wife and I were talking about how blessed we were to know Ronnie in our lives.
He taught us so much about not judging people on the outside, but knowing their heart and their soul.
He was a great soul and to me he was sent from heaven.
I guess he was an angel.
I think we all have special people like this in our lives who teach us about God.
We all have people in our lives who help us to be more compassionate, more open to God.
There are lots of angels in our midst.
You see by the end of this sermon I totally convinced myself not to be so cynical, closed minded, and dismissive of angels.
How about you?
At the very least I hope that in this time of advent, in this time of expectations of God’s wonderful work we will be open to the ways that God is talking to us, calling us, and asking us to follow down unexpected paths of grace and mercy.
May you be visited by angels.
May you be open to God’s messages that are all around us.
Most of all may you follow God down some unexpected crazy paths.
Amen
In my faith life they simply have not played a major role.
I find them a little hokey.
Kind of like those religious bumper stickers you sometimes see, “too blessed to be stressed”, “put the Christ back in Christmas” etc..
So I was struggling with how I was going to talk about angels this morning.
One thing I know for sure is that Angels do play a major role in the Biblical story.
Angels are God’s messengers, in other cases they are sent to protect, and in the case of Jesus after his temptation they are there to tend and comfort him.
So I cannot say that angels are not important for our faith.
They are important enough in the Biblical text.
This morning we see that they played a major role in the birth of Jesus.
If not for the angel then the story would have unfolded very differently.
Joseph is convinced by an angel not to divorce Mary but to take her as his wife.
We don’t think about Joseph that much in this story Mary seems to get most of the attention, but Joseph like Mary has to be open to this extraordinary thing that God is doing too or else it would not have happen.
Joseph has to accept that Mary’s story about being with child and a virgin are true.
If not then Mary will be outcast and possibly stoned to death for committing adultery.
Instead Joseph is open to the Angel’s message and follows God’s plan even though it seems rather crazy and inconceivable to him.
I guess we can be thankful that Joseph did believe in angels and did believe that God was speaking to him.
It is good for all of us to hear that God uses a variety of ways to speak to us, to get our attention so that we will follow God in our lives even when it seems inconceivable and crazy.
This past couple of weeks we sent out eleven people with $100.00 each and told them to use the money to help other people.
I can’t wait for all of you to hear all of these amazing stories of people doing such great work for God.
I have heard a couple of people tell how they used the money.
Every story is different, but one thing that connects them all is that people felt called by the spirit to do the good they did.
People felt God directing them in some way to help certain people.
I know that all of you are going to be moved by all the good that those 11 people did.
What has also been amazing is how much was done with so little.
$1,100 is not a lot of money.
Yet so many people were helped with it.
So much good was done in this world.
I was thinking this week about all the people that our congregation has helped this year.
It really is extraordinary.
The amount of good we did.
I feel blessed when people come to my office often times looking dejected and hopeless and because of all of you and your giving I get to help them.
This year I was able to give people gas for their cars, I was able to help people move into new apartments, I was able to buy some food for people, I was able to help some people out with other needs, all because our congregation is so generous with God’s money.
This doesn’t take into consideration all of the others ways we have helped the clothes we collected, the food we collected, the coats, hats, mittens, health kits, kitchen items, thermal underwear, games, and socks.
Doesn’t make you feel good to hear of all the ways that we have helped others.
Doesn’t make you feel good about being part of this faith community that doesn’t just talk about God but follows God.
I think all of this is possible because we remain open to the ways God is calling us to follow.
Maybe some of you have seen angels in your dreams telling you what to do, and how to help.
Maybe some of you get a sense of what it is God is telling you what to do.
Perhaps some of you received some sort of sign from God.
Whatever the mode of delivery we can all be sure of one thing.
God is speaking to us all the time.
God is always calling us to follow down some extraordinary path.
Just like God was calling Joseph to trust that God had a greater purpose and plan for his life.
We too must trust that what we do is for something greater than we can imagine.
The truth is that all those people whose lives we have touched individually and as a congregation we don’t know what it really meant to them.
We don’t fully know what our acts of God’s love and grace will do for them in their lives.
Something simple like giving a coat might totally change someone’s life.
Who knows what God has in store?
Here is something I absolutely believe about angels.
We can be angels in this world for one another.
We can be messengers of God’s love and grace.
We can be comforters to those in need.
We can protect others when they are at their most vulnerable.
I know that at times there have been people that have showed up at just the right time and delivered exactly what I needed.
I always believe those people to be heavenly sent.
This week on NPR I heard the story of a woman who lived in the Midwest.
During the major snow storm that they experienced she took people into her home who were stranded on the street in front of her house.
She took them in and gave them coffee, some toast, and a warm place to spend the night.
In fact, she even gave up her own bed so her guest would be comfortable.
It seems crazy in these times to let complete strangers into your house.
When she was asked about it she simply said, “It was the right thing to do. The neighborly thing to do.”
She said the thanks that she got from those she took in meant more than anything else.
Indeed she was an angel to those who were stranded.
She was God’s comforter, and helper.
We have angels in our midst all the time, all around us.
This week a great person in my life died.
His name was Ronnie Simeonson.
Ronnie was a member of Triumphant Lutheran Church in Salem New Hampshire.
This was the church my wife and I grew up going to.
Ronnie was a special person.
He was heavenly sent.
Ronnie had multiple disabilities both physical and mental.
He spent his life doing God’s work.
Every Christmas Eve Ronnie would sing “O Holy Night”.
He had perfect pitch; I have never heard that song sung so wonderfully with such feeling and heart.
My wife and I were talking about how blessed we were to know Ronnie in our lives.
He taught us so much about not judging people on the outside, but knowing their heart and their soul.
He was a great soul and to me he was sent from heaven.
I guess he was an angel.
I think we all have special people like this in our lives who teach us about God.
We all have people in our lives who help us to be more compassionate, more open to God.
There are lots of angels in our midst.
You see by the end of this sermon I totally convinced myself not to be so cynical, closed minded, and dismissive of angels.
How about you?
At the very least I hope that in this time of advent, in this time of expectations of God’s wonderful work we will be open to the ways that God is talking to us, calling us, and asking us to follow down unexpected paths of grace and mercy.
May you be visited by angels.
May you be open to God’s messages that are all around us.
Most of all may you follow God down some unexpected crazy paths.
Amen
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tell What You Have Heard and Seen
As Christians we all share a responsibility to grow the kingdom of God.
There are other religions in the world that rely on national or familiar blood lines to continue growth.
But Christianity from its beginning has been about going out and telling the story of Jesus Christ.
Christianity has always been about spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.
It started really with the shepherds that night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.
What they heard and saw was so magnificent so awe inspiring that they left “glorifying and praising God” telling everyone what they had heard and seen.
Today the importance of telling what we know about Jesus is even more important.
No longer can we assume the culture we live in will tell the story for us.
No longer can we assume that the majority of people around us are Christian or know God in a personal way.
We have to tell what we have heard and seen.
“Go and tell John what you hear and see.”
This is the instruction that Jesus gives to John’s disciples who come and ask if Jesus is the Messiah.
And it could be Jesus instruction to us.
Have you ever been asked, “You don’t really believe all that stuff about God do you?”
I have been asked this question on more than one occasion in my life.
And the question that I want us to wrestle with this morning is what we are going to say when asked that question.
What will be your answer?
I think that there are many different ways to answer this question.
For some Christians the answer is to take a very aggressive approach.
To almost brow beat non Christians over the head with a lot of scripture about how they will go to hell.
I have experienced this many times and I have to say it makes me not want to be a Christian when I see it in action.
One time I was riding on the T in Boston with a friend of mine who happened to be Jewish.
This very nice looking young man sat next to her and said, “Do you know Jesus Christ as your savior?”
She then looked at me and said, “Jon help me.”
We switched seats and I started to talk to this young man.
I have to say it ended badly he told me that I was going to hell for not trying to convert my friend.
He got off at the next stop I told him as he left, “Well, I much rather be in hell then in heaven with you.”
At which time the other riders on the train started to clap.
Not my finest hour, but it really made me mad or sad that this is how someone was presenting the Christian life.
Hey get on board or God hates you….
I just can’t get on board with that kind of evangelism.
This kind of evangelism reminds me of the John the Baptist we read from last week’s Gospel.
John came warning people of the wrath to come if they did not repent.
He warned of being burned like the Chaff.
This was John’s expectation of what Jesus would be.
And this morning in our Gospel reading we have John wondering if Jesus is really the Messiah.
He is not acting in a way that John thought he would.
Where was the fire and brimstone, where was the condemning words, where was the militant stance against the Romans.
Instead we have Jesus wasting time with sinners, forgiving sins, preaching about blessings to the poor and outcast.
This leads me to another type of evangelism.
The type of evangelism where showing what we hear and see by what we do and who we are.
It is about living the Gospel instead of talking about it.
It is about helping the lame walk, the deaf hear, the lepers healed, and the poor.
It is about showing God’s love given in Jesus Christ through who we are as Christians.
It is not about condemning others for who they are but showing love to them.
This seems to be Jesus stance this morning.
Instead of saying, “yeah I am the Messiah look how great I am.” Jesus simply says that he is bringing the kingdom of God by doing what God would do.
And I think as Christians this is our calling.
Who do you think had a more positive impact on my Jewish friend the guy on the train condemning her to hell?
Or me the person who served with her in an inner city school in Dorchester?
Who showed her Christ through simply being himself?
All of us are called to tell what we have heard and seen in Jesus Christ.
And we have all heard and seen some miraculous things in our time as Christians.
We have seen sins forgiven.
We have seen the poor tended to.
We have seen strangers welcomed as friends.
We have heard of how our God takes us from the wilderness and makes ground springs of water flow.
We have heard how our God is one of everlasting joy and gladness.
We have seen the bereaved comforted.
Yes, those of us here can say that our God is good all the time.
We can join with the prophet Isaiah and say that we are strong and not fearful because we know that our God is here.
It is a call to share this with others.
Now there are times when words need to be used.
There are times when we have to say something about what God has done in our lives.
Perhaps us Lutherans have been too quiet about our faith.
There is that old joke: The only part of the Bible that Lutherans take literally is when Jesus ordered those who he healed to, “Go and tell no one.”
That same Jewish friend was having some difficult things happening in her life.
She asked me how my faith helped me in difficult times.
Then I needed to use words.
I had to use words to explain all the wonderful things that God had done for me.
How God had saved my life and given it purpose and direction.
How God was my constant friend and comforted as I faced difficult times.
Then I needed words.
Perhaps the message should be that at different times and different places we will use a variety of ways to express our faith.
At times we will be like Isaiah we will be the one calling for change in our world.
At times we will be like Jesus healing others, bringing hope, expressing joy, and caring for the poor.
At times we will be like shepherds praising and glorifying God for all the miraculous things God is doing in our lives.
Let us stay away from being too much like John the Baptist condemning others, passing judgment, and offering a God of small minded ultimatums.
So go and tell this day what you have heard and seen.
In this advent season when we are filled with the expectations of what God will do share your faith with others so that they may know the goodness of God.
Remember that God has done great things in our lives.
Let us go and tell what we hear and see.
The wilderness is filled with water, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, and the poor have good news brought to them.
Amen
There are other religions in the world that rely on national or familiar blood lines to continue growth.
But Christianity from its beginning has been about going out and telling the story of Jesus Christ.
Christianity has always been about spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.
It started really with the shepherds that night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.
What they heard and saw was so magnificent so awe inspiring that they left “glorifying and praising God” telling everyone what they had heard and seen.
Today the importance of telling what we know about Jesus is even more important.
No longer can we assume the culture we live in will tell the story for us.
No longer can we assume that the majority of people around us are Christian or know God in a personal way.
We have to tell what we have heard and seen.
“Go and tell John what you hear and see.”
This is the instruction that Jesus gives to John’s disciples who come and ask if Jesus is the Messiah.
And it could be Jesus instruction to us.
Have you ever been asked, “You don’t really believe all that stuff about God do you?”
I have been asked this question on more than one occasion in my life.
And the question that I want us to wrestle with this morning is what we are going to say when asked that question.
What will be your answer?
I think that there are many different ways to answer this question.
For some Christians the answer is to take a very aggressive approach.
To almost brow beat non Christians over the head with a lot of scripture about how they will go to hell.
I have experienced this many times and I have to say it makes me not want to be a Christian when I see it in action.
One time I was riding on the T in Boston with a friend of mine who happened to be Jewish.
This very nice looking young man sat next to her and said, “Do you know Jesus Christ as your savior?”
She then looked at me and said, “Jon help me.”
We switched seats and I started to talk to this young man.
I have to say it ended badly he told me that I was going to hell for not trying to convert my friend.
He got off at the next stop I told him as he left, “Well, I much rather be in hell then in heaven with you.”
At which time the other riders on the train started to clap.
Not my finest hour, but it really made me mad or sad that this is how someone was presenting the Christian life.
Hey get on board or God hates you….
I just can’t get on board with that kind of evangelism.
This kind of evangelism reminds me of the John the Baptist we read from last week’s Gospel.
John came warning people of the wrath to come if they did not repent.
He warned of being burned like the Chaff.
This was John’s expectation of what Jesus would be.
And this morning in our Gospel reading we have John wondering if Jesus is really the Messiah.
He is not acting in a way that John thought he would.
Where was the fire and brimstone, where was the condemning words, where was the militant stance against the Romans.
Instead we have Jesus wasting time with sinners, forgiving sins, preaching about blessings to the poor and outcast.
This leads me to another type of evangelism.
The type of evangelism where showing what we hear and see by what we do and who we are.
It is about living the Gospel instead of talking about it.
It is about helping the lame walk, the deaf hear, the lepers healed, and the poor.
It is about showing God’s love given in Jesus Christ through who we are as Christians.
It is not about condemning others for who they are but showing love to them.
This seems to be Jesus stance this morning.
Instead of saying, “yeah I am the Messiah look how great I am.” Jesus simply says that he is bringing the kingdom of God by doing what God would do.
And I think as Christians this is our calling.
Who do you think had a more positive impact on my Jewish friend the guy on the train condemning her to hell?
Or me the person who served with her in an inner city school in Dorchester?
Who showed her Christ through simply being himself?
All of us are called to tell what we have heard and seen in Jesus Christ.
And we have all heard and seen some miraculous things in our time as Christians.
We have seen sins forgiven.
We have seen the poor tended to.
We have seen strangers welcomed as friends.
We have heard of how our God takes us from the wilderness and makes ground springs of water flow.
We have heard how our God is one of everlasting joy and gladness.
We have seen the bereaved comforted.
Yes, those of us here can say that our God is good all the time.
We can join with the prophet Isaiah and say that we are strong and not fearful because we know that our God is here.
It is a call to share this with others.
Now there are times when words need to be used.
There are times when we have to say something about what God has done in our lives.
Perhaps us Lutherans have been too quiet about our faith.
There is that old joke: The only part of the Bible that Lutherans take literally is when Jesus ordered those who he healed to, “Go and tell no one.”
That same Jewish friend was having some difficult things happening in her life.
She asked me how my faith helped me in difficult times.
Then I needed to use words.
I had to use words to explain all the wonderful things that God had done for me.
How God had saved my life and given it purpose and direction.
How God was my constant friend and comforted as I faced difficult times.
Then I needed words.
Perhaps the message should be that at different times and different places we will use a variety of ways to express our faith.
At times we will be like Isaiah we will be the one calling for change in our world.
At times we will be like Jesus healing others, bringing hope, expressing joy, and caring for the poor.
At times we will be like shepherds praising and glorifying God for all the miraculous things God is doing in our lives.
Let us stay away from being too much like John the Baptist condemning others, passing judgment, and offering a God of small minded ultimatums.
So go and tell this day what you have heard and seen.
In this advent season when we are filled with the expectations of what God will do share your faith with others so that they may know the goodness of God.
Remember that God has done great things in our lives.
Let us go and tell what we hear and see.
The wilderness is filled with water, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, and the poor have good news brought to them.
Amen
Monday, December 6, 2010
O Little Tiny Backwater Town of Bethlehem
A couple of years ago I read an article by an atheist about why he can’t believe the accounts given in the Bible about Jesus.
In part he wrote, “So I can reason rightly that a god of all humankind would not appear in one tiny backwater of the Earth, in a backward time, revealing himself to a tiny unknown few, and then expect the billions of the rest of us to take their word for it, and not even their word, but the word of some unknown person many times removed.”
It is a good question why does Jesus appear during this time of history and in this place?
This morning I want us to think about why does Jesus appear in Bethlehem?
It is a place of no real significance in the world.
I looked up some of the history of Bethlehem and I have to say it is not pretty.
One war after another happens in Bethlehem.
It only has a population of about 30,000 people, even smaller the Concord, NH.
It was destroyed in 529 AD, then rebuilt only to be conquered by Arabs, then conquered again by the Ottoman Empire.
It was ruled by the British, then Israel, and currently by the Palestinian National Authority.
This is all to say that it is a tiny backwater part of the earth.
It is of no real significance to anyone.
Even in Jesus times it was not the greatest place to be.
Why not be born in Rome the middle of one of the greatest Empire in the history of the world?
Why not be born in Jerusalem the center of religious life the place of the temple?
Why this place?
Why Bethlehem?
What my atheist friend fails to see is that this is exactly the point.
The significance of Bethlehem is that is of no consequence.
It is a place of war, destruction, sin, humanity.
This is precisely why God has chosen such a place to come.
As we are told in Isaiah this morning “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear.”
God’s judgment is different than ours.
God chooses what is foolish, tiny, and backward to the world, and in it reveals the biggest truths.
It does not make sense that God would appear as a baby defenseless and weak.
It does not make sense that God would appear to shepherds dirty and unsophisticated?
And it certainly does not make sense that God’s Son would die on a cross.
But what is common sense to the world is not to God.
Here is the good news that if God can appear in Bethlehem in that backwater tiny town, then he can appear to us.
The God of the universe cares about our lives, our tiny backwater insignificant life.
God cares about our failures, our success, our hurts, our pains, our joys, and our weakness.
More than this God knows them first hand because Jesus experienced all of this with us, among us, as our brother, and friend.
Sure God could have shown up in some other time, place, and way.
God could have made some huge show…maybe throw some lighting down and then tell yell from the heavens… “Hey, I really love and care for all you little people down there.”
But instead God came down into all of the humanness of life, into the tiny dirty backwater places of our lives and transformed them.
In Jesus God gave us hope, love, joy, and peace not so we can escape this world but so we can learn to live more deeply into it.
I was thinking this week of a friend of mine who I lived with after college for a short time.
He and I had this conversation once about faith.
He was really struggling with believing in God.
He said it happened one day in worship when he was at the communion rail.
“I was kneeling there and I just started to think that all of this was really nonsense.”
I remember telling him that faith was about belief in what we can’t see that even though he couldn’t see it now someday he was going to need his faith again.
Not too long after this conversation his mom suffered a major stroke.
That moment changed his faith too, it helped him find again.
It is precisely for moments like that when we need to know that God is with us.
It is moments when everything falls apart that we need to know that there is a merciful, loving, just God, that God has a plan (even if we fully don’t always understand the plan), and that we are going to make it through.
It was interesting to me that he lost his faith in worship at the communion rail when the symbols and God’s message was right there.
But that he found his faith in a difficult time, he found his faith when he least expected too.
This is what Isaiah’s vision is all about.
Israel was in fear of being conquered by the Assyrian armies; Isaiah replaced that fear with a vision of God’s promised future.
Isaiah told the people of Israel that a shoot that would come from King David’s throne.
That shoot would bring righteousness, peace, and faithfulness.
That shoot would replace the fear of armies with the knowledge and understanding of God.
That we would someday see things that we did not think possible like the wolf and lamb living together.
Isaiah like all the prophets had a vision beyond the immediate crisis into what God was preparing.
And maybe that is the most miraculous thing about Jesus.
Is that it was not just a moment.
It was something that God was preparing for long before the night in Bethlehem.
When God anoints David King over a thousand years before Jesus birth God is preparing for a great glorious future.
What Isaiah prophecy 700 years before Jesus birth is pointing us to the night Bethlehem?
When the prophet Micah foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem 700 years before it happened God was preparing us for the night in Bethlehem when the angels would declare “Glory to God in the highest and peace to all whom he favors.”
God was preparing his people even then for what God was going to do.
I wonder today what God is preparing us for.
What is God’s preparing us for 700 years from today?
What is God’s preparing in your life?
Here is what Bethlehem teaches us.
That plan is not always obvious.
It is not something that we can always see with our eyes.
We need to see it with something more.
We need our hearts, minds, and ultimately with faith.
This is the ultimate lesson of advent that our lives are preparation for God’s promised future.
Jesus coming was preparing us for this day that we live today.
Jesus was preparing us to see God in those tiny backwater places of life.
To see God in the places where we don’t think God will show up but does.
God is preparing us for God’s promised future.
So be prepared when God shows up in some tiny backwater place that you never thought of or imagined you would find God.
Amen
In part he wrote, “So I can reason rightly that a god of all humankind would not appear in one tiny backwater of the Earth, in a backward time, revealing himself to a tiny unknown few, and then expect the billions of the rest of us to take their word for it, and not even their word, but the word of some unknown person many times removed.”
It is a good question why does Jesus appear during this time of history and in this place?
This morning I want us to think about why does Jesus appear in Bethlehem?
It is a place of no real significance in the world.
I looked up some of the history of Bethlehem and I have to say it is not pretty.
One war after another happens in Bethlehem.
It only has a population of about 30,000 people, even smaller the Concord, NH.
It was destroyed in 529 AD, then rebuilt only to be conquered by Arabs, then conquered again by the Ottoman Empire.
It was ruled by the British, then Israel, and currently by the Palestinian National Authority.
This is all to say that it is a tiny backwater part of the earth.
It is of no real significance to anyone.
Even in Jesus times it was not the greatest place to be.
Why not be born in Rome the middle of one of the greatest Empire in the history of the world?
Why not be born in Jerusalem the center of religious life the place of the temple?
Why this place?
Why Bethlehem?
What my atheist friend fails to see is that this is exactly the point.
The significance of Bethlehem is that is of no consequence.
It is a place of war, destruction, sin, humanity.
This is precisely why God has chosen such a place to come.
As we are told in Isaiah this morning “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear.”
God’s judgment is different than ours.
God chooses what is foolish, tiny, and backward to the world, and in it reveals the biggest truths.
It does not make sense that God would appear as a baby defenseless and weak.
It does not make sense that God would appear to shepherds dirty and unsophisticated?
And it certainly does not make sense that God’s Son would die on a cross.
But what is common sense to the world is not to God.
Here is the good news that if God can appear in Bethlehem in that backwater tiny town, then he can appear to us.
The God of the universe cares about our lives, our tiny backwater insignificant life.
God cares about our failures, our success, our hurts, our pains, our joys, and our weakness.
More than this God knows them first hand because Jesus experienced all of this with us, among us, as our brother, and friend.
Sure God could have shown up in some other time, place, and way.
God could have made some huge show…maybe throw some lighting down and then tell yell from the heavens… “Hey, I really love and care for all you little people down there.”
But instead God came down into all of the humanness of life, into the tiny dirty backwater places of our lives and transformed them.
In Jesus God gave us hope, love, joy, and peace not so we can escape this world but so we can learn to live more deeply into it.
I was thinking this week of a friend of mine who I lived with after college for a short time.
He and I had this conversation once about faith.
He was really struggling with believing in God.
He said it happened one day in worship when he was at the communion rail.
“I was kneeling there and I just started to think that all of this was really nonsense.”
I remember telling him that faith was about belief in what we can’t see that even though he couldn’t see it now someday he was going to need his faith again.
Not too long after this conversation his mom suffered a major stroke.
That moment changed his faith too, it helped him find again.
It is precisely for moments like that when we need to know that God is with us.
It is moments when everything falls apart that we need to know that there is a merciful, loving, just God, that God has a plan (even if we fully don’t always understand the plan), and that we are going to make it through.
It was interesting to me that he lost his faith in worship at the communion rail when the symbols and God’s message was right there.
But that he found his faith in a difficult time, he found his faith when he least expected too.
This is what Isaiah’s vision is all about.
Israel was in fear of being conquered by the Assyrian armies; Isaiah replaced that fear with a vision of God’s promised future.
Isaiah told the people of Israel that a shoot that would come from King David’s throne.
That shoot would bring righteousness, peace, and faithfulness.
That shoot would replace the fear of armies with the knowledge and understanding of God.
That we would someday see things that we did not think possible like the wolf and lamb living together.
Isaiah like all the prophets had a vision beyond the immediate crisis into what God was preparing.
And maybe that is the most miraculous thing about Jesus.
Is that it was not just a moment.
It was something that God was preparing for long before the night in Bethlehem.
When God anoints David King over a thousand years before Jesus birth God is preparing for a great glorious future.
What Isaiah prophecy 700 years before Jesus birth is pointing us to the night Bethlehem?
When the prophet Micah foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem 700 years before it happened God was preparing us for the night in Bethlehem when the angels would declare “Glory to God in the highest and peace to all whom he favors.”
God was preparing his people even then for what God was going to do.
I wonder today what God is preparing us for.
What is God’s preparing us for 700 years from today?
What is God’s preparing in your life?
Here is what Bethlehem teaches us.
That plan is not always obvious.
It is not something that we can always see with our eyes.
We need to see it with something more.
We need our hearts, minds, and ultimately with faith.
This is the ultimate lesson of advent that our lives are preparation for God’s promised future.
Jesus coming was preparing us for this day that we live today.
Jesus was preparing us to see God in those tiny backwater places of life.
To see God in the places where we don’t think God will show up but does.
God is preparing us for God’s promised future.
So be prepared when God shows up in some tiny backwater place that you never thought of or imagined you would find God.
Amen
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