November 4, 2012 All Saints Sunday

John 11: 32-44

 32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
 35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
 Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

“The Miracle Of Faith”

Miracles were a part of Jesus ministry.  He demonstrated the power and presence of the Kingdom of God through miracles.

Which miracle is the greatest?  All are great, but the greatest is the miracle of our faith!

 “It is nothing short of a miracle when you and I believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as the One through whom we are permitted to see God in all his glory!” Anonymous

Faith is a gift of God.  It is nothing short of a miracle when mortals such as you and I accept it.

“For by grace you have been saved THROUGH FAITH; and this is not your own doing (including the faith), it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” Eph. 3:8,9

With Mary we would like to think that this gift of faith prevents bad things from happening. (“Lord if you had been here this would not have happened.")  It doesn’t!  Faith is not a preventative agent, protecting us from lives harsh realities.  Faith is a penetrating agent, permeating life in the midst of the harsh realities, causing all of life to be lifted up and turned into that which becomes a blessing.

P. T. Forsythe, “Faith is a power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life.”

This is no small thing.  This is a miracle!

“See How He Loved Him”

Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  His tears at Lazarus grave express that love.

There is nothing phony about tears, when they are expressive of deep feelings within.
Not even our beliefs can stop them; nor should they.  For tears are one of our most human expressions which allow the inner most feels to come out.

It is not a sign of weakness to cry.  It is a sign of strength, love; faith; yes, even hope!
Jesus tears show us how human he was.  He who knew God’s will and who knew that something great was soon to happen - Lazarus would walk out of that tomb! - wept out of love for his friends and for all of us who are often lost in life’s terrible blows.

Then he did what only he could do.  He gave Lazarus back to them (for a while) as a sign of his own resurrection which would give us life not for a while, but for ever!

October 28, 2012 Reformation Sunday

John 8:31-36
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

   33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

   34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

“FREE TO LOVE”

The Reformation is about change.  We don’t like change.  We even use the Bible to keep us from change.  God wants to make a new covenant with us.  We don’t want it.  We want the old covenant where we know what to expect and are more in charge.

God’s Word is an instrument of change and will, if we let it, change the way we look at things. It “is the source of all that is creative in the life of the Church.”  (Luther) It sets us free to be new and different people.
People who put love at the center of life and let nothing keep it from doing its thing.


 “FREE TO LIVE”

Jesus came that we might have live, and that abundantly.
That we might be free to live and drink deeply of this human existence, which is Gods first great  gift to us.

In Christ we are free to be ourselves.
We don’t have to be like someone else.  We don’t have to pretend we are more religious then we are. For God accepts us as we are.
“It’s okay to be me, because me is okay.”  We are free to be!

In Christ we are free to try, to fail, and to try again.  For with God there is forgiveness!
To live with Jesus is to live in forgiveness, full and free. There is no limit to Gods forgiveness.  Once forgiven, we live with grateful hearts which are more powerful then any set of rules.

How great it was to have such a forgiving God!
This is the way God is.  God’s grace is big enough for all our needs, and our goofs.
We are free to live!

October 28, 2012 22nd Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 10:46-52

46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
   So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
   51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
   The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
   52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Jesus hears the interruption of Bartimaeus calling out.  He gives to this blind beggar, whom everyone is seeing as a nuisance, the attention no one else will give him.  And he sees!  And of all the faces in that anonymous crowd, his name is the only one remembered to this day.

This story reminds us how important it is to allow interruptions in our otherwise carefully scheduled lives, for miracles of healing happen when we are open to the cries of others, even at the least opportune times.

It also reminds us of how important it is to be an interruption - when we are hurting - and dare cry out for help - God’s help available to us in human form even today.

 “The Way Of Suffering”

In the passage just preceding these words, the disciples miss what Jesus is saying to them three times.  So he gives them an object lesson.  He heals blind Bartimaeus even as they too needed their eyes opened to see him as the Suffering Servant.

It is not easy to connect suffering with the way we would have it with our God.
We want a God who puts things right and keeps things right, so bad things do not happen to good people.  We don’t want a God who is so human he suffers and we don’’t want to see anything good in suffering.

Yet God came as a suffering servant and God is present even in the silence of suffering.
The cross, and instrument of great suffering, is also a sign of great love.  A love which is greater then all the suffering possible;  a love which nothing can separate us from- a love which is eternal!

October 21, 2012 21st Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 10:35-45

5 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
 39 “We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

   41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

“To Give His Life As A Ransom For Many”

The disciples were good at missing the point.  cf Mk 8:31-33, 9:30-35; 10:32-37,41-45.

It is hard to accept suffering as necessary.  The only way to live without suffering is to not live...not touch anyone, love, hope, care, trust, get close to anyone.

Suffering belongs to the very nature of our world and our lives; it is not something we simply eliminate.  it is something we accept, grow in, and find meaning through.  It is a part of the paradox of life.

Suffering is holy ground. We don’t go looking for it, but we are to let it become redemptive when it comes to us.  It is an integral part of the good that happens in our lives.  It brings out the best in people, it draws us together, it enriches life, it even causes us to discover a deep thankfulness.  It enables us to discover the most enduring love.  And when we discover this we have discovered something of the love of God in Christ, who suffered that we might be saved.


“Not to Be Served But To Serve”

James and John asked Jesus to be given the favorite spots in the Kingdom.  They wanted to know what they were going to get before they gave too much of themselves.
They wanted to be promised a special spot in the Kingdom before then served long and hard, and suffered much.

But God shows no partiality.  God has no favorites.
Grace does not make us favorites with God.  It equips us to be servants of God.

To be great in the Kingdom is to be a servant.
To be first is to be last.
To really live is to lose oneself in life in serving Jesus Christ.
Don’t ask what you can get, but what you can give.

Being a servant is more in step with Jesus then being a mighty one.
Servant means lowly in our world.  In God’s Kingdom it is the highest office one can hold.
A servant is one who “finds grace to help in time of need.” Heb. 4:16b

Greatness, honor, deep meaning and fulfillment in life comes, in Jesus terms, 
”...not in self-seeking, but in solidarity....not in accruing status, but in benefiting others,,,not in hoarding, but in giving...not in ruling, but in serving.”

Mother Teresa:  “Humble as you are, it must be an extraordinary thing to be a vehicle of God’s grace in the world.  But it is His work.  I think God wants to show His greatness by using nothingness.”

October 14, 2012 20th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 10:17-31
 17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’[a]”
 20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
 22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
 24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is[b] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”


“The Impossible Possibility”

What is going on in this story is a battle of the wills, not just the pocketbook.  A confrontation with addiction and a call to surrender.  It is your story and mine!

The question is sincere for the man is sincere.  But he wanted to be in control.  He wanted to do it his way.  “Just tell me and I’ll do it!” might well be a correct paraphrase of his dialogue with Jesus.

Jesus loved him.  What follows comes out of love not judgment.  He enters the man’s life at the one place where he does not want God to be, the one place he does not want to surrender.

This is always where God seeks entrance into our lives.  For until we surrender where we least want to surrender, we are still in control and doing it our way.  We are still seeking to be saved by good works rather than grace.  We have to reach the place where we know we can do nothing, then God can do everything.

By grace we are saved, not works!  Let go and let God!

“Be Godly, Not Just Good”

We try hard to be good; when we are called to be godly.  We set our sights on the good life; when we are called to live the godly life.  We work hard at being moral, upright citizens; yet our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.

What ever that means - to find our rest in God - it is more then being good, moral, or even religious.  It means to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”  All things!

A lot of badness results when we measure our godliness by our goodness.  To stand with the Rich Young Ruler is to stand in the presence of our own hypocrisy and start being honest with the goodness which keeps us from being godly.

Jesus words to him (and us) were (are) spoken out of love, not anger.  There was so much in him that was good; yet so much that missed the mark in his life.

We are called to be godly not just good.  What ever that means it does mean not only dreaming the impossible dream but also daring to believe the impossible gift of grace is ours.  Then it is to dare try make a difference in the world we live in , knowing as we do so, in the words of Reinhold Niebuhr:

“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.  Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;l therefore we must be saved by faith.  Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone;l therefore we are saved by love.  No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint.  Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.”

With God all  is possible!

October 7, 2012 19th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 10:2-16
2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied.
4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
 5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.
] 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’[c] So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

“Let’s Talk About Marriage”

In dealing with the sticky question of marriage and divorce Jesus goes back to the original intent of marriage as recorded in Gen., 2, before the fall into sin of Gen. 3, and reminds us that it all started out good.  God created all and it was good.

The question  of the Pharisees probably was loaded. (Most questions of the self-righteous are!)  An attempt to trap this liberal in his own words.
But Jesus traps them.  They wanted to talk about rights and advantages as under the law,
Jesus reminds them of the responsibilities which follow on those rights and advantages.
They wanted to talk about divorce, Jesus confronts them with the real issue - marriage.

Marriage is a holy estate ordained by God and to be held in honor by all.
It is hard work.  It takes effort, skill, and even training.
It gives energy to life, for as Dr. Eugene Kennedy says, it is to “give life to each other.”

The real question is not, “Is divorce lawful?”
The real question is, “Is marriage life giving?”

Catholic priest:  “:There is one thing worse then divorce; and that is a loveless marriage.”

“Like A Child”
 
To be child like is to be open, willing, receptive.
A child like faith knows a dependable confidence and assurance in the midst of life’s insecurities.  It dares to ask questions and live with a certain creative mystery in the presence of a loving God.  It trusts where there is no other way and rests in the love which is beyond human understanding.

It usually isn’t difficult for a child to accept a gift - it is a natural response, often with joy.  The child doesn’t think about deserving the gift; the child just accepts the gift.

The Kingdom of God is ours as a gift - all we have to do is accept it.
Faith is accepting the gift of God’s Kingdom, openly, freely, confidently, joyfully.

A child also has a great capacity to trust.  When we trust we believe the offer of a gift, and  accept the gift without thought to why or how or why me?  The gift doesn’t depend on me.  It is freely given out of love; like a child I can accept  it, in love.