September 23, 2012 17h Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 9:30-37

   30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
   33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” 36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
 “Be The Servant Of All”

It isn’t always easy to be a servant of God.  It wasn’t for Jeremiah, the disciples, nor those to whom James wrote.  It didn’t come naturally for them nor does it for us.  It is almost contrary to our basic nature - self-preservation; taking care of #1.

It is easier to condemn and judge than to serve.
We never know enough about God to pronounce judgment on another person.
Our task as servants is to work and pray for forgiveness, understanding, reconciliation, peace.  And to learn to appreciate differentness.

To be a servant is to place oneself last and not worry about what I am going to get out of it.
It is to be like Jesus who “did not regard equality with God something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.”  (Phil. 2:6,7)

“Celebrity Or Servant”
 
“Two centuries ago when a great man appeared, people looked for God’s purpose in him; today we look for his press agent.”

“We can make a celebrity, but we can never make a hero.”

“We loose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but who are famous because they are great.”

The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity by his image or trademark.
The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media.  The hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name.”

“A celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness.  He is the human psedo-event.”
Quotes from Daniel Boorstien’ “IMAGE”, pp. 45-76
Chapter “From Hero to Celebrity: the Human Pseudo-Event”

We all have a desire hidden within us to be a celebrity.  We would like to do our thing in a big way.  Yet it is as a servant that we have been called, to do our thing in a small way, often unnoticed but by God, and maybe those who are on the receiving end of our serving.

We are called to be servants and to get lost in doing good, without keeping score.  


September 16, 2012 16th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 8:27-38

 ^{27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.}

^{31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.3 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”}

 ^{34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”}

“What Do We Have In Mind?”  

Peter blew it as soon as he made it.  He didn’t have in mind the things of God.

His vision fell short of what God intended when he sent his Son to call us to live in His Kingdom.

What do we have in mind when we go to church?

To be comforted or disturbed?

sedated or shaken?

assured or challenged?

Are we open to what God wants for us or just what we want?

Church is no place to come if we don’t want to be changed - in our thinking, attitudes, believing, understanding, accepting, and our living so that we are more Christ like - more compassionate, forgiving, loving, and instep with the One we call Lord.

For the truth of the matter is, there is no crown without a cross; no faith without works; no having life without loosing life in something bigger than ourselves.  We are to die to self - take up the Cross - and let Christ live through us!  This is a great risk.  It is also a great blessing.

Jesus calls us to a life of servitude not self satisfaction; sacrifice not comfort.

Happiness comes as we serve and even sacrifice.

Life is not found in consumption; it is found in denying oneself, taking up the cross and following Jesus.

A good example: Mother Teresa

“...the man of heaven must suffer many things.”

Suffer.  This is the word Peter stumbled over and we do to.  Yet it is at the heart of life, of Christ’s mission in our world, and even at the heart of God’s love.  Remember Phil 1:6-8.

To be on the side of God in this world is to suffer.  To follow Jesus is to come to terms with suffering, to take it up, to enter into it, to not deny it.

Suffering is not OF God; it breaks God’s heart.   It is overcome by God so even it becomes a blessing.  Overcome by the power of love.

Power cannot eliminate suffering; love can and does!

William Sloane Coffin... “The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, ‘It is the will of God.’  Never do we know enough to say that.  My own consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex die; that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God’s heart was the first of all our hearts to brake.”

“And, finally I know that when Alex beat me to the grave, the finish line was not Boston Harbor in the middle of the night.  If a lamp went out, it was because, for him at lest, the Dawn had come.  So I shall - so let us all - seek consolation in that love which never dies and find peace in the dazzling grace that always is.”

September 9 2012 15th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 7:31-37

 31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis] 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

   33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

   36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

“The Power To Open”  

Life is full of interesting and exciting possibilities.  We have to be motivated or inspired to seek them.  Our spiritual lives also need to be opened to all the possibilities God has in store for us.  

Faith opens our hearts and minds to the love of God at work for  and in us.

Faith in Jesus Christ opens our senses to the deep stimuli of life.  We see what we could never otherwise see; hear what we could never hear; speak what we never dared utter.

Jesus words of forgiveness and love open us up to all the possibilities of life.

Faith is giving God permission to have at us.

“Be Open”  

They couldn’t keep quiet about it; but they didn’t say all there was to say about it.

They missed the most important point - that these miracles, as with all miracles, means that salvation has come to our earth!  God has come to dwell with us in human from, in the man Jesus to heal ALL our infirmities, not just of the body but of the spirit as well!

There is a healing and a wholeness which is deeper then the physical.  He has come that all might be saved (be made whole from within) and come to the knowledge of the truth.

To be so saved is to be open to God’s love moving in our lives and through our lives into our world.  It  is to be able to smile, no matter what, and to be a beautiful, healing person for others.  Physical handicaps cannot keep a ‘whole person’ down.  They simply radiate joy and love, and bring healing into living.  This is Christ in us, the love of God making us whole!

Sept. 2, 2012 14th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

¹ The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus ² and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

   ⁵ So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

   ⁶ He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
⁷ They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’

   ⁸ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”¹⁴ Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵ Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” ²¹ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³ All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

 “Living From the Heart”

Words can be cheap and deceiving.  We often sound different then we are inside.  This is what makes communication so difficult and hypocrisy so easy, for all of us!

No one sets out to be a hypocrite.  We too easily become one when we let our greed, jealousy, pride, folly keep us from being congruent from the inside out.

When our hearts are right with God, our words and deeds are going to be right for others.  Such is the Kingdom of God in our midst.

Hypocrisy is anything in our lives which is not right for others, but only for us, no matter how we try to cover up what is in our hearts by words and pious platitudes.  

This is not pleasing to God, nor is it of the Kingdom of God.

“A Call For Deep Things”

 “The most apparent meaning of this (text) could be summarized as a criticism of surface things and a call for deep things.” (Source unknown)

Religion is not meant to be something we play at; it is not meant to be superficial, mechanical, ritualistic. It is meant to be something which comes from the heart - a heart touched by the love and grace of God.

Observing the traditions of the elders is not what is important.  Living as one who has been touched by the love of God is.

This means we need to see the spiritual quality of everything we do and I mean everything!

God is in the business of changing us and deepening us.  Opening us up and making us real. To be truly religious is to let God have my heart.  When God has my heart, God is going to change things and rearrange my priorities and cause me to do things I otherwise would never do.

A man once said to Mother Teresa,“I wouldn’t do what you do for a million dollars.”   To which she replied, “Neither would I. But I will for the love of God!”

To worship is to open our hearts to change from the inside out.  It is to be challenged to be sensitized over and over again as to what it is God really desires - justice rolling down like waters and human kind truly loving one another, seeking to understand, accept differences, and live in peace.

August 26, 2012 13th Sunday After Pentecost

John 6:59-69

59 He (Jesus) said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.  60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?  62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[a] and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.  67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
“Too Offensive To Be Believed”

The story in John 6 gets worse before it gets better.  It is not always soft words which help us break through the animation of our lives and become real.  Sometimes it takes hard words, offensive words, strong words to break the crust which keeps us pretending we are who we are not.

Jesus did not let them nor does he let us off the hook with just sweet words.  He pushes us to the wall and makes us face the games we play with ourselves and with God, for therein lies life.

We pretend so hard.  We pretend we are good, righteous, religious, pious.  Only God is good and only God’s love can make us good.  Really good!

We do have to let go and let God!  It is the only way to life abundant!
For we live by grace and grace is a gift of God’s love; undeserved by any and all, lest even the best of us should boast.

“Will You Also Go Away?”

Jesus Christ was an offensive person.  He had a way of getting under peoples skin and either turning them on or off...mostly off.

“Many of his followers turned back and would not go with him any more.”  Jn. 6:66

“Even though he had done all these mighty works before their very eyes they did not believe in him.”  Jn. 12:37

He ate with tax collectors and sinners.
He healed on the sabbath.
He refused to condemn a woman caught in the act of adultery.
He claimed to be the son of God.

Jesus Christ was an offensive person.  For he came to create change in our lives;  changing us from living for ourselves to living for others - living a life of the Spirit, a life full of compassion that produces a harvest of good deeds; “without a trace of partiality or  hypocrisy...” as James says. (3:17)

This is no easy task!  Especially if we are religious!
Jesus was not religious enough for those who left him.
Life is change, yet we often don’t want it.  We even fight against it.  We want to keep our prejudices and self-serving attitudes, rather then be led into places where love is at the heart of it all.  Faith in Jesus Christ is trusting Him and following, no matter how much we have to change to do so.

Will we also go away?

August 19 2012 12th Sunday After Pentecost

John 6:51-58

⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

   ⁵² Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

   ⁵³ Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

This is a troublesome text.  As one theologian said of it - 

“The language in this text is raw and probably ought to shock our sensibilities.”  

Because of these words more then one person has accused the church of advocating cannibalism.  And nothing could be further from the truth!

What ever we do with these words, we dare not take them literal - for then we will miss the point of what Jesus is saying - as is often the case when the Bible is take literally.  We end up with a distorted, disconnected message which leads to distorted and disconnected living.

Perhaps this is why Karl Barth said, ”I love the Bible too much to take it literal.”

These words have to be taken in context and they have to be understood in  a deeper way - a way which goes beyond our rational capacity to understand and grasps mystery.

So what is it Jesus is trying to say to us today?

Robert Kyser, a Biblical scholar of today makes a good point as to what Jesus might be getting at here. in his book, “Preaching John”.  He suggests that Jesus is telling the hearers that they literally need to take Jesus into themselves, make him “part of their essence”

“No arm’s-length relationship here, no safe distance between us.  As (those) who long for the abundant life, we have no other way to such a life except by taking Jesus in, having him become so intermingled with our own being that we cannot separate one from the other. “  Adele Resmer, Proc. B,’06,p.179

Then, in the words of the great preacher of the past, P.T. Forsythe, faith will become “a power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life” - our lives.

We will no longer be able to live indifferent to callings of the spirit to place faith, hope, and love at the center of our living and let nothing take its place.

August 12, 2012 11th Sunday After Pentecost

August 12, 2012 11th Sunday After Pentecost

John 6:35, 41-51

35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst...

 41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." 42 They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43 Jesus answered them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

“The Offense Of The Incarnation  

Jesus was too human for the people of his day.  He was Joseph’s son who lived in their midst.  He was too human, too real, too common for them to believe he was God’s son.

We want God to be something other then human.  We are not inclined to see God in the common.  We don’t think of God being  “ in, under, and with”  everyday activities.

We want God to be a miracle worker who does things in unnatural ways.  

Who takes care of the tough stuff so we don’t have to deal with it.

This is a subtle form of idolatry.  

One writer called it “the offense of the Incarnation.”

We believe Jesus was spiritual; we struggle with him being human.  The truth is, as a friend often said, ”To be spiritual is to be human; to be human is to be spiritual.”  The most spiritual things we can do are also the most human.  We dare not be afraid to be human for that is the essence of what it means to eat of the Bread of Life - it is to be humanly open, honest, compassionate, intimate.

God became so human we can’t separate God from that which is human.  Every time we touch intimately, lovingly, compassionately in the midst of the pain and joy of being human, God is there with life giving bread to impart eternal life.  This is a miracle beyond all miracles!