John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
“The Energy Of The Spirit”
The Holy Spirit is about power. Power to believe; power to show mercy and kindness; power to live in hope. Power to change and be changed. It is an energizing power.
Energy: the capacity for vigorous activity.
God gives us his Spirit to be creatively alive, creatively different (sometimes disturbingly so) and creatively compassionate.
This is what is needed in our world today - revolutionary and redemptive activity!
Forging a anew humanity in Jesus name.
A humanity which erases distinctions between people.
which regards none from the human point of view, but Jesus’ point of view where forgiveness is paramount.
“To think of changing the world by changing the people in it may be an act of great faith;
to talk of changing the world without changing the people in it is an act of lunacy.”
Lord Eustace Percy
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Thursday, May 7, 2015
May 17, 2015 Seventh Sunday of Easter
John 17:6-19
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
“In But Not Of The World”
Prepositions are important little words. They hold the big words together and give them direction. i.e. “that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the face of the earth.”
We are called to be IN the world but not OF the world. This does not mean we negate the world, have no fun, know no joy. It means we have a different perspective by which we see the world. Being sanctified in the truth that God loves me, calls me, challenges me to live so that in all I say and do something of God’s love is present.
The world tells us that money is enough; God’s word tells us that money is never enough.
Only love and intimacy is enough. God’s love for us and our love which flows out of God’s love into all our being.
“Becoming a Christian is changing our power base...from money to the cross. There are two things to work on ( in our being sanctified) prayer and money. And don’t let any of us think that we are not in trouble every second.” Anonymous
We need to spend more time along with God and God’s Word. Not to be better informed; but to be better formed by God’s Word.
“Never let the limits of your understanding become the limits of your faith.”
Howard Campbell
“People Of the Word”
The story is told of a Norwegian pastor who, during the German occupation of World War II was called into the Gestapo Headquarters for interrogation. Before the Gestapo officer began he took his Luger out and placed in on the desk. Immediately the pastor pulled out his Bible and placed in beside the Luger. “Why did you do that?” the officer asked. “You put your weapon on the table, I did too!”, replied the Pastor.
The Bible is our weapon - not for evil but for good. To be sanctified in it’s truth is to live in love and compassion, not hatred and condemnation.
We are to dare risk loving rather than hating for loving is a more difficult and profound emotion. It can do what nothing else can do!
Dr. Martin Luther King in “Strength to Love” identifies what love can do:
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; loved illumines it.
“In The Word”
The Church lives in the Word of God.
“I prayed for faith, and thought that someday faith would come down and strike me like lightening. but faith did not seem to come. One day i read in the 10th Chapter of Romans: ’Now faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God!” I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.” Dwight L Moody
God speaks to us through the Bible. It is not magic; it is an encounter with a living Word.
To be in the Word is to be sanctified by the Word. We will be changed, more then we thought possible. We will also be confronted with challenges which will cause us to struggle more then we like. It is a struggle to live as a child of God in the world of men (and women).
To be in God’s Word requires discipline; I listen and obey, trusting this is the way.
The Church lives in the Word; it is it’s meat and potatoes. We are the Church. How are we eating these days???
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
“In But Not Of The World”
Prepositions are important little words. They hold the big words together and give them direction. i.e. “that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the face of the earth.”
We are called to be IN the world but not OF the world. This does not mean we negate the world, have no fun, know no joy. It means we have a different perspective by which we see the world. Being sanctified in the truth that God loves me, calls me, challenges me to live so that in all I say and do something of God’s love is present.
The world tells us that money is enough; God’s word tells us that money is never enough.
Only love and intimacy is enough. God’s love for us and our love which flows out of God’s love into all our being.
“Becoming a Christian is changing our power base...from money to the cross. There are two things to work on ( in our being sanctified) prayer and money. And don’t let any of us think that we are not in trouble every second.” Anonymous
We need to spend more time along with God and God’s Word. Not to be better informed; but to be better formed by God’s Word.
“Never let the limits of your understanding become the limits of your faith.”
Howard Campbell
“People Of the Word”
The story is told of a Norwegian pastor who, during the German occupation of World War II was called into the Gestapo Headquarters for interrogation. Before the Gestapo officer began he took his Luger out and placed in on the desk. Immediately the pastor pulled out his Bible and placed in beside the Luger. “Why did you do that?” the officer asked. “You put your weapon on the table, I did too!”, replied the Pastor.
The Bible is our weapon - not for evil but for good. To be sanctified in it’s truth is to live in love and compassion, not hatred and condemnation.
We are to dare risk loving rather than hating for loving is a more difficult and profound emotion. It can do what nothing else can do!
Dr. Martin Luther King in “Strength to Love” identifies what love can do:
Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; loved illumines it.
“In The Word”
The Church lives in the Word of God.
“I prayed for faith, and thought that someday faith would come down and strike me like lightening. but faith did not seem to come. One day i read in the 10th Chapter of Romans: ’Now faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God!” I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.” Dwight L Moody
God speaks to us through the Bible. It is not magic; it is an encounter with a living Word.
To be in the Word is to be sanctified by the Word. We will be changed, more then we thought possible. We will also be confronted with challenges which will cause us to struggle more then we like. It is a struggle to live as a child of God in the world of men (and women).
To be in God’s Word requires discipline; I listen and obey, trusting this is the way.
The Church lives in the Word; it is it’s meat and potatoes. We are the Church. How are we eating these days???
Sunday, May 3, 2015
May 10, 2015 Sixth Sunday of Easter
John 15:9-17
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
“Appointed To Love”
God is love. This is the first and the last thing we can say about God. This is the bedrock of our faith. This is enough to live on and enough to die on.
Alan Jones, “Soul Making” has a chapter titled “Love: God’s Wild Card.”
Here are a couple of quotes from that chapter.
“All I know is that love of some kind has got hold of me and will not let me go. That is why I describe myself as a believer and put up with the embarrassment of being seen in some dreadful company. And I am grateful for the many people (both friends and strangers) who don’t mind being seen with me!” p. 127
“I began to happen in a new way (my soul comes to life) when someone says, ‘Alan, sometimes you’re a mess, often your infuriating, and I love you!’ The soul cannot breath when a persons says, ‘there are some problems we have to iron out - in fact, you’re the major one - before I can tell whether I love you or not.’” p. 134
God is love. And God’s love is unconditional. It is always waiting for us to open our hearts and let it have at us. Then we also can love one another in a powerful and life giving way.
Jesus calls his disciples (and us) to be imaginative lovers.
We have been appointed to love, be it easy or hard; simple or extreme.
The four Chaplains on the Dorchester are an extreme example of love.
We may not be called upon for such an act of love, but we are called to love.
And that means to be there when we are needed and to not give up on one another.
God never stops loving us. We are appointed to love one another and never give up on love!
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
“Appointed To Love”
God is love. This is the first and the last thing we can say about God. This is the bedrock of our faith. This is enough to live on and enough to die on.
Alan Jones, “Soul Making” has a chapter titled “Love: God’s Wild Card.”
Here are a couple of quotes from that chapter.
“All I know is that love of some kind has got hold of me and will not let me go. That is why I describe myself as a believer and put up with the embarrassment of being seen in some dreadful company. And I am grateful for the many people (both friends and strangers) who don’t mind being seen with me!” p. 127
“I began to happen in a new way (my soul comes to life) when someone says, ‘Alan, sometimes you’re a mess, often your infuriating, and I love you!’ The soul cannot breath when a persons says, ‘there are some problems we have to iron out - in fact, you’re the major one - before I can tell whether I love you or not.’” p. 134
God is love. And God’s love is unconditional. It is always waiting for us to open our hearts and let it have at us. Then we also can love one another in a powerful and life giving way.
Jesus calls his disciples (and us) to be imaginative lovers.
We have been appointed to love, be it easy or hard; simple or extreme.
The four Chaplains on the Dorchester are an extreme example of love.
We may not be called upon for such an act of love, but we are called to love.
And that means to be there when we are needed and to not give up on one another.
God never stops loving us. We are appointed to love one another and never give up on love!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
May 3, 2015 Fifth Sunday of Easter
John 15:1-8
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.
“Remain In Me”
There is no doubt about it; .by our fruits we are known. Actions speak louder than words. Believing and doing always go together. For “demand is laid on us the same moment grace meets us.”
St. Francis of Assisi - “It is no use walking any where to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”
Good fruit is a natural part of being “in Christ”. When we remain in Him good things will come from our living. For the fruit of the spirit - the fruit of His love and energy - will flow through us and enrich the lives of others.
“Bear Much Fruit”
To go to church is to risk being changed - changed into Christ’s likeness so we might be more fruitful in our living. So we might bear much fruit.
Going to church will not keep bad things from happening to us. It will help make good things happen through us.
For it is there we are pruned so we can produce good fruit. Pruned to love more and hate less. Pruned to accept difference more and judge less. Pruned so we can forgive more, trust more, be generous more, be more like Christ.
We may not like it at first; it certainly will not be easy, but it is the way it is when Christ comes into our lives. We are loved much; we must love much.
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.
“Remain In Me”
There is no doubt about it; .by our fruits we are known. Actions speak louder than words. Believing and doing always go together. For “demand is laid on us the same moment grace meets us.”
St. Francis of Assisi - “It is no use walking any where to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”
Good fruit is a natural part of being “in Christ”. When we remain in Him good things will come from our living. For the fruit of the spirit - the fruit of His love and energy - will flow through us and enrich the lives of others.
“Bear Much Fruit”
To go to church is to risk being changed - changed into Christ’s likeness so we might be more fruitful in our living. So we might bear much fruit.
Going to church will not keep bad things from happening to us. It will help make good things happen through us.
For it is there we are pruned so we can produce good fruit. Pruned to love more and hate less. Pruned to accept difference more and judge less. Pruned so we can forgive more, trust more, be generous more, be more like Christ.
We may not like it at first; it certainly will not be easy, but it is the way it is when Christ comes into our lives. We are loved much; we must love much.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
April 26, 2015 Fourth Sunday of Easter
John 10:11-18
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”"
“Life In All Its Fullness”
Ernest Hemingway - “The Sun Also Rises” - nobody but bullfighters ever really live “life all the way up.” We don’t agree.
Jesus Christ tells us that life in all its fullness is His to give, and only his.
We don’t like this very much either! For is not the fullness of life attained by achieving it? No.
Life is not to be discovered in things, objects and possessions; life is discovered in all its fullness in being known and in knowing, in relationships!
Herman Wouk, author of “The Caine Mutiny” writes:
“It was my lot to reach quite young what many people
consider the dream life of America: success by my own efforts,
a stream of dollars to spend, a penthouse in New York forays to Hollywood,the companionship of pretty women all before lI was 24.
There I was in the realms of gold. But even as I lived this conventional smart existence of inner show business and dreamed the conventional dreams, IT ALL SEEMED THIN.” Sept, 21, 1959, Time Magazine
Life is relationships. It is knowing and being known. The fullness of life is discovered in the touch of others, and in the touch of the One who came that we might have life. Who calls us by name and knows us intimately, so we can be totally honest with him. When we hear his voice and follow him we discover life all the way up.
“The Abundant Life”
Jesus came to give that which every living person desires - the abundant life.
We have no argument whit this. We do have some questions about how he does this and some doubts as to what really makes up the abundant life.
He came to give us the abundant life. We want to create it for ourselves.
How do we reconcile this?
We don’t! We don’t resolve the paradoxes of life with faith.
We discover in them - in the very experiences of life which seem to destroy - the meaning of our humanity.
We discover we have feet of clay but also are creatures of our God and King.
We discover that life is political, economic and social, but it is also spiritual.
We discover that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God, and in so discovering, we also discover the abundant life in Christ.
The abundant life is a gift, offered by Christ, received by faith. It offers no pat answers to all the dangers and struggles of life. It simply yet profoundly enables me to say, with confidence and hope in the face of all that life throws at me, “The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want.”
To live the abundant life is to live knowing the Masters voice, and it is to be called by name. Then it is to follow him, as he leads out into life.
“One Flock - One Shepherd”
There is one flock because there is one Shepherd. There are many sheep and all are different. There are numerous folds in the flock, and they are different. Yet there is one flock and this flock is made up of all who hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow.
One thing is necessary within the unity which is ours in Christ and that is faithfulness to our confession that Jesus is Lord. All else is secondary.
Unity in the Church does not depend on sameness within the church, but upon oneness in Christ, in which there is room for differences.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”"
“Life In All Its Fullness”
Ernest Hemingway - “The Sun Also Rises” - nobody but bullfighters ever really live “life all the way up.” We don’t agree.
Jesus Christ tells us that life in all its fullness is His to give, and only his.
We don’t like this very much either! For is not the fullness of life attained by achieving it? No.
Life is not to be discovered in things, objects and possessions; life is discovered in all its fullness in being known and in knowing, in relationships!
Herman Wouk, author of “The Caine Mutiny” writes:
“It was my lot to reach quite young what many people
consider the dream life of America: success by my own efforts,
a stream of dollars to spend, a penthouse in New York forays to Hollywood,the companionship of pretty women all before lI was 24.
There I was in the realms of gold. But even as I lived this conventional smart existence of inner show business and dreamed the conventional dreams, IT ALL SEEMED THIN.” Sept, 21, 1959, Time Magazine
Life is relationships. It is knowing and being known. The fullness of life is discovered in the touch of others, and in the touch of the One who came that we might have life. Who calls us by name and knows us intimately, so we can be totally honest with him. When we hear his voice and follow him we discover life all the way up.
“The Abundant Life”
Jesus came to give that which every living person desires - the abundant life.
We have no argument whit this. We do have some questions about how he does this and some doubts as to what really makes up the abundant life.
He came to give us the abundant life. We want to create it for ourselves.
How do we reconcile this?
We don’t! We don’t resolve the paradoxes of life with faith.
We discover in them - in the very experiences of life which seem to destroy - the meaning of our humanity.
We discover we have feet of clay but also are creatures of our God and King.
We discover that life is political, economic and social, but it is also spiritual.
We discover that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God, and in so discovering, we also discover the abundant life in Christ.
The abundant life is a gift, offered by Christ, received by faith. It offers no pat answers to all the dangers and struggles of life. It simply yet profoundly enables me to say, with confidence and hope in the face of all that life throws at me, “The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want.”
To live the abundant life is to live knowing the Masters voice, and it is to be called by name. Then it is to follow him, as he leads out into life.
“One Flock - One Shepherd”
There is one flock because there is one Shepherd. There are many sheep and all are different. There are numerous folds in the flock, and they are different. Yet there is one flock and this flock is made up of all who hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow.
One thing is necessary within the unity which is ours in Christ and that is faithfulness to our confession that Jesus is Lord. All else is secondary.
Unity in the Church does not depend on sameness within the church, but upon oneness in Christ, in which there is room for differences.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
April 19, 2015 Third Sunday of Easter
Luke 24:36b-48
Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 41 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
“They Disbelieved For Joy”
Good news as well as bad news is hard to believe. It is too good to be true.
To disbelieve for joy is to believe that which is too good to be true. It is perhaps the most honest way to hear and respond to the Easter message.
As Eugene Kennedy, says in his book, Believing, the disciples here are
“experiencing an impulse to believe more deeply...a passionate need to believe as richly and profoundly as possible.”
For “believing cannot be activated by force or by fear.” It happens when we encounter the mystery of the resurrection. And discover a truth which is too good to not be true!
Acts 3:12-19
3:12 When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 3:14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 3:15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 3:16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
3:17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 3:18 But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord
“But God...”
The genius of the poet is that he says more then he knows.
The same is true for the Bible, and those who spoke in it.
Like Peter in today's lesson.
He begins by blaming them for Jesus crucifixion; but he doesn’t belabor it.
Blaming doesn’t help anyone! It doesn’t bring times of refreshment.
Words of a father in a TV story where a boy drowns:
“To blame ourselves is the easy way out. It was a tragic accident.
It happened. It doesn’t make any sense. And to blame ourselves for it
happening is to run away from it, and it is to keep life from ever happening
to us.”
To blame is to die; to accept the mystery of it is to be open to times of refreshing.
Peter also gives them an excuse as a way out but doesn’t stay with it.
There is no hope in making excuses. It is a cowards way of blaming.
What we need to dare say is, “I blew it...but God didn’t and God doesn’t!” God can reverse it! That brings times of refreshment.
Jesus himself stood among them. 37 But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38 And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 41 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
“They Disbelieved For Joy”
Good news as well as bad news is hard to believe. It is too good to be true.
To disbelieve for joy is to believe that which is too good to be true. It is perhaps the most honest way to hear and respond to the Easter message.
As Eugene Kennedy, says in his book, Believing, the disciples here are
“experiencing an impulse to believe more deeply...a passionate need to believe as richly and profoundly as possible.”
For “believing cannot be activated by force or by fear.” It happens when we encounter the mystery of the resurrection. And discover a truth which is too good to not be true!
Acts 3:12-19
3:12 When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk? 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him. 3:14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 3:15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 3:16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
3:17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 3:18 But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord
“But God...”
The genius of the poet is that he says more then he knows.
The same is true for the Bible, and those who spoke in it.
Like Peter in today's lesson.
He begins by blaming them for Jesus crucifixion; but he doesn’t belabor it.
Blaming doesn’t help anyone! It doesn’t bring times of refreshment.
Words of a father in a TV story where a boy drowns:
“To blame ourselves is the easy way out. It was a tragic accident.
It happened. It doesn’t make any sense. And to blame ourselves for it
happening is to run away from it, and it is to keep life from ever happening
to us.”
To blame is to die; to accept the mystery of it is to be open to times of refreshing.
Peter also gives them an excuse as a way out but doesn’t stay with it.
There is no hope in making excuses. It is a cowards way of blaming.
What we need to dare say is, “I blew it...but God didn’t and God doesn’t!” God can reverse it! That brings times of refreshment.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
April 12, 2015 2 Sunday of Easter
John 20:19-31
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
“My Lord And My God”
We don’t see God and then believe; we believe, then we see.
“For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Heb. 11:6
Thomas doubted - but he wanted to believe. This opened his eyes and heart to see and believe. He wanted to believe Jesus rose; he stuck with those who did believe. And he acted upon this desire; he saw the marks of the crucification; he confessed his faith in Jesus.
Faith does not rest on seeing alone; it rests on acting; taking the plunge and going where the mind can never fully comprehend. This is why faith is a “power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life.” P. T. Forsythe
For John, believing in God and believing in the resurrection is all tied up with loving one another. It is not something we do in isolation, something we achieve by ourselves.
It is something which happens to us when we obey his commands and do good to one another.
Faith active in love increases faith so we can see what we could not see, believe what we could not believe, and know what we could never know - even the awesome truth of the resurrection.
“Doubting Thomas”
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith.
Luther: “There is more faith in honest doubt then all the creeds of Christendom.”
Be a doubting Thomas:
It will keep you honest and open to change; open to God’s will for your life.
It will keep you humble - you will not get so easily caught in the idolatry of certainty. Faith will be a voyage of discovery, often disturbing, yet also fulfilling.
Doubt helps faith happen - it opens us to the miracle of faith happening in us.
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith!
Quotes on Doubt
Gamaliel Bailey, an American abolitionist said,
“Who never doubted, never half believed. Where doubt is, there
truth is - it is her shadow.”
Frederick Buechner puts it when he says,
“Whether your faith is that there is a God, or that there is not a God,
if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep.
Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”
Soul Making, Alan Jones says,
“In a world where there is no room for doubt, ambiguity, or questioning, there is no room for genuine faith.” (p.116)
Ellie Wiesel, who lived through the fanaticism of the Holocaust born of the blind belief in the superiority of the Arian race says, “I turn away from persons who declare that they know better than anyone else the only true road to God....My experience is that the fanatic hides from true debate...He is afraid of pluralism and diversity; he abhors learning. He knows how to speak in monologues only...The fanatic never rests and never quits; the more he conquers, the more he seeks new conquests....A fanatic has answers, not questions; certainties, not hesitations,(and ) as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expressed it, (it’s) ‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty but certainty’.”
Parade Magazine, April 19,1992
For the terrible truth we are saved from by doubt is, as Alan Jones says, “the persecuting personality (which) is marked by clarity and precision. (In which) there is no room for indecision... no room for guilt... no room for doubt. Such are the marks of a totalitarian state or totalitarian church. (It is ) the divided mind, the uneasy conscience, and the sense of personal failure (that is, our own uneasiness and doubt) which brings us... to the place of faith” where we become not blind believers but “one of God’s spies trying to make room for hope” and love in a world of hopelessness and despair. (Soulmaking,pp.117,119)
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
“My Lord And My God”
We don’t see God and then believe; we believe, then we see.
“For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Heb. 11:6
Thomas doubted - but he wanted to believe. This opened his eyes and heart to see and believe. He wanted to believe Jesus rose; he stuck with those who did believe. And he acted upon this desire; he saw the marks of the crucification; he confessed his faith in Jesus.
Faith does not rest on seeing alone; it rests on acting; taking the plunge and going where the mind can never fully comprehend. This is why faith is a “power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life.” P. T. Forsythe
For John, believing in God and believing in the resurrection is all tied up with loving one another. It is not something we do in isolation, something we achieve by ourselves.
It is something which happens to us when we obey his commands and do good to one another.
Faith active in love increases faith so we can see what we could not see, believe what we could not believe, and know what we could never know - even the awesome truth of the resurrection.
“Doubting Thomas”
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith.
Luther: “There is more faith in honest doubt then all the creeds of Christendom.”
Be a doubting Thomas:
It will keep you honest and open to change; open to God’s will for your life.
It will keep you humble - you will not get so easily caught in the idolatry of certainty. Faith will be a voyage of discovery, often disturbing, yet also fulfilling.
Doubt helps faith happen - it opens us to the miracle of faith happening in us.
Be a doubting Thomas! It is a part of healthy faith!
Quotes on Doubt
Gamaliel Bailey, an American abolitionist said,
“Who never doubted, never half believed. Where doubt is, there
truth is - it is her shadow.”
Frederick Buechner puts it when he says,
“Whether your faith is that there is a God, or that there is not a God,
if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep.
Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.”
Soul Making, Alan Jones says,
“In a world where there is no room for doubt, ambiguity, or questioning, there is no room for genuine faith.” (p.116)
Ellie Wiesel, who lived through the fanaticism of the Holocaust born of the blind belief in the superiority of the Arian race says, “I turn away from persons who declare that they know better than anyone else the only true road to God....My experience is that the fanatic hides from true debate...He is afraid of pluralism and diversity; he abhors learning. He knows how to speak in monologues only...The fanatic never rests and never quits; the more he conquers, the more he seeks new conquests....A fanatic has answers, not questions; certainties, not hesitations,(and ) as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expressed it, (it’s) ‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty but certainty’.”
Parade Magazine, April 19,1992
For the terrible truth we are saved from by doubt is, as Alan Jones says, “the persecuting personality (which) is marked by clarity and precision. (In which) there is no room for indecision... no room for guilt... no room for doubt. Such are the marks of a totalitarian state or totalitarian church. (It is ) the divided mind, the uneasy conscience, and the sense of personal failure (that is, our own uneasiness and doubt) which brings us... to the place of faith” where we become not blind believers but “one of God’s spies trying to make room for hope” and love in a world of hopelessness and despair. (Soulmaking,pp.117,119)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)