July 3, 2011 3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Matthew 11:28-30

  16 “To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

   17 “‘We played the pipe for you, 

   and you did not dance; 

we sang a dirge, 

   and you did not mourn.’

   18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

   27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

   28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

“Playing or Celebrating?”  

Is this what Jesus is saying?

We are like children playing at religion.  As is said of those in our text they were  “playing at religion...with all their seeming earnestness in reality they are triflers.  They are also fickle, fastidious, given to peevish fault finding, easily offended.  They are hard to please...equally dissatisfied with John and with Jesus; satisfied with nothing but their own artificial formalism.  They are always so sure and so ready to judge.”

They were all hung up on nonessentials.  Jesus wants us to feel with those who hurt, have fun with those who are joyful, experience and share forgiveness as the essence of life - not judgment and condemnation. 

 I hear Jesus saying, “I want you to celebrate life in all its dimensions and possibilities.  Don’t get all hung up on nonessentials - don’t play at it - celebrate it!”

 “My Yoke Is Easy”

Catchy slogans are not necessarily true - just catchy.

These words of Jesus sound like a catchy slogan - but their not.

Like the slogan - “He ain’t heavy Father, he’s my brother.”  they remind us that the yoke which is easy and the burden which is light is so NOT because little is demanded, but because much is first given.

The yoke of Jesus is the commitment to love; it is the call to be kind, loving, good, merciful,

just as we have received mercy.  Bearing one another's burdens in love is light!  No matter how heavy it gets!  To do this we first have to know we are loved.  For only the loved can so love.  

God first loves us; then God demands much from us.  And the much is easy, for it is given in love.  This is the yoke which is easy and the burden which is light.

“A Time To Dance”

“In the world to come, each of us will be called to account for all the good things God put on earth which we refused to enjoy.”  Talmud

Dancing, joy and celebration go together - in ancient religion as well as in our lives.  It is a way to express joy - something we have difficulty doing.

The purpose of religion is not to take fun out of life but to put fun into life - celebration!

Work for justice and dance for joy!

June 26, 2011 2nd Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 10:(34-39) 40-42

 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn

   “‘a man against his father, 

   a daughter against her mother, 

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 

   36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

   37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

   40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

 (When this sermon was preached the text began with verse 34.  These words of Jesus are important for this message so I add them here.)

“Blessed Into Change”

Jesus didn’t come just to bless us into complacency, compliance, contentment; 

He came to bless us into change.  Change which can be disruptive, disturbing, difficult, even destructive on the outside, as it seeks to make more real what is on the inside.

Destructive that is of those systems which are not life giving, just, fair, sensitive, compassionate.  Which are not doing good for the least as well as for the most.

The bottom line with Jesus is always - what is this doing to the helpless.  

“A true prophet is rarely so cocksure of himself and his interpretation of God’s will that he is spared those wrenching moments before God in which he questions his own calling. doubts the veracity of his message and even hopes that he is wrong. “

God does novel and wonderful things and loves to pull surprises on his people, so we can laugh together at our making mountains out of mole hills and cry together at how often we miss the point of it all and become who God wants us to be - not who we want to be.  Then something of God’s Kingdom does come on earth as it is in heaven.

Then hospitality is truly experienced and shared.

Then a cup of cold water has eternal meaning.

June 19, 2011 The Holy Trinity

June 19, 2011  The Holy Trinity

Matthew 28:16-20

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 “Commissioned As Servants”

With these words we are called to accept a way of life which runs contrary to our way of thinking.  We are called to believe something we can’t help doubting.  We are called to live as if someone has died for us so we can no longer do it our way no matter how much we would like to live as if we were the only ones who counted.  We are called to dare believe that servant hood is the essence of discipleship..

We simply cannot go through life acting as if nothing has happened for us which changes dramatically how we live and move and have our being.  The Cross and Open Tomb stand as constant reminders of the sacrifice paid and the call made which forever changes the way we live.  We are servants not masters!  

“:You were brought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”  I Cor 6:20

“A Great Mystery”  

Without mystery life looses something deep and beautiful.

Without mystery God becomes something less then God.

The Trinity is a mystery.  After all is said and done to help us know God, 

the mystery still remains.

On Holy Trinity Sunday we celebrate that mystery even as we worship God the Father, creator of all things; God the Son, Redeemer of all humankind, and God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of all who believe.  (And maybe even those who don’t.)

“Great indeed”, we confess, “is the mystery of our religion.”  I Tim 3:16

June 12, 2011 Day of Pentecost

John 20:19-23

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.”

“Empowered to Forgive”

“Love implies forgiveness.  It is hard for us to realize, but actually the only requirement the loving Father places on us, once we come to know Him...is that we forgive as we have been forgiven.”  “The Other Side of Silence”, Morton Kelsey, p. 68

Forgiveness is a gift of God’s spirit.  It is central to ALL that Jesus said and did.

It is central to what the Church is ALL about.  It is a powerful, renewing, uplifting, hope filling, smile producing, releasing gift which in no way is meant to control or dominate the lives of others.  It is meant to set one free to really live, with new choices and chances,  and renewed vigor.  We are to work at being forgiving until forgiveness works!

It can also be a powerful, loving thing to not forgive - to retain someone in their sins - when the grace of forgiveness will only be used to continue irresponsible and even evil action.

There are times to be tough, unforgiving, to practice tough love, which is love which wants to forgive but can’t - yet!

The goal of not forgiving is not to not be forgiving.  The goal of not forgiving is to help the process get to the placed where we can forgive.  For that is what love always wants to do, and must be ready to do.  For we have been forgiven much!

These words are not permission to give up on forgiveness.  They are a stern reminder

that without forgiveness there is no tomorrow!  Our call is to work at giving away the gift of forgiveness as much and as often as we can, so that no one in our reach needs remain “fastened in their sins”, needs live without the life giving gift of forgiveness

June 5, 2011 Seventh Sunday of Easter

John 17: 1-11

   1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

   “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

    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.

May 7, 1978 “Living In Love ”

 “The petition that this community of believes be kept in God’s name is in effect a petition that love be the sign and seal of their common life.  Just as love marks the unity of the Father with his Son, and of the Son with his followers, so love shall mark the unity of God’s people and provide the power for their mission.”  From Proclamation

Living in love is the mark of unity - not sameness.

In the church we have had difficulty with differtness.

Our unity lies not in our sameness but in our love which transcends, embraces, encourages, applauds differtness!

To encourage differtness is healthy.

Love encourages differtness and is the power needed to live in unity with differtness.

There is only ONE holy, apostolic, catholic Church.  Only one!

Yet, the Church has never been ONE.  There have always been differences, disagreements and dissension within the body of believers.

“If Puritans had been, in part, driven by the haunting fear that someone, somewhere might be happy, Lutherans (have) been driven in part by the fear that someone, somewhere else might be right.”  The Cresset, May 1984, p.10

These words of our text are beyond our doing; but not beyond God’s doing!

Our task is not to create the oneness, the unity; our task is to discover it, affirm it, and share it with one another.

The irony is, unity can be discovered in places of division, even places of tension.

There is room for differtness in our oneness and sometimes it takes tension to discover it.

The unity of the Church is deeper then our differtness; the oneness is a great mystery born of God’s love at work ink our hearts and lives.

“Now They Know”

Jesus Christ came to make God’ knowable’; so we might know the one true God.

No one is prevented from knowing God by God.  God does not predestine anyone to blindness and disbelief.

Knowing begins with trust; trusting the person who has the word; trusting Jesus Christ.

Then knowing becomes a matter of obeying; acting on his word.

To know is to trust; to trust is to act, to act is to discover - now we know!

“And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings ( and we can add the joys) which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.”             

                                  Albert Schweitzer, “The Search For The Historical Jesus”

May 29, 2011 Sixth Sunday of Easter

John 14:15-21

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

 “Love...As Struggle Together” 

“Love is, as much as it is anything, a struggle together that is always seeded with new possibilities and challenges...even in old age.”    Eugene Kennedy

Jesus is talking about such a struggle in our text for today.

He is not talking about a comfortable system for getting into heaven. 

He is talking about the struggle inherent in loving one’s neighbor as one’s self!

Jesus can be very demanding.  To know of his amazing grace is also to learn of his demanding love.  For once we are loved and know lit, we have to love so others know it.

To say that God loves me is to say something not only life giving, but also something life demanding.  This means we are to be about the task of healing where ever it is needed.

As Sam Keen says, “The task of the lover is to be an agent of healing.“ 

This is the struggle to be human in the image of Jesus. 

This is the bottom line with Jesus: to love God and live it by showing love to others.

This is no extra curricular activity we are called to do. This is the heart of it all.   

We have been loved with a great love!  We are to love with a great love!

“Unlike The World”   

“The disciplesare utterly unlike the world.  (They) live under a different command, are given a different spirit, serve a different God, and engage in a different love.  (this) community-defininlg command...is new and unexpected....the command is an invitation to live a different life together, unlike the sways of the world. The practice of love makes the church staggeringly unlike the world.”    Walter Brueggemann 

We are called to be different.  Not perfect, not sanctimonious, not judgmental, but different!  Different because of the role love plays in our lives and relationships.

 “All gestures of love however small they be in favor of the poor and the unwanted, are important to Jesus.”  Mother Teresa: 

“We can do no great things; only small things with great love.”  Mother Teresa: 

 “Let them say, ‘He tried to love somebody.’”   Martin Luther King:

We are called to be different in how we love.  This is the all consuming task of following Jesus.

May 22, 2011  Fifth Sunday of Easter

John 14:1-14

11 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Even with words we have heard many times, we must listen for what we have never heard before.  And with words we know we must listen for the unknown.

The words of John 14, which we often use to make out an exclusive defense for Christianity, were spoken in a powerfully intimate moment.  They are not meant to be used as a smug statement of egotistical arrogance, but  a expression of the extent of God’s love.  

It is through His love that all people come to the Father.  He who ate with tax collectors and sinners and forgave those no one else would forgive opens the door to God’s love for everyone - those who believe and those who don’t!

We are not called to save people; this is God’s task.  We are called to love people, as God has loved us. This is the greater work we are to do - trust in and live out the  way of love over hate, the truth of forgiveness over condemnation, and the life of faith which dares

keep compassion at the center of life.

An important emphasis of this text is that what it promises has already come to us.  We don’t have to live wondering how we are going to get there; we can live doing his work. And dare we say it, even doing greater things then he did because He is in all we do and makes more of it then we ever could alone.  

Greater works then Jesus - more accepting, more forgiving, compassionate, understanding, open to new possibilities then we would ever be left  to ourselves.