Sermon 07.25.10
The Persistence of Prayer
Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background of the church office.
One minister, a Methodist, shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship.
The second minister, an Episcopalian, suggested that real prayer was properly conducted on your knees as a form of grateful humility before God.
The third minister, a Baptist, suggested that the other members of the clergy were both wrong; the only position worth its salt was to pray stretched out flat on your face, prostate before the Holy One.
By this time, the phone man , couldn’t stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, “I found the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground.”
The subject of the sermon this morning is prayer, if you haven’t already guessed it, and there is no one means, or place, that is the most effective for this act of worship. I’ve prayed with children who have lost their pet gerbils, in the middle of the grocery store when I can’t find fried onion rings, and even one particular time on a roller coaster in Orlando.
Jesus begins the text by praying. This is not uncommon in Luke’s gospel; in fact there are a little less than 60 mentions of prayers or praying in this gospel. Jesus often models the behaviors that he wanted the disciples to follow, and in this case they finally have the nerve to ask him in verse 1, “Lord, teach us to pray.” I’ll bet you that some of us are still asking that same question some 2000 years later.
The response that Jesus gives them is the Lord’s prayer. In Luke, it is short, almost terse and straight to the point. He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."
Notice that Luke does not include “thy will be done” and deliver us from evil, nor the ending doxology. Maybe that occurred in lesson #2. The disciples could only absorb so much or any given day and what he taught them was the basics. He says, “Recognize the holiness of the Lord and pray for the realm of the kingdom on earth. Provide us with spiritual nourishment, forgive and be forgiven, and keep us from wicked and evil ways.” It couldn’t get much simpler than that. Maybe God has given us a complete package, saying that the “thees” and “thous” aren’t the most important part of prayer.
More importantly, Jesus emphasizes that you must be persistent in prayer. We can pray as long as we want because God is persistent with us. We don’t lose heart in our attempts to pray and to serve, because God doesn’t give up on us. God brandishes us with a love that is eternal, not transitory. Even if we have been praying for a situation for a long time and seen no results, that doesn’t mean that God is ignoring you. Keep praying. It isn’t over until God says it’s over.
The passage from Colossians also explores the faithfulness of God, beginning with the first two verses: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.”
Paul exhorts the Colossians to stand firm in their prayer life, having their basis in Jesus Christ. Jesus embodied the persistent love of God. Jesus exemplified and identified the God who would not let us go, the God who kept coming back for us. Our faithful life of prayer to God in Christ Jesus responses to this lasting relationship.
The Lucan gospel message also brings this to light when Jesus says to ask, seek and knock – to be unrelenting in our prayer life. We must bring our petitions to God, listen for God’s response and keep on ringing the spiritual door bell over and over again. It is Paul’s voice from Romans that we also recall in 1st Thessalonians 5:17. Pray without ceasing. Now that’s what I call persistent!
A man named William Carey found his determination in the Word of God. When asked about his accomplishments in translation of the Bible during his missionary stay in India, he said, “I am not a genius, just a plodder.” But what constant devotion to his work. In 40 years of labor, he translated all or portions of the Bible into the 34 of the languages and dialects on India.
Jesus uses the example of a man who keeps pestering his neighbor with requests until the neighbor finally relents. So too it is with God. constantly, we bring our prayers of concern and petition, our prayers of gratitude, our prayers for reconciliation of relations and our prayers of praise. In case you have never heard this, the acronym for the types of prayer is ACTS – adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication.
Ask, seek and knock and the door will be opened unto you. We are assured by Paul that God answers prayers by opening the door to us through direct communication. It has been said, in the words of modern technology, that prayer is the ultimate wireless connection, or that Jesus has unlimited incoming calls. People who are persistent in prayer keep on calling until someone answers the phone (or e-mail), whatever the case may be. We should be constant in our relationship through disciplined prayer.
Whether at home during private devotions, or when we have our time of sharing on Sunday morning, God hears our constant calls, our determined voices, our continual needs.
As you leave the sanctuary today, remember the promise of Jesus that the door will be opened by him if we seek, ask and knock. Pray faithfully, pray without ceasing, and pray with persistence. May Jesus Christ, who taught us the perfect prayer, make it so also for us. Amen
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Being a Messy Mary
Whenever this text comes up in the lectionary readings, it almost begs for a few more verses. There should be a big old catfight between the sisters, food left burning in the oven and Jesus storming out the door dragging each woman by her hair.
It’s story that provokes all of the Martha’s in the world, all of the neat, organized and orderly people who have their spices alphabetically placed in the cabinet.
It’s a story that placates all of the Mary’s in the world, the ones who would rather be with the host of the party instead of in the kitchen preparing for it.
It’s the story of workers and shirkers, where no one seems to be truly satisfied.
The duty of a first-century Jewish woman is to help with household chores, and Mary knows this. By sitting at the feet of Jesus, she is acting like a man ... taking the place of an apostle! In this parable, Jesus allows Mary, a woman, to claim the same role that his disciples claim for themselves. She’s violating a crystal-clear social boundary, bringing shame upon her house, and neglecting her own family member! It makes me want to say, “Mary, Mary, what are you thinking?”
In the meantime, Martha is tugging at Jesus’ sleeve and his ear. The house is a mess, there’s a dinner to be cooked, and she needs assistance from her sibling. Martha’s protest is justifiable, but the gospel writer casts it in a negative light by characterizing Martha as distracted by her work.
We know how the story ends, with Martha asking Jesus to put Mary in her place. “Tell her to help me,” says Martha, assuming that Jesus will want their house to be in order. But Jesus answers her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:40-42).
The surprising final score is Mary 1, Martha 0.
Martha and Mary, forever bound together in a message about propriety. The Felix and Oscar - the Odd Couple in the Bible.
Now, as enlightened 21st-century socially correct Christians, we might want to give Mary a thumbs-up for her come-from-behind victory, but the fact of the matter is that we tend to honor Martha in our day-to-day lives. We have a deep desire to be neat and tidy and organized, and we feel badly that our desks are overflowing with papers, our closets crammed full of clothes, and our garages and basements packed with tools, toys, sports equipment and boxes of who-knows-what.
According to The New York Times (December 21, 2006), sales of home-organizing products keep going up and up, from $5.9 billion in 2005 to a projected $7.6 billion in 2009. That’s a lot of accordion files and label-makers and plastic tubs. The industry that makes closet organizing systems pulls in $3 billion a year, according to Closets magazine.
However, The New York Times reports that a new movement is afoot, one that calls you to embrace your disorder and “say yes to mess.” Recent studies are revealing that
• messy desks are the marks of people with creative minds and higher salaries;
• messy closet owners are probably better parents than their tidier counterparts;
• really neat people are often humorless and inflexible, and not as great as they look.
No wonder we get confused when we read this parable. We must pay attention to Jesus when he honors Mary for listening instead of laboring. And we need to accept the fact that a perfectly organized life is not all that it’s cracked up to be.
The power of Mary is that she has her priorities straight. Neatnik Martha fusses around in the kitchen, “distracted by her many tasks” (v. 40), while Messy Mary leaves her stuff in a pile and plops down at the feet of Jesus. She’s showing that she loves the Lord her God with all her heart, all her soul, all her strength, and all her mind (v. 27) — she’s demonstrating her love of God by focusing intensely on his word as it is coming to her through Jesus.
Martha, on the other hand, is distracted by her work, and unable to hear the word of God. Biblical scholar Alan Culpepper reminds us that Jesus told a story, just two chapters earlier in the gospel of Luke, about what happens when a seed — representing the word of God — falls among thorns. In that case, the fruit of the seed cannot mature, because the thorny people are preoccupied with “the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (8:14).
In Eugene H. Peterson’s The Message, Jesus says: “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it — it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”
Perhaps Peterson’s words “main course” for “better part” (NRSV) can help this well-worn story be heard in fresh ways. Members of the congregation never likes hearing this text preached because they always comes away with the sense that it’s never possible to get things right. If, like Martha, we work hard, we will be labeled “overfunctioning.” If, like Mary, we sit and listens too long, nothing gets done. I would like to have heard a final remark from Martha after Jesus tells her that Mary’s choice is more important: “So says you, but I know better. Listen, if I sat around on my salvation the way she does, who’d keep this house together?
As for Mary, she “has chosen the better part,” says Jesus, “which will not be taken away from her” (10:42). Mary knows that a person “does not live by bread alone” (4:4). Like the disciples, she leaves everything to follow Jesus (5:11). Like the good soil in the parable of the seed, she hears the word, holds it fast in an honest and good heart, and bears fruit with patient endurance (8:15).
Earlier in Luke, Jesus spoke of the sower and the seed as the word of God falling on the earth. In one case it fell among thorns, …those who do not receive it because they are preoccupied by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. Martha’s distraction places her in this category, even though she is fulfilling the role assigned to her by society, she allows secondary matters to distract her from hearing the word of God.
Jesus’ response to Martha is the climax of the scene. The repetition of her name, “Martha, Martha” conveys a mild rebuke or lament. Like demons, her own cares about fulfilling her duties have thrown her life into disorder. Like thorns, they have prevented her from attending to Jesus’ teachings.
Her life of order has been thrown into disorder. We have done the same things, time and again, to keep ourselves in the kitchen, chained to the refrigerator.
We tell ourselves that we can’t possibly do bible study because we don’t know enough about the bible to even turn to the right book. We tell ourselves that we can’t pray, because we’re afraid we won’t use the correct words. We tell ourselves that we can’t volunteer at church because we don’t understand what the committee does.
We fret and fuss and fume and keep everything under control, rather than lose ourselves to a life of unorganized faithfulness. What Jesus really said to Martha was “Don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s ALL small stuff compared to the word of the Lord.”
Like the thorns that tormented Martha, let us not be held fast to the kitchen, but leave the dishes in the sink and settle into prayer. Let the vacuum be still and listen for the whispers of the Holy Spirit. Leave the leftovers out for a while and immerse yourself in prayer. Put the mop down and pick up a Bible.
The kitchen will always be there as a temptation for us. If you can’t stand the heat, then get out and cool down. Feast on the main course, forget your distractions and all things shall be well. Amen.
It’s story that provokes all of the Martha’s in the world, all of the neat, organized and orderly people who have their spices alphabetically placed in the cabinet.
It’s a story that placates all of the Mary’s in the world, the ones who would rather be with the host of the party instead of in the kitchen preparing for it.
It’s the story of workers and shirkers, where no one seems to be truly satisfied.
The duty of a first-century Jewish woman is to help with household chores, and Mary knows this. By sitting at the feet of Jesus, she is acting like a man ... taking the place of an apostle! In this parable, Jesus allows Mary, a woman, to claim the same role that his disciples claim for themselves. She’s violating a crystal-clear social boundary, bringing shame upon her house, and neglecting her own family member! It makes me want to say, “Mary, Mary, what are you thinking?”
In the meantime, Martha is tugging at Jesus’ sleeve and his ear. The house is a mess, there’s a dinner to be cooked, and she needs assistance from her sibling. Martha’s protest is justifiable, but the gospel writer casts it in a negative light by characterizing Martha as distracted by her work.
We know how the story ends, with Martha asking Jesus to put Mary in her place. “Tell her to help me,” says Martha, assuming that Jesus will want their house to be in order. But Jesus answers her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:40-42).
The surprising final score is Mary 1, Martha 0.
Martha and Mary, forever bound together in a message about propriety. The Felix and Oscar - the Odd Couple in the Bible.
Now, as enlightened 21st-century socially correct Christians, we might want to give Mary a thumbs-up for her come-from-behind victory, but the fact of the matter is that we tend to honor Martha in our day-to-day lives. We have a deep desire to be neat and tidy and organized, and we feel badly that our desks are overflowing with papers, our closets crammed full of clothes, and our garages and basements packed with tools, toys, sports equipment and boxes of who-knows-what.
According to The New York Times (December 21, 2006), sales of home-organizing products keep going up and up, from $5.9 billion in 2005 to a projected $7.6 billion in 2009. That’s a lot of accordion files and label-makers and plastic tubs. The industry that makes closet organizing systems pulls in $3 billion a year, according to Closets magazine.
However, The New York Times reports that a new movement is afoot, one that calls you to embrace your disorder and “say yes to mess.” Recent studies are revealing that
• messy desks are the marks of people with creative minds and higher salaries;
• messy closet owners are probably better parents than their tidier counterparts;
• really neat people are often humorless and inflexible, and not as great as they look.
No wonder we get confused when we read this parable. We must pay attention to Jesus when he honors Mary for listening instead of laboring. And we need to accept the fact that a perfectly organized life is not all that it’s cracked up to be.
The power of Mary is that she has her priorities straight. Neatnik Martha fusses around in the kitchen, “distracted by her many tasks” (v. 40), while Messy Mary leaves her stuff in a pile and plops down at the feet of Jesus. She’s showing that she loves the Lord her God with all her heart, all her soul, all her strength, and all her mind (v. 27) — she’s demonstrating her love of God by focusing intensely on his word as it is coming to her through Jesus.
Martha, on the other hand, is distracted by her work, and unable to hear the word of God. Biblical scholar Alan Culpepper reminds us that Jesus told a story, just two chapters earlier in the gospel of Luke, about what happens when a seed — representing the word of God — falls among thorns. In that case, the fruit of the seed cannot mature, because the thorny people are preoccupied with “the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (8:14).
In Eugene H. Peterson’s The Message, Jesus says: “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it — it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”
Perhaps Peterson’s words “main course” for “better part” (NRSV) can help this well-worn story be heard in fresh ways. Members of the congregation never likes hearing this text preached because they always comes away with the sense that it’s never possible to get things right. If, like Martha, we work hard, we will be labeled “overfunctioning.” If, like Mary, we sit and listens too long, nothing gets done. I would like to have heard a final remark from Martha after Jesus tells her that Mary’s choice is more important: “So says you, but I know better. Listen, if I sat around on my salvation the way she does, who’d keep this house together?
As for Mary, she “has chosen the better part,” says Jesus, “which will not be taken away from her” (10:42). Mary knows that a person “does not live by bread alone” (4:4). Like the disciples, she leaves everything to follow Jesus (5:11). Like the good soil in the parable of the seed, she hears the word, holds it fast in an honest and good heart, and bears fruit with patient endurance (8:15).
Earlier in Luke, Jesus spoke of the sower and the seed as the word of God falling on the earth. In one case it fell among thorns, …those who do not receive it because they are preoccupied by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. Martha’s distraction places her in this category, even though she is fulfilling the role assigned to her by society, she allows secondary matters to distract her from hearing the word of God.
Jesus’ response to Martha is the climax of the scene. The repetition of her name, “Martha, Martha” conveys a mild rebuke or lament. Like demons, her own cares about fulfilling her duties have thrown her life into disorder. Like thorns, they have prevented her from attending to Jesus’ teachings.
Her life of order has been thrown into disorder. We have done the same things, time and again, to keep ourselves in the kitchen, chained to the refrigerator.
We tell ourselves that we can’t possibly do bible study because we don’t know enough about the bible to even turn to the right book. We tell ourselves that we can’t pray, because we’re afraid we won’t use the correct words. We tell ourselves that we can’t volunteer at church because we don’t understand what the committee does.
We fret and fuss and fume and keep everything under control, rather than lose ourselves to a life of unorganized faithfulness. What Jesus really said to Martha was “Don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s ALL small stuff compared to the word of the Lord.”
Like the thorns that tormented Martha, let us not be held fast to the kitchen, but leave the dishes in the sink and settle into prayer. Let the vacuum be still and listen for the whispers of the Holy Spirit. Leave the leftovers out for a while and immerse yourself in prayer. Put the mop down and pick up a Bible.
The kitchen will always be there as a temptation for us. If you can’t stand the heat, then get out and cool down. Feast on the main course, forget your distractions and all things shall be well. Amen.
Parables from the Back Side
Sermon 07.11.10
Parables from the Back Side
The words “Good Samaritan” have come into common usage, even among unchurched folks. We understand the phrase to mean a person who is good hearted and goes out of his or her way to help others.
Usually, when a sermon is preached on this subject, the focus is on the Good Samaritan himself, or possibly the priest and Levite who pass the man who is dying before their very eyes. And there’s very little that I could bring to the table on such a familiar subject.
But one way of looking at this parable is from the back side, as J. Ellsworth Kalas has done. He is a Methodist minister who has made a habit looking at the time-tested Bible stories, but adding his own little twist.
So let us look at this well-know text from the back side of the parable. A young upstart lawyer asks Jesus about the commandments, and receives Christ’s answer about love of God and neighbor. He agrees with the correctness of Jesus’ replay but he’s looking for a way out.
Perhaps, like many of us, he wanted the law to be cut down to manageable size, and he knew that the key to doing so would be the limiting of the definition of “neighbor”. We can love some people without too much effort, so it would be convenient if the commandment were to apply only to such persons.
Jesus then tells the memorable story of two folks who pass by the man, only to rescued a Samaritan.
But what about the victim, the man who was robbed, beaten and left to die? What story is there in a man who came to within an inch of loosing his life, only to be saved by a Samaritan?
We need to remember that we’re talking about someone who had NEVER associated with a Samaritan, not even in passing encounters. Perhaps he had not even spoken to one. Furthermore, he hoped that it would always remain that way.
But now, in his deepest moment of need, it is a Samaritan who cleans his wounds, who dresses them with a balm, who murmurs reassurances to him on the way to an innkeeper, and who makes final arrangements for his continued care. A Samaritan. A hated Samaritan has show mercy and compassion,
How do you think the victim felt about this? That’s easy, you say – he was just glad to be alive. Not necessarily. There are times when I have done pastoral counseling when I have suggested that the person being counseled see help from a particular source, have maybe suggested that the person needs to discuss his or her problem with an employee or family member, only to have that person say to me, “I’d rather die, before I go to so-and-so.”
So how do you think that this Jewish victim felt when he realized that he was getting all of this help from a hated Samaritan? I wonder if he whispered to God, “Thanks for the help, Yahweh, but why couldn’t you have sent someone else, so I wouldn’t feel so bad about my rescuer?”
Kala tells the story of running out of gas in one of the most despicable parts of the city he was living in. When car finally coasted in on fumes, he found himself in front of the storefront of a strip club. Two men were standing outside, the bouncers. Kalas explained the problem and asked where the nearest gas station was. Instead of giving directions, one of the men suggested that he siphon some gas out of his car into Kalas’ vehicle, which they did. Kalas tried to pay them, but they refused, saying they were heading out for a late breakfast and just happened to be there, and that it was no big deal. Kalas even volunteered to buy the men their breakfast, but they refused and moved forward to a restaurant around the corner.
After getting his care back on the road, Kalas reflected on what had happened – he had been rescued by bouncers from a strip club who cheerfully helped him and then went on their way. The self-righteous man of the cloth, the minister, had been assisted by seedy characters who exhibited a sense of duty and obligation, despite the circumstances.
Kalas searched for a way to explain his delay to his wife. He said that it would have been much easier to tell her that he’d been aided by someone from the Rotary Club, or a person who was a board member of the United Way, or even an ordinary blue-collar worker of any reputable profession. But it was hard to tell the truth: he was home because of folks with shady characters in a scandalous environment, He had been helped by people he would normally never associate with, talk to or meet. He had been helped by truly Good Samaritans.
The Good Samaritan is so often bad news to our preferences and prejudices. And surely as I’m standing here, I can tell you that someday, you will be helped by a person that you do not expect to come to your aide. God will allow that person to come into your life in a strange but helpful way.
You and I will travel the route of the man who was left beaten and robbed along the roads of our own lives because of the way that our salvation has come to us. The road from our Jericho to Jerusalem is just as perilous, the journey that we make from life to death. From time to time, thieves will appear and attack us. Thieves such as despair, unrelenting loneliness, unreasoning fear, lust, anger, crushing defeat. We face our enemies on a daily basis sometimes, leaving us broken and bleeding by the roadside.
Travelers may come to our aid, but their help is only temporary. They offer momentary solace, but no tried and true solution to our problems. Then a final stranger arrives, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are sometimes angry to see him arrive. We are embarrassed by this Good Samaritan. We try to pay our way out of the situation, to keep our dignity intact. But Jesus answers, “No one can give purchase what I offer, and it is freely given.”
The Eternal Samaritan gives to us only when our need is desperate, only when we confess that we are helpless and require salvation, and when we recognize love in action.
The Good Samaritan binds our wounds, tends to our care, and places us on a donkey called grace. Let us be carried with ease and confidence to God’s safe lodging with gentle kindness.
Parables from the Back Side
The words “Good Samaritan” have come into common usage, even among unchurched folks. We understand the phrase to mean a person who is good hearted and goes out of his or her way to help others.
Usually, when a sermon is preached on this subject, the focus is on the Good Samaritan himself, or possibly the priest and Levite who pass the man who is dying before their very eyes. And there’s very little that I could bring to the table on such a familiar subject.
But one way of looking at this parable is from the back side, as J. Ellsworth Kalas has done. He is a Methodist minister who has made a habit looking at the time-tested Bible stories, but adding his own little twist.
So let us look at this well-know text from the back side of the parable. A young upstart lawyer asks Jesus about the commandments, and receives Christ’s answer about love of God and neighbor. He agrees with the correctness of Jesus’ replay but he’s looking for a way out.
Perhaps, like many of us, he wanted the law to be cut down to manageable size, and he knew that the key to doing so would be the limiting of the definition of “neighbor”. We can love some people without too much effort, so it would be convenient if the commandment were to apply only to such persons.
Jesus then tells the memorable story of two folks who pass by the man, only to rescued a Samaritan.
But what about the victim, the man who was robbed, beaten and left to die? What story is there in a man who came to within an inch of loosing his life, only to be saved by a Samaritan?
We need to remember that we’re talking about someone who had NEVER associated with a Samaritan, not even in passing encounters. Perhaps he had not even spoken to one. Furthermore, he hoped that it would always remain that way.
But now, in his deepest moment of need, it is a Samaritan who cleans his wounds, who dresses them with a balm, who murmurs reassurances to him on the way to an innkeeper, and who makes final arrangements for his continued care. A Samaritan. A hated Samaritan has show mercy and compassion,
How do you think the victim felt about this? That’s easy, you say – he was just glad to be alive. Not necessarily. There are times when I have done pastoral counseling when I have suggested that the person being counseled see help from a particular source, have maybe suggested that the person needs to discuss his or her problem with an employee or family member, only to have that person say to me, “I’d rather die, before I go to so-and-so.”
So how do you think that this Jewish victim felt when he realized that he was getting all of this help from a hated Samaritan? I wonder if he whispered to God, “Thanks for the help, Yahweh, but why couldn’t you have sent someone else, so I wouldn’t feel so bad about my rescuer?”
Kala tells the story of running out of gas in one of the most despicable parts of the city he was living in. When car finally coasted in on fumes, he found himself in front of the storefront of a strip club. Two men were standing outside, the bouncers. Kalas explained the problem and asked where the nearest gas station was. Instead of giving directions, one of the men suggested that he siphon some gas out of his car into Kalas’ vehicle, which they did. Kalas tried to pay them, but they refused, saying they were heading out for a late breakfast and just happened to be there, and that it was no big deal. Kalas even volunteered to buy the men their breakfast, but they refused and moved forward to a restaurant around the corner.
After getting his care back on the road, Kalas reflected on what had happened – he had been rescued by bouncers from a strip club who cheerfully helped him and then went on their way. The self-righteous man of the cloth, the minister, had been assisted by seedy characters who exhibited a sense of duty and obligation, despite the circumstances.
Kalas searched for a way to explain his delay to his wife. He said that it would have been much easier to tell her that he’d been aided by someone from the Rotary Club, or a person who was a board member of the United Way, or even an ordinary blue-collar worker of any reputable profession. But it was hard to tell the truth: he was home because of folks with shady characters in a scandalous environment, He had been helped by people he would normally never associate with, talk to or meet. He had been helped by truly Good Samaritans.
The Good Samaritan is so often bad news to our preferences and prejudices. And surely as I’m standing here, I can tell you that someday, you will be helped by a person that you do not expect to come to your aide. God will allow that person to come into your life in a strange but helpful way.
You and I will travel the route of the man who was left beaten and robbed along the roads of our own lives because of the way that our salvation has come to us. The road from our Jericho to Jerusalem is just as perilous, the journey that we make from life to death. From time to time, thieves will appear and attack us. Thieves such as despair, unrelenting loneliness, unreasoning fear, lust, anger, crushing defeat. We face our enemies on a daily basis sometimes, leaving us broken and bleeding by the roadside.
Travelers may come to our aid, but their help is only temporary. They offer momentary solace, but no tried and true solution to our problems. Then a final stranger arrives, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are sometimes angry to see him arrive. We are embarrassed by this Good Samaritan. We try to pay our way out of the situation, to keep our dignity intact. But Jesus answers, “No one can give purchase what I offer, and it is freely given.”
The Eternal Samaritan gives to us only when our need is desperate, only when we confess that we are helpless and require salvation, and when we recognize love in action.
The Good Samaritan binds our wounds, tends to our care, and places us on a donkey called grace. Let us be carried with ease and confidence to God’s safe lodging with gentle kindness.
Freedom of Worship
January 15th, 1791 was a big date for religion, for it is on this day that the first amendment to the United States constitution was ratified. Now I know that 4th of July is the holiday that we are celebration, and that our basis for this celebration is the remembrance of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But we truly do not achieve a sense of the history of religious tolerance and freedom until fifteen years later. Here is the actual text of the first amendment to the United States constitution.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion.[1] Freedom of religion is considered by many people and nations to be a fundamental human right.[2] Thomas Jefferson said (1807) "among the inestimable of our blessings, also, is that ...of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; ..."[3] In a country with a state religion, freedom of religion is generally considered to mean that the government permits religious practices of other sects besides the state religion, and does not persecute believers in other faiths.
Now here is your history lesson:
The modern legal concept of religious freedom as the union of freedom of belief and freedom of worship with the absence of any state-sponsored religion, originated in the United States of America[citation needed].
Most of the early colonies, which were in part founded as a result of religious persecution, were generallly not tolerant of dissident forms of worship with Maryland being the only exception. For example, Roger Williams found it necessary to found a new colony in Rhode Island to escape persecution in the theocratically dominated colony of Massachusetts.
Freedom of religion was first applied as a principle of government in the founding of the colony of Maryland, founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore, in 1634.[18] Fifteen years later (1649) the Maryland Toleration Act, drafted by Lord Baltimore, provided: "No person or persons...shall from henceforth be any ways troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof." Doesn’t this make you proud to be part of this great state?
Thomas Jefferson, proclaimed:
"[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
And now, with this little bit of background, here is your sermon. It would appear that we have 3 distinct venues of freedom of religion that most of us take for granted: the freedom to worship in any place, the freedom to worship with any body of believers, and the freedom to express our beliefs without fear of being persecuted.
The first freedom allows us to meet in the open, in any type of church, and I use this word very loosely. It can be a cathedral, like St John the Divine in New York city, or a modust suburban 1940’s church with an education wing, like St. Mark’s, a preaching barn like the many large fundamentalist contemporary congregations use, a simple storefront location or even a network of house churches, like the UCC has started in Delaware.
The church that my husband and I helped to start in North Caroline first met in a business office then in a roller rink, and finally in a warehouse. There are as many venues as we need and we do not need to travel to these places incognito. The churches can advertise in the yellow pages, put up billboards and erect signs in the front yard. Nothing needs to be done in secret.
Years ago, the earliest of Christ’s followers met in secret. Some of you may be familiar with the Christian symbol of the fish or icthyus. When two people would meet, one would draw a half circle in the dirt on the street. If the other person completed the circle, then both knew it was safe and both knew they were Christians.
The second religious freedom is to worship however we choose. We can be Baptists, Methodist, Episcopalians, Grrek Orthodox or the United Church of Christ. We can choose our beliefs and our creeds, and if we don’t like the church we attend, we can turn around and go to another. Worldwide there are – now hold onto your seats, there are an astonishing 38,000 denominations. Surely with such an extensive variety, there’s a denomination for everyone.
One of my old pastors told this wonderful story about a church that was in the process of building a new sanctuary. It was a dream come true after a period of an intense capital campaign to raise funds. But two weeks before the new building was to be dedicated and opened for the first service, half the congregation left and went down to the church around the corner. Why? They wanted to sod for the lawn around the new church building and disagreed vehemently with those who wanted to lay down grass seeds.
Sometimes it’s not a matter of doctrine or creeds or even the personality of the pastor. Here, in the US, we can choose our congregations base on any religious criteria that we think is important, even the color of the carpet..
The third religious freedom we enjoy is the right to publically express our faith. We can place statues of Saint Francis in our gardens, put “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper stickers on the back of our cars, hang crosses around our necks or wear a tee-shirt that declare the passage from John 3:16. There’s probably someone out there who has the face of Christ tattooed on his or her arm. Go to any Christian store today and you will find accessories galore, from the pens that were given out to the men on Father’s Day to religious candy called Testamints.
This is not true for other countries. When my seminary class traveled to Turkey and Lebanon in 2006, we were told by the professors that no religious jewelry or clothing were to be worn, since the country is 98% Muslim, with the state religion being Islam.
Lastly, albeit sadly, we have the ultimate. According to ex-president Bill Clinton:“We have the most religious freedom of any country in the world, including the freedom not to believe.” Even that is important, because it means that we cannot force our religious on anyone. And now we have come full circle to the reasons that America was founded as a land of freedom from religious persecution.
We have come a long way since 1776, and are blessed beyond belief by the religious freedoms that we enjoy.
May we always remember what has been truly given to us.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion.[1] Freedom of religion is considered by many people and nations to be a fundamental human right.[2] Thomas Jefferson said (1807) "among the inestimable of our blessings, also, is that ...of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; ..."[3] In a country with a state religion, freedom of religion is generally considered to mean that the government permits religious practices of other sects besides the state religion, and does not persecute believers in other faiths.
Now here is your history lesson:
The modern legal concept of religious freedom as the union of freedom of belief and freedom of worship with the absence of any state-sponsored religion, originated in the United States of America[citation needed].
Most of the early colonies, which were in part founded as a result of religious persecution, were generallly not tolerant of dissident forms of worship with Maryland being the only exception. For example, Roger Williams found it necessary to found a new colony in Rhode Island to escape persecution in the theocratically dominated colony of Massachusetts.
Freedom of religion was first applied as a principle of government in the founding of the colony of Maryland, founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore, in 1634.[18] Fifteen years later (1649) the Maryland Toleration Act, drafted by Lord Baltimore, provided: "No person or persons...shall from henceforth be any ways troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof." Doesn’t this make you proud to be part of this great state?
Thomas Jefferson, proclaimed:
"[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
And now, with this little bit of background, here is your sermon. It would appear that we have 3 distinct venues of freedom of religion that most of us take for granted: the freedom to worship in any place, the freedom to worship with any body of believers, and the freedom to express our beliefs without fear of being persecuted.
The first freedom allows us to meet in the open, in any type of church, and I use this word very loosely. It can be a cathedral, like St John the Divine in New York city, or a modust suburban 1940’s church with an education wing, like St. Mark’s, a preaching barn like the many large fundamentalist contemporary congregations use, a simple storefront location or even a network of house churches, like the UCC has started in Delaware.
The church that my husband and I helped to start in North Caroline first met in a business office then in a roller rink, and finally in a warehouse. There are as many venues as we need and we do not need to travel to these places incognito. The churches can advertise in the yellow pages, put up billboards and erect signs in the front yard. Nothing needs to be done in secret.
Years ago, the earliest of Christ’s followers met in secret. Some of you may be familiar with the Christian symbol of the fish or icthyus. When two people would meet, one would draw a half circle in the dirt on the street. If the other person completed the circle, then both knew it was safe and both knew they were Christians.
The second religious freedom is to worship however we choose. We can be Baptists, Methodist, Episcopalians, Grrek Orthodox or the United Church of Christ. We can choose our beliefs and our creeds, and if we don’t like the church we attend, we can turn around and go to another. Worldwide there are – now hold onto your seats, there are an astonishing 38,000 denominations. Surely with such an extensive variety, there’s a denomination for everyone.
One of my old pastors told this wonderful story about a church that was in the process of building a new sanctuary. It was a dream come true after a period of an intense capital campaign to raise funds. But two weeks before the new building was to be dedicated and opened for the first service, half the congregation left and went down to the church around the corner. Why? They wanted to sod for the lawn around the new church building and disagreed vehemently with those who wanted to lay down grass seeds.
Sometimes it’s not a matter of doctrine or creeds or even the personality of the pastor. Here, in the US, we can choose our congregations base on any religious criteria that we think is important, even the color of the carpet..
The third religious freedom we enjoy is the right to publically express our faith. We can place statues of Saint Francis in our gardens, put “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper stickers on the back of our cars, hang crosses around our necks or wear a tee-shirt that declare the passage from John 3:16. There’s probably someone out there who has the face of Christ tattooed on his or her arm. Go to any Christian store today and you will find accessories galore, from the pens that were given out to the men on Father’s Day to religious candy called Testamints.
This is not true for other countries. When my seminary class traveled to Turkey and Lebanon in 2006, we were told by the professors that no religious jewelry or clothing were to be worn, since the country is 98% Muslim, with the state religion being Islam.
Lastly, albeit sadly, we have the ultimate. According to ex-president Bill Clinton:“We have the most religious freedom of any country in the world, including the freedom not to believe.” Even that is important, because it means that we cannot force our religious on anyone. And now we have come full circle to the reasons that America was founded as a land of freedom from religious persecution.
We have come a long way since 1776, and are blessed beyond belief by the religious freedoms that we enjoy.
May we always remember what has been truly given to us.
"Fast Foods Versus Slow Fruits
Sermon 06.27.10
Fast Foods Versus Slow Fruits
In 1937, brothers Dick and Mac McDonald open a hamburger stand called the Airdrome in Monrovia, California. By using the Speedee Service System, an assembly line method for food preparation, the brothers could prepare a hamburger that in 1948, sold for 15 cents. By 1958 the number of hamburgers served reached the 100th million mark, and the rest is history after Ray Kroc acquired the business in 1961. By 1976, the chain of McDonalds recorded that it had sold 20 billion burgers. In 1997, the franchise offered refunds to anyone who was not served within 55 seconds. Right now, McDonalds sells 8500 hundred hamburgers per minutes. The rest of the story is the revolution of the fast food industry in America.
Hamburgers may be an American icon, but in 2001, in Italy, a Catholic priest in Tuscany is suggesting that the road to hell is paved with hamburger. Adding grease to the fire, he argues that hamburgers, French fries and Coke are "the fruit of a Protestant culture."
"Fast food reflects the individualistic relation between man and God introduced by Luther," the Rev. Massimo Salani said in a full-page interview published last fall in the Catholic daily newspaper Avvenire. In addition, he insisted that fast food lacks "the community aspect of sharing."
With Italians deeply divided over the arrival of McDonald's and other fast-food chains in a country that takes its three-hour lunches almost as seriously as soccer, other newspapers leapt on the story with obvious glee. "Theologian Excommunicates the Hamburger," proclaimed a headline in the Rome daily Il Messaggerro.
Perhaps the priest is right: We have a preference for bad food because, as we've so often observed, bad food seems to taste better than good food. Better to wolf down a super-sized quarter-pounder with fries and Coke and enjoy it, than pick at a tofu salad and hate it, we say. Of course, if you're a tofu lover, you've got the best of both worlds: good food, and good food you love.
The issue of fast food versus slow fruit is part of our human behavior and essence, which is divided into two parts: that of the flesh (sarx) and that of the Spirit (pneuma). Paul gives explicit instructions on what each realm is. Because Paul is wordy at times, with sentences that are a paragraph long, I wanted to read to you this text as translated by Eugene Peterson in the message.
READ FROM TRANSLATION
The apostle Paul couldn't have expressed the dilemma better. He warns us that certain behaviors may cause the flesh to feel good, but they're ultimately destructive. Paul's bad-food, fast-food menu includes fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness and carousing (5:19-21). And all of it comes with fries.
Paul offers an alternative lifestyle option: the fruit of the Spirit. Rather than a vice that one manufactures, the fruit of the Spirit are virtues that are generated from within. Spirit virtues can fill us, satisfy us and strengthen us - and best of all, no spiritual dietitian or gastronomic theologian will say that such fruit is bad for you. Paul insists that there "is no law against such things" (v. 23).
What Paul does declare is that “faith working through love” is what truly matters. It is the fruit of the Christian freedom that he speaks of in the passage.
The fruit of the Spirit is slow food, not fast food; good food, not bad food. It's never going to be a hamburger - if, by a hamburger, we mean an entree that is cooked, wrapped and rushed to a ravenous customer in a matter of minutes.
No, it's a lifestyle that takes time to cultivate and develop. We'll need to cultivate and nurture spiritual gifts such as generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These fruits won't sprout up quickly, and they won't be ripe and ready overnight. In fact, converting to a fruit-full lifestyle means that you've taken over what Carlo Petrini of the Slow Food Movement originating in Italy calls "the rhythms of your life."
Selecting the slow food, fruit option, allows us, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to gain control over how fast we go - to set a pace that enables us to cultivate and nurture virtues such as generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We do not have to be victims of our schedules, no matter how harried and driven we feel. We are in control of deciding how fast we have to go. Remember what Paul said to the Galatians: "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (v. 1).
The art of Christian living - choosing a "slow-faith" rather than a "fast-faith" approach to living - also requires community. Christianity is based on a shared Communion meal and life together in the body of Christ - not on fast-faith pit stops and individualistic approaches to the Christian life. It is within the community that Paul challenges us to become "slaves to one another" through love, resisting the temptation to use our Christian freedom "as an opportunity for self-indulgence" (v. 13).
It's like the Italian theologian said: Fast food lacks "the community aspect of sharing." Fast faith is as deficient as fast food - an approach to Christianity that is rushed and individualistic.
God is calling us to make a lifestyle change, eliminating one hamburger at a time or one vice at a time. But have as much fruit as you want. Amen.
Fast Foods Versus Slow Fruits
In 1937, brothers Dick and Mac McDonald open a hamburger stand called the Airdrome in Monrovia, California. By using the Speedee Service System, an assembly line method for food preparation, the brothers could prepare a hamburger that in 1948, sold for 15 cents. By 1958 the number of hamburgers served reached the 100th million mark, and the rest is history after Ray Kroc acquired the business in 1961. By 1976, the chain of McDonalds recorded that it had sold 20 billion burgers. In 1997, the franchise offered refunds to anyone who was not served within 55 seconds. Right now, McDonalds sells 8500 hundred hamburgers per minutes. The rest of the story is the revolution of the fast food industry in America.
Hamburgers may be an American icon, but in 2001, in Italy, a Catholic priest in Tuscany is suggesting that the road to hell is paved with hamburger. Adding grease to the fire, he argues that hamburgers, French fries and Coke are "the fruit of a Protestant culture."
"Fast food reflects the individualistic relation between man and God introduced by Luther," the Rev. Massimo Salani said in a full-page interview published last fall in the Catholic daily newspaper Avvenire. In addition, he insisted that fast food lacks "the community aspect of sharing."
With Italians deeply divided over the arrival of McDonald's and other fast-food chains in a country that takes its three-hour lunches almost as seriously as soccer, other newspapers leapt on the story with obvious glee. "Theologian Excommunicates the Hamburger," proclaimed a headline in the Rome daily Il Messaggerro.
Perhaps the priest is right: We have a preference for bad food because, as we've so often observed, bad food seems to taste better than good food. Better to wolf down a super-sized quarter-pounder with fries and Coke and enjoy it, than pick at a tofu salad and hate it, we say. Of course, if you're a tofu lover, you've got the best of both worlds: good food, and good food you love.
The issue of fast food versus slow fruit is part of our human behavior and essence, which is divided into two parts: that of the flesh (sarx) and that of the Spirit (pneuma). Paul gives explicit instructions on what each realm is. Because Paul is wordy at times, with sentences that are a paragraph long, I wanted to read to you this text as translated by Eugene Peterson in the message.
READ FROM TRANSLATION
The apostle Paul couldn't have expressed the dilemma better. He warns us that certain behaviors may cause the flesh to feel good, but they're ultimately destructive. Paul's bad-food, fast-food menu includes fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness and carousing (5:19-21). And all of it comes with fries.
Paul offers an alternative lifestyle option: the fruit of the Spirit. Rather than a vice that one manufactures, the fruit of the Spirit are virtues that are generated from within. Spirit virtues can fill us, satisfy us and strengthen us - and best of all, no spiritual dietitian or gastronomic theologian will say that such fruit is bad for you. Paul insists that there "is no law against such things" (v. 23).
What Paul does declare is that “faith working through love” is what truly matters. It is the fruit of the Christian freedom that he speaks of in the passage.
The fruit of the Spirit is slow food, not fast food; good food, not bad food. It's never going to be a hamburger - if, by a hamburger, we mean an entree that is cooked, wrapped and rushed to a ravenous customer in a matter of minutes.
No, it's a lifestyle that takes time to cultivate and develop. We'll need to cultivate and nurture spiritual gifts such as generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These fruits won't sprout up quickly, and they won't be ripe and ready overnight. In fact, converting to a fruit-full lifestyle means that you've taken over what Carlo Petrini of the Slow Food Movement originating in Italy calls "the rhythms of your life."
Selecting the slow food, fruit option, allows us, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to gain control over how fast we go - to set a pace that enables us to cultivate and nurture virtues such as generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We do not have to be victims of our schedules, no matter how harried and driven we feel. We are in control of deciding how fast we have to go. Remember what Paul said to the Galatians: "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (v. 1).
The art of Christian living - choosing a "slow-faith" rather than a "fast-faith" approach to living - also requires community. Christianity is based on a shared Communion meal and life together in the body of Christ - not on fast-faith pit stops and individualistic approaches to the Christian life. It is within the community that Paul challenges us to become "slaves to one another" through love, resisting the temptation to use our Christian freedom "as an opportunity for self-indulgence" (v. 13).
It's like the Italian theologian said: Fast food lacks "the community aspect of sharing." Fast faith is as deficient as fast food - an approach to Christianity that is rushed and individualistic.
God is calling us to make a lifestyle change, eliminating one hamburger at a time or one vice at a time. But have as much fruit as you want. Amen.
"Declare How Much God has Done for You
Sermon 06.20.10
“Declare How Much God Has Done for You”
Complaining about our lives is surely something of a national pastime because we spend, on the average, about 45 minutes each day in this activity. We are a nation of whiners, given to sulking and pouting whenever we do not receive what we want. We are people who like to moan about every little event and become irritable and crabby when something doesn’t occur to complete our happiness. We get bad tempered and difficult to deal with if life hand us lemons. Our teens tell us, Life sucks.
And yet the biblical direction from today’s passage has everything but that message. Jesus is dealing with a truly pathetic situation. There is a naked possessed man, who life was overrun by so many demons that he had to be shackled and bound in chains and kept under guard lest a demon mutiny take place. Even the man himself is so tormented from Jesus trying to exorcise the demons that he begs Jesus to be left along. Jesus, however, in his pity and compassion, compels the spirits into swine. They too are then possessed and rush into a lake and are drowned. The swineherders are upset and annoyed, and notify the officials. When they return to the scene of the crime, the crowd sees the demon-possessed man clothed and in his right mind, according to verse 35 of the passage. The townfolks are seized with great fear and send Jesus packing. His newly changed companion wants to travel with him. But Jesus says, “Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.”
“Declare how much God has done for you.” It is unusual for Jesus to say this, for in many of the miracle stories he instructs the crowd or the person to not say anything. Here, he not only authorizes a testimony, but encourages it.
Testimonies used to be fairly common in church services, and are still very much part of the worship experiences in those churches of the African American heritage. Followers will stand up and take about the way Jesus is working in their lives, be it a healing of a sick grandchild, to the provision of getting enough money to pay for the rent, to the joy of a neice’s birthday.
How has God blessed your life today? It’s a question that I try to ask when we share our joys and concerns each week. In what way, I want to know, how have you seen and witnessed the goodness of the Lord within the past 7 days? Most of the time, there are few responses – a birthday, a graduation, perhaps a wedding anniversary. But evidently, God is only working on special occasions, or so it would seem that we think this way.
Testimony and proclamation are one of the best self- advertisements for our churches. When was the last time you told someone about what God had done for you? I think that we all believe it and yet when it comes to actually witnessing to others, let’s just say that we totally miss the mark.
Hear Jesus’s words again: Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a tad reluctant to ride through the streets of Baltimore city or county with a bullhorn mounted on my vehicle proclaiming how much Jesus has done for me. And I’m a pastor. Why are we so uncomfortable about declaring that we have received the grace of God so freely given through his gift to us in Christ Jesus?
Personal testimony, as in the case of the demon-possessed man, is a powerful force. No doubt his story made the rounds in several cities and perhaps others sought out Jesus for healing and wholeness in their lives. We may not achieve immediate results (translated into more people in the pews), but making a witness to God’s enduring mark on our lives is just what defines us as Christians. Otherwise, we might as well be members of the Rotary Club. And even they have publicity. In fact, as you enter many towns there are plaques attesting to the presence of the Rotary, the Lions club, and the Masons. But very little advertising is done in the way of churches. If you don’t believe me, try going to the neighborhood chamber of commerce. Chances are good that they will have information on senior centers, running clubs and folks who like to gather for pinochle nights. But there will be little, if any, flyers or brochures about where you can go to be with others who are passionate about the God that they serve. I confess that I do not know much about the Mormons or the 7th Day Adventists. But I can say that they put their mouth where their faith is. Everytime that I throw out a copy of the Watchtower, I feel a twinge of embarrassment because I wish my faith was that pronounced and important that I would want to spread it to others.
That is precisely why you and I have to speak up, to declare what God has done in our lives. We need to take the message to the streets that God is still speaking and we as a church are still listening. We need to declare that God is a force in our lives, a mighty power who prevails over our demons. We need to heed the words of the passage that was read today and spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But we are not ready to yet do this. First, we need to be comfortable with sharing with one another what God has done in our lives. Each week, try to think of something to share, and remember that God is working even though you may not be able to see it.
In the next few minutes, after the sermon, as we are singing “Spirit of the Living God”, try to recall an incident from this week that displayed God’s love and care to you. Try to find in your heart as way to recognize these moments and to share them with others in the church. If we can’t talk about God’s power, majesty and power in the church, there’s little hope for getting it past the back pew and out the front door.
As a way of testifying to God’s good and perfect plan for us, let me end by quoting one of the black preachers, who declares like the demon-free man in the gospel story:
Grace woke you up this morning, grace started you on your way, and grace enabled you to survive until this very moment. (Bishop Charles E. Bake, Sr. of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ)
This morning, in our prayer time, I invite you to not just share your concerns, but to declare how much the love of God has done for you. May it be so. Amen.
“Declare How Much God Has Done for You”
Complaining about our lives is surely something of a national pastime because we spend, on the average, about 45 minutes each day in this activity. We are a nation of whiners, given to sulking and pouting whenever we do not receive what we want. We are people who like to moan about every little event and become irritable and crabby when something doesn’t occur to complete our happiness. We get bad tempered and difficult to deal with if life hand us lemons. Our teens tell us, Life sucks.
And yet the biblical direction from today’s passage has everything but that message. Jesus is dealing with a truly pathetic situation. There is a naked possessed man, who life was overrun by so many demons that he had to be shackled and bound in chains and kept under guard lest a demon mutiny take place. Even the man himself is so tormented from Jesus trying to exorcise the demons that he begs Jesus to be left along. Jesus, however, in his pity and compassion, compels the spirits into swine. They too are then possessed and rush into a lake and are drowned. The swineherders are upset and annoyed, and notify the officials. When they return to the scene of the crime, the crowd sees the demon-possessed man clothed and in his right mind, according to verse 35 of the passage. The townfolks are seized with great fear and send Jesus packing. His newly changed companion wants to travel with him. But Jesus says, “Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.”
“Declare how much God has done for you.” It is unusual for Jesus to say this, for in many of the miracle stories he instructs the crowd or the person to not say anything. Here, he not only authorizes a testimony, but encourages it.
Testimonies used to be fairly common in church services, and are still very much part of the worship experiences in those churches of the African American heritage. Followers will stand up and take about the way Jesus is working in their lives, be it a healing of a sick grandchild, to the provision of getting enough money to pay for the rent, to the joy of a neice’s birthday.
How has God blessed your life today? It’s a question that I try to ask when we share our joys and concerns each week. In what way, I want to know, how have you seen and witnessed the goodness of the Lord within the past 7 days? Most of the time, there are few responses – a birthday, a graduation, perhaps a wedding anniversary. But evidently, God is only working on special occasions, or so it would seem that we think this way.
Testimony and proclamation are one of the best self- advertisements for our churches. When was the last time you told someone about what God had done for you? I think that we all believe it and yet when it comes to actually witnessing to others, let’s just say that we totally miss the mark.
Hear Jesus’s words again: Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a tad reluctant to ride through the streets of Baltimore city or county with a bullhorn mounted on my vehicle proclaiming how much Jesus has done for me. And I’m a pastor. Why are we so uncomfortable about declaring that we have received the grace of God so freely given through his gift to us in Christ Jesus?
Personal testimony, as in the case of the demon-possessed man, is a powerful force. No doubt his story made the rounds in several cities and perhaps others sought out Jesus for healing and wholeness in their lives. We may not achieve immediate results (translated into more people in the pews), but making a witness to God’s enduring mark on our lives is just what defines us as Christians. Otherwise, we might as well be members of the Rotary Club. And even they have publicity. In fact, as you enter many towns there are plaques attesting to the presence of the Rotary, the Lions club, and the Masons. But very little advertising is done in the way of churches. If you don’t believe me, try going to the neighborhood chamber of commerce. Chances are good that they will have information on senior centers, running clubs and folks who like to gather for pinochle nights. But there will be little, if any, flyers or brochures about where you can go to be with others who are passionate about the God that they serve. I confess that I do not know much about the Mormons or the 7th Day Adventists. But I can say that they put their mouth where their faith is. Everytime that I throw out a copy of the Watchtower, I feel a twinge of embarrassment because I wish my faith was that pronounced and important that I would want to spread it to others.
That is precisely why you and I have to speak up, to declare what God has done in our lives. We need to take the message to the streets that God is still speaking and we as a church are still listening. We need to declare that God is a force in our lives, a mighty power who prevails over our demons. We need to heed the words of the passage that was read today and spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But we are not ready to yet do this. First, we need to be comfortable with sharing with one another what God has done in our lives. Each week, try to think of something to share, and remember that God is working even though you may not be able to see it.
In the next few minutes, after the sermon, as we are singing “Spirit of the Living God”, try to recall an incident from this week that displayed God’s love and care to you. Try to find in your heart as way to recognize these moments and to share them with others in the church. If we can’t talk about God’s power, majesty and power in the church, there’s little hope for getting it past the back pew and out the front door.
As a way of testifying to God’s good and perfect plan for us, let me end by quoting one of the black preachers, who declares like the demon-free man in the gospel story:
Grace woke you up this morning, grace started you on your way, and grace enabled you to survive until this very moment. (Bishop Charles E. Bake, Sr. of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ)
This morning, in our prayer time, I invite you to not just share your concerns, but to declare how much the love of God has done for you. May it be so. Amen.
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