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.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
"A Tender Heart"
Sermon: “A Tender Heart” 06.06.10
A little girl was sent on an errand by her mother. She took much too long in coming back. Her mother, therefore, demanded an explanation when she finally did return. The little girl explained that on her way, she had met a little friend who was crying because she had broken her doll. “Oh”, said the Mother, “then you stopped to help her fix her doll?” “Oh no,” replied the little girl. “I stopped to help her cry.”
Tenderness and mercy are the themes of the readings from 1st Kings today and the gospel of Luke, The texts are very close in content: a widow, a son, a recovery and praise given to a great prophet.
Luke’s depiction of the miraculous resuscitation of the boy at Nain is very low-key. Jesus comes upon a funeral procession and his followers become intermingled with the mourners. There are no questions asked. We know nothing about the boys’ age or how he died, so we can assume that Jesus and the disciples overhear this information as the bier, or funeral pallet is passing through the crowd.
Notice that it is Christ who initiated the dialogue and the action. No one calls out to him from the other side of the road. The lame, the blind, and the possessed are not being dragged forward to reach him. There are no masses to feed after a long sermon.
And he is not asked by anyone to step into this situation by anyone there. The Bew Revised Standard version of the bible that we use herein church says that Jesus had compassion for the widow. I prefer the New International Version’s translation: He heart went out to her. His heart went out to her.
Based on this feeling of utter tenderness, Jesus acts in rapid succession. He approaches the bier, speaks words of kindness to the widow, commands the boy to rise, and returns him to his mother.
By the standards in the gospels, this is hardly a “Big” miracle; there are no loaves multiplied to feed the thousands, no swine flying over a cliff and into the sea, no high drama such as the paralytic man being brought through the roof of the house in Bethsaida to reach the pool of healing water. Jesus has made an unscheduled stop on his ministry tour to show simple care and concern. With only three years of ministry, he is keenly aware of time constraints. And yet, he shows up when hope is lost. All other agendas will have to wait.
In Luke’s gospel, the word compassion appears only 3 times. The Greek is very hard to say: splagknizomai. It is used when Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan when Jesus asks the crowd who they thought the good Samaritan was and they replied, “The one who showed compassion. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, it is used to describe the father’s state of mind when he sees his son coming down the road. The text tells us that he was filled with love and compassion.
Much of the imagery that we have for Jesus does not depict him wearing his heart on his sleeve. We see him as the risen victorious King of Kings, and the suffering Savior on the cross. We see him as a potent Lord calming the turbulent seas, and the one who has a gift for teaching in the synagogue. We see him as someone who is critical and angry with the scribes and Pharisees, and often impatient at his disciples” ignorance.
Jesus- the tender-hearted is barely on the radar. Even when he invited the little children onto his lap, the gospels say nothing about his tenderness. It is only here, in Luke’s passage, that we get a glimpse of true empathy for the widow’s plight. And we find a new quality in our Lord, who understands our pain and loss.
What a powerful example we have in today’s gospel. Jesus is willing to cry with us. He is willing to come to our aid, even when we don’t ask for it. He may not be able to fix your broken lives all the time, but there are perhaps some miracle each day that occur from his tenderness that we are not aware of.
Again, in the passage, there is no discussion of what the widow may have said to Jesus after he had brought her dear son back to life. I’m sure that “Thank you” was part of her response. The text tells us that those who were gathered around thought that he was a great prophet. But I also think that she was grateful that he had a tender-heart, and the willingness to do a good deed that could never be rewarded.
In our world, marked with cynicism and sarcasm and distrust, it would be refreshing to find more people to practice the random acts of kindness that the bumper sticks promote. Jesus was, and continues to be, a walking billboard for care and concern.
There is an old hymn that I would like to close with, by reciting the verses and I invite you to picture this kind of Jesus in your mind.
Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. See at the portals Christ waiting and watching, waiting for you and for me. Come home, Come Home. All who are weary come home. Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling O sinner come home.
The holy one of the most high stopped, looked and listened as the funeral procession went by. It tugged at the strings of his heart, and performed a kind deed for the widow and restored her son to life.
Jesus has compassion for us and calls us to life as well. Softly and tenderly he is calling, calling for you and for me.
A little girl was sent on an errand by her mother. She took much too long in coming back. Her mother, therefore, demanded an explanation when she finally did return. The little girl explained that on her way, she had met a little friend who was crying because she had broken her doll. “Oh”, said the Mother, “then you stopped to help her fix her doll?” “Oh no,” replied the little girl. “I stopped to help her cry.”
Tenderness and mercy are the themes of the readings from 1st Kings today and the gospel of Luke, The texts are very close in content: a widow, a son, a recovery and praise given to a great prophet.
Luke’s depiction of the miraculous resuscitation of the boy at Nain is very low-key. Jesus comes upon a funeral procession and his followers become intermingled with the mourners. There are no questions asked. We know nothing about the boys’ age or how he died, so we can assume that Jesus and the disciples overhear this information as the bier, or funeral pallet is passing through the crowd.
Notice that it is Christ who initiated the dialogue and the action. No one calls out to him from the other side of the road. The lame, the blind, and the possessed are not being dragged forward to reach him. There are no masses to feed after a long sermon.
And he is not asked by anyone to step into this situation by anyone there. The Bew Revised Standard version of the bible that we use herein church says that Jesus had compassion for the widow. I prefer the New International Version’s translation: He heart went out to her. His heart went out to her.
Based on this feeling of utter tenderness, Jesus acts in rapid succession. He approaches the bier, speaks words of kindness to the widow, commands the boy to rise, and returns him to his mother.
By the standards in the gospels, this is hardly a “Big” miracle; there are no loaves multiplied to feed the thousands, no swine flying over a cliff and into the sea, no high drama such as the paralytic man being brought through the roof of the house in Bethsaida to reach the pool of healing water. Jesus has made an unscheduled stop on his ministry tour to show simple care and concern. With only three years of ministry, he is keenly aware of time constraints. And yet, he shows up when hope is lost. All other agendas will have to wait.
In Luke’s gospel, the word compassion appears only 3 times. The Greek is very hard to say: splagknizomai. It is used when Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan when Jesus asks the crowd who they thought the good Samaritan was and they replied, “The one who showed compassion. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, it is used to describe the father’s state of mind when he sees his son coming down the road. The text tells us that he was filled with love and compassion.
Much of the imagery that we have for Jesus does not depict him wearing his heart on his sleeve. We see him as the risen victorious King of Kings, and the suffering Savior on the cross. We see him as a potent Lord calming the turbulent seas, and the one who has a gift for teaching in the synagogue. We see him as someone who is critical and angry with the scribes and Pharisees, and often impatient at his disciples” ignorance.
Jesus- the tender-hearted is barely on the radar. Even when he invited the little children onto his lap, the gospels say nothing about his tenderness. It is only here, in Luke’s passage, that we get a glimpse of true empathy for the widow’s plight. And we find a new quality in our Lord, who understands our pain and loss.
What a powerful example we have in today’s gospel. Jesus is willing to cry with us. He is willing to come to our aid, even when we don’t ask for it. He may not be able to fix your broken lives all the time, but there are perhaps some miracle each day that occur from his tenderness that we are not aware of.
Again, in the passage, there is no discussion of what the widow may have said to Jesus after he had brought her dear son back to life. I’m sure that “Thank you” was part of her response. The text tells us that those who were gathered around thought that he was a great prophet. But I also think that she was grateful that he had a tender-heart, and the willingness to do a good deed that could never be rewarded.
In our world, marked with cynicism and sarcasm and distrust, it would be refreshing to find more people to practice the random acts of kindness that the bumper sticks promote. Jesus was, and continues to be, a walking billboard for care and concern.
There is an old hymn that I would like to close with, by reciting the verses and I invite you to picture this kind of Jesus in your mind.
Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. See at the portals Christ waiting and watching, waiting for you and for me. Come home, Come Home. All who are weary come home. Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling O sinner come home.
The holy one of the most high stopped, looked and listened as the funeral procession went by. It tugged at the strings of his heart, and performed a kind deed for the widow and restored her son to life.
Jesus has compassion for us and calls us to life as well. Softly and tenderly he is calling, calling for you and for me.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
"Speaking in Other Languages"
Sermon 05.23.10
“Speaking in Other Languages”
In this world today, there are approximately 6,500 living languages being spoken. That’s a mind-boggling figure and surprisingly, English is not at the top of the list. I want to take a minute to give you the run-down of the top 10 language and the number of people who speak them:
1. Mandarin 885 million speakers
2. Spanish 332 million speakers
3. English 322 million speakers
4. Bengali 189 million speakers
5. Hindi 182 million speakers
6. Portuguese 170 million speakers
6. Russian 170 million speakers
8. Japanese 125 million speakers
9. German 98 million speakers
10. Wu 77 million speakers
Curiously, French did not make the cut, which is why I took French classes in school for 5 years.
Speaking is the primary vehicle for communication, and after hearing these statistics, it should come as no surprise that we so often do not understand one another. And in addition to the tremendous quantity of languages themselves, we also have a set of language that cannot be labeled, such as the language of love and the language of power, the language of babies, and the language of politics.
In today’s reading from Acts, the traditional text for Pentecost Sunday, we have the situation of speaking many languages. Hear again the words of the passage describing this phenomenon: NRS Acts 2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” The audience was incredibly diverse – Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappodocia Pontus and Asia, Phyrgia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene. And the reason that I was asked to read all of the lectionary this morning was a test on how well I could pronounce all these odd and unfamiliar names.
In my home church in Lancaster PA, as an enhanced portion of the worship service, the entire selection from Acts was read simultaneously at this point by 8 different members of the congregation, speaking 8 different languages. The result was sometimes overwhelming as words competed with each other, but it also provided a rich example of what occurred in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles.
But I would argue that only one language was actually being spoken, and it defies a name, because it is the language of the Holy Spirit, which surpasses and transcends geographical areas and nationalities. The language of the Holy Spirit is not a dialect that can be set out and parsed. Rather than an act of speaking, it is a different way of communicating. While the Holy Spirit momentarily gave the Apostles the gift of tongues, a more perfect gift would be embodied in the ways that the Apostles acted, for they were destined to speak through the fruits of the Spirit.
The New Living Translation of the Bible gives us these words from Paul’s letter to the Galations: NLT Galatians 5:22 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The Holy Spirit does not fill us with a way to talk, but a way to act.
Most of us will not be speakers of many languages, and certainly not fluent in the ones that I mentioned earlier in my sermon. We can keep English as our first and only tongue, but adopt the language of the Spirit as our second. We must embody the traits, the gifts of our faith and then speak them to one another through these holy ways of conducting ourselves. The languages of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control are infinitely more important than being able to translate Sanskrit or print the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.
Let us as the body of Christ be filled with the Holy Spirit as the Apostles were on Pentecost. May we translate for others what we believe and how we behave. The good news is that we have an excellent dictionary at our fingertips through the Word of God. Speak loudly, speak clearly, and speak like tongues filled with holy flames. Amen.
“Speaking in Other Languages”
In this world today, there are approximately 6,500 living languages being spoken. That’s a mind-boggling figure and surprisingly, English is not at the top of the list. I want to take a minute to give you the run-down of the top 10 language and the number of people who speak them:
1. Mandarin 885 million speakers
2. Spanish 332 million speakers
3. English 322 million speakers
4. Bengali 189 million speakers
5. Hindi 182 million speakers
6. Portuguese 170 million speakers
6. Russian 170 million speakers
8. Japanese 125 million speakers
9. German 98 million speakers
10. Wu 77 million speakers
Curiously, French did not make the cut, which is why I took French classes in school for 5 years.
Speaking is the primary vehicle for communication, and after hearing these statistics, it should come as no surprise that we so often do not understand one another. And in addition to the tremendous quantity of languages themselves, we also have a set of language that cannot be labeled, such as the language of love and the language of power, the language of babies, and the language of politics.
In today’s reading from Acts, the traditional text for Pentecost Sunday, we have the situation of speaking many languages. Hear again the words of the passage describing this phenomenon: NRS Acts 2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” The audience was incredibly diverse – Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappodocia Pontus and Asia, Phyrgia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene. And the reason that I was asked to read all of the lectionary this morning was a test on how well I could pronounce all these odd and unfamiliar names.
In my home church in Lancaster PA, as an enhanced portion of the worship service, the entire selection from Acts was read simultaneously at this point by 8 different members of the congregation, speaking 8 different languages. The result was sometimes overwhelming as words competed with each other, but it also provided a rich example of what occurred in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles.
But I would argue that only one language was actually being spoken, and it defies a name, because it is the language of the Holy Spirit, which surpasses and transcends geographical areas and nationalities. The language of the Holy Spirit is not a dialect that can be set out and parsed. Rather than an act of speaking, it is a different way of communicating. While the Holy Spirit momentarily gave the Apostles the gift of tongues, a more perfect gift would be embodied in the ways that the Apostles acted, for they were destined to speak through the fruits of the Spirit.
The New Living Translation of the Bible gives us these words from Paul’s letter to the Galations: NLT Galatians 5:22 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The Holy Spirit does not fill us with a way to talk, but a way to act.
Most of us will not be speakers of many languages, and certainly not fluent in the ones that I mentioned earlier in my sermon. We can keep English as our first and only tongue, but adopt the language of the Spirit as our second. We must embody the traits, the gifts of our faith and then speak them to one another through these holy ways of conducting ourselves. The languages of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control are infinitely more important than being able to translate Sanskrit or print the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.
Let us as the body of Christ be filled with the Holy Spirit as the Apostles were on Pentecost. May we translate for others what we believe and how we behave. The good news is that we have an excellent dictionary at our fingertips through the Word of God. Speak loudly, speak clearly, and speak like tongues filled with holy flames. Amen.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
"God is in the Chaos"
Sermon 05.16.10
“God is in the Chaos”
The entire passage from the Acts of the Apostles is filled with the plot of a mini-series: there are riots, a demon possessed woman, people being thrown into prison, an earthquake, some singing, a mass altar call, a suicide attempt and a happy ending for everyone involved. It’s a bedlam at some points, confusion at others, and a wild and wooly Paul adventure, with Christ in the midst of the chaos. About the only thing missing is a character with amnesia.
Act one begins with Paul and Silas heading to the synagogue to pray, but they have to pass through the marketplace. Bad move on their part. They meet a slave girl, who by the power of a demon, has been given the gift of fortune telling. Her masters make a tidy profit from her abilities. She has taken a liking to Paul and understands his role as ambassador for Jesus Christ and keeps shouting her mantra. For some unexplained reason, Paul becomes exasperated (according to the New Living Translation) with this nonsense and exorcises the demon from her. This credits a cash flow problem for the woman’s owners, since she can no longer tell the future, and they haul Paul and Silas into the center of the marketplace. They begin to blame them for teaching the crowds ideas that were contrary to Roman customs. A mob scene follows and the situation quickly deteriorates into chaos.
Paul and Silas are thrown into prison, where they immediately begin to praise God and sing hymns, with no rational concern for their predicament. The other folks in the prison comprise their audience. Suddenly, around midnight, there is pandemonium as an earthquake shakes the prison and all of the chains fall off the prisoners and locked doors are thrown open.
The jailor is so upset by what appears to be a grand escape that he is ready to kill himself, rather than face dishonor at the hands of the Roman guards. But in a surprise last-minute gesture, Paul and Silas assure him that all the prisoners are still around. The guard is saved, along with his entire household and all the prisoners. It’s a mass conversion following a long, difficult evening. From start to finish it’s a wild ride, mainly because everything with Paul is large screen Panavision, and the final ending is wonderful, because everyone believed in God. They were probably all holding hands and singing Kumbaya before it was all over.
Most of us do not have that much adventure in a lifetime, much less on a weekly drive to go to church. But we still find ourselves in morning messes, with afternoons of bedlam, and evenings that are filled with disarray. We experience all of the chaos that this encounter describes, but in modern day interpretations, and we need to remember that God is still there in the midst of our disorder.
God is the top priority in the story of Paul and Silas in prison. Rather than wallow in pity, they pray. Rather than bemoaning their circumstances, they sing hymns. Rather than condemning their jailor, they praise God. Because God is ultimately the one in control, the one who provides the earthquake, the one who brings about a change of heart for all of the prisoners and the jailer. Underneath and behind all of the chaos, God has been working through it. This same mentality is what we need to focus on when our lives become enmeshed in turmoil. If God brings you to it, God will see you through it.
It is easy to blame God when life hands you lemons, when there’s commotion in the workplace, when there’s the threat of anarchy in a family with teenagers. Seeing God’s hand at work is our hardest challenge when moving through difficult times. Paul and Silas trusted God, understood God’s presence in trouble and continued to have faith in the midst of the chaos.
Our lives are no different from Paul’s. We are still struggling to get to the church door each and every week. We have co-workers who badmouth us, family members who remind us over and over again about our mistakes. We live in prisons of our own making, thinking that everyone else has a better life. We find that there are little earthquakes from time to time, and sometimes one big crisis that flattens us in our walk towards holiness. And we still find ourselves being asked “How to be saved” by those around us.
Remember that there was great rejoicing at the end of Paul’s story. Remember that chaos reigned until the songs of the Lord were sung. Remember that there was madness until Paul said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” God can be counted on to arrive just when it appears that all hope is lost. But we need to speak out God’s name when we are in trouble.
I rarely end a sermon with a joke, but this seemed like a golden opportunity for me to emphasize that we must call out to the right God, to the one who can bring a surprise ending to the melodramas of our daily living.
It seems that after church one Sunday, a father noticed his five-year old son writing something on the Sunday School paper that he had brought home with him. “Dad”, the boy said. “How do you spell God?”
The father was very pleased that his son was still thinking about the lesson that he had received from his teacher. The father spelled out G_O_D, and the young boy wrote that on his paper. Then he looked up at his father and asked, “Then how do you spell Zilla?’
Remember to summon the right person. Call upon the God of power to be with you during the pandemonium, when you, like Paul, are struggling with situations beyond your control. Call upon the God of order, who separated the light from the dark, when it feels like you can’t tread water any longer. Call upon the God who calms the waves when you feel your boat beginning to capsize. Call upon the God of compassion and direction, who brings us through the darkness and gives us back the meaning in our lives. Call upon God, and remember that God will always call you back, with a voice that can be heard, even above the chaos . Call upon God. Amen.
“God is in the Chaos”
The entire passage from the Acts of the Apostles is filled with the plot of a mini-series: there are riots, a demon possessed woman, people being thrown into prison, an earthquake, some singing, a mass altar call, a suicide attempt and a happy ending for everyone involved. It’s a bedlam at some points, confusion at others, and a wild and wooly Paul adventure, with Christ in the midst of the chaos. About the only thing missing is a character with amnesia.
Act one begins with Paul and Silas heading to the synagogue to pray, but they have to pass through the marketplace. Bad move on their part. They meet a slave girl, who by the power of a demon, has been given the gift of fortune telling. Her masters make a tidy profit from her abilities. She has taken a liking to Paul and understands his role as ambassador for Jesus Christ and keeps shouting her mantra. For some unexplained reason, Paul becomes exasperated (according to the New Living Translation) with this nonsense and exorcises the demon from her. This credits a cash flow problem for the woman’s owners, since she can no longer tell the future, and they haul Paul and Silas into the center of the marketplace. They begin to blame them for teaching the crowds ideas that were contrary to Roman customs. A mob scene follows and the situation quickly deteriorates into chaos.
Paul and Silas are thrown into prison, where they immediately begin to praise God and sing hymns, with no rational concern for their predicament. The other folks in the prison comprise their audience. Suddenly, around midnight, there is pandemonium as an earthquake shakes the prison and all of the chains fall off the prisoners and locked doors are thrown open.
The jailor is so upset by what appears to be a grand escape that he is ready to kill himself, rather than face dishonor at the hands of the Roman guards. But in a surprise last-minute gesture, Paul and Silas assure him that all the prisoners are still around. The guard is saved, along with his entire household and all the prisoners. It’s a mass conversion following a long, difficult evening. From start to finish it’s a wild ride, mainly because everything with Paul is large screen Panavision, and the final ending is wonderful, because everyone believed in God. They were probably all holding hands and singing Kumbaya before it was all over.
Most of us do not have that much adventure in a lifetime, much less on a weekly drive to go to church. But we still find ourselves in morning messes, with afternoons of bedlam, and evenings that are filled with disarray. We experience all of the chaos that this encounter describes, but in modern day interpretations, and we need to remember that God is still there in the midst of our disorder.
God is the top priority in the story of Paul and Silas in prison. Rather than wallow in pity, they pray. Rather than bemoaning their circumstances, they sing hymns. Rather than condemning their jailor, they praise God. Because God is ultimately the one in control, the one who provides the earthquake, the one who brings about a change of heart for all of the prisoners and the jailer. Underneath and behind all of the chaos, God has been working through it. This same mentality is what we need to focus on when our lives become enmeshed in turmoil. If God brings you to it, God will see you through it.
It is easy to blame God when life hands you lemons, when there’s commotion in the workplace, when there’s the threat of anarchy in a family with teenagers. Seeing God’s hand at work is our hardest challenge when moving through difficult times. Paul and Silas trusted God, understood God’s presence in trouble and continued to have faith in the midst of the chaos.
Our lives are no different from Paul’s. We are still struggling to get to the church door each and every week. We have co-workers who badmouth us, family members who remind us over and over again about our mistakes. We live in prisons of our own making, thinking that everyone else has a better life. We find that there are little earthquakes from time to time, and sometimes one big crisis that flattens us in our walk towards holiness. And we still find ourselves being asked “How to be saved” by those around us.
Remember that there was great rejoicing at the end of Paul’s story. Remember that chaos reigned until the songs of the Lord were sung. Remember that there was madness until Paul said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” God can be counted on to arrive just when it appears that all hope is lost. But we need to speak out God’s name when we are in trouble.
I rarely end a sermon with a joke, but this seemed like a golden opportunity for me to emphasize that we must call out to the right God, to the one who can bring a surprise ending to the melodramas of our daily living.
It seems that after church one Sunday, a father noticed his five-year old son writing something on the Sunday School paper that he had brought home with him. “Dad”, the boy said. “How do you spell God?”
The father was very pleased that his son was still thinking about the lesson that he had received from his teacher. The father spelled out G_O_D, and the young boy wrote that on his paper. Then he looked up at his father and asked, “Then how do you spell Zilla?’
Remember to summon the right person. Call upon the God of power to be with you during the pandemonium, when you, like Paul, are struggling with situations beyond your control. Call upon the God of order, who separated the light from the dark, when it feels like you can’t tread water any longer. Call upon the God who calms the waves when you feel your boat beginning to capsize. Call upon the God of compassion and direction, who brings us through the darkness and gives us back the meaning in our lives. Call upon God, and remember that God will always call you back, with a voice that can be heard, even above the chaos . Call upon God. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
