from my message on 2/24/13 from Mark 4:37-41
It is evening and Jesus says to his disciples, his closest friends, "Let's go across to the other side." They get in a boat and a storm comes up on the lake. It is a miracle story. I know that you are sophisticated people, scientific people, rational people. You may find such a miracle story hard to swallow. Stay with me a few minutes, and let me see if I can make it more approachable.
(show slide of skeleton of fishing boat from time of Christ) In 1986, the Sea of Galilee was at historically low levels. The skeleton of this fishing boat was exposed on the northwest shore of the lake. Carbon dating was done on it. It comes from about the time of Christ. It gives us an idea of the kind of boat that Jesus and the disciples probably used. I have seen it in a museum there. It is 26.5 ' long by 7.5' wide by 4.5' deep.
(show slide of the sea of Galilee) You can see from this slide the dimensions of the lake. It is 13 miles at its longest point north to south. It is 8 miles at its widest point east to west. The lake covers some 64 square miles surface area. Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis added together are about that size. You can see that the lake is surrounded by hills on all sides with a cut at the northwest corner. Storms can come up quickly and violently on the lake. A few years ago, the town of Tiberias on the western shore recieved a 10' wave during a storm. So when it says that a fierce gust of wind came up on the lake, you can understand the magnitude of the storm.
(show slide of modern day fishing boat with its single mast and sail) Such fishing boats have not changed much over the years and are still used on the lake today. Imagine what it would have been like for Jesus and the disciples during a storm. Where is Jesus during the storm? He is a member of Ray Benson's backup band; he's asleep at the wheel. His head is on a pillow, probably a sand bag that was placed in the stern for ballast. The stern probably had a small covered area where he could lie down.
The disciples wake him up, and you have never said this, and essentially say, "We're going under. Don't you care?" Adam, this early 20 year old has this rare form of cancer on the brain. He can't keep weight on. He can't keep food down. We cry out to Jesus, "Don't you care?" Maybe it is your marriage. You drift apart. It is no one big thing, just lots of little things. You stop listening. You stop caring. Anger is not the opposite of love. Apathy is. You find yourself sighing. You do the eye roll. "Jesus, don't you care?" You may be a student. You are at best ignored at school. At worst, you are picked on, bullied. You feel so alone. "Jesus, don't you care?" You may be a preacher. You feel that all the people want is to be entertained. They just want a better show each week. Don't address anything controversial. Don't scare them off or their money. Keep it safe. "Jesus, don't you care?" What is it for you? Where you feel you are going under and Jesus doesn't care?
Jesus rebukes the storm. Rebuke is the same word that Jesus uses to cast out demons. If you are a good Jewish person, this is expected. From Genesis 1, in the first creation story, we have a mighty wind blowing over the face of the water. God speaks and brings order. Jesus speaks directly to the lake. He uses just 2 words, "Stop," and "Hush." A good Jewish person would expect this also. They were not great seafaring people. They stayed within sight of land. The water represented chaos. The storm represented evil forces. A messiah, a deliverer, would say, "Stop," and "Hush." This showed that the person had power over the storm. Where do you need to hear Jesus say "Stop," and "Hush," to you today. Jesus being asleep in the middle of the storm would be expected by a good Jewish person. This would show complete trust in God. We might say today with the rabbi/psychotherapist I admire, Edwin Freidman, that Jesus was a non-anxious presence. He can be with us right in the midst of crisis, but free to respond to us and it.
Jesus says to his closest friends, "Why are you afraid?" The word really means cowardly. It is an inner feeling. The next phrase has a different word for fear, literally in the Greek, phobia. The sentence says that they were afraid with a great fear. Now they are not afraid of the storm. They are afraid of Jesus. It is that awe and respect and worship that we talked about last week. "Who is this," they ask. Maybe we ask the same thing today also.
Does Jesus still still the storms today? Does Jesus still work miracles? I believe so. I saw one on Tuesday at lunch. It was put on by iACT, an interfaith group here in Austin. It was billed as Friends in Faith. One speaker was Nader Hasan. Hmmm...Hasan, yes, the shooter at Ft. Hood is named Hasan. The man who spoke was his first cousin, the next eldest male member in the family. The other speaker was Kerry Cahill. Hmmm....her father was a physician's assistant, a contract employee at Ft. Hood, one of the persons killed by the shooter. They have become friends. In all of the media flurry, Nader Hasan was asked a most inappropriate question by ABC news. He was asked if he would be willing to meet with any of the family members of those killed. He said he would. Emails were exchanged with Kerry. They agreed to meet. Funny side note from Kerry. She said that Emily Post had no advice in her etiqueitte book on what to bring to the family member of the man who killed your father. She brought a copy of the children's book that her dad used to read to her! Nader had a 1 year old. Kerry and Nader found that they were both human beings who were grieving. They both lost a family member to extremism. They said, "Too often in the aftermath of tragedy, we retreat to our corners of fear." They formed the Nawal Foundation to combat extremism. They said, "We have to bring something right out of what was terribly wrong. We cannot longer simply tolerate or accept. We must learn to work together, to collaborate." I witnessed a miracle on Tuesday.
How does this tie into the miracle story of stilling the storm? See Rembrandt's painting of the scene (slide). Notice how many are on the boat. Look closely, as Maxie Dunham made me do. How many should be on there? Jesus plus the 12 would make 13. How many are on there? Fourteen! Look at the man in blue holding onto the rope. It is Rembrandt. He painted himself into the scene. Why? We are all in the same boat!
Jesus wanted the disciples to go across to the other side. What was on the other side? Gentiles...the first person Jesus meets is a demoniac. Jesus sends the demons into a herd of hogs. All of these were unclean. The early church saw this as an example of what they were called to do....to go through the storms of encountering, embracing all those they thought were "other" or "unclean." We are all in the same boat.
The theme of this sermon series is from I John 4:17-18, "there is no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear." The good news is that we are all in the same boat.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Fear Not: Why do we fear?
from my message on 2/17/13, start of the Fear Not series
What do you fear? (see the 2 minute video on different phobias, that ends with a choice of fearing lots of things or the fear of the Lord)
We all fear something. It is no sin to be afraid. In fact, fear is good thing. Psychology Today says "fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger." Fear can keep us alive. I am afraid of snakes and lightning. They can kill me. It is a good thing to be afraid of them.
But fear can be paralyzing. We leave in a fearful age. We are bombarded by fear through the media. Just this past week: fear of astroids hitting the earth and then a meteorite strikes Russia. Some people go on an ocean cruise and are stuck adrift upon a ship with no power for days (sing, from Gilligan's Island, " a 3 hour cruise"). The G-20 try to allay fears of devaluing currencies which would have set the world markets into another round of recession. The pope retires. He doesn't die in office. He retires for the first time in hundreds of years, and nobody is sure what to do. A rogue cop killer goes on a rampage in California.
Fear can be good, but we can also become addicted to fear. Fear can crowd out life and fun.I am going to tell a story on my wife Cathy. Have no fear, I have asked her permission to tell this story. She lives with a lot of fear. Early in our marriage we took a vacation to California. It was a package deal: roundtrip airfare from Austin to LAX, rental car, nights in motels along the way using coupons. The first day we land in LA, and find a motel in Anaheim. This is important, because what is in Anaheim? Disneyland. We go to the beach. We eat out at a fancy Mexican food restaurant (TACO Bell!). We are beat from the travel, the beach, the 2 hour time difference, and so go to bed early. What seems like the middle of the night, our room is shaking. It sounds like thunder or explosions outside. Cathy jumps out of bed and takes refuge standing in the door jamb, holding onto both sides. She is yelling, "Earthquake!" I look out the window, the earthquake is a fireworks display that marks the end of the day at Disneyland. Can we get so caught up in fear that we miss life and fun? Fear can so dominate that it can crowd out God's work and presence in our midst.
This kind of fear is worldly fear. In Psychology Today, there were several coping mechanisms including: deep breathing, meditation, diet, exercise, and community. As I read them, I thought, "We Christians have been doing this for a long time. Especially here at Lent, we fast and pray and worship and come together as supportive community."
There is another kind of fear in the Bible. It is the fear of the Lord. It could be called awe, reverence, worship. To come into the presence of the holy is an awesome thing. Therefore, when angels appear on the scene in the Bible, what is the first thing that they say, "Fear Not!" They have been well-instructed in angel school to lower anxiety. This kind of fear is a healthy fear.
We find it in Gen.15:1 where the LORD approaches Abram before he is firmly established in the land or has heirs and says, "Fear Not, I am your shield. Your reward will be very great." Proverbs 1:7 has the classic "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." This reverence is the pre-requisite to any wisdom in this world. In the early church knew this awe, in Acts 9:31, "Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Sprit, it increased in numbers." And then one of John Wesley's favorite passages, where this founder of the Methodist movement understood that because of what God had done for us in Jesus we could "work out our own salvation in fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you" in Phil. 2:12-13.
This is a good message to have the fear of the Lord. But the message wasn't through with me. I still had a lot of fear in my life. To be candid, my greatest fear is that of never feeling good enough. What can address that fear?
I thought as I pondered this message that I had removed the fear of the Lord from my daily practice. You know me, how open and forgiving and graceful I am. I am not about fear of the LORD. I am about the love of God for us. Then it hit me last night as I was sitting right here in the 3rd pew for the marriage of Jonathan and Diane. I watched them give themselves totally into the care of the other. The love was so awesome, so overwhelming we can barely stand it. That's what came to me, I hadn't taken the fear of the Lord far enough. It is about that love that is so powerful, risky, overwhelming that we run from it. We run back to our old friends, the fears we grown comfortable with. The awesome love of God threatens those other, old fears, and we are afraid to give them up. The fear of the Lord is about receiving God's love and risking loving others that same way.
It is what I John 4:17-18 is trying to say, "There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear." This love casts out the fear of punishment. It is what we Methodists call having assurance, not and eternally. We are held in God's love. Secondly, it means that we can be free of self-concern. This love allows us to love others without thinking of ourselves, the cost or risk to ourselves.
I wish I could tell you it happens instantly, like an on/off light switch. But it is more like a rheostat. It comes in degrees. It is not like a jump. More like a journey.
I have preached on fear before. Once when I did this in San Saba, I had an intern pastor working with me from Perkins School of Theology. I spent some 15 minutes talking about fear. He was tasked with offering the benediction. He captured what I was trying to say in 5 words. Fear God and nothing else.
May it be so for you.
What do you fear? (see the 2 minute video on different phobias, that ends with a choice of fearing lots of things or the fear of the Lord)
We all fear something. It is no sin to be afraid. In fact, fear is good thing. Psychology Today says "fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger." Fear can keep us alive. I am afraid of snakes and lightning. They can kill me. It is a good thing to be afraid of them.
But fear can be paralyzing. We leave in a fearful age. We are bombarded by fear through the media. Just this past week: fear of astroids hitting the earth and then a meteorite strikes Russia. Some people go on an ocean cruise and are stuck adrift upon a ship with no power for days (sing, from Gilligan's Island, " a 3 hour cruise"). The G-20 try to allay fears of devaluing currencies which would have set the world markets into another round of recession. The pope retires. He doesn't die in office. He retires for the first time in hundreds of years, and nobody is sure what to do. A rogue cop killer goes on a rampage in California.
Fear can be good, but we can also become addicted to fear. Fear can crowd out life and fun.I am going to tell a story on my wife Cathy. Have no fear, I have asked her permission to tell this story. She lives with a lot of fear. Early in our marriage we took a vacation to California. It was a package deal: roundtrip airfare from Austin to LAX, rental car, nights in motels along the way using coupons. The first day we land in LA, and find a motel in Anaheim. This is important, because what is in Anaheim? Disneyland. We go to the beach. We eat out at a fancy Mexican food restaurant (TACO Bell!). We are beat from the travel, the beach, the 2 hour time difference, and so go to bed early. What seems like the middle of the night, our room is shaking. It sounds like thunder or explosions outside. Cathy jumps out of bed and takes refuge standing in the door jamb, holding onto both sides. She is yelling, "Earthquake!" I look out the window, the earthquake is a fireworks display that marks the end of the day at Disneyland. Can we get so caught up in fear that we miss life and fun? Fear can so dominate that it can crowd out God's work and presence in our midst.
This kind of fear is worldly fear. In Psychology Today, there were several coping mechanisms including: deep breathing, meditation, diet, exercise, and community. As I read them, I thought, "We Christians have been doing this for a long time. Especially here at Lent, we fast and pray and worship and come together as supportive community."
There is another kind of fear in the Bible. It is the fear of the Lord. It could be called awe, reverence, worship. To come into the presence of the holy is an awesome thing. Therefore, when angels appear on the scene in the Bible, what is the first thing that they say, "Fear Not!" They have been well-instructed in angel school to lower anxiety. This kind of fear is a healthy fear.
We find it in Gen.15:1 where the LORD approaches Abram before he is firmly established in the land or has heirs and says, "Fear Not, I am your shield. Your reward will be very great." Proverbs 1:7 has the classic "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." This reverence is the pre-requisite to any wisdom in this world. In the early church knew this awe, in Acts 9:31, "Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Sprit, it increased in numbers." And then one of John Wesley's favorite passages, where this founder of the Methodist movement understood that because of what God had done for us in Jesus we could "work out our own salvation in fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you" in Phil. 2:12-13.
This is a good message to have the fear of the Lord. But the message wasn't through with me. I still had a lot of fear in my life. To be candid, my greatest fear is that of never feeling good enough. What can address that fear?
I thought as I pondered this message that I had removed the fear of the Lord from my daily practice. You know me, how open and forgiving and graceful I am. I am not about fear of the LORD. I am about the love of God for us. Then it hit me last night as I was sitting right here in the 3rd pew for the marriage of Jonathan and Diane. I watched them give themselves totally into the care of the other. The love was so awesome, so overwhelming we can barely stand it. That's what came to me, I hadn't taken the fear of the Lord far enough. It is about that love that is so powerful, risky, overwhelming that we run from it. We run back to our old friends, the fears we grown comfortable with. The awesome love of God threatens those other, old fears, and we are afraid to give them up. The fear of the Lord is about receiving God's love and risking loving others that same way.
It is what I John 4:17-18 is trying to say, "There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear." This love casts out the fear of punishment. It is what we Methodists call having assurance, not and eternally. We are held in God's love. Secondly, it means that we can be free of self-concern. This love allows us to love others without thinking of ourselves, the cost or risk to ourselves.
I wish I could tell you it happens instantly, like an on/off light switch. But it is more like a rheostat. It comes in degrees. It is not like a jump. More like a journey.
I have preached on fear before. Once when I did this in San Saba, I had an intern pastor working with me from Perkins School of Theology. I spent some 15 minutes talking about fear. He was tasked with offering the benediction. He captured what I was trying to say in 5 words. Fear God and nothing else.
May it be so for you.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Fear Not: Crisis Response
from my message on Ash Wednesday, from Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
A siren. A siren is what was used in the town I grew up in, Littlefield, Texas. When a storm threatened, a tornado was imminent, a siren on top of the water tower would sound. Even though we were a mile west of the city limits, we could still hear its wail. We would go down into the tornado shelter to escape the danger.
What is it for you? What is the alarm, the warning, the call to change, to seek shelter for you?
In Joel's time, it was a swarm of locusts. The crops were looking good. It was almost harvest time. Then the locusts came like an invading army, cutting down everything in their path. Joel says to blow the trumpet, to sound the alarm, to call the people to repentence. It was not the shofar, the ram's horn that was blown. It was a silver trumpet that the priests blew as sign to gather for worship, as a sign that God has come near, that the Day of the Lord was at hand, that the people were under judgment.
What is it for you? Maybe it is not a swarm of locusts. Maybe it is a butterfly. I have almost finished Barbara Kingsolver's latest book, Flight Behavior. The protaganist, Dellarobia, is going to begin a tryst, when she is stopped by what looks like fire on the trees. Due to her vanity, she has left her glasses off. It is not a fire, but a horde of monarch butterflies. They are not supposed to be here in the southern Appalachian mountains. They are supposed to winter in Old Mexico where they have been for millenia. But their ancestral grounds have had many trees cut down. Ph. D.'s come in to explain about global warming and that the butterflies are confused. It is a work of fiction, but the melting of the polar ice caps, the smog in Beijing, and the ongoing drought here in Texas are not fiction. Is this an alarm, a call to change?
What is it for you? Is it a DUI? You may have started to medicate your feelings. You need alcohol to get through the day, to go to sleep at night. Is that your alarm?
It may be a report after your annual physical. Your doctor says you are overweight. You have high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. Is that your alarm?
It may be bankruptcy. It is not just a function of the slow economic recovery, but of your overspending. Is that it for you?
It may be divorce papers where you have neglected this precious relationship of marriage. Is that it?
How are we to respond to the alarm? Joel says we can turn, can return to the LORD. When we don't know where to turn, we return to the LORD. We can return because of who God is: gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, relents from punishing. The word gracious has the underlying meaning of beauty. The word steadfast love has the meaning of unbreakable love. The word for mercy has as its root the word for womb. God desires to take us into God's very self, to welcome us home.
We are good at avoiding the alarms, at denying the sirens, the warnings. The problems seem so big, so overwhelming. What can we possibly do? Drive less, carpool more. Recycle grey water from the shower. Little things matter. Get help for addictions. Fast, exercise as a spiritual discipline with God's help, not just as diet plan. Learn generosity, gratitude instead of consuming and acquiring. Honor those close to you with God's love sustaining you.
No one is exempt from the alarm. Nursing infants and old people are called to deal with the alarm. Even brides and grooms (like Diane and Jonathan who are getting married on Saturday) are called to leave their chambers and take care of the call to repent. Even preachers, dad gum it. No one is exempt from confronting the need to repent and change.
What is the alarm for you? How will you respond? The good news is that God's fierce love will welcome us home, strengthen us to go this Lenten journey, and change. We can trust the results to God. All we are asked to do is to respond.
A siren. A siren is what was used in the town I grew up in, Littlefield, Texas. When a storm threatened, a tornado was imminent, a siren on top of the water tower would sound. Even though we were a mile west of the city limits, we could still hear its wail. We would go down into the tornado shelter to escape the danger.
What is it for you? What is the alarm, the warning, the call to change, to seek shelter for you?
In Joel's time, it was a swarm of locusts. The crops were looking good. It was almost harvest time. Then the locusts came like an invading army, cutting down everything in their path. Joel says to blow the trumpet, to sound the alarm, to call the people to repentence. It was not the shofar, the ram's horn that was blown. It was a silver trumpet that the priests blew as sign to gather for worship, as a sign that God has come near, that the Day of the Lord was at hand, that the people were under judgment.
What is it for you? Maybe it is not a swarm of locusts. Maybe it is a butterfly. I have almost finished Barbara Kingsolver's latest book, Flight Behavior. The protaganist, Dellarobia, is going to begin a tryst, when she is stopped by what looks like fire on the trees. Due to her vanity, she has left her glasses off. It is not a fire, but a horde of monarch butterflies. They are not supposed to be here in the southern Appalachian mountains. They are supposed to winter in Old Mexico where they have been for millenia. But their ancestral grounds have had many trees cut down. Ph. D.'s come in to explain about global warming and that the butterflies are confused. It is a work of fiction, but the melting of the polar ice caps, the smog in Beijing, and the ongoing drought here in Texas are not fiction. Is this an alarm, a call to change?
What is it for you? Is it a DUI? You may have started to medicate your feelings. You need alcohol to get through the day, to go to sleep at night. Is that your alarm?
It may be a report after your annual physical. Your doctor says you are overweight. You have high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. Is that your alarm?
It may be bankruptcy. It is not just a function of the slow economic recovery, but of your overspending. Is that it for you?
It may be divorce papers where you have neglected this precious relationship of marriage. Is that it?
How are we to respond to the alarm? Joel says we can turn, can return to the LORD. When we don't know where to turn, we return to the LORD. We can return because of who God is: gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, relents from punishing. The word gracious has the underlying meaning of beauty. The word steadfast love has the meaning of unbreakable love. The word for mercy has as its root the word for womb. God desires to take us into God's very self, to welcome us home.
We are good at avoiding the alarms, at denying the sirens, the warnings. The problems seem so big, so overwhelming. What can we possibly do? Drive less, carpool more. Recycle grey water from the shower. Little things matter. Get help for addictions. Fast, exercise as a spiritual discipline with God's help, not just as diet plan. Learn generosity, gratitude instead of consuming and acquiring. Honor those close to you with God's love sustaining you.
No one is exempt from the alarm. Nursing infants and old people are called to deal with the alarm. Even brides and grooms (like Diane and Jonathan who are getting married on Saturday) are called to leave their chambers and take care of the call to repent. Even preachers, dad gum it. No one is exempt from confronting the need to repent and change.
What is the alarm for you? How will you respond? The good news is that God's fierce love will welcome us home, strengthen us to go this Lenten journey, and change. We can trust the results to God. All we are asked to do is to respond.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Declarations of your heart
from my message on Feb. 10, the last of the Extravagant Generosity series, from John 3:16 and II Cor. 8:1-7,24
We pastors are always trying new ways to get people to give generously. So this one preacher said to his congregation that whoever gave the most in the offering that morning would get to pick out 3 hymns. The ushers took the offering. They brought it to the preacher. He lifted it up and placed it on the altar table. As he looked down (and I never do this), he noticed a $1000 bill in the plate. He was so excited, and he began thanking God. He said he would like to thank also the giver. Who gave this extraordinary gift? The congregation looked around. A little old lady, a saintly one, shyly raised her hand. The preacher asked her to come up front. She slowly made her way there. "Now you may pick out 3 hymns." She saw a handsome man in the front pew and others in side sections. "I pick him and him and him."
That's not quite the way we do stewardship in this congregation! But I do like the fact that the woman felt invested in her church. Maybe you do too in this church. You feel that you have a stake, a say, a voice in what happens here. The last 3 weeks you have had the opportunity to make your feelings known as you have filled out cards in worship. The first week you answered the question: What do you love most about our church? The second week you addressed: Who in this church has had the most spiritual impact in your life? Last week you answered: What are your hopes and visions for this church? Today you make declarations of your heart. I am asking you to fill out that commitment card and bring it here to the altar.
You will be saying thank you to God. What has God given? For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have eternal life. We give because we have been given to. It is called the law of reciprocity.
I listen to NPR as I drive around town, 90.5 on the FM dial, KUT here in Austin. I heard a report about the law of reciprocity that I have tried to find in print and could not. So what I report is from my memory. The story was about a sociologist who chose some 200 random families in towns around his college city. He didn't know them at all. He sent them a Christmas card. He got back more than 50% Christmas cards from these total strangers. Here's what is really interesting. He continued to get cards for years, 15 years and more!
We give because we have been given to. Paul employs the law of reciprocity in his letter to the Corinthians. He cites the example of the Macedonians. Who do we know from Macedonia? We have the Petreski family with us this morning. We have gotten to know each other over these 2 years. Paul says that the Macedonians have given generously. They have given voluntarily. They have given in good times and hard times. Paul doesn't say to the Corinthians, "Why can't you be like the Macedonians?" Boys and girls, how does that work when your parents say to you, "Why can't you be like your brother or sister?" Not too well. Paul doesn't do that here. What Paul does is this: Corinthians, look at the Macedonians and how they have responded to God's grace. The Macedonians gave themselves first to the Lord. They participated in the offering for the saints back in Jerusalem. Now Corinthians, how have you responded to God's grace? Corinthians, you excel in everything else. Why not excel in giving?
It is interesting the way Paul uses the word charis in this section. It is the word we usually translate as grace, God's love for us. But 3 other times in these few verses, it is translated as privilege of sharing and genererous undertaking. Paul doesn't call it giving; he calls it grace.
I ask you: what has God done for you? How have you been graced? We give because we have been given to. Our hurdle is sometimes we think we have earned all this, and that it hasn't been given to us. Think about it: even our ability to earn, to be productive is a gift from God. And what is forgiveness worth? Where would you buy that? How about eternal life? What is a meal brought by a friend while you are sick worth? What is a listening ear while you are depressed worth? What is a prayer for you worth?
How have you been graced? While you fill out your commitment cards, I will tell you a story of grace this past week. On Monday afternoon, I got a phone call from a man I will call Sam. Sam was a member of my former church. "Do you know why I called?" "If it is like other times, your marriage is in trouble." You see Sam had asked me to pray for him because he had an addiction to on-line pornography. He had lost several jobs over the years. He had almost lost his marriage. He had asked me to pray for him, and I have over thess last 6 years. I have tried to find him help, a pastor, a church, a counselor, in the far West Texas town where he now lives, a since I can no longer be his pastor. So he said, "No the marriage is going well. We are about to celebrate our 18th anniversary. I am calling to ask about the best places in northern New Mexico to take our kids tubing." Grace! He further told me that he had found a way to use his recovery in his addiction to coach other men with similiar problems. God had provided him with a ministry out of his addiction. Grace! I was believing that his God and Jesus, Bible and prayer thing might really be real.
How have you been graced? How will you respond with the declarations of your heart? I did some more research on the law of reciprocity. In essence, it is saying, "Thank you." The Japanese word for thank you is literally, "This will not end!" Our thank you to God's grace goes on and on. From another culture, we get another perspective. Uche who recently joined our church from Nigeria said that in his church the offering takes as long as it takes. (show the video clip)
God has graced our lives. May our thank you take the rest of our lives.
We pastors are always trying new ways to get people to give generously. So this one preacher said to his congregation that whoever gave the most in the offering that morning would get to pick out 3 hymns. The ushers took the offering. They brought it to the preacher. He lifted it up and placed it on the altar table. As he looked down (and I never do this), he noticed a $1000 bill in the plate. He was so excited, and he began thanking God. He said he would like to thank also the giver. Who gave this extraordinary gift? The congregation looked around. A little old lady, a saintly one, shyly raised her hand. The preacher asked her to come up front. She slowly made her way there. "Now you may pick out 3 hymns." She saw a handsome man in the front pew and others in side sections. "I pick him and him and him."
That's not quite the way we do stewardship in this congregation! But I do like the fact that the woman felt invested in her church. Maybe you do too in this church. You feel that you have a stake, a say, a voice in what happens here. The last 3 weeks you have had the opportunity to make your feelings known as you have filled out cards in worship. The first week you answered the question: What do you love most about our church? The second week you addressed: Who in this church has had the most spiritual impact in your life? Last week you answered: What are your hopes and visions for this church? Today you make declarations of your heart. I am asking you to fill out that commitment card and bring it here to the altar.
You will be saying thank you to God. What has God given? For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have eternal life. We give because we have been given to. It is called the law of reciprocity.
I listen to NPR as I drive around town, 90.5 on the FM dial, KUT here in Austin. I heard a report about the law of reciprocity that I have tried to find in print and could not. So what I report is from my memory. The story was about a sociologist who chose some 200 random families in towns around his college city. He didn't know them at all. He sent them a Christmas card. He got back more than 50% Christmas cards from these total strangers. Here's what is really interesting. He continued to get cards for years, 15 years and more!
We give because we have been given to. Paul employs the law of reciprocity in his letter to the Corinthians. He cites the example of the Macedonians. Who do we know from Macedonia? We have the Petreski family with us this morning. We have gotten to know each other over these 2 years. Paul says that the Macedonians have given generously. They have given voluntarily. They have given in good times and hard times. Paul doesn't say to the Corinthians, "Why can't you be like the Macedonians?" Boys and girls, how does that work when your parents say to you, "Why can't you be like your brother or sister?" Not too well. Paul doesn't do that here. What Paul does is this: Corinthians, look at the Macedonians and how they have responded to God's grace. The Macedonians gave themselves first to the Lord. They participated in the offering for the saints back in Jerusalem. Now Corinthians, how have you responded to God's grace? Corinthians, you excel in everything else. Why not excel in giving?
It is interesting the way Paul uses the word charis in this section. It is the word we usually translate as grace, God's love for us. But 3 other times in these few verses, it is translated as privilege of sharing and genererous undertaking. Paul doesn't call it giving; he calls it grace.
I ask you: what has God done for you? How have you been graced? We give because we have been given to. Our hurdle is sometimes we think we have earned all this, and that it hasn't been given to us. Think about it: even our ability to earn, to be productive is a gift from God. And what is forgiveness worth? Where would you buy that? How about eternal life? What is a meal brought by a friend while you are sick worth? What is a listening ear while you are depressed worth? What is a prayer for you worth?
How have you been graced? While you fill out your commitment cards, I will tell you a story of grace this past week. On Monday afternoon, I got a phone call from a man I will call Sam. Sam was a member of my former church. "Do you know why I called?" "If it is like other times, your marriage is in trouble." You see Sam had asked me to pray for him because he had an addiction to on-line pornography. He had lost several jobs over the years. He had almost lost his marriage. He had asked me to pray for him, and I have over thess last 6 years. I have tried to find him help, a pastor, a church, a counselor, in the far West Texas town where he now lives, a since I can no longer be his pastor. So he said, "No the marriage is going well. We are about to celebrate our 18th anniversary. I am calling to ask about the best places in northern New Mexico to take our kids tubing." Grace! He further told me that he had found a way to use his recovery in his addiction to coach other men with similiar problems. God had provided him with a ministry out of his addiction. Grace! I was believing that his God and Jesus, Bible and prayer thing might really be real.
How have you been graced? How will you respond with the declarations of your heart? I did some more research on the law of reciprocity. In essence, it is saying, "Thank you." The Japanese word for thank you is literally, "This will not end!" Our thank you to God's grace goes on and on. From another culture, we get another perspective. Uche who recently joined our church from Nigeria said that in his church the offering takes as long as it takes. (show the video clip)
God has graced our lives. May our thank you take the rest of our lives.
Monday, February 4, 2013
bucket lists: visions and hopes are inspirations of the heart
From my message on Feb. 3, the third in series on Extravagant Generosity, from Joel 2:28, Col. 3:1, Matt. 6:33
I believe God has visions and hopes for us. I trust that these are more than just my need for order, my need for life to make sense, more than an existence that is just a chaotic mishmash of random events. Don't you want for there to be some order to the universe? I believe God's purposes are at work. I believe God's will will be done with us and sometimes in spite of us.
I read the Bible and look for the arc of God's purposes. One is that these purposes are inclusive. God wants to welcome as many people as possible. The prophet Joel says that God will place God's dreams in the young and the old, males and females, the poor and the privileged. From the call of Abram and Sarai, we have God sending them away from their comfortable life to a "land that I will show you," not to disrupt their lives but to a higher calling. They will be blessed to be a blessing; through them all of the families of the earth will be blessed. The prophet Jonah is sent to Ninevah, code langauge for your worst enemy and former opressor, to preach to them. Isaiah has the LORD calling Israel to be a light to the nations, so that all may ascend God's holy hill. Jesus comes as Emmanuel, God with us. From his birth, wise ones from foreign lands, Gentiles at that, and poor Jewish shepherds come to worship him. See my arms open wide as I stand behind this table, consecrating these communion elements. That is God's welcoming embrace for all people.
Another arc is that God's purposes are for our good. You may remember that verse from the prophet Jeremiah, 29:11, "For surely I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." Paul in Col., says seek the higher things where Christ is. Jesus says in Matt., seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be yours as well. God only wants what is best for us.
So I have this sermon topic that has bucket list as part of the title. I work way out ahead on these messages. Sure enough, "bucket list" made the list at Michigan Lake Superior State University of one of the most over-used phrases of 2012. The phrase was used in the movie where the 2 men were dying of cancer, but they wanted to do the things they had always wanted to do before they died, before they kicked the bucket. I am turning 60 soon. I am very aware of my mortality, but I don't want us to be motivated by fear of dying. I want us to be full of living for Jesus.
So my phrasing would be like this: God places burdens on our hearts. That's how God's visions and hopes feel. Something that won't leave you alone. You feel compelled to do it. The older I get, the less I work and the more I pray. I am ceasing to push getting my own way. It just leaves me exhausted and you frustrated. I am not longer manipulating, engineering, trying harder and longer to get my way. I am trying to listen for God's purposes. I am trying to align myself with God's purposes.
One burden that God has placed on my heart is about payday loans. I have done some research here, and they are outright usury. I wish I didn't have this burden, but I can't escape it. My research has revealed that there are some churches that are offering alternatives to payday loans, a Catholic church in Conroe, Tx, and a United Church of Christ congregation here in Austin, among others. I am trying to get these churches networked through the Texas Conference of Churches so that the poor can not get entrapped by crushing debt payments.
For this congregation, God has placed some burdens on my hearts, some hopes and visions. The number one is a clear path of discipleship. I no longer want to be busy; I want to be about helping people to follow Christ. I no longer want to fill up the calendar; I want to help people to follow Christ.
Within this path of discipleship, my heart's burden is for families with children and youth. To that end, I hope we can start a Children First worship service in the fall, a place where families will feel welcome. I talk to lots of parents who say their kids are not ready for prime time worship, they have a hard time sitting still. The Children First model is very interactive, fast-paced, with drama, music, prayer, and message. If God has placed this burden on your heart too, talk to Hilary Martin, our director of children's ministries.
We need more help in the youth area too. Diane, our director of youth ministries has done a great job of contacting youth. Youth don't just come on Sunday evening for UMYF anymore; they come all during the week. Some only come to Sunday School. Some only come to Bible Study on Monday night, or Wednesday night, or Thursday morning. Some only go on mission trips; some only sing in choir. Some only go to Six Flags over Texas. I challenged Diane to come up with a list of youth she knew. She has contact with over 100 youth. We need an assistant youth director.
What burdens are on your heart? What are God's visions and hopes for us? I want to fill out the yellow card as I tell you one story. I want to illustrate how the path of discipleship has impacted one family in our midst. Jason and Kerry started visiting us over a year ago. They found the people in the worship service to be friendly. They had questions about what we believe, and they took my Methodist 101 class. They got pregnant. They took our class on baptism and faith development. They wanted to know more about the Bible. They took the Bible from Scratch: The New Testament for Beginners. They came from another faith tradition. They told me, "We learned more about the Bible in that 8 week survey course than in all the years we spent in our other church." They had their child baptized here in December. They are now a part of the Practical Faith Sunday School class. That's what I believe God's vision is for our church.
I believe God has visions and hopes for us. I trust that these are more than just my need for order, my need for life to make sense, more than an existence that is just a chaotic mishmash of random events. Don't you want for there to be some order to the universe? I believe God's purposes are at work. I believe God's will will be done with us and sometimes in spite of us.
I read the Bible and look for the arc of God's purposes. One is that these purposes are inclusive. God wants to welcome as many people as possible. The prophet Joel says that God will place God's dreams in the young and the old, males and females, the poor and the privileged. From the call of Abram and Sarai, we have God sending them away from their comfortable life to a "land that I will show you," not to disrupt their lives but to a higher calling. They will be blessed to be a blessing; through them all of the families of the earth will be blessed. The prophet Jonah is sent to Ninevah, code langauge for your worst enemy and former opressor, to preach to them. Isaiah has the LORD calling Israel to be a light to the nations, so that all may ascend God's holy hill. Jesus comes as Emmanuel, God with us. From his birth, wise ones from foreign lands, Gentiles at that, and poor Jewish shepherds come to worship him. See my arms open wide as I stand behind this table, consecrating these communion elements. That is God's welcoming embrace for all people.
Another arc is that God's purposes are for our good. You may remember that verse from the prophet Jeremiah, 29:11, "For surely I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." Paul in Col., says seek the higher things where Christ is. Jesus says in Matt., seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be yours as well. God only wants what is best for us.
So I have this sermon topic that has bucket list as part of the title. I work way out ahead on these messages. Sure enough, "bucket list" made the list at Michigan Lake Superior State University of one of the most over-used phrases of 2012. The phrase was used in the movie where the 2 men were dying of cancer, but they wanted to do the things they had always wanted to do before they died, before they kicked the bucket. I am turning 60 soon. I am very aware of my mortality, but I don't want us to be motivated by fear of dying. I want us to be full of living for Jesus.
So my phrasing would be like this: God places burdens on our hearts. That's how God's visions and hopes feel. Something that won't leave you alone. You feel compelled to do it. The older I get, the less I work and the more I pray. I am ceasing to push getting my own way. It just leaves me exhausted and you frustrated. I am not longer manipulating, engineering, trying harder and longer to get my way. I am trying to listen for God's purposes. I am trying to align myself with God's purposes.
One burden that God has placed on my heart is about payday loans. I have done some research here, and they are outright usury. I wish I didn't have this burden, but I can't escape it. My research has revealed that there are some churches that are offering alternatives to payday loans, a Catholic church in Conroe, Tx, and a United Church of Christ congregation here in Austin, among others. I am trying to get these churches networked through the Texas Conference of Churches so that the poor can not get entrapped by crushing debt payments.
For this congregation, God has placed some burdens on my hearts, some hopes and visions. The number one is a clear path of discipleship. I no longer want to be busy; I want to be about helping people to follow Christ. I no longer want to fill up the calendar; I want to help people to follow Christ.
Within this path of discipleship, my heart's burden is for families with children and youth. To that end, I hope we can start a Children First worship service in the fall, a place where families will feel welcome. I talk to lots of parents who say their kids are not ready for prime time worship, they have a hard time sitting still. The Children First model is very interactive, fast-paced, with drama, music, prayer, and message. If God has placed this burden on your heart too, talk to Hilary Martin, our director of children's ministries.
We need more help in the youth area too. Diane, our director of youth ministries has done a great job of contacting youth. Youth don't just come on Sunday evening for UMYF anymore; they come all during the week. Some only come to Sunday School. Some only come to Bible Study on Monday night, or Wednesday night, or Thursday morning. Some only go on mission trips; some only sing in choir. Some only go to Six Flags over Texas. I challenged Diane to come up with a list of youth she knew. She has contact with over 100 youth. We need an assistant youth director.
What burdens are on your heart? What are God's visions and hopes for us? I want to fill out the yellow card as I tell you one story. I want to illustrate how the path of discipleship has impacted one family in our midst. Jason and Kerry started visiting us over a year ago. They found the people in the worship service to be friendly. They had questions about what we believe, and they took my Methodist 101 class. They got pregnant. They took our class on baptism and faith development. They wanted to know more about the Bible. They took the Bible from Scratch: The New Testament for Beginners. They came from another faith tradition. They told me, "We learned more about the Bible in that 8 week survey course than in all the years we spent in our other church." They had their child baptized here in December. They are now a part of the Practical Faith Sunday School class. That's what I believe God's vision is for our church.
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