THE 14th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST                         August 17, 2008
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8            Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32             Matthew 15:10-28

                                                “Outcasts All!”

            How good do you have to be?  I suppose it matters, doesn’t it?  What quality is most important?  They conducted some kind of a Chinese Idol search, according to the first article I read.  Children from across China auditioned all vying for the chance to sing “Ode to the Motherland” before some 91,000 people as part of the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  As the competition came out, the winner was 7-year-old Yang Peiyi.  She had the voice.  She would be the one.  Not so fast, right?  You heard the story this week.  This needed to be perfect, the ultimate spectacle that would show the world the glory of China.  Little Yang may have had the voice but in the final analysis that wasn’t enough.  Her teeth were not right.  She had lost her front baby teeth and the new ones were coming in sort of crooked.  She appeared a bit buck-toothed – just not good enough for the big show.  Enter 9-year-old Lin Miaoke.  Her voice hadn’t quite measured up in the competition but, my goodness, was she cute or what?  Those pig-tails, that smile – yes, she would be the one!  We’ll play a little high-tech game and the people will never know what hap-pened.  Cute little Lin will be the one we hook up to that cable system.  We’ll take her soaring above and around the stadium while she lip-synchs to Yang’s song. 
            How good do you have to be?  How good is good enough in the final analysis?
            Do you have the voice?  Do you have the looks?  If you had the choice, which would you pick?
            Are you good enough?  Do you have what it takes?  How do you decide?  Where do we find the standards, the rules?  Which one of the rules is the most important?  Do I really have to keep them all?
            In one unmistakable sense the witness of scripture is that the whole law must be obeyed if we are going to prove ourselves worthy of standing as righteous before the holy God.  We cannot simply pick and choose.  It is not enough to say, well, we’re pretty good.  It is not enough to measure up to, say, 95 percent of the law.  In the eyes of the Holy God it is all or nothing.  That’s pretty tough, isn’t it?
            How you doin?  There’s a lot of law to keep track of, isn’t there?  Is it all to be kept?  There are food laws.  There are laws about relationships.  There are laws concerning the Sabbath.  There are laws about how and what we are to give to God and when.  Let me put it this way: do you even know them all?  We won’t even go to the next question of whether you keep them all.  The sad truth is that we don’t – period.  It’s not even close.
            Had a seafood dinner lately?  I just love lobster, shrimp, and crab.  The New England coast is one of my favorite vacation spots in all the world.  Head down to the docks and buy the fresh live lobsters right off the boat, take them home, steam them and enjoy with lots and lots of melted butter.  Nothing like it – except that the word of God says that it is an abomination before the Lord to eat anything that comes out of the seas and doesn’t have fins and scales.  Oh, really?
            What did you do yesterday?  Did you work?  Did you do some yard work, putter around in the garden?  Did you cook?  Did you go shopping?  What about the Sabbath?  Surely you know that it is the seventh day of the week on which God rested from his work in crea- tion, the day on which he commanded his people to do no work at all?  What?  Sunday?  Well, that was a human decision.  Does it really do away with God’s holy Law?  Are you sure?
            There really are lots and lots and lots and lots of laws.  Are you good enough?     
            So very often, among God’s people, these laws determine how people are viewed by society.  We’ve heard the stories in the Gospels where Jesus is accused of hanging around with the wrong crowd, with, well, sinners, right?  We all know who THEY are, don’t we?  Sure we do.  It becomes obvious.  Everyone knows.  THEY just don’t fit in with polite company.  THEY don’t have the same values as we do.  THEY are exactly the kind of people we warn our kids not to hang with.  WE’re on the right side but there’s just something different about THEM.
            She was one of THEM.  She wasn’t even close.  She was an outsider – a Canaanite woman.  It is a bit funny that Jesus is on her turf, the region of Tyre and Sidon, and not at home in Israel when he meets up with this woman. The distinctions are so ingrained that Jesus seems to buy into them.  Jewish society knew just two categories – Jews and Gentiles – and she wasn’t a Jew.  Everything in the customs of the people said, “Stay away from her and her kind.”
            That’s where Jesus begins and I have to say it bothers me that he does this.  He should have more compassion than this.  He, more than anyone, should rise above such prejudicial stereotypes and care for the person in her particular need, right?
            Thank God she stands up for herself.  Wait a minute.  You can’t just cast me aside.  I’m a human being, too.  Are my needs any less important?  Don’t even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from the table?  She’s willing to be called a dog – whatever it takes – She’ll bear anything, any ridicule, any mocking, if it gets her little girl healed.
            Ultimately Jesus grants her request, doesn’t he?  Woman, you have great faith! 
            We could decide when reading this story to focus on this woman, this outsider who didn’t deserve what she asked for, and be grateful that God’s grace is extended to those on the margins of society.  We can look at her and understand how great it is that Jesus answers her prayer even though she doesn’t deserve it and all the while forget that she is us; that we are just like her.
            As insiders we can lose sight of the happy reality that our standing before God is no less due to God’s free grace than was this Canaanite woman.  We have done nothing to deserve anything we have from God.  We have not kept the law.  We do not keep the law and as long as we live, no matter how much we struggle and strive, we will always be sinners.  Anything we have from God, the grace and the saving love that has claimed us as his beloved children and made us heirs of his promise of eternal life, has been an undeserved gift.  Close doesn’t cut it.  Almost is not enough.  The standard of the law is holiness or nothing and we deserve the nothing.  We surely are not holy.
            We are the dogs.  We do not have, nor do we deserve, a place at the table.  We are outcasts, separated from the presence of God by our sin.  But Jesus does, in fact, have compassion on the outcasts, the dogs, those who are not fit.  Our sin is not counted against us because of God’s grace in Jesus.
            Like this woman we can come with boldness before Jesus and have confidence that our prayers and heard and our requests granted.  We do not fall in our sin, we stand in his grace.  Come with faithful hearts.  Come with trust in the one who gave his life for us.  Though our sins are as scarlet, his blood washes us white as snow.  No matter who you are, no matter what you have done, you have access to the Father through the grace of his Son Jesus.  There is forgiveness.  There is life.  There is salvation.  We are outcasts all.  None of us is righteous and yet we dare to stand by faith.  Come.  Come with boldness.  Come with confidence.  Come and find life in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

soli deo gloria

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THE 13th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST             August 10, 2008
I Kings 19:9-18             Romans 10:5-15              Matthew 14:22-33

                                       “What Are You Afraid Of?”

            My nephews Ryan and Joey teach me a lot.  They probably don’t realize that, but it’s true.  We have had a swimming pool for five summers now.  Joey is five years old and Ryan will be seven this week.  They really don’t know a time when the pool wasn’t there and they have been in it far more than I have over the years.  They are fish.  They swim.  They jump and dive in without the slightest hesitation or fear.  It’s not a really deep pool, only about six feet at the deepest but they go down and touch the bottom without a second thought.  Their Dad and I pick them up and throw them from the shallow end into the deep end and they fly - again, not a trace of fear.
            We adults are not so blessed.   Be careful!  Don’t jump so close to the side!   You know what I’m talking about, right?  The kids are blissfully ignorant of potential danger but we adults see it all, every worst-case scenario.  Wednesday evening Ryan was playing with the two dogs – his dog T-Bone and our dog Echo.  Between the two of them they had this tennis ball with a braided cord coming out of it.  T-Bone had the ball in his mouth and Echo had bit down on the cords.  For well over 15 minutes the two were locked in this epic struggle, this canine tug-of-war over this toy.  Meanwhile Ryan wants to get in the middle of it all.  He’s diving on top of the toy locked between the two dogs’ mouths.  Ginny, her mom, and I are watching, just sure Ryan is going to wind up getting bit in the process.  Does Ryan care?  Is he even aware of the danger?  Not a chance - he’s a seven year old playing with the dogs.  Nothing going on but fun.  I think the dogs would still be fighting over this toy if Ryan hadn’t managed to lay his whole body across them enough that one of them had to let go.  No bites.  No damage.  No fear.
            The disciples were afraid.  They were adults.  They knew danger when they saw it.  They were in this boat in deep water in the middle of the night in a storm.  Even though some of them were fishermen and lived their lives on the sea, this was more than a little scary.  We who are so much more wise and less superstitious and all that will find it funny, but these guys really did believe that there were all manner of scary sea monsters out there in the depths of the sea.  They were scared enough and then they see this ghost, right?  That sent them right over the top.  Now they’re sure they’re all going to die.  It’s over.  But it’s not a ghost, is it? It’s Jesus . . . and he’s . . . walking on the water to them.  Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid!
            What happens next?  Peter, right?  Why is it always Peter?  He’s the bold one.  He’s the one who is always so sure of himself.  He’s the one who always manages to put his foot in his mouth in that overconfidence of his.
Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.  Now that’s an amazing thing, isn’t it?  What faith!  What courage!  But just a moment – he’s not really sure, is he?  IF it is you, Jesus . . .  He’s not really sure at all.  This still could be a malevolent spirit seeking their harm.  But, Jesus, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you on the water.
            Of course it is really Jesus and, of course, Jesus does invite him out of the boat onto the storm blown water.  Now Peter has a choice to make.  The challenge has been made – the gauntlet thrown down.  Okay Peter, you wanted it, here it is – Come on out.  What do you do? 
            Did Peter think this was really going to happen?  Was he pre-pared for this?  No backing out now - I mean, how would that look, right?  He’s got to do it; and he does.
            The boat is reeling and rocking, the wind is howling, and the waves are slapping over the side.  The disciples are still really scared at all of this but Peter manages to gather all of his boldness and cour- age and he steps out onto the water.  He does it.  He really does it.  He walks on the water right there next to Jesus.  Jesus invited him.  He believed and trusted the one who invited him out, he acted on that faith, and there he was.  Amazing, isn’t it? 
            There’s something of that childlike faith at work there, I think.  No fear at all because Jesus said, “Come.”  Imagine the other disciples watching this happening and saying, “Peter, be careful!  Peter, watch out!  Peter, don’t you know you can’t do this?”  Just like Ginny, Mom, and I telling Ryan to be careful with T and Echo.  Peter just does it and there is no fear at all – at least at first.
            Oh, a question, anyone recall what the name Peter means?  Hold that for a moment.  So Peter is walking on the storm tossed sea with Jesus, for real.  That’s when reality begins to set in.  He’s walk- ing on the water and his focus on Jesus is just laser-beam intense.  As long as it is, he’s okay; but then he begins to think. (always dangerous, right?)  He thinks, “Hey, I’m walking on the sea. Is this cool, or what?  You know those waves kind of hurt when they slap at my legs.  This wind is strong.  It’s almost knocking me over.  You know, I really shouldn’t be able to do this, should I?  And in that split-second his focus leaves Jesus and he’s looking at the sea and feeling that wind.
            What does Peter mean?  In that split-second he is just that and he begins to sink like one.
            What are you afraid of?  What are we as a church afraid of?  We’re in this boat, aren’t we?  I’ve told you this before – the term “nave” that is used for the section of the church where the people sit comes from the same root as for Navy.  We’re all in this boat together and it represents all kind of Biblical stories from Noah’s ark to this little boat out there at night on the sea.  We’re sailing along safe and secure from all of the perils of the world, the raging flood that would take our lives, the fearsome deep inhabited by all sorts of evil forces that would harm us.
            Make no mistake, this is a good thing; the church is a precious gift from God for our life and salvation in Jesus Christ.  It is danger- ous to be out there alone. We need each other.  We need the gifts and blessings God has given to the church, but we tend to get lazy in here.  We get comfortable.  It’s dangerous out there so we’d just as soon stay in here where it’s safe.    
 Jesus calls us out.  There’s a connection between last week’s story of the feeding of the 5,000 and this story today.  Jesus fed that crowd but the disciples had to be willing to sacrifice that bag lunch they had.  Peter could walk on water as Jesus called him, but he had to take the risk.  He had to make the sacrifice of faith and get out of the boat.
            It is dangerous out there, make no mistake.  There are all kinds of scary things and scary people out there.  There are dangers to our faith and to our life out there.  It seems so much better, so much smarter to stay in here.  We’ll put out a “welcome” sign and hope that people come to join us, but actually step out of the boat onto the open sea?  Nah, I don’t think so.
            Jesus calls us from out there, “Come!”  He’s out there where the danger is.  He’s out there where the people need to be fed and cared for and both hear and experience the good news of God’s love in Jesus.  We simply can’t obey his call by staying in the boat.  We have to step out – in faith.  We have to keep our focus on Jesus and know that as long as we are in him and with him, there is nothing to fear.  It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus and the people to whom Jesus calls us out there on the wild, open, threatening sea.  Where they are, that’s where Jesus is and that’s where he calls us and sends us.  We can do this - not in our own strength but trusting in what Jesus makes possible.  We are Peter.  Alone, on our own, we sink like a stone but as we trust in Jesus we can walk on water and God will accomplish great things through us.  AMEN.

soli deo gloria

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THE 12th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST                       August 3, 2008
Isaiah 55:1-5                    Romans 9:1-5                    Matthew 14:13-21

                                          “What’s for Lunch?”

What did you bring?  Did you bring enough?

            Jesus had tried to get away.  He’d just received some terrible news and he needed some time alone and apart.  He needed time to reflect, to think about what it all meant.  King Herod had killed John, John the Baptizer, Jesus’ cousin.  It was news that made you stop and think.  What’s next?
            Circumstances didn’t allow him the time he was looking for.  Jesus was a popular figure.  The crowds seemed to be there all the time; to be able to find him no matter where he went or what else he wanted to do.  Wherever Jesus went, the crowds found him.  They needed him.  They were drawn to him as if by a magnetic force.  He tried to get away but there they were.

Did you bring enough?

            Jesus had compassion on this crowd of people, this mass of humanity.  He knew their situation.  He understood their deep need and he responded.  He reached out and touched them and they were healed.
 The disciples were beginning to understand Jesus.  His compassion was contagious, at least among those who had come to be so close to him.  They felt for these people almost as much as Jesus did.  Jesus had healed their sick, something far beyond their abilities and yet they wanted to do what they could.  It was getting late; it was going to be getting dark soon.  It had been a long day and the people would be getting hungry.  The disciples were concerned and so they came to Jesus with a suggestion borne out of their concern for these people.  “Jesus, we’d better send the crowds away.  We’re out here in the middle of nowhere.  These people need to head home, find a place to get a bite to eat before it gets any later.”  On one level this might sound a little gruff – “Go on, go home.  Get outahere.” – but I really do think it was a thought borne of this compassion they had learned from Jesus. 

What did you bring?  Did you bring enough?

            Jesus turned the tables on the disciples, didn’t he?  It is as if he said to them, “You know, that’s a good thought.  I appreciate that you care about them, but I have a better idea.  We don’t need to send them
away.  You feed them.”  Obviously that wasn’t what they had in mind, was it?  It’s not that they were unwilling.  They did care and they wanted the best for these people, “but Jesus, come on.  Look around.  There are so many people here.  We just weren’t expecting this.  You know.  We were trying to get away.  All we’ve got is . . . what?   Come on, what do we have? . . . looks like a few loaves of bread and a couple fish.”

Did you bring enough?

            What does Jesus do?  Bring me what you’ve got.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.  Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
            You realize, don’t you, that what the disciples had was their supper.  Surrendering it to Jesus was a sacrifice.  This compassion they had learned from Jesus always came with a cost.  Care enough to feed the hungry crowd and you just might have to go hungry yourself.  But they did it; and they did it before they had any idea what Jesus would do with this offering of theirs. 

What did you bring with you this morning?

            We, like the disciples, have caught a glimpse of the compassionate heart of Jesus and we are drawn to him.  We have caught on to this compassion for those in need around us and we genuinely want to help – to care for the poor, to feed the hungry, to befriend the lonely, all of it.  What we have seen Jesus do – we would like to do here in our community and throughout the world.  But there’s this problem, isn’t there?  We don’t think we’ve got all that much to offer; do we?  We’re just this one little congregation tucked away here in Schuylkill County and the needs in the world are so very great.  All we’ve got is this bag lunch and there are so many hungry people.
 What does Jesus say?  Bring it to me.  Are we willing to bring what we have to Jesus?  There is a cost.  With Jesus there is always a cost.  Handing it over to Jesus is a sacrifice and what we bring will then be out of our control and we’re not always so good with that kind of letting go, are we? 
            The question is one of faith, isn’t it?  Do we believe in what Jesus can do if we let go and trust in him?  Five thousand men, not even counting the women and children, were fed from those five small loaves of bread and two fish.  Is anything impossible for God?
            There are hungry children in Honduras.  Malnourishment is a real problem that affects not only their physical abilities but also their ability to think and to learn. All we’ve got are pennies. Are we willing to turn those pennies over to Jesus?
            There are Christians in house churches in China dealing with persecution and yet boldly living out their faith, offering up a power- ful witness for Christ even at the cost of arrest and imprisonment.  All we have is prayer.  Are we willing to offer up that prayer and allow Jesus to respond for the good of his people, his Church?
            There are neighbors down the block or across the street that are trying to get acclimated to a new community.  Perhaps they haven’t had the opportunity to make new friends.  All we have to offer it, well, ourselves.  Are we willing to give ourselves to Jesus on behalf of these new neighbors?  Jesus took the bread and fish, blessed them, and gave them back to the disciples to distribute.  If we offer ourselves to Jesus in this way, he will bless us and give us right back so that we might offer this ministry of friendship.  It might truly be a miracle but we might even be empowered and enabled to invite a new neighbor to come to worship with us.
            We bring bread and wine.  Maybe we’ve actually made it but it doesn’t even matter if we went to the store and bought it, does it?  We bring these gifts of the earth and we turn them over to Jesus.  That’s what Communion is, isn’t it?  Just a few loaves of bread and a couple bottles of wine but we offer them up to the Lord and we allow him to do with them what he will according to his promise of love and grace.  By the power of his word and his promise these earthly gifts become a truly heavenly blessing.  We are fed not only with food and drink but with the true body and blood of Jesus.
            What did you bring with you this morning?  We brought ourselves.  We brought our families.  We brought a tangible financial offering of some kind.  Those are the obvious things.  But we also brought our personalities, our talents, our abilities, our interests, our skills, and our time.  We may not think it’s all that much.  We are so very good at downplaying the worth and value of ourselves and what we have to offer.  If it’s really not all that much, why bother, right?  But we have seen what Jesus can do, haven’t we?  Do you believe that Jesus is still able to take even our meager offerings and accomplish something amazing?
            The disciples’ bag lunch didn’t seem near enough for so many people but Jesus blessed it and all ate and were satisfied.  What you have to offer might seem small but God will do amazing things if only we let go and let God.  AMEN.    

soli deo gloria

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THE 11th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST                          July 27, 2008
I Kings 3:5-12            Romans 8:26-39            Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

                                              “Are You Listening?”

            More parables – more stories – more word-pictures that Jesus sets before us so that we might catch a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.  The last two Sundays were simpler – just one story, one image on which we were to focus: the sower broadcasting his seed all over the place two Sundays ago and the wheat field with weeds growing in it last Sunday.  This morning we have five – a mustard seed, yeast, a treasure, a pearl, and a fishing net.  Where do we look first?  Matthew has given us too much and I think we could go a bit nuts if we tried to deal with it all in one day.  It would be like that buffet where there is so much food and it all looks, smells, and tastes so good that we have a hard time stopping ourselves.  We eat and eat and eat until we are full to bursting.
            This morning I have chosen the treasure chest buried in the field.  I’ve always felt drawn to this little parable.  Our nephews Ryan and Joey have moved on to other things these days but there was a point when they were really into pirates.  They had the costumes and the toys.  One particular Sunday – actually it was Super Bowl Sunday two years ago – we had friends over to watch the game and the kids were playing in the basement.  When the night was over and everyone had gone home we went downstairs to check on the condition of the basement.  We found a number of X’s in red crayon on the concrete floor and the walls.  You see where this is going, don’t you?  X marks the spot where pirate treasure is buried, right?
           So Jesus sets this little image before his audience. It’s so short, just one verse.  It’s hardly even enough to call a parable.  It’s just a little word-picture. Imagine a man taking a short cut through this field.  He’s really just thinking of getting from point A to point B.  The field doesn’t really matter.  He’s trying to save time so he’s taking this short cut but all of a sudden he trips, he stumbles over this thing that’s sticking up through the dirt.  As he picks himself up and brushes himself off he looks down to see what it was he tripped over.  It’s hard to make out, but it looks like the corner of something, a box, maybe even a trunk or a chest.  Now he’s intrigued, right?  He gets down and starts trying to dig around it; get it up out of the ground.  What is it?  Maybe it’s really something; maybe even something valuable.
          Jesus doesn’t tell us what he found, just that it motivated this man to do something remarkable.  He buried the chest and then went out sold everything else he had so that he could buy the field and have the treasure as his own possession.
           It really doesn’t matter what he found.  As you hear the story and picture it in your mind’s eye you may come up with something totally different from anyone else here this morning.  What kind of treasure would be so valuable to you that you would be willing to part with everything else you have to have this one thing.
           Maybe it’s stretching the image too far but bear with me. Whose treasure had this been?  Why had he buried it in the first place and why was it still there?  I want to imagine that this thing, whatever it was, had such value that the owner was afraid it might be taken from him so he buried it, he hid it where it wouldn’t be found by anyone else.  But then what happened?  He simply forgot about it.  Out of sight, out of mind – isn’t that what they say?  Valuable or not, it was gone from his sight and his thoughts.  He probably dwelled on it for a while; maybe even checked on it over the first days and weeks but time passed and life went on, right?  Months turned into years and this treasure was forgotten.  Even when this guy comes and wants to buy the field the seller lets it go without a second thought about what he had buried there so long ago.
           The kingdom of heaven is like this treasure hidden in a field.  In joy this guy sells everything he has and buys that field.
           The kingdom of God is a treasure, something of all surpassing value.  It is so valuable that it moves a person to give up everything to have it. 
           Oh yeah, I’ve had it ever since I was . . . well, um, I’ve had it for a real long time.  Where did I put it?  I was sure I saw it just the other day.  It’s got to be here some place.  No, really, I wouldn’t have misplaced it.  Come on, this is important to me.  Where did I put it, anyway.  I can’t believe it’s not here.
           Those of us who have had a place in the kingdom of our Father for years and years and years sometimes find it surprising to see the passion of those who have just discovered it for themselves.  What can I say about it?  I wouldn’t have imagined that I could take something so valuable for granted but over time we begin to treat it like it’s just another piece of furniture, just part of the background.  It’s not that we lost it.  We believe, we do.  We come to worship.  We pray and we read the Bible; well, maybe not as much as we could, but some. Somehow the enthusiasm, the excitement, the passion has gone away.  It’s gotten, what?  Old? 
           Have you been around people who have had their lives changed by this treasure, by the saving love of God in Jesus Christ?  It is an amazing thing.  It’s not just another thing.  It is the only thing.  It is the defining thing in their life.  They found the treasure and realizing its value they gave up everything else that they possessed for the new value of being possessed by God.
           When Jesus talks about the kingdom he’s really talking about a different way of thinking about life, about new priorities and new values.  As Matthew tells the Gospel story of Jesus, it is all about the kingdom.  This is the message with which Jesus begins his ministry – Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.  It was a call to change our orientation to life in this world, to turn our lives around because God was about to do something radically new and different.  It was in Jesus that God was doing this new thing.  It was in Jesus that the grace and mercy of God came to be poured out upon the world.  This new kingdom was so new, so different that the world didn’t know how to handle it.  Those in power in the old kingdom turned against Jesus be-cause this new way was threatening.  It didn’t make sense.  It seemed ridiculous.  They crucified Jesus and they continue to turn against men and women who get too radical in following Jesus.  Can’t have too many fanatics around.  These New-Kingdom-people don’t get wrapped up in the things of this world.  They don’t buy into the old power games. 
           The treasure is right here.  It’s not hidden.  It’s not buried, unless we’ve done the burying in our own lives, in our own fields.  Have we forgotten all that God has done for us?  Have we forgotten the love of God that is forgiveness and salvation?  Have we gotten ourselves so wrapped up in this kingdom that we’ve lost sight of the true value of bring a child of God in Jesus Christ?
           We can let it become old.  We can convince ourselves that the old way is the only way but there will be those who find it new and allow that newness to shake things up; those who catch the passion and the excitement that we once knew. 
           The treasure is here.  The treasure is a gift of God’s grace in Jesus.  We didn’t find it. It found us – God found us and saved us by his grace.  May we all find it again.  May we rediscover this treasure and the passion that can lead us to transformed lives.  AMEN.

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THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST                          July 20, 2008
Isaiah 44:6-8                  Romans 8:12-25            Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

                                     “Take Care of Those Weeds!”

           So, back to the stories of my – or should I say our garden?  Yes, most definitely – it is OUR garden.  Last Sunday I told you that this year we planted the biggest garden we’ve ever had in the nine years we’ve been in our house.  I talked about how amazing gardens are to me; that seeds and young plants planted in the ground actually grow and produce food.  I know.  I know.  This is just the most basic, most routine stuff in the world to most of you but it still manages to hold a special meaning, a special importance to me.  I picked peppers, zucchini, and cucumbers this week and there’s so much more coming, just weeks away.
           This week I want to share with you my experience of weeding.  This weekend, while I waited for Ginny to get home from a state education conference, I decided to weed the whole garden.  It wasn’t what you would call a monumental task and yet it did require me to get down low, squatting down to the level of the plants and with a small hoes and my bare hands pull each and every weed from the garden.  When you’re six foot six inches tall and fifty-two years old all that squatting is a b it of a challenge.  The back is not all that enthused to be doing all of that bending, if you know what I mean.
           Weeding a relatively small garden patch like ours is not an intellectually challenging job.  It is quite easy at this point in the growth of the plants to know what is supposed to be there and what it definitively NOT supposed to be there.  It took some time and some care but fortunately we had quite a bit of rain Thursday evening.  The ground was rather moist and it only took a small amount of effort to get rid of the weeds.  There was never any danger of me mistaking a weed from a tomato plant or a pepper plant.  I never came close to pulling the wrong thing from the ground.  I have to tell you, though, that in trying to work around the somewhat large tomato plants there were a couple of times when I tried carefully to move a branch out of my way only to hear what sounded like the green branch breaking a little.  I flinched, let the branch down very carefully, and found a better way to get the weeds from underneath that tomato plant. 
           When all was said and done I was successful.  Weeds – gone.  Plants – unharmed.  Really, it’s not brain surgery.  It’s not rocket science.  None of the weeds I was pulling looked anything like tomato plants, zucchini or cucumber plants, eggplant plants, or pepper plants.  I was hot and sweaty, my hands were filthy, and my back hurt but the outcome was never really in any doubt.
           That could not be said about the farming situation in the parable Jesus tells today.  What did the farmer plant in his field?  WHEAT, right.  Most of you have at least seen and a number of you have probably even worked in or on a wheat field.  The servants of this farmer knew what wheat looked like.  They knew every stage in the life-span, in the entire cycle of a wheat plant from the seed to the mature plant ready to be harvested.  They were experts in their field.  They knew weeds when they saw them, too; even when the weeds were a particularly tricky species known in Greek as zizania, or by the English word darnel.  This specific weed had some very interesting characteristics.  The young weed looks very much like the young wheat.  It would be quite easy, even for the experienced farm worker, to make some mistakes and wind up pulling up the wheat when trying to pull up the weeds.  The crabgrass that grew up in the soil of our garden is easy to spot among the peppers and tomatoes.  Not so the darnel among the wheat. 
           The other rather annoying trait of this weed is that the roots like to intertwine themselves among the roots of the wheat plants.  It becomes an exercise in futility to try and uproot the weeds once they have gotten to the stage of development when you can more easily tell them from the wheat.  Pull up all the weeds – there goes your wheat field in the process. 
           In the beginning they look the same, very hard to differentiate, and later on they have gotten so intertwined that they have to be harvested together when the wheat has fully matured.
           Okay – what’s Jesus talking about?  Remember, this isn’t a lesson on wheat farming, is it?  What it becomes is a lesson on human nature and especially the oh so common desire in so many of us to be in control.  We want to be in charge, to make those big important decisions in life, in the groups of which we are a part, like the church.  The church is a great place for having people talk about each other.  Come on, admit it.  We’ve all done it.  Our life together is supposed to be based on God’s Word and God’s Word has a lot in it about law, about how we should act and behave, and about morality.  The problem is that, while all of us are sinners and all of us fall short of God’s expectations, most of us find it far easier to see other people’s sins than to see our own. 
           Wheat and weeds growing up in the field – that’s the story.  Light bulb coming on yet?  The owner of the farm and this particular field is, of course, the Lord and we, you and I, are his servants given the job of taking care of this field.  We know what should be growing in this field – WHEAT!  But what do we see?  WEEDS!  Solution – GET RID OF THOSE WEEDS!
           Just one problem – we are far too eager and we’re far too sure that we, perhaps we alone, are precisely the right people for the job of getting rid of all these nasty weeds.  No one understands as well as we do what God wants from God’s people and we have the discernment to see who is truly living up to God’s commands and who is falling far short.  It’s time for doing some serious weeding in the garden of the Lord, we tell ourselves.  But it isn’t just here in the church that this stuff goes on.  We take it to the streets as well.  We are the ones to clean up our communities.  We know the mind of God.  We know who is living right and who isn’t, who is following after God’s own heart and who is far, far off.
           God, it seems, has never had much trouble with his enemies -- it's his friends who give him fits. . . . The theologian Karl Rahner put it this way: "The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim God with their mouths and deny Him with their lifestyles is what an unbelieving world finds simply unbelievable." Perhaps the best defense of God would be to just keep our mouths shut and live like He told us to. The gospel would have such power and attraction that we wouldn't have to worry about defending it.
           Jesus has some very powerful words that he directs toward those who would declare themselves apt judges whether among God’s people or in the society as a whole, doesn’t he?  Something about not judging lest you be judged.  I think you probably remember his words.
           We are God’s beloved and precious garden – we are!  That is wonderful good news, isn’t it?  By God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ we have the privilege of being wheat planted in good soil and there is the promise of a glorious harvest.  But there are weeds among us, there are all sorts of bad things and even bad people growing up around us.  There are causes of temptation and lures to turn away from God and live lives contrary to what we know is his good and gracious will.  One of the worst temptations is to go around labeling people as weeds and declaring them condemned by God, seeking to rip them up and out.
           Better simply to live in the joy of the Lord, rejoicing in the good news of God’s grace and love and seeking to spread that around as generously as possible.  The judging will come at the end and it will be taken care of by those who have the proper credentials, those appointed to the task be god himself – Jesus says this is angel work, not ours.  For now it is not our job to be pulling up and getting rid of the weeds.  Better we should take special care of those we think might be weeds.  They just might turn out to have been wheat after all. AMEN

soli deo gloria

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THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST                           July 13, 2008
Isaiah 55:10-13                  Romans 8:1-11                 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

                                        “God’s Never Failing Word”

           Here we are in the garden.  Matthew 13 is filled with stories that Jesus told about farming and gardening – about growing things.  This morning we heard the parable of the sower and the seed.  Next Sunday we will hear the parable of the wheat and the weeds and on the 27th we will hear, among others, the parable of the mustard seed. 
           I didn’t grow up with a garden.  We didn’t plant flowers.  We didn’t grow vegetables.  I can remember the excitement and joy I felt when, in the middle of the summer, we could actually drive out to a farm stand, the Smith’s, some miles from our house and buy fresh local sweet corn.  It was wonderful.  You will remember, of course, that I grew up in New York – not the city, mind you, but in the suburbs in a three-bedroom ranch home on a third of an acre at best.  There was no place, no room for a garden.  Other people had to do the plowing, the planting, the weeding, the watering, and the harvesting of the vegetables that would end up on my plate.
           Jesus used these images, told these stories because agriculture was so much a common part of the lives people lived there and then.  It was the stuff of their lives.  They could relate.  They knew what he was talking about. Even so Jesus stretched them.  In this very common scenario Jesus put a unique spin on his stories.  Listening to Jesus took some work, some concentration.  Those who have ears, let them hear.  Matthew tells us that Jesus would have to explain his stories, even to his disciples.  They just didn’t get it.  What was he talking about?
           We plant a garden every year and I love it – probably because it is something I didn’t have as a kid.  As long as we’ve been in this house we’ve planted something.  This year we’ve got a bigger one than we’ve ever had.  Lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini, eggplant, celery, green beans, snap peas, and radishes – I think that’s all of it.  Every year it surprises me, it amazes me that it works – that stuff grows.  We plant these little plants, just inches high, and they grow and produce.  We plant these little seeds and in just a few days it happens.  The ground opens up and these sprouts begin to reach for the sun.  Things were doing fairly well before we left on vacation.  We knew there would be a number of cukes ready to pick when we returned.  Even so I was so pleasantly surprised to see how well everything was doing; it was all so much bigger and we could see tomatoes and peppers beginning to grow and flowers on the eggplant.  I know there’s a lot of work involved and there is science that explains so much of it, but I’m still one of those people who sees an awful lot of faith involved as well.
           So – Jesus talks about this farmer, this sower broadcasting his seed.  It flies everywhere.  He’s just not being careful enough as I see it.  There’s so much seed being wasted.  Why doesn’t he watch where he’s throwing the seed?  Look.  Some of it wound up over there on the road.  Come on, you know nothing’s going to grow over there.  And look there.  Some of it is right under those sticker bushes and over there where it’s so rocky.  Yes, you might get something that will come up but it won’t amount to much.
           But it really isn’t seed and a farm or a garden Jesus is talking about, is it?  This story isn’t in Matthew’s Gospel because it teaches us something about agriculture.  We don’t begin to get the point until we stop and think about it – really listen to Jesus – and finally only when Jesus explains himself.  What is he talking about?  What is this seed being scattered around so wastefully, so inefficiently?  It is the Word, the message of God’s kingdom.      The reasoned, intelligent man or woman might think that Jesus would have us be more effective and efficient in how and where or with whom we share the message.  Be really careful.  Don’t waste it among people who are not likely to hear or understand.
           Here in the church we spend our time trying very carefully to conserve the resources we have to work with.  We want to do the best we can without spending too much money in the process.  We want people to know we are here, to hear what we are trying to be and to do as the church, as the Body of Christ in this community, but we don’t want to spend money on methods that might not be efficient and effective.  That would be wasteful and above all we don’t want to be wasteful.  Is that what the parable tells us?
           I’ve read some quotes this week about how to be successful in conducting business in the world these days.  With the economy as it is you would think the wisdom would be to be really careful and make sure that everything you do is going to work.  Not so.  One book advises, "Be sure to generate a sufficient number of excellent mistakes." Another book, (Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers), offers these quotes: "Says former IBM chairman Tom Watson, 'If you want to succeed, double your failure rate'". And "Said one executive, 'If you aren't making mistakes you aren't doing anything worth a damn'". Another book is entitled, If It Ain't Broke ... Break It! and Other Unconventional Wisdom for a Changing Business World. The willingness to make mistakes, to waste time and energy is part of the creative process.  Why is it that so many people in the church, which is to be centered on forgiveness, find it so difficult to risk making a mistake -- for the sake of the gospel? 
            What would be the church outreach concept closest to a wasteful broadcasting of seed everywhere regardless of what it looks like the results might be?  Might we pay for a billboard somewhere out here on Rte. 309 that would be seen by literally thousands of people each week?  How about radio advertising, TV, or newspapers?  How much can we spend?  How much should we be willing to spend  on this task?  What is the message we have to spread and how can we get it out there where everyone will see it?  Ultimately it’s not about effectiveness or efficiency from our reasoned human perspective.  It needs to be about faithfulness and a commitment to obedience to Christ – no matter what.
             That’s where the message of Isaiah takes us.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  As the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
           If what we’re doing in the community is just our own thing, our own human thing, something about how much fun it is to be together, it’s not worth advertising.  There’s no life in it anyway.  But if the foundation and the content of our life and ministry as a congregation is the live-giving and life saving Word of God in Jesus Christ and if THAT is the message we’re trying to get out there, we will not fail.  God has promised a harvest.  The prophet says that the Word of God will accomplish its purpose and Jesus says that there will be success – thirty-fold, sixty-fold, even a hundred-fold if we just get the seed sown.
           God has blessed us with the seed - the Word -  and with the ability and the resources to get it out there.  In real terms we have the human resources and the financial resources necessary for the job.  The seed has found a place in the ground of our lives and it has brought forth fruit in you and me.  We have experienced grace and forgiveness.  As fruitful, fruit-bearing disciples the seed is in our hands and needs only to be thrown around a little.  God only knows what might happen if only we are faithful and obedient.  AMEN.

soli deo gloria

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THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST                         June 22, 2008
Jeremiah 20:7-13                  Romans 6:1b-11                  Matthew 10:24-39

                                              “Fire in My Bones”

          How many of you know the name of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright?  Anyone who doesn’t hasn’t been paying attention.  Isn’t that about the size of it?  If you don’t know the story of the recently retired Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, the man who was for some twenty years the pastor of Barrack Obama, the presumptive Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party; well frankly, I’m amazed.  He, from the pulpit, has said some rather incredible things and has made some unbelievable statements about this country.  I will not repeat them from this pulpit, but I’m going to assume that the vast majority of you know exactly what I’m talking about.  The few who do not know, who have not read or heard the stories, will simply have to try and keep up. 
          Shall we say that instead of saying “God bless America,” Pastor Wright said the exact opposite and has been roundly criticized for it, am I correct?  I will not defend any of the rather outlandish statements he has made from his pulpit and yet I truly believe that he believed he was speaking God’s own truth to his congregation and the wider community.  We all need to understand that there are a great many things in the Scriptures that we do not like to hear, that we do not want to hear; things that if they were specifically addressed against you and me, we would be wildly offended.  The Old Testament prophets and even Jesus himself said things in the carrying out of their ministries that we have tried to ignore or, at least, pretend are not really addressed against us.
            This morning’s Gospel is a prominent case in point.  The things Jesus says make us uncomfortable.  We want some simple, less painful way of understanding what he might have been saying.  We don’t want to think he really meant this – Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother . . . a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.  Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  That’s just . . . nuts! It’s madness. Jesus can’t mean it.  Family is too important.  It is such a priority for us.  We just will not allow ourselves to think that Jesus is really talking like this.  We know what we know.  We believe what we believe and we always try and fit in what Jesus says, what anyone says, into the system that we have already assembled.  Our lives are what they are.  Our value system is our starting point.  Even the words of Jesus have to fit into what we already think and believe so when Jesus talks about not bringing peace but a sword, when Jesus talks about causing strife in families, we just cannot allow it to stand unquestioned, unchallenged.
            What did Jeremiah say?  No, not Jeremiah Wright but the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah – what did he say?  Take a listen and try to imagine the reaction he got.  From Jeremiah 19 - Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel says, “Listen!  I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.  For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. . . . In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem.  I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.  I will devastate this city and make it an object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled.”
            This was Israel he was talking about, for God’s sake.  He was, in the name of the LORD, condemning God’s chosen people.  What the Rev. Wright got himself into so much trouble for saying about America, the prophet Jeremiah said very loudly and very clearly about Israel, about Judah and Jerusalem.
            What do you think?  Do you imagine Jeremiah got away with saying such things unscathed?  Come on, he was the prophet of the LORD Almighty, right?  Who would dare to stand against him and tell him to be silent?  Think of it.  Jeremiah stood in the courts of the holy Temple in Jerusalem and declared thus:  This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says, “Listen!  I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.”
            What happened?  You want to know, don’t you?  Here it is – the priest in charge of the temple had Jeremiah beaten and locked up in the stocks.  Throughout the book of Jeremiah we read of so many times that he was arrested and beaten and left for dead.  The leaders of the people didn’t want to hear what he had to say.  They wanted him to be quiet and go away but he would not.  The Word of the LORD had come to him and he would not be silent, even when it made a lot of sense that he should, for his own good.
            Jeremiah even cries out to the Lord because his ministry has become so dangerous for him.  He’d rather be silent.  He’d rather not risk life and limb like this but every time he tries, what happens?  He cries out to the Lord, I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me.  Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction.  So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.  But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.  I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”
            No preacher enjoys being criticized for their message.  Every single one of us would rather hear as many “Good sermon, pastor” comments as possible in the greeting line after the sermon.  We want to be liked and appreciated.  We want positive feedback, not negative, and yet the Word of the Lord is what constrains us.  We are called to preach God’s Word in all of its truth and power, to preach it faithfully and boldly, and not be concerned about the results.  When the Word is a word of comfort, consolation, and promise; that is what we preach.  The Gospel of God’s saving love in Jesus Christ is good news of the gift of salvation that needs to be proclaimed from the rooftops.  But there is also a word of judgment that needs to be heard.  When people have turned away from the Lord the call for repentance needs to be sounded forth as well.  That’s not likely to be as well received as the word of grace and mercy, even though they go hand in hand. 
            What did Jesus say, “Don’t be afraid of them.  There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed or hidden that will not be made known.  What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roods.  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
            There is a segment of the American population that has created a religion, a version of Christianity that has come to include patriotism in a way that makes it seem as if our United States are even more of a holy nation than Israel ever was.  That is the group of people that was so up in arms about the comments made by the Rev. Wright.  How dare he say anything even close to implying that God might condemn this wonderful nation of ours?  Doesn’t he know who we are?
            Are we somehow above such criticism when it comes from the Lord himself, from God’s Word?  Looking at what Jeremiah preached against Israel - have we become a nation following after foreign gods? I’m not talking about the gods of Islam, Hinduism, or any other religion.  I’m talking about those of us who claim to be worshipping and serving the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but, in truth, have given up such worship and service for a life in search of security by way of wealth and success and the values and goals of this world.  We ourselves need to know without doubt that such a life is idolatry and that such idolatry will come under the righteous judgment of God.  Repentance is demanded but we will not hear it because we have such an easy peace with the ways of this world.  How dare the preacher tell me that my life is out of whack and that I’m not living a faithful life?  How dare he impugn my spirituality?  How dare he suggest that my life might come under God’s judgment?  Who does he think he is?
            We want our Jesus to be gentle and kind.  We want our Jesus to be gracious and merciful.  We want our Jesus to be loving and willing to accept me no matter what I might be doing.  In truth Jesus is all those things and yet he will not tolerate our backsliding and our all-too-easy peace with the ways of this secular world. He challenges us.  He calls us to repent.  He demands that we put him first as Lord of our lives in faithful obedience.
            Woe to the preacher that doesn’t issue that call.  Woe to the prophet who allows the word to stay silent when it must be declared from the rooftops.  God’s grace has been poured out on the world in Jesus Christ, but Jesus says this – anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  AMEN.

soli deo gloria

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THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST                           June 15, 2008
Exodus 19:2-8a                     Romans 5:1-8                Matthew 9:35 – 10:23

                                      “For Whom Would You Die?”

            On May 27, Pastor Rampal Kori was beaten by two Hindu militants in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, India. According to reports, "The militants repeatedly struck the pastor, who was returning from prayer meetings, with an iron rod and accused him of forcibly converting villagers to Christianity. They also robbed him of 3000 Rupees (US $70). Pastor Kori sustained serious injuries that required stitches in his head." Meanwhile on May 26, in an unrelated incident, militants demolished a thatched church in the district of Adilabad, Andhra Pradesh. On June 1, another group attacked the Masihi Mandir Church in the district of Oriya Para, Chhattisgarh state, during a morning church service. Sources added, "At approximately 11:00 a.m., the militants barged into the church building and destroyed the facility's furniture. The attackers accused the believers present of forcibly converting people, and threatened them with dire consequences if they continued to worship Christ."
            “Behold,” Jesus said, “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.  When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.  For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and so you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved.  When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the son of Man comes.”
            On June 1, Chinese Public Security Bureau police officers disrupted a house church meeting and forcefully detained seven believers during a Sunday service at Taikang county, Henan province. According to China Aid Association, "Approximately six PSB officials disrupted the house church meeting and forcefully detained seven of the participants. Police officials did not state the reason for the detention. During interrogation, police officials questioned the members as to who would be taking donations to the earthquake disaster area. One woman and her child were released; however the other six remain in detention under a charge of sending money to a disaster area in the name of a house church." 
            Last week we gathered for worship and collected offerings so that we can assist the church in helping earthquake victims in China.  How ironic is it that in China there are at least six Chinese Christians in prison for doing the very same thing, for helping their own people recover from that disaster?
            In the Far East, in the Middle East, and in Africa, just to name a few regions of the world there are Christians keeping the faith even though their neighbors and their governments stand against them in opposition and persecution.  They are worshipping God.  They are bearing courageous witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ.  They are giving of themselves, in Jesus name, so that those in need are provided with the care they need. For exhibiting just those basic elements of the Christian life they are being arrested and sometimes executed.  It shouldn’t surprise us, should it?  Jesus said it would be exactly like this.  The surprising thing isn’t that there are Christians suffering for the faith around the world.  The surprising thing is that it isn’t happening here; that we aren’t suffering for our faith.
            Listen to the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  Listen to the good news about living in an intimate relationship with the holy God.  Listen to these words from the Apostle Paul: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  What wonderful words the apostle uses here; “peace with God” and “rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God.”  We stand before God justified, which you should know means something like “just as if I’d” never sinned.  We are justified, declared not guilty by God’s saving grace through faith in Jesus.  That’s where the peace and the rejoicing come from.  That’s why these Christians, these sisters and brothers in Christ in India, in China, in Africa, and in the Middle East are so willing to accept whatever comes their way in terms of opposition and persecution from their governments.  God is with them.  What can human beings do to them?
            Paul understands what they are going through.  Look how he continues his thought there in Romans 5:  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. and hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 
            What kind of opposition are you willing to accept for Christ?  How ready and willing are you to suffer simply because of your faith and trust in and worship of Jesus Christ?
            Look at the order in which Paul places these four important terms.  First sufferings – we rejoice in our sufferings.  How is that even possible?  Well, suffering produces, second, perseverance.  If only it were that easy, right?  More often, in this country and in this culture, when something causes suffering, when something causes pain, we simply give it up.  We aren’t very good at working through pain and suffering to get to some greater value or purpose.  In the gym we might say, “No pain, no gain,” but I’m not sure it even works there and I’m all the more unsure that it works in life.  Paul says suffering leads to perseverance, not avoiding suffering but working through it to the value, the good that comes on the other side.
            Third, perseverance produces character.  That person whose life is so ordered by a higher value, a higher calling is willing to stick to it and accept the suffering that comes.  It’s easy to claim faith or any other good goal or value when it comes easy but character is born out of the perseverance, the endurance that meets suffering head on, face-to-face.
            Fourth, finally, character produces hope. The whole discussion is a look at the big picture which so many people have a hard time doing.  People want immediate, short-term results.  If I do this, I want to see results right now!  Suffering, perseverance, and character lead to women and men who are in it for the long haul; way beyond what may come today or even tomorrow.  The present and even the short-term future is where the suffering is the reality.  Faith in the grace of God in Jesus Christ brings benefits today, make no mistake; but it is the long view, the big picture of what God has promised that enables living in the painful present with the powerful gift of hope.
            Can you imagine the risks a church would be taking in so much of the world just to do what we’re doing here this morning – worshipping in public, outdoors where just anyone passing by might see and hear us?  It could well be suicide.  We don’t blink an eye.  We can’t imagine such a scenario, can we?  It has become so very easy for us. We take this freedom and this privilege so for granted. It is so easy that we have come to take it for granted and, frankly, for many of us it has come to mean very little. Again we turn to Paul:  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ dies for us.  This is the love of God, this is the Gospel, the good news of God – Jesus suffered and died for you.  It is how and why Indian and Chinese believers are willing to suffer for the sake of and in the name of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Not after he checked us out and decided we were worth it.  Not after giving us the chance to prove ourselves.  Knowing we weren’t worthy, knowing that we fail every single time we try – while we were still sinners.  Jesus suffered and died.  His suffering was born of his faith, his commitment to the will of his Father in heaven.  His perseverance to the end, all the way to the cross reflects his character and the hope that was in him. 
            What are you willing to suffer for?  Who are you willing to suffer for?  What and who are you willing to die for?  It is a question well worth your time and energy.  AMEN.

soli deo gloria

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THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST                        June 8, 2008
Hosea 5:15 – 6:6               Romans 4:13-25            Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

                                          “What Does God Want?”

            Thursday’s Bible study went into extra innings.  We got so into the discussion we were having that the church carillon went began playing its noontime songs and we just kept right on going.  Rather than ending at noon it was nearly 12:30 before we closed our time together with prayer. 
            I went upstairs to my office, got my lunch out and began eating when the phone rang.  Michele rang over that it was for me and I took the call.  It was a request for financial assistance.  A man and his sister share an apartment and have come to be in some financial hardship.  They really have no connection to this congregation and don’t even live in the township or in close proximity to the church, but they were here once upon a time and so, in desperation, called me to ask for help.
            I was thinking about all sorts of other things.  I was working on the prayers for this service.  I was studying the lessons for today and thinking about my sermon.  Then I got this call.  Now what?  What is my responsibility?  Can I simply say, “Sorry, there’s nothing I can do.”?  How deeply involved with these people do I get myself?  Do I really learn everything they are going through, everything about their income and expenses and try to find out what they really need and what we can do?  There is a discretionary fund available.  I can do something.  I can give them some money if that’s what I choose to do.
            What would God have me do?  What does God want?  If I choose to do something, there’s always the possibility that I might be wrong.  I could be getting conned here; these people might not be what they claim to be.  They might be exaggerating, just hoping for a handout. Some might accuse me of being too soft but others may say I’m being hard and harsh if I simply refuse them any help. What is the church’s responsibility in this situation?
            Getting involved in people’s lives, their real lives in this real world, is a messy thing.  There’s nothing simple about it.  There is no black and white simplicity; everything varies in shades of gray – may- be a little of this but maybe a bit of that as well.  We’re all so very needy, aren’t we?  We’re all sinners just trying to get along, doing the best we can.  Some months ago somebody told me that the time might come when there would be many people looking for financial help in these days.  Here we are.  Now what?  What does God want?  What would God have me do?
            Jesus got into major trouble with the religious leadership of his day, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, because he dared to get involved in people’s lives.  He didn’t stay safely tucked away in the temple or in the synagogues doing very traditional religious stuff.  He got out among real people, sinful people, and he treated them all as if they really mattered.  He treated them with dignity and respect.  That upset people.  It just wasn’t done.
Tax collectors and sinners, indeed!  He went to a dinner party at Matthew’s house.  He sat at table with, well, THEM.  People came to him and asked for his help.  He had compassion on them even though there was so much in their stories that screamed that he should walk away.  He did things so against the tradition and yet he did them to show God’s mercy.  He touched a dead body.  He allowed a woman with a bleeding problem, if you know what I mean, to touch him.  This was all so over the line into ritual uncleanness and yet Jesus was there for them that they might have life and health and peace not just physically but spiritually as well.
           Today we are receiving offerings, special offerings for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, for the UCC’s One Great Hour of Sharing program, and for Lutheran Disaster Response. In these ways and so many more the church of Jesus Christ is involved throughout this country and around the world restoring hope, rebuilding lives, and returning a sense of dignity and respect to needy people.  We see the pictures in the news from tornados and wildfires in this country to the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China.  Unable to imagine what it would be like to lose everything in a moment of time, there is a strong desire in us to help, to do something, to do what we can.  That is the Spirit of God in us.  That is the love of Christ moving our hearts in the right direction.  It is the same compassion that moved Jesus to touch the dead girl and restore her to life, that granted healing to the bleeding woman, and cared deeply for those tax collectors and sinners.  It is right.  It is good.  Woe to us if we are not moved and simply do nothing.  The heart of God compels us to act, to give, and we do.
            Can I make the case that that is the easy part?  Tornado victims in Iowa, fire victims in California, and the hundreds of thousands in China and Myanmar are simply the faceless unknown.  We don’t know them.  We don’t know anything about them but their need and we reach out to help.  THAT is what God would have us do.  THAT is what God wants.  It seems so simple, doesn’t it?
            What about this man and his sister who have asked for our help?  Suddenly I begin to ask different questions:  Are they really so bad off?  Do they really need the help?  Do they deserve the help?
            Why does our response change?  We want our poor people, at least the poor people we will help, to be REALLY poor and to be poor for the right reasons (?).  Does natural disaster make people more needy or more worthy of our help than a series of bad choices or unfortunate circumstances? I’m just asking. I’ll tell you that I find some unpleasant, uncomfortable thoughts running through my own mind and heart in all of this.
            What are we afraid of?  What’s the worst that could happen?  Someone could be taking advantage of us.  We could end up with less money in the bank than we might like to have.  But for what?  What is the money for?  Is a big bank account, a large balance really providing us with more security?  How do we define the effectiveness and the success of our life and ministry as a church?
            There is a religion, a religiousness that so emphasizes doing the right religious stuff that it forgets about people.  There is a religion that puts being right with God by doing all the right religious stuff first; the religion of right worship and right sacrifice and personal holiness.  That kind of religion becomes very “me-centered” and can forget about the world altogether in its work to get and stay right with God.  The prophet Hosea preaches judgment against such religion as we heard him this morning.  For Hosea, God’s bottom line is this: I desire mercy, not sacrifice; and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. 
            Mercy – not sacrifice; that is what God is looking for from his people in the world.  It’s not about religious observances that will get me right with God.  It’s about living out the love of God, the mercy of God, and the compassionate heart of God in the real world among real people in a way that makes a real difference.  There’s nothing I need to do to get myself right with God.  God already took care of that in the gift of his son, Jesus.  My life and my salvation are secure in him, not in anything I could do anyway.  For that very reason I am freed up to care for others rather than worrying about myself.
            This morning we put real action to the love of God that we claim to know.  Today we give of ourselves so that the Church of Jesus Christ might be equipped and enabled to offer real help in the worst of situations.  You have the money to give and you have three different ways you can give, the three envelopes in your bulletins this morning. The choice is yours. All of it will get where it is needed and people in need will be helped.
            Now I still need to figure out what I, what we can do for this man and his sister.  It seems so different from China or from Iowa but it isn’t, is it? Not really. It’s all about caring for people in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

soli deo gloria

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THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST            June 1, 2008
Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28        Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-31
Matthew 7:21-29

“Built on a Rock”

            Let me tell you about my experience last Sunday evening.  Some of you knew about it ahead of time.  I had told just a few people that I had been asked to preach at the Tamaqua High School Class of 2008 Baccalaureate service at St. Jerome’s Roman Catholic Church. It was an honor simply to be asked.  Joe Plasko did a decent job in writing the article about the service for the Times News. I wasn’t misquoted and I believe he caught the direction in which I was going.
            My colleagues, the other clergy involved in the service, heard what I had to say.  Based on the comments I received following the service from parents and other family members who had attended the service I would say they listened, they heard what I had to say.  I was pleased to receive quite a number of nice comments on my preaching.  But the sermon was aimed at the graduating seniors, not the parents and certainly not the other clergy.  I was talking to the soon-to-be graduates.  I’m not at all sure they heard what I had to say.  I tried my best to make eye contact across the whole section of the graduates – the boys seated on my left and the girls on my right.  There were a handful of faces in which I saw glimmers of attention and recognition.  I can only hope that they had some foundation for understanding what I was trying to get across to them.
            That’s what it’s about, isn’t it?  It’s about the foundation that has been laid down in a person’s life over the years.  Is there some context in their lives, in their experiences so that they can hear what I’m saying when I talk about God being active and working in their lives?  Three of the senior class officers had volunteered to read the Scripture lessons for the service.  Well, they had either volunteered or it was part of their obligation simply because they were the class officers.  Two of the three had their reading printed out on a piece of paper and they brought it to the lectern with them.  The third one was not so well prepared.  In her defense it may not have been explained clearly enough that they needed to have a copy of the passage with them.  She may not have known that there would not be a Bible at the lectern.  Quite honestly, it surprised me that there was no Bible on either the lectern or the pulpit.  I was glad I had brought my own with me. 
            Jesus said to the crowd, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
            In the simplest sense possible, you would have to say that each and every one of the Tamaqua graduates at St. Jerome’s Sunday evening heard the word.  But we hear so much, don’t we?  How often are you somewhere that there is real silence?  Our world is filled with sounds of all kinds.  I don’t know if we really understand what silence is.  But I’m not talking about just sound.  I’m talking about the bombardment of messages that assault us on a regular basis.  There are so many people trying to get their ideas across to us.  It happens in the programs we watch on TV and listen to on the radio.  It happens on the news and on the stories, the comedies and the dramas.  It happens through the commercials for products they want us to buy, ideas they want us to accept, and people they want us to vote for.  We hear them all day long even when we’re not really paying attention.
            So, back to those 150-some seniors who attended the baccalaureate service, they heard what I said.  The sounds of my words did reach their ears but were they paying attention?  Was there any expectation in them that what I said was worth their attention, that I might have something to say that might benefit them?  Maybe there’s a dif-ference between hearing and listening, but they heard me.  The question, then, becomes, What did they do with it?  How did it affect their lives and influence their behavior?
            Jesus said that it’s not enough to hear the word.  Action that shows acceptance and belief needs to follow the hearing.  Hearing with no response, hearing that is not then followed up with putting the words into practice is the foolishness of building a house on sand.
            It’s almost too easy to pick on those young people.  There is so much going on in their lives these days and weeks that it is unfair of me to really expect them to hang on my every word, isn’t it?  So, I’ll leave them alone.
This morning I’m here, talking with you. What’s the difference?  What is your expectation as you come here and sit hear?  You, also, are bombarded by so many voices, so many messages.  When you come to this place, what are you listening for?  If those of us responsible for planning the worship experience have done our jobs faithfully, the words you hear are the very Word of God in Jesus Christ.  Whether in the songs we sing, the readings we read, the prayers we pray, or the message I preach our words become a real incarnation of the Holy Word of God.  Are you listening?  I know you’re hearing me, but are you listening?  Are you paying attention?
            The prophet Isaiah wrote so long ago that the Word of God never fails to accomplish that which God intends when it goes forth into the world.  The Word of God is powerful.  The Word of God is authoritative.  It is not just part of the ever-present hum of all the noise you hear in a day.  It calls you to listen.  It calls you to pay attention.  It is a word of life and blessing.  It is the only word in all of the words you will hear in life that can be the proper foundation for your life but only, then, if you hear it and put it into practice.
 So many of you are here week after week.  You have heard the word so many times over the course of your lives. How has it changed you?  You do understand, don’t you, that it is a word that changes the people who really do pay attention to it.  It’s not like any other word, any other message or idea, theory or philosophy you will ever hear in life.  This is the word by which God spoke creation into existence.  It is the word by which Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead.  This word comes to you that you might be changed from death to life, from despair to hope, and from sorrow to joy. Raise your expectations when you dare to come into the presence of God and into the hearing of his holy word.  Listen for it.  Listen for what God will speak to your mind and your heart and be changed.
            From Deuteronomy 11 we hear these instructions to the people of God preparing to enter the Promised Land:  Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give to your forefathers.
            We need to hear this word.  We need to make the Word of the Lord the central focus of our lives both for ourselves and for our children and our grandchildren.  It needs to be the air we breathe and the food we eat.  It needs to be that which gives us life and nourishes us both body and soul.  When that happens we will no longer just be hearing the word but both hearing it and putting it into practice.  Then it will be the true foundation of our lives.  Then we will be like that wise man who built his house not on the shifting sands of this world but on the solid rock that will endure forever into eternal life.  AMEN.

soli deo gloria

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