What we bought in to was: as long as I have my health, I have everything.
And when health changes – when you no longer have your health – what then?
Who are you?
What do you have then?
I doubt if there is anyone in this room who has not been affected by times of trouble.
The collapse of so much of the economic system of this country has had overarching effect and has touched the lives of all of us –
some of much more than others.
Some saw the nest egg they had set aside for the retirement years severely decimated
– if not wiped out altogether.
Some have lost their jobs – and/or access to health care.
Some have lost their homes.
Credit card bills pile up while doctors and hospitals threaten.
Banks failed and readjusted,
wall street firms and automobile manufacturers collapsed,
and people all over the world experienced the economic difficulties.
The financial security we have been planning for no longer is.
Many of us are caring – or have been caring – for loved ones who are struggling with frailty of the body or demons of the mind.
And some of us are facing potentially devastating issues with our own health –
cancers, pulmonary disease, arthritis, macular degeneration, and the list goes on.
These are times of trouble for most folks.
It is in the midst of times of trouble that Jesus came and preached his gospel of God’s Kingdom –
that’s “God’s Kingdom” rather than Rome’s Kingdom or Persia’s Kingdom, or any other Kingdom of man.
The Christian gospel – and the Jewish faith – was birthed in times of trouble .
The gospel of Jesus survives – and even thrives – during times of trouble .
Our faith survives and even thrives during times of trouble.
Our faith needs to be proclaimed during times of trouble.
Our faith speaks to us during times of trouble.
And so, I am preaching this series on Getting Through times of trouble.
Our theme for this series of sermons comes from I John 5:4: It is our faith that enables us to get through times of trouble.
Pity those who have no faith.
So far we have looked at Getting Through Times of Trouble When There Is No Money,
Getting Through Times of Trouble When There Is No Work,
Getting Through Times of Trouble When No One Cares,
and today, we are looking at Getting Through Times of Trouble When Health Fails.
I dare say there is not a person in this room who has not had their life affected by changing health – yours or a loved one.
We all know the truth of this – this is a common experience.
We each can attest that things happen:
a loved one gets sick – or we get sick –
whether it’s a cancer,
or stroke,
or heart,
or disease,
or infection,
or parts wearing out;
Accidents happen –
car and/or motorcycle accidents,
gunfire,
lightening strikes,
golf course,
you just never know;
Even in church –
you never used to hear about things like this, but in recent months I am aware of at least four incidents –
including one where a guy pulled a gun during church and shot the preacher
(I guess he didn’t like what the preacher said!),
And another one where the preacher got shot because he got in the way of a man trying to shoot an usher!!!
Things happen, don’t they?
And, more often than not, when health changes we experience hard times.
There is a lesson we all have learned well.
We have been taught that “as long as I have my health, I have everything.”
Right?
This is a pretty pervasive feeling, I would say.
We’ve all heard it said.
We have felt it ourselves, if we haven’t actually said it out loud.
I have said it in the past, and I am sure nearly everyone here uses it often.
If we don’t actually say it, it permeates what we believe.
More often than not, we tend to use the phrase as a way of saying that nothing else really matters much.
I don’t need wealth or things or . . . .
As long as I have my health, I have everything.
But, since Suzanne became ill – since her health changed –
I became aware that that phrase,
that belief, is insidious ,
and actually negatively affects what we all need to know and especially need to know when health changes.
I think I initially became aware of this insidious belief several years ago when my uncle faced a situation where the doctors needed to amputate his arm.
And, although it would save his life, and add significant years to his life, he adamantly refused to let them amputate.
Why?
Because he felt that on rapture day, only those with whole bodies would get to go.
So, without an arm, he would be a nobody – something less than a real person.
You see, what we learned is, what we bought in to was:
as long as I have my health, I have everything.
And when health changes – when you no longer have your health – what then?
Who are you?
What do you have then?
No one in this room is confined to a wheel chair.
(We have pretty much excluded those folks from ever being welcome here.)
Again, life with Suzanne after her health changed, changed me –
and changed the way I see certain things.
When you are not confined to a wheel chair –
when you have your health,
therefore everything –
you don’t appreciate what the world looks like from the perspective of the one in the chair.
What do you do when you come upon a person in wheel chair in the store?
Or on the street?
Usually, in the first place, we avoid making eye contact at all, don’t we?
Perhaps we feel that we don’t want to ogle or stare, and by avoiding eye contact we let the person in the chair know that they are no different than anyone else we might meet up with.
But, that is not what is perceived by the person in the chair.
When I am pushing Suzanne in the chair and we come upon a mutual friend, that person may acknowledge and even converse with Suzanne, but soon the phenomenon shifts and the person is no longer making eye contact with Suzanne but is now conversing with me – because I am at their level.
Suzanne says she gets tired looking at belt buckles all the time.
And when you come upon a counter that has been placed to separate a clerk from all of us who are on the other side, the person in chair most often gets no recognition at all.
Very quickly when you are dependent upon medicines, and/or physical assistance, just to carry on the basics of living, something happens to the psyche.
Through my experience, I can understand why many people cannot stand it after so long and just stop taking their life-saving medicines –
because it stands in the face of our common belief system that good health is everything –
so when my health changes and I no longer have good health
I am less than what I should be,
I am nothing in the eyes in the world around me.
Of course, that’s not the way Jesus views things, is it?
Almost all of the stories in our Bible – in the Old Testament and in the New – share a common theme or understanding or belief:
that is that God is with you.
The Old Testament reading we shared a while ago is just a fragment of a larger story about God assuring his people that he is with them while they are living in a land with alien rulers.
The message was delivered to those who needed to hear it then,
and it still rings true for us today.
You are going to face times of trouble, God says.
Hard times are ahead.
And when you find yourself wading through rising waters,
when you feel like you are walking through fire,
I’ll be with you.
Don’t be afraid.
I love you dearly and I am with you – always – through thick and through thin.
You know, this is the message I would hope to remember if I were ever in situation like those folks caught in the twin towers in New York City on September 11, 2001 –
or those folks on the airplanes destined to crash into the buildings or the ground –
or any situation wherein they say your life passes by your eyes –
in those situations, I would hope I could remember God’s promise:
I love your dearly and I am with you – even now – especially now – in this situation.
You don’t need to be afraid.
This theme is carried over in almost every event in our New Testament don’t you think?
The early believers actually did believe it.
In nearly every story that has been passed on about Jesus, this theme is expressed and underlies the message.
So significant was this to many of them that they chose these words to be the very last in Matthew’s gospel:
I am with you always – forever and forever – no matter what.
Even when your health changes –
especially when your health changes –
you are no less of person,
no less of a being who is loved and valued by the Creator of the Universe and all there is,
the great Jehovah,
the great I Am,
the spirit that pervades the universe,
love personified.
When the health of a loved one changes, nothing changes about the value or worth of that person to you.
And, so often the most valuable actions any of us can take is to let that person know in no uncertain terms that although they may be incapacitated, although they may have physical limitations,
they are no less than who they were before –
no less than a child of the universe
of no less importance than kings and queens and princes and princesses.
The breath they share – even if from a nearby tank of oxygen –
is a breath shared by you –
and a breath shared with God –
the source of the breath of life itself.
It is our faith that helps us get through hard times.
It is our faith that affirms that the health of our physical body or mind is not the most important thing.
The most important thing is the assurance that our God is with us – no matter what.
Jesus is with us – forever and ever.
Amen.
This is from a sermon heard by the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, on November 7, 2010.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Getting Through Times of Trouble When There's No Money
Do you remember that song the Kingston Trio sang?
It began with the words: “These are the times that try men’s souls” –
they went on to sing about a guy who got stuck on the subway because he had no subway token to get use to get off.
Some may have thought that those were the times that try men’s souls,
but I believe that time has no comparison to today.
Truly, for so many folks, in so many walks of life, in so many ways, these are the times that try men’s souls.
It is during troubled times – such as these –
that some folks turn to their faith for strength to get them through.
And it is during troubled times – such as these –
that us preachers have a particular responsibility to search the sacred writings of our faith,
research specific issues,
and address the issues we face with messages of hope and help and comfort.
And it during troubled times – such as these –
that we have an opportunity to speak to folks outside our fold with messages that make sense and offer hope and help and comfort.
So, this is the background to this series of sermons
I am preparing on Getting Through Times of Trouble.
Today, I am trying to address Getting Through Times of Trouble When There’s No Money.
Next week, I will address Getting Through Times of Trouble When There’s No Work.
And, the following week I will address Getting Through Times of Trouble When There’s No One Who Cares.
We have to go back some 80 years to find a time when so many people face daily life with the reality of not enough – or no – money.
I dare say that this situation is not unique –
and that every single person in this room knows first hand –
or has family that knows –
the experience of getting through times when there is no money.
When you are living through times when there is no money it does little good to hear pundits expound why there is no money.
You know it when you lose your job – and it does little good to know that it is a condition
of our economy and that there are more people unemployed now than at any time in the past 50 years.
You know it when your house suddenly loses its value and you owe much more than you paid for it.
You know it when you receive foreclosure notice on the residence that you thought so secure just a few years ago.
You know it when costs of healthcare exceed your ability to pay.
You know it when decisions have to made between spending for medicine or spending for food.
You know it when credit is no longer available to you.
You know it when no matter how hard you work, not enough is brought home to pay the bills.
You know it when there is too much month left at the end of the money.
You know it when the truth former pro golfer, Doug Sanders, wrote about is not funny,
"I am working as hard as I can to get my life and my cash to run out at the same time.”
Then after some calculation, he concludes:
“If I can die right after lunch on Tuesday, everything [should] be fine."
Now, it may hard to believe, but our faith actually has a lot to say about this situation many of us find ourselves in.
In fact, our Bible has about 500 verses on prayer,
[about 500 verses on prayer]
but over 2,350 verses on how to handle money and possessions!
There are some 126 biblical principles on finances and material possessions in the New Testament alone.
One of the most poignant stories attributed to Jesus is the one we read a while ago from Luke.
We are told that as the crowds gathered by the thousands to hear and see Jesus, he gathered his disciples and told them a story about a certain farmer who had a particularly good year.
It was a boom time for the farmer.
He harvested record crops.
There was so much harvest he had no where to store it.
His barns weren’t large enough.
What to do? What to do?
For him the obvious thing was to tear his barns and replace them with bigger barns – barns large enough to hold all of his stuff.
With that done, the farmer thought he could rest on his laurels –
live off his investment the rest of his life –
enjoying the good life –
thanks to this record year for crop yields.
Sounds good, right?
We understand his thinking, don’t we?
That’s exactly what we do, isn’t it?
But, Jesus said that God called the farmer a fool.
Jesus said that God uses a different set of figures –
God uses a different calculus, a different math.
God said the farmer lacked faith.
Instead of working to fill his barn with stuff,
it would have better if he worked to grow his faith.
For in the end, it is one’s faith that enables and guarantees an abundant life.
Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot."
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
The message for the farmer, the message for Jesus’ disciples, and the message for us today is: Cultivate your faith.
And the promise is: your life will be enhanced, fulfilled, abundant, even, when you fill your barn with faith.
You may recall a short story D.H. Lawrence wrote that he called “The Rocking-Horse Winner.”
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a haunting tale about a family living above its means.
The mother is considered by friends and neighbors to be the perfect mother,
in spite of the fact that deep down she knows she has difficulty loving her three children.
It’s important to the husband to keep up the pretense of success – the large house, staffed with servants – but they are living on the edge, just like many families today.
Listen as D. H. Lawrence describes this family’s life situation:
“And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: ‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’
The children could hear it all the time though nobody said it aloud.
They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery.
Behind the shining modern rocking-horse,
behind the smart doll’s house,
a voice would start whispering: ‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’
And the children would stop playing, to listen for a moment.
They would look into each other’s eyes, to see if they had all heard.
And each one saw in the eyes of the other two that they too had heard.
‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’
“It came whispering from the springs of the still-swaying rocking-horse,
and even the horse, bending his wooden, champing head, heard it.
The big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly, and seemed to be smirking all the more self-consciously because of it.
The foolish puppy, too, that took the place of the teddy-bear, he was looking so extraordinarily foolish for no other reason but that he heard the secret whisper all over the house: ‘There must be more money!’”
That’s the family backdrop to the story of “The Rocking-Horse Winner.”
Quite an extraordinary picture: “There must be more money! There must be more money!”
I am sure for many people in these troubled times, the same phrase haunts their lives:
“There must be more money!”
The situation is real.
The situation is overwhelming.
And we come to church and hear the words of Jesus:
Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
The message for the farmer, the message for Jesus’ disciples, and the message for us today is: Cultivate your faith.
And the promise is: your life will be enhanced, fulfilled, abundant, even, when you fill your barn with faith.
A church member came to his pastor’s study one day.
The man looked deeply troubled.
He said, “Pastor, I need to talk. I feel so empty, so dried up inside, I’m scared.”
His voice began to quiver just a bit.
He said “Pastor, I have just come from the doctor’s office, and he told me that I have only six months at best to live.
After I left the office, I realized that I have no spiritual resources, no inner strength to cope with this.
There is nothing to fall back on, to lean against. Many people would be surprised to hear me say that, for I have made lots of money, and people think I am a success not only at making money, but at being a strong, powerful person.”
He then fell quiet, and there was silence before he could go on.
Finally the man said,
“You know I’m poor in the things that count the most. I see it now.
I’ve put my faith in the wrong things,
and the truth is I am destitute, spiritually destitute.
I could pick up the phone and call any bank in the city and borrow any amount of money to do whatever I wanted to.
Just on my name, Reverend, just on my name!
Do you understand?
I could borrow it on my name only.”
The man then leaned forward and put his head in his hands, and said softly through tears, “I guess there are some things you can’t buy or borrow.”
This man’s material bank was full to overflowing, but his spiritual bank was empty.
Jesus said you can count on these things to happen.
We all will have times of trouble.
Every single one of us lives numbered days.
Not one of us can add a single day to our life by worrying about tomorrow.
But, each and every one us can cultivate a faith –
a faith that provides meaning and purpose to life –
a faith that makes living – even in troubled times –
an abundant experience.
Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
The stuff you have stored is not a reliable investment.
Stocks and bonds and cds and savings accounts are not reliable investments.
Seeking to work for the accumulation of stuff is a risky investment.
The message for the farmer,
the message for Jesus’ disciples,
and the message for us today is: Cultivate your faith.
And the promise is: your life will be enhanced, fulfilled, abundant, even, when you fill your barn with faith.
That’s what we do here at Christ Church.
You may not always articulate it this way, but that’s why you come here.
That’s what we are about.
Here in our worship and our activities we offer ways of cultivating your faith –
the cultivation of a faith that produces a harvest of abundance that always exceeds whatever space you try to put it in –
a faith that enables us to get through times of trouble – even when there’s no money.
Amen.
This a sermon the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, heard on October 10, 2010.
It began with the words: “These are the times that try men’s souls” –
they went on to sing about a guy who got stuck on the subway because he had no subway token to get use to get off.
Some may have thought that those were the times that try men’s souls,
but I believe that time has no comparison to today.
Truly, for so many folks, in so many walks of life, in so many ways, these are the times that try men’s souls.
It is during troubled times – such as these –
that some folks turn to their faith for strength to get them through.
And it is during troubled times – such as these –
that us preachers have a particular responsibility to search the sacred writings of our faith,
research specific issues,
and address the issues we face with messages of hope and help and comfort.
And it during troubled times – such as these –
that we have an opportunity to speak to folks outside our fold with messages that make sense and offer hope and help and comfort.
So, this is the background to this series of sermons
I am preparing on Getting Through Times of Trouble.
Today, I am trying to address Getting Through Times of Trouble When There’s No Money.
Next week, I will address Getting Through Times of Trouble When There’s No Work.
And, the following week I will address Getting Through Times of Trouble When There’s No One Who Cares.
We have to go back some 80 years to find a time when so many people face daily life with the reality of not enough – or no – money.
I dare say that this situation is not unique –
and that every single person in this room knows first hand –
or has family that knows –
the experience of getting through times when there is no money.
When you are living through times when there is no money it does little good to hear pundits expound why there is no money.
You know it when you lose your job – and it does little good to know that it is a condition
of our economy and that there are more people unemployed now than at any time in the past 50 years.
You know it when your house suddenly loses its value and you owe much more than you paid for it.
You know it when you receive foreclosure notice on the residence that you thought so secure just a few years ago.
You know it when costs of healthcare exceed your ability to pay.
You know it when decisions have to made between spending for medicine or spending for food.
You know it when credit is no longer available to you.
You know it when no matter how hard you work, not enough is brought home to pay the bills.
You know it when there is too much month left at the end of the money.
You know it when the truth former pro golfer, Doug Sanders, wrote about is not funny,
"I am working as hard as I can to get my life and my cash to run out at the same time.”
Then after some calculation, he concludes:
“If I can die right after lunch on Tuesday, everything [should] be fine."
Now, it may hard to believe, but our faith actually has a lot to say about this situation many of us find ourselves in.
In fact, our Bible has about 500 verses on prayer,
[about 500 verses on prayer]
but over 2,350 verses on how to handle money and possessions!
There are some 126 biblical principles on finances and material possessions in the New Testament alone.
One of the most poignant stories attributed to Jesus is the one we read a while ago from Luke.
We are told that as the crowds gathered by the thousands to hear and see Jesus, he gathered his disciples and told them a story about a certain farmer who had a particularly good year.
It was a boom time for the farmer.
He harvested record crops.
There was so much harvest he had no where to store it.
His barns weren’t large enough.
What to do? What to do?
For him the obvious thing was to tear his barns and replace them with bigger barns – barns large enough to hold all of his stuff.
With that done, the farmer thought he could rest on his laurels –
live off his investment the rest of his life –
enjoying the good life –
thanks to this record year for crop yields.
Sounds good, right?
We understand his thinking, don’t we?
That’s exactly what we do, isn’t it?
But, Jesus said that God called the farmer a fool.
Jesus said that God uses a different set of figures –
God uses a different calculus, a different math.
God said the farmer lacked faith.
Instead of working to fill his barn with stuff,
it would have better if he worked to grow his faith.
For in the end, it is one’s faith that enables and guarantees an abundant life.
Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot."
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
The message for the farmer, the message for Jesus’ disciples, and the message for us today is: Cultivate your faith.
And the promise is: your life will be enhanced, fulfilled, abundant, even, when you fill your barn with faith.
You may recall a short story D.H. Lawrence wrote that he called “The Rocking-Horse Winner.”
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” is a haunting tale about a family living above its means.
The mother is considered by friends and neighbors to be the perfect mother,
in spite of the fact that deep down she knows she has difficulty loving her three children.
It’s important to the husband to keep up the pretense of success – the large house, staffed with servants – but they are living on the edge, just like many families today.
Listen as D. H. Lawrence describes this family’s life situation:
“And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: ‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’
The children could hear it all the time though nobody said it aloud.
They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery.
Behind the shining modern rocking-horse,
behind the smart doll’s house,
a voice would start whispering: ‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’
And the children would stop playing, to listen for a moment.
They would look into each other’s eyes, to see if they had all heard.
And each one saw in the eyes of the other two that they too had heard.
‘There must be more money! There must be more money!’
“It came whispering from the springs of the still-swaying rocking-horse,
and even the horse, bending his wooden, champing head, heard it.
The big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly, and seemed to be smirking all the more self-consciously because of it.
The foolish puppy, too, that took the place of the teddy-bear, he was looking so extraordinarily foolish for no other reason but that he heard the secret whisper all over the house: ‘There must be more money!’”
That’s the family backdrop to the story of “The Rocking-Horse Winner.”
Quite an extraordinary picture: “There must be more money! There must be more money!”
I am sure for many people in these troubled times, the same phrase haunts their lives:
“There must be more money!”
The situation is real.
The situation is overwhelming.
And we come to church and hear the words of Jesus:
Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
The message for the farmer, the message for Jesus’ disciples, and the message for us today is: Cultivate your faith.
And the promise is: your life will be enhanced, fulfilled, abundant, even, when you fill your barn with faith.
A church member came to his pastor’s study one day.
The man looked deeply troubled.
He said, “Pastor, I need to talk. I feel so empty, so dried up inside, I’m scared.”
His voice began to quiver just a bit.
He said “Pastor, I have just come from the doctor’s office, and he told me that I have only six months at best to live.
After I left the office, I realized that I have no spiritual resources, no inner strength to cope with this.
There is nothing to fall back on, to lean against. Many people would be surprised to hear me say that, for I have made lots of money, and people think I am a success not only at making money, but at being a strong, powerful person.”
He then fell quiet, and there was silence before he could go on.
Finally the man said,
“You know I’m poor in the things that count the most. I see it now.
I’ve put my faith in the wrong things,
and the truth is I am destitute, spiritually destitute.
I could pick up the phone and call any bank in the city and borrow any amount of money to do whatever I wanted to.
Just on my name, Reverend, just on my name!
Do you understand?
I could borrow it on my name only.”
The man then leaned forward and put his head in his hands, and said softly through tears, “I guess there are some things you can’t buy or borrow.”
This man’s material bank was full to overflowing, but his spiritual bank was empty.
Jesus said you can count on these things to happen.
We all will have times of trouble.
Every single one of us lives numbered days.
Not one of us can add a single day to our life by worrying about tomorrow.
But, each and every one us can cultivate a faith –
a faith that provides meaning and purpose to life –
a faith that makes living – even in troubled times –
an abundant experience.
Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.
Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes.
The stuff you have stored is not a reliable investment.
Stocks and bonds and cds and savings accounts are not reliable investments.
Seeking to work for the accumulation of stuff is a risky investment.
The message for the farmer,
the message for Jesus’ disciples,
and the message for us today is: Cultivate your faith.
And the promise is: your life will be enhanced, fulfilled, abundant, even, when you fill your barn with faith.
That’s what we do here at Christ Church.
You may not always articulate it this way, but that’s why you come here.
That’s what we are about.
Here in our worship and our activities we offer ways of cultivating your faith –
the cultivation of a faith that produces a harvest of abundance that always exceeds whatever space you try to put it in –
a faith that enables us to get through times of trouble – even when there’s no money.
Amen.
This a sermon the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, heard on October 10, 2010.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Words of Affirmation from Psalm 16
You, Lord, give me all I need . . .
My future is in your hands . . .
In all that goes on in the world around me
I am always aware of your presence –
God is near [always] no matter what.
– Words of affirmation from Psalm 16
Write these words down, print them out, post them in prominent places.
Say them over and over again -- in the morning when you first awaken, during the day in times of stress or rest, and at night before you go to sleep.
This will change your life. Guaranteed!
My future is in your hands . . .
In all that goes on in the world around me
I am always aware of your presence –
God is near [always] no matter what.
– Words of affirmation from Psalm 16
Write these words down, print them out, post them in prominent places.
Say them over and over again -- in the morning when you first awaken, during the day in times of stress or rest, and at night before you go to sleep.
This will change your life. Guaranteed!
The Secret to Stressless Living
We hardly need to be reminded, but all signs indicate that there has never been a more stress-ridden society than ours.
Seven out of ten people told a US News /Bozell Survey, that they feel stressed at some point during the day.
43% of all adults suffer noticeable physical and emotional symptoms from burnout.
Somewhere between 75 and 90% of all visits to the doctor's office stem from stress.
Stress is known to be a leading cause of heart disease and cancer.
Stress causes depression and can lead to migraine headaches, hypertension, chest pains, ulcers, gastritis, colitis, and heartburn.
And so, I think this story from Luke’s gospel speaks to us as much as it did to Martha (Luke 10:38-42) .
Jesus told Martha: “"YOU ARE ANXIOUS AND TROUBLED ABOUT MANY THINGS."
Yeah, she was.
And, we sure are, wouldn’t you say?
Truer words were never spoken – certainly not truer words that speak to us today.
And what did Jesus tell Martha?
"YOU ARE ANXIOUS AND TROUBLED ABOUT MANY THINGS," but only one thing is needful,
there is one thing that is more important than all the rest.
And Mary understands it.
Mary gets it.
Mary had taken the psalm we read to heart:
You, Lord, give me all I need . . .
My future is in your hands . . .
In all that goes on in the world around me
I am always aware of God’s presence –
God is near [always] no matter what.
We are anxious and troubled about many things. But ONE THING IS NEEDFUL.
And therein I believe lies the secret to stressless living.
Write these words down.
Memorize them.
Say them over and over again when you get up in the morning, in the middle of the day when things start getting to you, and in bed at night before you fall off to sleep.
This can actually help you sleep better at night.
This probably save you a few trips to the doctor.
You are worried and troubled over so many things – but there is one more important than all the others.
You, Lord, give me all I need . . .
My future is in your hands . . .
In all that goes on in the world around me
I am always aware of your presence –
God is near [always] no matter what.
These are life-changing words.
Say it – over and over again.
Believe it – day in and day out.
It will change your life.
Stress and anxiety take a back seat to this positive affirmation.
Amen.
These comments were part of sermon heard by the congregation of The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, gathered on September 19, 2010.
Seven out of ten people told a US News /Bozell Survey, that they feel stressed at some point during the day.
43% of all adults suffer noticeable physical and emotional symptoms from burnout.
Somewhere between 75 and 90% of all visits to the doctor's office stem from stress.
Stress is known to be a leading cause of heart disease and cancer.
Stress causes depression and can lead to migraine headaches, hypertension, chest pains, ulcers, gastritis, colitis, and heartburn.
And so, I think this story from Luke’s gospel speaks to us as much as it did to Martha (Luke 10:38-42) .
Jesus told Martha: “"YOU ARE ANXIOUS AND TROUBLED ABOUT MANY THINGS."
Yeah, she was.
And, we sure are, wouldn’t you say?
Truer words were never spoken – certainly not truer words that speak to us today.
And what did Jesus tell Martha?
"YOU ARE ANXIOUS AND TROUBLED ABOUT MANY THINGS," but only one thing is needful,
there is one thing that is more important than all the rest.
And Mary understands it.
Mary gets it.
Mary had taken the psalm we read to heart:
You, Lord, give me all I need . . .
My future is in your hands . . .
In all that goes on in the world around me
I am always aware of God’s presence –
God is near [always] no matter what.
We are anxious and troubled about many things. But ONE THING IS NEEDFUL.
And therein I believe lies the secret to stressless living.
Write these words down.
Memorize them.
Say them over and over again when you get up in the morning, in the middle of the day when things start getting to you, and in bed at night before you fall off to sleep.
This can actually help you sleep better at night.
This probably save you a few trips to the doctor.
You are worried and troubled over so many things – but there is one more important than all the others.
You, Lord, give me all I need . . .
My future is in your hands . . .
In all that goes on in the world around me
I am always aware of your presence –
God is near [always] no matter what.
These are life-changing words.
Say it – over and over again.
Believe it – day in and day out.
It will change your life.
Stress and anxiety take a back seat to this positive affirmation.
Amen.
These comments were part of sermon heard by the congregation of The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, gathered on September 19, 2010.
When You Are Worried and Troubled
As Jesus and his disciples went on their way,
he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him in her home.
She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching.
Martha was upset over all the work she had to do, so she came and said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself ? Tell her to come and help me!"
The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things,
but just one is needed.
Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away from her."
Luke 10:38-42 -- Today's English Version (The Good News Bible)
he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him in her home.
She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching.
Martha was upset over all the work she had to do, so she came and said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself ? Tell her to come and help me!"
The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things,
but just one is needed.
Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away from her."
Luke 10:38-42 -- Today's English Version (The Good News Bible)
God is Near -- Always
Protect me, O God; I trust in you for safety.
I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; all the good things I have come from you."
How excellent are the LORD's faithful people!
My greatest pleasure is to be with them.
Those who rush to other gods bring many troubles on themselves.
I will not take part in their sacrifices;
I will not worship their gods.
You, LORD, are all I have, and you give me all I need;
my future is in your hands.
How wonderful are your gifts to me; how good they are!
I praise the LORD, because he guides me, and in the night my conscience warns me.
I am always aware of the LORD's presence;
he is near, and nothing can shake me.
And so I am thankful and glad, and I feel completely secure,
because you protect me from the power of death.
I have served you faithfully, and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead.
You will show me the path that leads to life;
your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure forever.
Psalm 16 -- Today's English Version (The Good News Bible)
I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; all the good things I have come from you."
How excellent are the LORD's faithful people!
My greatest pleasure is to be with them.
Those who rush to other gods bring many troubles on themselves.
I will not take part in their sacrifices;
I will not worship their gods.
You, LORD, are all I have, and you give me all I need;
my future is in your hands.
How wonderful are your gifts to me; how good they are!
I praise the LORD, because he guides me, and in the night my conscience warns me.
I am always aware of the LORD's presence;
he is near, and nothing can shake me.
And so I am thankful and glad, and I feel completely secure,
because you protect me from the power of death.
I have served you faithfully, and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead.
You will show me the path that leads to life;
your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure forever.
Psalm 16 -- Today's English Version (The Good News Bible)
Saturday, August 28, 2010
What Summertime Teaches Us About Our Faith:
Take Time to Stop and Smell the Roses
It is precisely here and now in these days of summer that we have the opportunity –
and even the obligation –
to give listen to the declaration of God’s handiwork all around us,
to observe how God’s greatness is being revealed to us
in all the little events and quirks and miracles of the natural world
as they are being revealed to us.
So, its summertime in Drexel Hill.
A time where quite naturally everything seems to slow down.
Life all around us just isn’t as frenzied as it is at other times of the year.
Perhaps it’s the heat.
Or, the humidity.
Or, the heat index.
Or, the extra hours of daylight.
Or, whatever . . .
But, it does seem that the pace of things lessens, wouldn’t you say?
And, folks tend to spend more time out doors,
and/or more time in the company of others,
and/or
People in the cities sit on their stoops and put up chairs on the sidewalk so they can swap stories with their neighbors, and
say hello to all passersby,
and tease the young’ns.
Hammocks come out.
Awnings go up.
Flip flops and shorts are the order of the day.
When I started looking at it, it seemed to me that summertime in Drexel Hill reveals some lessons about the faith we profess.
And so, I have this series of sermons about these lessons.
It is summertime in Drexel Hill – and I am embarked on a series of sermons about what summertime teaches us about our faith.
Two weeks ago we emphasized that summertime teaches us that all moments are precious.
Last week we looked at how casualness is good.
This week we are considering how summertime encourages us to slow down and smell the roses.
We read the beginning of the song the Psalmist sings ( Psalm 19) which speaks to our experience here in the summertime:
The heavens declare the glory of God . . .
The [very] sky displays God’s handiwork.
Day after day it speaks out;
night after night it reveals God’s greatness.
[O for sure ] There is no actual speech or word,
nor is its voice literally heard.
Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth;
its words carry to the distant horizon.
It is precisely here and now in these days of summer that we have the opportunity – and even the obligation – to give listen to the declaration of God’s handiwork all around us,
to observe how God’s greatness is being revealed to us in all the little events and quirks and miracles of the natural world as they are being revealed to us.
But, alas, even knowing this,
even, perhaps, wanting to do this,
even thinking we should do this . . . .
We don’t, do we?
Usually because we’re too busy.
We just don’t have the time.
A while back, Forbes Magazine featured a special edition on a single topic that it called "the biggest issue of our age – time."
The editors wrote, "We've beaten, or at least stymied, most of humanity's monsters:
disease, climate, geography, and memory.
But time still defeats us.
Lately its victories seem more complete than ever. Those timesaving inventions of the last half-century have somehow turned on us.
We now hold cell phone meetings in traffic jams, and 24-7 has become the most terrifying phrase in modern life."
While many of us experience time as a source of distress, the Bible clearly presents time as a gift.
It is, in fact, the only means by which we can receive the grace of God.
Time and space are God's chosen media for self-revelation – as evidenced by the arrival of Jesus at a real moment in history at a real place on this planet – and they are the only media through which God may be encountered this side of heaven.
But most folks today experience time as a crushing burden.
After all, by definition, time is limited,
and chronically busy Americans chafe at such an unyielding limitation.
We may discern inequalities in certain gifts that God has given to us –
financial resources and Spirit-given empowerments come to mind –
but time is different.
With regard to time, we are all truly equal.
Each one of us, no matter who we are, no matter our circumstance,
each one of us is charged with managing exactly sixty minutes over the next hour.
In a culture that seems increasingly panicked about such a basic responsibility, what is the call of God?
It seems to me that summertime forces us to slow down and step back and begin to see time in accordance with God's perspective.
From God's perspective:
time is not our enemy.
We may complain that we don't have enough time or that our time is going too fast.
But, God's perspective is that we already have at our disposal exactly the number of hours we need
to do what God wants us to do –
and never to feel rushed.
The call of God is simply to slow down,
to be present at each moment as it arrives.
Time is a gift to be opened one minute at a time – and no faster.
And, today, our summertime lesson regarding our faith is another thing that Jesus did often and suggested that we do as well, just relax and let it be.
Or, as one preacher said, Chill.
Jesus chilled.
Jesus wants us to chill as well.
Relax and let it be.
Slow down and smell the roses.
Our stories of Jesus contain many that refer to Jesus taking time to chill out – to slow down and smell the roses.
The early Christian community seemed to remember that Jesus valued his time of rest.
Times of rest and recreation and relaxation became times of rejuvenation and restoration and re-creation.
Time and time again when Jesus had been through a very demanding time, he took time to shut down. Nobody had to tell Him to shut down – like we do here in Drexel Hill in the summertime.
Jesus knew when He was emotionally worn out. He knew when He was dangerously depleted.
The passage we read today comes right after the story of the feeding of the five thousand.
Jesus had just dealt with this immense problem of all those hungry people who wouldn’t go home until they got something to eat, and He had come up
with an answer.
He had taken a measly five loaves and a paltry two fish,
had blessed them, and had made them go
around.
Now you might think that miracle working was just a part of Jesus’ thing, no big deal.
Maybe so.
But my imagination runs wild at the picture of Jesus having to organize this mess, you know? The Bible says that He told His disciples to make
everybody sit down in groups of hundreds and fifties.
Let me tell you, getting the attention of five thousand people or five hundred or even five to get them settled is no mean task.
Nobody takes orders, especially from the preacher. And let me tell you something else, even getting the twelve disciples to follow instructions was no picnic.
Can’t you just imagine it?
“No, Peter, you just deal with one hundred like everybody else. You’re not pope yet.”
“James and John, get out there.
You can’t just sit up here at my right hand and my left hand; get moving.”
“Simon the Zealot, no, man, just get them to sit
down; no marches, no sit-ins against the Romans, not now.”
“Okay, Thomas, so you doubt this will work. Can you trust me, just this once?”
Not easy to get this thing organized.
And then – think about it – at the end they had all the scraps to clean up.
Now that is tough too.
Have you ever noticed that everybody is ready to come to a party,
and some are ready to fix it and serve it,
but nobody – I mean nobody – wants to stay around and clean up?!
“Great fish, Jesus; got to get your recipe – but I have to go now”.
“Loved your pita bread – let’s do lunch again sometime. Bye!”
So Jesus had to organize the cleanup crew.
I would think that Jesus was tired – and emotionally drained!
And He knew it!
It says, “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side.”
He was so out of there!
And why not?
Jesus knew, and we are reminded every summer, when we don’t take time to relax, to rejuvenate,
to recuperate, everything is at risk:
our health,
our mission,
our faith.
The story goes that God created the world and all there is in six days.
And when that task was done, God rested.
I don’t usually anthropomorphize God, but here I have an image of God just sitting down under one of those shade trees and taking a break.
Well, the early Hebrew people knew that not only was this a story about God, but if we knew what was good for us, we would emulate that behavior and spend regular time just resting.
How we chill is almost as important as knowing that we should.
I suppose each of us has cultivated certain behaviors we use to chill and to rest and to relax.
What you do is not something that I may find relaxing. And vice-versa.
Suzanne finds counted cross stitching relaxing.
She will spend hours in a chair with fabric in her lap placing a needle laced with colored thread through a certain hole that she has identified was the correct one that will eventually make a picture whole.
I can’t watch her.
It is so unnerving for me.
I have no patience for that.
I listen to music, or turn on the tv, or read the funnies, or do a crossword puzzle, or figure a sudoku.
What do you do to get away?
What can you do to replenish yourself?
When we look at Jesus chilling we discover another way.
We are told that Jesus chilled by going to His private place of prayer and lingering there with God.
Jesus chilled by sending everybody else home –
He put the disciples out in the boat and sent all
the people home,
and went up on the mountain to pray.
And when He did, it filled Him.
It re-created Him.
It gave Him a new sense of His world.
When Jesus chilled, He prayed,
but His prayer did not make Him a stained-glass window zombie.
It energized Him,
it gave Him perspective,
it gave Him the freedom to deal with others in the right way.
We are reminded that Jesus chilled out because He knew it would equip Him to be that steady, calm, certain, healing presence in the midst of others’ pain.
When the little boat with Jesus and His disciples crossed over to the other side of the lake, people began to rush around.
They brought in everybody with a sickness,
everybody with a problem,
everybody who needed help.
It was such a crush of people that some of them just asked if they could so much as touch the hem of his garment.
You know how it goes, when the telemarketer says, “I will only take two minutes of your time”.
People always need more than they let on.
People need more than the hem of the garment, but they are afraid to ask for it.
They don’t want to be rejected.
We send them hostile messages.
Ah, but this Jesus.
This chilling Jesus.
This rested, prayed-up, replenished, complete Jesus.
With perfect calm; with total self-control;
with a wonderful sense of who He is,
all who touched Him were healed.
This Jesus, this chilled-out Jesus, this together Jesus knows exactly why He is here,
knows thoroughly what His life purpose is,
knows who His God is.
Jesus knows.
Knows Himself,
knows His purpose,
knows His God.
And Jesus chilling, equips Himself for God’s purpose.
Summertime reminds us to relax and just let it be.
It is in periods of rest that we discover, as Jesus did,
why we are here.
It is in periods of rest that we figure out,
as He did, what God wants us to do
and what God wants us not to do.
It is in periods of rest that we get rejuvenated and
recuperated, and refreshed and re-created to have the energy and the ability to do what we are called to do.
If we would follow Jesus, we need to be like Jesus chilling.
Jesus chilled.
You and I need to chill.
Remember the words of that old song?
“O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
o calm of hills above;
where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
the silence of eternity
interpreted by love.
Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.”
That seems to target what happens when we chill in the summertime.
And why we need to pay attention to the messages we receive about the faith we profess.
It is through these times of rest and relaxation and prayer and that we receive what we need to live as it is intended for us to live.
Glorifying God and
Helping others.
Amen.
A sermon heard by the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, August 22, 2010
It is precisely here and now in these days of summer that we have the opportunity –
and even the obligation –
to give listen to the declaration of God’s handiwork all around us,
to observe how God’s greatness is being revealed to us
in all the little events and quirks and miracles of the natural world
as they are being revealed to us.
So, its summertime in Drexel Hill.
A time where quite naturally everything seems to slow down.
Life all around us just isn’t as frenzied as it is at other times of the year.
Perhaps it’s the heat.
Or, the humidity.
Or, the heat index.
Or, the extra hours of daylight.
Or, whatever . . .
But, it does seem that the pace of things lessens, wouldn’t you say?
And, folks tend to spend more time out doors,
and/or more time in the company of others,
and/or
People in the cities sit on their stoops and put up chairs on the sidewalk so they can swap stories with their neighbors, and
say hello to all passersby,
and tease the young’ns.
Hammocks come out.
Awnings go up.
Flip flops and shorts are the order of the day.
When I started looking at it, it seemed to me that summertime in Drexel Hill reveals some lessons about the faith we profess.
And so, I have this series of sermons about these lessons.
It is summertime in Drexel Hill – and I am embarked on a series of sermons about what summertime teaches us about our faith.
Two weeks ago we emphasized that summertime teaches us that all moments are precious.
Last week we looked at how casualness is good.
This week we are considering how summertime encourages us to slow down and smell the roses.
We read the beginning of the song the Psalmist sings ( Psalm 19) which speaks to our experience here in the summertime:
The heavens declare the glory of God . . .
The [very] sky displays God’s handiwork.
Day after day it speaks out;
night after night it reveals God’s greatness.
[O for sure ] There is no actual speech or word,
nor is its voice literally heard.
Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth;
its words carry to the distant horizon.
It is precisely here and now in these days of summer that we have the opportunity – and even the obligation – to give listen to the declaration of God’s handiwork all around us,
to observe how God’s greatness is being revealed to us in all the little events and quirks and miracles of the natural world as they are being revealed to us.
But, alas, even knowing this,
even, perhaps, wanting to do this,
even thinking we should do this . . . .
We don’t, do we?
Usually because we’re too busy.
We just don’t have the time.
A while back, Forbes Magazine featured a special edition on a single topic that it called "the biggest issue of our age – time."
The editors wrote, "We've beaten, or at least stymied, most of humanity's monsters:
disease, climate, geography, and memory.
But time still defeats us.
Lately its victories seem more complete than ever. Those timesaving inventions of the last half-century have somehow turned on us.
We now hold cell phone meetings in traffic jams, and 24-7 has become the most terrifying phrase in modern life."
While many of us experience time as a source of distress, the Bible clearly presents time as a gift.
It is, in fact, the only means by which we can receive the grace of God.
Time and space are God's chosen media for self-revelation – as evidenced by the arrival of Jesus at a real moment in history at a real place on this planet – and they are the only media through which God may be encountered this side of heaven.
But most folks today experience time as a crushing burden.
After all, by definition, time is limited,
and chronically busy Americans chafe at such an unyielding limitation.
We may discern inequalities in certain gifts that God has given to us –
financial resources and Spirit-given empowerments come to mind –
but time is different.
With regard to time, we are all truly equal.
Each one of us, no matter who we are, no matter our circumstance,
each one of us is charged with managing exactly sixty minutes over the next hour.
In a culture that seems increasingly panicked about such a basic responsibility, what is the call of God?
It seems to me that summertime forces us to slow down and step back and begin to see time in accordance with God's perspective.
From God's perspective:
time is not our enemy.
We may complain that we don't have enough time or that our time is going too fast.
But, God's perspective is that we already have at our disposal exactly the number of hours we need
to do what God wants us to do –
and never to feel rushed.
The call of God is simply to slow down,
to be present at each moment as it arrives.
Time is a gift to be opened one minute at a time – and no faster.
And, today, our summertime lesson regarding our faith is another thing that Jesus did often and suggested that we do as well, just relax and let it be.
Or, as one preacher said, Chill.
Jesus chilled.
Jesus wants us to chill as well.
Relax and let it be.
Slow down and smell the roses.
Our stories of Jesus contain many that refer to Jesus taking time to chill out – to slow down and smell the roses.
The early Christian community seemed to remember that Jesus valued his time of rest.
Times of rest and recreation and relaxation became times of rejuvenation and restoration and re-creation.
Time and time again when Jesus had been through a very demanding time, he took time to shut down. Nobody had to tell Him to shut down – like we do here in Drexel Hill in the summertime.
Jesus knew when He was emotionally worn out. He knew when He was dangerously depleted.
The passage we read today comes right after the story of the feeding of the five thousand.
Jesus had just dealt with this immense problem of all those hungry people who wouldn’t go home until they got something to eat, and He had come up
with an answer.
He had taken a measly five loaves and a paltry two fish,
had blessed them, and had made them go
around.
Now you might think that miracle working was just a part of Jesus’ thing, no big deal.
Maybe so.
But my imagination runs wild at the picture of Jesus having to organize this mess, you know? The Bible says that He told His disciples to make
everybody sit down in groups of hundreds and fifties.
Let me tell you, getting the attention of five thousand people or five hundred or even five to get them settled is no mean task.
Nobody takes orders, especially from the preacher. And let me tell you something else, even getting the twelve disciples to follow instructions was no picnic.
Can’t you just imagine it?
“No, Peter, you just deal with one hundred like everybody else. You’re not pope yet.”
“James and John, get out there.
You can’t just sit up here at my right hand and my left hand; get moving.”
“Simon the Zealot, no, man, just get them to sit
down; no marches, no sit-ins against the Romans, not now.”
“Okay, Thomas, so you doubt this will work. Can you trust me, just this once?”
Not easy to get this thing organized.
And then – think about it – at the end they had all the scraps to clean up.
Now that is tough too.
Have you ever noticed that everybody is ready to come to a party,
and some are ready to fix it and serve it,
but nobody – I mean nobody – wants to stay around and clean up?!
“Great fish, Jesus; got to get your recipe – but I have to go now”.
“Loved your pita bread – let’s do lunch again sometime. Bye!”
So Jesus had to organize the cleanup crew.
I would think that Jesus was tired – and emotionally drained!
And He knew it!
It says, “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side.”
He was so out of there!
And why not?
Jesus knew, and we are reminded every summer, when we don’t take time to relax, to rejuvenate,
to recuperate, everything is at risk:
our health,
our mission,
our faith.
The story goes that God created the world and all there is in six days.
And when that task was done, God rested.
I don’t usually anthropomorphize God, but here I have an image of God just sitting down under one of those shade trees and taking a break.
Well, the early Hebrew people knew that not only was this a story about God, but if we knew what was good for us, we would emulate that behavior and spend regular time just resting.
How we chill is almost as important as knowing that we should.
I suppose each of us has cultivated certain behaviors we use to chill and to rest and to relax.
What you do is not something that I may find relaxing. And vice-versa.
Suzanne finds counted cross stitching relaxing.
She will spend hours in a chair with fabric in her lap placing a needle laced with colored thread through a certain hole that she has identified was the correct one that will eventually make a picture whole.
I can’t watch her.
It is so unnerving for me.
I have no patience for that.
I listen to music, or turn on the tv, or read the funnies, or do a crossword puzzle, or figure a sudoku.
What do you do to get away?
What can you do to replenish yourself?
When we look at Jesus chilling we discover another way.
We are told that Jesus chilled by going to His private place of prayer and lingering there with God.
Jesus chilled by sending everybody else home –
He put the disciples out in the boat and sent all
the people home,
and went up on the mountain to pray.
And when He did, it filled Him.
It re-created Him.
It gave Him a new sense of His world.
When Jesus chilled, He prayed,
but His prayer did not make Him a stained-glass window zombie.
It energized Him,
it gave Him perspective,
it gave Him the freedom to deal with others in the right way.
We are reminded that Jesus chilled out because He knew it would equip Him to be that steady, calm, certain, healing presence in the midst of others’ pain.
When the little boat with Jesus and His disciples crossed over to the other side of the lake, people began to rush around.
They brought in everybody with a sickness,
everybody with a problem,
everybody who needed help.
It was such a crush of people that some of them just asked if they could so much as touch the hem of his garment.
You know how it goes, when the telemarketer says, “I will only take two minutes of your time”.
People always need more than they let on.
People need more than the hem of the garment, but they are afraid to ask for it.
They don’t want to be rejected.
We send them hostile messages.
Ah, but this Jesus.
This chilling Jesus.
This rested, prayed-up, replenished, complete Jesus.
With perfect calm; with total self-control;
with a wonderful sense of who He is,
all who touched Him were healed.
This Jesus, this chilled-out Jesus, this together Jesus knows exactly why He is here,
knows thoroughly what His life purpose is,
knows who His God is.
Jesus knows.
Knows Himself,
knows His purpose,
knows His God.
And Jesus chilling, equips Himself for God’s purpose.
Summertime reminds us to relax and just let it be.
It is in periods of rest that we discover, as Jesus did,
why we are here.
It is in periods of rest that we figure out,
as He did, what God wants us to do
and what God wants us not to do.
It is in periods of rest that we get rejuvenated and
recuperated, and refreshed and re-created to have the energy and the ability to do what we are called to do.
If we would follow Jesus, we need to be like Jesus chilling.
Jesus chilled.
You and I need to chill.
Remember the words of that old song?
“O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
o calm of hills above;
where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
the silence of eternity
interpreted by love.
Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.”
That seems to target what happens when we chill in the summertime.
And why we need to pay attention to the messages we receive about the faith we profess.
It is through these times of rest and relaxation and prayer and that we receive what we need to live as it is intended for us to live.
Glorifying God and
Helping others.
Amen.
A sermon heard by the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, August 22, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
What Summertime Teaches Us About Our Faith:
All Moments Are Precious
This day is filled with precious moments.
This very moment is precious.
This moment belongs to God.
That's why it counts forever.
You don’t have to look very deep to realize that one of the persistent themes of our Bible is that all moments are precious.
For some 40 years or so, Precious Moments has been copy-writed[?] to refer to super-cute drawings of children with big tear-drop eyes in various poses to evoke a feeling of cute togetherness.
Throughout the years these drawings have been produced in a line of dolls that illustrate the theme.
And they even became the theme for a theme park in Missouri.
But, for me, this is another way important expressions of faith are highjacked of any original intrinsic meaning.
You don’t have to look very deep to realize that one of the persistent themes of our Bible is that all moments are precious.
If I were to ask, I do believe that everyone in this room could come up with a list of a least ten moments in time that you remember and recall as “precious moments”.
Many will identify a birth of a child as a recognized “precious” moment.
And there a lot of experiences that are common to many people that are thought of as “precious” moments.
But, each of us have a few memories of unique moments that made an impact on us – and we just knew them to be precious moments.
Suzanne’s nephew and his young family came to see us this week. They were on their way back home to Montreal after the three week family vacation that included a visit to Florida.
He recounted that after driving all night on the way down there, they arrived in Daytona Beach early in the morning – before sunrise.
He and his wife carried their two sleeping children into the room and placed them on beds, and as he was unloading some needed baggage from the car he became aware that it was getting lighter fairly rapidly. And as circumstance would have it, the room to which they were assigned faced the east and sun began to pop up way over the horizon of the sea. He described it as a sign that said slow down, this is a precious moment, this time of your life is sacred time.
Nason Clark remembers to this day of a bike ride he and a friend took years and years ago where they ended up in a field somewhere over where Lawrence Park now is. And when he and his friend came upon this field of spectacular wildflowers, they became aware of swarms of butterflies – butterflies by the millions fluttering over the field. Describing it still takes his breath away – as it did on that day so long ago. Truly a precious moment.
No, you can’t copyright precious moments.
In fact, our faith tells us that our life is better when we are able to see and to recognize that all our moments are precious.
The call of God is to be present at each moment as it arrives.
Psalm 90 informs us that God is uniquely able to experience a "telescoping" of time – that for God a thousand years are like a day,
but even more intriguing, that a day is as rich and meaningful as a thousand years.
Quite literally every moment matters eternally – which means that this present moment counts forever.
One of the great human obsessions of the modern age is to make time jump through more hoops –
to force time to be more productive.
That's why so many of us are suckers for the next generation of computers, date books, blackberries, and smart phones.
Even ESPN has endeavored to fit more than one hour of sports highlights into a one-hour show.
That's why NFL kickoffs that are returned for a touchdown (without doubt one of the most dramatic moments in football) are now being replayed as if the fast-forward button is stuck.
Instead of presenting the play at normal speed, which consumes all of twelve or fourteen seconds, the action is frequently speeded up –
now consuming just six or seven seconds –
so viewers can quickly move on to see another highlight, and then another, and then another.
First-time visitors to London frequently conclude that they may have only one chance to explore such an historic city.
Therefore they sign on for one of those everything-included-hurry-up-and-keep-moving tours.
"Now here's The Tower of London, there's Big Ben, and just over your right shoulder is Buckingham Palace."
You know the drill.
Hurry.
Stand over there and let me get your picture in front of the lions at Trafalgar Square.
Wow, there sure are a lot of pigeons.
Hey, look at the time. Let's go.
That is all too often an out-of-towner's only exposure to the city of London.
By contrast, Americans who move to London have a completely different encounter with the city.
They don't rush from place to place as tourists. They are residents.
Experienced Londoners know that years are required simply to begin to comprehend what this place has meant to human history.
A tourist cannot possibly appreciate that perspective in a four-hour sweep across town.
With all of our hearts, we must resist the temptation to become tourists in our own lives.
"I'd like to take the four-hour highlight tour of parenting, please."
"Come on, kids, it's time to do third grade.
Stand right there and let me get your picture.
Okay, on to the next stage in your life."
We must refuse to buy tickets for the quick walk-through of the Museum of Religious Experiences.
God calls us not to rush through the time that has been given to us, but to be fully alive to God and to each other –
actually to become residents within these moments we've been provided.
Why?
Because, every one of these moments counts forever.
So, we need to embrace God’s perspective on time.
And, we need to embrace God's shape to time.
You see, there is a God-ordained shape to human life.
This shape is what gives our lives a meaningful rhythm.
Mornings and evenings, mornings and evenings – it's like a tide.
When we rebel against that rhythm, there are consequences.
What time is it any more?
The boundaries and shape of daily life are rapidly becoming blurred.
One can now shop on-line any hour of the day.
Maybe you’ve seen that television commercial where a group of stunned consumers are standing in the middle of the night outside a conventional store at a mall.
No lights are on.
The customers are puzzled:
"It's closed. Man, that is so weird."
We are taught to expect that everything should be available every hour of every day.
What season is it any more?
We no longer have to wait for summer to get strawberries and watermelons.
We can find ripe peaches year-round.
Contemporary culture clearly wants to remove the boundaries customarily imposed by the more classic shapes and rhythms of time.
In an act that is flagrantly counter-cultural, the guides of certain spiritual retreats demand that weekend participants give up their watches.
Giving up one's watch is tantamount to giving up control – which is precisely the act of faith God asks of us moment by moment when it comes to time.
Our call is to trust God and to pay attention to three important rhythms connected to our experience of time.
The God-given shape of time, first, invites us to Divert Daily.
That means that we must stop every day for rest.
A key component of the management of time requires us to get the sleep our bodies need.
For some of us (who seemingly have taxi meters for brains and are always counting the cost of every squandered minute) the very idea that we sleep away one third of our lives seems like an incalculable waste.
But we are told that it is during those sleeping hours that our bodies carry out something like eighty percent of the biological processes required to maintain basic health.
At many junctures, God's Word challenges us to commit a portion of each day to the experience of simply being in the presence of God.
The goal of that quiet time is not to be productive. We are simply called to be.
The shape of time that God has provided, second, also invites us to Withdraw Weekly.
This speaks to the notion of the Sabbath.
You know the drill: God worked for six days at the beginning of creation – then God rested.
For us to devote one day out of seven to do no work is to be like God.
God doesn't suggest a Sabbath.
It is mandated as one of the original Ten Commandments.
Our Sabbath doesn't have to be on Sunday nor even on a weekend.
But one-seventh of our time during each week should be reserved to pray and to play.
God's design for time also invites us, third, to Abandon Annually.
In Old Testament times there were prescribed festivals for God's people.
Whole families were compelled to walk all the way to Jerusalem three times each year.
These became annual opportunities to enjoy life and to enjoy each other.
Essentially these festivals amounted to divinely ordained vacations.
To believe that we should not take a break each year –
to assert or to act as if our work is far too important to slow down –
is to take ourselves far too seriously
and to violate the rhythm and shape of time as God has provided it.
As the fractured proverb puts it, Better to have loafed and lost than never to have loafed at all.
Now, here’s the thing:
This moment may seem like an ordinary moment, but it is the gift of an extraordinary God.
This moment counts – forever.
If we were asked the question,
"Do you want to do something today that will be eternally significant?"
our tendency is to sigh, "You know, my day is so full. I really don't have time."
To that Paul thunders in 2 Corinthinians:
"See, now is the acceptable time;
see, now is the day of salvation!"
Perhaps we are waiting for the crush of time to pass.
Then we will turn our attention fully to spiritual questions – when we're not so busy.
Perhaps we are waiting for the right circumstances to arrive, or for a hardship to vanish.
We're waiting for more money or more education or more insight or more data.
First let's have the baby,
or wait for the children to get into school,
or wait until summer vacation,
or wait until the nest is empty.
Then we'll have time.
Paul couldn't agree less. In his second letter to the Corinthians there isn't the faintest evidence that a hardship-free life is just over the horizon.
It will never be the "right time" to act.
Therefore God calls us to act now.
The wise heart is the one that grasps that this moment has become a world-changing moment when we let it fully belong to God.
"As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain."
Will we capture the richness of this moment through an act of spiritual submission –
or do we miss this opportunity altogether?
You may or may not remember the name Henry Stanley.
Henry Stanley is the American journalist who, in 1871, having walked into a jungle clearing in central Africa, spotted a pale-skinned man and said,
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
In his own right, however, he was also an explorer of uncharted territory in Africa.
Historians believe that until Henry Stanley's expedition five years later,
no one – either inside or outside Africa –
had ever been all the way down the treacherous Congo River, with its canyons, gorges, and cannibals.
In 1876 led an expedition down the Congo River.
His trip took 999 days and was filled with unimaginable hardships.
One night proved to be so fraught with difficulties and doubts that Henry Stanley realized he had to make a choice – either to keep going forward into the unknown, or to head back toward security.
That night he approached his friend and helper Frank Pocock.
"Now, Frank, my son, sit down.
I am about to have a long and serious chat with you.
Life and death – yours and mine – hang on the decision I make tonight."
What should they do?
Frank Pocock and Henry Stanley decided to flip a coin – an Indian rupee.
Heads they would go forward;
tails they would go home.
The coin came up tails – go home.
They quickly decided to make it two out of three. They flipped again.
Tails again – turn around and go home.
"How about three out of five?"
Once again it was tails.
Six times in a row they flipped and flipped,
six times in a row the coin turned up tails – turn around, go home.
That’s when the two men decided to draw straws – long straw to go forward, short straw to go back.
Time and time again, they picked the short straw.
Henry Stanley and Frank Pocock suddenly realized that they had already made their decision.
No matter what the coins or the straws "told them," in their hearts all they wanted to do was head down the Congo River into the Great Unknown.
That is precisely what they did, making history in the process.
Their most significant opportunity for adventure didn't come and go in vain.
This day you and I don't need to flip coins or draw straws to know what is on God's heart.
God calls us to receive grace –
to embrace God's perspective and shape of time. We aren't called to wait for the next moment.
This day is filled with precious moments.
This very moment is precious.
This moment belongs to God.
That's why it counts forever.
To God’s eyes,
and through faith’s eyes,
every moment is precious.
May you see and know this day as being filled with precious moments –
as tomorrow will be,
and the day after that,
and the day after that.
When we see them,
when we recognize them,
our lives are richer,
and we are closer to living as though the kingdom of God is near.
Amen.
A sermon heard by the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, August 8, 2010
This day is filled with precious moments.
This very moment is precious.
This moment belongs to God.
That's why it counts forever.
You don’t have to look very deep to realize that one of the persistent themes of our Bible is that all moments are precious.
For some 40 years or so, Precious Moments has been copy-writed[?] to refer to super-cute drawings of children with big tear-drop eyes in various poses to evoke a feeling of cute togetherness.
Throughout the years these drawings have been produced in a line of dolls that illustrate the theme.
And they even became the theme for a theme park in Missouri.
But, for me, this is another way important expressions of faith are highjacked of any original intrinsic meaning.
You don’t have to look very deep to realize that one of the persistent themes of our Bible is that all moments are precious.
If I were to ask, I do believe that everyone in this room could come up with a list of a least ten moments in time that you remember and recall as “precious moments”.
Many will identify a birth of a child as a recognized “precious” moment.
And there a lot of experiences that are common to many people that are thought of as “precious” moments.
But, each of us have a few memories of unique moments that made an impact on us – and we just knew them to be precious moments.
Suzanne’s nephew and his young family came to see us this week. They were on their way back home to Montreal after the three week family vacation that included a visit to Florida.
He recounted that after driving all night on the way down there, they arrived in Daytona Beach early in the morning – before sunrise.
He and his wife carried their two sleeping children into the room and placed them on beds, and as he was unloading some needed baggage from the car he became aware that it was getting lighter fairly rapidly. And as circumstance would have it, the room to which they were assigned faced the east and sun began to pop up way over the horizon of the sea. He described it as a sign that said slow down, this is a precious moment, this time of your life is sacred time.
Nason Clark remembers to this day of a bike ride he and a friend took years and years ago where they ended up in a field somewhere over where Lawrence Park now is. And when he and his friend came upon this field of spectacular wildflowers, they became aware of swarms of butterflies – butterflies by the millions fluttering over the field. Describing it still takes his breath away – as it did on that day so long ago. Truly a precious moment.
No, you can’t copyright precious moments.
In fact, our faith tells us that our life is better when we are able to see and to recognize that all our moments are precious.
The call of God is to be present at each moment as it arrives.
Psalm 90 informs us that God is uniquely able to experience a "telescoping" of time – that for God a thousand years are like a day,
but even more intriguing, that a day is as rich and meaningful as a thousand years.
Quite literally every moment matters eternally – which means that this present moment counts forever.
One of the great human obsessions of the modern age is to make time jump through more hoops –
to force time to be more productive.
That's why so many of us are suckers for the next generation of computers, date books, blackberries, and smart phones.
Even ESPN has endeavored to fit more than one hour of sports highlights into a one-hour show.
That's why NFL kickoffs that are returned for a touchdown (without doubt one of the most dramatic moments in football) are now being replayed as if the fast-forward button is stuck.
Instead of presenting the play at normal speed, which consumes all of twelve or fourteen seconds, the action is frequently speeded up –
now consuming just six or seven seconds –
so viewers can quickly move on to see another highlight, and then another, and then another.
First-time visitors to London frequently conclude that they may have only one chance to explore such an historic city.
Therefore they sign on for one of those everything-included-hurry-up-and-keep-moving tours.
"Now here's The Tower of London, there's Big Ben, and just over your right shoulder is Buckingham Palace."
You know the drill.
Hurry.
Stand over there and let me get your picture in front of the lions at Trafalgar Square.
Wow, there sure are a lot of pigeons.
Hey, look at the time. Let's go.
That is all too often an out-of-towner's only exposure to the city of London.
By contrast, Americans who move to London have a completely different encounter with the city.
They don't rush from place to place as tourists. They are residents.
Experienced Londoners know that years are required simply to begin to comprehend what this place has meant to human history.
A tourist cannot possibly appreciate that perspective in a four-hour sweep across town.
With all of our hearts, we must resist the temptation to become tourists in our own lives.
"I'd like to take the four-hour highlight tour of parenting, please."
"Come on, kids, it's time to do third grade.
Stand right there and let me get your picture.
Okay, on to the next stage in your life."
We must refuse to buy tickets for the quick walk-through of the Museum of Religious Experiences.
God calls us not to rush through the time that has been given to us, but to be fully alive to God and to each other –
actually to become residents within these moments we've been provided.
Why?
Because, every one of these moments counts forever.
So, we need to embrace God’s perspective on time.
And, we need to embrace God's shape to time.
You see, there is a God-ordained shape to human life.
This shape is what gives our lives a meaningful rhythm.
Mornings and evenings, mornings and evenings – it's like a tide.
When we rebel against that rhythm, there are consequences.
What time is it any more?
The boundaries and shape of daily life are rapidly becoming blurred.
One can now shop on-line any hour of the day.
Maybe you’ve seen that television commercial where a group of stunned consumers are standing in the middle of the night outside a conventional store at a mall.
No lights are on.
The customers are puzzled:
"It's closed. Man, that is so weird."
We are taught to expect that everything should be available every hour of every day.
What season is it any more?
We no longer have to wait for summer to get strawberries and watermelons.
We can find ripe peaches year-round.
Contemporary culture clearly wants to remove the boundaries customarily imposed by the more classic shapes and rhythms of time.
In an act that is flagrantly counter-cultural, the guides of certain spiritual retreats demand that weekend participants give up their watches.
Giving up one's watch is tantamount to giving up control – which is precisely the act of faith God asks of us moment by moment when it comes to time.
Our call is to trust God and to pay attention to three important rhythms connected to our experience of time.
The God-given shape of time, first, invites us to Divert Daily.
That means that we must stop every day for rest.
A key component of the management of time requires us to get the sleep our bodies need.
For some of us (who seemingly have taxi meters for brains and are always counting the cost of every squandered minute) the very idea that we sleep away one third of our lives seems like an incalculable waste.
But we are told that it is during those sleeping hours that our bodies carry out something like eighty percent of the biological processes required to maintain basic health.
At many junctures, God's Word challenges us to commit a portion of each day to the experience of simply being in the presence of God.
The goal of that quiet time is not to be productive. We are simply called to be.
The shape of time that God has provided, second, also invites us to Withdraw Weekly.
This speaks to the notion of the Sabbath.
You know the drill: God worked for six days at the beginning of creation – then God rested.
For us to devote one day out of seven to do no work is to be like God.
God doesn't suggest a Sabbath.
It is mandated as one of the original Ten Commandments.
Our Sabbath doesn't have to be on Sunday nor even on a weekend.
But one-seventh of our time during each week should be reserved to pray and to play.
God's design for time also invites us, third, to Abandon Annually.
In Old Testament times there were prescribed festivals for God's people.
Whole families were compelled to walk all the way to Jerusalem three times each year.
These became annual opportunities to enjoy life and to enjoy each other.
Essentially these festivals amounted to divinely ordained vacations.
To believe that we should not take a break each year –
to assert or to act as if our work is far too important to slow down –
is to take ourselves far too seriously
and to violate the rhythm and shape of time as God has provided it.
As the fractured proverb puts it, Better to have loafed and lost than never to have loafed at all.
Now, here’s the thing:
This moment may seem like an ordinary moment, but it is the gift of an extraordinary God.
This moment counts – forever.
If we were asked the question,
"Do you want to do something today that will be eternally significant?"
our tendency is to sigh, "You know, my day is so full. I really don't have time."
To that Paul thunders in 2 Corinthinians:
"See, now is the acceptable time;
see, now is the day of salvation!"
Perhaps we are waiting for the crush of time to pass.
Then we will turn our attention fully to spiritual questions – when we're not so busy.
Perhaps we are waiting for the right circumstances to arrive, or for a hardship to vanish.
We're waiting for more money or more education or more insight or more data.
First let's have the baby,
or wait for the children to get into school,
or wait until summer vacation,
or wait until the nest is empty.
Then we'll have time.
Paul couldn't agree less. In his second letter to the Corinthians there isn't the faintest evidence that a hardship-free life is just over the horizon.
It will never be the "right time" to act.
Therefore God calls us to act now.
The wise heart is the one that grasps that this moment has become a world-changing moment when we let it fully belong to God.
"As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain."
Will we capture the richness of this moment through an act of spiritual submission –
or do we miss this opportunity altogether?
You may or may not remember the name Henry Stanley.
Henry Stanley is the American journalist who, in 1871, having walked into a jungle clearing in central Africa, spotted a pale-skinned man and said,
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
In his own right, however, he was also an explorer of uncharted territory in Africa.
Historians believe that until Henry Stanley's expedition five years later,
no one – either inside or outside Africa –
had ever been all the way down the treacherous Congo River, with its canyons, gorges, and cannibals.
In 1876 led an expedition down the Congo River.
His trip took 999 days and was filled with unimaginable hardships.
One night proved to be so fraught with difficulties and doubts that Henry Stanley realized he had to make a choice – either to keep going forward into the unknown, or to head back toward security.
That night he approached his friend and helper Frank Pocock.
"Now, Frank, my son, sit down.
I am about to have a long and serious chat with you.
Life and death – yours and mine – hang on the decision I make tonight."
What should they do?
Frank Pocock and Henry Stanley decided to flip a coin – an Indian rupee.
Heads they would go forward;
tails they would go home.
The coin came up tails – go home.
They quickly decided to make it two out of three. They flipped again.
Tails again – turn around and go home.
"How about three out of five?"
Once again it was tails.
Six times in a row they flipped and flipped,
six times in a row the coin turned up tails – turn around, go home.
That’s when the two men decided to draw straws – long straw to go forward, short straw to go back.
Time and time again, they picked the short straw.
Henry Stanley and Frank Pocock suddenly realized that they had already made their decision.
No matter what the coins or the straws "told them," in their hearts all they wanted to do was head down the Congo River into the Great Unknown.
That is precisely what they did, making history in the process.
Their most significant opportunity for adventure didn't come and go in vain.
This day you and I don't need to flip coins or draw straws to know what is on God's heart.
God calls us to receive grace –
to embrace God's perspective and shape of time. We aren't called to wait for the next moment.
This day is filled with precious moments.
This very moment is precious.
This moment belongs to God.
That's why it counts forever.
To God’s eyes,
and through faith’s eyes,
every moment is precious.
May you see and know this day as being filled with precious moments –
as tomorrow will be,
and the day after that,
and the day after that.
When we see them,
when we recognize them,
our lives are richer,
and we are closer to living as though the kingdom of God is near.
Amen.
A sermon heard by the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, August 8, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Discovering The Risen Christ Along the Road You Walk
For us, Easter was three Sundays ago, and we're still talking about it!
Like most of us, the Disciples put their faith in a specific person or thing that they had hopes for, and promises of dreams come true.
And they saw the man die.
Their hopes, their dreams, their faith, began to fade.
All of these things were caught up in the visible presence of this man from Nazareth, they knew so well.
And now where was he?
He was gone.
And where were they?
They were going - away, to Emmaus.
What the disciples did after Easter, was much more important than what they had done before Easter.
And what we do after Easter is of much more importance than what we did before Easter.
Easter is the one event in history that explains and gives meaning to Christianity.
Friends, there were no Christians until after Easter . . .
Cleopas and his unnamed companion on the road to Emmaus thought they were "well-informed".
They were amazed that this "stranger" who had quietly joined them while they were "deep in conversation," – or as Phillips puts it, "absorbed in their serious talk and discussion," –
[they were amazed that this stranger] knew so little, or nothing at all,
of the events in which they were so completely engrossed.
"How can you possibly have been in Jerusalem during these last few days without knowing what happened?" They asked the stranger.
And he replied, "What do you mean?"
"All this about Jesus of Nazareth" and they went on to spell out the facts they knew so well.
Friends, I really believe this story is of crucial
importance for each of us –
in order to understand about Christianity,
in order to understand about Easter,
in order to understand ourselves.
Of all of the stories that have great importance to our faith, I would have to pick this one as having the greatest significance upon my personal life and understanding.
For me, the first to keep in mind is that
We can be equipped with all of the facts in the world, and we still may not know what happened. We may be blessed with a wonderful Christian education,
We may know a catechism as well as our own name,
We may be able to recite the books of the Old and New Testaments and spout Scripture passages like a fountain,
We may be very proud of our knowledge of Bible names and Bible facts, and Bible history,
And someday, we may suddenly be brought to the realization that it means very little, if nothing
at all, if we have never grasped the true meaning and significance of those facts and events for ourselves and for others.
Cleopas and his friend blurted out their knowledge of the things they had seen and experienced while being with Jesus.
At the same time, they demonstrated that now they really doubted the whole business,
and that they were deeply disappointed in the Prophet from Nazareth, who had failed them so miserably.
"We had been hoping," they said, "that he was the man to liberate Israel."
"What is more," they went on, "today three days after his crucifixion, some of the women in our company have astounded us, telling us that they went to the tomb and found it empty.
They failed to find his body and returned with a story that they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he was alive.
Then others went and found things just as the women had said; but him they did not see."
You see, they were sure of their facts.
They had been personally involved with this Jesus of Nazareth.
They had even been granted the privilege that morning of hearing the good news for the first time. And they were sick about it.
They were sad.
As J.B. Phillips gives us the story, "their faces were drawn with misery."
You see, they still just didn't get it.
Oh, they had all the facts, – but no understanding of what they meant.
They had enjoyed the best opportunity for a Christian education ever granted to anyone.
They had lived with Jesus.
And now, it was he, still un-recognized, who made it clear to them that they actually knew so very little.
That they had almost no understanding of the true significance of what had happened.
So, I imagine, with a smile on his face, this "stranger" said, "You are so dense!
You are so slow to believe all that the prophets said!"
And then he proceeded to reveal to them the true meaning of the facts they knew so well
and the events in which they had been personally involved.
"This is your Messiah," he told them, "and beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he explained to them the passages which referred to himself in every part of the scriptures."
It was a Bible class five or six miles long on that road between Jerusalem and Emmaus.
By the time they reached the village they were so engrossed that they couldn't bear the thought of parting with the still-unknown stranger who was doing so much for them.
So they invited him to stay over and have dinner.
And it was at that time, at supper, when he took the loaf of bread, and blessed it, and broke it,
just as he had done in the upper room not many nights before, that "their eyes were opened and they suddenly recognized him."
Suddenly, everything was changed for them.
Suddenly Easter made sense.
Suddenly the whole message came clear.
And now they understood a whole new way of religion and a whole new way of living.
No longer sad and sick and miserable,
without a moment's hesitation,
they returned to Jerusalem,
crossing those seven miles in a fraction of the time they had spent in coming.
They immediately found the other disciples and, with great excitement, they heard that Jesus had appeared to Simon.
They then shared their own experience with the others that evening of Easter Sunday.
And the next words are startling to us, and tremendously significant. "As they were talking about all this, there he was, standing among them."
Understand where they were and what they were needing: having followed him to Calvary, they needed disparately to know the significance of the open and empty tomb,
having seen him die,
and having been shocked by his death into a kind of stupor of unbelief,
they needed to know and to understand what it meant for him – and for them – to be ALIVE AGAIN.
And this begins to get at the center of Easter and Christianity, and us (what we believe, and what we do, and how we live!).
For us, Easter was three Sundays ago, and we're still talking about it!
You see, what the disciples did after Easter, was much more important than what they had done before Easter.
And what we do after Easter is of much more importance than what we did before Easter.
Easter is the one event in history that explains and gives meaning to Christianity.
Friends, there were no Christians until after Easter –
until after these things started happening,
that those closest to him – the disciples –
finally understood [and believed and understood] a faith – a whole way of living –
that was indeed about liberating Israel!
Again:
We live and move about and be within certain boundaries, or human limitations.
We are obviously bound between points of time in space.
We experience a beginning and an end.
There is a point when we are born, there is a point when we die.
And even with all of our tremendous technological expertise, we have no way of transcending time – of getting beyond either point in time.
We have no time machine wherein we can go into the future or into the past.
We humans are pretty well limited to the time we have been given to experience.
And it's within this framework then, that the early Christians began to see that Easter was an event through which God breaks the chains of human limitation,
moves beyond the points of birth and death,
and expands the whole concept of life itself.
The early Christians saw, experienced and understood that a life for others breaks out of the
personal, the egotistical, the selfish, and transcends the limits of birth and death.
And, they say that Christ showed us the way of totally giving of yourself –
living for others –
giving of yourself so others may live –
that puts us in the company of the saints that have gone before,
and places an eternal, hopeful quality for future generations.
The Easter event liberated Israel from being slaves to the idea that their God must be restricted to a particular person,
bound to a particular time period,
or a given space in history.
Now, note, that like most of us, the Disciples put their faith in a specific person or thing that they had hopes for, and promises of dreams come true.
And they saw the man die.
Their hopes, their dreams, their faith, began to fade.
All of these things were caught up in the visible presence of this man from Nazareth, they knew so well.
And now where was he?
He was gone.
And where were they?
They were going - - away, to Emmaus.
There are two points of discovery in this story – and there are two points of discovery each of us must make before we know what life in Christ is all about.
The first point of discovery occurs at supper – when the bread was broken
(the story says, their eyes were opened)
they suddenly realized they were in communion with the presence of Christ through this "stranger".
And the second point of discovery was quickly made as they recognized the presence of Christ wherever they went.
You see, they understood Easter as taking the Presence of Christ, the idea of God working in history,
the idea of God-with-us (Emmanuel),
and separating it from the physical confines of the body of Jesus,
separating it from the limitations of time and space,
and placing it in the on-going process of life –
wherever life is lived.
Talk about liberation.
Talk about freedom.
Talk about redemption and salvation.
Brothers and Sisters as they found out on the road to Emmaus, Easter did liberate Israel (and liberates us)
from IDOLATRY.
In all of the stories in the New Testament,
no one ever believed until they had an awareness of the Presence of Christ.
Until they became aware that Christ was present and God was acting in their midst,
belief made no sense.
So, look again at your faith, and read this story again – at first, the disciples were totally
unaware of the presence of Christ as they walked along the road to Emmaus.
They were totally insensitive to that stranger in their midst that seemed to know so much.
They were so caught up in their own despair, their own struggle with their faith, that they couldn't recognize Christ was with them as they walked.
Friends, today the words of the hymn,
"Open my eyes that I may see,
open my ears that I may hear,
open my mouth that I may speak",
informs our task as Christian folk.
As we celebrate this communion today, we participate with a fellowship of saints from all the
ages, and we come to grips with the source of life itself –
through the images of the bread and the cup – symbols of sustenance and life itself –
where communion becomes a celebration of illumination,
where in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup, our eyes and ears are opened,
to see and to be aware of the presence of Christ among us [in our neighbors along our road] and the significance of a life literally poured out for others.
My sincere prayer is for each of you to make some discovery about how Easter affects your faith and find some special significance in communion this morning. Amen.
These thoughts were presented to the congregation from the pulpit of The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, April 18, 2010.
Like most of us, the Disciples put their faith in a specific person or thing that they had hopes for, and promises of dreams come true.
And they saw the man die.
Their hopes, their dreams, their faith, began to fade.
All of these things were caught up in the visible presence of this man from Nazareth, they knew so well.
And now where was he?
He was gone.
And where were they?
They were going - away, to Emmaus.
What the disciples did after Easter, was much more important than what they had done before Easter.
And what we do after Easter is of much more importance than what we did before Easter.
Easter is the one event in history that explains and gives meaning to Christianity.
Friends, there were no Christians until after Easter . . .
Cleopas and his unnamed companion on the road to Emmaus thought they were "well-informed".
They were amazed that this "stranger" who had quietly joined them while they were "deep in conversation," – or as Phillips puts it, "absorbed in their serious talk and discussion," –
[they were amazed that this stranger] knew so little, or nothing at all,
of the events in which they were so completely engrossed.
"How can you possibly have been in Jerusalem during these last few days without knowing what happened?" They asked the stranger.
And he replied, "What do you mean?"
"All this about Jesus of Nazareth" and they went on to spell out the facts they knew so well.
Friends, I really believe this story is of crucial
importance for each of us –
in order to understand about Christianity,
in order to understand about Easter,
in order to understand ourselves.
Of all of the stories that have great importance to our faith, I would have to pick this one as having the greatest significance upon my personal life and understanding.
For me, the first to keep in mind is that
We can be equipped with all of the facts in the world, and we still may not know what happened. We may be blessed with a wonderful Christian education,
We may know a catechism as well as our own name,
We may be able to recite the books of the Old and New Testaments and spout Scripture passages like a fountain,
We may be very proud of our knowledge of Bible names and Bible facts, and Bible history,
And someday, we may suddenly be brought to the realization that it means very little, if nothing
at all, if we have never grasped the true meaning and significance of those facts and events for ourselves and for others.
Cleopas and his friend blurted out their knowledge of the things they had seen and experienced while being with Jesus.
At the same time, they demonstrated that now they really doubted the whole business,
and that they were deeply disappointed in the Prophet from Nazareth, who had failed them so miserably.
"We had been hoping," they said, "that he was the man to liberate Israel."
"What is more," they went on, "today three days after his crucifixion, some of the women in our company have astounded us, telling us that they went to the tomb and found it empty.
They failed to find his body and returned with a story that they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he was alive.
Then others went and found things just as the women had said; but him they did not see."
You see, they were sure of their facts.
They had been personally involved with this Jesus of Nazareth.
They had even been granted the privilege that morning of hearing the good news for the first time. And they were sick about it.
They were sad.
As J.B. Phillips gives us the story, "their faces were drawn with misery."
You see, they still just didn't get it.
Oh, they had all the facts, – but no understanding of what they meant.
They had enjoyed the best opportunity for a Christian education ever granted to anyone.
They had lived with Jesus.
And now, it was he, still un-recognized, who made it clear to them that they actually knew so very little.
That they had almost no understanding of the true significance of what had happened.
So, I imagine, with a smile on his face, this "stranger" said, "You are so dense!
You are so slow to believe all that the prophets said!"
And then he proceeded to reveal to them the true meaning of the facts they knew so well
and the events in which they had been personally involved.
"This is your Messiah," he told them, "and beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he explained to them the passages which referred to himself in every part of the scriptures."
It was a Bible class five or six miles long on that road between Jerusalem and Emmaus.
By the time they reached the village they were so engrossed that they couldn't bear the thought of parting with the still-unknown stranger who was doing so much for them.
So they invited him to stay over and have dinner.
And it was at that time, at supper, when he took the loaf of bread, and blessed it, and broke it,
just as he had done in the upper room not many nights before, that "their eyes were opened and they suddenly recognized him."
Suddenly, everything was changed for them.
Suddenly Easter made sense.
Suddenly the whole message came clear.
And now they understood a whole new way of religion and a whole new way of living.
No longer sad and sick and miserable,
without a moment's hesitation,
they returned to Jerusalem,
crossing those seven miles in a fraction of the time they had spent in coming.
They immediately found the other disciples and, with great excitement, they heard that Jesus had appeared to Simon.
They then shared their own experience with the others that evening of Easter Sunday.
And the next words are startling to us, and tremendously significant. "As they were talking about all this, there he was, standing among them."
Understand where they were and what they were needing: having followed him to Calvary, they needed disparately to know the significance of the open and empty tomb,
having seen him die,
and having been shocked by his death into a kind of stupor of unbelief,
they needed to know and to understand what it meant for him – and for them – to be ALIVE AGAIN.
And this begins to get at the center of Easter and Christianity, and us (what we believe, and what we do, and how we live!).
For us, Easter was three Sundays ago, and we're still talking about it!
You see, what the disciples did after Easter, was much more important than what they had done before Easter.
And what we do after Easter is of much more importance than what we did before Easter.
Easter is the one event in history that explains and gives meaning to Christianity.
Friends, there were no Christians until after Easter –
until after these things started happening,
that those closest to him – the disciples –
finally understood [and believed and understood] a faith – a whole way of living –
that was indeed about liberating Israel!
Again:
We live and move about and be within certain boundaries, or human limitations.
We are obviously bound between points of time in space.
We experience a beginning and an end.
There is a point when we are born, there is a point when we die.
And even with all of our tremendous technological expertise, we have no way of transcending time – of getting beyond either point in time.
We have no time machine wherein we can go into the future or into the past.
We humans are pretty well limited to the time we have been given to experience.
And it's within this framework then, that the early Christians began to see that Easter was an event through which God breaks the chains of human limitation,
moves beyond the points of birth and death,
and expands the whole concept of life itself.
The early Christians saw, experienced and understood that a life for others breaks out of the
personal, the egotistical, the selfish, and transcends the limits of birth and death.
And, they say that Christ showed us the way of totally giving of yourself –
living for others –
giving of yourself so others may live –
that puts us in the company of the saints that have gone before,
and places an eternal, hopeful quality for future generations.
The Easter event liberated Israel from being slaves to the idea that their God must be restricted to a particular person,
bound to a particular time period,
or a given space in history.
Now, note, that like most of us, the Disciples put their faith in a specific person or thing that they had hopes for, and promises of dreams come true.
And they saw the man die.
Their hopes, their dreams, their faith, began to fade.
All of these things were caught up in the visible presence of this man from Nazareth, they knew so well.
And now where was he?
He was gone.
And where were they?
They were going - - away, to Emmaus.
There are two points of discovery in this story – and there are two points of discovery each of us must make before we know what life in Christ is all about.
The first point of discovery occurs at supper – when the bread was broken
(the story says, their eyes were opened)
they suddenly realized they were in communion with the presence of Christ through this "stranger".
And the second point of discovery was quickly made as they recognized the presence of Christ wherever they went.
You see, they understood Easter as taking the Presence of Christ, the idea of God working in history,
the idea of God-with-us (Emmanuel),
and separating it from the physical confines of the body of Jesus,
separating it from the limitations of time and space,
and placing it in the on-going process of life –
wherever life is lived.
Talk about liberation.
Talk about freedom.
Talk about redemption and salvation.
Brothers and Sisters as they found out on the road to Emmaus, Easter did liberate Israel (and liberates us)
from IDOLATRY.
In all of the stories in the New Testament,
no one ever believed until they had an awareness of the Presence of Christ.
Until they became aware that Christ was present and God was acting in their midst,
belief made no sense.
So, look again at your faith, and read this story again – at first, the disciples were totally
unaware of the presence of Christ as they walked along the road to Emmaus.
They were totally insensitive to that stranger in their midst that seemed to know so much.
They were so caught up in their own despair, their own struggle with their faith, that they couldn't recognize Christ was with them as they walked.
Friends, today the words of the hymn,
"Open my eyes that I may see,
open my ears that I may hear,
open my mouth that I may speak",
informs our task as Christian folk.
As we celebrate this communion today, we participate with a fellowship of saints from all the
ages, and we come to grips with the source of life itself –
through the images of the bread and the cup – symbols of sustenance and life itself –
where communion becomes a celebration of illumination,
where in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup, our eyes and ears are opened,
to see and to be aware of the presence of Christ among us [in our neighbors along our road] and the significance of a life literally poured out for others.
My sincere prayer is for each of you to make some discovery about how Easter affects your faith and find some special significance in communion this morning. Amen.
These thoughts were presented to the congregation from the pulpit of The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, April 18, 2010.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Easter 2010: Encountering the Risen Christ
If we are honest, those apostles on that first Easter were really not much different from us, are they?
We know what’s real, don’t we?
Like the apostles, like those women early in the morning on that first Easter,
we usually fail to recognize the living Lord and his restoring power for our lives,
because we look in the wrong places.
After some 2000 years, we still come to hear the story told once more.
While we may not comprehend the actual story – and the events the stories recall –
we have a hunch that it is an important story
and so we come to hear it again,
to sing the festive music,
to take in the colorful flowers,
to see who else is here,
and, maybe, to be inspired somewhat.
The Easter story is central to each of the Gospels. Each of the Gospels has a little different slant on the story, but each one is very clear about the significance of what happened that day.
Mark lets us know that it was the women who were there first early in the morning.
[It seems like the women are always there first, doesn’t it?]
And Mark names the women.
When they got to the tomb they became frightened. What they saw was not what they were expecting to see.
It is very clear that none of those early followers of Jesus expected Easter.
Although the signs may have pointed to it, it was not expected.
[At this point, they were no different from you and me, were they?]
Resurrection was not a part of their daily experience.
They actually thought their movement was over. They were afraid for their lives.
They took to hiding, lest the authorities would find them and kill them too.
So, while the men hid, the women went to the tomb carrying spices they had prepared, presumably for a ritual cleansing of the body of their friend Jesus.
Just two days before they were there as the body of Jesus was placed in the unused tomb that had been dug out of solid rock.
And so, they were surprised to find the stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb rolled away from the doorway.
And, then they saw this man – and then they were frightened.
Why was this stranger there?
And why is he in the tomb of their friend?
What did he want?
Who was he?
Who did he work for?
Of course, they were too scared to ask these questions out loud.
They had witnessed the way the authorities and the crowds treated their friend a couple of days before, and they must of feared for their lives now.
They bowed downed to the ground.
They cowed.
They turned their heads.
They averted their eyes.
As if to say, “I didn’t see you.
Spare me and I won’t tell anyone you were here.”
But then, the unusual happens – the real surprise of the story.
The man in his bright shining clothes spoke to the women.
He said, “So, Why are you looking among the dead for the one who is alive?”
Those women must wondered what that meant as much as we do.
Then the man said, “He is not here!”
What do you mean, “He’s not here?
What have you done with him?”
“He has been raised. Remember what he said?”
“Well, yeah, but . . . .”
Mark says that then they remembered.
Then it began to dawn on them.
It must be true.
All that he said before.
It must be true.
Blessed are the peacemakers --
the last shall be first --
love your neighbor as yourself --
a place is prepared for you at the table in the Kingdom --
worry not about the cares of the world, God will take care of you.
It all must be true!
They immediately returned to where the apostles were hiding and told them what had happened.
“It all must be true, don’t you see?”
But, the apostles thought the women were a little touched in the head
– they thought they were crazy
– they thought the women were nuts
– they didn’t believe them.
Jesus’s closest friends and disciples didn’t believe the women.
Because the story was too far fetched –
even for them –
especially for them.
They had seen their leader totally defeated,
mocked even,
tortured,
ridiculed,
killed,
dead to the max.
And no one helped him.
He died alone –
apparently despised and rejected by all who may have been able to help him –
apparently even abandoned by his God.
The authorities had won.
If they had thought of it, they would have said, “The devil was victorious.”
Clearly, their lives as they had known them, were over.
Things had changed now.
And, they weren’t sure just how it was all going to be sorted out.
So the women must be hallucinating.
If we are honest, those apostles on that first Easter were really not much different from us, are they?
We know what’s real, don’t we?
We know the limits of the physical universe.
We experience the reality of life within boundaries of space and time, right? – we are born, we live, and we die.
And so we hear the Easter account as those disciples did on that morning – except . . . .
Except, we know the rest of the story.
The disciples came to believe only after they experienced the Risen Christ –
the disciples came to believe only after they met the Risen Christ --
the disciples came to believe only after the encountered the Risen Christ.
And so it is with us.
The real miracle of Easter is not that the tomb was empty.
The real miracle of Easter is not that Jesus was raised as the two men announced to the women that morning.
But, the real miracle of Easter is that Jesus continues to be alive and continues to come to us and continues to empower us –
just as he came to those apostles, and just as he empowered them.
They came to find and experience the presence of Christ wherever they went.
Wherever they went, whatever they did, he was already there – ahead of them.
Like the apostles, like those women early in the morning on that first Easter,
we usually fail to recognize the living Lord and his restoring power for our lives,
because we look in the wrong places.
[Why do you look among the dead, for the one who lives?]
When we seek the living Lord among the dead, as they did, what we do here and what we celebrate is little more than a history lesson.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, what Easter proclaims is that Jesus refuses to stay buried,
refuses to stay undercover,
refuses to stay entombed,
refuses to stay in the container.
He keeps getting out of the tombs in which we keep trying to bury him.
It would be much more comfortable if we didn’t have this to deal with, wouldn’t it?
We keep trying to put Jesus in a box, don’t we? – a tomb –
like the Jews tried to keep their God in a box.
But, it didn’t work for them.
And it doesn’t work for us.
That’s why we celebrate Easter each year at this time.
That’s why we celebrate Easter each and every Sunday when we gather in here in worship.
Easter is a conviction that says that something extraordinary is loose in our world, and compels us to live our lives into glory.
Christ is alive!
Christ is present today.
We see it again and again. If we only look.
If we only use the senses that have been given to us.
We encounter the presence of Christ through people who are ready to help one another through difficult times.
We encounter the presence of Christ through those who care for one another.
We encounter the presence of Christ through those who work for justice and are willing to protect the sacred rights of every person.
We encounter the presence of Christ among people who seek peace with a fervent desire to live in a world that is transformed by human action and divine love.
We encounter the presence of Christ with people who joyfully share the gift of love no matter the circumstance or cost.
And the kicker is, friends, you and I are called to be those people –
each and every one of us, is called to be –
helpers,
caregivers,
protectors of justice,
pursuers of peace
and witnesses to God’s love at work in the world.
You can look all you want among the dead for the one who lives.
But, you’ll never find the Christ there.
The direction was given to those women on that first Easter morning –
and the direction is given to you and me –
“He is not here.
He has been raised.
Go back to where you came from.
Go back to the communities, to the streets and byways where you live your lives.
That’s where you will find him.”
It’s a new world now.
It’s a new day!
There are new rules to play by!
Joy to the world!
Joy to you this Easter day!
Amen.
This a part of the Easter sermon at The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, April 4, 2010.
We know what’s real, don’t we?
Like the apostles, like those women early in the morning on that first Easter,
we usually fail to recognize the living Lord and his restoring power for our lives,
because we look in the wrong places.
After some 2000 years, we still come to hear the story told once more.
While we may not comprehend the actual story – and the events the stories recall –
we have a hunch that it is an important story
and so we come to hear it again,
to sing the festive music,
to take in the colorful flowers,
to see who else is here,
and, maybe, to be inspired somewhat.
The Easter story is central to each of the Gospels. Each of the Gospels has a little different slant on the story, but each one is very clear about the significance of what happened that day.
Mark lets us know that it was the women who were there first early in the morning.
[It seems like the women are always there first, doesn’t it?]
And Mark names the women.
When they got to the tomb they became frightened. What they saw was not what they were expecting to see.
It is very clear that none of those early followers of Jesus expected Easter.
Although the signs may have pointed to it, it was not expected.
[At this point, they were no different from you and me, were they?]
Resurrection was not a part of their daily experience.
They actually thought their movement was over. They were afraid for their lives.
They took to hiding, lest the authorities would find them and kill them too.
So, while the men hid, the women went to the tomb carrying spices they had prepared, presumably for a ritual cleansing of the body of their friend Jesus.
Just two days before they were there as the body of Jesus was placed in the unused tomb that had been dug out of solid rock.
And so, they were surprised to find the stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb rolled away from the doorway.
And, then they saw this man – and then they were frightened.
Why was this stranger there?
And why is he in the tomb of their friend?
What did he want?
Who was he?
Who did he work for?
Of course, they were too scared to ask these questions out loud.
They had witnessed the way the authorities and the crowds treated their friend a couple of days before, and they must of feared for their lives now.
They bowed downed to the ground.
They cowed.
They turned their heads.
They averted their eyes.
As if to say, “I didn’t see you.
Spare me and I won’t tell anyone you were here.”
But then, the unusual happens – the real surprise of the story.
The man in his bright shining clothes spoke to the women.
He said, “So, Why are you looking among the dead for the one who is alive?”
Those women must wondered what that meant as much as we do.
Then the man said, “He is not here!”
What do you mean, “He’s not here?
What have you done with him?”
“He has been raised. Remember what he said?”
“Well, yeah, but . . . .”
Mark says that then they remembered.
Then it began to dawn on them.
It must be true.
All that he said before.
It must be true.
Blessed are the peacemakers --
the last shall be first --
love your neighbor as yourself --
a place is prepared for you at the table in the Kingdom --
worry not about the cares of the world, God will take care of you.
It all must be true!
They immediately returned to where the apostles were hiding and told them what had happened.
“It all must be true, don’t you see?”
But, the apostles thought the women were a little touched in the head
– they thought they were crazy
– they thought the women were nuts
– they didn’t believe them.
Jesus’s closest friends and disciples didn’t believe the women.
Because the story was too far fetched –
even for them –
especially for them.
They had seen their leader totally defeated,
mocked even,
tortured,
ridiculed,
killed,
dead to the max.
And no one helped him.
He died alone –
apparently despised and rejected by all who may have been able to help him –
apparently even abandoned by his God.
The authorities had won.
If they had thought of it, they would have said, “The devil was victorious.”
Clearly, their lives as they had known them, were over.
Things had changed now.
And, they weren’t sure just how it was all going to be sorted out.
So the women must be hallucinating.
If we are honest, those apostles on that first Easter were really not much different from us, are they?
We know what’s real, don’t we?
We know the limits of the physical universe.
We experience the reality of life within boundaries of space and time, right? – we are born, we live, and we die.
And so we hear the Easter account as those disciples did on that morning – except . . . .
Except, we know the rest of the story.
The disciples came to believe only after they experienced the Risen Christ –
the disciples came to believe only after they met the Risen Christ --
the disciples came to believe only after the encountered the Risen Christ.
And so it is with us.
The real miracle of Easter is not that the tomb was empty.
The real miracle of Easter is not that Jesus was raised as the two men announced to the women that morning.
But, the real miracle of Easter is that Jesus continues to be alive and continues to come to us and continues to empower us –
just as he came to those apostles, and just as he empowered them.
They came to find and experience the presence of Christ wherever they went.
Wherever they went, whatever they did, he was already there – ahead of them.
Like the apostles, like those women early in the morning on that first Easter,
we usually fail to recognize the living Lord and his restoring power for our lives,
because we look in the wrong places.
[Why do you look among the dead, for the one who lives?]
When we seek the living Lord among the dead, as they did, what we do here and what we celebrate is little more than a history lesson.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, what Easter proclaims is that Jesus refuses to stay buried,
refuses to stay undercover,
refuses to stay entombed,
refuses to stay in the container.
He keeps getting out of the tombs in which we keep trying to bury him.
It would be much more comfortable if we didn’t have this to deal with, wouldn’t it?
We keep trying to put Jesus in a box, don’t we? – a tomb –
like the Jews tried to keep their God in a box.
But, it didn’t work for them.
And it doesn’t work for us.
That’s why we celebrate Easter each year at this time.
That’s why we celebrate Easter each and every Sunday when we gather in here in worship.
Easter is a conviction that says that something extraordinary is loose in our world, and compels us to live our lives into glory.
Christ is alive!
Christ is present today.
We see it again and again. If we only look.
If we only use the senses that have been given to us.
We encounter the presence of Christ through people who are ready to help one another through difficult times.
We encounter the presence of Christ through those who care for one another.
We encounter the presence of Christ through those who work for justice and are willing to protect the sacred rights of every person.
We encounter the presence of Christ among people who seek peace with a fervent desire to live in a world that is transformed by human action and divine love.
We encounter the presence of Christ with people who joyfully share the gift of love no matter the circumstance or cost.
And the kicker is, friends, you and I are called to be those people –
each and every one of us, is called to be –
helpers,
caregivers,
protectors of justice,
pursuers of peace
and witnesses to God’s love at work in the world.
You can look all you want among the dead for the one who lives.
But, you’ll never find the Christ there.
The direction was given to those women on that first Easter morning –
and the direction is given to you and me –
“He is not here.
He has been raised.
Go back to where you came from.
Go back to the communities, to the streets and byways where you live your lives.
That’s where you will find him.”
It’s a new world now.
It’s a new day!
There are new rules to play by!
Joy to the world!
Joy to you this Easter day!
Amen.
This a part of the Easter sermon at The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, April 4, 2010.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Palm Sunday: Join the Parade
Today, we remember the parade -- the longest running parade in history!
This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels.
It is important for us to remember Palm Sunday.
It is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.
Today we remember Palm Sunday --
the beginning of the week that was –
Jesus' entrance into the city of Jerusalem.
According to Mark and Matthew this was the first time Jesus ever went to the big city.
Up until now, his entire ministry, his entire life,
had been spent out in the hinterlands, in Jabip,
in little rural communities within walking distance of one another in the countryside known as Galilee.
But, now he went to Jerusalem --
the capital city --
the only big city --
the center of commerce for the whole region --
but, more importantly, the sacred city,
the home of the Temple,
the Holy See of the Jewish faith,
the center of all Judaism.
And here comes Jesus – the country-boy,
the itinerant preacher,
a man on a mission –
and a small rag tag band of his followers,
all simple county-folk,
all probably approaching the big city for the first time in their lives.
No doubt there was excitement in the air –
and a lot of fear and apprehension.
They all had heard stories about the city.
How you had to watch yourself at every turn.
They did things differently in the city.
They knew not about city ways, city customs, about city life.
His closest followers tried to talk Jesus out of going:
We've been fairly successful getting the word out around the country-side.
There is still much to be done among our kind of people.
Why rock the boat?
Why move into Jerusalem now?
Why not stay where we are a little longer?
But, Jesus was on a mission.
It was like he was obsessed –
he was drawn to the city –
he had to go.
In spite of the warnings, Jesus approached the city.
Today, we come here and we remember the parade.
It is right for us take time each year to remember, and to be reminded of, the parade.
One preacher asserts that it is the longest running parade in history!
Our parade is older, and far more meaningful, than the Mummer’s parade.
Our parade is older, and far more meaningful than Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
Our parade is older, and far more meaningful than the St. Patrick’s Day parade, the Columbus Day parade, and any “other-Day” parade you can think of.
Our parade could be the original “ticker-tape” parade –
the original million man march –
the original demonstration march.
Parades seem to have a way of stirring up emotions and releasing us from inhibitions, don’t they?
(I believe that is one of the main motivating factors for those who participate in the Mummers Day Parade each year.)
It's what we see in Marti Gras parades.
And it's what we see happening in our scripture reading today.
Contrary to some of the movies you have seen,
not every one in Jerusalem participated in the parade that day.
To be sure, most people didn't know anything was going on – or hadn't a clue what it was about if they did see it happening.
It would have been not unlike a demonstration on Broad Street that ties up traffic during rush hour some times.
Unless you were there, and encountered the crowds, you wouldn't even have known what had happened.
And even if you were there, chances are you wouldn't have had a clue as what they were protesting, or celebrating.
But, the parade into Jerusalem turned into one of the most significant events in the lives of the first century Christians.
This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
It is one of very few events all four gospels describe.
In fact, I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels –
all four gospels speak of Jesus entering into Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey
and being ushered through the streets by a parade of folks dancing and singing and carrying on.
It was an important event.
It was a significant event.
It was a meaningful event.
It was an event worth remembering for those early Christians.
I believe that it is an event worth remembering for us, as well.
I think it is important for us to remember Palm Sunday for three reasons:
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to recognize the Christ that comes in to our busy lives, (even – and maybe especially – when we are not expecting it);
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to take a public stand and give public witness to our faith;
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to party – to celebrate the presence of Christ.
It was Palm Sunday, and the mother’s 3-year old son had to stay home from church because of strep throat. When the rest of the family came back from church carrying the palm branches, the little boy asked what they were for.
His mother explained, “Well, People held them over their heads and waved as Jesus walked by.”
The boy fumed:
“Wouldn’t you know it. The one Sunday I don’t go, and Jesus shows up.”
The city was crowded on that day.
It was the high holy festival of Passover.
In those days there were no Synagogues in the towns around Galilee – so everyone had to go to the Temple in Jerusalem to for proper observance of the holy day.
Jerusalem was the largest city for hundreds of miles – it was a cosmopolitan place populated by people from all corners of the world –
from all walks of life –
and filled to overflowing with tourists –
visitors – pilgrims –
there for the festival.
The narrow streets were crowded with the hustle and bustle of people going from here to there and back again.
And, every once in a while, someone important would come through.
Horses and chariots were used to make a hole in the crowd and move VIPs through the throngs. Oftentimes the VIPs would have entourages moving through the crowds with them and people would have to stand back and make a way for them go through.
So, there were many mini-parades like this through the streets of the city every day of the year – and even more so this day.
And, so the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus entered the city that day with his entourage –
in many ways mocking the VIP parades.
Now, when I think about this story, I think if I were writing the script it would be somewhat different.
I would have Jesus coming in riding on a blazing white stallion, (you know?), kicking up a cloud of dust as He rode along.
The people he passed would be in awe of such a beautiful animal –
but they would be even more awestruck by the man who was riding it.
As Jesus passed by, you could hear the people say,
"Who was that masked man?"
You see, there were bad guys on the loose and Jesus had a job to do.
As he rode into Jerusalem he would quickly size up the situation and form a plan to capture the ring leader of the trouble makers:
Diablo, the Evil One.
There would be a short fight, (like at the OK Corral) but the outcome would never be in doubt.
Jesus easily defeats Diablo.
He handcuffs the devil and throws him in jail.
As a large crowd of people gathers to see what the commotion was all about, Jesus mounts his horse and pulls on the reins.
His pure white stallion stands on its hind legs, neighing loudly, and pawing the air with its
front legs.
When it stands as tall as it could stand, Jesus leans forward in the saddle.
Holding the reins with one hand while lifting his white hat in the air with the other,
he shouts with a loud voice, "Hi Ho Silver, the Lone Savior."
As Jesus road off into the sunset, the music begins to play softly and gets louder and louder.
(The William Tell Overture).
{Adapted from "Not the Lone Ranger, But the Lone Savior," by Roger Griffith}
Well, you know, it really must have seemed rather comic-like to some, when the long-awaited Messiah entered the city –
even though it was all happening according to what the Hebrew Scriptures had said –
the Messiah would come lowly and humble, on the back of a donkey.
While the image should have brought people's minds to the teachings, which one would expect them to recall,
just like us –
in the midst of things happening around us –
they probably did not make the connection,
at least not immediately.
The disciples of Jesus seem to be somewhat confused in the whole thing themselves.
It was, however, a well thought out, pre-planned event, at least on the part of Jesus.
It was in no way a haphazard plan, was it?
It was meant to be an exact representation, which would convey a precise message to all who would see it – hear about it.
We are reminded, nevertheless, that it really did not make all that much sense,
nor was it understood, until after Easter!
While the hosannas and hoopla that accompanied Jesus as he made his way into Jerusalem on the spindly donkey colt may have seemed spontaneous, today’s text from Matthew suggests that he knew exactly what he was doing,
and his entourage even knew exactly what was expected of them.
* Jesus set the stage by calling for the scripturally prescribed animal.
* The disciples acted with complete and immediate obedience – a sure sign that they knew something was up.
* And, apparently, at least some in the City that day seeing Jesus approach, already accompanied by his own disciples and by those he had previously healed and taught, knew what they were seeing.
* Observant Jews, pious travelers on their way into Jerusalem for Passover, had also heard stories of this man Jesus.
Now, as he appeared mounted on the donkey colt, some of the people brought their long-established traditions, their long-held hopes, to life.
They joyfully joined in the moment,
celebrating the symbolic arrival of a messianic figure,
a prophet as foretold,
with the cries and obeisance deserved by such a dignitary.
They recognized and celebrated the presence of Christ in their midst –
even as they had pressing business at hand to attend to.
As we remember and attempt to recreate the moment Jesus processed into Jerusalem,
we reveal a vital truth about ourselves to our friends and neighbors.
This truth is, we are Christians.
Our faith has feet.
This parade is part of a vital heritage,
a history of sacrifice and service,
of triumph and love.
It is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.
So, today, we celebrate and remember.
But where does it go from there?
Does our marching have a destination?
If all we do at the conclusion of Palm Sunday is hunker down and hide our identity, then like those folks that welcomed him with shouts in Jerusalem, we too are abandoning Jesus the moment he gets off the donkey.
How can we justify going back to life as usual when we have just shouted in the arrival of our king,
our messiah, our Savior?
How can we become true participants in the longest running parade in history — the Jesus parade?
It seems to me that the essence of a parade is a party atmosphere and party spirit.
And the faith question for each of us today is:
Can your spirit party even when everything around you is falling down and coming apart?
Can you trust and obey Jesus enough to party through the jeers as well as the cheers?
Can you wave palm branches and sing hosannas in good times – and in bad times,
in the midst of sorrows as well as celebrations,
on Good Friday as well as No-Name Saturday and Easter morning.
Today, we need to remember there really should be one membership requirement for all those who would join the Jesus parade:
Do you promise to party and celebrate the God who became one of us in good times and bad, for better and for worse?
Any church that parades around its block or its neighborhood singing, waving tree parts, and carrying on should also require all its congregation, as part of their membership vows, to sign a party agreement form: you get kicked out if you can’t/won’t party.
What is making us a hardened-heart, stiff-necked people?
What is making us closed-eared, stone-faced, frostbitten?
What is sapping our joy?
What is shutting down our parade?
What is sending us scuttling home to hide?
I think the message for us is that we need to keep the party going
and to keep the parade moving – in good times and bad.
It’s a matter of faith.
It’s a matter of faith affirmation.
It’s a matter of affirming in the face of the whole world around us that Christ is head of our life – come what may, no matter what.
You can’t join the Jesus parade and not celebrate.
When you join the Jesus parade, you party.
You wave your hands and dance for joy –
not just when life is going your way –
but even when that Perfect Storm called Good Friday hits with all its might.
Palm Sunday reminds us to party on people –
in good times and in bad.
Christ is here.
Celebrate!
Hozanna!
Amen!
This sermon was delivered to the congregation at The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, March 28, 2010
This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels.
It is important for us to remember Palm Sunday.
It is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.
Today we remember Palm Sunday --
the beginning of the week that was –
Jesus' entrance into the city of Jerusalem.
According to Mark and Matthew this was the first time Jesus ever went to the big city.
Up until now, his entire ministry, his entire life,
had been spent out in the hinterlands, in Jabip,
in little rural communities within walking distance of one another in the countryside known as Galilee.
But, now he went to Jerusalem --
the capital city --
the only big city --
the center of commerce for the whole region --
but, more importantly, the sacred city,
the home of the Temple,
the Holy See of the Jewish faith,
the center of all Judaism.
And here comes Jesus – the country-boy,
the itinerant preacher,
a man on a mission –
and a small rag tag band of his followers,
all simple county-folk,
all probably approaching the big city for the first time in their lives.
No doubt there was excitement in the air –
and a lot of fear and apprehension.
They all had heard stories about the city.
How you had to watch yourself at every turn.
They did things differently in the city.
They knew not about city ways, city customs, about city life.
His closest followers tried to talk Jesus out of going:
We've been fairly successful getting the word out around the country-side.
There is still much to be done among our kind of people.
Why rock the boat?
Why move into Jerusalem now?
Why not stay where we are a little longer?
But, Jesus was on a mission.
It was like he was obsessed –
he was drawn to the city –
he had to go.
In spite of the warnings, Jesus approached the city.
Today, we come here and we remember the parade.
It is right for us take time each year to remember, and to be reminded of, the parade.
One preacher asserts that it is the longest running parade in history!
Our parade is older, and far more meaningful, than the Mummer’s parade.
Our parade is older, and far more meaningful than Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
Our parade is older, and far more meaningful than the St. Patrick’s Day parade, the Columbus Day parade, and any “other-Day” parade you can think of.
Our parade could be the original “ticker-tape” parade –
the original million man march –
the original demonstration march.
Parades seem to have a way of stirring up emotions and releasing us from inhibitions, don’t they?
(I believe that is one of the main motivating factors for those who participate in the Mummers Day Parade each year.)
It's what we see in Marti Gras parades.
And it's what we see happening in our scripture reading today.
Contrary to some of the movies you have seen,
not every one in Jerusalem participated in the parade that day.
To be sure, most people didn't know anything was going on – or hadn't a clue what it was about if they did see it happening.
It would have been not unlike a demonstration on Broad Street that ties up traffic during rush hour some times.
Unless you were there, and encountered the crowds, you wouldn't even have known what had happened.
And even if you were there, chances are you wouldn't have had a clue as what they were protesting, or celebrating.
But, the parade into Jerusalem turned into one of the most significant events in the lives of the first century Christians.
This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
It is one of very few events all four gospels describe.
In fact, I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels –
all four gospels speak of Jesus entering into Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey
and being ushered through the streets by a parade of folks dancing and singing and carrying on.
It was an important event.
It was a significant event.
It was a meaningful event.
It was an event worth remembering for those early Christians.
I believe that it is an event worth remembering for us, as well.
I think it is important for us to remember Palm Sunday for three reasons:
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to recognize the Christ that comes in to our busy lives, (even – and maybe especially – when we are not expecting it);
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to take a public stand and give public witness to our faith;
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to party – to celebrate the presence of Christ.
It was Palm Sunday, and the mother’s 3-year old son had to stay home from church because of strep throat. When the rest of the family came back from church carrying the palm branches, the little boy asked what they were for.
His mother explained, “Well, People held them over their heads and waved as Jesus walked by.”
The boy fumed:
“Wouldn’t you know it. The one Sunday I don’t go, and Jesus shows up.”
The city was crowded on that day.
It was the high holy festival of Passover.
In those days there were no Synagogues in the towns around Galilee – so everyone had to go to the Temple in Jerusalem to for proper observance of the holy day.
Jerusalem was the largest city for hundreds of miles – it was a cosmopolitan place populated by people from all corners of the world –
from all walks of life –
and filled to overflowing with tourists –
visitors – pilgrims –
there for the festival.
The narrow streets were crowded with the hustle and bustle of people going from here to there and back again.
And, every once in a while, someone important would come through.
Horses and chariots were used to make a hole in the crowd and move VIPs through the throngs. Oftentimes the VIPs would have entourages moving through the crowds with them and people would have to stand back and make a way for them go through.
So, there were many mini-parades like this through the streets of the city every day of the year – and even more so this day.
And, so the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus entered the city that day with his entourage –
in many ways mocking the VIP parades.
Now, when I think about this story, I think if I were writing the script it would be somewhat different.
I would have Jesus coming in riding on a blazing white stallion, (you know?), kicking up a cloud of dust as He rode along.
The people he passed would be in awe of such a beautiful animal –
but they would be even more awestruck by the man who was riding it.
As Jesus passed by, you could hear the people say,
"Who was that masked man?"
You see, there were bad guys on the loose and Jesus had a job to do.
As he rode into Jerusalem he would quickly size up the situation and form a plan to capture the ring leader of the trouble makers:
Diablo, the Evil One.
There would be a short fight, (like at the OK Corral) but the outcome would never be in doubt.
Jesus easily defeats Diablo.
He handcuffs the devil and throws him in jail.
As a large crowd of people gathers to see what the commotion was all about, Jesus mounts his horse and pulls on the reins.
His pure white stallion stands on its hind legs, neighing loudly, and pawing the air with its
front legs.
When it stands as tall as it could stand, Jesus leans forward in the saddle.
Holding the reins with one hand while lifting his white hat in the air with the other,
he shouts with a loud voice, "Hi Ho Silver, the Lone Savior."
As Jesus road off into the sunset, the music begins to play softly and gets louder and louder.
(The William Tell Overture).
{Adapted from "Not the Lone Ranger, But the Lone Savior," by Roger Griffith}
Well, you know, it really must have seemed rather comic-like to some, when the long-awaited Messiah entered the city –
even though it was all happening according to what the Hebrew Scriptures had said –
the Messiah would come lowly and humble, on the back of a donkey.
While the image should have brought people's minds to the teachings, which one would expect them to recall,
just like us –
in the midst of things happening around us –
they probably did not make the connection,
at least not immediately.
The disciples of Jesus seem to be somewhat confused in the whole thing themselves.
It was, however, a well thought out, pre-planned event, at least on the part of Jesus.
It was in no way a haphazard plan, was it?
It was meant to be an exact representation, which would convey a precise message to all who would see it – hear about it.
We are reminded, nevertheless, that it really did not make all that much sense,
nor was it understood, until after Easter!
While the hosannas and hoopla that accompanied Jesus as he made his way into Jerusalem on the spindly donkey colt may have seemed spontaneous, today’s text from Matthew suggests that he knew exactly what he was doing,
and his entourage even knew exactly what was expected of them.
* Jesus set the stage by calling for the scripturally prescribed animal.
* The disciples acted with complete and immediate obedience – a sure sign that they knew something was up.
* And, apparently, at least some in the City that day seeing Jesus approach, already accompanied by his own disciples and by those he had previously healed and taught, knew what they were seeing.
* Observant Jews, pious travelers on their way into Jerusalem for Passover, had also heard stories of this man Jesus.
Now, as he appeared mounted on the donkey colt, some of the people brought their long-established traditions, their long-held hopes, to life.
They joyfully joined in the moment,
celebrating the symbolic arrival of a messianic figure,
a prophet as foretold,
with the cries and obeisance deserved by such a dignitary.
They recognized and celebrated the presence of Christ in their midst –
even as they had pressing business at hand to attend to.
As we remember and attempt to recreate the moment Jesus processed into Jerusalem,
we reveal a vital truth about ourselves to our friends and neighbors.
This truth is, we are Christians.
Our faith has feet.
This parade is part of a vital heritage,
a history of sacrifice and service,
of triumph and love.
It is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.
So, today, we celebrate and remember.
But where does it go from there?
Does our marching have a destination?
If all we do at the conclusion of Palm Sunday is hunker down and hide our identity, then like those folks that welcomed him with shouts in Jerusalem, we too are abandoning Jesus the moment he gets off the donkey.
How can we justify going back to life as usual when we have just shouted in the arrival of our king,
our messiah, our Savior?
How can we become true participants in the longest running parade in history — the Jesus parade?
It seems to me that the essence of a parade is a party atmosphere and party spirit.
And the faith question for each of us today is:
Can your spirit party even when everything around you is falling down and coming apart?
Can you trust and obey Jesus enough to party through the jeers as well as the cheers?
Can you wave palm branches and sing hosannas in good times – and in bad times,
in the midst of sorrows as well as celebrations,
on Good Friday as well as No-Name Saturday and Easter morning.
Today, we need to remember there really should be one membership requirement for all those who would join the Jesus parade:
Do you promise to party and celebrate the God who became one of us in good times and bad, for better and for worse?
Any church that parades around its block or its neighborhood singing, waving tree parts, and carrying on should also require all its congregation, as part of their membership vows, to sign a party agreement form: you get kicked out if you can’t/won’t party.
What is making us a hardened-heart, stiff-necked people?
What is making us closed-eared, stone-faced, frostbitten?
What is sapping our joy?
What is shutting down our parade?
What is sending us scuttling home to hide?
I think the message for us is that we need to keep the party going
and to keep the parade moving – in good times and bad.
It’s a matter of faith.
It’s a matter of faith affirmation.
It’s a matter of affirming in the face of the whole world around us that Christ is head of our life – come what may, no matter what.
You can’t join the Jesus parade and not celebrate.
When you join the Jesus parade, you party.
You wave your hands and dance for joy –
not just when life is going your way –
but even when that Perfect Storm called Good Friday hits with all its might.
Palm Sunday reminds us to party on people –
in good times and in bad.
Christ is here.
Celebrate!
Hozanna!
Amen!
This sermon was delivered to the congregation at The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
A Lenten Awe-robic Exercise: Sing!
Something significant happens when people sing together.
In singing together, we engage in corporate worship – it takes what each of us does here and moves it from a personal experience to a group experience.
Singing together is an awesome experience.
Singing together increases an awareness of other-ness.
That you are a part of a much larger whole –
an awareness that inspires awe.
Today we take up another Lenten Practice: Singing !!! – learn a new song.
Apparently from the very beginning, when Christians have come together, they sang songs together.
The very earliest descriptions we have of Christian meeting always include an allusion to the singing of songs together.
God's people have always been a people who sung.
Singing together is biblically commanded –
and edifying to those who participate.
You see, in singing together, we engage in corporate worship – it takes what each of us does here and moves it from a personal experience to a group experience.
Of course, at the very beginning they sang from the Psalm Book –
it contained the songs they knew –
the songs they were familiar with.
They used the Psalm Book as their hymn book –
and as their prayer book
and as their worship book.
What we have found out, and what we are quite sure of, is that something significant happens when people sing together.
One of the most profound encounters with the holy through the power of song I ever encountered was some 40 years ago.
We were living in the San Francisco area when a young man who went by the name of Donovan came to do a concert.
The concert was in the Cow Palace (a large venue like the Spectrum) – a place where the professional basketball team played, a place were large numbers of people could gather to hear a concert.
And Suzanne and I went.
There must have been 20,000 seats that night.
In the center of the room was a small stage with a single microphone on it.
When it was time, the lights went down, a voice intoned: “Ladies and gentlemen, Donovan.”
And this young man walked out alone from somewhere, through the crowd carrying a guitar.
He walked up on to the stage and sat down, cross-legged right there in the middle of the stage – in the middle of 20,000 pairs of eyes staring down at him.
And he started to sing.
And for over two hours this one man with his guitar mesmerized the crowd of 20,000 people with his songs.
The power of his music and song we experienced that night was far more powerful than what is experienced in the loud amplified staged concerts that we expect in a venue as large as the Spectrum today.
It truly was an awesome experience.
Another most profound encounter with the holy through the power of song was experience right here in Philadelphia, just a couple of years ago.
I’ve mentioned before how Suzanne and I were privileged to be among an audience of some 2500 people gathered at the Kimmel Center to hear a concert of some 650 singers from Presbyterian churches all over the Philadelphia area.
I mean, think about it – 650 voices in concert!
There had never been that many singers assembled for a concert in the Kimmel Center – before or since!
A choir of 650 people.
650 Presbyterians lending their voices in concert with the magnificent Kimmel Center mammoth pipe organ.
It was a magnificent experience.
The music of the voices and the organ filled the auditorium and moved the souls of all in attendance that day.
It was truly awesome – awe inspiring.
As I sat there with the music infusing my very being, I was glad I was there,
but I really didn’t want to be where I was.
Our seats were maybe 40 feet from the nearest singers, but I wanted to be closer.
I wanted to be there in the midst of them –
feeling their energy,
hearing their voices,
joining right in – singing for all I was worth.
After the concert I ran in to several of the choir members in the rest room line.
And, I commented that it was an awesome experience for us – and I could only imagine what it must have been like for them
to be in the midst of 649 other singers
all singing at the top of the lungs
being heard as one.
And, to a person, they all said it was the best day of their lives!
It was an awe-inspiring experience –
for the participants and for those present to hear the performance.
We all know that there are some performers that people go to see and to hear –
whose performance commands rapt attention from the those present.
And, at times, we might even feel we are in the presence of greatness when we are there.
And, there are other performers who feel that is their “job” to involve the audience in the performance.
People go to the concerts of these performers knowing the lyrics to all the songs –
and feel like they have to join in.
Suzanne and I had another experience a couple of years ago that struck a chord with me.
We were on an airplane returning to Philadelphia from one of our trips to the midwest.
Our plane had three seats on either side of the isle.
And seated in the window seat of our row, was a little old lady with snow white hair.
Almost as soon as we sat down she started talking with Suzanne.
She had never been to Philadelphia before, was flying in to visit with brother in Newark.
(I thought to myself, yeah but you’re not going to be in Newark when you get to Philadelphia.)
But, Suzanne was game so she asked the question, where are you coming from.
The woman’s face lit up as she allowed that she had just returned from a two week cruise.
Ever the trooper, Suzanne then ventured: “O, where did you go?”
The little old woman scrinched her face a bit, and said, “O I don’t know. We didn’t go anywhere, really.”
She said, “It was an Elvis cruise.”
That’s when she got my attention.
“There were twelve Elvis impersonators on board – and it was non-stop music from dawn to dusk – it was great – we didn’t care where the ship was going.”
An Elvis cruise.
Well, you can be sure that those folks on that cruise did not go on the cruise to hear Elvis impersonators.
They went because they knew all the Elvis songs and relished the opportunity to sing along with the Elvis impersonators.
Something powerful happens when you sing along.
Something powerful happens when you are in the chorus –
when people on either side of you and in front and behind you are joining their voices in song.
Pete Seeger has been on a life-long mission to go wherever he could just to engage people in song.
Like many other performers, he judges the success of his performance by getting the folks to sing along in concert with one another.
Over the years, Pete Seeger has perfected the art of getting folks to join right in singing their song.
When he first started out, Peter Seeger recognized the power of voices in song and on the front of his signature banjo he painted the words: Warning: this instrument conquers hate.
Singing together is an awesome experience.
Singing together increases an awareness of other-ness.
That you are a part of a much larger whole –
an awareness that inspires awe.
I have to believe that corporate singing is vital to what we do when we come together for this awe-robic exercise we call Christian Worship.
Occasionally, I have someone say to me, why do we sing so much at this church?
Other churches don’t sing as much as you do.
And, I think, well, that’s to their detriment.
As the song goes, we sing because we are happy.
We sing because we know we are free –
free from old baggage which tends to weigh us down.
We don’t worry if our song is not good enough for anyone else to hear.
We sing because there is inspiration in voices singing together.
We sing because it inspires awe – and that’s a good thing.
May your life go on in endless song.
May your song last your whole life long.
And let the world sing along.
Sing! Learn a new song!
It is truly an awe-robic exercise.
Amen.
This is a portion of a sermon delivered 03-21-2010 to the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church -- a center of faith in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania
www.ConnectOnLine.us
In singing together, we engage in corporate worship – it takes what each of us does here and moves it from a personal experience to a group experience.
Singing together is an awesome experience.
Singing together increases an awareness of other-ness.
That you are a part of a much larger whole –
an awareness that inspires awe.
Today we take up another Lenten Practice: Singing !!! – learn a new song.
Apparently from the very beginning, when Christians have come together, they sang songs together.
The very earliest descriptions we have of Christian meeting always include an allusion to the singing of songs together.
God's people have always been a people who sung.
Singing together is biblically commanded –
and edifying to those who participate.
You see, in singing together, we engage in corporate worship – it takes what each of us does here and moves it from a personal experience to a group experience.
Of course, at the very beginning they sang from the Psalm Book –
it contained the songs they knew –
the songs they were familiar with.
They used the Psalm Book as their hymn book –
and as their prayer book
and as their worship book.
What we have found out, and what we are quite sure of, is that something significant happens when people sing together.
One of the most profound encounters with the holy through the power of song I ever encountered was some 40 years ago.
We were living in the San Francisco area when a young man who went by the name of Donovan came to do a concert.
The concert was in the Cow Palace (a large venue like the Spectrum) – a place where the professional basketball team played, a place were large numbers of people could gather to hear a concert.
And Suzanne and I went.
There must have been 20,000 seats that night.
In the center of the room was a small stage with a single microphone on it.
When it was time, the lights went down, a voice intoned: “Ladies and gentlemen, Donovan.”
And this young man walked out alone from somewhere, through the crowd carrying a guitar.
He walked up on to the stage and sat down, cross-legged right there in the middle of the stage – in the middle of 20,000 pairs of eyes staring down at him.
And he started to sing.
And for over two hours this one man with his guitar mesmerized the crowd of 20,000 people with his songs.
The power of his music and song we experienced that night was far more powerful than what is experienced in the loud amplified staged concerts that we expect in a venue as large as the Spectrum today.
It truly was an awesome experience.
Another most profound encounter with the holy through the power of song was experience right here in Philadelphia, just a couple of years ago.
I’ve mentioned before how Suzanne and I were privileged to be among an audience of some 2500 people gathered at the Kimmel Center to hear a concert of some 650 singers from Presbyterian churches all over the Philadelphia area.
I mean, think about it – 650 voices in concert!
There had never been that many singers assembled for a concert in the Kimmel Center – before or since!
A choir of 650 people.
650 Presbyterians lending their voices in concert with the magnificent Kimmel Center mammoth pipe organ.
It was a magnificent experience.
The music of the voices and the organ filled the auditorium and moved the souls of all in attendance that day.
It was truly awesome – awe inspiring.
As I sat there with the music infusing my very being, I was glad I was there,
but I really didn’t want to be where I was.
Our seats were maybe 40 feet from the nearest singers, but I wanted to be closer.
I wanted to be there in the midst of them –
feeling their energy,
hearing their voices,
joining right in – singing for all I was worth.
After the concert I ran in to several of the choir members in the rest room line.
And, I commented that it was an awesome experience for us – and I could only imagine what it must have been like for them
to be in the midst of 649 other singers
all singing at the top of the lungs
being heard as one.
And, to a person, they all said it was the best day of their lives!
It was an awe-inspiring experience –
for the participants and for those present to hear the performance.
We all know that there are some performers that people go to see and to hear –
whose performance commands rapt attention from the those present.
And, at times, we might even feel we are in the presence of greatness when we are there.
And, there are other performers who feel that is their “job” to involve the audience in the performance.
People go to the concerts of these performers knowing the lyrics to all the songs –
and feel like they have to join in.
Suzanne and I had another experience a couple of years ago that struck a chord with me.
We were on an airplane returning to Philadelphia from one of our trips to the midwest.
Our plane had three seats on either side of the isle.
And seated in the window seat of our row, was a little old lady with snow white hair.
Almost as soon as we sat down she started talking with Suzanne.
She had never been to Philadelphia before, was flying in to visit with brother in Newark.
(I thought to myself, yeah but you’re not going to be in Newark when you get to Philadelphia.)
But, Suzanne was game so she asked the question, where are you coming from.
The woman’s face lit up as she allowed that she had just returned from a two week cruise.
Ever the trooper, Suzanne then ventured: “O, where did you go?”
The little old woman scrinched her face a bit, and said, “O I don’t know. We didn’t go anywhere, really.”
She said, “It was an Elvis cruise.”
That’s when she got my attention.
“There were twelve Elvis impersonators on board – and it was non-stop music from dawn to dusk – it was great – we didn’t care where the ship was going.”
An Elvis cruise.
Well, you can be sure that those folks on that cruise did not go on the cruise to hear Elvis impersonators.
They went because they knew all the Elvis songs and relished the opportunity to sing along with the Elvis impersonators.
Something powerful happens when you sing along.
Something powerful happens when you are in the chorus –
when people on either side of you and in front and behind you are joining their voices in song.
Pete Seeger has been on a life-long mission to go wherever he could just to engage people in song.
Like many other performers, he judges the success of his performance by getting the folks to sing along in concert with one another.
Over the years, Pete Seeger has perfected the art of getting folks to join right in singing their song.
When he first started out, Peter Seeger recognized the power of voices in song and on the front of his signature banjo he painted the words: Warning: this instrument conquers hate.
Singing together is an awesome experience.
Singing together increases an awareness of other-ness.
That you are a part of a much larger whole –
an awareness that inspires awe.
I have to believe that corporate singing is vital to what we do when we come together for this awe-robic exercise we call Christian Worship.
Occasionally, I have someone say to me, why do we sing so much at this church?
Other churches don’t sing as much as you do.
And, I think, well, that’s to their detriment.
As the song goes, we sing because we are happy.
We sing because we know we are free –
free from old baggage which tends to weigh us down.
We don’t worry if our song is not good enough for anyone else to hear.
We sing because there is inspiration in voices singing together.
We sing because it inspires awe – and that’s a good thing.
May your life go on in endless song.
May your song last your whole life long.
And let the world sing along.
Sing! Learn a new song!
It is truly an awe-robic exercise.
Amen.
This is a portion of a sermon delivered 03-21-2010 to the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church -- a center of faith in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania
www.ConnectOnLine.us
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