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
Sunday, 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
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A Lenten Awe-roebic Exercise: Pray (Preferably in Private)
We need more awe-robic exercise in our world.
We meet God daily in all we do and all we see.
All we have to do is to open ourselves to God's welcoming Presence.
When we do that, we have begun to pray.
So, here we are: now the fourth Sunday in Lent.
In just two weeks we will be remembering and celebrating Palm Sunday
Easter is now just three weeks away!
Of course, Christians have been remembering and celebrating the Resurrection – Easter – since day one.
It is the single most important event of our faith.
It is the defining moment – of our faith,
of our understanding of the world,
of our lives.
It was an event that was truly awe-inspiring to all those who experienced it.
It was awe-inspiring to all those were told of it, as well.
It was so awe-inspiring that grown men and women turned their lives around
and started living for a cause far grander than the empire,
and far more intimate than the family.
But, as Lily Tomlin noted, today, you and I seem to living a world that devalues inspiration,
and arouses little awe in us.
So, she concludes, and I agree with, we need more awe-robic exercise in our world.
And, so that really what we’re about here during these days of Lent, this time before Easter.
We are about promoting certain Lenten Practices, Awe-Robic exercises, really.
We began with the admonition to Take Time to Observe Lent.
We were encouraged to do like Jesus did,
take some 40 days to think about the big picture.
Spend 40 days to become more aware of the awe-someness of the world around us.
We were encouraged to start a daily awe-list – at the end of each to think back on what was truly awesome, to recount the awe-inspiring events of the day.
Last week, we heard about another Lenten Practice: Fasting.
Fasting can be a real eye opener – it was for Jesus,
it was for countless individuals throughout history,
and it is for many people today.
But, we discovered that what we think of as fasting is not the same as what God sees as important.
It is when we fast as God instructs us, that our eyes are opened in new ways as awe events literally explode before us.
And so, today, we hear about another Lenten Practice: Pray (Preferably In Private).
James wrote:
The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
The Apostle Paul left us a clue when he said: Pray Unceasingly.
Jesus gave specific instruction:
When you pray, do not be ostentatious, like the hypocrites!
Do it in private and don't use a lot of meaningless words.
(God already knows what you need before you ask.)
If you forgive others, you will be forgiven.
Maybe you saw the cartoon in the funny papers:
Two little kids were standing there in their pajamas beside their bed with a toy telephone between them.
One is instructing the other in the finer arts of saying their bedtime prayers.
He says: "Now, remember you don't have to worry about God being too busy when you call, because God has "Call Waiting".
And you don't have to worry about nobody being home, because God has "Call Forwarding".
And remember, it's always a Toll Free Call.
And God never puts anyone "On Hold."
Don't hang up, your call will be answered in the order in which it is received.
And Operators are standing by ready for your call."
And that's about it, isn't it?
Again, James proclaims, what most of you in this room know: The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
Over 6000 scientific studies have been published in the last ten years!
Over half of these studies show under laboratory-controlled conditions, prayer does something truly remarkable. My file of references gets thicker every year!
While the belief that prayer heals is older than recorded history, you should know about some of this very recent research.
I have talked about some of these studies before, but just a few months ago, Time Magazine had cover stories on the power of faith to heal.
Universities all over the country – and all over the world – are devoting major efforts to document what people of faith have believed for years and years.
The University of Pennsylvania has a whole department dedicated to the study of Spirituality and the Mind.
Of particular interest to me is the discovery that it can be demonstrated that prayer actually invokes changes the brain – and some of these changes can be permanent.
Prayer actually improves memory – Time Magazine, February 23, 2009, Dr. Andrew Newberg, How God Changes Your Brain.
One study at the University of Virginia, showed that orthopedic patients in the hospital that were visited by chaplains needed less medical care than those that weren't visited by chaplains.
They made fewer calls to the nurse for help,
they got out of the hospital an average of two days earlier than those who didn't receive spiritual support,
And they needed much much less pain medication, than those who never saw a chaplain.
Another study was done among coronary patients in a VA hospital near Boston.
Patients were undergoing care for heart attack and chronic heart disease, and endured bypass operations, valve replacements, and open heart surgery.
An experimental group was selected randomly to receive daily visits from a chaplain.
The other group received less frequent visits, or none at all.
Again, those who received regular care from a pastor, went home one or two days sooner than those who did not.
Now, the VA attached some dollars and sense to this study, and concluded that providing a chaplain visit for a patient cost no more than $100 a day, and resulted in savings as much as $4000 a day.
Total savings from a robust and prayerful chaplain's program could amount to several million dollars a year for each hospital.
Another study was done at a hospital in San Francisco (General Hospital) of people who were admitted to the coronary care unit suffering congestive heart failure, heart attack, low blood pressure and other heart problems.
Half of these patients were assigned to a group of regular churchgoers who were asked to pray regularly for the health and recovery of the patients – whom they never met.
None of the patients, none of the doctors, none of the nurses, knew they were on anyone's prayer list. And what they found out was startling:
● The patients that were prayed for were far less likely to require antibiotics – they had fewer infections from their surgery.
● None of those who were being prayed for needed help with breathing while a dozen of the patients who were not prayed for required mechanical breathing support following the surgery,
● and (Fewer of those chosen for prayer died – but the difference wasn't statistically significant.)
The results of this study caused quite a stir when they were published in the Southern Medical Journal.
One physician at the time wrote: "Maybe we doctors ought to be writing on our order sheets, 'Pray three times a day.'"
I am sure that if this study went one step further, and told the patients they were being prayed for, the results would have been even more dramatic.
As some of you know from your experience, there is something invigorating knowing that you are being prayed for.
Knowing that you are connected to a network of prayers is buoying to your soul – and it brings peace and confidence.
Prayer works.
The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
Measurements show that a hospital visit by a pastor reduces stress hormones, produces a calming effect, and stimulates the production of endorphins in the patient.
Now, understand what is being said here.
Bad things happen to good people.
Good people get ill.
Bodies wear out.
Good people die.
But, prayer lets you face your illness squarely, actually producing a strength in your body and psyche to face your situation and get through it.
Prayer prepares you for what is to come.
The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
It may not change the situation we find ourselves in and it may not give us the miracle we want,
but what happens is, prayer changes us.
As one writer put it well, "Through prayer, we find inner resources of strength and hope and courage we didn't know we had.
Through prayer we are no longer facing our fears and pains alone;
God is there beside us,
renewing our spirit,
restoring our soul,
and helping us carry the burden when it becomes too heavy for us to bear."
Prayer has a powerful affect:
on our bodies, on our minds, on our lives.
To really clue in, to really experience change,
to really know what prayer can do for us, Paul tells us, to "Pray unceasingly."
But, what does that mean?
Standing at a prayer wall all day from morning to night?
Kneeling at the foot of the cross 24 hours a day?
Reciting a mantra over and over and over again?
No.
Pray unceasingly means to live in a state of prayerfulness.
Wherever you are,
whatever you are doing,
whatever is going on around you,
know that God is with you,
and is in conversation with you –
helping you through the events,
guiding the way,
providing strength and support you know you never had alone.
I’ve mentioned it before, and many people have no idea what I’m talking about, but I will try again:
In a very real way, my prayer mentor is Tevye.
Do you remember Fiddler on the Roof?
In this marvelous story, you remember the old man, the papa, Tevye, was constantly talking to God.
There was a comedic effect as he constantly was getting his Bible facts confused, but Tevye is depicted as being in constant prayer with the Almighty.
He prayed when he delivered his milk,
he prayed when his wife got on his nerves,
he prayed when he rejoiced with a daughter,
he prayed when he met people.
Prayer helped him get through the difficulties and tragedies and joys of his life.
O, for sure, God didn't "smite him with riches" as he jokingly talked to God about, but Tevye didn't really expect that to happen.
The point is: there was never a moment when Tevye did not know that God was with him.
Tevye was sure and certain of his relationship with God.
And Tevye gives clues to us as well.
There is an ancient parable that speaks to our situation.
There was a bunch of fish swimming in the sea.
And this rather young fish swam up to an older and wiser-looking fish and asked, "Excuse me, but I have heard of this wonderful place called the Ocean where all manner of living creatures and colorful things live?
I have decided to go there where life is much richer.
I have been searching everywhere.
But I can’t seem to find the way.
Can you help me?"
The older fish said, "Son, This is it! You're in the ocean now.
It doesn't get any better than this. This is the ocean."
The young fish put his nose up, and said, "Silly old man, what do you know.
This is only water. I'm looking for the ocean."
And off he swam to continue his search.
It takes a wise fish indeed to perceive the ocean in which it lives.
Not knowing a life outside the ocean, it is hard for it to see the environment in which it lives.
Like the fish, whose relationship with the ocean is a given, so is our relationship with God.
God surrounds us with love every moment of our life.
There is power in this love.
And there is a standing offer of friendship and communication on God's side.
All we have to do is risk believing in the offer and open ourselves to God's welcoming Presence. When we do that, we have begun to pray.
As Tevye did.
As James did.
As Paul did.
As Jesus did.
Prayer can take many forms – sometimes we attempt to communicate in a communal way, like we do here in church;
sometimes we attempt to communicate in a personal way behind closed doors;
sometimes we attempt to communicate in a traditional way by using words that have inspired people through the ages.
But, praying unceasingly means doing it right in the midst of our daily activities.
Whether we are writing a letter, playing golf,
talking with someone on the telephone,
bandaging a bruised knee,
or challenging an unjust policy,
we make it all prayerful by recognizing the presence of God with us in what we do,
when we do it, where we do it.
Our prayer can start from our work,
the important relationships of our lives,
the things we wonder at,
the restlessness and loneliness of our hearts,
our experiences of success and satisfaction,
a painful conversation, a recent gift of love.
We meet God daily in all we do and all we see.
Our prayer rises spontaneously in the presence of mountains or sea,
in park or woods,
at sunrise or sunset,
on fishing and camping trips,
at the sight of beautiful flowers, birds, animals, or persons.
Enjoying something fully – even something as basic as food, drink, a bath or shower, a hug, a nap – if it is done with an awareness of God – can be prayer.
When we understand this basic truth about prayer, few people can walk away un-awed by the relationship and the power that resides within that relationship.
That’s what prayer is.
And that’s why it is an important part of our Lenten Awe-Robic exercise program.
You won’t want to miss next week for part 5 of our Lenten Awe-Robic exercise program.
Amen.
This is a portion of a sermon delivered to the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, on March 14, 2010, by the Reverend Clyde E. Griffith.
We meet God daily in all we do and all we see.
All we have to do is to open ourselves to God's welcoming Presence.
When we do that, we have begun to pray.
So, here we are: now the fourth Sunday in Lent.
In just two weeks we will be remembering and celebrating Palm Sunday
Easter is now just three weeks away!
Of course, Christians have been remembering and celebrating the Resurrection – Easter – since day one.
It is the single most important event of our faith.
It is the defining moment – of our faith,
of our understanding of the world,
of our lives.
It was an event that was truly awe-inspiring to all those who experienced it.
It was awe-inspiring to all those were told of it, as well.
It was so awe-inspiring that grown men and women turned their lives around
and started living for a cause far grander than the empire,
and far more intimate than the family.
But, as Lily Tomlin noted, today, you and I seem to living a world that devalues inspiration,
and arouses little awe in us.
So, she concludes, and I agree with, we need more awe-robic exercise in our world.
And, so that really what we’re about here during these days of Lent, this time before Easter.
We are about promoting certain Lenten Practices, Awe-Robic exercises, really.
We began with the admonition to Take Time to Observe Lent.
We were encouraged to do like Jesus did,
take some 40 days to think about the big picture.
Spend 40 days to become more aware of the awe-someness of the world around us.
We were encouraged to start a daily awe-list – at the end of each to think back on what was truly awesome, to recount the awe-inspiring events of the day.
Last week, we heard about another Lenten Practice: Fasting.
Fasting can be a real eye opener – it was for Jesus,
it was for countless individuals throughout history,
and it is for many people today.
But, we discovered that what we think of as fasting is not the same as what God sees as important.
It is when we fast as God instructs us, that our eyes are opened in new ways as awe events literally explode before us.
And so, today, we hear about another Lenten Practice: Pray (Preferably In Private).
James wrote:
The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
The Apostle Paul left us a clue when he said: Pray Unceasingly.
Jesus gave specific instruction:
When you pray, do not be ostentatious, like the hypocrites!
Do it in private and don't use a lot of meaningless words.
(God already knows what you need before you ask.)
If you forgive others, you will be forgiven.
Maybe you saw the cartoon in the funny papers:
Two little kids were standing there in their pajamas beside their bed with a toy telephone between them.
One is instructing the other in the finer arts of saying their bedtime prayers.
He says: "Now, remember you don't have to worry about God being too busy when you call, because God has "Call Waiting".
And you don't have to worry about nobody being home, because God has "Call Forwarding".
And remember, it's always a Toll Free Call.
And God never puts anyone "On Hold."
Don't hang up, your call will be answered in the order in which it is received.
And Operators are standing by ready for your call."
And that's about it, isn't it?
Again, James proclaims, what most of you in this room know: The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
Over 6000 scientific studies have been published in the last ten years!
Over half of these studies show under laboratory-controlled conditions, prayer does something truly remarkable. My file of references gets thicker every year!
While the belief that prayer heals is older than recorded history, you should know about some of this very recent research.
I have talked about some of these studies before, but just a few months ago, Time Magazine had cover stories on the power of faith to heal.
Universities all over the country – and all over the world – are devoting major efforts to document what people of faith have believed for years and years.
The University of Pennsylvania has a whole department dedicated to the study of Spirituality and the Mind.
Of particular interest to me is the discovery that it can be demonstrated that prayer actually invokes changes the brain – and some of these changes can be permanent.
Prayer actually improves memory – Time Magazine, February 23, 2009, Dr. Andrew Newberg, How God Changes Your Brain.
One study at the University of Virginia, showed that orthopedic patients in the hospital that were visited by chaplains needed less medical care than those that weren't visited by chaplains.
They made fewer calls to the nurse for help,
they got out of the hospital an average of two days earlier than those who didn't receive spiritual support,
And they needed much much less pain medication, than those who never saw a chaplain.
Another study was done among coronary patients in a VA hospital near Boston.
Patients were undergoing care for heart attack and chronic heart disease, and endured bypass operations, valve replacements, and open heart surgery.
An experimental group was selected randomly to receive daily visits from a chaplain.
The other group received less frequent visits, or none at all.
Again, those who received regular care from a pastor, went home one or two days sooner than those who did not.
Now, the VA attached some dollars and sense to this study, and concluded that providing a chaplain visit for a patient cost no more than $100 a day, and resulted in savings as much as $4000 a day.
Total savings from a robust and prayerful chaplain's program could amount to several million dollars a year for each hospital.
Another study was done at a hospital in San Francisco (General Hospital) of people who were admitted to the coronary care unit suffering congestive heart failure, heart attack, low blood pressure and other heart problems.
Half of these patients were assigned to a group of regular churchgoers who were asked to pray regularly for the health and recovery of the patients – whom they never met.
None of the patients, none of the doctors, none of the nurses, knew they were on anyone's prayer list. And what they found out was startling:
● The patients that were prayed for were far less likely to require antibiotics – they had fewer infections from their surgery.
● None of those who were being prayed for needed help with breathing while a dozen of the patients who were not prayed for required mechanical breathing support following the surgery,
● and (Fewer of those chosen for prayer died – but the difference wasn't statistically significant.)
The results of this study caused quite a stir when they were published in the Southern Medical Journal.
One physician at the time wrote: "Maybe we doctors ought to be writing on our order sheets, 'Pray three times a day.'"
I am sure that if this study went one step further, and told the patients they were being prayed for, the results would have been even more dramatic.
As some of you know from your experience, there is something invigorating knowing that you are being prayed for.
Knowing that you are connected to a network of prayers is buoying to your soul – and it brings peace and confidence.
Prayer works.
The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
Measurements show that a hospital visit by a pastor reduces stress hormones, produces a calming effect, and stimulates the production of endorphins in the patient.
Now, understand what is being said here.
Bad things happen to good people.
Good people get ill.
Bodies wear out.
Good people die.
But, prayer lets you face your illness squarely, actually producing a strength in your body and psyche to face your situation and get through it.
Prayer prepares you for what is to come.
The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
It may not change the situation we find ourselves in and it may not give us the miracle we want,
but what happens is, prayer changes us.
As one writer put it well, "Through prayer, we find inner resources of strength and hope and courage we didn't know we had.
Through prayer we are no longer facing our fears and pains alone;
God is there beside us,
renewing our spirit,
restoring our soul,
and helping us carry the burden when it becomes too heavy for us to bear."
Prayer has a powerful affect:
on our bodies, on our minds, on our lives.
To really clue in, to really experience change,
to really know what prayer can do for us, Paul tells us, to "Pray unceasingly."
But, what does that mean?
Standing at a prayer wall all day from morning to night?
Kneeling at the foot of the cross 24 hours a day?
Reciting a mantra over and over and over again?
No.
Pray unceasingly means to live in a state of prayerfulness.
Wherever you are,
whatever you are doing,
whatever is going on around you,
know that God is with you,
and is in conversation with you –
helping you through the events,
guiding the way,
providing strength and support you know you never had alone.
I’ve mentioned it before, and many people have no idea what I’m talking about, but I will try again:
In a very real way, my prayer mentor is Tevye.
Do you remember Fiddler on the Roof?
In this marvelous story, you remember the old man, the papa, Tevye, was constantly talking to God.
There was a comedic effect as he constantly was getting his Bible facts confused, but Tevye is depicted as being in constant prayer with the Almighty.
He prayed when he delivered his milk,
he prayed when his wife got on his nerves,
he prayed when he rejoiced with a daughter,
he prayed when he met people.
Prayer helped him get through the difficulties and tragedies and joys of his life.
O, for sure, God didn't "smite him with riches" as he jokingly talked to God about, but Tevye didn't really expect that to happen.
The point is: there was never a moment when Tevye did not know that God was with him.
Tevye was sure and certain of his relationship with God.
And Tevye gives clues to us as well.
There is an ancient parable that speaks to our situation.
There was a bunch of fish swimming in the sea.
And this rather young fish swam up to an older and wiser-looking fish and asked, "Excuse me, but I have heard of this wonderful place called the Ocean where all manner of living creatures and colorful things live?
I have decided to go there where life is much richer.
I have been searching everywhere.
But I can’t seem to find the way.
Can you help me?"
The older fish said, "Son, This is it! You're in the ocean now.
It doesn't get any better than this. This is the ocean."
The young fish put his nose up, and said, "Silly old man, what do you know.
This is only water. I'm looking for the ocean."
And off he swam to continue his search.
It takes a wise fish indeed to perceive the ocean in which it lives.
Not knowing a life outside the ocean, it is hard for it to see the environment in which it lives.
Like the fish, whose relationship with the ocean is a given, so is our relationship with God.
God surrounds us with love every moment of our life.
There is power in this love.
And there is a standing offer of friendship and communication on God's side.
All we have to do is risk believing in the offer and open ourselves to God's welcoming Presence. When we do that, we have begun to pray.
As Tevye did.
As James did.
As Paul did.
As Jesus did.
Prayer can take many forms – sometimes we attempt to communicate in a communal way, like we do here in church;
sometimes we attempt to communicate in a personal way behind closed doors;
sometimes we attempt to communicate in a traditional way by using words that have inspired people through the ages.
But, praying unceasingly means doing it right in the midst of our daily activities.
Whether we are writing a letter, playing golf,
talking with someone on the telephone,
bandaging a bruised knee,
or challenging an unjust policy,
we make it all prayerful by recognizing the presence of God with us in what we do,
when we do it, where we do it.
Our prayer can start from our work,
the important relationships of our lives,
the things we wonder at,
the restlessness and loneliness of our hearts,
our experiences of success and satisfaction,
a painful conversation, a recent gift of love.
We meet God daily in all we do and all we see.
Our prayer rises spontaneously in the presence of mountains or sea,
in park or woods,
at sunrise or sunset,
on fishing and camping trips,
at the sight of beautiful flowers, birds, animals, or persons.
Enjoying something fully – even something as basic as food, drink, a bath or shower, a hug, a nap – if it is done with an awareness of God – can be prayer.
When we understand this basic truth about prayer, few people can walk away un-awed by the relationship and the power that resides within that relationship.
That’s what prayer is.
And that’s why it is an important part of our Lenten Awe-Robic exercise program.
You won’t want to miss next week for part 5 of our Lenten Awe-Robic exercise program.
Amen.
This is a portion of a sermon delivered to the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, on March 14, 2010, by the Reverend Clyde E. Griffith.
Friday, March 19, 2010
A Lenten Awe-roebic Exercise: Fast (It's the Lord's Work)
When you fast, be sure that you wash your face and comb your hair.
During Lent this year we are looking at various Lenten Practices – what I have called awe-robic exercises – that we do pretty routinely whenever we come to worship here at Christ Church –
Awe-Robic Exercises which, if lifted up and practiced, could change our perception of reality and leave us in a much better position to know what happened on that first Easter morning so long ago.
The first awe-robic exercise we looked at was to Observe Lent.
By consciously setting aside time on a periodic basis to consider how our faith affects our life, we take the first step toward awe-awareness – being aware of the inspired nature of the created world in which we live.
Then we looked at the importance of regular worship participation for our well-being.
And, today, we tackle the notion of Fasting.
We know what fasting is, don’t we?
We have heard about people who fast,
we have read about people who fast,
perhaps even a few in this room have fasted in the past.
While we know what it is, fasting is certainly not main stream for us, or for anyone we know, is it?
But, we know what fasting is.
The dictionary definition is going without food and/or drink for a period of time.
We are told that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness before he began his ministry.
Gandhi fasted.
Martin Luther King, Jr. fasted.
Peace demonstrators fasted.
Some prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center fasted.
In fact, fasting seems to be something some people do in an attempt to attract attention to their cause.
Personally, I have never understood this on at least two counts:
I am sure that I could fast for a week – or even 40 days and 40 nights – and no one would care.
No one would notice.
Nothing would change.
And, secondly, I know you will find this hard to believe, but when I go without food, I get cranky.
I know, it is so against the image you have of me, but I do get cranky when I go without food for too long.
I am unbearable.
I know, it is hard to believe, but ask Suzanne.
When I was discussing this with my daughter, she asked, well how long have you ever gone without eating.
I responded: “Oh, eight or nine hours.”
We know what fasting is:
Going without food and/or drink for a period of time.
People of the Jewish faith knew what fasting was.
In fact, it had become a sacred act – something a person did regularly in order to gain favor with God.
Fasting and offering animal sacrifice were part and parcel of how they expressed their faith.
The early Christians knew what fasting was.
After all, they were Jews at first,
and fasting was still practiced as a way of humbling oneself in order to get your priorities in life straight.
So, we are told, Jesus fasted before he began his ministry – for 40 days and 40 nights, we are told.
[By then, I would be soooo cranky.]
Because it was so widely practiced, we are told that Jesus felt like he had to address the issue right there during his sermon on the mount.
When you fast, he says.
Not if you fast, but when you fast.
You do it, you know you do, so listen, when you do it, don’t do like the hypocrites do by putting on a sad face and making a show of it,
but make sure you wash your face and comb your hair so others won’t know what you are doing.
Wash your face and comb your hair is good advice.
When the practice of our religion is done in public for all to see – for people to see how holy you must be, it is wrong, Jesus said.
Good advice.
But, there is a problem with our understanding of this fasting concept.
Long before Jesus, 3-400 hundred years before Jesus, this prophet appeared in Judea and began spouting the weirdest things.
This prophet spoke for the Lord God.
He spoke with authority to the priests and to all the people.
Everyone knew him and recognized his authority.
They listened to him and even came to him for advice.
The people of faith came to him with their complaints.
Look, they said.
It seems as if the Lord has abandoned us.
We have been left to cope all alone.
We hear nothing from the Lord.
Bad things happen to good people – and we don’t know why.
We pray and nothing happens.
We fast and nothing happens.
What gives.
Why should we fast if the Lord never notices?
Why should we starve ourselves if the Lord pays no attention?
And, the 58th chapter of Isaiah tells us that in response to those complaints the Lord said:
The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers.
Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight. [You get cranky, the Lord says.]
Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?
When you fast, you make yourselves suffer;
you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on.
Is that what you call fasting?
Do you think I will be pleased with that?
And, then to everyone’s surprise, the concept of fasting gets completely redefined.
Do you think I will be pleased with that?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to get my attention?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to get my favor?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to influence what happens to you?
Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?
If you fast to have influence with the Lord God the Creator of the Universe and all there is, your faith is on the wrong track.
If you think any of your faith rituals is going to influence me, you have another think coming.
And, Isaiah drops the hammer:
The Lord says words they did not want to hear –
Words we do not want to hear today.
"This is the kind of fasting I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
This is what it really means to worship the LORD.
Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly.
Free those who are abused!
Share your food with everyone who is hungry; share your home with the poor and homeless.
Give clothes to those in need;
don't [ever] turn away your relatives.
"get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
[Be] generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, "
This is what this religion is all about.
This is what I notice.
This is what gets my attention.
This is the Lord’s work.
Later on, Jesus picks up this theme when he says this is what is going to be on the final exam –
this is what you will be asked about during your orals –
this is what you will be judged on.
Because this is our calling.
This is what we are to be doing.
This is what we are about.
Our faith is about living for others.
When we give of ourselves for another, we make the ultimate call.
Jesus would say, when you do these things for these people, you doing these things for me –
you are doing these things to me.
For sure, this requires radical reorientation.
This goes so against what we were taught –
and what we learned so well –
and what we all bought in to.
Its not about me.
When it is about me, it is a distorted reality.
For the promise is made – and has been so many times throughout history – and there are some people in this very room – who can vouch for veracity of the promise:
when you work toward these ends,
when you do this ministry for others,
when you live your life so others may live better,
you will have great rewards.
"Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed.
I will always be with you to save you;
my presence will protect you on every side.
When you pray, I will answer you.
When you call to me, I will respond."
That’s the promise.
That’s the bargain.
"If you put an end to oppression,
to every gesture of contempt,
and to every evil word;
(10) if you give food to the hungry
and satisfy those who are in need,
then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon."
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
This is the kind of fasting the Lord wants.
This is the kind of fasting the Lord responds to.
This is the kind of fasting that is part and parcel of our faith.
This is the kind of fasting that can only increase our awe-awareness.
This kind of fasting is an important component to an awe-robic exercise program.
It’s the Lord’s work.
And it is what we are to do.
Amen.
This is a portion of a sermon delivered from the pulpit of Christ Presbyterian Church, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, on March 7, 2010.
During Lent this year we are looking at various Lenten Practices – what I have called awe-robic exercises – that we do pretty routinely whenever we come to worship here at Christ Church –
Awe-Robic Exercises which, if lifted up and practiced, could change our perception of reality and leave us in a much better position to know what happened on that first Easter morning so long ago.
The first awe-robic exercise we looked at was to Observe Lent.
By consciously setting aside time on a periodic basis to consider how our faith affects our life, we take the first step toward awe-awareness – being aware of the inspired nature of the created world in which we live.
Then we looked at the importance of regular worship participation for our well-being.
And, today, we tackle the notion of Fasting.
We know what fasting is, don’t we?
We have heard about people who fast,
we have read about people who fast,
perhaps even a few in this room have fasted in the past.
While we know what it is, fasting is certainly not main stream for us, or for anyone we know, is it?
But, we know what fasting is.
The dictionary definition is going without food and/or drink for a period of time.
We are told that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness before he began his ministry.
Gandhi fasted.
Martin Luther King, Jr. fasted.
Peace demonstrators fasted.
Some prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center fasted.
In fact, fasting seems to be something some people do in an attempt to attract attention to their cause.
Personally, I have never understood this on at least two counts:
I am sure that I could fast for a week – or even 40 days and 40 nights – and no one would care.
No one would notice.
Nothing would change.
And, secondly, I know you will find this hard to believe, but when I go without food, I get cranky.
I know, it is so against the image you have of me, but I do get cranky when I go without food for too long.
I am unbearable.
I know, it is hard to believe, but ask Suzanne.
When I was discussing this with my daughter, she asked, well how long have you ever gone without eating.
I responded: “Oh, eight or nine hours.”
We know what fasting is:
Going without food and/or drink for a period of time.
People of the Jewish faith knew what fasting was.
In fact, it had become a sacred act – something a person did regularly in order to gain favor with God.
Fasting and offering animal sacrifice were part and parcel of how they expressed their faith.
The early Christians knew what fasting was.
After all, they were Jews at first,
and fasting was still practiced as a way of humbling oneself in order to get your priorities in life straight.
So, we are told, Jesus fasted before he began his ministry – for 40 days and 40 nights, we are told.
[By then, I would be soooo cranky.]
Because it was so widely practiced, we are told that Jesus felt like he had to address the issue right there during his sermon on the mount.
When you fast, he says.
Not if you fast, but when you fast.
You do it, you know you do, so listen, when you do it, don’t do like the hypocrites do by putting on a sad face and making a show of it,
but make sure you wash your face and comb your hair so others won’t know what you are doing.
Wash your face and comb your hair is good advice.
When the practice of our religion is done in public for all to see – for people to see how holy you must be, it is wrong, Jesus said.
Good advice.
But, there is a problem with our understanding of this fasting concept.
Long before Jesus, 3-400 hundred years before Jesus, this prophet appeared in Judea and began spouting the weirdest things.
This prophet spoke for the Lord God.
He spoke with authority to the priests and to all the people.
Everyone knew him and recognized his authority.
They listened to him and even came to him for advice.
The people of faith came to him with their complaints.
Look, they said.
It seems as if the Lord has abandoned us.
We have been left to cope all alone.
We hear nothing from the Lord.
Bad things happen to good people – and we don’t know why.
We pray and nothing happens.
We fast and nothing happens.
What gives.
Why should we fast if the Lord never notices?
Why should we starve ourselves if the Lord pays no attention?
And, the 58th chapter of Isaiah tells us that in response to those complaints the Lord said:
The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers.
Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight. [You get cranky, the Lord says.]
Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?
When you fast, you make yourselves suffer;
you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on.
Is that what you call fasting?
Do you think I will be pleased with that?
And, then to everyone’s surprise, the concept of fasting gets completely redefined.
Do you think I will be pleased with that?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to get my attention?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to get my favor?
Do you think that going without food and or drink for a period of time is going to influence what happens to you?
Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?
If you fast to have influence with the Lord God the Creator of the Universe and all there is, your faith is on the wrong track.
If you think any of your faith rituals is going to influence me, you have another think coming.
And, Isaiah drops the hammer:
The Lord says words they did not want to hear –
Words we do not want to hear today.
"This is the kind of fasting I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
This is what it really means to worship the LORD.
Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly.
Free those who are abused!
Share your food with everyone who is hungry; share your home with the poor and homeless.
Give clothes to those in need;
don't [ever] turn away your relatives.
"get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
[Be] generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, "
This is what this religion is all about.
This is what I notice.
This is what gets my attention.
This is the Lord’s work.
Later on, Jesus picks up this theme when he says this is what is going to be on the final exam –
this is what you will be asked about during your orals –
this is what you will be judged on.
Because this is our calling.
This is what we are to be doing.
This is what we are about.
Our faith is about living for others.
When we give of ourselves for another, we make the ultimate call.
Jesus would say, when you do these things for these people, you doing these things for me –
you are doing these things to me.
For sure, this requires radical reorientation.
This goes so against what we were taught –
and what we learned so well –
and what we all bought in to.
Its not about me.
When it is about me, it is a distorted reality.
For the promise is made – and has been so many times throughout history – and there are some people in this very room – who can vouch for veracity of the promise:
when you work toward these ends,
when you do this ministry for others,
when you live your life so others may live better,
you will have great rewards.
"Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed.
I will always be with you to save you;
my presence will protect you on every side.
When you pray, I will answer you.
When you call to me, I will respond."
That’s the promise.
That’s the bargain.
"If you put an end to oppression,
to every gesture of contempt,
and to every evil word;
(10) if you give food to the hungry
and satisfy those who are in need,
then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon."
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
This is the kind of fasting the Lord wants.
This is the kind of fasting the Lord responds to.
This is the kind of fasting that is part and parcel of our faith.
This is the kind of fasting that can only increase our awe-awareness.
This kind of fasting is an important component to an awe-robic exercise program.
It’s the Lord’s work.
And it is what we are to do.
Amen.
This is a portion of a sermon delivered from the pulpit of Christ Presbyterian Church, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, on March 7, 2010.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Take Time for A Time Out
Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
The main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.
We are told that before Jesus began his ministry he took a time out.
He went off by himself – for 40 days – and 40 nights.
Jesus must of thought that this was completely necessary for him to do.
He did this to get his head right,
to get more completely in tune with God’s will and purpose for his life.
For centuries the church has said it was important to remember what Jesus did here,
and it important for us to take a time out as well.
Jesus took 40 days for his time out,
the church said we should take 40 days each year before Easter for our time out –
a time out from the routine of our regular normal life to consciously focus on getting our heads on right,
to get more in tune with what God is concerned about and wants for us to do with the rest of the days of our lives.
Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
Used to be, as you know, we never observed Lent in Presbyterian churches.
But, today we see this time as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.
During this time before Easter we are challenged to open ourselves in new ways to the Spirit’s transforming power – not unlike Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry.
From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.
Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry, the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.
This is a time for us to explore the mysteries of the universe,
looking beneath the surface –
within ourselves –
examining our own motives and desires,
and ascertaining exactly what our commitment is:
to what,
to whom,
and what it means.
Lent is meant to remind us that the days are getting longer now –
Spring is right around the corner here in the Northern Hemisphere.
Actually, the word Lent comes from an ancient word that meant "springtime," –
that period of the calendar during which the days lengthen.
Because the church season always fell at that time of year, the name came to apply there as well.
Although we can’t readily see it buried under 2 feet of snow, all around us new life is preparing to break out as the weather turns.
Signs of life are preparing to bud right before our eyes.
And, our task during this season is to prepare ourselves to see these signs when they occur.
Like I have said before, I believe we need Lent!
Lent encourages us to look within ourselves to see how we have confused popular cultural values with Christian faith.
Through sustained focus on the life and ministry of Jesus, Lent can help us resist the pressures of this culture.
Lent can remind us that we are called to continue his ministry:
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Consequently, Lent prepares us for an Easter that is more than bunnies and eggs –
an Easter that begins a whole new reality –
a whole new world.
As you know, 40 days is almost a sacred number with strong Old Testament associations.
40 days seems to be a long time when you think about it.
[It is more than the 30 days we get to accept the special offer of the day that is in our daily mail.]
It seems that God is saying:
“take up to forty days to decide –
40 days to make up your mind –
which side are you going to be on.”
The Gospels say Jesus was given 40 days to decide whose side his life would be spent on.
40 days to come to a decision to align with God or accept the worldly enticements of the Devil that would have derailed his mission.
40 days seems to be God's time for allowing significant decisions to be made.
Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days getting the 10 commandments.
Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness encountering God.
An extended time was given people of Noah's time to make up their mind before it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
The 40 days of Lent gives us sufficient time to make up our minds again:
to decide for life – or death,
to decide for God – or the ways of the world
around us.
For me, when we get beyond the familiar outward trappings, the main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.
For us with our total dependence upon clocks and schedules and appointments and meetings and deadlines, taking time for a time out is probably the most difficult thing any of us could be called upon to do.
And yet, here it is.
The call goes out each year during this time before Easter,
and our response is usually no more than an acknowledgment of a quaint – if not somewhat ancient, antiquated tradition – that we may give a passing nod to in church,
but having very little to do with anything in our home, or at work, or how we spend our time.
Most of the days of our lives we are pretty much self absorbed in our lives and our obligations and our health and perhaps in the caring for another or two or three or four or . . .
We live in response to stimuli from outside of ourselves.
Lent calls us to take time for a time out from all of that.
Take time now – just commit to only 40 days – this time leading up to Easter –
take time each day to focus on something other than on what we usually spend our time on.
It is important to take the time.
Jesus did it.
Moses did it.
Isaiah did it.
Many many others did it.
And, today many many others are doing it.
You can do it as well.
Traditionally, Biblically, there are some specific things we can do with this time,
but it what we do is of less importance than to commit to taking the time –
to get closer with our God.
The pattern is,
the experience is,
the promise is,
that when we do,
we become more aware of God’s presence
and more aware of God’s purpose
and more aware of what we are to do with the rest of the days of our lives.
And, of course, that’s the scarey part, isn’t it?
Because we’re not sure we want to discover that we should be doing something we aren’t doing, right?
For years I have been compiling a file of stories of people who after a time out,
changed the direction of their lives because it became clearer to them that this is what God would be having them do.
It’s a thick file containing many many stories.
Someday it would be worth sharing in some way just to see the stories one after the other after an other after an other.
Taking time for a time out can have a powerful affect on a person.
Norman Vincent Peale – and many other preachers – was convinced that by taking time out to concentrate on certain scripture lessons, folks could experience a power and wholeness and wellness that they never knew possible.
Of course, I think that, too.
Each Sunday between now and Easter, I will be focusing on specific practices that have proven to put us more in tune with the ultimate power and purpose of the universe.
Aligning our lives with the moral direction of the universe is probably the most primal of all our activities –
and that is something we cannot do with a compass or a clock.
It is something we can only do in a community like this one.
For your sake, each day during this time before Easter, take time for a time out.
And be here next week as we explore certain practices proven to lead us in the right direction.
Amen.
This is a portion of a sermon delivered from the pulpit of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, on February 28, 2010, by Clyde E. Griffith.
The main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.
We are told that before Jesus began his ministry he took a time out.
He went off by himself – for 40 days – and 40 nights.
Jesus must of thought that this was completely necessary for him to do.
He did this to get his head right,
to get more completely in tune with God’s will and purpose for his life.
For centuries the church has said it was important to remember what Jesus did here,
and it important for us to take a time out as well.
Jesus took 40 days for his time out,
the church said we should take 40 days each year before Easter for our time out –
a time out from the routine of our regular normal life to consciously focus on getting our heads on right,
to get more in tune with what God is concerned about and wants for us to do with the rest of the days of our lives.
Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
Used to be, as you know, we never observed Lent in Presbyterian churches.
But, today we see this time as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.
During this time before Easter we are challenged to open ourselves in new ways to the Spirit’s transforming power – not unlike Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry.
From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.
Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry, the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.
This is a time for us to explore the mysteries of the universe,
looking beneath the surface –
within ourselves –
examining our own motives and desires,
and ascertaining exactly what our commitment is:
to what,
to whom,
and what it means.
Lent is meant to remind us that the days are getting longer now –
Spring is right around the corner here in the Northern Hemisphere.
Actually, the word Lent comes from an ancient word that meant "springtime," –
that period of the calendar during which the days lengthen.
Because the church season always fell at that time of year, the name came to apply there as well.
Although we can’t readily see it buried under 2 feet of snow, all around us new life is preparing to break out as the weather turns.
Signs of life are preparing to bud right before our eyes.
And, our task during this season is to prepare ourselves to see these signs when they occur.
Like I have said before, I believe we need Lent!
Lent encourages us to look within ourselves to see how we have confused popular cultural values with Christian faith.
Through sustained focus on the life and ministry of Jesus, Lent can help us resist the pressures of this culture.
Lent can remind us that we are called to continue his ministry:
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Consequently, Lent prepares us for an Easter that is more than bunnies and eggs –
an Easter that begins a whole new reality –
a whole new world.
As you know, 40 days is almost a sacred number with strong Old Testament associations.
40 days seems to be a long time when you think about it.
[It is more than the 30 days we get to accept the special offer of the day that is in our daily mail.]
It seems that God is saying:
“take up to forty days to decide –
40 days to make up your mind –
which side are you going to be on.”
The Gospels say Jesus was given 40 days to decide whose side his life would be spent on.
40 days to come to a decision to align with God or accept the worldly enticements of the Devil that would have derailed his mission.
40 days seems to be God's time for allowing significant decisions to be made.
Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days getting the 10 commandments.
Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness encountering God.
An extended time was given people of Noah's time to make up their mind before it rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
The 40 days of Lent gives us sufficient time to make up our minds again:
to decide for life – or death,
to decide for God – or the ways of the world
around us.
For me, when we get beyond the familiar outward trappings, the main purpose of Lent is to encourage us to take a time out.
For us with our total dependence upon clocks and schedules and appointments and meetings and deadlines, taking time for a time out is probably the most difficult thing any of us could be called upon to do.
And yet, here it is.
The call goes out each year during this time before Easter,
and our response is usually no more than an acknowledgment of a quaint – if not somewhat ancient, antiquated tradition – that we may give a passing nod to in church,
but having very little to do with anything in our home, or at work, or how we spend our time.
Most of the days of our lives we are pretty much self absorbed in our lives and our obligations and our health and perhaps in the caring for another or two or three or four or . . .
We live in response to stimuli from outside of ourselves.
Lent calls us to take time for a time out from all of that.
Take time now – just commit to only 40 days – this time leading up to Easter –
take time each day to focus on something other than on what we usually spend our time on.
It is important to take the time.
Jesus did it.
Moses did it.
Isaiah did it.
Many many others did it.
And, today many many others are doing it.
You can do it as well.
Traditionally, Biblically, there are some specific things we can do with this time,
but it what we do is of less importance than to commit to taking the time –
to get closer with our God.
The pattern is,
the experience is,
the promise is,
that when we do,
we become more aware of God’s presence
and more aware of God’s purpose
and more aware of what we are to do with the rest of the days of our lives.
And, of course, that’s the scarey part, isn’t it?
Because we’re not sure we want to discover that we should be doing something we aren’t doing, right?
For years I have been compiling a file of stories of people who after a time out,
changed the direction of their lives because it became clearer to them that this is what God would be having them do.
It’s a thick file containing many many stories.
Someday it would be worth sharing in some way just to see the stories one after the other after an other after an other.
Taking time for a time out can have a powerful affect on a person.
Norman Vincent Peale – and many other preachers – was convinced that by taking time out to concentrate on certain scripture lessons, folks could experience a power and wholeness and wellness that they never knew possible.
Of course, I think that, too.
Each Sunday between now and Easter, I will be focusing on specific practices that have proven to put us more in tune with the ultimate power and purpose of the universe.
Aligning our lives with the moral direction of the universe is probably the most primal of all our activities –
and that is something we cannot do with a compass or a clock.
It is something we can only do in a community like this one.
For your sake, each day during this time before Easter, take time for a time out.
And be here next week as we explore certain practices proven to lead us in the right direction.
Amen.
This is a portion of a sermon delivered from the pulpit of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, on February 28, 2010, by Clyde E. Griffith.
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