Christmas Is for Adults - About the Adult Jesus

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.


The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out. 


For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel. 
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.


The Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 12:2-6
Matthew 1:17-25

For over 1500 years, the church has set aside this time before Christmas as a time of preparation –
a time for believers to engage in opportunities of study to better understand the enormity of what it is we celebrate at Christmas and its profound impact on the faith passed on to us from previous generations. 

This year, in an attempt to help us focus on the real reason for the season –  what is so central to the faith we hold – I am trying to address what was important to those very earliest of Christians.

Last week we looked at the writings of some of the very earliest Christians and looked at what they had to say about the birth of Jesus.   
The very earliest writing we have in the New Testament is a letter from The Apostle Paul, written around the year of 35 AD.
The earliest Gospel we have is attributed to Mark.  The Gospel of Mark was most probably published around the year of 50 AD. 
In the past 60 years, many other documents have been discovered that date back to the very first decades after Jesus’ death.
When we read these documents looking for what they say about the birth of Jesus, we discover one thing in common. 
None of them have anything to say about the birth of Jesus.  Nothing.
It simply was not important to them.

Oh, for sure, they were all convinced that the experiences they recalled with this Jesus of Nazareth was extraordinary. 
In fact, as the years went by, they were convinced that they had experienced nothing less than the in-dwelling of God Almighty. 
That, for sure, they experienced the holy –
that, for sure, for a while, and even now, they experienced Emmanuel –
[a Hebrew word that means God With Us].

(As a side note: I was particularly interested in an article that was published just yesterday by Bayler University’s Center for Christian Ethics, wherein, the author spells out much of the same things I did in our sermon last week! 
So, really, I don’t make this stuff up!)

Now, the second oldest Gospel text is the Gospel of Matthew. 
It was written about thirty years after Mark – around 80 AD.  

Matthew is somewhat different than Mark.
Matthew obviously knew about Mark’s Gospel.
Matthew includes the entire Gospel of Mark. 
Yes, he edited freely and rearranged some of the scenes, but its all there. 
Everything you read in Mark is in Matthew.
But, Matthew includes much more.
And, the editing and rearranging he does reflect his own emphasis, and are worthy of study and noting.

Matthew also includes writings and sayings from a second document that was circulating during those days –  
a document that Luke knew about and used also;
a document that Mark did not know about or didn’t care about.  
(Scholars call this the quelle document  – or “source” document.)
Matthew also knew and used material from a third source –
stories that were circulating among some circles that were becoming known as the infancy narratives – stories relating to the birth of Jesus. 

I believe we are lucky to be living in these days, because we are discovering new source material all the time. 
It seems that every month or so, something new crops us that provide new light on old documents, and old practices, and old beliefs.

One of the most exciting discoveries, to me, is that we are discovering that those earliest Christian believers were a pretty diverse bunch. 
Contrary to what we may have taught, those early Christians, right from the beginning were not of one mind about their belief
or about their practices
or about their place in the world.

We know that after Jesus’ death, his followers scattered and hid. 
But, shortly after, many came to the conviction that something extraordinary had happened – something that changed their perspective on who Jesus was and he would mean for the future of their movement.
It was their experience of the resurrection experience that led the disciples to come to think of Jesus as somehow more than just a prophet, but as the Messiah himself.   
And that’s when they began to organize around his memory. 

But, we must remember, the earliest form of the movement was as a sect within Judaism.
Jesus was a Jew.
Jesus disciples were Jews.
Jesus was a Jewish Messiah.
They are followers of a Jewish apocalyptic tradition.
They are expecting the coming of the kingdom of God on earth.
It was a Jewish movement.

For sure, it was made up of small groups.
At least one of them was based in Jerusalem, but others were spread all over the countryside, including at least one or more in Galilee.
These were small, homebased groups, that met together weekly, studied together, ministered to one another, and prayed for and with one another.
But, when time came, they went to the temple for worship.

What we have discovered is that pretty much, each of these small groups developed their own take on what they experienced with Jesus of Nazareth and what had happened to him at the end of his public ministry. 

Some groups seemed to be in competition with one another –
especially as they considered how closely they were to observe the Jewish laws of the Torah. 

One historian writes, “Christianity, or one would rather say “Christianities,” of [the early years] were a highly variegated phenomenon.” 
We can see from recent discoveries that there were very different views of Jesus in the various types of Christianity. 
Another historian reminds us that it was “a time where there was no fixed formulation what the set of Christian beliefs should be. 
What Christian rituals should be. 
What they should think
or what they should tell about Jesus.”

The Christianity of Rome was different that Christianity of North Africa
and that was different from what we find in Egypt,
and that was different from what find in Syria
or back in Palestine.
So, we see each form of Christianity beginning to tell the story of Jesus in different ways.

And, so we see different “Gospels” emerging from these different groups. 
You have heard about the Gospel of Thomas that has been translated and published with the last few of years.
There is also the Gospel of Philip,
the Gospel of Truth,
The Gospel to the Egyptians,
the Apocryphon of John,
Secret Book of James,
Apocalypse of Paul,
the Letter of Peter to Philip,
the Apocalypse of Peter,
the Acts of Thomas,
the Acts of Paul,
and the list goes on and on and on.
So far, some 52 different Gospels have been discovered – besides the four found in our Bible.

And within our Bible, we see how this gets played to a small degree.
We noted that Mark just wasn’t concerned about Jesus’ birth. 

Matthew was.
Matthew was very concerned about showing Jesus as being the embodiment of Hebrew prophecy –
the presence of the long-awaited-for Jewish Messiah.

This was important to Matthew because at that time, another man, Bar Kochba, was leading a Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire.
Bar Kochba was imploring his kinsmen to take up arms: “Come join us to fight against the Romans.
You believe God is going to restore the kingdom to Israel, don’t you?  Join us.” 
Bar Kochba was leading the revolt as the Jewish Messiah.

And, this set some of the Jewish Christians back a bit. 
“He can’t be the Messiah – we already have one.”

And so, Matthew takes a clue from the Romans who gave all of their gods some sort of divine birth story.

Others were circulating birth stories of Jesus to show that Jesus was second to no Roman god.

So, Matthew includes some of the stories that were circulating at the time.
But, Matthew wanted to make clear that not only did Jesus have a special birth like the Roman gods,
but that Jesus was clearly a Jew. 

The religious community that produced the Gospel of Matthew took pains to place their understanding squarely within its Jewish heritage
and portrays Jesus as one whose Jewish identity is beyond doubt.
After copying Marks first verse, Matthew begins by tracing Jesus’ genealogy. 

Now, everyone knew, he only needed to show that Jesus was a descendent of King David. 
But, Matthew takes no chances. 
He traces Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Abraham. 
It was that important to Matthew.

He wanted to show Jesus as even greater than Moses. 
And, he edits his narrative to have Jesus constantly reinterpreting what was commonly known as Jewish law. 
“You’ve heard it said . . . But, I say to you . . .”

The bottom line is this:
however touching they are to our heartstrings,
however much we love to hear them and to sing about them,
however much we enjoy the feelings prevalent this time of year,
the birth stories are not really about the baby Jesus.

The birth stories are told and remembered because of the adult Jesus –
and what people experienced with him during his earthly ministry,
and what people experienced because of him after his death –
and what people have experienced through him through the ages,
and what people continue to experience with him day and day out. 

For me, at its essence, Christmas is really about Emmanuel. 
That Hebrew word that means “God With Us”.  

For all those early Christians,
for all those writers of faith documents for their communities,
this word reflects what they affirmed had happened in this man from Nazareth –
what they continued to experience long after he had gone –
that Jehovah –
the great I Am –
God Almighty –
Creator of the Universe and all the worlds that are –
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob –
the One God of the faith of our fathers and mothers –
deigned to enter our world and become as we are
to let us know there is no separation now from holy and mundane,
from sacred and profane,
from work and ritual.
No. 
In this man from Nazareth, we see Emmanuel! 
Through this man of Nazareth, we know Emmanuel.
With this man of Nazareth, we experience Emmanuel.
God is With Us.
That’s what we hear.
God is with us.
That’s what we sing.
God is with us.
That’s what we believe.
God is with us.
That’s what we celebrate.
Each and every year at Christmas.
Each and every week in worship.
Each and every morning when we get up.

Emmanuel!  This Christmas.
Emmanuel!  All year long!
Emmanuel!  Every minute of every hour of every day of your life!

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon as a part of their worship service Sunday, December 4, 2011 - the Second Sunday of Advent.

Christmas is About Emmanuel

The Christmas we -- and the world around us -- celebrates really has little to do with the Christmas that is so much a part of our faith history. 

It may surprise you to know that for over 300 years nobody celebrated the birthday of Jesus.

The stories and pictures that you and I value about the birth of Jesus and all the events around that — simply were not important to the early Christians.
 
For 300 years they did not worship a baby. 
They worshiped an adult "Emmanuel" —
through which they kept havinq encounters with the holy.
These encounters were important to them. 
It was the basis of their new faith.

First Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 40:3-,9
Luke 3:1-11

Today is the  First Sunday of Advent —
a time the church has set aside for us to prepare for the coming of Christmas.
Christmas is the most universally  loved holiday of all the church holidays.
It's hard not to get caught up in the "Christmas Spirit", [isn't it?] as the markers go up that announce to everyone that the holiday is approaching:

The Thanksgiving Day parade,
the shopping frenzy known as Black Friday,
carols on the muzak,
decorations on the street poles
lights in the yard,
lights on the house,
lights on the roof,
lights on the chimney, 
lights in the trees,
Santa at the mall,
Santa at MacDonalds,
TV specials,
TV commercials, and, of course,
catalogs galore!

Everywhere you look you are reminded that Christmas will soon be here.
And the unannounced task is that "you'd better get ready."

For the most part, we like the feeling that comes with this season, don't we?
We like to see the smiles on children's faces.
We like to receive cards from people we haven't seen in ages.
We like to give gifts to special people in our lives.
We like to share time and meals with people we just don't seem to have time for at other times of the year.
For the most part, Christmas is a happy time.

But the Christmas we -- and the world around us -- celebrates really has little to do with the Christmas that is so much a part of our faith history.

We say, Christmas is for children, and sol it has become in our American culture.
It may surprise you to know that in most cultures in the world, Christmas is not primarily a day for children.

In fact, throughout our faith history Christmas is for adults.

It may surprise you to know that for over 300 years nobody celebrated the birthday of Jesus.

But, there is ample evidence that Christians have always recognized and celebrated the specialness of Jesus — universally called the Christ — and identified in Matthew as Emmanuel — God With Us.

Each Sunday, from now until Christmas, I intend to look at how those earliest Christians celebrated Emmanuel —
and look for clues as how you and I can have the very best Christmas ever this year,
celebrating the Presence of Christ, God With Us, Emmanuel.
 
When we sing one of the most ancient of all our songs, 0 Come, 0 Come, Emmanuel,  we place ourselves squarely alongside Christians through the ages who approach this season with a profound faith.


Of course, we all know (intellectually, if not out front)
that none of our New Testament was written at the time of Jesus.
No one was going along taking it down in Gregg Shorthand – or what ever they had in those days.
No one was observing events all day and writing in a diary at night.

All of the writings we have about Jesus were written some years after Jesus was killed.

The very earliest writings we see in our New Testament are the letters of Paul.
The very earliest of these letters – I and 2 Thessalonians –
were written around 25 years after Jesus was killed.

The very earliest Gospel we have is Mark -- which can be dated to around 50 years after Jesus was killed.

All the other writings were later than that.Since the Bible was codified, we have discovered a whole slew of other writings of the time – you have heard about some of these found among The Dead Sea Scrolls or other places in the desert within the last 40-50 years.
The earliest non-cannonical gospel that has been found has been recently published as The Gospel of Thomas.

So, curiously, when we ask the question: what do these very earliest writings say about the birth of
Jesus?
The answer is: Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero.  Nothing at all.

It was of no importance to them.


The fact that is was important to three of the Gospel writers is what we will be looking at in the weeks to come.

But, today, these very earliest writings — say nothing about the birth of Jesus.

They say nothing about the birth of Jesus, but they all write about the specialness of Jesus —
that through their experience with Jesus, they were sure they were experiencing the holy — Emmanuel — God With Us.

It may be a surprise to you to know that no one celebrated Christmas at all for over 300 years after Jesus died!
It just wasn't done.

This was the time of the Roman Empire.
And Israel was part of the Roman Empire.

You know the Romans had a whole slew of gods
that were important to their life —
and each of the conquered territories usually came
with a whole slew of gods the indigenous people worshiped.
There were pagan gods everywhere.

To the Jews, and we need to remember, these early Christians were Jews,
these pagan gods were not even close to the One they knew and
experienced through a thousand year history.

And so, we have discovered writings from around 200 years after Jesus was killed, that deal with the fact that because the pagans celebrated the birthdays of their gods, it would be wrong for Christians to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.
Jesus was special.
Jesus was God with Us.
Jesus was Emmanuel.
But, Jesus wasn't like the pagan Gods.
And shouldn't be treated as such.
No birthdays for Jesus. (Out of principle.)

Of course, another issue was that nobody knew when Jesus was born.
Again, there were no records kept.
No one was around filling out forms to be filed.
We have no mention of the Disciples ever celebrating Jesus' birthday,
so we assume that it was not of great importance to Jesus.
Apparently, he didn't tell anyone when his birthday
was — and apparently no one asked.

But, as you can guess, that didn't keep folks from speculating.

Some 150 to200 years passed, people starting figuring it out.
One popular writer that Jesus must have been born on May 20.
Others presented convincing arguments that Jesus' birthday must be April 18,
others favored April 19,
others thought it more likely was May 28.

Within a few years it became a popular pastime to speculate on the date of Jesus birth.
The well-known Hippolytus thought, for sure, that Jesus was born on January 2.
But others carefully figured it must be November 17, or November 20, or perhaps March 25.
In  243 it was promoted that Jesus' birth should be celebrated on March 21, because that was believed to be the date on which God created the sun.
The debate went on for over a hundred years.
There was no agreed on date of Jesus' birth.
There was no celebration of Jesus birth.

In fact, it was the year 336, when the Christian church first celebrated Christmas –
and it was on December 25.

This was one of Constantine's first acts to make Christianity the religion of the empire.

So many other pagan religions already had some sort of celebration at this time, that it was natural to
tell the people, "you are to stop these other celebrations to these other gods, and make this one
common celebration of the birth of Jesus."

As one theologian wrote in 320 about December 25: "We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made the sun."

And, so for nearly 1700 years now most Christians celebrate the birthday of Jesus on December 25. [Except for the Armenian Church and some Orthodox Churches —
the birth of Jesus is important to them, but it is celebrated on January 6 along with his baptism and Pentecost.]

As we look at these earliest writings reflecting the faith of the very earliest Christians, we find some common threads that speak to us and give us clues as to the kind of celebration that is appropriate for us.

First of all, it is clear that people had extraordinary encounters with this Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus "connected" the people who encountered him with a life other than they knew --
where downtrodden were lifted up,
where the lame walked,
where the blind could see,
the lonely befriended,
transgressions forgiven.
Through encounters with this Jesus, people experienced "the Holy".

(Was it encounters of a third kind?]

Was it encounters with Yahweh — Jehovah — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the Great I Am?

And, these encounters with Jesus - this experience of the Holy - didn't stop with Jesus' death.

The "People of the Way" still had "holy" encounters
with and through this man they knew as Jesus.
They could explain it as "Emmanuel".
For them, Jesus was "God With Us".
For those that encountered him, Jesus was Emmanuel.
The heart of Jesus teaching was that anyone could -
and would - encounter Emmanuel when certain things were done.

For me, a crucial part of what we celebrate here at Christmas is Emmanuel

That our celebrations are just not complete until we go looking for Emmanuel.


It's kind of like those children's books, Looking for Waldo.  
 You and I are called to go looking for Emmanuel.

As we do, we need to put a few things aside:
first of all, forget what you think Jesus looks like.
Forget the pictures of Jesus.

Some of you will remember that man who ambled around Haverford for several months a few years ago -- dressed in a white robe, barefoot, with long flowing hair and dark beard — everyone knew he was Jesus.
When asked, he would only say "you say I am."

Again, we don't know what Jesus looked like.
No one was there to take video of his birth or ministry.
No one was there to take a photograph.
No one was there to sketch a portrait.
Again, it wasn't important to them.


But, not only are we called to look for him, we are called to minister to him.
And we are given some very specific instructions.
This is what Matthew 25 is about.

Christmas can be truly special if we are purposeful about our decorations
purposeful about our trappings
purposeful about the stories we tell and read
purposeful about the movies and videos we see.

Christmas is really about encountering the holy.
But the truth of the matter is, that most of what we do —
most of what we will do between now and Christmas Day —
has nothing to do with encountering the holy at all!

My favorite Christmas Stories are ones in which the hidden Christ is revealed:
stories about encounters with ordinary people that turn out to be encounters with the holy —

So, stories and pictures that you and I value about the
birth of Jesus and all the events around that —
simply were not important to the early Christians.

For 300 years they did not worship a baby.
They worshiped an adult "Emmanuel" —
through which they kept havinq encounters with the holy.
These encounters were important to them.
It was the basis of their new faith.

And, as they found out,  anyone could have these encounters
by feeding the hungry,
clothing the naked,
tending the sick.

That's how they found Emmanuel.
That's how they knew Emmanuel.

And, today, that's where — that's how — you and I will know Emmanuel.

May this Christmas be your best ever.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard these words during a worship service on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011.

More Inspiring Music for Day . . .

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Giving Thanks

May your Thanksgiving Day activities include a prayer such as this . . .

You Can Live Your Life to the Max - Its A Matter of Prayer

 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.

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.


From the Ancient Texts:  Habakkuk 3:2,17-19
From the Early Church: James 5:13-18


There you go, James said it:
The prayer of a good  person has a powerful affect.

The Apostle Paul said: Pray Unceasingly.

Jesus said: 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 he has "Call Waiting".

And you don't have to worry about him not being home, because he 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?

Some time ago, I was intrigued by a report of a study that was done by health-care researchers.
They surveyed a lot of people over a long period of time and asked them various questions over the years –  questions relating to their life-style and to their health.

One of the life-style questions concerned whether or not they went to church recently, and how often.

And you know, one of the completely unexpected conclusions of that study was that people who go to church regularly were healthier, over all, than people who did not.

And people who go to church regularly, lived longer, over all, than people who did not.

Now, I thought that was really interesting, and it confirmed what I have observed in many churches over quite a few years now,
and I had some hunches why this may be so.
And so, for some twenty years or so, I have been engaged in a low-impact research project:
reading reports,
collecting data from studies in several fields of inquiry,
cataloging anecdotal evidence from a myriad of sources,
and studying what literature may be available on the subject.
Because, while it may be that we take a lot of these things for granted,
there are a lot of folks who never darken the doorway of this church,
who may like to hear what we have to say,
and may be seeking what we have to offer.

So I put together this series of sermons to share with you the results of some of this research –  sermons that having been focusing on living the max-life that Jesus said he came for, after all.

Now, I don't mean to suggest that people who go to church, don't get sick, we do.

And I don't mean to suggest that people who go to church won't die, we do.

Going to church is not a guarantee,
it is more like an insurance policy that pays dividends on a daily basis,
and promises an ultimate payoff in the end.

Today, I want to talk about the power of prayer.

James proclaims, what most of you know: The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.

To date there have been nearly 1000 scientific studies on the effects of prayer. 
Over half of these studies show that under laboratory-controlled conditions, prayer does something truly remarkable.
While the belief that prayer heals is older than recorded history, you should know about some of this research of the last few years.

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 two thirds fewer calls to the nurse for help,
and they got out of the hospital an average of two days earlier than those who didn't receive spiritual support.
And those same patients needed 66% less pain medication, than those who never saw a chaplain.

Another study was done among more than 700 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 cents 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 San Francisco General Hospital of about 400 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.
A dozen of the patients who were not prayed for required mechanical breathing support following the surgery,
and remarkably, none of those who were being prayed for needed help with breathing.
(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 bouying 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.
Accidents happen.
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 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."

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.

Do you remember Fiddler on the Roof?
In this marvelous story, you remember the old man, the papa, Tevye, was constantly talking to God.
(Tevye is my prayer mentor.)
There was a comedic effect as he constantly was getting his Bible facts confused,
but here he is 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 gives clues to us as well.

There is an ancient parable that speaks to our situation.

There were a bunch of fish swimming in the sea. And this rather young fish swam up to an older and wiser looking fish and asked, "Pardon 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.
Can you help me find the way?"

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 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.

If you feel at a loss as to where to start a prayer, ask yourself what you enjoy,
what you marvel at,
what you struggle with,
what you suffer from.
God is in the depth of things.

Whenever movement and energy is in our lives is where engagement with God is taking place.
Pray unceasingly.

Sometimes prayer is spending time with a friend.

We are made for a relationship with God, and the hunger for this relationship lurks in our souls as a yearning.

If we take this yearning seriously, we turn to prayer   as naturally as a flower turns toward the sun or reaches it roots for water.

The heart of prayer is the awareness that the Source of our lives supports us right where we are. We are loved.
And the gift of life, moment to moment, is a lover's gift –  and an invitation to friendship.

Now, in case you haven't gotten it yet, write this down and take it with you: Prayer is simply being together with God.

Acknowledging that you are always in God's presence.

Prayer is mutual awareness and the quiet exchange, as when two friends sit before a fire.

Prayer involves exchange.
Just knowing that the power of the infinite surrounds us in all we do, we offer an effort to live a good life.

We give to God our human loves and our daily chores.

We give to God our small efforts to create a better world.
We share with God all our concerns,
for that is what friends do, isn't it?

Most of us live busy lives, and when we pray unceasingly, much of our prayer takes place on the run.
Whether we operate machinery,
change diapers and wash dishes,
or grapple with problems at a desk or on a phone, we too can have those moments of heightened awareness and greater exchange with the Mystery that is always right where we are.
We have people, concerns, and appreciations to hold up to God as we bathe and dress,
as we drive from place to place,
as we stand in the line at the bank or grocery store, as we wrestle with our responsibilities,
and as we relax with our friends.

Friends, the prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
In God we live and have our being, and prayer is as natural as breathing.
We come as we are.
God is already present.
As soon as we tune in, the exchange begins.
It is usually quiet and low-key, but something profound is happening.

Many of you in this room can attest to the veracity of the words of James: The prayer of a good person has a powerful affect.
Prayer has an affect on others,
and prayer changes you.
Pray unceasingly.
Experience for yourself, the healing power of prayer.
And you will be well on your way to living a fuller life – a max-life.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon during a worship service November 13, 2011.

You Can Live Your Life to the Max - Its A Matter of Forgiveness

Anger, resentment, hate have tremendous power to affect our psyche, to affect our minds, to affect our bodies.
Seemingly, in and of themselves, they have an ability to cripple, maim, and kill.
They are insidious, self-destructive killers.

And, curiously, a proven antidote to these killers is forgiveness.
In point of fact, forgiveness is often the only antidote with long-term affect.


From the Ancient Texts:  Daniel 9:4-7a,18-19
From the Early Church: Matthew 18:21-35

I miss Calvin and Hobbes.
It has been twenty years since Bill Watterson stopped drawing the comic strip.
But, I still love to read it – and undoubtedly find something to support a sermon idea every time I look at some.
You remember: Calvin is a little six-year-old with a very vivid imagination whose purpose in life seems to be to drive his parents batty –
in fact, he seems driven to drive all adults batty.

Calvin has a stuffed tiger he has had for a long time, ever since he was a kid.
He calls his stuffed tiger Hobbes,
and in his imagination Hobbes comes to life and is, in fact, his best friend and accomplice.

In one memorable episode, the mother of the little girl across the street has arranged for Calvin's mother to watch her for a couple of hours after school one day.
Well, being six years old, Calvin has fits that this "girl" is coming into his domain.
And, he is simply outraged that his stuffed tiger doesn't do something about it.

After reading Hobbes the riot act, they go downstairs and discover Suzie sitting at the table with a pencil, and paper, and a book.
Calvin looks puzzled, and asks, "What are you doing?"

Little Suzie replies, "My homework."

Calvin says, "What?   Your homework?
We just got home from school.
There's lots of daylight left.
We haven't had dinner yet.
We haven't watched television yet.
We haven't been told its bed-time yet."

Little Suzie says, "I know. I like to get my homework out of the way, and do it right after I get home from school while things are fresh in my mind."

The last scene has Calvin walking away with his stuffed tiger, shaking his head, and mumbling,
"I used to think she was smart."

In one of my all-time favorite episodes, that was repeated at least twice, Calvin is playing some kind of game in the driveway with his make-believe friend, Hobbes.
After a while, Calvin stops and says, "You know we would have much more room to play if this car wasn't here."

Hobbes says, "Do you think you could get your mother to move it?"

Calvin says, "Naw. Now why would I bother her with a little thing like that?
We would just be a bother to her. I can do it."

Calvin opens the door of the car, climbs in the front seat, and manages to put the car into neutral and releases the emergency brake.
He then gets out of the car, puts his little six-year-old body in front of the car and pushes with all his might.
In his imagination, he gets his tiger Hobbes to help.
And, much to their amazement, the car starts to move.
They are ecstatic as the car begins to slowly roll down the driveway.

Then, suddenly, they realize they haven't figured out a way to stop the car.
And they stand there watching the car slowly roll down the driveway,
into the street,
across the street
and into a ditch alongside the road.

Well, Calvin is mortified.
His mother is surely going to kill him for this. Together, they can only think of one solution: run away from home.
But, before they go, they sneak around the house, run through the back door into the kitchen, and make a few peanut butter sandwiches.

Meanwhile, his mother, in the front room, looks up and notices cars stopped in the street, and people milling all around, and she wonders what all the commotion is all about.
Then, she notices a car in the ditch,
then she realizes it is her car in the ditch,
and runs out the door screaming, "Calvin!!!"

He's nowhere to be found.
She looks everywhere: in the car, under the car, behind the car.  No Calvin.
Nobody's seen a little boy.
She is beside herself.
And begins to expand her search to the yards of neighbors.
Meanwhile, Calvin sneaks out the back door of his house with his peanut butter sandwiches and his stuffed tiger, and runs to the park.

There, he decides he is far enough away, and besides he is tired and hungry.
So, for safety's sake, he climbs a tree and starts to be afraid of the situation he has gotten himself in this time.
His mother has every right to clobber him on the spot.

His mother finally gets to the park and notices him sitting on a branch about five feet off the ground, with tears streaming down his face.
She runs over and says, "Calvin, are you all right? Are you OK? Are you hurt?"

Calvin responds, "I'm not hurt. Why should I be hurt?"

His mother says, "Thank God, come on down out the tree, and let's go home."

Calvin, stops sobbing long enough to pause and with some apprehension in his words, says,
"Before I come down, first I think I would like to hear you say you love me."

Forgiveness is something we all need to hear sometimes, isn't it?
[Maybe some of us, more often than others, huh?]
And forgiveness is at the heart of our faith, isn’t it?

The story of Jesus is the story of forgiveness.
In Christ all barriers between God and us are broken down, and makes possible for our adoption as children of God.
Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly – a fuller life, a max-life."
And the practice of forgiveness is one crucial element that contributes to that max-life – that abundant life.
There is healing power in forgiveness.

We know some of the causes of many of our illnesses today.
Many of the illnesses which plague our world: stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease, some cancers,
many of the psychological disorders,
are linked to things like anger, hate, resentment, even jealousy.

Anger, resentment, hate have tremendous power to affect our psyche, to affect our minds, to affect our bodies.
Seemingly, in and of themselves, they have an ability to cripple, maim, and kill.
There is no mistake about it: anger, resentment, hate, and jealousy are insidious, self-destructive killers.

And, curiously, a proven antidote to these killers is forgiveness.
In point of fact, forgiveness is often the only antidote with long-term affect.

Aside from an abundance of antidotal evidence, we now have hard cold facts that prove that forgiveness has great value in physical and emotional health –
and forgiveness training can be effective in reducing hurt and stress.
Researchers at Stanford University's Center for Research in Disease Prevention are currently involved in a large study on the implications of forgiveness for health care and education.
The director of the Center suggests that the time will come soon when forgiveness will be offered as part of primary health care programs.

The health care professionals are coming to realize what we have known for a long time:
There is healing power in forgiveness:
in forgiving yourself,
in forgiving others, and
in being forgiven.

Professional counselors know that often for psychological healing to take place, a person needs to identify, or name, a particular problem, and then to forgive themselves.
There is real therapeutic value in forgiving yourself.

Often when a person feels deep and massive guilt for his or her own shortcomings, or mistakes, or transgressions,
we simply do not hear words of forgiveness from God or anyone.
Sometimes this guilt literally cripples a person.
No matter what you may have done to another person, or yourself, one of the crucial ingredients for healing is to forgive yourself.

One of the twelve steps of recovery programs is the forgiveness of oneself after confession and affirmation of faith,
and willingness to let go and let God.
We see on a basic level, there is healing power in forgiving yourself.
And this is one of the things you are taught to do in church, isn't it?

There is therapeutic value in forgiving others, too.
This is overtly a basic part of Jesus' message to his followers.
No less a stellar apostle than Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, if my brother keeps on doing me wrong, how many times do I have to forgive him?"

A fair question, isn't it?
A question we ask all the time –  in one form or another.

Often we say, "I just can't forgive that person, don't even ask me."
Often we feel that we can't, or don't want to, forgive even one time, don't we?

Jesus told a story about a certain person who had a certain debt forgiven,
and then went on to confront another person who owed him a debt which he just couldn't forgive.
That person was sentenced to horrible punishment. And Jesus concluded his story with this tag line: "That is how my father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from the heart."
He couldn't have been clearer on this.
The Kingdom of God is available for you ...
You who forgive.

"Fine, Lord, but just how many times must I forgive this person who keeps sinning against me?"
It's hard enough to do it once, isn't it?
But, for a repeat offender ?

Notice what Jesus does not say.
Jesus does not say, well forgive him once and give him a warning.
Forgive him again.
And, if he does it again, all bets are off.
Three strikes and you're out.
Jesus did not say that, did he?

How many times am I to forgive this Bozo, anyway?
Once, twice, three times, five times, seven times?
Jesus said, "No. Don't be absurd.
You must forgive him not one time, not two times, not three times, not five times, not seven times,
but seven times seventy times.
If you fail the test of not being able to forgive a person an infinite number of times, you simply do not get it.
You simply do not know.
You simply will never know the Kingdom of God."

Now, that's a radical concept –  that simply can blow away everything you may have worked for all of your life,
blow away everything you may have saved for,
blow away everything you may have believed.

You won't find this in the political debates in Washington.

You won't find this in the President's Crime Bill.

You won't find this in welfare reform.

You find this in the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.

You find this in the Kingdom of God.

You find this in the Body of Christ –
this church in Drexel Hill,
in churches throughout the Delaware Valley,
in churches all over the world.

People who forgive others live healthier than those who don't.
People who forgive others live longer than those who don't.
People who forgive others experience the abundant life Jesus talked about – a fuller life, life to the max.

There is healing power in forgiving yourself.

There is healing power in forgiving others.

And there is healing power in being forgiven...

A leading theologian of the past generation wrote about the overwhelming power a person experiences at the moment that the realization comes that he or she is fully, and unconditionally, accepted by God –  accepted just for being who they are, and what they are.
In our service each week, we try to recreate that moment –
after our corporate and personal prayers of confession we hear an assurance of our acceptance,
an assurance of our forgiveness.
And many people actually feel that that is the liberating moment for them during the entire worship service.
No matter what I may preach about,
no matter what we may sing,
no matter what we hear,
nothing is more important than that one moment.

That one moment when you may realize that no matter what has happened in the past,
no matter what you may have done,
no matter what you may have said,
when you sincerely ask for forgiveness, you get it.
It's a whole new ball game.
There is a whole new slate to write on.
A whole new world begins.
There is a whole new life ahead.
And, more than any other, that kind of healing is what we are about here at Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill.

A best selling book a while back is called: "Forgiveness: the Key to the Kingdom."
He talks about the power of forgiving someone, and of the power of forgiving your self:
He says, "that's really the key to the kingdom.
It not only opens the door,
it's the hinges on the door,
it's the key to the door,
and it's also the little bell that rings and lets you know that door has opened."

Paul wrote to the Ephesians that one of the marks of the true church,
one of the marks of a real Christian,
one of the marks of an authentic soul,
is forgiveness.
In the midst of one of the most horrible miscarriages of human justice, entrapped in the bonds of sin, captured by the throws of death, Jesus uttered those words that haunt today: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
Our God forgives us, even when we do not know what we do.

Our God forgives us, even when we do know what we do.

Our God forgives us, period.
Paragraph.
End of story.
The beginning of a new story.
The first day of the rest of your life.

As some of you well know, there is real authentic healing power in forgiveness.
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

When you pray, say, Our Father, ...forgive us our wrongs, as we forgive those who wrong us.
Forgive your brother and sister from the heart ... seven times seventy times [if need be]...and you will know the Kingdom of Heaven.

Friends, a key to abundant living,
a key to a full life,
a key to life to the max,
a key to the Kingdom of God,
is forgiveness.

May you know it.

May you experience it.

May you express it.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon during a regular worship service November 6, 2011. 

For All the Saints

That's what  All Saint's Sunday is about –
to set aside a Sunday each year to remember and to thank God for all those saints down through the
ages,
whose names may not be recorded in the church history books,
but whose names are certainly written in the Book of Life,
and whose names and faces are recorded in our hearts and our memories.
Again I ask the question, What about you?
What kind of obituary or eulogy are you writing for yourself?
How will you be remembered?


Isaiah 25:6-9
Hebrews 11:1-3, 12:1-2a

All Saints Sunday

O.K., here’s a little test:
As you know, every year Time Magazine picks a “Man of the Year” – it’s a pretty big deal, the face is printed on the cover and articles are written to justify why the editors think this person is “Man of the Year.” 
So, can you name the last five people who were chosen “Man of the Year”?
(Can you name any five?”

Each year the Nobel peace prize is awarded to an individual with world-wide attention.
Can you name the last winners of the Nobel peace prize?  (Any 5?)

Each year a Miss America is chosen and we all watch eagerly rooting on our favorites and anticipating the judges decision to pick the most perfect, the most talented, the most poised,
the most beautiful young women from the whole pool of thousands all across the country.
So, can you name the last 5 Miss Americas?

Millions of Americans watch and follow college football in the fall – and each year the most outstanding offensive player in the country is awarded a Heisman Trophy.
Can you name the last 5 winners of the Heisman Trophy?

Can you name the last 5 MVP’s from the NFL?
Can you name the last 5 MVP’s from the NBA?
Can you name the last 5 MVP’s from the NHL?
Can you name the last 5 MVP’s from the National Baseball League?
Can you name the winners of the last five World Series?

Can you name the five wealthiest people in the world?
Can you name the five wealthiest people in the country?

A while back, researchers at PBS came up with a list of religious figures who have most influenced Americans in the twentieth century.
Can you name five people who might be on such a list?

Some of the people on the PBS list included:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor murdered by the Nazis;
Mary Baker Eddy, who founded Christian Science;
Mohandas Ghandi, the Indian spiritual leader;
Billy Graham, the American evangelist;
Pope John XXIII, who started Vatican 2;
Martin Luther King, Jr, the pastor and civil rights activist; and
Mother Teresa, who worked among the poor in Calcutta.
(According to PBS , these men and women have influenced our faith and shaped our beliefs as Christians in our lifetime;
but, I wonder if any of those people would be your own personal list.)

Today, along with churches all over the world, we celebrate what we call All Saints Sunday –
a time for us to remember and to hold up those people who have influenced our faith.  

While the world bombards us with messages about what is important – wealth, beauty, influence, business acumen, sports stars –
and for the most part, we think we buy into those messages and ideas –
when it comes right down to it, we have a difficult time identifying specific people as “stars” in those fields, don’t we?

But, when I ask you to think about specifically who has influenced your faith – who has helped you to believe what you believe today, you know who would be on that list, don’t you?

And the persons you and I think of will not likely to be on any PBS television special, are they?
But, they have helped us to be believers.
They have enabled us to be persons of faith ourselves.
They are our personal saints.
And, we all have them.
Timothy had his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, and his good friend, Paul.

It is good for us to take time to recall and to remember and to “celebrate” those who have influenced us personally in our faith.

Most of the folks that we remember will never be in any church history book.
There will never be any days of commemoration in the church calendar set aside to honor and remember them.
No,  they are really, just ordinary folks like you and me, aren’t they? –
but in the course of seeking to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ,
in striving to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind,
they ended up touching our lives in ways that changed us and had a profound effect on who we are today.

I may not remember any one thing in particular that they taught me, but I do remember them.
Somehow, by their example and witness and faithfulness to the love and grace of God, they made an indelible mark on me.

And what about you?
Who are the ones you remember?
Who are the saints in your life who brought you to this place today so that here you are in church this morning to worship and praise God,
to hear God's word,
and to celebrate God's love?!

That's what this All Saint's Sunday is about –
to set aside a Sunday each year to remember and to thank God for all those saints down through the
ages,
whose names may not be recorded in the church history books,
but whose names are certainly written in the Book of Life,
and whose names and faces are recorded in our hearts and our memories.

Some of them are long gone and long forgotten,
others are more recently departed whom we remember today,
and some of them are still alive and still play a part in our lives.

But the one thing that all these saints have in common is their love for the Lord,
and their willingness to allow God to use them in reaching out to and ministering to others,
allowing the grace, love, compassion, and
generosity of God to shine through them and flow out from them to us and to those around us.

Like a stained glass window depicting the saints of times past,
what makes them a saint is that the light shines through.

And, on this All Saints' Sunday, as we remember the special people in our lives, the question that each one of us must face is,
"Will anyone remember me?
Will I be remembered with fondness and gratitude and thanksgiving on some All Saints' Day 10, 20, 40 years from now?"

Think about this for a minute:
We have encountered lots and lots of people in our lives, haven’t we?
–  relatives, friends, colleagues, teachers, neighbors –
lots of people.
Why is it that some of them stand out in our memories,
while so many others are just there?
What makes the difference in how we remember someone?

Matthew gives us a clue:
“The greatest one among you must be your servant. . . . whoever humbles himself will be made great.”

Once again, I’m afraid the church has been so works centered throughout history, that we tend to
associate holiness with achievement.
But when I read in Genesis that we are created in God’s image,
and that God looked upon all God created
and was very pleased,
I don’t see anything there that any of us achieved to gain such favor, do you?
It was simply God s choosing, and that is why Jesus can say so boldly in the Gospel of John:
“You did not choose me, I chose you."

Likewise, we are not removed from sainthood because of anything we might have done against God.
As someone once wrote,
There are no saints without a past,
and there are no sinners without a future.
You see, sinner is NOT the opposite of Saint,
rather they go hand in hand,
and that goes for St. Peter, and St. Paul, and all the saints in Drexel Hill and every where else in the world!
We are not saints because of what we do or don't do. . .
We are not saints because of what we believe or disbelieve. . .
We are saints because God has chosen to take us as part of God's own self.

As the famous Jesuit philosopher,
 Tielhard de Chardin once said:
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

If Jesus stands for anything, he stands for the undeniable fact that God has willfully and purposefully
chosen and hallowed the human condition.

An old Zen Master once said,
Before I was enlightened, I chopped wood and carried water,
but now that I m enlightened, I chop wood and carry water. (1)

There is another story about a master who announced to the brothers in the order that a young monk had reached an advanced state of enlightenment.
The news caused a stir in the monastery.
Some of the members found the young monk and asked:
Is it true that you have reached enlightenment?

The young monk replied. “It is.”
They asked, “And how do you feel now?”
The young monk replied, “As miserable as ever.”

I guess you could say, "Saints are people too."

Sainthood does not deny our humanity,
it acknowledges our humanity.
It isn’t what you achieve,
it’s what God has achieved in you that sanctifies you and makes you holy.

Now having said all this, it's also true that we need only watch  Fox News or CNN for a few minutes to know that we are fully capable of denying this holiness within us.
We can abuse it and profane it,
we can obscure God s presence within us to where it nearly invisible,
but we cannot make it go away!

The people that I remember, the saints in my life, were people like that!
And I suspect that the people that you remember on this All Saints' Sunday share those same qualities and characteristics.

And so once again we get back to that question, Will I be remembered?
Will you be remembered in the years to come?
And, how will we be remembered?

Doesn't it seem to make sense that if we want to be remembered in the same way that we remember with gratitude and thanksgiving the saints in our lives,
then we need to be developing those same traits and qualities and characteristics that Jesus holds out before us today?

We are called to be loving, kind, compassionate, generous, faithful people.

This is the way God created us to be,
and when we are anything less than that,
we diminish our own lives,
and we diminish the lives of those around us.

But when we live according to God's will,
we end up experiencing life to it's fullest,
and we bring joy and happiness to those around us.

And those are the kind of people that we remember!

I continue to be fascinated by the history of this congregation.

85 years ago some 26 people met to begin a new church here in this new community of Drexel Hill.
They had no way of knowing that in two or three years the bottom would fall out of the economy.

And yet, those folks continued to come together, continued to envision a church –
teaching and practicing the faith in the community.

In the midst of the depression, they continued to dream and to plan –
and within ten years, they acted on their dream by agreeing to finance and build a new building.

What faith that took!

Again, they had no way of knowing that just as construction began the country would begin engagement in a world war that profoundly affected what would happen here over not only the next five years, but over the next twenty as well.

Those folks had to be generous people of vision, faith, commitment, obedience, and dedication to Jesus Christ to do something like that so many years ago.

They were people who were looking not only at the present, but to the future as well.

These are the saints that we remember today.
And some of them are still sitting right here among us!

Again I ask the question, What about you?

What kind of obituary or eulogy are you writing for yourself?

How will you be remembered?

And please don't say, "Maybe next year –  then I'll become involved and be more generous and more compassionate."
No, it's either now or never.
The habits of a lifetime do not change overnight.
They are developed and molded every day of our lives.

How do you want to be remembered?
Do you want to be remembered in the same way that we remember those special saints in our own lives?
Well, then, begin living today in a way that puts into practice what Jesus teaches, in a way that follows the example of those special people in our lives.

Let love, compassion, mercy, peace, humility, generosity, graciousness characterize your life.
Take a serious look at yourself and see if you are becoming the person you want to be,
the person God made you to be.

Strive for the qualities that you admire and respect in others so that you, too,
might be numbered among the saints that we honor and thank God for today.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon as a part of their worship service October 30, 2011.

You Can Live Your Life to the Max - It's a Matter or Ritual

Researchers tell us that there is a universal rhythm to all life. 

All life seems to share an internal clock that is in tune with the whole creation –
and in sync with some cosmic clock. 

There seems to be a basic human need our whole species has,
that is the need for periodic time of rest – daily and weekly.

We ignore our God created rhythms at our own peril.

We may not fully understand what happens when we stop daily and weekly, and meditate and pray and experience the community of Christ, but we are better for it.


From the Ancient Texts:  Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
From the Early Church: Revelations 21:1-7

Jesus said I have come that you might have an abundant life – that you might live a full life – that you might live it to the max – being all you were meant to be (which is so much more than you ever thought possible).

Each of us can live a fuller life.
In the weeks past we have seen how:
It’s a matter of choice: and we are exhorted to choose now.
It’s a matter of allegiance: all or nothing.
It’s a matter of finding community.
It’s a matter of focusing on others.
It’s a matter of attitude.
And, today I hope to show how ritual contributes to a fuller, more abundant, life.

Two fairly recent longitudinal studies of the physical and mental health of several populations that reveal several factors that seem to affect people's health.

Two of the findings of these studies were of interest to me:

First: People who go to church regularly are healthier than those who don't go to church regularly; and

Second: People who go to church regularly live longer than those who don't go to church regularly.

From other reading and studies, I had some hunches as to why this may be so.

Aside from pious sermons and preachers' platitudes, there seems to be an outpouring of scientific studies recently, in several different fields of inquiry, that help to answer these questions.

Today, I want to share with you some ideas about the power of ritual – ritual, a virtue that will help you live a better life.

Some of knew my Dog, Ike.
Ike was a Basset Hound who lived with us 7 or 8 years after he retired from the show circuit.

One of these days I am going to elaborate on what I have learned from my dog: the gospel according to reverend Ike. [But that's another sermon.]
One of the things that my dog Ike reminded me of, and what anyone who has ever lived with a pet finds out,
is that all living creatures are governed by an internal clock.

Ike would wake up and want to go outside everyday at about the same time.
And, he usually was not in a position to see a clock.
And, I never taught him to tell time.
But he knew.
And, you know, he is completely oblivious to daylight savings time.
Much to my chagrin, he never knew when we changed the clocks.
And he knew when it was time to go bed.
His sleep at night was different from his naps during the day.
During the day, he may have been lying still with his eyes shut, and from all appearances he was asleep, but he apparently was very alert to all activities around him.
When anyone came into the room, he was up instantly and alert.
But, at night, after he decided it was time to call it a day, it would take dynamite to wake him and get him to move.
He was naturally in tune with a rhythm that was somehow beyond our mechanical timekeeping.

Ike reminded me that scientific studies conclude that all creation –  all life on our planet –
all animals, all plants, all mammals, all humans –  seem to have an internal clock that is in tune with a certain circadian rhythm.
Researchers at the Center for Biological Timing say that these clocks are endogenous –
they are developed internally somehow.
They seem to be inherited and do not require, or need, any outside influences.
They have shown that animals raised in total darkness, still have biological clocks that are rhythmic in nature.

Think about it.
 How does that happen?
All life seems to share an internal clock that is in tune with the whole creation –
and in synch with some cosmic clock.

That may not come as a surprise to those of us who grew up in the church and came to know the story of God creating the universe.
But, for scientific researchers from all kinds of fields –  biology, micro-biology, botany, human behavior, and on and on –
for researchers to tell us that there is a universal rhythm to all life,
actually confirms some of what our faith has been telling us.
Not only do we have circadian [or daily] rhythms that we are in tune with.
But we have circannual [or seasonal] rhythms, as well.
And the scientific community knows much less about how these work.
But, work they do.

We seem to be a cyclical people.
We organize our lives around certain rhythms or cycles, don't we?
Some people organize their whole year around a sports season, don't they?
And when something happens, like say, the players go on strike?
and the season is canceled?
We see them get all out of sorts.

Some people used to organize their lives around the television season, remember?

Some people organize their lives around the school season, don't they?

Some people have summer homes, and organize their lives around spending time here and there.
We seem to have a need to create our own rituals that inform and govern how we live.

All of us have daily rituals, don't we?
(Daily rituals that when interrupted, we get all out of sorts.)

One of the basic stories of our faith describes a ritual God used in creating the universe.
You know the story, God created the world in six days.

But, creation is not a six day cycle, is it?

No, it's a seven day cycle, isn't it?

God created the universe in six days, and on the seventh day rested, rejuvenated, enjoyed.

And that is the cycle that we seem to be plugged into.

Indeed, the truth of this has been know from ancient times.
At the beginning of the Hebrew religion, Moses came down from the mountain with the 10 commandments from God.
And the fourth commandment refers to this universal rhythm of life:
Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy....
You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me.

On that day, no one is to work –  neither you, nor your children, nor your servants, nor your animals, nor the aliens who live in your country.

This speaks to a basic part of our genetic make up. This speaks to a circannual rhythm of life.
This speaks to a basic need that we have to stop,
to rest,
to contemplate,
to rejuvenate,
to enjoy our surroundings.

Our Granddaddys, and Grandmammas in the faith, recognized this some 5,000 years ago.
And we have been told this all our lives.

And now scientific evidence seems to confirm that this cycle is basic to our existence,
basic to our make up,
basic to our well-being.

Again, the times and seasons mentioned in Ecclesiastes acknowledge the cyclical nature of our lives and our basic need for ritual.

Now, we humans have ingeniously developed a myriad of ways to circumvent our internal clock and the natural circadian rhythms.
We invented the light bulb to extend our day well into the night.
We invented the Eleven O'Clock News and Charlie Rose to override our internal clock
and keep us awake well past our internal clock that governs the shutdown of our bodies and minds for rejuvenation.

We invented the alarm clock to wake us up because we don't trust, or don't hear the internal clock that lets us know its time to awake.

We invented a whole host of activities that occupy our weekend time providing conflict with time allotted for worship and education and spiritual growth.

We work hard at our play all weekend, and face the rest of the week unrefreshed, unrejuvenated, unrested.

We read books,
and listen to tapes,
and revere those who teach us to use our time wisely, and efficiently, so we can get more done.

And we honor those who "work the hardest".
But, the latest health studies confirm what our ancestors in the faith knew all along:
when you ignore the rhythms of the universe,
when you ignore the circadian and circannual rhythms,
when you ignore your basic need for ritualistic sabbath time –
a time we all need for rejuvenation, revitalization, rebirth –
when you ignore a ritualistic day of rest,
you experience burnout,
elevated blood pressure,
heart disease, stroke, cancer, sleep disorder, obesity, autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis –
and a host of other related problems.

There seems to be a basic human need our whole species has,
that is the need for periodic time of rest – daily and weekly.

Now, most of you know this.
And this is where this church is different from a lot of churches.
Most of you are here today because you want to be –  most of you are here today because you really would rather not be somewhere else.

I know for a fact, that some of you went through a great deal of pain and trouble and it took a lot of effort to get here.
But you are here.

And the rest of us truly take inspiration from your presence.

Most of you want to be here on Sunday, because it helps you get through the rest of the week, doesn't it?

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy....
Make it a day of rest, dedicated to me.
You will be better for it.

I really don't know if anyone in this room suffers from sleep deprivation.
But, we all have known people, and have read about people who seem to thrive on only 3 or 4 hours of sleep a day, haven't we?
I can't remember what the medical term is for that, but you know what I mean.

Some of you may have seen the recent article in the paper of a recent study of these people. Actually, several longitudinal studies have shown that these people –
who may supplement their 3 hours of nightly sleep with a brief nap or two during the day –
naps usually of only 10 - 20 minutes duration -- these studies show that these people,
for the most part, show no diminished brain processes, no diminished motor skills,
no diminished capacities what-so-ever.
In fact, people who experience this particular sleep pattern are frequently our most brilliant, our most creative, our most talented people.

But, there is one curious finding of these studies. For the most part, these people don't grow old.

For the most part, these people do not live to be 80 and 90 or 100.
Most don't make it into their sixties.
While these people go through their lives as though they were somehow super-charged,
something happens to their bodies that cuts short the expected life span of most mortals.

It is possible to ignore our internal clocks and to silence the circadian rhythm our Creator endowed us with.

But, when we do, we shorten our God-given time and short-circuit our God-given endowments.

Modern scientific evidence tells us what our faith has passed on for centuries, we absolutely need periodic time for rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation. Our bodies and our minds, do in fact experience a rejuvenation during periodic periods of rest:
On a daily basis,
on a weekly basis,
on an annual basis.

We ignore our God created rhythms at our own peril.

We may not fully understand what happens when we stop daily and weekly, and meditate and pray and experience the community of Christ, but we are better for it.

There is healing power in the ritual of observing a sabbath.

There is healing power in the ritual of going to church regularly.

There is healing power in taking time regularly to dwell on things beyond our selves, to cultivate the presence of Christ, to exercise our souls.

Observe the sabbath and keep it holy.
Behold, I make all things new again. ..I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
To anyone who is thirsty, I will give the right to drink from the spring of the water of life without paying for it.
 Whoever wins the victory will receive this from me: I will be his God, and he will be my child.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, for sure, there is healing power in ritual.
Many of you in this room already know the truth of this.
And the good news for the rest of us, is that we can test this out.

We are better off, unquestionably, unequivocally, and undoubtedly, when we observe a ritual of going to church regularly;
When we observe a ritual of daily quiet time in prayer;
When we observe a ritual of giving thanks to God for all things in our lives.

There is healing power in ritual.

You know it.

God promises it.

Tell the children.

Tell your friends.

Tell everyone you know.

Something powerful is going on here.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, experienced this sermon during a worship service October 23,  2011.

You Can Live Your Life to the Max - It's A Matter of Attitude

There is tremendous power inherent in our emotions and our attitudes. 


Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you, as by the attitude you bring to life;
not so much by what happens to you, as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

What we are about as a Christian community –  what Christ Presbyterian Church is about,
is excellent medicine.


References:
From the Ancient Texts:  Nehemiah 8:8-12
From the Early Church: Philippians 2:1-5


Have you heard the story about the cranky old grandpa and the Limburger cheese?
The man was a grouch.
He had the usual aches and pains, and a certain amount of impatience and intolerance.
He was cranky just about all the time.
One time, after the traditional Sunday dinner,
after he stretched out on the sofa for his usual not-to-be-disturbed afternoon nap,
after he just started snoring,
his grandson got a clever idea.
He took some Limburger cheese from the refrigerator, crumbled a bit up, and went over the sofa and carefully sprinkled the Limburger cheese on grandpa's mustache under his nose.

Well, it didn't take long for the Limburger cheese to work its magic.

Grandpa awoke with a start, sniffed a bit, made a face, arose from the couch and announced, "Something stinks in here!"

He walked into the kitchen, sniffing all the way, "Something stinks in here!"

He walked into the living room, "Something stinks in here!"

He opened the door and walked onto the front porch, sniffed, and announced to the world, "The whole world stinks!"

Well, the truth is, it was grandpa who stunk.
The problem was right under his own nose.

Now, the fact is, probably 99 times out of 100, when we begin to feel like things stink, the problem is not with the world around us –
the problem is not with other people –
the problem is with ourselves: our attitude!

So much of our life is determined by our attitude, isn't it?

So much of what happens to us depends upon the attitude we have:
our attitudes toward each other,
our attitude toward life itself,
our attitude toward ourselves.

What the sages of the ages knew, and what we are proving to be true through scientific studies and visionary thinkers, is that our attitude actually does affect our life –  even our health –  even our death.

A very ancient saying collected in Proverbs 23:7 is "What a person thinks is what he really is."

It is true: People who expect the worse, always find it.
And: People who expect the best, find it, as well.

You know the truth of this, don't you?
You know a sour-puss or two, don't you?
You know someone who is always griping about her [or his] situation –
someone who is always looking for something wrong,
something to grouse about?
Well, they usually find it, don't they?

You also know someone who is always positive and enthusiastic about things, don't you?

Someone who is always finding something good –  even in disaster or personal embarrassment.
And they usually find it, don't they?

It is true: People who expect the worse, always find it.
And: People who expect the best, find it, as well.

The fact of the matter is that attitude is even more important than facts.

Victor Frankl tells his personal experience of standing under the glaring lights of the Gestapo court in a Nazi concentration camp.
Soldiers striped him of every earthly possession. They took his clothes,
They took his watch,
They even took his wedding ring.
He said, as he stood there naked,
his entire body shaved,
he was totally destitute –
except for one thing, he says.
He realized at that moment, he still had the power to choose his own attitude.
And that was something no one could ever take away from him.

Someone observed that our life is determined by 10% of what happens to you,
and 90% of how you react to what happens to you.
Recent research shows the truth of this.
Your attitude is actually more important than facts, or circumstances,
or what others say,
or your past,
or your education,
or even your money.
One writer observes: "Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you, as by the attitude you bring to life;
not so much by what happens to you, as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

Circumstances and situations do color life,
but you have been given the mind to chose what the color shall be."

Stories to illustrate this abound from people in this congregation.
At the risk of embarrassing someone, or leaving out someone, I will tell you of someone who is not in this congregation.

I have told about Iris before. 
Iris was standing on the corner waiting for the light to turn green so she could cross the street to do her shopping.
When, all of a sudden a big truck passed by and just at the intersection it had a blow out.
A huge chunk of the tire broke off and flew the air and hit Iris –
who was just standing there.
She was knocked to the ground.
The accident broke her hip and left her confined to a room in a nursing home for the rest of her life.

The outlook was bleak for anyone.
After several days in the hospital, she was to sent a nursing home and told that this would be where she would spend the rest of her days.
When she was visited, she was in a great deal of pain,
but she managed a great smile and wondered aloud, "Well, I wonder what God has for me to do here."

She knew, as many of you know, nothing in this life can happen to you, but what with God's help you can come out on top.

Work by Norman Cousins, Hans Selye,
John Schindler, Dale Singer, Thomas Allen,
Bernie Siegal, and a host of others provide data to support the idea that there is tremendous power inherent in our emotions and our attitudes.

There is a whole field of therapy, pioneered at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, that effectively and conclusively proves this basic principle:
The way you feel does not so much affect the way you think,
as it is that your thoughts, your attitude, governs the way you feel.
Your mood is a result of the way you think.
When you think right, you feel right.
When you think right, you feel right.

Some 2,000 years ago, Paul could write to the Philippians: "This is the secret I have learned so that anywhere, at anytime, I am content....
I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me."
Today, we have hard evidence that things like love, hope, faith, laughter, joy, confidence, and the will to live have therapeutic value.
Laughter is good medicine, as the ancient saying goes.
A joyful heart is excellent medicine.

What we are about as a Christian community –  what Christ Presbyterian Church is about,
is excellent medicine.

As I have alluded to earlier, I am intrigued by the results of two recent studies.
One at the University of Minnesota, tracking the health of several thousand people over a period of 30 years, or so,
and another that correlated information from several individual studies of different populations of several thousand over the course of 40 years, or so.
To me, two of the findings of this research show that:
People who go to church regularly live longer than those that don't, and
People who go to church regularly are healthier than those that don't.

When you look at all of the literature available today,
and weigh all the evidence,
two of the most powerful forces that affect people for either good or bad –  are fear and faith.

Indeed, most people acknowledge fear as a leading cause of ill health and coping difficulties.
One researcher says that many people suffer from a malady he calls the "CDT's" -- cares, difficulties, and troubles.
Many people are actually sick, or below par, he writes, because of an impenetrable blanket of gloom resting on their minds.
In fact, most people agree that fear lies at the basis of many maladies,
and fear may be the most powerful force affecting people's physical and mental health.

But, recent studies show that faith is even more powerful than fear –
and that faith can even overcome fear.

Now, I'm not talking about philosophical concepts. I'm not talking about Christian Science.
I'm not talking about superstition.
I am talking about hard facts.
I am talking about personal experiences.
I am talking about fundamental Christian truth.

Our Christian faith is more powerful than any fear.

You know the truth of this.
Many of you can tell stories about this.
One person was especially fearful of a medical procedure she was to endure the next day.
She shared her dread with me.

When I saw her after the procedure, she told me about the experience and described the dreaded machine in some detail.
When I asked her how long she was inside the machine, her reply was "about 4 1/2". I thought "4 1/2"? 4 1/2 what? 4 1/2 minutes? 4 1/2 hours?
That was some test!
What could she mean, "4 1/2"?
She said, "I repeated the 23rd Psalm about 4 1/2 times and it was over."
That's how she overcame her fear of that particular procedure.

Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist, considered faith to be very important to mental and physical well-being.
He wrote:
Among my patients in the second half of life –
that is to say, over 35 –
there has not been one
whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life.
It is safe to say, he goes on, that every one of them fell ill because he had lost that which the living religions of every age have given to their followers, and none of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook.

Our religious outlook –  the unique attitude we have when we face the world we live in,
and deal with all of life's uncertainties.

A researcher with the National Institute of Mental Health did a study that concluded that "religion was highly beneficial –  beneficial in more than 80% of the cases found in psychiatric research."
He writes,
"We discovered the exact opposite of what was commonly taught to psychiatrists and what still pervades the mental health culture....
Church attendance, prayer, and the social support available in church were frequently found to be significant positive factors in helping patients with mental or physical health problems....
Religious people who live out their faith are more likely to say they are enjoying life,
that they like their work, their marriage, their family."

Church attendance, prayer, and the social support available in church were frequently found to be significant positive factors in helping patients with mental or physical health problems....

One preacher wrote: "The causes of health, as the causes of sickness, are very many, but among the forces which will tend to keep us in good health will be a faith which is extended to a real expectation of God's goodness in every department of our being.

That will bring us either actual health,
or a greater power of triumphing over ill-health,
and either of these is a great blessing.
Moreover, when we triumph in the way I have described over ill-health, the result is, in fact, that our health is somewhat better than if we were merely passive in the grip of our disease;
because owing to the exaltation of mind there is a real access of vitality which tends to combat disease itself."

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this appears to be true.
And the great thing is, that you can test it out for yourself.
Paul wrote to his good friend, Timothy,
"For God has not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, of love, and of sound mind."

I really believe, that most of us do not fully realize just what our faith can do for us.
In his Sermon On the Mount, Jesus promised his disciples three things:
they would be entirely fearless,
they would be absurdly happy,
and they would get into trouble.
Well, they did get into trouble,
and found, to their surprise, that they were not afraid.

They were absurdly happy, for they laughed over their own troubles and cried only over other peoples' troubles.

Jesus said, "I've said all these things that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

In Nehemiah we read, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."

In Acts we read, "In him we live and move and have our being."

In Philippians we read, "Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ."

Now, here's the secret –  the secret that some of you know –
the secret that we need to get to others –
When you act according to this kind of attitude.
When you live it.
When you speak it.
When you think it.
When you are it!
The joy of the Lord will indeed be your strength.

When you believe, as Jesus said, the joy of the Lord is in you,
you have everything necessary to face whatever life deals you –
you will have the wisdom and the courage and the faith to face anything.

And you will be known for your enthusiasm.

The Greek work entheos means "God in you" –  or "Full of God."
And, friends, your attitude of enthusiasm will contain the power to work miracles in your life.
If you don't believe me, Try it!

And all the people went off to eat and drink and give shares away and begin to enjoy themselves,
since they understood the meaning of what had been proclaimed to them.

Amen.

The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, heard this sermon as a part their worship service Sunday, October 16, 2011.