Marshfield Christian Church Sermons

Risk and Reward - November 16, 2008

Risk and Reward

• One of the touchiest subjects these days is money. So, I must admit that it was tempting to choose another scripture for this morning.
• But, one of Jesus most common examples in his parables is money. The lost coin, the prodigal son, the woman at the temple, they all talk about money.
• We get uncomfortable talking about money in church. We get especially uncomfortable when we encounter a parable like this one this morning, which talks about not just money, but investing and risk. Sometimes we want to shy away from these topics, especially in times of uncertainty.
• But, I believe it’s important for us to study and learn from the things that make us uncomfortable. So, we talk about money, because Jesus talked about money.

Matthew 25:14-30 (The Message)

If I had a million dollars, I’d…

• Talents are really money
• Not the gifts and abilities we preachers have said they are so many times.
• Lots and lots of money
• Instead of “thousand”, Eugene Peterson should have used “million”
• A talenta was a huge some of money. About what you would get for 15 years of hard work. Average household income in Marshfield is around 35-40K a year, so for us a talenta is about half a million dollars.
• So, I’ll just round up to a million. Why not?
• What would you do with a million dollars, or 2 million or 5 million?
• Song, If I had a million dollars… I’d buy your love.
• Maybe a talent is even more. I can imagine what I’d do with a million dollars. Maybe it’s more like 700 billion, a sum I can’t even begin to understand.

Imitation or Fear

• That’s part of the point. Jesus tells us a parable about money, but it isn’t about money.
• Jesus uses this story about investing to make a point about risk and safety.
• The first two slaves take some big risks. They are given a sum of money that they can’t even comprehend, and they have absolutely no idea what to do with it. I can imagine they just stood there looking at all that wealth for a while. Then, they probably asked themselves, what would our master do with this money?
• The third slave probably reacts the same way, dumbfounded at first. But instead of asking what his master would do with the money, he wonders what his master would do to him if he lost that money. He is scared, afraid to step out in faith and buries the money, socks it away in a non-interest-bearing checking account.
• These are two highly different reactions. Two slaves try to be like their master, to do what their master would do. The third is afraid of the master, worried about his own skin.
• And, when he comes back, the master rewards the slaves who tried to be like him.

A modern parable.

• I wonder what this parable would be like if Jesus told it today.
• Suppose two years ago someone gave Mike Ankrom 5 million dollars, Evelyn Close 2 million, and gave the 1 million to me.
• Then, our benefactor comes back today and wants an accounting of what we’ve done with the money.
• Mike tells him, "I invested in a nice stock portfolio that doubled its value, but now is only worth 75% of what you gave me. If you'd been here 6 months ago, it would have been great. I'm sure that it'll come back in a year or two. Have patience, I beg you."
• Evelyn says, "I bought a house with the money you gave me. Property values were soaring, but then they crashed. The house is now only worth 60% of what I bought it for. The government is working to get the housing market going again. Have patience, I beg you."
• And I say, "Here's your money. I kept it safe in my mattress."
• Does the Giver still react the same way?
• I think so.

The risk of faith.

• We have been given a great gift by God. Yes, we have been given unique abilities and talents; but the gift I’m talking about is the gift of salvation, the gift of a relationship with God. God has faith in us. Faith that we will try our best to love God, love others and love ourselves. God is a risk-taking God. We humans certainly have not proven ourselves to be good at loving. But God risks God’s kingdom on us. God has faith that we will do our best to be like God, sharing the love and faith God has given to us. Let us take the risk of faith, sharing God’s love with others, not hiding it in a mattress. If we are willing to take that risk, we’ll find that the market on love and faithfulness has much better returns than the market on Wall Street. Thanks be to the giving, loving, faithful God we have come to know through Christ Jesus.

Remember to Say, "Thanks" - November 23, 2008

Remember to Say “Thanks”

• If you’ve ever been around young children, I’m sure that you’ve heard or said something like this:
• Mr. Camp just gave you a compliment on your dress, sweetie. Now, what do you say?
• One of the things about growing up is that we need to be reminded to say “Thank you.”
• The author of Deuteronomy does the same thing in today’s text. He reminds those who will listen, he reminds us to say, “Thank You.”

Deuteronomy 8:11-18 (The Message)

Remember

• Time seems to be speeding up
• Much has been said about the pace of life
• Good and bad
• Good – get “more” done, more knowledge, more experiences, all good things
• Bad – some things get “missed”, like this year the day after Halloween I started hearing Christmas music.
• Dixon’s tradition of setting up the tree on Christmas eve.
• The result has been we almost over-look Thanksgiving, both as a holiday and as a practice.
• Partly because of our rush to the next big thing
• Partly because we aren’t really all that thankful
• Economic stresses
• Emotional pain during the holidays
• Feel we’re getting what we deserve, we worked hard for the money we’ve earned, why should we give thanks to God, or anyone for that matter?
• Our reading this morning called the Israelites to remember, especially once they had entered the promised land, to remember that things haven’t always been like this.
• Remember
• God delivered you from slaver
• God led you through the deser
• God provided water from a rock
• God gave you food you’d never imagined
• As tough as the economy is right now, I imagine most of us can imagine a time where things were even tighter.
• There isn’t going to be the latest video-game system under the tree this year. But I am thankful for all the things that will be there. Because I can remember a time when it was a struggle to put any gifts under the tree.

Real poverty is poverty of the spirit.

• Unless we seek after that relationship with God, we may not realize how important that relationship is. We may not give thanks for the support God has given us through the years.
• Most of us are like the farmer in one of Jesus’ parables; we are constantly trying to build bigger barns to store the fruits of our labors.
• We try to protect ourselves from the cold by surrounding ourselves with a home and nice, warm clothes.
• We try to protect ourselves from hunger by filling our refrigerators and pantries with food.
• We try to protect our future by investing in a diverse portfolio, or trusting in the government to make good on its promises.
• But what we fail to see is that a relationship, a living relationship with God, is the deepest essential to life.
• In fact, a plentiful supply of food, warm clothes and secure investments may lead to a complacency that encourages the thought that “God is no longer necessary for my life.”
• And so, we are called, like Israel, to remember
• Remember that God has been with us.
• Remember that God is with us
• Trust that God will be with us

Active memory

• But it takes more than just remembering. Our memory needs to move us from stationary reflection into active participation.
• One way we have an active memory is to give thanks.
• By remembering again and again what God has done for us, our current lives are shaped.
• As we remember how God has dealt so generously with humankind throughout the generations, we are encouraged to take on the work ethic, the perseverance and the boldness of those who have gone before us, trusting that as we have been blessed through their work, so future generations will be blessed through our labors.
• We are called
• to remember God’s love for us through the ages.
• to give thanks to God for all the gracious gifts we receive
• to go out and share the love and grace we have received with others so, in turn, they can remember, give thanks and go live out the good news…

Celebrating the Joy of Better Days - December 14, 2008

Celebrating the Joy of Better Days

• It’s already the 3rd week of Advent.
• Christmas is only 11 days away
• And I still have plenty of Christmas shopping to do!
• The 3rd Sunday of Advent is Joy Sunday.
• Hard to be Joyful
• New unemployment applications are at a 26-year high
• Teenagers are counterfeiting money
• Lots of people are being laid off with at least 3 plant closings in this area of MO announced this last week alone.
• As we struggle to be joyful, we again encounter Isaiah.
• Instead of warning about an overthrow, or speaking to a people in exile, this time the prophet is speaking to the survivors who have made it home; only to find their home in shambles.

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 (The Message)

Year of the Lord’s favor

• As I see it, we have a couple of choices
• Believe that this is only the beginning and that things will just continue to get worse and worse.
• Believe that this is a temporary setback that will be reversed at some time in the future.
• The charge to the prophet (and I would say to us) is to believe the second scenario.
• The “year of favor” that the prophet proclaims is a dramatic reversal of fortune.
• Israel’s captivity was a travesty of justice.
• These are words of comfort. These are words of Joy.
• This comfort is more than just wiping away the tears of a nation.
• This is a comfort of restoration, of a new creation.
• 9/11 and the Freedom tower
• Tears have been wiped away
• But the new creation, the restoration is yet to come.

Broken

• But, where are the signs of this restoration? Where are the trees springing from the seeds of justice?
• Where is the restoration:
• for the elderly poor, who oftentimes have no one to care for or love them?
• for children who go without food, appropriate clothing or health care, whether the adults who are supposed to care for them do or not?
• for the refugees of Darfur?
• for the homeless schizophrenic?
• for the young girl whose self-loathing is cut deep into her flesh?
• Some of us have returned to our families and our pews as those first exiles must have returned to a homeland and temple in ruins.
• The home we expected turned out to be a place filled with disappointment, disillusionment and division.
• But:
• the God who can build up ancient ruins is also the God who can redeem the ruin a prodigal son believes he has made of his life
• the God who shall raise up former devastations is also the God who means to pick up a daughter’s broken parts.
• the God who shall repair the ruined cities and the devastations of many generations is also the God who can repair even the ruined nation that has forgotten it’s way in the world. [See Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 1, pp. 52 & 54]

It’s a start

• In spite of what it may look like, God proclaims that the world is being restored.
• As individuals and as a community, it is important to see that we are co-workers with God in this restoration.
• The prophet describes the newness happening around Israel as:
• a suit of salvation
• a robe of righteousness
• a tuxedo or a jeweled tiara
• These are external, physical, signs of the change, the restoration, that is also happening within each of us, and within all of us.
• These clothes are what happens when righteous and salvation spring up within us as wildflowers in the spring.
• It won’t happen overnight.
• Rome wasn’t built in a day.
• The Freedom tower has a long way to go.
• Our restoration may have only just started.
• But it is a start.

O Little Town

• The joy we celebrate as we prepare for the better days of Christ’s advent is not an individual happiness.
• communal response to the gifts
• communal response to the charge.
• Preach, heal, comfort, care.
• Many of us find comfort in song; whether we are listening to a lullaby or to the songs that are played at important passages in our life, we can often find joy in the mixing of music and word.
• Sing together, a cappella, the first verse of one of my favorite Christmas Hymns, O Little Town of Bethlehem.

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie,

above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light.

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

• We, you and I together, are that little town
• the crossroads where the hopes and fears of all the years meet and where all people can find the seeds of restoration and renewal that we all so desperately need.

Peaceful Days are Better Days - December 7th, 2008

Better days of Peace – Isaiah 40:1-5

Peace, dude.

• Two and a half years ago, when I started writing articles for Our Church Life, I often signed them by saying, “Shalom.”
• The simplest definition of that Hebrew word (which like Aloha is both a greeting and a word of departure) is Peace.
• Here in the second Sunday of Advent, we shift our focus from hope to shalom, to peace.
• It’s hard to imagine what peace is like in a world torn apart with struggle and war.
• While there certainly is the element of a lack of conflict that reverberates in shalom, peace is much more than the absence of war.
• True peace, God’s peace promised by Jesus when he said “My peace I give you,” is a fullness to life, a sense of well-being that can only truly be found in a relationship with Go

Isaiah 40:1-5 (The Message)

“Comfort, oh comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem, but also make it very clear that she has served her sentence, that her sin is taken care of—forgiven! She's been punished enough and more than enough, and now it's over and done with.”

Thunder in the desert! "Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then God's bright glory will shine and everyone will see it. Yes. Just as God has said."

In Exile

• One of the things that I always ask when I read the Bible is, “who was this written to?”, “what was happening at the time the author was writing these words?”
• I believe those kinds of questions give us a better sense of how we should interpret the words today, because we can put them in their original context.
• In this second part of the book of Isaiah, the prophet is writing to a people who are in exile, they are displaced, discouraged, downtrodden and dejected.
• Israel is suffering, again.
• The Hebrew people must have felt that God had abandoned them, or at least that they were removed from the God they understood to be tied to the ground in Jerusalem.
• It seems that the people of Israel were going about, living their lives, and doing pretty well on their own.
• They probably didn’t feel they needed God.
• Until the crisis of being uprooted from their homes and ruled by outsiders.

Promise of Peace

• Take a look at our own world.
• Jesus seems to have very little power compared to the stock market, political parties and some of the other “gods” that seem to rule our world.
• Our consumer mentality (especially apparent at this time of year) demands more and more of our resources.
• Our dependence on oil to move about from place to place, and our desire to do that in the isolation of our own cars, threatens our environment.
• War steals from us countless lives and the respect of other nations.
• Even our religious convictions cause conflict between families and place one view of God in opposition to another.
• How do we dare to speak the words of the prophet?
• How can we speak of this God who promises to be present in a way that all people will see?
• We can dare to speak about the God of Peace, because we know God intimately. We have sat on his knee, confided in him our deepest desires and heard his voice, not calling us little boy, or little girl, like some man in a red velvet suit, but calling us by name. Saying, “Shalom. Peace be with you. Be whole, my child.”

Feeling alone

• Some would say that all the turmoil of the economic markets, the wars raging around our globe that barely make the evening news, the looming danger to our environment and even religious fanaticism don’t really compare to being captive to another people.
• The parking lots at Walgreens and Walmart are still pretty full of people spending money on Christmas presents. We still drive our cars, we just don’t talk about the wars and we each go to our own churches on Sunday morning, or we don’t go at all.
• But, I’m here to tell you that I know people in exile. They feel that a rift has developed between them and God.
• I’m here to tell you I’ve been that person.
• So, how do we find peace in exile? What do we do when it feels like God has abandoned us?

Where I saw you last

• Greg, a friend of mine tells the story of a family trip around the holidays in Southern Massachusetts in 1984.
• Greg and his wife, their three children and his mother-in-law had stopped at a restaurant along the side of the road in their travels.
• Their youngest son was just an infant, with all the accompanying needs and concerns.
• As the family finished their meal and Greg paid the cashier, everyone took the obligatory stop by the bathroom and the bustled out to the car.
• They were around 4 miles down the road when Greg’s youngest daughter piped up from the back seat and said “Daddy, where’s Carrie?” (Her older sister.)
• I can only imagine the panic Greg must have felt as he wheeled the car around on the highway and headed back for the restaurant.
• In those few minutes before they made it back, Greg hoped that Carrie had remembered the lesson he’d tried to teach her, “If we ever get separated, go to where we were last together.”
• As he pulled into the parking lot, there she stood, in the foyer of the restaurant, peering out of the plate glass window.
• As Greg reached his daughter and wrapped her in his arms she said, “Daddy, I knew you’d be back for me. You promised me that you’d always be back for me if I would just go where I saw you last.”
• That is the promise of our God. If we ever feel like we’re separated from God (even though God never really leaves us) we will find God again if we go to where we saw God last.
• If you feel like you’re in a desert place, get ready. God isn’t far away. I can say it, because I have lived it, and I know it’s true. God’s peace is here. And peaceful days are better days!

I can sleep when the wind blows - November 9, 2008

I Can Sleep When the Wind Blows – Matthew 25:1-13

• It’s hard to believe that Advent is almost upon us again.
• It’s equally hard for me to imagine that I am just a few months from having known Marshfield Christian Church, from having known y’all, for 3 years.
• It’s hard to believe that in just a few months we will be encountering the lectionary texts together again…
• Today’s text is a parable, a story that Jesus tells to his disciples.
• It is a story set within a larger set of stories where Jesus is teaching his followers what to expect at the end of time.
• The story is part of Jesus eschatological, or “end of days” discourse.
• In chapter 24, Jesus says to his closest followers, “this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.”
• For the first people to hear the Gospel of Matthew proclaimed, they expected that they were living in the end of time. They were persecuted, beat down and martyred. They expected the end to come any moment. It is into this atmosphere that Matthew’s gospel proclaims this parable.

Matthew 25:1-13

The Farmhand

• A young man applied for a job as a farm hand in the heart of the prairie. When asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer, but he took a liking to the young man and hired him.
• A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. The cold wind beat against the farmhouse as the front bore down on their farm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The farm implements had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The tractor had been moved into the garage. The barn had been properly locked. All was well. Even the animals were calm.
• It was then that the farmer grasped the meaning of the young man's words, "I can sleep when the wind blows."
• Because the farm hand had performed his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke. Consequently, when the wind blew, he had no fear. He was able to sleep in peace.
• In the parable this morning, Jesus is talking about exactly the same thing, being able to sleep when the winds blows, in other words, being prepared.
• But the parable exhorts us to be more than prepared for the bridegroom, we also must be prepared to wait because the bridegroom might be delayed.

Waiting…

• Waiting in line to get tickets for basketball seats.
• Waiting for the growth that we expect from MCC.
• We understand that kind of waiting, but that isn't the kind of waiting that Jesus is talking about here. This parable is talking about waiting on God.
• Waiting on God is not waiting to get what we want.
• Waiting on God is waiting to see what God is going to do.
• And we don't know what God is going to do.
• We don't know how God is going to act.
• We do not know the hour or the day or the moment.

… on God

• The Church, the believers that have lived before us in time, has discovered that if you wait for something in the future, what you wait for is going to effect the quality of your life in the present.
• What you wait for is going to effect the quality of your life in the present.
• Do you remember those beautiful words from the 40th chapter of the Book of the prophet Isaiah?
• Isaiah writes, "They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
• I know some people like that. I’m sure you do, too. They’d be embarrassed if we called them out by name, but I’m sure you know who they are.
• They have amazing strength.
• They are the people you ask, "How do you do it?"; "Where do you get all that strength, that energy?"; "Why don't you ever get discouraged?", "Why are you so hopeful about the future?"
• They have learned to wait on the Lord.
• They are prepared and they have the endurance of long-distance runners.
• In long-distance running, like any endurance sport, endurance is only a part of physical training. It's also a matter of character, what we would call spiritual discipline, keeping on when you want to quit, hanging in there, expecting that hardship and deprivation are just part of the course, enduring it. That's what makes a successful long-distance runner. And it is what characterizes those people who learn to wait on God. They can run and not be weary.
• SMMC Tri, 2002.
• We are waiting on the Lord. Are you prepared for what is coming, even though we do not know the day or the hour? We are waiting on the Lord. Do you feel that you can run and not grow weary? We are waiting on the Lord. Is what you’re waiting for, God’s kingdom, effecting the quality of your life today?
• The farm hand said," "I can sleep when the wind blows."
• Can you?

Servants, Saints and Sinners - November 2, 2008

Servants, Saints and Sinners – Matthew 23:1-12

• All-Saints/All-Souls
• Both have their origins in the Roman Catholic Tradition and may be a bit strange to someone who has never been a part of that branch of Christianity.
• What is All Saints Day?
• What is All Souls Day?
• We observe a hybrid, remembering all the members and friends of this community who have died in the past year. Very much like All Souls Day. But with the added acknowledgement that some, or many, of those individuals have been saints to us.
• They may not reach the rules set forth for sanctification in the RCC, but they’ve lived their lives in a way we want to follow. They’ve been the servants Jesus talks about in today’s scripture reading from Matthew.

Matthew 23:1-12

Serving without suffering

• Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals.
• I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone talk about being a servant, I often think about it like those bundles of rules Jesus talks about.
• Serving others doesn’t sound much like a banquet, at least not one where you get to eat in the dining area.
• It sounds more like you’re going to be left to eat standing in the kitchen.
• But, I don’t believe that God wants us to be walked over like doormats in our service. We don’t have to lower our self-esteem to serve others.
• I believe this because later on in this passage, Jesus says, “If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.”
• Being a servant (or in other words a saint) isn’t about putting ourselves below other people. It’s about lifting other people up.

Everyday saints

• But, lifting others up isn’t easy. As Paul writes in Romans, even when we want to do the right thing, we often do the wrong thing. It’s like there’s a fight going on within us.
• "The Wolves Within"
• An old Cherokee Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, "Let me tell you a story.
• I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.
• But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times." He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.
• But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing.
• Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."
• The boy looked intently into his Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"
• The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, "The one I feed."
• Everyday saints are those people who feed the good wolf, who everyday work to lift others up and understand that, as Jesus said: “we are all classmates.”

Sinners “Anonymous”

• One of the things that has made 12-step programs of any stripe helpful to so many people is that they understand that there is no “complete” cure to the addiction.
• in the case of AA, everyone is a recovering alcoholic.
• In the case of faith in God through Christ, Christianity, or Sinners Anonymous, we are all recovering sinners.
• I’m sorry to say that no one here has it perfectly figured out. Anyone of us could sin with our next thought, our next word, our next action.
• Now, there are saints in this community who have been members of this group for years and years, and they do a very good job of staying on the wagon.
• And, so do some who have only just recently decided to start following in the steps of Jesus.
• I certainly don’t get it right all the time. I am just as susceptible to sinning as anyone here. And, maybe more susceptible than many to sins of pride and arrogance.
• That’s why this teaching from Jesus was aimed at his disciples, along with the crowd. Those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus have to keep constantly vigilant, and stay ever-aware that we are Servants, Saints AND Sinners.

All we need is love - October 26, 2008

All we need is love – Matthew 22:34-39

• The Beatles claimed that it was easy, and that all you need is love. They sang:
• There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
• Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
• There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
• No one you can save that can't be saved.
• There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
• Nothing you can see that isn't shown.
• All you need is love.
• It sounds a lot like what Jesus tells the Pharisees:

Matthew 22:34-39

Fulfillment/replacement

• Great Commandment
• Mission statements

Doing or being

• We like to focus on how we DO things, not how we BEcome ourselves.
• Works vs. Grace
• Grace and Works
• Love others as you have been loved.
• They will know you by your love.
• Faith w/o works is dead
• Being a “loving” person w/o doing loving things is hypocrisy.

Forward or reverse

• Who do we learn to love first?
• God, Others, Self or
• Self, Others, God
• My view is changing
• Like this sermon
• Lo and behold, Jesus knew better than I did.

This Crazy little thing called love

• What is it?
• Nooma – Flame
• Eskimo words for snow
• It is reasonable to suppose that Eskimo languages would have several extra words to describe snow, which is specifically the point of Boas's theory. This is because they deal with snow more than other cultures, just as artists have more words to describe the various details of their profession — what a non-artist calls "paint", the artist identifies as "oil paint", "acrylic paint", or "watercolor". This does not mean that these two individuals are observing two different objects, nor does it mean that the artist would be confused by the idea that oil paint and acrylic paint are related.
• The opposite happens with Love. We try to put a lot of meaning into one word.
• I love Strawberry Pie. I love my church (MCC, Regional, National and Global.) I love the outdoors. I love God. I love Mason and Kaia. I love Jennie.
• More than an emotion, a feeling
• Love is a relational attribute.
• Love comes from God.
• We are to be like a pane of glass, allowing God’s love to flow through us.
• Even as the world is changed, so are we.
• We are warmed by God’s love.
• Like a winter coat hangs on pegs by the door, ready to protect us warm us and shield us; so the law and the prophets hang on love. Love is a strong foundation, it won’t fall under the weight of the Law or the Prophets. But, love is the foundation, if we don’t build the relationships, it’s hollow.
• All we need is love? Maybe not. But then again, it is a good start.

Whose is it? - October 19, 2008

Whose is it? – Matthew 22:15-22

• I can see it now. James, John, Peter and a few of the other disciples are sitting around after dinner, recapping a few of the days events over a nice hot cup of coffee.
• Peter starts off by recalling how on the way to the temple that morning, they had walked by that fig tree and Jesus was upset that it wasn’t bearing fruit, and it withered to a dry stick. Right before their very eyes.
• The James chimed in remembering how Jesus taught about the farmhands had killed all the servants the master of the vineyard had sent to collect his earnings, and then they killed the master’s son. That made the Pharisees so mad! They knew the story was about them.
• Then John spoke up, remembering the story about the wedding banquet, how many people are invited but don’t take the invitation seriously, so the master extends the invitation to anyone and everyone who is willing to drop what they’re doing and come.
• They all sat back and thought about the day. Then Matthew, the quiet one spoke up. He said. What really struck me today was when Jesus showed us how important it is to have our faith seep through all of our lives. How important it is to act on the things we believe, rather than just saying we believe it.
• No one was surprised that Matthew, the tax collector-come-disciple would remember that story. But, they also agreed that it was an important part of the day for them, too.
• Let’s listen to and for God’s Word as we listen to Matthew tell the story. It might have sounded something like this:

Matthew 22:15-22

Whose face do you see?

• Images of Caesar were everywhere you looked. They were more prominent in first-century Jerusalem that campaign signs and bumper stickers are today.
• Everywhere you looked there was a statue of an inscription on the top of a building proclaiming that not only was Caesar the ruler, he was a god!
• And, it wasn’t just on the buildings and statues, it was on all the Roman coins (the only coins with which you could pay the census tax, the tax in question.)
• On the face of every coin Caesar’s face had been stamped, along with an inscription reading “Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, high priest.”
• This is not a question about taxes, it’s a question about loyalty.
• It’s not a question about who lays claim to a piece of metal, but who lays claim to our very lives, our very souls.

To God or to Caesar?

• Jesus sees the question for the trap that it is.
• He knows that if he answers “Yes,” he will be in trouble with the Pharisees who oppose the tax.
• But, if he answers “No,” he’s in deep with the Herodians, who are collaborating with the government on the one hand while trying to stay true to the Jewish temple leadership on the other.
• Rather than drawing out clear lines of what to do, Jesus leaves that decision squarely in the laps of the Pharisees and the Herodians.
• Give to Caesar what is Caesars and God what is Gods, but you have to make the decisions about what’s what.
• The Pharisees and Herodians may have believed all the right things. But when those beliefs ran contrary to the government of the day, they either gave in to the powers that be, or they tried to separate their beliefs from their actions. They didn’t understand that while God wants our belief and our faith, it doesn’t stop there. God wants us to act on those beliefs, God wants us to act on that faith.

Whose are you?

• Poor Caesar Tiberius, he stamps his image on a piece of metal and includes a statement about his divinity and thinks that he owns it. That coin is little more than a symbol for Caesar’s self-delusion that he owns just about everything. Maybe he does. But that’s about all he can claim.
• We, all of humanity, all of creation, you and I have been stamped with God’s image. Do you live your life like you are claimed by God? Do I make my voting decisions, financial decisions, even my eating decisions based on the knowledge and belief that I have been claimed by God? Do you?
• Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Deciding what is what, that is up to you. How willing are you to let what you believe have control over what you do?

Again I Say Rejoice - October 12, 2008

Again I Say, Rejoice – Philippians 4:4-9

Prayer for illumination

• Emma had been looking forward to the trip to the zoo for weeks now. Ever since her parents had told her the plans. She couldn’t wait to see the chattering, playful monkeys. She’d lay awake last night dreaming of the regal lions and the impressive elephants. Over the past several days her drawings had been filled with colorful parrots, silently slithering snakes and jubilant otters.
• But life got in the way. Dad had an important meeting come up, and mom was needed to help a dear friend.
• The trip to the zoo would have to wait.
• Standing there, her hopes and dreams of a trip to the zoo torn to shreds and lying in a pile on the floor, Emma’s little lip quivered with disappointment as she tried to contain the grief that was welling up inside of her, trying to break free in cries of anguish and tears of sorrow.
• To Emma, Paul’s words are a bitter pill to swallow. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, Rejoice.”

Philippians 4:4-9

Let God know your concerns.

• Emma has every right to be upset. Something else took her place as the most important thing in her parent’s lives.
• As parents we let this happen all the time.
• We do it to our spouses and friends.
• We even do it to ourselves when we over-commit, over-extend and fly pedal-to-the-metal down Burn-out Avenue.
• Life isn’t all rose-petals and honey.
• Petals bring thorns, & honey makes a sticky mess.
• We don’t have to suffer in stiff-upper-lip-silence.
• “Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.”
• Paul’s advice to “rejoice in the Lord always” is not some ancient New-Age, power of positive thinking, mumbo jumbo.
• Bad stuff happens.
• Trips to the zoo get cancelled, stock markets plunge, loved ones hear the diagnosis of cancer or Alzheimers…
• Even Jesus acknowledges that we experience hard times when he cries out on the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”
• He quotes from the first verse of Psalm 22.
• But read on just 22 verses and you find the Psalmist’s tune seems to have changed, “I will praise you in the midst of the great congregation.
• Sometimes life stinks. Sometimes it’s hard, or even impossible to get out of bed in the morning. Sometimes it feels like no one cares.

Being worked into God’s harmony

• Paul certainly understands the difficulties life presents.
• When Paul, with Silas, first preached the Gospel in Philippi, he was stripped, beaten, flogged, and thrown into prison with his feet fastened in stocks. “About midnight,” says scripture in Acts 16, “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.”
• So, when Paul says, “Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies,” when Paul says you can have joy in spite of the bad stuff of life, you can trust it.
• It’s not an empty campaign promise.
• It’s a truth that comes out of a gritty reality that isn’t much different from the lives we lead.
• It isn’t a light-hearted Jamaican-accented refrain of “Don’t worry, be happy. Mon.”
• It’s about being filled with a joy based in the ever-present love of God, even in the midst of great emotional or physical pain.
• Being worked into God’s harmonies is about understanding that pain and heartache are a part of life, but that they don’t have to define our lives. We can choose to define our lives around joy in God.
• Joy vs. Happiness
• We long to be happy, but happiness relates only to our physical and emotional world.
• Joy is a state of spiritual awareness, where in spite of the physical or emotional hardships we face, we find joy.
• It’s a lesson we have to learn over and over again.
• Linda Barnes - always joyful in the face of great physical and emotional pain and discomfort
• Morning workouts – I know they help me, be a happier person, but it’s still hard to get out of bed.

Rejoice in the Lord, always

• Because of God’s love, in spite of the hardships of our lives, we can rejoice. Rejoice, because God supports us when we are down. Rejoice, because God celebrates our good times. Rejoice, because God walks with us through the monotonous desert places.
• Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, Rejoice!

They are We - October 5, 2008

They Are We - Matthew 21:33-46

• Here we are again, in the final day’s of Jesus’ life on earth, faced with a parable, a story that could easily have come from the headlines of the Jerusalem Daily News
• There’s a point to Jesus’ story, and this time it’s very thinly veiled
• You’ve messed up. You were given an opportunity, and you let it get away from you

Matthew 21:33-46: The Message (Courtesy of Biblegateway.com)

Who is this “They”?

• Have you ever heard the old dictum, “We have met the enemy and they are us?”
• When the religious leaders heard this story, they knew it was aimed at them.
• Nathan and David
• You are that man.
• Conversation with Joe Bessler
• “I’m not a racist.”
• But I have benefited from the social structures of racism.
• James Evans, James Cone
• We do well to avoid the trap of thinking about this story as directed only at the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus day.
• It’s not about them. It’s about them AND us.

1+1=1

• Growing self-image
• Expanding through natural development
• Individual, Family, Community, Ethnicity, Nation, Species, Universal
• Where are we? Where am I?
• Mission – Lilla Watson (Aboriginal Woman)
• If you have come to help me because you feel called to help me, please go away… But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, please stay and let’s work together
• Economic stress
• We will bear the pain of things that others have done
• Some of you have had stock in companies that is now close to worthless
• Many, if not all, of us will feel the pinch of the dramatic drops in the stock market.
• We will all pay for the government bail-out.
• But those stresses are not limited to the borders of the US.
• Other markets have seen dramatic drops as well
• Developing nations feel the effects even more acutely than we do in the US.
• We are truly a global society.
• What happens in one place affects us all.
• We cannot find solace in pointing the finger at “Them” anymore. They are we.

Reconciliation

• This is the 2nd week for our Reconciliation Offering. And you may be thinking, like I did, that reconciliation and racism have very little to do with me.
• Just like it’s easy to look at today’s story and say, “Those scribes and Pharisees, they squandered all the good things that God gave to them.”
• It would even be easy to say, “Those poor Jews, they were God’s chosen people, but they couldn’t understand Jesus and so that’s been taken from them, too.”
• This passage of scripture has been used to support some atrocious violence between people throughout the centuries…
• Reconciliation is our sacred duty.
• God calls to us through the words of scripture, “What have you been doing with what you’ve been given?”
• God loves us enough not only to give us good gifts but also loves us enough to hold us to account for what we have been given.
• God loves us enough to love us, even in our sin, but God loves us more than enough so as not to leave us self-satisfied and smug in our sin.
• What sins do I have to repent of today?
• What sins do you have to repent of today?
• What sins do we have to repent of today?
• We are not the outsiders looking in at this story.
• We are the farmhands.
• We have been given a great gift. We have been entrusted with a beautiful vineyard, complete with fencing and a glorious winepress.
• But, I hear the voice of God calling to me, calling to us, “What have you done with what you’ve been given?”
• What have I done?
• What have you done?
• What have we done?