Romans 8:12-27
Pentecost Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Having heard with the children the story of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, I want us to talk about what it means to be spiritual. You know there are a lot of people claiming to be spiritual but not religious. I guess that phrase means different things to different people, but the way I hear it is this: I am somewhat interested in the things of God, but I am not involved with religious practice with other people.
So the question I ask you today is .Can you be spiritual without being religious?. Can you be slightly interested in God, but unwilling to participate with other people in religious activities – worship, prayer, and service. How does one become truly spiritual? Is it not by practicing and growing in the Spirit?
I think we have a couple of generations of people around today who are scared of being too religious, as if being associated with the very religious makes one a fundamentalist, one with a rigid, narrow, and extremist point of view. This kind of attitude: .I’m right, God’s on my side, and everyone else join me or get out of my way.. And we all know what kind of damage can be done by the rigid thinking among Christians, Jews, Muslims, or any other kind of fundamentalist.
But the answer is not to be half-hearted or lukewarm about our faith. To be deeply spiritual, one must have spirit-filled and spend time with other people who are spirit-filled. Now most of us have not had or at least been aware of having a mysterious moment of being filled with the Spirit. Special language, tongues of fire. But when I speak of being spirit-filled, I mean a kind of spirit dwelling in you all the way through. A spirit-u-all, as in the Spirit is in your heart, in your mind, in your words, in your actions. The Spirit is in all of you – as in each of you and all of you. We Southerners can make a distinction here with the English language. There’s you and there’s y’all. Spirit in u and Spirit in y’all. Everything you are and everything you do is in accord with the Spirit of the Living God – individually and communally. This is the goal of a lifetime – Spirit of the Living God falling so deeply into us that we are molded and shaped by that Spirit.
Before we read Paul, I want to say one more thing about being spiritual. I can be very spiritual in my own eyes, as I sit and read my Bible and live privately. But how spiritual am I when one of you (my family or my church family) come crashing into my life with a need, with an irritation, or with your own sin which challenges mine. The measure of a spiritual life is how well we do then – in the middle of the strain of relating to others, in the middle of a temptation to act out of line with God’s Spirit. In those times of strain, are the fruits of the Spirit evident in our life – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Our passage from Romans 8 is one which helps us to appreciate this Spirit-u-all life. Paul’s writing, especially in the Book of Romans, is thickly theological, so I invite you to concentrate. I have deleted the two most complicated verses from our reading in the powerpoint, verses 20 and 21, so we can better absorb the key verses about the Holy Spirit. Those of you who enjoy theological complexity – Richard and others – can find those verses on the bulletin insert.
Here’s a brief synopsis before we read the passage: Live for the Spirit because you are adopted by God. As God’s adopted children, expect to suffer with Christ, but know that this suffering leads to glory. Living of the Spirit and by the Spirit involves waiting, hoping, longing, groaning because all those things are part of this life, but the good news is that the Spirit is with you in every bit of it.
Read text
Hear now Eugene Petersen’s colloquial translation:
12-14 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!
18-21 That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. …22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-27 Meanwhile the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. The Spirit does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. The Spirit knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God.
The Sisters of Peace had a wonderful outing last Saturday. We went in kayaks from Siesta to the tip of Lido and stopped for yoga before completing our journey. The positions were not hard but remembering to breathe steadily and deeply was. I was keenly aware of how unaware I am of my breathing and how shallow my intake of air.
You know that in the Bible, the word for Spirit in both Hebrew "ruach" and Greek, "pneuma" is also used to mean wind or breath. So as I worked on this sermon, I thought about how little awareness we have of the Spirit. The Spirit, the breath of life, is there, just as I am breathing all the time, unaware. But how much more depth of Spirituality can there be in my life, if I become aware of the wind of God in me and in you.
Listening to the Spirit is like listening for your own breath. It is a subtle thing. You might sometimes get fired up by the Spirit. You might sometimes feel tremendously buoyed by the Spirit when you are groaning and realize you are not alone. But most of all, the Spirit is there, waiting to be noticed, like your breathing. And the Spirit wishes to move more deeply into your spirit, so that your adoption becomes more full. So that you are living and acting as God’s child, not a wandering prodigal, kid on the street, who does not know where he belongs. You are created by God, and adopted by God. You belong to the Spirit. You are of the Spirit.
The more you are listening to the Spirit, the more you are tuned in to the needs of the world, but not to the values of the world. Spiritual people have the capacity to care for others, to sigh with them in distress, just as Christ’s Spirit does with us in our struggles. We don’t have trite answers for their problems. We just sit and sigh and pray with them.
That’s life by the power of the Spirit. You have the perspective that there is hope because God’s Spirit is here in the pain. You have faith that one day this moment of sorrow will be far exceeded by the joy of eternity with God. You have security and trust that life is more than we can presently see with our eyes, that some things have to be seen with the Spirit. Julian of Norwich, the first female to author a book, says .prayer oneth the soul to God.. Julian wrote about her amazing encounters with the Spirit of God in the 1300s.
Life for the Spirit is a life directed by hope, not fear. Life for the Spirit is a life directed by God, not me or you. So instead of prayer being primarily a list of requests, prayer is as Julian says, .to rest in the goodness of God, knowing that God’s goodness can reach down to our lowest depth of need.. This was said by one who suffered greatly. Life for the Spirit is full of gratitude and service to others. It is not a self-serving existence.
To be spiritual is to live of the Spirit, by the Spirit, and for the Spirit. That involves the discipline of seeking, suffering, and trusting in God. Everyone is seeking in some way – seeking pleasures, seeking power, seeking wealth, seeking to control and manipulate life. All that seeking will leave you ultimately unsatisfied. Seeking God is what is satisfies. I don’t know anyone who has managed to avoid suffering in this life. I know a lot of people who try to ignore suffering, mask it, or avoid it.
Losses are part of life – no level of plastic surgery will keep you from losing your youthfulness. No doctor will keep you from dying. Death is part of life. You will suffer – one way or another – so suffer with the Spirit. Seeking, suffering, trusting. You have to trust someone. So will it be the Spirit of the Living God? Or will it be some fallible human being, who will surely not deserve all that you place in his or her trust?
Choose the Spirit, you all. Every day, every hour, every moment, choose to one yourself to the Spirit. Be truly spiritual.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Open Doors
Acts 16:16-34
7th Sunday of Easter
Elizabeth M. Deibert
We have been reading from the Book of Acts, stories of the spread of the Christian faith in the early years of the Church. This past Thursday was Ascension Day, the 40th day after Easter, the day the church remembers the doors of heaven opening to Jesus. He departs but leaves his Spirit with us. Next Sunday we open the door to celebrate the arrival of that Holy Spirit on Pentecost. And today, today we read about the power of that Spirit at work in the lives of Paul, Silas, a slave girl, and a jailer and his family.
Notice that everyone in this story has the doors opened for them. By the power of the Holy Spirit they are more free at the end of the story than at the beginning.
Paul says to the Galatians, "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery... For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (5:1,13-14)
As we read this passage I want to you think about all the characters and decide who is really free. Perhaps as we take a closer look at these stories of bondage and freedom in the city of Philippi, we will understand the true meaning of freedom. Then all the doors of life will be open to us, no matter our circumstances.
Acts 16:16-34
16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." 18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. 19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and 26 Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." 29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
Paul and Silas opened the door of freedom for a young girl. She was a slave to both a demonic spirit and to the men who abused her mental illness for personal financial gain. The spirit itself is evil but the message of the spirit (what the girl is saying) is remarkably truthful. At first it seems that Paul is annoyed with the girl, but maybe he is more disturbed by the injustice done to her. Paul in the power of Christ’s Spirit exercises power over the evil spirit. The girl is freed from her illness, but those with who were making money off her sickness are angry. Kind of reminds of me of the girl from Palmetto and of many young teen girls who are pulled off the street into prostitution rings. Pimps and others who make money by abusing others are never happy when the people they abuse are free and healthy again.
So they seize Paul and Silas and drag them into the marketplace to complain to the governing officials. Their accusation is very indirect. They are not open and honest enough to say "These men ruined our fortune-telling business by healing our slave." Instead they make broad, sweeping accusations. “They are disturbing the city.” Then they label them with a racial term. “ These Jews are advocating unlawful customs. These people are too religious.” They accuse Paul and Silas because of nation, race, and religion when the real issue is money.
And then notice how the crowd joins in. Of course, we won't have people, especially Jews, disturbing our Roman city. They're different from us. And they're getting a little pushy with their religion. And the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and beaten with rods. The jailer is ordered to keep them securely and so he put them in the maximum security cell and chained them to the wall.
If the story stopped there, it would be a desperate situation both for Paul and Silas, and for their missionary work in the Roman world. Indeed it would be a miserable conclusion for all of us trapped in terrible situations, for all people trapped in injustice. But it doesn’t end that way. Instead of being angry, frustrated, discouraged about landing in prison, Paul and Silas start singing. They should be moaning and groaning because they had been stripped and whipped, but instead they are singing and praying deep into the night. They have faith that God will be take care of them despite the terrible circumstances in which they find themselves.
It’s like the freedom marchers in South Africa who despite being gunned down, kept singing, Siyahamba, kukanyen, kwenkos. It’s like the Estonians, who through a massive singing revolution were empowerede to open the door to freedom from Russian control. It’s like a friend of mine, who was separated from her husband who had been unfaithful. Every time she thought bad thoughts about him, she would distract herself with singing. It’s like surrounding those whom we dearly love who are dying with music. We sing ourselves through the grief. Can you sing on the dark nights of the soul?
Saint John of the Cross was a Carmelite priest. His poem, Dark Night of the Soul, narrates the journey of the soul from its bodily home to its union with God. The journey occurs during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties the soul meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator. There are several steps in this night, which are related in successive stanzas. The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people endure as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God.
Whether an inner journey toward ultimate union with God or an outward journey of standing courageously by God’s grace toward those who would mistreat you and others, these are difficult pathways, where it seems doors are always closing. But even when doors are closed, we know that by the power of God they will open at the right time, in God’s time.
One commentator says, “Whenever the gospel meets resistance, such as imprisonment by the authorities, it is vindicated. The more severe the resistance, the more spectacular the vindication. In today's text, even the inner prison and leg stocks are inadequate to hold God's messengers.” (Preaching the Common Lectionary) And notice that even the foundations of the prison were shaken, that not just one but all the doors were opened. Not just Paul and Silas’ chains, but everyone's chains were unfastened. The gospel opens doors for everyone in captivity not just those who pray and sing.
But open doors are not good for jailers whose jobs depend upon keeping them locked. The jailer knows he’s in trouble. The only honorable thing for a jailer in the first century who loses his prisoners is kill himself. You see, having a key to someone else’s cell doesn't not make you free.
He is ready to take his own life when Paul shouts to him something unbelievable. To think that with chains unfastened and doors wide open, the prisoners have remained in their cells! The jailer did not understand that the apostles were free even when the doors were locked. The jailer doesn't realize that he is about to be released from his own prison of failure.
Fearing for his job and his life, the jailer pleads with Paul and Silas, "How can I save my neck?" In other words, "How can I be free to live?" His question is uttered from one perspective and heard at another. For they answer him, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and you with your household will be saved." And they went on to explain to him and to his family what that means. And so together the household of the jailer throw open the door Christ by baptized as Christians.
At one level, this is the story of an imprisonment and a miraculous release or "salvation" of God's messengers. At another level, it is the story of the miraculous release or "salvation" of a jailer in his own prison. There is freedom defined by the world and then there is freedom, defined by God Are you free? Really free?
Can you sing even when you’re stuck behind closed doors? You don’t have to sing beautifully but with fervor and faith even in the minor keys on the somber days. Can you praise God when you don’t know which way to go? Don’t know how to pay your bills? Work on the budget but don’t forget to sing. Can you sing God’s praise even when you are helpless to help your child, except by prayer? Can you sing God’s praise when the life you’ve known for many years is ending – someone is leaving? Can you sing defiantly even when you’ve been wrongly accused and mistreated? Can you sing God’s praise no matter where you are or what bad circumstance comes your way? If you can, then no bars, no prison, no situation can hold you in or get you down. Because all the doors are open and you are truly free, free to sing in joy, in discouragement, or in grief, trusting God to care for you, no matter what. Keep singing and watch for the chains that bind you to fall off.
(Singing His Eye is on the Sparrow – “I sing because I’m happy! I sing because I’m free. For His Eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”)
7th Sunday of Easter
Elizabeth M. Deibert
We have been reading from the Book of Acts, stories of the spread of the Christian faith in the early years of the Church. This past Thursday was Ascension Day, the 40th day after Easter, the day the church remembers the doors of heaven opening to Jesus. He departs but leaves his Spirit with us. Next Sunday we open the door to celebrate the arrival of that Holy Spirit on Pentecost. And today, today we read about the power of that Spirit at work in the lives of Paul, Silas, a slave girl, and a jailer and his family.
Notice that everyone in this story has the doors opened for them. By the power of the Holy Spirit they are more free at the end of the story than at the beginning.
Paul says to the Galatians, "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery... For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (5:1,13-14)
As we read this passage I want to you think about all the characters and decide who is really free. Perhaps as we take a closer look at these stories of bondage and freedom in the city of Philippi, we will understand the true meaning of freedom. Then all the doors of life will be open to us, no matter our circumstances.
Acts 16:16-34
16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation." 18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour. 19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe." 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and 26 Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." 29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
Paul and Silas opened the door of freedom for a young girl. She was a slave to both a demonic spirit and to the men who abused her mental illness for personal financial gain. The spirit itself is evil but the message of the spirit (what the girl is saying) is remarkably truthful. At first it seems that Paul is annoyed with the girl, but maybe he is more disturbed by the injustice done to her. Paul in the power of Christ’s Spirit exercises power over the evil spirit. The girl is freed from her illness, but those with who were making money off her sickness are angry. Kind of reminds of me of the girl from Palmetto and of many young teen girls who are pulled off the street into prostitution rings. Pimps and others who make money by abusing others are never happy when the people they abuse are free and healthy again.
So they seize Paul and Silas and drag them into the marketplace to complain to the governing officials. Their accusation is very indirect. They are not open and honest enough to say "These men ruined our fortune-telling business by healing our slave." Instead they make broad, sweeping accusations. “They are disturbing the city.” Then they label them with a racial term. “ These Jews are advocating unlawful customs. These people are too religious.” They accuse Paul and Silas because of nation, race, and religion when the real issue is money.
And then notice how the crowd joins in. Of course, we won't have people, especially Jews, disturbing our Roman city. They're different from us. And they're getting a little pushy with their religion. And the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and beaten with rods. The jailer is ordered to keep them securely and so he put them in the maximum security cell and chained them to the wall.
If the story stopped there, it would be a desperate situation both for Paul and Silas, and for their missionary work in the Roman world. Indeed it would be a miserable conclusion for all of us trapped in terrible situations, for all people trapped in injustice. But it doesn’t end that way. Instead of being angry, frustrated, discouraged about landing in prison, Paul and Silas start singing. They should be moaning and groaning because they had been stripped and whipped, but instead they are singing and praying deep into the night. They have faith that God will be take care of them despite the terrible circumstances in which they find themselves.
It’s like the freedom marchers in South Africa who despite being gunned down, kept singing, Siyahamba, kukanyen, kwenkos. It’s like the Estonians, who through a massive singing revolution were empowerede to open the door to freedom from Russian control. It’s like a friend of mine, who was separated from her husband who had been unfaithful. Every time she thought bad thoughts about him, she would distract herself with singing. It’s like surrounding those whom we dearly love who are dying with music. We sing ourselves through the grief. Can you sing on the dark nights of the soul?
Saint John of the Cross was a Carmelite priest. His poem, Dark Night of the Soul, narrates the journey of the soul from its bodily home to its union with God. The journey occurs during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties the soul meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator. There are several steps in this night, which are related in successive stanzas. The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people endure as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God.
Whether an inner journey toward ultimate union with God or an outward journey of standing courageously by God’s grace toward those who would mistreat you and others, these are difficult pathways, where it seems doors are always closing. But even when doors are closed, we know that by the power of God they will open at the right time, in God’s time.
One commentator says, “Whenever the gospel meets resistance, such as imprisonment by the authorities, it is vindicated. The more severe the resistance, the more spectacular the vindication. In today's text, even the inner prison and leg stocks are inadequate to hold God's messengers.” (Preaching the Common Lectionary) And notice that even the foundations of the prison were shaken, that not just one but all the doors were opened. Not just Paul and Silas’ chains, but everyone's chains were unfastened. The gospel opens doors for everyone in captivity not just those who pray and sing.
But open doors are not good for jailers whose jobs depend upon keeping them locked. The jailer knows he’s in trouble. The only honorable thing for a jailer in the first century who loses his prisoners is kill himself. You see, having a key to someone else’s cell doesn't not make you free.
He is ready to take his own life when Paul shouts to him something unbelievable. To think that with chains unfastened and doors wide open, the prisoners have remained in their cells! The jailer did not understand that the apostles were free even when the doors were locked. The jailer doesn't realize that he is about to be released from his own prison of failure.
Fearing for his job and his life, the jailer pleads with Paul and Silas, "How can I save my neck?" In other words, "How can I be free to live?" His question is uttered from one perspective and heard at another. For they answer him, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and you with your household will be saved." And they went on to explain to him and to his family what that means. And so together the household of the jailer throw open the door Christ by baptized as Christians.
At one level, this is the story of an imprisonment and a miraculous release or "salvation" of God's messengers. At another level, it is the story of the miraculous release or "salvation" of a jailer in his own prison. There is freedom defined by the world and then there is freedom, defined by God Are you free? Really free?
Can you sing even when you’re stuck behind closed doors? You don’t have to sing beautifully but with fervor and faith even in the minor keys on the somber days. Can you praise God when you don’t know which way to go? Don’t know how to pay your bills? Work on the budget but don’t forget to sing. Can you sing God’s praise even when you are helpless to help your child, except by prayer? Can you sing God’s praise when the life you’ve known for many years is ending – someone is leaving? Can you sing defiantly even when you’ve been wrongly accused and mistreated? Can you sing God’s praise no matter where you are or what bad circumstance comes your way? If you can, then no bars, no prison, no situation can hold you in or get you down. Because all the doors are open and you are truly free, free to sing in joy, in discouragement, or in grief, trusting God to care for you, no matter what. Keep singing and watch for the chains that bind you to fall off.
(Singing His Eye is on the Sparrow – “I sing because I’m happy! I sing because I’m free. For His Eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”)
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Open Hearts
Acts 16:4-15
6th Sunday of Easter & Mother’s Day
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Julie’s lived a guarded life, not letting many people in. You know people like Julie, and others like Jack, who find it difficult to let people in. They got burned, so their hearts are closed, or so it seems. You know mothers, who have loved and forgiven, loved and forgiven, and then it dawns on them: this is not love – this is enabling bad behavior. Or you’ve known adult children, who are trying to repair a relationship with their mothers, only to recognize that they cannot do it. Might get deeply wounded again. Temptation in these situations of pain is to lock it up and throw away the key.
There are lots of closed hearts around. We shut down. We begin to lose heart when bad things happen. We lock up when we feel bad about a death or a broken relationship, when we feel bad about devastating oil spills, bad about fatal floods, bad about suicide bombs and gyrating stock markets, bad about mothers who had trouble loving or providing for their children. It hurts to care, and the heart sometimes shuts down, and when your heart stops, you are not living any more. The plaque of bitterness, the plaque of fear, the plaque of self-protection closes off the arteries of love, our lifeblood stops pumping.
The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers. Deepak
Chopra
(Real heart image)
How do we deal with spiritual and emotional heart disease? We sometimes need stents lovingly placed by others in the Christian community who can help expand our arterial pathway. We sometimes need by-pass surgery when arteries are irrevocably closed. We need the regular oblation of our hearts by Word and Sacrament. We need the regular exercise of service to others and the healthy diet of communal worship and personal devotion. Without exercise and a good diet, the heart muscle weakens and the arterties will get blocked faster.
We’re reading the story of Lydia’s heart opening to God today. We’re also reading about Paul, Timothy, and Silas, whose hearts were open to a different plan that they anticipated.
Hear the story:
Acts 16:4-15
As they went from town to town,
they delivered to them for observance
the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders
who were in Jerusalem.
5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith
and increased in numbers daily.
6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia,
having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
7 When they had come opposite Mysia,
they attempted to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;
8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
9 During the night Paul had a vision:
there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying,
"Come over to Macedonia and help us."
10 When he had seen the vision,
we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia,
being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace,
the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi,
which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We remained in this city for some days.
13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river,
where we supposed there was a place of prayer;
and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.
14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us;
she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth.
The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.
15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying,
"If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,
come and stay at my home."
And she prevailed upon us.
(New Revised Standard Version)
Young Timothy had just been circumcised as an adult before this journey because Paul thought he would be better received. Paul says, “Ok, Silas and Timothy, we’re going to Asia.” Timothy says, “Now? Really? Can’t I have a little time to recover? You know this circumcision thing....I thought you and Peter said it didn’t matter circumcised or not, we are all one in Christ. This has not been fun.” But in spite of it all, they set off for Asia Minor. But then they get the message from the Holy Spirit, “Do not go to speak the word in Asia.” No to Phyrgia, no to Galatia. What about Mysia or Bithynia? No again. Usually we think of the Spirit empowering, enabling ministry but in this case, the Spirit seems intent on sabotaging thier plan. They spend the night in Troas and Paul, with his newly opened eyes, has a vision: it’s a Macedonian man calling for his help. So the next day, they set sail from Troas, stopping in Samothrace, and then on to Neapolis and from there to Philippi.
When have you had your plans all made, and then found that your best-laid plans were not the best? This story is a good lesson in the sovereignty of God. If Paul and friends had persisted in staying in Asia, they would not have reached Philippi and the whole household of Lydia would not have heard the message of God’s love, which changed the city of Philippi and eventually all of Europe. Think about Paul, Timothy, and Silas when you seem to be running into dead end streets. When all the doors of life are closing on you. Watch for God to open a window and do something amazing. The Spirit of God may be turning you away from things you think are preferable for something much, much better in the long run. Everything that needs to happen, will happen, in God’s good timing, but we have to watch and listen for the direction of the Spirit.
(Lydia)
6th Sunday of Easter & Mother’s Day
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Julie’s lived a guarded life, not letting many people in. You know people like Julie, and others like Jack, who find it difficult to let people in. They got burned, so their hearts are closed, or so it seems. You know mothers, who have loved and forgiven, loved and forgiven, and then it dawns on them: this is not love – this is enabling bad behavior. Or you’ve known adult children, who are trying to repair a relationship with their mothers, only to recognize that they cannot do it. Might get deeply wounded again. Temptation in these situations of pain is to lock it up and throw away the key.
There are lots of closed hearts around. We shut down. We begin to lose heart when bad things happen. We lock up when we feel bad about a death or a broken relationship, when we feel bad about devastating oil spills, bad about fatal floods, bad about suicide bombs and gyrating stock markets, bad about mothers who had trouble loving or providing for their children. It hurts to care, and the heart sometimes shuts down, and when your heart stops, you are not living any more. The plaque of bitterness, the plaque of fear, the plaque of self-protection closes off the arteries of love, our lifeblood stops pumping.
The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers. Deepak
Chopra
(Real heart image)
How do we deal with spiritual and emotional heart disease? We sometimes need stents lovingly placed by others in the Christian community who can help expand our arterial pathway. We sometimes need by-pass surgery when arteries are irrevocably closed. We need the regular oblation of our hearts by Word and Sacrament. We need the regular exercise of service to others and the healthy diet of communal worship and personal devotion. Without exercise and a good diet, the heart muscle weakens and the arterties will get blocked faster.
We’re reading the story of Lydia’s heart opening to God today. We’re also reading about Paul, Timothy, and Silas, whose hearts were open to a different plan that they anticipated.
Hear the story:
Acts 16:4-15
As they went from town to town,
they delivered to them for observance
the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders
who were in Jerusalem.
5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith
and increased in numbers daily.
6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia,
having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
7 When they had come opposite Mysia,
they attempted to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;
8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
9 During the night Paul had a vision:
there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying,
"Come over to Macedonia and help us."
10 When he had seen the vision,
we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia,
being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace,
the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi,
which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We remained in this city for some days.
13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river,
where we supposed there was a place of prayer;
and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.
14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us;
she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth.
The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.
15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying,
"If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,
come and stay at my home."
And she prevailed upon us.
(New Revised Standard Version)
Young Timothy had just been circumcised as an adult before this journey because Paul thought he would be better received. Paul says, “Ok, Silas and Timothy, we’re going to Asia.” Timothy says, “Now? Really? Can’t I have a little time to recover? You know this circumcision thing....I thought you and Peter said it didn’t matter circumcised or not, we are all one in Christ. This has not been fun.” But in spite of it all, they set off for Asia Minor. But then they get the message from the Holy Spirit, “Do not go to speak the word in Asia.” No to Phyrgia, no to Galatia. What about Mysia or Bithynia? No again. Usually we think of the Spirit empowering, enabling ministry but in this case, the Spirit seems intent on sabotaging thier plan. They spend the night in Troas and Paul, with his newly opened eyes, has a vision: it’s a Macedonian man calling for his help. So the next day, they set sail from Troas, stopping in Samothrace, and then on to Neapolis and from there to Philippi.
When have you had your plans all made, and then found that your best-laid plans were not the best? This story is a good lesson in the sovereignty of God. If Paul and friends had persisted in staying in Asia, they would not have reached Philippi and the whole household of Lydia would not have heard the message of God’s love, which changed the city of Philippi and eventually all of Europe. Think about Paul, Timothy, and Silas when you seem to be running into dead end streets. When all the doors of life are closing on you. Watch for God to open a window and do something amazing. The Spirit of God may be turning you away from things you think are preferable for something much, much better in the long run. Everything that needs to happen, will happen, in God’s good timing, but we have to watch and listen for the direction of the Spirit.
(Lydia)
Lydia is in a rare woman in the first century, being named head of her household. She may be wealthy, as some who dealt in purple cloth were, but other scholars suggest that she could equally have been poor and a former slave, who had learned a purple dying process that required animal urine and plants – an unpleasant job. Whether rich or poor, Lydia, a single woman with a household of her own, was the first European Christian and the first charter member of the new church development in Philippi. Not only was she the first charter member, but it seems the church met in her house, after she and all her household were baptized. That what is meant by her statement, “If you have judged me faithful, come and stay at my house. And her hospitality is the beginning of a new church. This is one of those passages which seem to justify the our practice of infant baptism because Lydia’s faith leads to the baptism of the whole house of people, all her family and servants, presumably. Of course, those who do not practice infant baptism would be quick to point out that children are not specifically mentioned.
And lest Paul and his companions think that they themselves by their wonderful words opened the heart of Lydia, notice that the scripture is clear that it is the Lord who does that work. We can get awfully frustrated when we set our minds on sharing good news with someone and their hearts are hardened to our message.
(Heart with door)
We’re not called to open people’s hearts. We are called to have open hearts to them and share our stories of faith. The Spirit opens hearts and often opens those we least expect. Paul’s vision was of a Macedonian man, but in the end, it was a group of women, with whom he was able to share. The women were spiritual but not religious, we might say, like a lot of people today.
Who are the Macedonians to whom God is calling you? Will you see the vision of the Macedonians or will you be busy trying to make your thwarted itineraries work? Is your heart open to all whom God might call you to reach? You will not know who they are, if you have not opened your eyes, your mind, and your heart to the presence of the Spirit. This opening is no one-time commitment but is a steady and involved practice of the faith.
William Temple, archbishop of Canterbury during WW2, once said,
Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.
It is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God,
to nourish the mind by the truth of God,
to purify the imagination by the beauty of God,
to open the heart to the love of God,
and to devote the will to the purpose of God.
Let me read that again with thanks to Gretchen who sent it to me.
Temple also said, “The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.” As a church we must continually discipline ourselves to have open hearts not just to one another, but most significantly to those beyond our community – open to help them, open to share good news with them, open to befriend them, whether they are open to us or not. Gandhi said, “In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
Is your heart open – open to God and open to others?
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. — Maya Angelou
Those messages of the heart are forever.
Let us pray:
Open wide our hearts, Lord, that they may be chocked full of your love, so full of your love that no one can talk to us, watch us, or be around us without wondering about the love which you have poured into our hearts. May we have a genuine spirit of hospitality toward all people.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Open Minds
Acts 11:1-18
5th Sunday of Easter
Elizabeth M. Deibert
I wonder how many times you have changed your mind about something. I am not talking about the little things – like whether to eat chicken or fish or to go to this movie or that one. I mean over time, you changed your mind, opened your mind, listened in a new way to ideas which may have at first made you uncomfortable.
Some of you grew up thinking that people of mixed races should not marry. Sit-ins happened in the 1960's in the south because then and there, it was not acceptable mix races in restaurants. Hard to believe. We’ve changed our minds about these things.
Many of you who grew up Catholic were not allowed to go to a Protestant worship service or certainly not to receive the Sacrament with us. We’re very glad you’ve changed your minds about that.
As I mentioned last week, our attitudes about homosexuality have changed over the last twenty years. Much more open and respectful.
Our thoughts about the right way to discipline children have changed. I remember getting a paddling from a teacher in seventh grade for a minor offense. That would never happen today.
Recycling. I remember just a few years ago I used to think it was a hassle to wash out plastic and glass containers for recycling. Now I do it without thinking.
Peter had a big moment of mind-changing, and it took his influence, along with Paul’s, to change a lot of other Jewish minds about the Gentiles. It may sound like no big deal to you, but for a Jewish person to eat with a Gentile in their day was a big – no, a huge deal. It was to go against all they had been taught, all they stood for, all they knew about the way they identified themselves with the Lord of heaven and earth.
Hear the story of the opening of Peter’s mind:
NRS Acts 11:1 Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3 saying "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them" 4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5 "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. 6 As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' 8 But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' 9 But a second time the voice answered from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' 10 This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 11 At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. 13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" 18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."
This was the first big fight in the early church, and I’m sorry to say that the church has been arguing ever since. Arguing over the issue of purity, of what it means to live a holy life, arguing over who is in and who is out, and what is required of those who want to be in. I mean there have to be some rules, don’t there? We can’t just say “anything goes.” Well, in the Presbyterian Church (USA) members are asked three questions, “Do you trust in Jesus Christ, do you say no to evil, and do you promise to be involved?” We do not ask how much money will you give or whether your lifestyle measures up or whether you’ve had some particular experience of the Holy.
We do not exclude based on anything unrelated to basic Christian faith. Yet, it must be said that it matters how you live. Your faithfulness or lack thereof and mine either encourages or discourages others’ faithfulness.
But what does it mean to be faithful?
The Jewish prophet Micah summed it up nicely when he said, “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.” The Lord Jesus Christ summarized all the commandments by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
There are some folks in the Presbyterian Church who wish we would require leaders (Ministers and Elders and Deacons) to agree to a list of essential tenets of the Reformed faith, but the church keeps always resists that. Why? Because we want to be open to diversity, even theological diversity. We value freedom of conscience, so we ask leaders, “Do you sincerely receive the essential tenets of the Christian faith as expressed in the Confessions of our church as authentic and reliable?” And we do not get any more specific than that.
In my sister’s Baptist Church, everyone who joins the church must sign that they affirm the New Hampshire Confession of Faith from 1853. They believe in confronting those who are not living according to that statement and they remove from membership those who do not submit to their guidance.
I believe stories like this one of Peter teach us to be careful in pronouncing particulars about what we believe is God’s way. Peter thought God way was to be circumcised and to eat only kosher. Peter was not wrong about those being effective ways for the Hebrew people to identify themselves as God’s people and to keep their faith as Jews. But God was doing something new with the Christians. And Peter got the “open-your-mind” message in a vision. He got it in the coming of the Spirit to Gentiles – people toward whom his mind was previously closed. And the question he asked his friends, the ones who would doubt his judgment, was “Who was I that I should hinder God?”
I pray we will always have our minds open to the new things God wants to do among us. One of the key phrases of our tradition is this: “We are Reformed and always being reformed according to the will of God.”
So let us be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains fall out. (Stephen A. Kallis, Jr. or Richard Dawkins) Let us reform according to the will of God.
Now not all changes are good changes, but in Peter’s case, this radical change – opening the church to Gentiles – was required by the Spirit of God, who was doing a new thing for all people. So today, when we examine the changes we might need to make, let us not simple equate progress and change. Traditions which help us in living according to faith, which guide our relationships in faithful directions, which support us in being true to the Christian faith are not to be tossed away simply because they are dated. But let us remember with Peter that all people can have the repentance that leads to life.
So let us listen to the Spirit of Jesus Christ who tells us to love all neighbors – those who are like us and those who are different from us. Let us have open minds toward all the people God may be calling. Let’s enjoy our eclectic blend of music and liturgy and sacraments, worship leaders, and even worship apparel. People might say, “Why did we sing that Baptist piece? Why did we say that Catholic prayer? Why are you wearing that Episcopalian dog collar? And I will say, “Who are we to hinder God?”
Let us be open to what God may want do in the church. Be open to Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestant – the three major branches of the Christian faith. Be open to conservative evangelicals and social justice liberals. Be open to persons from all countries and cultures, not just your fellow citizens in the USA. Be open and respectful to Republicans and to Democrats. Be open to persons from all ages, races, socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Learn from them. Be open to persons of other faiths – Jews, Muslims, and others – while still affirming your own Christian faith. Be open to all that God intends to do through you and through people different from you. Because who are we to hinder God?
5th Sunday of Easter
Elizabeth M. Deibert
I wonder how many times you have changed your mind about something. I am not talking about the little things – like whether to eat chicken or fish or to go to this movie or that one. I mean over time, you changed your mind, opened your mind, listened in a new way to ideas which may have at first made you uncomfortable.
Some of you grew up thinking that people of mixed races should not marry. Sit-ins happened in the 1960's in the south because then and there, it was not acceptable mix races in restaurants. Hard to believe. We’ve changed our minds about these things.
Many of you who grew up Catholic were not allowed to go to a Protestant worship service or certainly not to receive the Sacrament with us. We’re very glad you’ve changed your minds about that.
As I mentioned last week, our attitudes about homosexuality have changed over the last twenty years. Much more open and respectful.
Our thoughts about the right way to discipline children have changed. I remember getting a paddling from a teacher in seventh grade for a minor offense. That would never happen today.
Recycling. I remember just a few years ago I used to think it was a hassle to wash out plastic and glass containers for recycling. Now I do it without thinking.
Peter had a big moment of mind-changing, and it took his influence, along with Paul’s, to change a lot of other Jewish minds about the Gentiles. It may sound like no big deal to you, but for a Jewish person to eat with a Gentile in their day was a big – no, a huge deal. It was to go against all they had been taught, all they stood for, all they knew about the way they identified themselves with the Lord of heaven and earth.
Hear the story of the opening of Peter’s mind:
NRS Acts 11:1 Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3 saying "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them" 4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5 "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. 6 As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' 8 But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' 9 But a second time the voice answered from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' 10 This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 11 At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. 13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" 18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."
This was the first big fight in the early church, and I’m sorry to say that the church has been arguing ever since. Arguing over the issue of purity, of what it means to live a holy life, arguing over who is in and who is out, and what is required of those who want to be in. I mean there have to be some rules, don’t there? We can’t just say “anything goes.” Well, in the Presbyterian Church (USA) members are asked three questions, “Do you trust in Jesus Christ, do you say no to evil, and do you promise to be involved?” We do not ask how much money will you give or whether your lifestyle measures up or whether you’ve had some particular experience of the Holy.
We do not exclude based on anything unrelated to basic Christian faith. Yet, it must be said that it matters how you live. Your faithfulness or lack thereof and mine either encourages or discourages others’ faithfulness.
But what does it mean to be faithful?
The Jewish prophet Micah summed it up nicely when he said, “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.” The Lord Jesus Christ summarized all the commandments by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
There are some folks in the Presbyterian Church who wish we would require leaders (Ministers and Elders and Deacons) to agree to a list of essential tenets of the Reformed faith, but the church keeps always resists that. Why? Because we want to be open to diversity, even theological diversity. We value freedom of conscience, so we ask leaders, “Do you sincerely receive the essential tenets of the Christian faith as expressed in the Confessions of our church as authentic and reliable?” And we do not get any more specific than that.
In my sister’s Baptist Church, everyone who joins the church must sign that they affirm the New Hampshire Confession of Faith from 1853. They believe in confronting those who are not living according to that statement and they remove from membership those who do not submit to their guidance.
I believe stories like this one of Peter teach us to be careful in pronouncing particulars about what we believe is God’s way. Peter thought God way was to be circumcised and to eat only kosher. Peter was not wrong about those being effective ways for the Hebrew people to identify themselves as God’s people and to keep their faith as Jews. But God was doing something new with the Christians. And Peter got the “open-your-mind” message in a vision. He got it in the coming of the Spirit to Gentiles – people toward whom his mind was previously closed. And the question he asked his friends, the ones who would doubt his judgment, was “Who was I that I should hinder God?”
I pray we will always have our minds open to the new things God wants to do among us. One of the key phrases of our tradition is this: “We are Reformed and always being reformed according to the will of God.”
So let us be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains fall out. (Stephen A. Kallis, Jr. or Richard Dawkins) Let us reform according to the will of God.
Now not all changes are good changes, but in Peter’s case, this radical change – opening the church to Gentiles – was required by the Spirit of God, who was doing a new thing for all people. So today, when we examine the changes we might need to make, let us not simple equate progress and change. Traditions which help us in living according to faith, which guide our relationships in faithful directions, which support us in being true to the Christian faith are not to be tossed away simply because they are dated. But let us remember with Peter that all people can have the repentance that leads to life.
So let us listen to the Spirit of Jesus Christ who tells us to love all neighbors – those who are like us and those who are different from us. Let us have open minds toward all the people God may be calling. Let’s enjoy our eclectic blend of music and liturgy and sacraments, worship leaders, and even worship apparel. People might say, “Why did we sing that Baptist piece? Why did we say that Catholic prayer? Why are you wearing that Episcopalian dog collar? And I will say, “Who are we to hinder God?”
Let us be open to what God may want do in the church. Be open to Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestant – the three major branches of the Christian faith. Be open to conservative evangelicals and social justice liberals. Be open to persons from all countries and cultures, not just your fellow citizens in the USA. Be open and respectful to Republicans and to Democrats. Be open to persons from all ages, races, socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Learn from them. Be open to persons of other faiths – Jews, Muslims, and others – while still affirming your own Christian faith. Be open to all that God intends to do through you and through people different from you. Because who are we to hinder God?
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