Acts 9:1-22
4th Sunday of Easter
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Richard, Rebecca, and I watched a movie this week called, The Boy in Striped Pajamas. The story is of two little boys, one the son of a Nazi officer who has no idea what his father does and the other a Jewish boy inside the work camp. He doesn’t understand why his relatives keep disappearing. The little fellows demonstrate by their secret friendship through the fence how very sad it was for German Christians to be threatened by Jews, to hate Jews, to exterminate Jews.
Saul, the main character in our scripture today, was a faithful Jew who felt threatened by Christians, who hated Christians, who exterminated Christians. Two chapters later, something shocking happens. Saul has a personal encounter with the Risen Lord of the Christians. Hear the story:
NRS Acts 9:1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 5 He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one.
8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." 11 The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." 13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; 16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."
17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." 21 All who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?" 22 Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.
Saul, whose name was later changed to Paul, was “a Hebrew born of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Phil 3:5-6) He was a not an ordinary Jew. He was a Shammaite, the strictest of branch of Pharisees. ( N.T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said) He was much less tolerant of the Christians than his own teacher, Gamaliel. He believed the Christians were “renegade Jews leading Israel away from true loyalty to the one true God.” (Wright) To be zealous then in Paul’s day was to be extremist, militant, not just eager, as we sometimes interpret that word. Paul is the last person you think the Lord Jesus would call to serve the church as he did. How could Christ make such a risky and ridiculous choice of a man who was working overtime to shut down the early church?
I guess God calls those whom God wishes to call. For generations since Paul, the church has struggled to understand our role in affirming and stewarding the choices God makes in calling people. We are supporting Kim Adams, whom we believe God has called, but if Kim had come to us fifty years ago, we would have been suspect of her, as many were of our Sarasota friend, Marg Towner, the first female Minister in the Presbyterian Church, who attended our charter service, by the way. For the last twenty years (the entire time since Richard and I were ordained), the church has struggled to sort out whether God can call persons who are practicing homosexuals in a covenantal relationship to serve as elder, deacon, or minister. And while the church’s official position is “no” we are very divided over that, as is our culture and much of the rest of the church.
Thinking through the lens of this story, who are we, to judge a call? Are we ourselves deserving of a call? Saul was certainly not deserving, but look at what God did with him in this dramatic experience, a conversion which matched his personality – intense. He encounters the Risen Lord, in blinding light and commanding voice, “Why are you persecuting me?” Saul responds, “Who are you, Lord?” Jesus Christ blinded him to help him see. Blinded him to humble him. Blinded him to make him utterly dependent on the people he hated. Blinded him to help him see. For three days, Paul saw nothing, ate nothing, drank nothing.
Now let’s think about Ananias (change slide) See this wonderful image of Ananias laying hands on Paul. What must he have thought when God told him to go offer support to someone who’s been trying to kill him. This would be like telling you to go talk to an Islamic terrorist. Can you see yourself doing that?
God says, “Go talk to him. He’s praying right now and he’s seen a vision that you are coming to restore his sight.” Ananias argues a little. I would have too. But the Lord says to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kinds and before the people Israel.” Now that took some serious faith and courage, doing what Ananias did.
Ananias even approaches him warmly saying, “Brother Saul” “There are few more dramatic pictures of the reconciling power of the risen Christ. The persecuted Ananias, in the power of the risen Christ calling his former persecutor, ‘Brother.’” (Chuck Campbell, The Lectionary Commentary) Ananias apparently did not need to be blinded to get his eyes opened to the fact that Christ could call whomever Christ wanted to call. Ananias was receptive to the work of Christ’s living Spirit.
How could they possibly rush to baptize Paul though? I mean, really. Did he not need to prove he was safe, prove he was a real convert and not a spy? I guess the combination of Saul’s humility and Ananias’ peaceful approach and the healing power which brought back Saul’s sight were convincing enough. So Saul is baptized, he’s offered food, perhaps his first communion, and he regains strength and nurture in this courageously open Christian community.
Can you imagine the look on people’s faces – Jews and Christians alike – when the chief persecutor of Christians – walks into the synagogue proclaiming “Christ is the Son of God.” Talk about open eyes. They would have had wide open, glaring eyes. What is this? How can this be happening? What a transformation of character!
Are your eyes open to all that the Spirit of the Living Christ wants to do in you? Are your eyes open to all that the Spirit of the Living Christ can do in others? Never, ever write anyone off, as beyond help, beyond God’s redeeming power. Imagine the peace, if we could only see!
God, give us vision to see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly. Help us to see what you are doing, even among those we scorn, among those we see as enemies. Propel us to “extend hospitality to strangers, to live in harmony with one another, to never repay evil for evil, but so far as it depends on us, live peaceably with all.” (from Romans 12) Bless us with Christ’s eyes, eyes that truly open to know all your people on this earth as valuable and worthy of care. “O God, be thou our wisdom and thou our true word, still be our vision, O Ruler of all.” (from the hymn Be Thou My Vision)
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Between Knowing and Loving: Serving
John 21:1-19
3rd Sunday of Easter
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Do you know the commercial where the young couple is sitting in a restaurant and the girl says, “I love you!” with feeling and the guy tries to say it back and cannot get the word “love” out. He stutters, he stumbles, and then the server comes back and asks him if he’d like a beer and he says smoothly, “I’d love one.” While this commercial irritates me because it is one of several which advertise beer by demonstrating that the guy loves his beer more than his companion. However, I do agree that saying “I love you” should really mean something. We often throw the love word around too loosely, as if it means very little. Jesus makes it clear that loving him means being willing to serve.
In the last of our resurrection narratives for the Easter season, the disciples recognize Jesus by his service to them – he helps them catch and cook fish. Just as we have seen in so many of the appearance narratives, the Risen Christ is not immediately recognized or known. He calls Mary by name and she realizes he’s not the gardener. He breaks bread with Cleopas and another and they suddenly know him. He walks through doors and says, “Peace to you” and the disciples know. He says to Thomas, “Touch my hands and my side,” and Thomas then calls him “Lord and God.”
In today story, we see that recognition, knowing is not enough. Peter had failed to love Christ when he got arrested. After promising to follow him, even to death, Peter denied even knowing him three times on the night before Jesus died. So the heart-wrenching scene in this story from John is Jesus’ three-fold question, “Peter, do you love me?”
Hear the narrative and be shaped by the Word of God speaking to you:
NRS John 21:1 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No." 6 He said to them, cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. 9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16 A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."
Have you ever put your clothes on and then jumped into the water? I think Peter was so excited that he was seeing Jesus risen from the dead, that’s what he did. The other disciples stayed in the boat, but Peter was eager to get to the shore and I guess he thought it was more polite to greet Jesus with his clothes on. I’m glad you also wore your clothes today to greet the Lord in worship.
How many of you have eaten fish for breakfast? It was not strange in Jesus’ time to eat fish for breakfast. The disciples were always fishing and Jesus was always helping them when they had trouble with their fishing.
However you spend your time – doing school work, trying to get along with your friends, brothers and sisters without arguing, dealing with challenges at work or at home...I think Jesus comes alongside you to help. Jesus helped the disciples catch 153 fish –more than they needed. But then after breakfast he asked Simon Peter, “Do you love me, Peter?” I can imagine Jesus saying, “Peter, you let me down three times before the cock crowed, just as I predicted you would. You let me down at the worst time. Now I need three reassurances that you can be trusted when you say that you love me. Saying that you love me doesn’t mean much if there nothing behind those words.”
Oh how often do we claim to love, but our actions betray our lack of true commitment. In 1 John 3:18, we hear “let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” Are you serving those closest to you? Do you watch them closely to see what you can do to help. Golden retrievers pay close attention to the ones they love. Are you smarter than a golden retriever. Pay attention to others. Love in truth and action – those close to you and far away. How many
times have I said I care about the injustice experienced by Florida farm workers, but I did nothing. God may not be calling you today to the march, but God is calling me.
I was flipping through one of the many catalogs of Christian resources that arrive in the mailbox each week and I saw a new book called “The Christian Atheist”. That title caught my attention. “The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as If He Doesn’t Exist.” That’s what we do much of the time – live as if God doesn’t exist. 1 John says, “We know love by this: that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” And if we are not actively building up the disciplines of the Christian life, we will not have strength to love well.
Richard and have been married twenty-five years in July, but we are only beginning to understand what love is. Oh, I’m sure we said it many times, lustily, when we were dating and newly wed, “I love you” but what we really meant was “I want you,” not “I love you.” I want you for what you can do for me.
Jesus is saying to us like he said to Peter, “Do you love me?” And we say, “Of course we do.” We love you for what you can do for us. And he says, “What are you doing to show your love?” He says, “I told you the greatest commandment was to love God and love your neighbor. I showed you what love looks like. It involves sacrificing for others. Feeding, tending, taking care of those whom I love,” That’s what Jesus says.
And what did Jesus say about the flock of one hundred sheep? If one is lost, leave the 99 and go find and help that one. Tend my sheep. Feed my lambs. But we cannot tend every lost sheep and feed every hungry person in the world, Lord. No, we can’t, but God puts some of them in our neighborhoods so we’d better think about tending our neighbors. And God often put a burden on us about some who are far away and we had better pay attention to them too.
Okay, so what about the reactionary relationships of our lives, where there is already injury and bitterness. How do we tend those sheep? Just like a loving parent counts to ten in order to calm down and avoid abusive words or actions with a child. If you’re out of control, remove yourself from the intensity. The best way to love someone with whom you are angry is to limit your time with that person because you will not be able to love well, except with some emotional distance. Pray for the person, and if you cannot pray pure prayers for the person (if anger rages) then pray for yourself to have a pure heart. Pray that forgiveness for that person will fill your heart as fully as you have been forgiven. This is hard work, but fruitful.
Peter knows Christ. Peter says he loves Christ, but Christ calls him to follow him in serving, in feeding, in tending the sheep. I love the way the 1998 Catechism of the Presbyterian Church invites us to think about the needy: The hungry need bread, the homeless need a roof, the oppressed need justice, and the lonely need fellowship. At the same time - on another and deeper level - the hopeless need hope, sinners need forgiveness, and the world needs the gospel. On this level no one is excluded, and all the needy are one. Our mission as the church is to bring hope to a desperate world by declaring God’s undying love – as one beggar tells another where to find bread. That’s our calling to serve the needy.
While caring for some of the neediest people on earth Mother Teresa entered one hovel where she confronted children with hollow eyes and emaciated parents. They hadn’t eaten in days. Mother Teresa had brought to the family a small portion of rice. When she presented the rice to the mother, the mother divided it into two equal parts, and then rose to leave the room. “Where are you going?” she asked. The woman answered “Next door they are hungry also.” Sometimes the most desperate people have the most compassion. Those with the lowest income give
the highest percentage of their income to charity.
There are three qualities that for me define the kind of service Christ calls us to exercise in order to demonstrate our love. Three words which begin with “C”
The first is compassion. This requires having a heart that is soft toward others, a heart that cares. You have to notice people and have the desire to help. If you are a person who never notices a person is struggling, if you have a hard time putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, if you tend to think people should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps, they should just get with the program, then pray for compassion. Compassion means literally, “suffering with” It is part of the discipline of caring – thinking about the suffering of others enough to suffer along
with them.
The second quality is control, self-control because tending to people is messy. Most of the mess is created by our lack of self-control. Control your impulses. Control your appetite – your appetite for self-satisfaction. Control your temper. Control your tongue, for it is like a fire, the book of James tells us. Control your selfishness which leads you away from loving service to others. There’s not time for every thing you want to do, if you are doing everything Christ calls you to do. Matthew 25 tells us every time we care for someone in need, we are doing it for Christ. Self-control also means not rushing forward too fast in any relationship, promising beyond our capacity to give. Some of us might be strong in compassion or strong in self-control but perhaps we are weak in contrition.
The third attribute needed for being a loving servant of Christ is contrition, being truly sorry for our sin. Peter denied Christ three times and then he heard the cock crow and he went out and wept bitterly. When have you wept over your sin? When have you really cared that you personally have wounded someone deeply? What’s worse, you may not even know how badly you wounded them. You probably think they should just get over it. If I hurt you or routinely irritate you, if I lie to you, if I break my promise to you, if I refuse to serve you, if I am unkind or impatient or critical of you, then I do not love you as I should. Period. And every week in the prayer of confession, we do not even begin to scratch the surface of confessing what we need to confess for the way we treat one another. “If we think that we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John1:8
We may be able to recognize Jesus Christ. We may know at some level who he is, but until we grow in serving others with compassion, control, and contrition, do we begin to truly love Christ. Christ did not say tend your sheep, but tend my sheep – that flock includes but goes beyond our own nuclear family, our own church, community, and country. All those lambs lost in the woods of pleasure-seeking self-absorption, and all those sheep hungry for food and hungry for hope belong to Christ. And we are called to care.
Lord, fill us with compassion, help us harness self-control, and make us contrite, so we may truly love you by serving others generously.
3rd Sunday of Easter
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Do you know the commercial where the young couple is sitting in a restaurant and the girl says, “I love you!” with feeling and the guy tries to say it back and cannot get the word “love” out. He stutters, he stumbles, and then the server comes back and asks him if he’d like a beer and he says smoothly, “I’d love one.” While this commercial irritates me because it is one of several which advertise beer by demonstrating that the guy loves his beer more than his companion. However, I do agree that saying “I love you” should really mean something. We often throw the love word around too loosely, as if it means very little. Jesus makes it clear that loving him means being willing to serve.
In the last of our resurrection narratives for the Easter season, the disciples recognize Jesus by his service to them – he helps them catch and cook fish. Just as we have seen in so many of the appearance narratives, the Risen Christ is not immediately recognized or known. He calls Mary by name and she realizes he’s not the gardener. He breaks bread with Cleopas and another and they suddenly know him. He walks through doors and says, “Peace to you” and the disciples know. He says to Thomas, “Touch my hands and my side,” and Thomas then calls him “Lord and God.”
In today story, we see that recognition, knowing is not enough. Peter had failed to love Christ when he got arrested. After promising to follow him, even to death, Peter denied even knowing him three times on the night before Jesus died. So the heart-wrenching scene in this story from John is Jesus’ three-fold question, “Peter, do you love me?”
Hear the narrative and be shaped by the Word of God speaking to you:
NRS John 21:1 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No." 6 He said to them, cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. 9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16 A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."
Have you ever put your clothes on and then jumped into the water? I think Peter was so excited that he was seeing Jesus risen from the dead, that’s what he did. The other disciples stayed in the boat, but Peter was eager to get to the shore and I guess he thought it was more polite to greet Jesus with his clothes on. I’m glad you also wore your clothes today to greet the Lord in worship.
How many of you have eaten fish for breakfast? It was not strange in Jesus’ time to eat fish for breakfast. The disciples were always fishing and Jesus was always helping them when they had trouble with their fishing.
However you spend your time – doing school work, trying to get along with your friends, brothers and sisters without arguing, dealing with challenges at work or at home...I think Jesus comes alongside you to help. Jesus helped the disciples catch 153 fish –more than they needed. But then after breakfast he asked Simon Peter, “Do you love me, Peter?” I can imagine Jesus saying, “Peter, you let me down three times before the cock crowed, just as I predicted you would. You let me down at the worst time. Now I need three reassurances that you can be trusted when you say that you love me. Saying that you love me doesn’t mean much if there nothing behind those words.”
Oh how often do we claim to love, but our actions betray our lack of true commitment. In 1 John 3:18, we hear “let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” Are you serving those closest to you? Do you watch them closely to see what you can do to help. Golden retrievers pay close attention to the ones they love. Are you smarter than a golden retriever. Pay attention to others. Love in truth and action – those close to you and far away. How many
times have I said I care about the injustice experienced by Florida farm workers, but I did nothing. God may not be calling you today to the march, but God is calling me.
I was flipping through one of the many catalogs of Christian resources that arrive in the mailbox each week and I saw a new book called “The Christian Atheist”. That title caught my attention. “The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as If He Doesn’t Exist.” That’s what we do much of the time – live as if God doesn’t exist. 1 John says, “We know love by this: that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” And if we are not actively building up the disciplines of the Christian life, we will not have strength to love well.
Richard and have been married twenty-five years in July, but we are only beginning to understand what love is. Oh, I’m sure we said it many times, lustily, when we were dating and newly wed, “I love you” but what we really meant was “I want you,” not “I love you.” I want you for what you can do for me.
Jesus is saying to us like he said to Peter, “Do you love me?” And we say, “Of course we do.” We love you for what you can do for us. And he says, “What are you doing to show your love?” He says, “I told you the greatest commandment was to love God and love your neighbor. I showed you what love looks like. It involves sacrificing for others. Feeding, tending, taking care of those whom I love,” That’s what Jesus says.
And what did Jesus say about the flock of one hundred sheep? If one is lost, leave the 99 and go find and help that one. Tend my sheep. Feed my lambs. But we cannot tend every lost sheep and feed every hungry person in the world, Lord. No, we can’t, but God puts some of them in our neighborhoods so we’d better think about tending our neighbors. And God often put a burden on us about some who are far away and we had better pay attention to them too.
Okay, so what about the reactionary relationships of our lives, where there is already injury and bitterness. How do we tend those sheep? Just like a loving parent counts to ten in order to calm down and avoid abusive words or actions with a child. If you’re out of control, remove yourself from the intensity. The best way to love someone with whom you are angry is to limit your time with that person because you will not be able to love well, except with some emotional distance. Pray for the person, and if you cannot pray pure prayers for the person (if anger rages) then pray for yourself to have a pure heart. Pray that forgiveness for that person will fill your heart as fully as you have been forgiven. This is hard work, but fruitful.
Peter knows Christ. Peter says he loves Christ, but Christ calls him to follow him in serving, in feeding, in tending the sheep. I love the way the 1998 Catechism of the Presbyterian Church invites us to think about the needy: The hungry need bread, the homeless need a roof, the oppressed need justice, and the lonely need fellowship. At the same time - on another and deeper level - the hopeless need hope, sinners need forgiveness, and the world needs the gospel. On this level no one is excluded, and all the needy are one. Our mission as the church is to bring hope to a desperate world by declaring God’s undying love – as one beggar tells another where to find bread. That’s our calling to serve the needy.
While caring for some of the neediest people on earth Mother Teresa entered one hovel where she confronted children with hollow eyes and emaciated parents. They hadn’t eaten in days. Mother Teresa had brought to the family a small portion of rice. When she presented the rice to the mother, the mother divided it into two equal parts, and then rose to leave the room. “Where are you going?” she asked. The woman answered “Next door they are hungry also.” Sometimes the most desperate people have the most compassion. Those with the lowest income give
the highest percentage of their income to charity.
There are three qualities that for me define the kind of service Christ calls us to exercise in order to demonstrate our love. Three words which begin with “C”
The first is compassion. This requires having a heart that is soft toward others, a heart that cares. You have to notice people and have the desire to help. If you are a person who never notices a person is struggling, if you have a hard time putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, if you tend to think people should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps, they should just get with the program, then pray for compassion. Compassion means literally, “suffering with” It is part of the discipline of caring – thinking about the suffering of others enough to suffer along
with them.
The second quality is control, self-control because tending to people is messy. Most of the mess is created by our lack of self-control. Control your impulses. Control your appetite – your appetite for self-satisfaction. Control your temper. Control your tongue, for it is like a fire, the book of James tells us. Control your selfishness which leads you away from loving service to others. There’s not time for every thing you want to do, if you are doing everything Christ calls you to do. Matthew 25 tells us every time we care for someone in need, we are doing it for Christ. Self-control also means not rushing forward too fast in any relationship, promising beyond our capacity to give. Some of us might be strong in compassion or strong in self-control but perhaps we are weak in contrition.
The third attribute needed for being a loving servant of Christ is contrition, being truly sorry for our sin. Peter denied Christ three times and then he heard the cock crow and he went out and wept bitterly. When have you wept over your sin? When have you really cared that you personally have wounded someone deeply? What’s worse, you may not even know how badly you wounded them. You probably think they should just get over it. If I hurt you or routinely irritate you, if I lie to you, if I break my promise to you, if I refuse to serve you, if I am unkind or impatient or critical of you, then I do not love you as I should. Period. And every week in the prayer of confession, we do not even begin to scratch the surface of confessing what we need to confess for the way we treat one another. “If we think that we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John1:8
We may be able to recognize Jesus Christ. We may know at some level who he is, but until we grow in serving others with compassion, control, and contrition, do we begin to truly love Christ. Christ did not say tend your sheep, but tend my sheep – that flock includes but goes beyond our own nuclear family, our own church, community, and country. All those lambs lost in the woods of pleasure-seeking self-absorption, and all those sheep hungry for food and hungry for hope belong to Christ. And we are called to care.
Lord, fill us with compassion, help us harness self-control, and make us contrite, so we may truly love you by serving others generously.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Between Doubt and Faith: Peace
John 20:19-31
2nd Sunday of Easter
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Andrew came home from school Friday and said to me, “Mom, in English class we’re reading a book about the Holocaust called Night.” I said “Very significant book, Andrew. What do you think of it?” And though he’s only read two chapters, the book has affected him, as it has so many others. He hit the nail on the head when he asked, “How can you keep your faith in God when you see babies and small children being thrown into the furnace?” Yes, how?
How can you believe in the day when it is night all around, endless night? Great question. Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day and we pray for all who continue to struggle to believe in the goodness of the God of Israel because of the horrors of Holocaust.
Today is also the second Sunday of Easter. How can you believe in the Resurrection when all you see is death all around? Some of us have trouble believing, and all of us have doubts sometimes. Every year on Second Sunday of Easter, we are invited to live in the tandem of doubt and faith with Thomas. Doubting Thomas is called, but he is also the one who said, “My Lord and my God!” All of us appreciate first-hand experience, not just hearsay. “You might have seen Jesus, but I haven’t and I will not believe until I do.”
There are many people these days who find themselves caught between faith and doubt. Questions about the existence of a loving God raised by the Holocaust and other tragedies. Disillusionment about the hypocrisy and the cover-up of sinful behavior in the church - especially among church leaders. Concern about how live respectfully with persons of other faiths while still having confidence in your own faith.
This narrative of John helps us to touch and see Jesus and to know that between our faith and our doubting, Jesus is extending peace to us, is blessing us, not condemning us. Blessing us with peace, calling us to be filled with Holy Spirit, to believe and to live.
Hear the word of the Lord:
NRS John 20:19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples ejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Our business cards say “Peace to you” Our signs say “Peace to you.” Our recycable grocery bags say “Peace to you” I hope this community all around us is getting the message that we are a congregation eager to extend the peace of Christ -not a peace blessing that is contingent upon have like-minded faith, but a peace that goes beyond having a similar faith, a peace that goes beyond having similar socio-economic or educational backgrounds, similar nationality or ethnicity or anything else which we use to define ourselves. Jesus extended peace to all people, and only offered challenge or rebuke to those who would mistreat or take advantage of others, those who thought too highly of themselves and those who would cling to tightly to bitterness or to money.
One of the most frustrating things about being in professional ministry is this: I cannot identify myself as a pastor early in a conversation with a stranger without risking being identified with all kind of things with which that I don’t intend to associate myself – judgmental attitudes about people’s lifestyle, rigid
exclusivism - you know thinking we are the only ones on the true path to God. And lest I really feel sorry for myself, I should remember how much worse it would be if I were a Catholic priest. There is an enormous tide of doubt about Christians, imperfect as we are, sinful as we are. Much of the skepticism about us we have earned, but some of it is just by unfair association, prejudice it is sometimes called.
Our job to is find a way through the closed door of the public’s heart, where people are hiding in fear and doubt. We scare people. They are scared we will judge them, scared we will betray them, scared we will ask too much of them, maybe scared that their questions will scare us.
I may have told some of you this story before, but I’ll must tell it again. Richard and I were leading our first worship service with the Immanuel New Church Development – first worship for the congregation, first worship we had ever led. I wasn’t even finished with seminary yet. Richard preached a compelling sermon on Easter Sunday. And at the end of the service as we welcomed everyone, octogenarian Civil Rights leader Virginia Durr, who had bailed Rosa Parks out of jail raised her hand and said, “May I say something?” I said “sure” and she said, “I don’t believe in the Resurrection.” Without hesitation, Richard said something like, “Okay, Virginia. Thomas had his doubts too. Let’s talk about that in our adult class after worship.” It is crucial for the church to give people space to ask their questions, to share their doubts and fears, to honestly struggle together between doubt and faith in the peaceful and open Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Christ said that as his Father sent him, so He sends us. And he breathes into us his Spirit and calls us to forgive others and to extend his peace and his Spirit of love, his life to all the world.
We cannot convince the skeptics of the world that this news of Jesus Christ is good, but we can only do our very best to live a Spirit-filled life in the midst of faith and doubt – theirs and sometimes our own – and watch for Christ’s appearance and his message of peace to all of us. The risen Christ says “Receive the Holy Spirit” and I do believe that our receptiveness to the Spirit in every area of our lives, in every cell of our body, in every neuron of our mind, and in every fearful, dark corner of our soul is the key to living the peace-giving life for the world.
“Peace to you.” For Jesus and the disciples, this was a common greeting among the Jews. Shalom. Deep peace, wholeness, health, well-being rooted in God. Christ enters through locked doors twice in this story. He says, “Peace to you” three times. He is not the least bit put-off by Thomas’ desire to touch and see his real body with its real wounds. Think about this risen Christ having a real body with visible signs of his real death. I wonder what that means about our bodies when we are raised with Christ in the final days. Will we be physically recognizable? Will our wounds be healed yet still visible as scars, as Jesus’ were?
Christ invites the intimacy of Thomas’ touch, allows him to satisfy his need for evidence. But he encourages his trust. “Do not doubt but believe.” And Thomas now believing says, “My Lord and my God.” Thomas announces that Jesus is his human master and his divine God. His disbelief becomes a confirmation, a profound affirmation of faith. And what is most amazing is that Jesus then says that we are more blessed than Thomas who had this amazing moment of seeing Christ. We who believe now are MORE blessed than they who saw and touched the real evidence. How could Jesus possibly say such a thing? We are more blessed? He anticipates the generations which come after the eye witnesses.
Faith without evidence. That’s trust. We have two daughters in college. We cannot see what they are doing on a daily basis. There is no evidence, other than end of semester transcripts, a few friendly phone calls, and a reasonably sound bank account – that they are living responsibly. But we trust that they are. If you need evidence for believing in someone, then you have no trust in the person. Faith without evidence is a deeper trust than faith with evidence.
How does one build trust in a person? By spending time in the person’s presence, getting to know the person’s true character, and then practicing that trust by exercising it. Now translate that to your relationship with Christ. Spend time in Christ’s presence – worship. Get to know Christ’s true character – read the scriptures and pray. Practice trust – live according to Christ’s teaching despite your doubt. Yes, don’t wait for doubt to go away. Engage the faith with your doubt.
With peace engage the tandem of doubt and faith together. I doubt I’ll have enough time for all I need to do, but I’ll serve others first anyway. I doubt I’ll have enough money this year, but I trust in Christ enough to keep giving generously. I doubt that the principles of loving enemies and praying for those who persecute you really work in international affairs or my own personal, but I believe in Christ enough to try. I doubt that the church can help the world overcome the big issues of poverty and injustice, but I have faith that every effort is worth improving dignity of one person. We may not see evidence that our efforts make a difference, but we keep doing what is right because of our faith.
What evidence do we have that someone who dies is not gone forever? What evidence do we have that we will be reunited one day? No hard and fast evidence – the kind the world likes. But we are blessed, ever more blessed to believe in the Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting with no evidence but the witness of scripture, the church through the generations, and our faith. In the tandem of our faith and our doubt, in the darkest nights of separation and fear, we have peace because Christ is here among us, even though we cannot physically see or touch as Thomas did. Nevertheless, we hear his truth, we feel his Spirit, and we taste his goodness. And we believe, and in believing we live. We really live here and now and we live with Christ into eternity. And that life overcomes all deadness.
2nd Sunday of Easter
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Andrew came home from school Friday and said to me, “Mom, in English class we’re reading a book about the Holocaust called Night.” I said “Very significant book, Andrew. What do you think of it?” And though he’s only read two chapters, the book has affected him, as it has so many others. He hit the nail on the head when he asked, “How can you keep your faith in God when you see babies and small children being thrown into the furnace?” Yes, how?
How can you believe in the day when it is night all around, endless night? Great question. Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day and we pray for all who continue to struggle to believe in the goodness of the God of Israel because of the horrors of Holocaust.
Today is also the second Sunday of Easter. How can you believe in the Resurrection when all you see is death all around? Some of us have trouble believing, and all of us have doubts sometimes. Every year on Second Sunday of Easter, we are invited to live in the tandem of doubt and faith with Thomas. Doubting Thomas is called, but he is also the one who said, “My Lord and my God!” All of us appreciate first-hand experience, not just hearsay. “You might have seen Jesus, but I haven’t and I will not believe until I do.”
There are many people these days who find themselves caught between faith and doubt. Questions about the existence of a loving God raised by the Holocaust and other tragedies. Disillusionment about the hypocrisy and the cover-up of sinful behavior in the church - especially among church leaders. Concern about how live respectfully with persons of other faiths while still having confidence in your own faith.
This narrative of John helps us to touch and see Jesus and to know that between our faith and our doubting, Jesus is extending peace to us, is blessing us, not condemning us. Blessing us with peace, calling us to be filled with Holy Spirit, to believe and to live.
Hear the word of the Lord:
NRS John 20:19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples ejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." 26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Our business cards say “Peace to you” Our signs say “Peace to you.” Our recycable grocery bags say “Peace to you” I hope this community all around us is getting the message that we are a congregation eager to extend the peace of Christ -not a peace blessing that is contingent upon have like-minded faith, but a peace that goes beyond having a similar faith, a peace that goes beyond having similar socio-economic or educational backgrounds, similar nationality or ethnicity or anything else which we use to define ourselves. Jesus extended peace to all people, and only offered challenge or rebuke to those who would mistreat or take advantage of others, those who thought too highly of themselves and those who would cling to tightly to bitterness or to money.
One of the most frustrating things about being in professional ministry is this: I cannot identify myself as a pastor early in a conversation with a stranger without risking being identified with all kind of things with which that I don’t intend to associate myself – judgmental attitudes about people’s lifestyle, rigid
exclusivism - you know thinking we are the only ones on the true path to God. And lest I really feel sorry for myself, I should remember how much worse it would be if I were a Catholic priest. There is an enormous tide of doubt about Christians, imperfect as we are, sinful as we are. Much of the skepticism about us we have earned, but some of it is just by unfair association, prejudice it is sometimes called.
Our job to is find a way through the closed door of the public’s heart, where people are hiding in fear and doubt. We scare people. They are scared we will judge them, scared we will betray them, scared we will ask too much of them, maybe scared that their questions will scare us.
I may have told some of you this story before, but I’ll must tell it again. Richard and I were leading our first worship service with the Immanuel New Church Development – first worship for the congregation, first worship we had ever led. I wasn’t even finished with seminary yet. Richard preached a compelling sermon on Easter Sunday. And at the end of the service as we welcomed everyone, octogenarian Civil Rights leader Virginia Durr, who had bailed Rosa Parks out of jail raised her hand and said, “May I say something?” I said “sure” and she said, “I don’t believe in the Resurrection.” Without hesitation, Richard said something like, “Okay, Virginia. Thomas had his doubts too. Let’s talk about that in our adult class after worship.” It is crucial for the church to give people space to ask their questions, to share their doubts and fears, to honestly struggle together between doubt and faith in the peaceful and open Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Christ said that as his Father sent him, so He sends us. And he breathes into us his Spirit and calls us to forgive others and to extend his peace and his Spirit of love, his life to all the world.
We cannot convince the skeptics of the world that this news of Jesus Christ is good, but we can only do our very best to live a Spirit-filled life in the midst of faith and doubt – theirs and sometimes our own – and watch for Christ’s appearance and his message of peace to all of us. The risen Christ says “Receive the Holy Spirit” and I do believe that our receptiveness to the Spirit in every area of our lives, in every cell of our body, in every neuron of our mind, and in every fearful, dark corner of our soul is the key to living the peace-giving life for the world.
“Peace to you.” For Jesus and the disciples, this was a common greeting among the Jews. Shalom. Deep peace, wholeness, health, well-being rooted in God. Christ enters through locked doors twice in this story. He says, “Peace to you” three times. He is not the least bit put-off by Thomas’ desire to touch and see his real body with its real wounds. Think about this risen Christ having a real body with visible signs of his real death. I wonder what that means about our bodies when we are raised with Christ in the final days. Will we be physically recognizable? Will our wounds be healed yet still visible as scars, as Jesus’ were?
Christ invites the intimacy of Thomas’ touch, allows him to satisfy his need for evidence. But he encourages his trust. “Do not doubt but believe.” And Thomas now believing says, “My Lord and my God.” Thomas announces that Jesus is his human master and his divine God. His disbelief becomes a confirmation, a profound affirmation of faith. And what is most amazing is that Jesus then says that we are more blessed than Thomas who had this amazing moment of seeing Christ. We who believe now are MORE blessed than they who saw and touched the real evidence. How could Jesus possibly say such a thing? We are more blessed? He anticipates the generations which come after the eye witnesses.
Faith without evidence. That’s trust. We have two daughters in college. We cannot see what they are doing on a daily basis. There is no evidence, other than end of semester transcripts, a few friendly phone calls, and a reasonably sound bank account – that they are living responsibly. But we trust that they are. If you need evidence for believing in someone, then you have no trust in the person. Faith without evidence is a deeper trust than faith with evidence.
How does one build trust in a person? By spending time in the person’s presence, getting to know the person’s true character, and then practicing that trust by exercising it. Now translate that to your relationship with Christ. Spend time in Christ’s presence – worship. Get to know Christ’s true character – read the scriptures and pray. Practice trust – live according to Christ’s teaching despite your doubt. Yes, don’t wait for doubt to go away. Engage the faith with your doubt.
With peace engage the tandem of doubt and faith together. I doubt I’ll have enough time for all I need to do, but I’ll serve others first anyway. I doubt I’ll have enough money this year, but I trust in Christ enough to keep giving generously. I doubt that the principles of loving enemies and praying for those who persecute you really work in international affairs or my own personal, but I believe in Christ enough to try. I doubt that the church can help the world overcome the big issues of poverty and injustice, but I have faith that every effort is worth improving dignity of one person. We may not see evidence that our efforts make a difference, but we keep doing what is right because of our faith.
What evidence do we have that someone who dies is not gone forever? What evidence do we have that we will be reunited one day? No hard and fast evidence – the kind the world likes. But we are blessed, ever more blessed to believe in the Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting with no evidence but the witness of scripture, the church through the generations, and our faith. In the tandem of our faith and our doubt, in the darkest nights of separation and fear, we have peace because Christ is here among us, even though we cannot physically see or touch as Thomas did. Nevertheless, we hear his truth, we feel his Spirit, and we taste his goodness. And we believe, and in believing we live. We really live here and now and we live with Christ into eternity. And that life overcomes all deadness.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Rejoice
Luke 24
Easter Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
As we journeyed together during the season of Lent, with the intent of renewing our lives in God’s grace, we repented of sin, resisted temptation, returned to the Lord, remembered that God is relentless in love and that we are called to revere God. On Palm Sunday and on Good Friday we reflected on the sacrificial love of Christ and on our responsibility to walk in his merciful and life-giving steps.
All of this repenting, resisting, return, remembering, revering, and reflecting was done in the knowledge that we are Easter people who come to rejoice in the Lord every Resurrection day, every Sunday, even though we know the world is full of Fridays. For every Sunday, there is a Friday. Renewal of life is a process of moving in and out through the sadness, despair, confusion, and disbelief of Friday to the amazement, mystery, recognition, and joy of Sunday.
So today, as we read the entire Resurrection narrative from Luke, in several scenes, I hope that you will find yourselves in the story of the faithful group of women who came to the empty tomb to learn that Christ is risen. Find yourselves journeying with Cleopas and the other one who met Christ on the road to Emmaus. Find yourselves rejoicing, even while disbelieving and wondering, like the disciples and their companions who saw Jesus in Jerusalem. And finally find yourselves worshiping the Lord as you hear how he was carried up into heaven.
Today, as we collect the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering for those who are still living every day a Friday life of crucified dreams, we announce by our offerings that we put our faith in the Resurrection of Sunday. As we live out the Fridays of our own lives – the troubled relationships, the bitterness which sits stubbornly in our hearts, needing to be cleaned out like a festering wound, as we live out the Fridays of discouragement when people disappoint and betray us, the Fridays when we disappoint Christ and betray our own values, when we feel trapped in an existence which we know has more of Friday’s death than Sunday’s new life, then we need the good news, the power of the Resurrection to turn every death-dealing Friday around.
I talked to the Donaldsons yesterday and they testify to the power of your prayers to keep them in the faith of Sunday, even while they live in a desperate Friday of waiting and hoping that their grandchildren temporarily placed in foster care will be released soon to their son and that their daughter-in-law will get the help she needs.
The first story we hear is that of the Empty Tomb – recorded in all four Gospels. Luke’s version emphasizes the presence of many women – more than the three who are named – Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. They come to faithfully take care of Jesus’ dead body, only to discover an empty tomb and hear two men in dazzling clothes say that Christ is risen. These angels challenge the women to remember Christ’s words. The first Resurrection narrative from Luke:
NRS Luke 24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
The eleven did not believe the women. They are like many people today, who need to see with their own eyes. Hearing the good news second-hand is not good enough. Peter went for confirmation of the tomb’s vacancy and was amazed. The excitement begins to escalate. We go from perplexity to terror to disbelief to amazement. Thus begins Luke’s remarkable way of telling the story, such that it mirrors the life of one who grows to faith, meandering from disbelief to faith.
The next scene on that first Easter Day is the Walk to Emmaus story, my favorite of all the Resurrection stories in all the Gospels. Two of Jesus followers take a walk and are joined by a mysterious stranger, who listens, then asks questions, then begins to interpret the scriptures in such a way that their hearts are burning, yearning to continue to spend time with him. They invite him to dinner. Hear the story:
13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" 19 He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." 25 Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?"
It is not the walk as much as the meal, which opens the eyes of the walkers to recognize Jesus. Crucial in this story is the interplay of Word and Sacrament, just as it is crucial to our faith development and is the reason why we have a unity of Word and Sacrament every Sunday, because the real presence of Christ is best experienced in the interpretation of scripture and the coming to the table together.
Finally, Jesus appears to the whole group of apostles and their companions, which surely included some of the women, who were faithful followers. Cleopas has just announced the Emmaus experience they had. The disciples announce that Jesus appeared to Simon Peter, though no details are given. Then Jesus appears, and his first words are one which in the last four years of my life have developed layers of meaning. “Peace be with you.” And they are startled and terrified. Even now they have doubts in their hearts, but Jesus says, “Look, touch, see.” He points them to the wounded parts of his body. He went through death, not around it. And this must be one of the greatest lines in the whole Bible, “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Got some fish to eat?”
Then for the third time the followers of Jesus and we the readers are reminded of the value of interpreting the scriptures, understand God’s word. In particular, Jesus encourages them to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations. Hear the story of Jesus final appearance in Luke:
33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." 50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
After Jesus promises them power from on high, he takes them out to Bethany and blesses them. Then he was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple blessing God. The wide range of emotions for these disciples on the first Easter includes perplexity, terror, penitence, amazement, affection, joy, disbelief, wonder, worship, and rejoicing. And so it is with us, who live 2000 years later – still amazed and perplexed, still wondering and rejoicing.
Rachael is the 10 year old close friend of Elizabeth Tuite and soccer teammate of Kelsey and Rebecca, who has been on our prayer list and in the hospital since Christmas, when she had a severe brain hemorrhage. Short-term memory loss and mobility troubles persist. Rachael came home this week-end for a brief visit before she faces a very delicate but critically important surgery to seal off her aneurysms. Michael, Rachael’s dad writes every two or three days in the Caring Bridge journal about Rachael’s progress, and he always expresses faith in God. This week he expressed the how meaningful it was to have his daughter coming home in this very holy season of Passover and Easter. He speaks of this difficult experience with a sick child as a journey, an increasingly difficult journey.
This Easter narrative is a journey of faith – the women and then Peter journeying to and from the empty tomb, the three journeying to Emmaus, the two running back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples that they had seen the Lord. The disciples going with Jesus out to Bethany, where he then journeyed to heaven. But the journey is not so much about where people go, as it is whom they see and what they come to understand along the way. At the rejoicing heart of our text today is a risen Jesus Christ makes himself known to us in our journeys of faith. Our journeys are the journeys of life and death, of Fridays and Sundays, of doubt and believing.
And at the end of the journey when Jesus is fully known, there is great rejoicing. May it be so, for all of us stuck in Friday despair and even Sunday confusion. May our hearts be warmed by the hearing of the Word and our eyes opened by the breaking of bread. May we be blessed today by a Risen Lord, who knows the depths of human suffering, who says, “Peace be with you.” He is the One who leads us into the peace of our forgiveness and into the grace of our salvation as our minds are opened to understand or more appropriately, to stand under the scriptures.
To stand under them is to marvel in their power to transform us, not to analyze or pick them apart. To stand under them is to be able with those early faithful women and to men to say, “Blessed be the God who raised Jesus from the dead and who leads us into everlasting life. Rejoice. Christ is alive. Rejoice. Death is defeated. Hope is renewed. We still live through our Fridays, but we always know that Sunday’s coming. Hosanna in the highest. Where, O death, is your victory? Where is your sting? Thanks be to God, who give us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia. Alleluia. Give thanks to the risen Lord. Alleluia. Alleluia. Give praise to his name.
Easter Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
As we journeyed together during the season of Lent, with the intent of renewing our lives in God’s grace, we repented of sin, resisted temptation, returned to the Lord, remembered that God is relentless in love and that we are called to revere God. On Palm Sunday and on Good Friday we reflected on the sacrificial love of Christ and on our responsibility to walk in his merciful and life-giving steps.
All of this repenting, resisting, return, remembering, revering, and reflecting was done in the knowledge that we are Easter people who come to rejoice in the Lord every Resurrection day, every Sunday, even though we know the world is full of Fridays. For every Sunday, there is a Friday. Renewal of life is a process of moving in and out through the sadness, despair, confusion, and disbelief of Friday to the amazement, mystery, recognition, and joy of Sunday.
So today, as we read the entire Resurrection narrative from Luke, in several scenes, I hope that you will find yourselves in the story of the faithful group of women who came to the empty tomb to learn that Christ is risen. Find yourselves journeying with Cleopas and the other one who met Christ on the road to Emmaus. Find yourselves rejoicing, even while disbelieving and wondering, like the disciples and their companions who saw Jesus in Jerusalem. And finally find yourselves worshiping the Lord as you hear how he was carried up into heaven.
Today, as we collect the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering for those who are still living every day a Friday life of crucified dreams, we announce by our offerings that we put our faith in the Resurrection of Sunday. As we live out the Fridays of our own lives – the troubled relationships, the bitterness which sits stubbornly in our hearts, needing to be cleaned out like a festering wound, as we live out the Fridays of discouragement when people disappoint and betray us, the Fridays when we disappoint Christ and betray our own values, when we feel trapped in an existence which we know has more of Friday’s death than Sunday’s new life, then we need the good news, the power of the Resurrection to turn every death-dealing Friday around.
I talked to the Donaldsons yesterday and they testify to the power of your prayers to keep them in the faith of Sunday, even while they live in a desperate Friday of waiting and hoping that their grandchildren temporarily placed in foster care will be released soon to their son and that their daughter-in-law will get the help she needs.
The first story we hear is that of the Empty Tomb – recorded in all four Gospels. Luke’s version emphasizes the presence of many women – more than the three who are named – Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. They come to faithfully take care of Jesus’ dead body, only to discover an empty tomb and hear two men in dazzling clothes say that Christ is risen. These angels challenge the women to remember Christ’s words. The first Resurrection narrative from Luke:
NRS Luke 24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
The eleven did not believe the women. They are like many people today, who need to see with their own eyes. Hearing the good news second-hand is not good enough. Peter went for confirmation of the tomb’s vacancy and was amazed. The excitement begins to escalate. We go from perplexity to terror to disbelief to amazement. Thus begins Luke’s remarkable way of telling the story, such that it mirrors the life of one who grows to faith, meandering from disbelief to faith.
The next scene on that first Easter Day is the Walk to Emmaus story, my favorite of all the Resurrection stories in all the Gospels. Two of Jesus followers take a walk and are joined by a mysterious stranger, who listens, then asks questions, then begins to interpret the scriptures in such a way that their hearts are burning, yearning to continue to spend time with him. They invite him to dinner. Hear the story:
13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" 19 He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." 25 Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?"
It is not the walk as much as the meal, which opens the eyes of the walkers to recognize Jesus. Crucial in this story is the interplay of Word and Sacrament, just as it is crucial to our faith development and is the reason why we have a unity of Word and Sacrament every Sunday, because the real presence of Christ is best experienced in the interpretation of scripture and the coming to the table together.
Finally, Jesus appears to the whole group of apostles and their companions, which surely included some of the women, who were faithful followers. Cleopas has just announced the Emmaus experience they had. The disciples announce that Jesus appeared to Simon Peter, though no details are given. Then Jesus appears, and his first words are one which in the last four years of my life have developed layers of meaning. “Peace be with you.” And they are startled and terrified. Even now they have doubts in their hearts, but Jesus says, “Look, touch, see.” He points them to the wounded parts of his body. He went through death, not around it. And this must be one of the greatest lines in the whole Bible, “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Got some fish to eat?”
Then for the third time the followers of Jesus and we the readers are reminded of the value of interpreting the scriptures, understand God’s word. In particular, Jesus encourages them to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations. Hear the story of Jesus final appearance in Luke:
33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." 50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
After Jesus promises them power from on high, he takes them out to Bethany and blesses them. Then he was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple blessing God. The wide range of emotions for these disciples on the first Easter includes perplexity, terror, penitence, amazement, affection, joy, disbelief, wonder, worship, and rejoicing. And so it is with us, who live 2000 years later – still amazed and perplexed, still wondering and rejoicing.
Rachael is the 10 year old close friend of Elizabeth Tuite and soccer teammate of Kelsey and Rebecca, who has been on our prayer list and in the hospital since Christmas, when she had a severe brain hemorrhage. Short-term memory loss and mobility troubles persist. Rachael came home this week-end for a brief visit before she faces a very delicate but critically important surgery to seal off her aneurysms. Michael, Rachael’s dad writes every two or three days in the Caring Bridge journal about Rachael’s progress, and he always expresses faith in God. This week he expressed the how meaningful it was to have his daughter coming home in this very holy season of Passover and Easter. He speaks of this difficult experience with a sick child as a journey, an increasingly difficult journey.
This Easter narrative is a journey of faith – the women and then Peter journeying to and from the empty tomb, the three journeying to Emmaus, the two running back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples that they had seen the Lord. The disciples going with Jesus out to Bethany, where he then journeyed to heaven. But the journey is not so much about where people go, as it is whom they see and what they come to understand along the way. At the rejoicing heart of our text today is a risen Jesus Christ makes himself known to us in our journeys of faith. Our journeys are the journeys of life and death, of Fridays and Sundays, of doubt and believing.
And at the end of the journey when Jesus is fully known, there is great rejoicing. May it be so, for all of us stuck in Friday despair and even Sunday confusion. May our hearts be warmed by the hearing of the Word and our eyes opened by the breaking of bread. May we be blessed today by a Risen Lord, who knows the depths of human suffering, who says, “Peace be with you.” He is the One who leads us into the peace of our forgiveness and into the grace of our salvation as our minds are opened to understand or more appropriately, to stand under the scriptures.
To stand under them is to marvel in their power to transform us, not to analyze or pick them apart. To stand under them is to be able with those early faithful women and to men to say, “Blessed be the God who raised Jesus from the dead and who leads us into everlasting life. Rejoice. Christ is alive. Rejoice. Death is defeated. Hope is renewed. We still live through our Fridays, but we always know that Sunday’s coming. Hosanna in the highest. Where, O death, is your victory? Where is your sting? Thanks be to God, who give us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia. Alleluia. Give thanks to the risen Lord. Alleluia. Alleluia. Give praise to his name.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Reflect
Luke 19:28-28
Palm Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Deliver us from cold hearts and wandering thoughts, that with steady minds and burning zeal we may worship you in spirit and in truth.
He stood in the Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning playing six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed music. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on his meeting.
4 minutes later a woman threw the money in his case and, without stopping, continued to walk. 6 minutes later, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and moved on. After 10 minutes, a 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. Other children paused like this, but every parent forced them on.
After nearly an hour, he finished playing, having collected $32 and no applause. No one knew that this violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
If we do not have a moment to stop, listen, and reflect on one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments .... How many other gifts from God are we failing to notice?
My fear as we begin another Holy Week is that we are walking past the remarkable beauty and wonder of Jesus Christ once again without really paying attention. We’re just spending a few extra hours going to church on Good Friday, but we’re not really stopping to reflect, to be grateful, to be changed by the beauty of One, who had enormous power and relinquished it for the greater good of empowering others.
Hear the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem from Luke Gospel:
[Jesus] went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34 They said, "The Lord needs it." 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." 40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out." 41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God." 45 Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; 46 and he said, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers." 47 Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard. (The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.)
The Palm Sunday story ushers us into Holy Week and the mystery of God’s abundant goodness – that God in human flesh came to liberate us from the death of power-brokering to the life of power-giving. Jesus had achieved a multitude of followers, praising God and calling him King. He did not deny his kingship. In fact, when the Pharisees challenged him to silence his followers, who were shouting, “Blessed is the King!” he said, “If these were quiet, the stones would cry out.” Palm Sunday is a stone-shouting day of gladness!
Luke’s Gospel is the only one that records this line about shouting stones and it ties in beautifully with our Stewardship theme for the year. But notice that Jesus also speaks of the stones being overturned by the people’s inability to recognize their time of visitation by God. Jesus wept over that. He wept over the brokenness of the city, over all the people he came to save, who could not see that he was their peace.
That reminds me of a great song, sung by our Seekers of Peace choir at our charter service, “Jesus weeps over the world today as we struggle to be free for we do not know the things that make for peace. And we do not see that He is our peace. He breaks down walls that divide us. He is our peace. He makes us one. He is the Prince of Peace.”
How many kings, emperors, queens, presidents, prime ministers do you know who gather the cheering, enchanted crowds and then weep? With Jesus, kingship, leadership is re-defined. Christ’s Kingship is the opposite of empire-building. Empire values power, superiority, triumph, even contempt. Jesus’ kingship takes on weakness in exchange for the empowerment of others. King Jesus values service over superiority. The Prince of Peace believes there is no triumph over others, only triumph when we achieve peace with others. Jesus’ kingship is about compassion for others, not contempt for others.
So how does this kind of leadership look in the 21st Century? People with power like us who call ourselves followers of Christ, are charged to pay attention to the weak, even at our own expense. So we choose to be generous and poorer so the 80% of the world’s population who are impoverished may become richer. That’s what we have done with our Lenten Challenge. That’s what we will do with our One Great Hour of Sharing. That what we will continue to do as we reach out in generous giving of our time and material wealth as a 20% + benevolent church. And we might even, as we grow in solidarity with the poor, stop moaning so much about our declining standard of living, and get on with solving the problem of world hunger.
How does following this King Jesus play out in the 21st Century? We who have much to say, stop talking and focus on listening to others. We who are literate care that 70% of the world is illiterate. We who have adequate health care are concerned for those with inadequate healthcare. We who have computers must remember that we are one in a hundred around the globe.
Those who are in the majority must listen to minorities and hold their opinions in high regard. This Prince of Peace brings down judgment on both Democrats and Republicans for their behavior in the last week. There is no reason to clap and cheer when close to half of your colleagues in the House of Representatives are gravely concerned and disappointed. But even in disagreement and threat, there is no absolutely no reason to spit, slap the images of leaders, or do anything else degrading toward people on the other side of a complicated and unpredictable issue.
The way of Christ is to think more highly of others than you think of yourself. Those who are superior find ways to serve rather than lording over others their strength, using their strength to increase the strength of others, to elevate others. There is no room for pompous attitudes of triumph. There is no triumph when there is no peace.
In the movie, Invictus, we see Nelson Mandela taking over as President of South Africa and then going against the judgment of his family, his friends, his colleagues, all his own people, the native Africans who have been abused, in order to give power and dignity to the very people, the white Afrikaners who had imprisoned him unjustly for twenty-six years. President Mandela wanted to make sure there was no simple transfer of power from whites to blacks. No, he was setting a new course of respect for both sides. He knew there was no triumph for the majority,the Black South Africans, at the expense of the white South Africans. The title, Invictus is from a poem. The Latin word means “Unconquered” Unconquered by the abuse of power over him for 26 years. Unconquered by the public’s expectation that he would use power against those who used it against him.
Unconquered. That’s who Jesus is, willing to relinquish power for the sake of others, willing to stand up for justice for others, willing to sacrifice his life and yet ultimately unconquered, thanks to be God. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord,” the people shout. Leaders who come in the name of the Lord, in the spirit of the Lord are people of compassion, not contempt. Jesus’s compassion leads him to weep over the city, longing for the people to understand what makes for peace.
Yet, he asserts himself against injustice – those who are taking advantage of people in the temple, but it is out of compassion for the poor, who are coming to make their offerings in the temple. Those who were making money off them are akin to credit card companies luring in naive college students. They were similar to those who hire immigrant farm workers and then entrap them with low wages, unfair housing costs and the temptation of easy debt. It was not just that they were selling things in the temple, but that they were robbing people unfairly.
Jesus is not against making money wisely and justly. In the parable of the pounds which precedes this entry into Jerusalem, Jesus has the master of the story chastising the one who did not use his money to make more money. But Jesus is relentless in telling stories about the disaster of loving money, thinking yourself better than others, not forgiving, and being ungrateful for what you’ve been given. After the parables of the lost in chapter 15, Jesus tells story after story which challenge us – those of us who do have more and think too much of ourselves, are unforgiving, and ungrateful. Read Luke 15 to the end this week, in preparation for Easter. Understand who Jesus is and who he calls you to be.
When Jesus comes into Jerusalem and his followers cheer “Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!” These are the words first proclaimed by the angels at his birth. Then He challenges and teaches in the temple and all are spellbound by what he is saying. But the leaders, those whose power and authority is threatened by the presence of one who understands power differently, are looking for ways to kill him. And it only take five days to find a way. Jesus is prepared to be taken and is nonetheless unconquered. In his inner being, he was more than a conqueror. He was a peace-maker. And Jesus demonstrates by his willing sacrifice, by his weakness, what real strength is.
Will our lives reflect the inner strength of this Jesus? Do we dare take time to reflect on what we see in his life and teachings, as well as his sacrificial death? Or will we rush past the beauty of the greatest One on earth, God incarnate, imagining him to be a simple beggar in the street?
Open our eyes, Lord and guide our reflections this Holy week. May we who wave palm branches on Sunday be willing to keep following You on the Thursdays and Fridays of life, when the temptation to betray and deny is overwhelming. Dying and rising with You, may we live as your courageous kingdom people even now, working out our salvation with fear and trembling, yet knowing that it is always your Spirit at work in us to will your will and live according to your way.
Palm Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Deliver us from cold hearts and wandering thoughts, that with steady minds and burning zeal we may worship you in spirit and in truth.
He stood in the Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning playing six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed music. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on his meeting.
4 minutes later a woman threw the money in his case and, without stopping, continued to walk. 6 minutes later, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and moved on. After 10 minutes, a 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. Other children paused like this, but every parent forced them on.
After nearly an hour, he finished playing, having collected $32 and no applause. No one knew that this violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
If we do not have a moment to stop, listen, and reflect on one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments .... How many other gifts from God are we failing to notice?
My fear as we begin another Holy Week is that we are walking past the remarkable beauty and wonder of Jesus Christ once again without really paying attention. We’re just spending a few extra hours going to church on Good Friday, but we’re not really stopping to reflect, to be grateful, to be changed by the beauty of One, who had enormous power and relinquished it for the greater good of empowering others.
Hear the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem from Luke Gospel:
[Jesus] went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34 They said, "The Lord needs it." 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." 40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out." 41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God." 45 Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; 46 and he said, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers." 47 Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard. (The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.)
The Palm Sunday story ushers us into Holy Week and the mystery of God’s abundant goodness – that God in human flesh came to liberate us from the death of power-brokering to the life of power-giving. Jesus had achieved a multitude of followers, praising God and calling him King. He did not deny his kingship. In fact, when the Pharisees challenged him to silence his followers, who were shouting, “Blessed is the King!” he said, “If these were quiet, the stones would cry out.” Palm Sunday is a stone-shouting day of gladness!
Luke’s Gospel is the only one that records this line about shouting stones and it ties in beautifully with our Stewardship theme for the year. But notice that Jesus also speaks of the stones being overturned by the people’s inability to recognize their time of visitation by God. Jesus wept over that. He wept over the brokenness of the city, over all the people he came to save, who could not see that he was their peace.
That reminds me of a great song, sung by our Seekers of Peace choir at our charter service, “Jesus weeps over the world today as we struggle to be free for we do not know the things that make for peace. And we do not see that He is our peace. He breaks down walls that divide us. He is our peace. He makes us one. He is the Prince of Peace.”
How many kings, emperors, queens, presidents, prime ministers do you know who gather the cheering, enchanted crowds and then weep? With Jesus, kingship, leadership is re-defined. Christ’s Kingship is the opposite of empire-building. Empire values power, superiority, triumph, even contempt. Jesus’ kingship takes on weakness in exchange for the empowerment of others. King Jesus values service over superiority. The Prince of Peace believes there is no triumph over others, only triumph when we achieve peace with others. Jesus’ kingship is about compassion for others, not contempt for others.
So how does this kind of leadership look in the 21st Century? People with power like us who call ourselves followers of Christ, are charged to pay attention to the weak, even at our own expense. So we choose to be generous and poorer so the 80% of the world’s population who are impoverished may become richer. That’s what we have done with our Lenten Challenge. That’s what we will do with our One Great Hour of Sharing. That what we will continue to do as we reach out in generous giving of our time and material wealth as a 20% + benevolent church. And we might even, as we grow in solidarity with the poor, stop moaning so much about our declining standard of living, and get on with solving the problem of world hunger.
How does following this King Jesus play out in the 21st Century? We who have much to say, stop talking and focus on listening to others. We who are literate care that 70% of the world is illiterate. We who have adequate health care are concerned for those with inadequate healthcare. We who have computers must remember that we are one in a hundred around the globe.
Those who are in the majority must listen to minorities and hold their opinions in high regard. This Prince of Peace brings down judgment on both Democrats and Republicans for their behavior in the last week. There is no reason to clap and cheer when close to half of your colleagues in the House of Representatives are gravely concerned and disappointed. But even in disagreement and threat, there is no absolutely no reason to spit, slap the images of leaders, or do anything else degrading toward people on the other side of a complicated and unpredictable issue.
The way of Christ is to think more highly of others than you think of yourself. Those who are superior find ways to serve rather than lording over others their strength, using their strength to increase the strength of others, to elevate others. There is no room for pompous attitudes of triumph. There is no triumph when there is no peace.
In the movie, Invictus, we see Nelson Mandela taking over as President of South Africa and then going against the judgment of his family, his friends, his colleagues, all his own people, the native Africans who have been abused, in order to give power and dignity to the very people, the white Afrikaners who had imprisoned him unjustly for twenty-six years. President Mandela wanted to make sure there was no simple transfer of power from whites to blacks. No, he was setting a new course of respect for both sides. He knew there was no triumph for the majority,the Black South Africans, at the expense of the white South Africans. The title, Invictus is from a poem. The Latin word means “Unconquered” Unconquered by the abuse of power over him for 26 years. Unconquered by the public’s expectation that he would use power against those who used it against him.
Unconquered. That’s who Jesus is, willing to relinquish power for the sake of others, willing to stand up for justice for others, willing to sacrifice his life and yet ultimately unconquered, thanks to be God. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord,” the people shout. Leaders who come in the name of the Lord, in the spirit of the Lord are people of compassion, not contempt. Jesus’s compassion leads him to weep over the city, longing for the people to understand what makes for peace.
Yet, he asserts himself against injustice – those who are taking advantage of people in the temple, but it is out of compassion for the poor, who are coming to make their offerings in the temple. Those who were making money off them are akin to credit card companies luring in naive college students. They were similar to those who hire immigrant farm workers and then entrap them with low wages, unfair housing costs and the temptation of easy debt. It was not just that they were selling things in the temple, but that they were robbing people unfairly.
Jesus is not against making money wisely and justly. In the parable of the pounds which precedes this entry into Jerusalem, Jesus has the master of the story chastising the one who did not use his money to make more money. But Jesus is relentless in telling stories about the disaster of loving money, thinking yourself better than others, not forgiving, and being ungrateful for what you’ve been given. After the parables of the lost in chapter 15, Jesus tells story after story which challenge us – those of us who do have more and think too much of ourselves, are unforgiving, and ungrateful. Read Luke 15 to the end this week, in preparation for Easter. Understand who Jesus is and who he calls you to be.
When Jesus comes into Jerusalem and his followers cheer “Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!” These are the words first proclaimed by the angels at his birth. Then He challenges and teaches in the temple and all are spellbound by what he is saying. But the leaders, those whose power and authority is threatened by the presence of one who understands power differently, are looking for ways to kill him. And it only take five days to find a way. Jesus is prepared to be taken and is nonetheless unconquered. In his inner being, he was more than a conqueror. He was a peace-maker. And Jesus demonstrates by his willing sacrifice, by his weakness, what real strength is.
Will our lives reflect the inner strength of this Jesus? Do we dare take time to reflect on what we see in his life and teachings, as well as his sacrificial death? Or will we rush past the beauty of the greatest One on earth, God incarnate, imagining him to be a simple beggar in the street?
Open our eyes, Lord and guide our reflections this Holy week. May we who wave palm branches on Sunday be willing to keep following You on the Thursdays and Fridays of life, when the temptation to betray and deny is overwhelming. Dying and rising with You, may we live as your courageous kingdom people even now, working out our salvation with fear and trembling, yet knowing that it is always your Spirit at work in us to will your will and live according to your way.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
"Re-vere"
Philippians 3:4b-14
5th Sunday of Lent
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Bless us, O Christ, with a reverent sense of your presence that we may worship you with all our body, soul, mind, and spirit.
Would you be happier if you spent more time discussing the state of the world and the meaning of life — and less time talking about the weather? It may sound counterintuitive, but people who spend more of their day having deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier, said Matthias Mehl, a psychologist at the University of Arizona who published a recent study on the subject. (NYT March 17, 2010, Talk Deeply, Be Happy? by Roni Caryn Rabin)
Okay, so from now on, Peace people, try to shift it up to a higher level of authentic relating. You’ll not only be more interesting, but you’ll be happier. It’s okay to break the ice with weather and tv and sports, but don’t stay in the same gear. Move on and talk about what really matters. Paul knew how to talk about what really matters. He did not waste time on the rubbish of small talk because of the inestimable value of knowing Christ. Gretchen Frueh knows how to talk about what matters, and even more so now, because she doesn’t have much time to dwell on the insignificant.
Paul wants the Philippians to think about the inestimable value of knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection and I am standing here before you because I want all of us to know more deeply the surpassing value of knowing Christ. I want you to leave today convinced that the most important thing you ever do, you ever have done or ever will do is worship God. Revere God. Celebrate the goodness of God.
Think a few minutes about things that make you special. Your good lucks, your knowledge or sheer intelligence, your athletic ability, your wonderful family, your lucrative career, your family heritage, your professional expertise, your entrepreneurial acumen, your caring heart, your financial stability, your conversational skill, your knack for home decorating, your strong or energetic body, your pragmatic judgment, your kindness, your musical or artistic talent. Think of two or three things which define you, in which you are confident.
Now hear Paul put those things in perspective. Regarding his special talents, privileges, heritage, and accomplishments, he declares them rubbish, even worse dung, poop. I could name some other crass words that rhyme with rap and it. And the point is – everything Paul counted on for his personal value became worthless when compared with the greater value of knowing Christ. Hear what he has to say about revering the Lord, putting Christ first, pressing forward to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NRS Philippians 3:4.If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own; but this one, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Forget the past. Live rightly in the present, so you can be properly focused on the future. We usually do one of two things with the past. Revel in it, clinging to all our accomplishments, longing for all the power and freedom we enjoyed in it. Or we can regret our past, re-living it over and over again, wishing that we did things differently or that life could have taken a different course. If only... Neither of those pleases God. One keeps you prideful and the other makes you despairing. There’s no future with hope if you’re stuck in your past. Learn from the past, but don’t dwell in it. You have a future with hope. Don’t get stuck in the past. Live in the present, but not for the present.
In the present, you can live in shallow or deep thoughts. In the present you can live for yourself or for God and others. You can try to juggle many things which you consider of equal value or you can set priorities, putting Christ in his rightful first place. You can live for immediate gratification or live for the joy and peace which will carry you into your future with Christ. In the present, you can sit back on your laurels, thinking you have reached the goal, or that you deserve to relax. You have a righteousness given in Christ, not imparted to you through your good works, but you are still called to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Forget the past. Live rightly in the present, so you can be focused on the future.
Paul says to the them, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death.” Like him in his death? We don’t like to think about death but we know that it is in the future for each of us. Those who face it with courage in the present, like Gretchen, help us to face up too. When she and I got together on Monday to talk about her memorial service, I asked her to reflect on these verses and she sent me this quote from Henri Nouwen’s book, The Inner Voice of Love, his private journal published after his death.
Nouwen says, “... Maybe the death at the end of your life won’t be so fearful if you can die well now. Yes, the real death — the passage from time into eternity, from the transient beauty of this world to the lasting beauty of the next, from darkness into light — has to be made now. And you do not have to make it alone. God has sent people to be very close to you as you gradually let go of the world that holds you captive. ...The more you trust in the love of those God has sent to you, the more you will be able to lose your life and so gain it.
Success, notoriety, affection, future plans, entertainment, satisfying work, health, intellectual stimulation, emotional support — yes, even spiritual progress — none of these can be clung to as if they are essential for survival. Only as you let go of them can you discover the true freedom your heart most desires. That is dying, moving into the life beyond life. You must make that passage now, not just at the end of your earthly life... (Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996) The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom, pp. 107-108. Nouwen’s “secret journal,” written to himself during the most difficult period of his life.)
One way to stay focused on our heavenly calling to pray more often. Gia has challenged me to join her in praying on the hour, every hour, every hour on my knees. She claims it has been transformative. I’m going to try it this week. How about you? Just try it for a day – pray every hour on the hour. Say the Jesus prayer – Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Pray the Serenity prayer or the Lord’s prayer or St Patrick’s Prayer, which we sang at the beginning of the service. Pray a sentence each of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication, Intercession. You can remember those with the acronym – Acts I. Renew your life with reverent prayer.
To revere God is to let our past, present, and future be shaped by a focused desire to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Forgetting what lies behind and pressing on toward the goal of the heavenly call of the God in Christ Jesus at all costs. Next Sunday we press on with Jesus as he rides into Jerusalem toward death. But without death, there is no resurrection. So we die with Christ and live with Christ. That is our future. That is our now.
(Let us revere God in silence)
5th Sunday of Lent
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Bless us, O Christ, with a reverent sense of your presence that we may worship you with all our body, soul, mind, and spirit.
Would you be happier if you spent more time discussing the state of the world and the meaning of life — and less time talking about the weather? It may sound counterintuitive, but people who spend more of their day having deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier, said Matthias Mehl, a psychologist at the University of Arizona who published a recent study on the subject. (NYT March 17, 2010, Talk Deeply, Be Happy? by Roni Caryn Rabin)
Okay, so from now on, Peace people, try to shift it up to a higher level of authentic relating. You’ll not only be more interesting, but you’ll be happier. It’s okay to break the ice with weather and tv and sports, but don’t stay in the same gear. Move on and talk about what really matters. Paul knew how to talk about what really matters. He did not waste time on the rubbish of small talk because of the inestimable value of knowing Christ. Gretchen Frueh knows how to talk about what matters, and even more so now, because she doesn’t have much time to dwell on the insignificant.
Paul wants the Philippians to think about the inestimable value of knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection and I am standing here before you because I want all of us to know more deeply the surpassing value of knowing Christ. I want you to leave today convinced that the most important thing you ever do, you ever have done or ever will do is worship God. Revere God. Celebrate the goodness of God.
Think a few minutes about things that make you special. Your good lucks, your knowledge or sheer intelligence, your athletic ability, your wonderful family, your lucrative career, your family heritage, your professional expertise, your entrepreneurial acumen, your caring heart, your financial stability, your conversational skill, your knack for home decorating, your strong or energetic body, your pragmatic judgment, your kindness, your musical or artistic talent. Think of two or three things which define you, in which you are confident.
Now hear Paul put those things in perspective. Regarding his special talents, privileges, heritage, and accomplishments, he declares them rubbish, even worse dung, poop. I could name some other crass words that rhyme with rap and it. And the point is – everything Paul counted on for his personal value became worthless when compared with the greater value of knowing Christ. Hear what he has to say about revering the Lord, putting Christ first, pressing forward to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NRS Philippians 3:4.If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own; but this one, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Forget the past. Live rightly in the present, so you can be properly focused on the future. We usually do one of two things with the past. Revel in it, clinging to all our accomplishments, longing for all the power and freedom we enjoyed in it. Or we can regret our past, re-living it over and over again, wishing that we did things differently or that life could have taken a different course. If only... Neither of those pleases God. One keeps you prideful and the other makes you despairing. There’s no future with hope if you’re stuck in your past. Learn from the past, but don’t dwell in it. You have a future with hope. Don’t get stuck in the past. Live in the present, but not for the present.
In the present, you can live in shallow or deep thoughts. In the present you can live for yourself or for God and others. You can try to juggle many things which you consider of equal value or you can set priorities, putting Christ in his rightful first place. You can live for immediate gratification or live for the joy and peace which will carry you into your future with Christ. In the present, you can sit back on your laurels, thinking you have reached the goal, or that you deserve to relax. You have a righteousness given in Christ, not imparted to you through your good works, but you are still called to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Forget the past. Live rightly in the present, so you can be focused on the future.
Paul says to the them, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death.” Like him in his death? We don’t like to think about death but we know that it is in the future for each of us. Those who face it with courage in the present, like Gretchen, help us to face up too. When she and I got together on Monday to talk about her memorial service, I asked her to reflect on these verses and she sent me this quote from Henri Nouwen’s book, The Inner Voice of Love, his private journal published after his death.
Nouwen says, “... Maybe the death at the end of your life won’t be so fearful if you can die well now. Yes, the real death — the passage from time into eternity, from the transient beauty of this world to the lasting beauty of the next, from darkness into light — has to be made now. And you do not have to make it alone. God has sent people to be very close to you as you gradually let go of the world that holds you captive. ...The more you trust in the love of those God has sent to you, the more you will be able to lose your life and so gain it.
Success, notoriety, affection, future plans, entertainment, satisfying work, health, intellectual stimulation, emotional support — yes, even spiritual progress — none of these can be clung to as if they are essential for survival. Only as you let go of them can you discover the true freedom your heart most desires. That is dying, moving into the life beyond life. You must make that passage now, not just at the end of your earthly life... (Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996) The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom, pp. 107-108. Nouwen’s “secret journal,” written to himself during the most difficult period of his life.)
One way to stay focused on our heavenly calling to pray more often. Gia has challenged me to join her in praying on the hour, every hour, every hour on my knees. She claims it has been transformative. I’m going to try it this week. How about you? Just try it for a day – pray every hour on the hour. Say the Jesus prayer – Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Pray the Serenity prayer or the Lord’s prayer or St Patrick’s Prayer, which we sang at the beginning of the service. Pray a sentence each of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication, Intercession. You can remember those with the acronym – Acts I. Renew your life with reverent prayer.
To revere God is to let our past, present, and future be shaped by a focused desire to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Forgetting what lies behind and pressing on toward the goal of the heavenly call of the God in Christ Jesus at all costs. Next Sunday we press on with Jesus as he rides into Jerusalem toward death. But without death, there is no resurrection. So we die with Christ and live with Christ. That is our future. That is our now.
(Let us revere God in silence)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Re-turn
Isaiah 55:6-12
3rd Sunday of Lent
Elizabeth M. Deibert
“Return.” We often return a product to a store because we changed our minds or it didn’t fit or look right in our house. Maybe it was defective. So we make a return of something we do not want. We return things that belong to other people. You borrow a book, a lawn mower, a ball from someone. And then you return it. You return a favor. Someone does something nice for you, like baking a cake. You return the favor, if you can, by doing something kind for them. We return home after school or work or vacation. We’re not really talking about returning, but RE-turning. More like when a teacher says, “Turn around. Pay attention.” If you watch sports on tv, you’ve seen the Corona commercial of the attractive young couple sitting on the beach sipping while watching the waves come in. Then another attractive woman walks by and the guy forgets the woman he’s with and his head swings all the way to the left, and the rest of the Corona thrown in his face is a clear message to “turn around.”
That’s sort of what we all do with God. The things of the world distract us and our eyes, our minds, our hearts, our souls are pulled away. We need weekly worship to re-turn us to God. We need daily prayer to re-turn us to God. We need a disciplined Christian life to keep us focused on God. That’s why we have Lenten disciplines. Why would people for generations give up meat on Fridays, except to remember that Christ died on a Friday? Why would Orthodox Christians couples give up conjugal relations during Lent – but to remember that Christ suffered for us. Why would some Christians fast and why would Peace people take on the Lenten Challenge, but to remember to put Jesus Christ first in our lives, to keep our focus on the One who matters most, to renew our faith.
Our theme for Lent is “Re-New your life.” And for the first three Sundays, we are considering different angles of renewal begin with our turning or re-turning toward God. First we read Psalm 51, the prayer of King David, acknowledging his sin and asking for a clean heart. The call that day was to be humble and courageous enough to see our own sin and repent. Then last week, we looked at the temptations of Christ, as a good example of how we are called to resist, to turn away from evil and keep focused on our identity as children of God, nothing that demeans that identity.
Today’s scripture from the prophet Isaiah beckons to us to return to the Lord, who will abundantly pardon. We could talk about the history of this prophet and much about the context of his writing. That might make you a better historian and Biblical scholar, but I’m hoping that today we will become better Christians, so I’m not spending much time with that. You can get a decent summary on Wikipedia about Isaiah, who lived in the second half of the 8th century BC. You can read there about how the Book of Isaiah is understood to be in three parts, possibly written by three different persons at different times. In the first 39 chapters, Isaiah prophesies doom for a sinful Judah and for all the nations of the world that oppose God. The last 27 chapters prophesy the restoration of the nation of Israel. This section includes the Songs of the Suffering Servant, four separate passages that Christians believe prefigure the coming of Jesus Christ, and which are otherwise traditionally thought to refer to the nation of Israel. This second half of the book includes prophecies of a new creation in God's glorious future kingdom. That’s what we’re reading today – Isaiah’s vision of the new creation.
The Israelites felt far away from God in exile. They could blame God for that or blame their captors. They might even blame themselves, which the prophets usually help them to do. Isaiah offers both the challenge and the comfort, calling them to return to the God who will abundantly pardon. Calling them to seize the day. Carpe diem. Seek the Lord, now. Don’t be presumptious that God’s love and forgiveness is something with which we can trifle, play around. It is too special to be ignored, especially when you are such a bad place. Sure God’s love is certain. Sure God is everlasting, but don’t get uppity. God’s ways are higher than yours. God’s still in charge. Hear the word of the Lord:
NRS Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 12 For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
So these three themes – repent, resist, return – I see them as part of the natural cycle of growing in faithfulness. Repenting of sin. Resisting sin. Re-turning to God, which then leads to repentance of sin. If we see God’s beauty, then we see that we, created in God’s image, are tarnished, dirty, not a true reflection.
Let me use a little example from my life to illustrate how these three themes cycle. I hope the simplicity of this will help you translate into something in your own life. Some of you may have noticed that the Deiberts – both Richard and Elizabeth in particular – have a habit of running late. Notice I called it a habit. I could call it a pattern, or I could, if I have any intention of repenting, call it sin. I could justify it, saying it’s no big deal, doesn’t really hurt anyone, but if I examine it closely, I see at the root of this habit the sin of thinking I’m more important than you, or at least my time is more important than yours. Okay, so the first step is to acknowledge my habit as sin because it is a form of mistreatment of others. I can repetitively apologize or make excuses for my tardiness, but if I really want to repent, then I need to see the sin of considering my time more valuable than yours. So repenting means a real change of heart and willingness to stop making excuses for myself.
Next, I must resist the temptation to squeeze one more activity in before departing for a scheduled event. I must resist the temptation to ignore the clock – very easy for me. I must set timers for myself – put things in place – to make sure that I am guarding myself against this evil of tardiness. When distracting events happen like last minute phone calls, I must remember that my identity is that of a child of God who respects the time of others and is therefore willing to be on time, even if I must leave something unfinished. I must waste some of my time to protect some of yours –self-sacrifice. I must resist the temptation to enjoy the adrenaline rush that comes from rushing around, beating the clock in my shower and get dressed time, and all those other games I play when I’m under pressure. Sometimes those games work, but sometimes they waste my energy and with one untimely stoplight, I can still arrive late. I have to admit to myself that my games often don’t work. That admission is part of resisting temptation.
Finally, in order to really keep pressing on toward faithfulness in this area of weakness in my life, I must turn toward God, turn and re-turn, because only when I see God do I see what love really is. Only when I turn toward God do I see my sin for what it is. Only when I turn toward God do I have courage to face my sin as sin, in the comfort of knowing I will be abundantly pardoned. Only when I turn to God, rather than comparing myself with others who are tardy or others who have more consequential sins, do I set a high enough standard for myself.
If I turn to you, I’ll be sure to find that speck in your eye and fail to see the log in my own eye. When I turn to God, then I am seeing who I could be, not excusing myself for being less than I am created to be. When I turn to God, I see that God’s ways are higher than my ways. My egotistical self is put back in its place as servant of God. Now tardiness is just one of my sins. It was an easy one to talk about. There are so many different things in my life that pull me away, distract me from being the person God intends me to be. Returning to God is an acceptance of my humble place in the universe and being grateful for all the good gifts God gives.
There are lots of complaints about cold weather this year, even in Florida. Many of you came here to escape snow and even rain. But somehow God has to water the earth. We get hurricanes and thunder storms. One way or another, God has to bring the uncomfortable wet stuff to give us vegetation. We gripe about cold, but the farm workers who lost everything including their income when the plants froze have more reason to complain than we do. Returning to God means acknowledging God’s sovereignty, knowing that God must have some purpose for the stormy seasons and the exilic periods of life. Returning to God reassures us that we are in the right place. This notion of returning to God is best said by the old 1848 Shaker hymn, popularized by Aaron Copland with his Appalachian Spring in the 1946, further popularized when Sydney Carter, the English man wrote Lord of the Dance in 1963. There is simplicity in seeking one thing, being focused on one Lord, being unashamed of bowing and bending in humility, being in the God’s valley, notice it’s not a mountain top, but a valley of love of delight, where trees clap their hands. But that simplicity comes by turning, turning, turning, turning toward God until we come round right.
(Singing)
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.
3rd Sunday of Lent
Elizabeth M. Deibert
“Return.” We often return a product to a store because we changed our minds or it didn’t fit or look right in our house. Maybe it was defective. So we make a return of something we do not want. We return things that belong to other people. You borrow a book, a lawn mower, a ball from someone. And then you return it. You return a favor. Someone does something nice for you, like baking a cake. You return the favor, if you can, by doing something kind for them. We return home after school or work or vacation. We’re not really talking about returning, but RE-turning. More like when a teacher says, “Turn around. Pay attention.” If you watch sports on tv, you’ve seen the Corona commercial of the attractive young couple sitting on the beach sipping while watching the waves come in. Then another attractive woman walks by and the guy forgets the woman he’s with and his head swings all the way to the left, and the rest of the Corona thrown in his face is a clear message to “turn around.”
That’s sort of what we all do with God. The things of the world distract us and our eyes, our minds, our hearts, our souls are pulled away. We need weekly worship to re-turn us to God. We need daily prayer to re-turn us to God. We need a disciplined Christian life to keep us focused on God. That’s why we have Lenten disciplines. Why would people for generations give up meat on Fridays, except to remember that Christ died on a Friday? Why would Orthodox Christians couples give up conjugal relations during Lent – but to remember that Christ suffered for us. Why would some Christians fast and why would Peace people take on the Lenten Challenge, but to remember to put Jesus Christ first in our lives, to keep our focus on the One who matters most, to renew our faith.
Our theme for Lent is “Re-New your life.” And for the first three Sundays, we are considering different angles of renewal begin with our turning or re-turning toward God. First we read Psalm 51, the prayer of King David, acknowledging his sin and asking for a clean heart. The call that day was to be humble and courageous enough to see our own sin and repent. Then last week, we looked at the temptations of Christ, as a good example of how we are called to resist, to turn away from evil and keep focused on our identity as children of God, nothing that demeans that identity.
Today’s scripture from the prophet Isaiah beckons to us to return to the Lord, who will abundantly pardon. We could talk about the history of this prophet and much about the context of his writing. That might make you a better historian and Biblical scholar, but I’m hoping that today we will become better Christians, so I’m not spending much time with that. You can get a decent summary on Wikipedia about Isaiah, who lived in the second half of the 8th century BC. You can read there about how the Book of Isaiah is understood to be in three parts, possibly written by three different persons at different times. In the first 39 chapters, Isaiah prophesies doom for a sinful Judah and for all the nations of the world that oppose God. The last 27 chapters prophesy the restoration of the nation of Israel. This section includes the Songs of the Suffering Servant, four separate passages that Christians believe prefigure the coming of Jesus Christ, and which are otherwise traditionally thought to refer to the nation of Israel. This second half of the book includes prophecies of a new creation in God's glorious future kingdom. That’s what we’re reading today – Isaiah’s vision of the new creation.
The Israelites felt far away from God in exile. They could blame God for that or blame their captors. They might even blame themselves, which the prophets usually help them to do. Isaiah offers both the challenge and the comfort, calling them to return to the God who will abundantly pardon. Calling them to seize the day. Carpe diem. Seek the Lord, now. Don’t be presumptious that God’s love and forgiveness is something with which we can trifle, play around. It is too special to be ignored, especially when you are such a bad place. Sure God’s love is certain. Sure God is everlasting, but don’t get uppity. God’s ways are higher than yours. God’s still in charge. Hear the word of the Lord:
NRS Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 12 For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
So these three themes – repent, resist, return – I see them as part of the natural cycle of growing in faithfulness. Repenting of sin. Resisting sin. Re-turning to God, which then leads to repentance of sin. If we see God’s beauty, then we see that we, created in God’s image, are tarnished, dirty, not a true reflection.
Let me use a little example from my life to illustrate how these three themes cycle. I hope the simplicity of this will help you translate into something in your own life. Some of you may have noticed that the Deiberts – both Richard and Elizabeth in particular – have a habit of running late. Notice I called it a habit. I could call it a pattern, or I could, if I have any intention of repenting, call it sin. I could justify it, saying it’s no big deal, doesn’t really hurt anyone, but if I examine it closely, I see at the root of this habit the sin of thinking I’m more important than you, or at least my time is more important than yours. Okay, so the first step is to acknowledge my habit as sin because it is a form of mistreatment of others. I can repetitively apologize or make excuses for my tardiness, but if I really want to repent, then I need to see the sin of considering my time more valuable than yours. So repenting means a real change of heart and willingness to stop making excuses for myself.
Next, I must resist the temptation to squeeze one more activity in before departing for a scheduled event. I must resist the temptation to ignore the clock – very easy for me. I must set timers for myself – put things in place – to make sure that I am guarding myself against this evil of tardiness. When distracting events happen like last minute phone calls, I must remember that my identity is that of a child of God who respects the time of others and is therefore willing to be on time, even if I must leave something unfinished. I must waste some of my time to protect some of yours –self-sacrifice. I must resist the temptation to enjoy the adrenaline rush that comes from rushing around, beating the clock in my shower and get dressed time, and all those other games I play when I’m under pressure. Sometimes those games work, but sometimes they waste my energy and with one untimely stoplight, I can still arrive late. I have to admit to myself that my games often don’t work. That admission is part of resisting temptation.
Finally, in order to really keep pressing on toward faithfulness in this area of weakness in my life, I must turn toward God, turn and re-turn, because only when I see God do I see what love really is. Only when I turn toward God do I see my sin for what it is. Only when I turn toward God do I have courage to face my sin as sin, in the comfort of knowing I will be abundantly pardoned. Only when I turn to God, rather than comparing myself with others who are tardy or others who have more consequential sins, do I set a high enough standard for myself.
If I turn to you, I’ll be sure to find that speck in your eye and fail to see the log in my own eye. When I turn to God, then I am seeing who I could be, not excusing myself for being less than I am created to be. When I turn to God, I see that God’s ways are higher than my ways. My egotistical self is put back in its place as servant of God. Now tardiness is just one of my sins. It was an easy one to talk about. There are so many different things in my life that pull me away, distract me from being the person God intends me to be. Returning to God is an acceptance of my humble place in the universe and being grateful for all the good gifts God gives.
There are lots of complaints about cold weather this year, even in Florida. Many of you came here to escape snow and even rain. But somehow God has to water the earth. We get hurricanes and thunder storms. One way or another, God has to bring the uncomfortable wet stuff to give us vegetation. We gripe about cold, but the farm workers who lost everything including their income when the plants froze have more reason to complain than we do. Returning to God means acknowledging God’s sovereignty, knowing that God must have some purpose for the stormy seasons and the exilic periods of life. Returning to God reassures us that we are in the right place. This notion of returning to God is best said by the old 1848 Shaker hymn, popularized by Aaron Copland with his Appalachian Spring in the 1946, further popularized when Sydney Carter, the English man wrote Lord of the Dance in 1963. There is simplicity in seeking one thing, being focused on one Lord, being unashamed of bowing and bending in humility, being in the God’s valley, notice it’s not a mountain top, but a valley of love of delight, where trees clap their hands. But that simplicity comes by turning, turning, turning, turning toward God until we come round right.
(Singing)
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.
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