Speaking of God's Faithfulness

Psalm 40:1-11.
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

Are you as tired of it as I am? I am sick of unloving, irresponsible, unthinking church leaders taking the public spotlight, and giving us Christians a bad name. Why does the media allow so much time for the crazies of this world? It’s one of the main reasons so many people have soured on religion, because we listen far too much to the ridiculous fundamentalists. Ian Gurvitz called them “relignoramuses.” Thank God Pastor Terry Jones called off this insane Quran burning in Gainesville, which was endangering people around the world. “The guy's a walking advertisement for atheism.” (Ian Gurvitz) He doesn't speak for us as Christians or for us as Americans. We refuse to let him speak for us.

But when will we begin to speak for ourselves? When will our witness and the witness of other thoughtful Christians begin to be a more noticeable voice in the world? When will we find our voice?

Yes, we are nervous to speak of God. One, we know too many examples of those who pegged God wrong through the ages. We don’t want to be associated with the zealous fundamentalists. Then too, we understand the power of the wordless witness. Actions speak louder than words. In one of his celebrated sermons, theologian Paul Tillich described a WW1 Swedish nurse named Elsa Brandstrom, who cared for prisoners in war camps. She fought against the brutality of guards and against cold, disease, and deprivation. She fed the hungry, offered drink to the thirsty, and gave strength to the dying. Tillich said he never had a conversation with her, but she made God transparent in every moment. Are we making God transparent in every moment? That is not possible unless we are truly centered in God.

The psalms are helpful in centering us, in giving us language to speak to God and about God. “Not all religious talk is a good witness and not all good witness involves talk.” (Tom Long, p.25 Testimony) But I am convinced that we broad-minded, peacemaking, careful Christians have left Christianity weaker because of our inability to testify to God’s goodness, to witness to our abiding faith in Jesus Christ, whom we do believe to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We can affirm that while at the same time having utmost respect for our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters, who are also God’s children. Those of you who were with me last night in overflowing crowd at First Presbyterian will attest that Christian, Jews, and Muslims can celebrate God’s goodness and love together, committing ourselves to a bit of discomfort for the sake of unity and peace. We do not have to be half-hearted about our Christian faith, in order to be full-heartedly open to those whose tradition is different from ours. We simply must learn to express our faith in ways that do not demean others. The imam was not ashamed to say to us that Islam is a wonderful faith, the best faith he said. We too can be equally enthusiastic about ours.

Dorothy Day, found of the Catholic Workers Movement, said, “If I have achieved anything in my life, it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God.” Prominent Old Testament scholar and student of the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann once said, “The word with which we praise God shape the world in which we shall live.” C.S. Lewis once said, “Praise almost seems to be inner health made audible.” (quoted by Tom Long, p.33 Testimony)

Last week’s psalm celebrated the goodness of God in rescuing the Israelites from land of slavery and taking them to the land of promise. This psalm is a celebration of God’s goodness in the life of an individual, who promises to tell the glad news of deliverance to the whole congregation. Hear now the testimony of the psalmist.



Psalm 40:1-11
New Revised Standard Version

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

2 He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

4 Happy are those who make the LORD their trust,

who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.

5 You have multiplied, O LORD my God,

your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;

none can compare with you.

Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.

6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear.

Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

7 Then I said, "Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.

8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation;

see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.

10 I have not hidden your saving help within my heart,

I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;

I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

11 Do not, O LORD, withhold your mercy from me;

let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.



Now that you have heard the testimony of the psalmist, I invite to consider your testimony of the week. How has God blessed your life in the last seven days? What strength have you been given in the midst of your troubles? From what miry bog did God rescue you? Where have you seen the steadfast love and faithfulness of God? I’m going to ask you in a moment to turn to your neighbor and make God the subject of your next sentence. You know too often we are the subjects of our own sentences. I got a new job! I am so discouraged. I am feeling better. I, I, I. What about if we started talking about life with God as subject? So, yes, do turn to a neighbor God has strengthened me by…God has ….God has renewed my hope by….. God has blessed me by…. God has been my rock by…..

That is testimony, making God the subject of our sentences. Seeing life as shaped primarily by the Lord, not by us. This faith life begins with gratitude for God’s gifts. This faith life is sustained by delighting in doing God’s will. It is renewed by resisting false gods of money, sex, power, and success. It is a daily act of placing trust in God.

The last couple of weeks have been rather stress-filled for me, as I internalized the pressure of this move, thinking it was mine to lead, mine to guide, mine to navigate successfully – every last detail of it. And Friday, as I was trying to write this sermon, it hit me that it had become all about me, not God. I was becoming the subject of all my sentences. When earlier in the process, I had reveled in the blessings of God in gifting us with a new place to worship, now I was stressing over the responsibilities born by ME, myself, and I.

But one of the best things about being a preacher is that every week, I am forced to temporarily withdraw from activity to slow down to listen to God. I have to enter the cave of my bedroom study – want to or not. Much as I can distract myself by answering the phone, responding to another email, going to reheat my coffee for the fifth time in one afternoon, God enters in as I pray and study and changes me, re-orients me.

That’s why I will say to you that the best gift you can give yourself, your family and friends, even the whole world, is to spend more time reading scripture and prayerfully pondering how it relates to your own life. Take the Psalms – 150 of them, if you manage to read one every day, you will have read them all. Then challenge yourself to write one paragraph of response. Not every chapter of the Bible speaks as clearly as others, so if you read one that makes no sense to you, study harder if you’re inclined to research or move on to another and don’t worry about it, if you’re not. Take the Gospel of Luke, our Gospel for this year. Read one story each night or morning. Think about the life of this Jesus, whom you have chosen to follow, whose name you claim when you say you are Christian, whose body you mysteriously ingest when you come to this table. Take the book of Philippians, a wonderful epistle of Paul. Think about what Paul means when he says, “live your life in a manner worthy of the Gospel.”

Find in these stories of God’s people, your own story with the Lord. Read the stories of early Christians and the troubles they faced with courage, how they kept peace in their households, how they showed hospitality to strangers, how they shared things in common, how they set themselves apart from a culture which worshiped the power of the emperor.

Read about God’s people – the Jews – how they heard the voice of God saying, “Go to a land you do not know” and they went. How God called them to do things they thought they could not do, but received God’s reassurance, and so were able to say, “Here I Am, send me.” Read about how they received Ten Commandments and how they and we have tried to put God first, have no idols, respect the name of God, keep the Sabbath, honor parents, love other human beings by respecting life, possessions, sacred commitments, truth, and boundaries.

If we are not studying the Bible, worshiping, serving and listening to the reasonable voices of people in other faith traditions, then we are just as likely to be misguided in our understanding of true Christian faith as Rev. Terry Jones. We might not be so dangerous as he who sought so much media attention, but we do often have the attention of neighbors, co-workers, family members and friends. We all do and will witness to something. Nearly every day we testify. We testify to the greatness of a football team or to the power of a new cleaning product or the convenience of wonderful new feature on our computer. Do we give the same energy and purpose to our witness to the One who made us and stayed us from the beginning until now?

Our lives must be shaped by the truths of the Lord of heaven and earth, not the falsehood of public opinion, which increasingly is fractious, rude, and disrespectful. We cannot call ourselves Peace Presbyterian Church unless we are living according to the character of the Prince of Peace, who came to save us. How much of your day, are your thoughts being shaped by the Prince of Peace, the God of your salvation, whose steadfast love and faithfulness hold us fast? Or are your attitudes being shaped by Hollywood, the television media and the false reality shows? The reality of God and the authenticity of Christian faith is on the line in our day. Many people simply do not see good reason to believe. Be their good reason.

Learning to speak about God comfortably is for many of us like learning a foreign language. It requires practice and it helps if we start with people who understand our discomfort, who are struggling with us to speak this language. So that’s why every Ministry Team at Peace begins with a Word-Share-Prayer time. It helps us practice the language of being Christian in this world, not just be passive, non-theological church members. We can learn to talk about our relationship with God, as well as talk to God, in community. God is worthy of our witness. Speak out the truth about God. Look at what God has done for us, as we moved faster than Presbyterians are usually able from one worship location to another. God has given us new life, Peace Presbyterian. Let us re-commit ourselves to telling the story of God’s goodness.

I want to close with prayer, adapting the words of the psalmist:


10 [Help us not to hide] your saving help within my heart, [Lead us to speak] of your

faithfulness and your salvation;

[May we not conceal] your steadfast love and your faithfulness

from the great congregation.

11 Do not, O LORD, withhold your mercy from [us];

let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep [us] safe forever.

A Spacious Place

Psalm 66
First Sunday in new home (MAR)
Elizabeth M. Deibert

Spirit of the Living God, moving God, fall afresh on us, melting us, molding us, filling us, using us and making this new place our home, that we might be a blessing to the world around us.

The great thing about the Old Testament is that it is full of stories of God’s people wandering around, messing up, trying to find their way, questioning their God, complaining against their leaders, and most of all, learning to put their trust in the One who will never, ever let them down in the end. God is faithful. Can I get an “Amen” on that?

I cannot begin to describe my anxiety this week that I may have set you up to move to a new place which would be accommodate us and we’d have to go back to SCF for two more months at least. Add to that, fears that some of you would be disgruntled like the people whom Moses convinced to leave Egypt. Miraculously they got out across the Red Sea and escaped from slavery and Pharoah chariots chasing after them, much as we appear to have escaped the college chasing after us (or at least our money). We have escaped our own bondage of a sort, but I was nervous we might be wandering in the wilderness for a while. I was worried that our only other reasonable offer was Nolan Middle School, clearly not the Promised Land for a church, though it works well as a school. I was worried that you get here and would complain that life in Egypt, life at the college was pretty good.

But the more we came to visit, the more session members and Admin team members, and staff members came to visit, the more we negotiated this deal, Bob Donaldson and I, the more it looked like a wonderful gift from God. Maybe not the Promised Land, but a very promising place from which Peace’s ministries could grow.

Our scripture reading today was chosen especially for this occasion because it is a psalm of thanksgiving, celebrating with a joyful noise the provision of God. It proclaims the awesome power of God to save us, God’s people. It recounts the trials through which God has carried the people thus far, and proclaims the goodness of the new spacious place.

It then shifts to a more personal, individual commitment to come into God’s house with a sacrifice of praise, an offering which matches the magnitude of God’s blessing. The psalmist then announces to friends, “Come and hear what God has done… God has not rejected my prayer nor removed steadfast love from me.”

Many of the Psalms have the word “Selah” in them. Scholars think it is probably a liturgical or musical mark added to remind the people to stop and think about this. So that is what we will do. We will pause and give thanks three times as we hear this psalm of gratitude.

Psalm 66

New Revised Standard Version

Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;

2 sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.

3 Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!

Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.

4 All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name."

SELAH

5 Come and see what God has done: God is awesome in his deeds among mortals.

6 The Lord turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot.

There we rejoiced in him, 7 who rules by his might forever,

whose eyes keep watch on the nations-- let the rebellious not exalt themselves.

SELAH

8 Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,

9 who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.

10 For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.

11 You brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs;

12 you let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water;

yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.

13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows,

14 those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;

I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

SELAH

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.

17 I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue.

18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

19 But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me.


The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!

Robin Miller said to me yesterday and I just have to repeat what she said, “I’ve been nervous about this moving thing, and then I got a message from God, as if knocked over the head. Hey, you people at Peace been asking me to lead you into the future. I’m trying to do that. So get out of the boat and walk on this water. I might just have to preach on that text next week, Robin. We are out of the boat. We are walking on this water.

But the image which has been in my mind for the last two weeks is that of the Exodus, the Old Testament story analogous to the Resurrection of Christ from the dead. God lead his people out of Egypt, gives them freedom from Pharoah (and all fierce security guards in the house or shall we say auditorium of slavery) and takes them to a new land of promise, flowing with milk and honey, and classrooms and choir rooms, a place where they might make God’s name known by growing as disciples, building a community of Peace, and caring for the needs of others.

I am so glad that our wilderness time has not included 40 years of wandering. Now we could say that we are still wandering, as we move from college auditorium to event and conference center. We do not aim to stay here forever. We see another promised land out there on Lorraine Road and we aim to make that our home.

But while we are here, we can make a joyful noise to God, sing of the Lord’s glory. We can say “How awesome is our God to give us such a place as this!” We can say to our friends, “Come and see how God has provided for this church’s need and given us a place where we can reach out, grow strong, and send.

We can connect with our ancestors in the faith who wandered in the wilderness not knowing where they were going or when they would arrive, but who still could say without hesitation, “God has kept us among the living and has not let our feet slip.” God has kept us among the living and not let our feet slip. God has tested us and made us stronger, teaching us the humility and the patience of working with security and custodial whose expectations of us were unreasonable and at times, unkind. God has tested us by asking us to consider how we could be the church, do the ministries of Jesus Christ out of our homes during the week, which we have done and can do still, when needed. God has tested us by laying burdens on our backs. When will we grow? How can build Peace? How will we afford next year’s budget?

And God has provided a new area of Lakewood Ranch, more central, closer to our property, more visible to the community. God has provided rooms we can use, in addition to our homes, to carry out the ministries and missions of Jesus Christ. But with the Spirit of the Living God on our side, we can walk through fire and water, and still come into the house of the Lord with our sacrifice of praise, with our rams, goats, and bulls. Or our checkbooks, cash, and cards. We can enter with our time, talent, and treasure. We can do a new thing and do it well.

And most significantly, we can say to everyone in and around Lakewood Ranch, come and see. Come and hear and we will tell you what God can do. We will tell you how in our life as a congregation, we have struggled but carried on, doubted but held on to faith, grown weary but found new strength. We will tell you as individuals how the Lord has worked in our own personal lives to reassure us when we were discouraged. We will tell you, people in this community beyond our doors, that we were lost, but through the love and grace of Jesus Christ our Lord, we are now found. We will tell you how when we were alone, the church community bolsters us and give us family, family closer sometimes than family. We will announce that there is more peace in our family life, in our life as an individual because the Spirit of Peace is here, filling us with the peace that passes all understanding. We will tell you, people all around, anyone who will listen, how meaningful it is to be engaged with this community making a difference in the world, being a blessing because we know we are blessed. Gratitude for all we have. Gratitude for who this church is becoming.

God has truly listened. God has answered our prayers. God has blessed us with this spacious place that we might be a blessing to our community, and the Spirit of God will carry us into a future, filled with steadfast love and promise.

Now let us sing Psalm 66.

The Sacrifice of Praise

Hebrews 13:1-8;15-16
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

There are three reasons I have never selected this text in twenty years of preaching. First, as I said in the weekly email this week, I’ve found the line “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow” off-putting because I heard it quoted by rigid Christians who wanted to cling to the “old time religion,” being open to no new idea, no diversity of thought. The second reason I would not choose this text in the past was I was afraid of offending people who have had marriage trouble. There’s a verse about defiling the marriage bed, and God judging fornicators and adulterers. And finally, this text also brings in the issue of loving money, so in just a few verses, we’re covering politics, sex, and money, and I don’t relish conflict. Thus my avoidance for 20 years.

But for some reason I was drawn to Hebrews 13 this week. I was drawn to the phrase, “Let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God.” It calls me to show forth in my life what I profess to believe. It made me think how easy it is to profess faith but not really live it. It made me think about how the church, unpopular as it is these days, finds itself in a culture in which professing faith is not at all easy any more. It is a sacrifice.

Then I began to see this scripture as being a sort of summary of all that we struggle to be, as a church. We try to profess our faith and live it out. I started to see how every one of the 5 goals of Peace Presbyterian -- goals of inspiring worship, authentic relationships, nurturing discipleship, compassionate outreach, and responsive stewardship -- could be spotted in this text.

So I invite you to hear these words with an open mind and fresh ears.

Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16

Let mutual love continue.

2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,

for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

3 Remember those who are in prison,

as though you were in prison with them;

those who are being tortured,

as though you yourselves were being tortured.

4 Let marriage be held in honor by all,

and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled;

for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

5 Keep your lives free from the love of money,

and be content with what you have;

for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."

6 So we can say with confidence,

"The Lord is my helper;

I will not be afraid.

What can anyone do to me?"

7 Remember your leaders,

those who spoke the word of God to you;

consider the outcome of their way of life,

and imitate their faith.

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.


15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God,

that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.

16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have,

for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.


New Revised Standard Version



Authentic Relationships. Mutual love – If anything is true at Peace, it is that if you invest yourselves in the relationships of this community, it will be an experience of mutual love. Oh sure, we have our little tiffs among us. We speak before thinking sometimes, we do sometimes hurt one another’s feelings, we misunderstand what another meant. We are not perfect in our relationships, but we’re never intentionally excluding or mistreating anyone – quite the opposite. We are serious about being the body of Christ together and living in mutual love. Authentic relationships challenge us to sacrifice what feels good for what is good, to sacrifice our desire to do what is easy for taking the path less traveled. Authentic relationships are valued relationships, and valued relationships take time and energy.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, our text tells us. They may be angels. Any stranger who walks in the doors of our gathered community better be ready for relationship. We believe in the power of authentic relationships, lived out in a focused way through our ministry teams of fellowship and congregational care.

And it is in the context of trusted friendship that we can speak about the value of love and faithfulness and the disaster of lust of faithlessness in all our relationships, especially ones in which we have made sacred promises. We are not judging those who have had marriage trouble. We are not saying that divorce is always wrong. But we are joining with this text in saying that being unfaithful, sleeping around is wrong because of the trust which is damaged. God forgives but deeply wounded relationships are nearly impossible to heal, like a body full of crushed bones and internal bleeding. Only God can work those miracles of healing.

Compassionate outreach is a hallmark of Peace. We are a missional church, which means our entire identity as a church is shaped by reaching out. So we reach out to those who would make a home with us, showing hospitality to strangers, but we do not forget those who are not with us. Today’s text invites us to remember those in prison, as if we were in prison too, to remember those who are tortured as if we ourselves were tortured. Is that not the definition of compassion? to suffer with. So we make the sacrifice of our own comfort to suffer with, to reach out to those who need compassion.

That’s why it is not enough for Peace to send money to Mission Beth-El. Until we pack food in bags or deliver Christmas gifts to those without, we are not really thinking much about what it means to go without. Until we feed the homeless at Family Promise or try to get a night’s rest with them, we are not with them in their pain. We can’t easily go to Pakistan but we can read about and support our friends the Trimbles and be more connected to their daily struggles to bring hope to Pakistani people. With knowledge of their situation, we can choose to send money or to pray for them, as the damage of flooding affects people in that country.

Nurturing Discipleship. Remember your leaders and imitate their faith. Oh, that people would see the outcome of our faith and want to emulate us. It is said that faith is not taught but caught – that it is a contagious faith, which is lived out bravely and generously, that inspires others to faith. We call this nurturing discipleship, understanding that all of us, at every age, need to be encouraged or nurtured toward greater faithfulness – following Christ in all that we do. That’s why we offer lively learning for all ages every Sunday. We understand that we need the faith of Christian throughout the ages, to help us interpret the life of Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, though we see and understand different aspects of the fullness of discipleship at every age and stage of life. So you see the way I understand Jesus being the same is not that I should have a static, unchanging faith. NO, my faith should be growing such that I focus on new and deeper understandings of Jesus Christ all along the path of life. It is not that Jesus Christ is changing, it is that my faith in him is broadening.

Responsive Stewardship. The more I love Jesus Christ, the more content I am and the less I love money and what it can do for me. Then I am liberated to share. When we are responsive to God’s love, then our gratitude for all the gifts we have been given leads us to generosity. Such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Stop and think about it. Because of your sacrifices, there is a church called Peace with over 100 members. It did not exist a few years ago. Because of your sacrifices, thousands of farm worker families in Wimauma who were hungry were able to pick food and have a little hope. Because of your sacrifices, homeless families in Manatee County have had a place to lay their heads. Because of your sacrifices, more than twenty children and youth at Peace are growing strong in Christian faith and more than 120 children have a deeper understanding of what it means to live peaceably in this world of ours through Peace in the Park.

If you are still willing to make sacrifices, to be even more generous than you have been before, then this growing congregation may just be able to afford to lease a space as a ministry outpost all week long, attached to an auditorium which seats 300 people in chairs or 180 people around tables for a meal. If you are willing to make more sacrifices, we may be able to have to have a visible location with signage on Lakewood Ranch Blvd where we can connect with more people to grow our congregation. But it will be a reach requiring more of all of us. To have a permanent home for 3 years from which music programs and youth programs and mission programs and educational programs could grow would be a wonderful bonus. But the space and programs will require sacrifice.

I heard a stewardship guru at presbytery yesterday. He said, “Don’t ask people to give. Offer them an opportunity to make an investment in something that really matters.” They invest their money in other things that matter to them – houses, cars, clothes, season tickets, vacations, college education, leisure activities. So friends, I am offering you a wonderful opportunity to make an investment in developing this church for the next three years, an investment that could make the difference in the long term viability of the congregation. Can you imagine one day, people hearing about the early pioneers of Peace Presbyterian, people who made sacrifices in the first five years to go from a small group to a chartered church with a quarter million dollar budget. I hope they will go on to say that this chartered church, after stalling a bit in growth for a year, moved to a new more visible and functional location, making even greater investments in the future of God’s church by growing to 250 members. And that then a couple of years after that, they made even greater sacrifices of praise in a capital campaign to build a facility on Lorraine Road where they kept reaching and growing until they were a church of 500 people and could begin to dreaming of sending 100 out to start another new church in Parrish in 2020.

It is no sacrifice to give what you have left after acquiring all the house, car, clothes, and vacations you want. Real sacrifice is to commit to give God your first tenth of income, right off the top, allowing yourself to use what’s left. Not everyone can do that immediately because of prior commitments, obligations made before the tithing commitment set the priorities. Just like someone out of shape needs to work at dieting and exercising gradually, slowing chipping away the calories, making many small healthy choices, so those who are not tithing, need to gradually increase giving, chipping away at the waste of money on frivolous things. Gradually sacrificing more, being more and more generous, percentage by percentage, week by week. Making sacrifices for God is risky. Starting new churches is risky. Moving churches to new locations is risky. Having building campaigns – risky. Being a Christian in the 21st century – risky. It is a sacrifice to praise God in today’s world. And that leads to our final but first goal – to offer God our worship, inspiring worship.

Inspiring Worship. I believe we can take the risk because we know that God will never leave us or forsake us. So we can say with confidence, as the writer of Hebrews and the Psalmist did, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. We worship a God whose promises are trustworthy. We worship a God who has transformed our lives. We worship at God who has brought us this far, not to leave us, but to carry us all the way to the finish line. We worship a God who calls us to keep the faith, finish the race. Keep the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Keep the faith because we have a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on. Keep the faith because Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, the God of our ancestors in the faith, will not let us down. Keep the faith because the Lord is our helper. What can anyone do to me?” Say after me. “The Lord is my helper” “I will not be afraid.” No matter how difficult your life’s situation is you can still say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid.” Let us offer a continual sacrifice of praise, a sacrifice of praise, a sacrifice of praise because the Lord is good. Blessed are all who put their trust, their whole trust in God, so we must continue to be a blessing to others by sharing this truth, that God is worthy of our praise, even at sacrifice of less valuable things. No matter where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing, the Lord wants all of you, your sacrifice of praise. So let us say today, we put God first in our lives. We sacrificed all our idols to make God first, to worship the Lord with all that we have and all that we are, so that others may know the joy and the peace of being able to say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid.”

God's Spell on the World

Matthew 5:1-12
Ordinary Time -- Godspell
Elizabeth M. Deibert

Let us pray the prayer written in the 13th Century by Richard of Chichester, a prayer from which the song Day by Day was taken. “Thanks be to you, Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which you have won for us, for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day.”

We are looking forward to the Players of Peace performing their own version of Godspell a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak, which opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has been performed in many places by many groups since. So why did Schwartz and Tebelak call it Godspell. The word gospel derives from the Old English, god-spell, meaning "good tidings" or "glad tidings". The first part of the word means both God and good, words that are synonymous because God is good and all good comes derives from God. The second part of the word gospel is “spell,” an Anglo-Saxon word originally meaning “saying” or “story.” But now “spell” has come to mean something that transforms you, which actually could be said of this narrative.

In the four accounts of Jesus’ life and death, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John there are many teachings of Jesus, but arguably one of the most important and most subversive of his teachings is recorded in three chapters of Matthew, a section called the Sermon on the Mount. It could be the most studied and the most ignored pieces of Christian literature. There are entire books on the twelve verses we are getting ready to read. Yet I am not sure Christians have really embraced the message.

We still think that to be blessed is to have worldly success, to be happy, wealthy, cheerful, powerful, secure, protected from harm and immune from sadness. But God’s spell on the world is that the exact opposite is true. God turned the tables upside down. We are blessed, we are fortunate, we are receiving God’s divine favor when we are poor and humble, sad and meek, merciful and forgiving, when we are mistreated by others for doing what is right.

Hear now the word of the Lord from Matthew 5:1-12

Jesus is speaking to his disciples. Whether or not others listened in, we do not know, but we assume he was speaking to those who had already decided to follow him, though like many of us, they did not always fully appreciate what that meant. We would do well to recite these at the beginning of every service to remind ourselves of the spell God has cast on the world. We need to know that things are just not what they seem.

The following people are recipients of God’s divine favor: the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for what is right, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those persecuted for God’s sake. They are blessed, who can hold up their heads because the Lord has named them favored, given them preference, restored their dignity. The word “Blessed” in its original context has an active, not passive sense, almost calling those who are favored to stand up, arise.

So let’s take a stroll through this upside down world, in which God’s spell is changing everything. Luke says, “poor” but Matthew says the “poor in spirit.” The poor in spirit, depressed, down and out, those who have lost hope. The opposite of poor in spirit is pompous and proud. How does one become truly humble? By hardship. It always irritates me when folks receiving an honor say “I am humbled by this award.” Rubbish. You are trying to sound humble, but really you are proud. To be humbled is to not receive the award, to lose. To be the kid not chosen on the team, the youth not invited to the party, the adult who has trouble getting a job. To be humbled is to be the first candidate out in a race, the person making the lowest grade, the one who loses their house or all their money.

The poor in spirit acknowledge their weaknesses, are aware of their emptiness, are not caught up in any accolades for themselves. They are potentially more aware of the kingdom of heaven because they have been losers in the kingdom of earth. "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God.” (Eugene Petersen, The Message)

Blessed, favored, content are the ones who mourn. They will be comforted. "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.” (The Message) Jesus is not charging us to create loss in our lives, to victimize ourselves, but the truth is, we all do experience losses, and if we are living in his steps we mourn with others who experience loss. We mourn our losses and our failures – two different kinds of hurt. When we fail to be the kind of people we should be, and admit our failure, then we are promised the forgiveness of God, our supreme comfort. Karl Barth, a famous theologian of the 20th Century said, “A generation with no great anguish in its heart will have no great music on its lips.” When we lose family members by death or divorce, and when friends die or move away, we are sad, but in time we learn to feel the comfort of God’s Spirit in the darkness. Sometimes the darkness is truly dark and the emptiness refuses to be filled. But as we are acquainted with emptiness, then we better appreciate Jesus Christ, who gave up his life, emptied himself for us, and there is comfort in that. Then we are able to pray with Christ, “Take this cup from me. Though not my will but yours.”

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. A few weeks ago we talked about meekness, as one of the pieces of clothing we wear, along with compassion, kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, and love. Remember that meekness is quiet strength, not weakness. One might ask how meekness is different from being poor in spirit. A meek person is one who feels confident enough to have nothing to prove. The meek person waits to be heard, listens intently to others, serves others graciously from a position of strength, not subservience. The meek person does not lust for power, and that’s why God says they will inherit the earth, because all who want to rule the earth, want to assert their power will do only harm because they serve themselves, not others. Can we not see the absence of meekness among the powerful of our day? I wish it would be possible to elect a meek person to political office. The system turns every one of them away from meekness I am sorry to say.

I heard Paul Eckel preach on this text in an afternoon service to install John Foulkrod at Palmetto Presbyterian. Paul Eckel talked about these beattitudes and particularly this one about hungering and thirsting for righteousness. He told us that the Greek words there are intensified. We’re not talking about a little hunger and thirst here. No, Jesus is talking about an insatiable hunger and undying thirst. He’s talking about the kind of hunger one feels when the last meal was many hours prior and the kind of thirst produced by Florida heat in August with no water bottle in hand. If you have that kind of hunger and thirst for God and for God’s way in the world, then you can be sure you will be filled. On the flip side, if you are hungry and thirsty for other things, which will not ultimately satisfy – food, drink, drugs, sex, money -- you will never be satisfied. You will never have enough unless you are hungry and thirsty for the One, the One, the One Lord who will satisfy your every need.

The merciful are blessed because mercy is always a boomerang. You toss out forgiveness and the blessing of that forgiveness will return upon you. Being merciful always liberates both the offended and the forgiver. You know how a dog who wants to play fetch will sometimes be so happy to retrieve the ball that he runs off with it, only to discover that the fun game ends if he doesn’t give the gift back. So it is with us when we run off with God’s forgiveness, like taking a rich piece of chocolate cake off to a corner to keep it all for ourselves. We get sick from having too much and not sharing. Mercy must be shared. It must be passed along, paid forward. Those who are truly thankful to be forgiven will find ways to forgive others. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” There is no other way. Mercy must be shared.

To be pure in heart is to have singleness of heart. But most of us have hearts filled with all kinds of additives. We have hearts with divided interests. Yes, God but…. I want to serve you but let me do this first….I know you called me to give up this sin, but….I know you expect more generosity from me but I have these other financial commitments and these promises I have made to myself and others. If we want to see God, then we must be turned toward God with no ifs, ands, or buts.

Blessed are the Peacemakers. They are the true children of God. I call you peacemakers because you are helping shape this church, but I also call you peacemakers because I believe you are the children of God and I want to call you to a life of being who you really are. It is always God’s nature to make peace with us, so if we belong to God, then we are making peace with God and all the people God created – not just those who make us comfortable, who look like us, who talk like us, who understand our way of life, who justify our way of life. No, peacemaking is the hard work of reaching out to understand and to care for those different from us, those whom we could easily call enemy or stranger, but God calls friend, so we call friend, because we are children of God.

And if you are poor in spirit, sorrowful for yourself and others, meek, hungry and thirsty for God, merciful, pure in heart, and a true peacemaker, there is a very good chance you will not receive accolades from the world. Instead you might be persecuted for doing what is right. The first Christians experienced enormous physical persecutions initially from their families, friends, synagogue leaders and from the Roman government and its representatives. If we are bold to follow Christ, people might not understand. They might say bad things about us because they don’t understand this spell God has cast on the world. They may seek to undermine us, just as they did Jesus because this kind of truth-bearing love is a challenge to the values of the world.

But if you are rejected, you can rejoice and be glad, Jesus says, and he knows, because your reward will be great like his. "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's” reign on earth. “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit” the Lord. “What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.” says God in the flesh, God incarnate. (The Message, adapted by Elizabeth)

The Peacemaking Italian, Saint Francis of Assisi was a 12th century contemporary of Saint Richard, Bishop of Chichester, the Englishman who wrote the Day- by- Day prayer. St Francis wrote this peace prayer, which we will now sing. Saint Francis like Saint Richard was overtaken by the God spell, was transformed by it such that he wrote a prayer to become a channel of God’s peace, a comforter, giver of mercy, one with a pure heart for service to God.

Let us hear this music all the way through as a prayer, then I will invite you to join me in singing these words as your prayer.

Enduring Faith for the Race of Life

Hebrews 11:1-12:3 (portions)
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

As I move through my late forties, I am becoming more aware of my body and its tendency toward decline. I cannot be sleep deprived without paying a serious price. I cannot suddenly take up jogging, as I did sometimes in the past without chest pains to go with the leg and lung pains. I have to build up to jogging by walking hard. I can do walk/runs. The only way to build endurance is to work at enduring. Ask Joy Jensen. She’s been training for months for a big walking marathon of sorts. Faith, understood as spiritual exercise, it seems to me, is a lot like physical exercise. It takes discipline to do it. Some people are more naturally spiritual athletes than others, but all of us need to try to get into decent shape, according to our body type, emotional type, and spiritual type. Pastor Tricia led the elders in training last autumn through an exercise of identifying their spirituality type. The exercise shows you whether you have a dominant head faith or heart faith or justice faith or mystical faith. Whatever your type of faith, it needs exercising. It needs practice, endurance training, and the hard knocks of life provide such opportunity.

I get deflated and frustrated when people say it doesn’t matter whether you are part of a church community, because I am so convinced that we need community to deepen our spiritual growth. That’s like an athlete saying, “I don’t need team. I don’t need a coach. I don’t need the resources of other athletes to inform my own strength. I can do this all by myself.” It’s just not true. My faith needs your faith. Your faith needs my faith. And our faith needs the faith of the the early Christians who wrote long ago “I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” We need the faith of those contemporaries, who articulated faith on our behalf in recent years in documents like the Study Catechism. We need the faith of Christians like us and Christians different from us. We need each other.

I was talking to Nancy Hughes on Friday, and she was reporting Bob’s latest move to a new rehab center, after yet another trip to Manatee Memorial. As Nancy and I reflected on what a difficult summer it had been, she said, “We’ll get through this. We have faith in God.” When Nancy said that, and I imagined myself in her shoes, with the summer that she and Bob have had, and the uncertainty of diagnosis, I found my own spiritual muscles perking up.

And Bob and Peggy, who have had a rough year, waiting on the court to make a ruling on their son, Seth’s divorce, so he can get his children back from foster care. Bob and Peggy have spent many days in Ohio and Florida, praying, waiting, and praying some more. They have exercised their faith so that they may endure this trial with patience. And their faith enlivens ours.
And Gretchen and John, moving through the summer according to God’s unique time table, and the challenge of endurance in this marathon of terminal cancer.

You, my friends, all of you, inspire my faith. You and many who have gone before you, before us in this race of life. Our scripture today reminds us that we are not alone in this struggle to have assurance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen. It reminds us that we have many before us who have in faith triumphed by the grace of God, yet they had seasons of great hardship. We are heirs of their story, and we are surrounded by them in life and in death. With them, with Paul and Timothy, with Lois and Eunice, matriarchs of Timothy’s family, and with so many other Christians through the ages we intend to be able to say one day: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Tim 4:7)

Hear the word of the Lord from portions of Hebrews 11 and 12

Hebrews 11:1-12:3 (selected portions)
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach God must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
a summary of the bulk of chapter 11:
By faith Abel…Enoch….Noah….by faith Abraham and Sarah….Isaac and Rebecca….by faith Jacob and Joseph with all his brothers….by faith Moses and sister Miriam left slavery in Egypt.
29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land,
but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace. 32 And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets -- 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented – 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We hoped for a year that Richard would be able to transfer his medical license into Florida. We could get very little concrete evidence that the process of filing papers would actually impress the certification board, since he’s been out of medical practice for 10 years. But we held onto faith, most of the time. And thanks be to God, the only hurdle which remains is a special exam.

All of us at Peace knew Chris Camphire was well qualified to teach, and thanks be to God, after many interviews this spring, he is now coaching teachers at Booker High School. And guess who else got a teaching job? Jo Allison Brown, who is driving down today. She will re-join our community after a very difficult season of life. She held on to faith -- her assurance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen. She had no job for at least two years, and had to move in with friends in Atlanta. But thanks be to God, she’s working again!

Others are waiting for some sense of resolution in a very difficult relationship or are working to settle into new circumstances. A new school year bring both excitement and some anxiety for all you who are students. You will have new teachers and classmates, new subjects to master, new peer pressures, and always the challenge of hanging on to your faith in a world which is cynical about Christians. And with each of you, we remember that “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Keep your faith in Jesus Christ. Don’t let anyone or anything take your trust in God away. You know who holds your future. You know whose love will never, ever let you down. You know you can keep running and not grow weary because “in Christ you can do all things.” (Phil 4:13)

We’re waiting together for our church community to grow large enough and for the economy to stabilize enough that we can build a center for worship and ministry on Lorraine Road. Assurance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen. We can be patient about that because we know God knows the right time. At the national Presbyterian NCD conference in St Pete this week, I heard a preacher talk about contentment and discontentment (our subject last Sunday) and the sermon reminded me that we must learn to accept where we are right now before God will bless us with more. Until we settle into faith, into the assurance of God’s providence, until we give up what we want and say with Jesus in Gethsemane, “Not my will but yours” then God may need to use our circumstances to teach us more about faith. We want to run from our circumstances, thinking our circumstances are the problem when sometimes God is trying to use those very circumstances, even hard ones, to teach us something crucial about dependence on and contentment in God. God’s trying build up our faith muscles so we can endure all things, as Jesus did.

How do we sustain faith so that we can keep walking or running with strength through this life? Chapter eleven tells us the stories of the saints who have gone before us. When I read this, I am keenly aware that I haven’t had to shut the mouths of lions or quench raging fires, except of course the fire of my own tongue and the fiery words of others. I haven’t faced the edge of a sword or fought the enemy, except perhaps a pesky community college, which seems determined to make our weekly life challenging. Though I have internal and external battles with evil, my life has never been truly threatened by them.

But I’m not always aware of all the spiritual struggles which are going on. Chapter twelve of Hebrews tells us about the great cloud of witnesses, who are cheering us on, and I believe those saints are making a daily difference in our lives in ways we cannot see. Gretchen and I have had conversations about the things I hope she’ll accomplish for us when she is not limited to earthly power. She promised she would do what she can to help us all, and I believe she will make a difference from the other side, just as believe other people of faith are doing for us right now. Who is in your cloud of witnesses? A faith-filled grandmother, a brother-in-law, a friend and mentor. Do you think about their presence in your life guiding you, their presence with God uniting you to a deeper place of faith.

We know our faith is imperfect. Some days, some months, some years are gloomy and we wonder why we even bother to cling to our hope, but then God breaks through to us with examples of faith in other people. And it’s like we just got a shot of adrenaline in our veins. And we can again cast off the weight of disappointments and the sin which clings to us and slows us down. We have marvelous examples of faithfulness, saints past and present all around us. We may choose to be cynical, but we can also find inspiration in those narratives of the faithful – people we have known personally and people who have pointed us toward Jesus with their words and their lives. Most significantly, we can find hope in looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

Stop and think about that for a minute: Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter. The pioneer blazes the trail. You are all pioneers in this church, laying a foundation for many others to come. Jesus is the pioneer of our faith and the perfecter.

Do you remember when you were little and needed help with something and a parent or older sibling would come along and fix it. Or a teacher would guide you the right answer or a friend would point out something that you did not see. Jesus fixes, he perfects, he guides, and renews our weak faith, our broken faith. All we have to do is look to him. This life is a race, and sometimes the hills are steep, the road is curvy, and the terrain rough. Sometimes we get distracted by idols, by sin and realize we are lost. We wander on side roads, wrong paths, and eventually admit to God and ourselves that we have lost your way. Sometimes we get tired and weak, especially if we are trying to go it alone, not sharing our struggles with our Christian brothers and sisters, nor even with God through prayer. At such times it seems like we will never muster the faith to go on.

But if we look to Jesus, if we fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, we will have strength to walk on, though the road is steep. So walk on, my friends, following Jesus your pioneer and perfecter. Walk on, remembering the saints, living and dead, who are cheering you on, and offering you guidance. Walk on, no matter how hard. If you are struggling with chronic pain, chronic doubt or chronic anxiety, know that you will make it by the grace of God. Walk on or ride on in your wheelchair, or be carried up the trail by some devoted saint, knowing that you will make it to the finish line. And make sure you are always ready to say to the Lord of your life, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I kept the faith.” And God, who is waiting eagerly and lovingly for you, watching for your return, will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Which Tent is Yours?

Luke 12:13-31
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

The Stewardship Team of Peace had a meeting recently at which each of us did a book review. The book Robin had read was entitled “Enough” and the author, Adam Hamilton, a Methodist minister, asks the question, “Which tent is yours? Contentment or Discontentment. That line stuck with me. I thought to myself how often my attitude is shaped by which tent I’m living in. How often my behavior toward others is shaped by the tent I’m living in. If I’m discontent, well, it is nearly a sure thing that my discontentment will affect those around me. I’ll be grumpy, irritable, or angry, blaming someone else or something else for all that’s unsatisfactory in my life. How happy I am sometimes depends on whether I think your tent is better than mine.

Which tent do you live in most days? Because if you are discontent, then you will be tempted to use food or alcohol to rid yourself of discontentment, or you will try to fill your sexual appetite with images or activities to rid yourself of discontentment or your will fill your garage with cars or your house with furniture or your closet with clothes or your home office with the latest electronics or your schedule with entertaining activities – all this to try to rid yourself of discontentment. You’ll want other people to make you happy. But none of this really works. These solutions are only temporary fixes because the root problem – your need for deep spiritual contentment – is not satisfied.

I read an article in the NY Times the other day about the increasing number of narcissistic children who have had the world of their parents revolve around their whims and wishes, who grow up to be narcissistic adults, sometimes with a diagnosable problem of egocentrism. How does one learn to be content instead of discontent? How do we teach children to be content? Well, clearly it is not by getting everything we want. No, contentment is learned NOT having and by choosing NOT to have, so that others can have. Ben Franklin once said, “Contentment makes a poor person rich, and discontentment makes a rich person poor.”

Scripture teaches us over and over again that contentment is found in putting God first and everything else second. But we keep trying to buy the American Dream. The good life as defined by most Americans is a life of acquiring things, being upwardly mobile. The good life defined by Christianity is in being content and generous with what you have. The good life means I’m growing in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, and love, as we discussed last Sunday.

Hear the parable of the rich fool, also known as the parable of the bigger barns, and hear loud and clear the reassurance that if God provides for the birds and the flowers, God will take care of you.


NRS Luke 12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14 But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15 And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." 16 Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' 18 Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." 22 He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you-- you of little faith! 29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

If Jesus told the story today, it might sound a little different: A rich person has a very successful business with large profits. And this person wondered quietly, “How should I invest my money to make even more money from my profits?” I could buy Ford stock. It’s doing very well these days, though of course a mutual fund is always the safest way to go. Then again it’s a buyer’s housing market. I could buy a place at the beach, in the mountains. That would be a good investment. Or I could expand my business with promise of making even more money next year. With even more money next year, I might have a boat and a brand new car. I could remodel this house, landscape the yard. I could travel the world, get a new computer, flat screen tv, new Ipad or Iphone. And God says, “Look here, you silly person. Don’t you realize how short life is? And why must you accumulate so much and think you are entitled to so many pleasures?”

Why do you live in such lovely, spacious, comfortable houses filled with good things while there’s five acres of orange grove out there waiting for my house of worship, my center for ministry?

It is a matter of trust. And a matter of compassion. But most of all, it is a matter of self-discipline. Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

I was really pleased to read this week that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have challenged their fellow billionaires to give away at least half of their money to charities before they die. They have convinced forty of the wealthiest people in the USA to take an oath to spend fifty percent of their wealth for good of the society. You can go to Giving Pledge.org to read more about this. I went to their website and wrote a thank you note. Skeptics call it a publicity stunt, but advocates say it will draw in about 600 billion dollars in philanthropy, about twice as much as last year’s giving among Americans. Now while these folks can give away most of their money and not even feel it, I still celebrate the fact that they are encouraging each other to give generously for the benefit of people beyond their heirs. They have enough and they know it, so they’re making a commitment to be more generous.

It has been a tough couple of years for most of us. Maybe you feel like your barns are shrinking, not growing. For some of us there’s been a season of unemployment, for nearly all of us, our houses are now worth less than we paid for them. We are living in the aftermath of the financial storm. We were, as a country, foolish like the man in the parable. We spent beyond our means, we and our economy is still trying to get on its feet. We all need to learn to live more simply, if we are to carry on with Christian lives, making a positive difference in our church and in the world. We must remember that we are in this together. My decisions affect your decisions. We do not live in isolation. Your new outfit makes mine look older. Her new Iphone, his new car potentially puts pressure on others.

Can we learn to be content with what we have or will we forever want newer, bigger, better? Can’t we just be satisfied? Or will we keep disposing and replacing? Can we resist our driving desires because we know loving God best means putting other things second? It’s about self-control. Can we resist food we do not need to eat? Can we resist buying things we do not need to buy? Can we resist entertaining ourselves constantly with activities which cost money and learn to be happy with a simpler lifestyle? Can we stop complaining about our spouses, partners, co-workers, children and our neighbors, and learn to be content?

This brings me to a subject which is not popular and rarely gets any attention from us, except the occasional mention during Lent. Fasting. Fasting is really about food, but it has a deeper spiritual meaning. Fasting is about saying “no” to our desires, our impulses, in order to build self-control and dependency on God. I invite you to fast through a meal or two to develop self-control. Fast from criticizing those closest to you and judging others by comparisons. Find ways to build up instead. Fast from shopping, learn to walk through a store without buying anything. If you feel the urge to buy something, wait a few days, and the urge will probably go away. It’s not that you must say “no” to everything, but that you can say “no” to anything.

How many of our bad spending decisions are impulsive ones? The other day Rebecca was in her piano lesson with Gia and she asked me to buy her some $2 flip flops from Walmart. I did not really want to walk into Walmart because I know what happens to me there in twenty minutes. I can’t walk in and just buy $2 flip flops. No, before I know it, I’ve spent $40 on stuff that was not on the list. And half of it we justify because it was on sale. And the merchants have learned to ease us through our spenders’ guilt by telling us how much we saved. Someone said to me the other day, maybe it was one of you, “I knew when the clerk said I had saved $104 dollars on my purchase, that this, which sounded like good news, was not really good news.”

Same thing happens when you turn on the tv just to see what’s on and relax for 30 minutes – two hours later, you’re still wasting time watching inane stuff on tv. Fast from television which is breeding discontentment. Fast from sweets. Fast from sugary drinks. Fast from anything which has you in its grip. You can have only one master, one Lord. The only way to learn to depend on God is to depend on God. The only way to be really free is to depend completely on God for your contentment, to be grateful for what you have, and to discover the joy of trusting God for your future.

Contentment and simplicity go hand in hand. Learn to be secure and free in who you are. You can never adequately secure yourself with what you have because someone’s barn will be bigger than yours. As the Shaker’s taught us, “Tis a gift to be simple and a gift to be free.” Bigger is not better. Bigger is more complicated, more expensive, more to maintain. Simpler is better. Simple contentment. Simple gratitude. Simple trust in the Lord of life to give you all you need. God knows you need food, clothing, shelter, transportation, medical care.

So resist the culture of competitive affluence. Separate need from want. Be content, not discontent, because we have a God of love who came to give us real freedom in Jesus Christ. There is no need for fear when God will provide. There is only need for simplicity, trust, and generosity toward the One who will sustain you.

I am not my own. I belong to you, Lord. Use me as you will, as much as you will.
Teach me to share generously, to live more simply, to be content with what I already have.

Be the New You

Colossians 3:1-14
Ordinary Time
Elizabeth M. Deibert

Did you hear the story about the 20 year-old mobile phone shop manager in Pompano Beach, who was a Christian, who calmly talked the would-be robber out of stealing? It was recorded on the closed circuit camera in the store and you can view it online. There’s a guy in black with his gun saying "Don’t be scared" and the young woman saying, "I’m not scared. I’m going to talk to you about Jesus, my God, before you leave. " And then he confesses that he’s a Christian too, and he’s never done this before and he’s embarrassed to do this, but he’s asked all his friends and family members for money and he’s about to be evicted from his apartment. She then compliments his beautiful eyes, tells him that Jesus has something way better for him. She tells him that she’s not judging him, but that she understands he’s going through a hard time. She shows so much compassion he begins to apologize for doing this to her. He asks if she’s the store owner, because he doesn’t want her to suffer the loss. She says she will be held responsible for the missing money, her only moment of untruth in the encounter. He finally walks out of the store, telling her she will be blessed for what she has done, and admitting humbly that he’s no good at this robbery stuff, and that his gun was not even real. Nayara Goncalves is an example of Christian compassion and kindness, courage and love to all of us. She was living the new life to which Christ had called her in this dangerous encounter.

Last week I challenged you to commit yourselves to a life of prayer as you never have done before. There were no promises about answers to particular prayers, except that God promises to supply your need and your greatest need is the Holy Spirit. Today’s scripture from the letter to the Colossians, a letter written by a disciple of Paul, follows from that. Today’s scripture tells us who we are as God’s beloved children and challenges us to live out that identity by some disciplined character-building.


Hear the word of the Lord from Colossians:

NRS Colossians 3:1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7 These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 8 But now you must get rid of all such things-- anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! 12 As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Now hear it one more time from The Message translation by Eugene Peterson, Presbyterian minister:

1-2 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.

3-4 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

5-8 And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.

9-11 Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.

12-14 So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Stanley Hauerwas once said, "Christianity is not a set of beliefs or doctrines one believes in order to be a Christian. But rather Christianity is to have one’s body shaped, one’s habits determined in such a way that the worship of God is unavoidable."

You see we are Christians because of what Christ has done for us. There is an objective truth about us that is not always apparent in our lives unless we truly grow into the reality that is ours. That takes some self-discipline. It’s not just a one time intellectual acceptance of the fact that Christ died for us.

As Barbara Brown Taylor, Episcopalian priest and professor says, we do not need any more information about God. We are bombarded with information. Instead "We need the practice of incarnation by which God saves the lives of those whose intellectual assent has turned as dry as dust, who have run frighteningly low on the bread of life, who are dying to know more God in their bodies, not more about God, more God." (p. 45, An Altar in the World)

We are called to become, not just accept Jesus Christ. We are called to live and die with him. To put to death those things in our lives which diminish the great humanity to which we are called in Christ. To enliven those qualities of life which build our Christ-like character.

Martin Luther said, "Our mutual vocation is to love God and neighbor." With Luther’s encouragement we can, as Barbara Brown Taylor reminds us in An Altar in the World, do nearly anything we want to do with our lives, as long as we are loving God and neighbor. Everything you do in life, at work, at home, at play is an opportunity to choose kindness over meanness. Everything we do in life gives us a chance to get "out of ourselves long enough to engage someone whose fears, wants, loves, and needs are at least as important as our own." Of course we also have "ample opportunity to act to act like a jerk, missing our God-given purpose by a mile." (p. 111)

It is not popular to talk about the wrath of God, but I do believe that God has a holy anger against all that diminishes our love and God and neighbor. Because we were created to be, chosen to be God’s holy people, and whatever we do to distract ourselves and others from this holy purpose in life, this Christian vocation, is wrong. The first list of sins in verse 5 seems to me to centered in impure desires -- wanting things that do not properly belong to us – sex without commitment, greed – which is me having more than I need, putting anything before God. The second list centers in the dangers of our words and attitudes.

Self-control is difficult but is required of Christians. But there’s a difference between trying to give something entirely on your own will power and renewing and filling your life with the Holy Spirit, so that you can resist evil, put to death earthly things and seek the things that are above with Christ.

To become fully human does not mean to be less than God created you to be. To be fully human means learning to turn our gratitude for being alive into some concrete common good. It means growing gentler toward human weakness. It means that we practice forgiveness of our own and everyone else’s hourly failures to live up to divine standards. It means learning to forget myself on a regular basis in order to attend to the other selves in my vicinity. It means living so that ‘I’m only human’ does not become an excuse for anything. It means receiving the human condition as blessing and not curse in all its achingly, frail, and redemptive reality.
(B. Brown Taylor, pp. 117-118)

We want to grow in Christian character. We want to put away selfish behavior and negative attitudes toward others. But it’s sometimes overwhelming to try to be the people we are called to be. So here’s my practical suggestion, one which came to me, as I was traveling to and from a family funeral in North Carolina. Take this list of character traits which we as Christians should be wearing, and commit yourself to dwell and pray on one of these each day:

Monday, pray for compassion. Ask God to give you eyes to see people and a heart to feel their pain. Remember the compassion Christ had for all who suffered or were excluded. Put yourself in another shoes.

Tuesday, pray for kindness. Practice random acts of kindness, especially for those closest to you. Be kind toward yourself, such that you don’t play the negative self-image voices in your mind.

Wednesday, pray for humility. Look for opportunities to admit that you were wrong. Ask for the forgiveness of someone you have hurt or ignored.

Thursday, pray for meekness. Practice listening to others, encouraging them to say what they think. Open the door for someone, serve them a drink or a compliment. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness a quiet strength.

Friday, pray for patience. Pray longer, waiting for God to speak to you. Drive with patience. Speak with patience toward your children, your spouse, someone who works for you. Think of those who wait long and hard for things you take for granted.

Saturday, pray for forgiveness. Name your failures to be compassionate, kind, humble, meek, and patient. Thank God for forgiving you and then write down those whom you know you should forgive - family members with whom you bear old wounds. Neighbors or church members or friend and co-workers who have upset you.

Sunday, pray for love. Focus on the love of God, which surpasses all. Remember that this love enfolds you every minute of every day.

How much time do we spend each day feeding, dressing, and adorning our bodies and cleaning and beautifying our homes, cars, and yards? Should we not spend just as much time building our Christian character and improving the attitudes we project and our behaviors which either do or do not commend the Gospel. I challenge you to be the New You. It is a process of be-coming the Christ-filled soul you were created to be.