Peace Church Sermons

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Always Being Reformed

Romans 12:1-18
Reformation Sunday

Elizabeth M. Deibert

October 28, 2012

Do you get discouraged sometimes, wondering if all your effort is not really accomplishing anything? Did you know that just before Martin Luther died, he wrote a friend about the failed reformation of the church? He had just preached his final sermon and guess how many people showed up? Five. If Martin Luther thought his effort had been a failure, then surely one never knows what God might do with our attempts at being faithful. It is easy to be discouraged about the church – big C, because as I mentioned last week, there is a rapidly growing group of people who mark none on the survey of religious affiliation. And many who claim to believe in God are not really very interested in being an active part of a church. And of those few who are willing to commit to a church, many are not interested in our kind of church, one that treasures our handed down tradition and lives with it in a fresh and vibrant way. And it is always clear that in order to thrive as a church, what we need is growth, and sometimes to be honest with you, I get tired of trying to figure out how to do that. And in my exhaustion, I have little tolerance for the little skirmishes that happen in all churches, including one that is named Peace, because sometimes we are NOT peaceable. And if they’ll know we’re Christians by our love, none of those people marking none on their pages will know. Perhaps tensions are high because of the election season, but what I have seen lately is the need for more respect, more gratitude, and more peace around here. It all begins with the transformation of character of which Paul writes in the 12th chapter of Romans. It is about the reformation of character – about internalized the mind of Christ.

Paul spends the first eight chapters of Romans talking about the amazing grace of God that trumps all sin. We a justified by grace through faith, not through works – the great emphasis of the Reformation. Then in chapters 9-11, he explains how the new covenant does not nullify the first covenant made with the Jews, but broadens it. God imprisoned all in disobedience to be merciful to all. Then in chapter 12, he gets to the huge transition moment – the therefore.

Because there is no more condemnation because of Christ’s gift of grace, then we are called to live as the free children of God, transformed by the renewing of our minds. And our text goes on to describe just what that renewal, that re-formation or transformation should look like. I could preach five sermons on this passage, one on each paragraph as it is laid out in your bulletin, but instead we will look today for the big picture view of the committed Christian re-formation.

Romans 12:1-18

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. (NRSV)

It takes guts to be a non-conformist. The opening lines of this scripture lesson call us to yield ourselves completely to God, like Jesus, to give ourselves thoroughly to a sacrificial life of service that brings meaning to others. This does not just happen magically. It is hard to work out your own salvation even with the help of the Holy Spirit. It requires the transformation of our minds – from our regular old self-absorbed, reactionary, reptilian brain, looking only to protect self and satisfy self, to a deeper, more humane, Christ-like mind that is sensitive to the Spirit of God, that knows what is good and right and holy – by prayer & study.

Transformation – Re-formation. It begins with our humility – not thinking too highly of ourselves and then recognizing our need for one another in the one body of Christ. Thinking too much of self gets in the way of seeing the value of others. We all have differing gifts – what a good idea –that we are not all alike – how utterly boring that would be. Forgive me, but I have to stop preaching and go to meddling now. There is just not enough gratitude in this church for all the different gifts that people bring. For the rest of gratitude season at Peace – that’s three more weeks, I am making a commitment not to complain about anything or anyone at Peace. Will you join me in this commitment (it is a big one) not to complain about anyone or anything at Peace. (Yes, that includes your spouse if you have one who goes to Peace and children and the person at church who bugs you the most.) Can we fast from complaints about people for three weeks? Will you make that commitment with me? Let’s give thanks to God that we are all different. Every time you get ready to complain about someone, stop yourself and find something to be grateful for, and I don’t mean sarcastic gratitude, which is not real gratitude at all. Life is too short to waste so much energy wishing people would be more like me, more like you.

Barbara and Don McIlwain handed me a wonderful little comic strip last Sunday. It says, “Dear God, so far today I have kept my mouth shut, have not lost my temper, have not been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or over-indulgent. I’m feeling good about that. But in a minute, Lord, I am going to get out of bed, and I’m going to need a lot more help from you. Amen?

We all have our excuses for meanness – for being un-reformed. Richard can tell you I’m not very nice, even first thing in the morning. Let me have my coffee and leave me alone to pray and walk in the garden and gradually I become humane. Now I could blame my irritability on menopause. Or I could say that being a pastor is challenging, exhausting sometimes, but so are other vocations, and the vocation we share is ministry – wherever we are, whatever we do. And ministry would be so easy, if it were not for the people. It is so easy to blame our irritability on other people, rather than looking at self more closely. Outdo one another in showing honor. We all can name any number of excuses for bad behavior. The kids driving you up the wall. Your aging parents needing more from you than you can give. Your stressful job or the fact that you lost it. Your financial situation, your health or that of your spouse. Your concerns about the future – who will take care of you in the end. There are many reasons for our grumpiness, for our lack of patience in suffering, for our inability to trust God, and to love others generously. Yet, there are no real excuses because God’s grace has been poured into our hearts and in Christ, behold, the new creation! Everything old has gone. See, everything is new. Everything is being reformed.

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what God’s up to... getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But then God starts knocking the house around in a way that hurts and stings and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is God up to? The explanation is that God is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but [Christ] is building a palace to come live in himself.” ― adapted from C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

We are called to be shining lights because of God’s grace. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, you are a light on a hill. Shine so that others will see your good works. The first letter of John says, “Beloved, let us love one another… whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

The last two paragraphs of our text today are a sort of checklist of attitudes and actions which I believe can be summed up with the words: Embrace the good, serve God your might, be compassionate and generous toward all people, and put your hope in God.

There are twenty-three challenges to live a devoted Christian life here in those two paragraphs. I’m going to end this sermon by reading them very slowly, hoping that each of us can internalize them and pray to embody them, as the transformed person God calls us to be. The great slogan of the Reformation was semper reformanda, always being reformed – according to the word of God. It does not just happen overnight – this sanctification process takes some effort, some cooperation with the Holy Spirit who wants to indwell us and re-form us – as a community and as individuals. Please pray with me for re-formation in these ways:

I challenge you to join me in working on this list from now until Thanksgiving. Take your scripture insert page home, and each day, take one imperative, one challenge. I bet if we all work on this together, there will be more Thanksgiving on thanksgiving, and people might appreciate the new you and me, the ever reforming servants of Christ, actively embracing the mind of Christ.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Don't Worry; Be Happy

Matthew 6:19-34

Gratitude Season #2

Elizabeth M. Deibert

October21, 2012

There’s a lot to worry about and both presidential candidates have been working hard to make us think that electing the other one will be a catastrophic disaster, as if one person, even the President of the United States, could bring us to ruin or correct the ruin all by himself. Listening to the debates tends to build fear, not faith, but I keep listening because it seems the responsible thing for an informed voter to do.

There’s a lot to worry about in the church too. I read this week that the nones – are on the rise. I’m not talking about women living in covents, but the people who mark “none” on religious affiliation. The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling. In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%)those. It used to be easier to help churches grow than it is now.

There’s a lot to worry about and sometimes we even add worry to things that needed no worry, because worry tends to spill out over everything. I read some church bloopers this week that one of you sent me this week and my favorite one was this: Don't let worry kill you - let the Church help.

In hospitals and homes, in church meetings, over the phone, the internet and over coffee, I have heard these worrisome things in the last ten days : unexpected cancer diagnoses, heart disease, unsettled divorce issues, worries over lost jobs, academic pressures that kill the spirit, the death of dreams, minor surgeries that become major or repeated, the pressured need to move not knowing where, physical problems that have no good solution, close friends who die, concern over young children, relationship problems with adult children, people leaving the church in search of another. (slide)

Today’s text is not the lectionary reading for today. I chose it because the Spirit of God told my spirit that we were worrying too much about everything. I sensed a good deal of anxiety around here, for real reasons, understandable reasons. I’ve worried a lot myself, but we are people who trust in God. To be people of faith, we must keep our anxieties in check. I saw this pithy line somewhere: If you have time to worry, then you are not spending enough time in prayer, and at the women’s prayer group yesterday we prayed Reinhold Neibuhr’s serenity prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Matthew 6:19-34

¹⁹ "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. (NRSV)

Sometimes when Gia knows I worrying, she’ll start playing something she knows will make me sing and singing helps: Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home? When Jesus is my portion – a constant friend is he. His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me. I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free, for his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.

The grand Illusion of our times is financial security: Everybody wants it, nobody gets it. It is like the horizon - the more eagerly you approach it, the faster it recedes. You say that you would be happy if only you could attain financial security, if only you never needed to worry about bills or taxes. And so you try to earn all you can and to put aside all you can for tomorrow. That secure tomorrow never arrives. What comes instead? Inflation, financial bubble, recession, bank failures, crime, illness, environmental disasters, war, layoffs, takeovers, joblessness, forced retirement. The harder you try for financial security, the less secure you are! (slide) As J Paul Getty, the richest man of the 1960’s said, when someone asked him, “how much is enough?” he said “just a little more.”

A 2010 Princeton study of personal economics as related to happiness showed that about $75,000/year is enough for the average family. Another $25,000 or even another $100,000 will make you richer but not happier.

Actually, people become less content as they increase toward living with the six digit figure, and some of us are on the far side of this overconsumption curve. Pressures increase with more disposable wealth. Anxiety increases. What we need is just enough to live on, to pay for basic necessities and a little to spend on pleasures. But I promised that I would not talk about money so much every week of gratitude season, so let’s shift back to the issue of worry, which is the heart of the matter.

It is really about trusting God and believing God will not let you down, when you live according to God’s design, when you put God first. If our trust is expressed as obedience, then we will not worry unduly about food, shelter, and clothing.

As we take care of the things God cares about – justice, kindness, mercy toward all people, especially those in need, God will take care of our real needs and our trust will deepen, as we practice trusting. (last two paragraphs adapted from John Purdy, God with a Human Face, 1993)

(slide) A person once met with their pastor for counseling and after meeting many times and listening to much concern expressed by the parishioner, the pastor said, “You know, I think maybe you are worried about too many things. Remember that Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow – what you will eat, what you will wear, how you will pay your bills, who will be elected president and what will happen to the economy.” The pastor went on to explain that excessive anxiety was bad for the health and did not solve any of the problems. The parishioner said, “Well, I know for a fact that my worrying has helped. Because 9 out of the 10 things I worried about this week about never actually happened.” 1 Peter 5:7 says, Give all your worries and cares to God, because God cares for you.” Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding.” Philippians 4: 6 says, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Sometimes we just have to step back and remember that God is in charge. Our loving God is sovereign over all the earth, then we can whistle along through life with Bobby McFerrin, singing “Don’t worry. Be Happy.” (watch music video on youtube.com)

Released in September 1988, Don’t Worry; Be Happy became the first a capella song to reach number one on the charts, a position it held for two weeks. Ironically, the celebrity status it created for McFerrin made it harder for him to not worry. (slide)

One way to alleviate worry is to count your blessings, so let’s take our gift cards and add five more to the gifts we named last week. Today I will ask the children to come during the offering time to collect your gift cards.

God has so richly blessed us with gifts. So let us now sing a grateful hymn of praise.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Finding and Losing Life

Mark 8:27-38
16th Sunday after Pentecost
Elizabeth M. Deibert
16 September 2012

We are about to read what could be called the most crucial verses in the whole Gospel of Mark. This the middle point and the pivot point. It is the first time Jesus is called Christ. It is the first time he tells the disciples what is coming and what cost will be required of those who follow him. These verses are at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. But before we read them, let us sing Psalm 19, our Psalm for today, reminding ourselves of the supreme life-giving value of God’s word.

Mark 8:27-38

²⁷ Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi;

and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"

²⁸ And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah;

and still others, one of the prophets."

²⁹ He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah."

³⁰ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

³¹ Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering,

and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed,

and after three days rise again. ³² He said all this quite openly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³ But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said,

"Get behind me, Satan!

For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them,

"If any want to become my followers,

let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

³⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it,

and those who lose their life for my sake,

and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

³⁷ Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

³⁸ Those who are ashamed of me and of my words

in this adulterous and sinful generation,

of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed

when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." (NRSV)

A small plane with five passengers on it had an engine malfunction and was going down. The pilot came out of the cockpit with a parachute pack strapped on his back and addressed the group: "Folks, there is bad news, and there is good news. The bad news is that the plane's going down, and there's nothing more I can do. The good news is that there are several parachute packs by the wall back there. The bad news is that there are four of them and five of you. But good luck. Thank you for choosing our airline, and we hope you have a good evening, wherever your final destination may be." He gave the group a thumbs-up sign and was out the door.

A woman leaped up from her seat. "I'm one of the most prominent brain surgeons in the northeast. My patients depend on me." She grabbed a pack, strapped it on her back, and leaped out.

A man stood up. "I am a partner in a large law practice, and the office would fall to pieces without me." He grabbed a pack, strapped it on his back, and leaped out.

Another man stood up and said, "I am arguably the smartest man in the world. My IQ is so high I won't even tell you what it is. But surely you understand that I must have a parachute. He grabbed a bundle and leaped out.

That left only two people on the plane, a middle-aged Presbyterian elder and a teenage boy.

The elder said to the teenager, “You take the last parachute. You're young; you have your whole life ahead of you. God bless you and safe landing."

The teenager smiled and said "Thanks for thinking of me, but guess what? There are still two parachutes left. The smartest man in the world just grabbed my backpack." (story adapted from Alyce MacKenzie, Edgy Exegesis, Patheos Progressive Christians)

As we come to the anniversary of 9/11 every year we are reminded of those who raced up the stairs of the burning towers to try to save those who could not get down. We think of those who were courageous enough to challenge their hijackers on the plane.

We think of all in our military service and our foreign ambassadors, our FBI, CIA, police, paramedics and firefighters who have been willing to put themselves at great risk, even to die to keep us and others safer in this world. We owe them a great debt of gratitude.

And to all who are struggling to build coalitions of peace and harmony in every land, to those, like our Presbyterian mission co-workers in Pakistan, who are teaching at Forman Christian College in Pakistan, who with their three children have to go into hiding in their compound when unthinking people put out videos which are rude and disparaging of faith groups and their leaders. It is so wrong, so unnecessary to offend like that with words and then the consequences worse, that people are killed in reaction to it. Until we learn to set aside egotistical attitudes, fundamentalist thinking, and build kindness and understanding, until we learn to speak respectfully, our world will always be unsafe. That’s one of the reasons we keep doing Peace in the Park, our small effort to teach peacemaking skills to elementary children in the East County area on a teacher workday. It’s one of the reasons we have invited an international peacemaker to come for a week and help us understand what it is like to be a Christian in a country where Christians make up 1% of the population.

Jesus helps us to see that to find life, we must be ready to give life to others as he did. "For those who want to save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it."

A. E. Houseman, a non-Christian poet, called this first half of Jesus' saying "the most important truth about life ever uttered."

Those who want to save their lives will lose them. The word life in the Greek is psyche. It means the vital life force that sustains our inward being. That word life (psyche) shows up four times in these two verses. The Hebrew version of psyche is the word nephesh. Both terms refer to the vital life-force at the depth of our being that nothing on this earth can snuff out because it is a gift from God and belongs to God. " We wrongly assume this life force is ours to do with as we please, that it belongs to us.

And then we get clingy. We cling for dear life to other people, money, possessions, alcohol or food or another substance, our looks, our youthfulness, the neighborhood or country we live in, the prestige of our job or how well our children are doing in school, sports, life. Both of our arms are occupied clinging to our lives—and we don't have an arm free to reach out to anyone else. Give ME the parachute. (Alyce MacKenzie, much of last two paragraphs)

And in a political season, we are often encouraged to think about nothing but self. Which candidate will make my life better? Our vote should be for leaders whom we believe will work with congress, governors, and leaders of other nations to make life better for all people. That’s the way Christians think – for the sake of others, not just self.

The second half of our key verse is "those who lose their life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." If we really put others first in a way that humanizes them, we will gain the life that is really life, even if we die. The most inspiring stories in both political conventions were ones of persons sacrificing for the benefit of others. We know that it is that generous, self-denying, life-giving spirit that makes life beautiful.

Self-denial (a notion John Calvin said is "the sum of the Christian life") is not about squashing all our personal desires or choosing victimization. Self-denial is not self-annihilation, but complete self re-orientation. Self-denial does not mean seeking or embracing abuse for its own sake, as if suffering itself is redemptive or a mark of virtue. (Matt Skinner, workingpreacher.org) No, Jesus is calling us to align ourselves so strongly with him that we live rightly, that we do justly, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God, no matter the consequences of doing so. And then we are fulfilling our humanity. (Richard Deibert, Mark)

And it might give us some comfort that Peter, the Rock, who is able to answer the question rightly about Jesus being the Messiah, the Christ, is also the first to misunderstand what that actually means. Peter gets the job title correct, but he misses badly on the job description. (Alyce MacKenzie, goodpreacher.org) Peter shows us how easy it is to be both right and wrong. I will follow you to the end, he says, just before he denies even knowing him. You are the Messiah (the Christ, in Greek) Peter says, but when Jesus talks about being killed, Peter challenges him. And Jesus the Christ says, “Get behind me, Satan.” Peter is called Satan when he wants to take charge over the Messiah and lead the way.

Disciples must always be willing to fall in behind Christ, trusting him to lead the way. That’s the redefinition of self which is required, as one who gives up one’s pysche for Christ’s sake. It’s not that the same consequence will be ours – death on a cross. It is that we are willing to do the right thing, no matter the consequence. Discipleship is worth the cost, because it is life. Disciples are not to guide or possess Jesus, as Peter learned. They are to be guided and possessed by Jesus. Get behind Christ because following him will humanize you and the world. Let him lead you into the life, no matter the struggle, no matter the challenge, no matter the pain. Paul said, “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

That’s what it means to find life by losing it. It’s being willing for Christ’s sake to run into a burning tower when everyone else is running out of it. It’s being willing for Christ’s sake to give up some of your freedom of speech, to respect someone else’s faith or life. It’s being willing for Christ’s sake to live more simply, so someone else can simply live. It’s being willing for Christ’s sake to die to give birth to a fuller humanity. It’s being willing for Christ’s sake to sacrifice your psyche, your ego, your desires to empower the healthy desires or dreams of another. Jesus does not need to be the only one carrying a cross, so to speak, for we have opportunities daily to give sacrificially to humanize other people. And that’s what followers of Christ do – they care deeply for others. They find life by giving it away. So, how about it – wanna join the losers club? Life is not about finding yourself, it’s about losing yourself. Come on, lose your life. Give it away. Don’t waste it, spend it gloriously on others.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

First Things First

Deuteronomy 6:1-12
Welcome Back Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
9 September 2012

Holy Spirit, as we hear your Word, inspire us to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day.

Stephen Covey achieved international acclaim, and is perhaps best known, for his 1989 self-help book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which sold around 12 million copies world-wide. The third habit, Putting First Things First, became his second best-seller. In these books, Covey helps us see that

· Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.

· Most people struggle with life balance simply because they haven't paid the price to decide what is really important to them.

· The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.

By showing up at church, you have scheduled your priorities. Covey was onto to something very helpful, but it was not new, as he himself admitted. No, even back in the 6th Century, before the Common Era, before Christ, the Israelites under stress of exile were reminding themselves to put first things first. In the narrative, Moses is reminding the people as they enter Promised Land of ample milk and honey, not to forget the Lord their God, who brought them out of slavery in Egypt, not to forget WHO is first and only, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Those who recorded these words were living in a much later season in Israel’s life and no one had lived through the original entry into the Promised Land. In fact, this was a time of exile and they were hoping to return again to their land. So they needed to remember their love for God as a first priority.

Deuteronomy 6:1-12

Now this is the commandment-- the statutes and the ordinances-- that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, ² so that you and your children and your children's children may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.

³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. ⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶ Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. ⁷ Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. ⁸ Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, ⁹ and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ When the LORD your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you-- a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, ¹¹ houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant-- and when you have eaten your fill, ¹² take care that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (NRSV)

Sh’ma Yis-rael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Ek’had. Six words, summarized in the one title, Sh’ma. The Hear. Shema is the first word of verse 4. It is translated “hear” but it means, hear, listen, and do. The Sh’ma is the name for the entire credo. This is the center piece of Judaism, and Christ affirmed it adding the second commandment to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. For two-three thousand years, our faithful Jewish brothers and sisters have recited the Shema at least twice and often four times/day to remind themselves of their central commitment. First things first in the morning. First things first at services. First things first at bedtime.

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin tells us that Jewish martyrs have gone to their death reciting Sh’ma, while those fortunate enough to have a more peaceful ending try to die with the Sh’ma on their lips. One contemporary Rabbi was said to drive with a bell hanging from the mirror in his car. He said every time his car turns or brakes, the bell rings, reminding him to keep the commandments, to say the Sh’ma, the great summary. And he said, if I die in a car accident, the last thing I will hear is the ringing of the bell and so I will die with Sh’ma on my lips.

After the imperative to acknowledge God as the one and only comes the challenge to make God number one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. In Hebrew, heart means heart and mind. The heart is the center of will, volition, decision-making.

So we’re not just talking about feeling warm toward God. We’re talking making hard decisions to follow the way of God, to put God first. Feelings often follow action anyway. It doesn’t say, you shall love the Lord your God with part or most of your heart. But with ALL your heart/mind/will.

But it is not enough to love God with ALL your heart, because you shall love the Lord your God with all your soul. Now this is what I think Jesus was talking about when he said, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” Loving God with all your soul.

In the second century, Rabbi Akiva was tortured to death and has famously been remembered for having recited the Sh’ma at the moment of death. Apparently the hour for reciting the Sh’ma arrived and he said it and smiled. The Roman officer became frustrated and said, “Old man, why are you smiling in the middle of all this pain?” Akiva said, “All my life when I have said “Sh’ma, when I have said, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your might” I was sad because I was not sure how I could fulfill the command to love God with all my soul. But now as I am giving up my life, I know I have given my heart, my might, and my soul, as well. So I can smile.” (Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, p. 668)

We’ve talked about loving God with all our heart, and with all our soul, but we haven’t talked about the last one – loving God with all our might, sometimes translated strength and sometimes translated by Jewish scholars of Hebrew as means. Loving God with all your means. I hope in the next couple of years all of us will be able to see the fruit of our growth in loving God with all our means, all our might. Because that’s what it is going to take for this church to have a permanent home.

Let me tell you the joy of returning to a church last summer, a church now twenty-one years old. So many old friends returned, people like us who have moved away. What a joy to Immanuel Presbyterian – the people and the building, a sign of that the people loved God with a substantial portion of their means. They are now are blessed with a lasting legacy, never to be forgotten, a sort of Sh’ma seen in the structure of a physical building. Loving God is worth this sacrifice. The kids song said, Love the Lord your God with all that you are. God wants all of you. See, the thing is God made you and God has given you all. We Christians affirm that God gave God’s very own self in Jesus Christ. God gave up all and a covenant of love calls for mutual giving. That’s it. Put God first.

But how? Isn’t that the next question? Keep these words (the Sh’ma) in your heart, the text says. Make them part of your life, until your life is transformed by them. Recite them to your children and grandchildren. Talk about them both at home and away from home. Think about them in the morning and at night. Put them on your hands, on your foreheads, on your doorposts and on your gates. Repetition. Surround yourself with the Sh’ma. So you cannot forget. So your number one will stay number one. Throughout history faithful Jews have worn phalacteries and put mezuzahs on their doors – reminders. I hope you will take home your Shema that the kids passed out and put it in your car or on your mirror or on your refrigerator or on your door. Sh’ma must leave the page (or parchment) and become written on our hearts and our lives, as the art in front of us illustrates.

And today as we begin a new year in Lively learning, I invite you to consider a new commitment to being involved in learning together. If I thought you left here after worship to go home to study your Bibles and pray, I would not push this so much, but few of us are that disciplined on our own. We need the discipline of others counting on us. We need the challenge of other’s thoughts and the commitment of growing as disciples together. Without people counting on you, you simply do not do it.

Would I study scripture well, if you were not depending on me to stand here most every week? No. Much as it drives me crazy some weeks to try to write another sermon, I am thankful for the discipline of it, for the way this work shapes my life – even against my own desires. If something is a priority, then it needs to be given time. First things first.

And we are called to teach the Christian faith to the next generation here. If we don’t, who will? They are being shaped by culture at least 14 hours/day six days/week. We need to make sure that our young people are being taught to remember the faith story – to know that it is not we who make ourselves. When you come into the land and you have all these wonderful things, don’t think it is because you did it all yourself. It is God who made us. It is God who rescues us from danger. It is God who loves us and gives us good things. The beauty of life is always a gift of God. The wonder of life is all because of God. The most dangerous attitude is one of fierce independence, of self-reliance. Those are the people who fall hard. It is always sad to see self-made ones get old and feeble. It is a painful, humbling process. Don’t you see? We were made for relationship with God, for dependence on God, for loving God with all that we are and all that we have – because that’s the love God pours out on us -- a love of full heart, mind, soul, and strength, a love willing to sacrifice for the saving of others. That is the great Love which inspires our love.

Mother Teresa kept putting first things first until she found herself seeing the face of Christ in the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. She said with her words and her life, Give yourself fully to God. [God] will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness.

She also said, I pray that you will understand the words of Jesus, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Ask yourself “How has he loved me? Do I really love others in the same way?”

Dear Jesus, Lover of our Souls, help us to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, follow you more nearly day by day, until that day we know we have given our all, as you gave your all.