The Pentecost Pattern: How the Early Church Grew And We Can Too!
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I Just Want to Be a Sheep
I Just Want to Be a Sheep
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"Sick for 38 Years and Healed on the Wrong Day”
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Love One Another—Story of Jesus
Love One Another—Story of Jesus: Psalm 148; John 13: 31-35
[SLIDE 1] My opening convocation at Centre College featured a speaker named Elie Wiesel. [SLIDE 2] If you don’t know who he is, he is famous for writing a book called Night about his survival of the Holocaust. He would have been 13 or 14 when he was deported from his home in Romania to Auschwitz then Buchenwald. His father, his mother, and his younger sister all perished in the concentration camp leaving a lasting and lifelong pain in his soul and rage that never fully went away.
One of the points he made was about the evil of the indifference of humanity. His exact quote is this: “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” His point is that opposites in this way still indicate some feeling and stir of emotions. True evil only flourishes when we become indifferent to life, to love, and to others.
[SLIDE 3] Jesus, in our Gospel lesson for today, gives a very clear instruction to us on how to live both humanly and faithfully. As he prepares for his final, torturous hours here on Earth, Jesus tells his disciples, “So now, I am giving you a new commandment: Love one another.” It is the plainest, simplest, and clearest form of instruction Jesus gives in the Gospel of John. Most the rest of it he talks about vines, branches, and other complex metaphorical stuff. Here’s he’s clear—love one another. And he doesn’t stop there. He clarifies how to love one another: “Just as I have loved you, you should love one another.”
[SLIDE 4] It’s not enough to just simply love one another. We must love as Christ has loved us. I don’t think I like that. How many times do we hear in church that it was love which sent Jesus to the cross—his love for us? I’m not sure I like that implication. Jesus’s love is open to all, sacrificial, suffering and longsuffering, patient, unending. I have yet to find a human capable of this or who really wants to do that at all. But Jesus tells us that just as he has loved us, so too, must we love one another.
[SLIDE 5] It might be easier if he had qualified this—love other believers, the faithful, the regular attenders, even a qualified percentage of who we are to show this Christ-like love to. But the next sentence makes it even harder, “Your love for one another will prove to the world you are my disciples.” Our love proves our faith in two ways. Our love for other Christians proves the faith we claim, and our love of the whole world proves the truth of Christ and his power. What really marks a person as a Christian is that they show the same love that Christ showed in the Gospels.
[SLIDE 6] If you read Wiesel’s writings, he argues that it is indifference which allows the worst atrocities of humankind. He notes that this is a deliberate choice to ignore the suffering that was occurring in the Holocaust. Evil occurred there and in our own time because of the evildoer’s indifference to the humanity of others as well as all of society’s deliberate choice to ignore the suffering. [SLIDE 7] Wiesel is not the only one who argues this. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.” He also famously noted, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”
[SLIDE 8] Now, lest you think all of this is merely a liberal political notion, let me also quote for you the founder of modern conservatism, Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing.” It is the deliberate indifference of Christ’s followers that allow the existence of wicked things in this world. That’s not a liberal philosophy or a conservative philosophy. It is part of the moral fabric of who we are as believers in God.
[SLIDE 9] Throughout all of history, God has called on followers to speak justice, to show mercy, to protect the widows and orphans, to be kind and generous, hospitable to neighbors and strangers. These are ideas found not in a political manifesto but in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Micah, and the Gospel itself. As followers of Christ, we see both the humanity of the person, good or bad as it may be, but we also see a person made in the image of God. As flawed, messy, and irresponsibly ridiculous as any human can be, that human is still made in God’s image and beloved by God.
Sometimes love looks like an overwhelmingly good and gentle relationship that is healthy, faith-based, and wonderfully functional. Sometimes love has to be in spite of some circumstances. And sometimes, love has to be from a safe distance where prayer is the only option for connection. But we never get to stop loving those around us. Because Jesus said to love like he does, and Jesus never stops loving us even when we are at our most difficult. What we can never do is become indifferent to humankind, created in God’s image, and beloved by God. [SLIDE 10] When we treat people as less that human, when we abuse and harm them, and when we stay silent in the face of others doing harm, we are just as sinful. I see it every day in my work in elder and disabled adult abuse. People don’t want to get involved in a “family matter,” or they see someone who is profoundly disabled as deserving of what the get or a burden at best. Evil lives because indifference fuels it.
A friend of mine once said, if you want to see what real love looks like, talk to a toddler. They are the absolute most brutally honest creatures in the world, but they will love you anyway. A toddler will point out the most absolutely unflattering thing about you then smile because it doesn’t matter to them. As many of you know, I help babysit my adopted nephew on Friday nights. I was worn out from picking up this now rather heavy child and swinging him onto the couch or chasing him all over the house. I’m too old for this. [SLIDE 11] He drew a picture of me, and I don’t particularly see the resemblance at all minus the glasses and the cat at the bottom. He gave me floofy hair and chubby arms. But he also ran up to me with the picture, hugged, me and was just as proud and loving as anything.
Friends, too many people live in a state of suffering in our world, and even in our own friend group at times. And too many churches feed the beast. They talk about doom, gloom, forgetting this old world, God’s judgment, and all manner of horrible things, but what is being done to make a difference. When Christ encountered sickness, suffering, and pain, he healed them, then and there. He didn’t say, “Just deal with it, you’ll be better in heaven…maybe…if you make it.” To care about others is to love as Christ loved.
[SLIDE 12] Dr. Bill Curwood, who was the Interim Minister, at First Christian Danville, Kentucky, when I first went there, is one of my favorite ministers. He was kind, gentle, and had a fantastic New Zealand accent. I had the honor of attending seminary with his daughter. He said that one time he was asked when he was going to make point and tell the church about God’s wrath, judgment, and punishment on the wicked. He said, “As soon as I run out of things to say about how wonderful the love of Jesus is, then I’ll talk about God’s wrath and punishment. It’s been 47 years, and I’m nowhere close to running out of things to say about how amazing God’s love for us really is.”
Jesus says to us in the Gospel, “Love one another… Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” One of the most exciting parts of faith is getting to tell and show who Christ is and how fantastic following him can be. Hopefully for you, like for me, it’s exciting and empowering. And it’s done through our lives, our actions, our words, and everything we do in this life here on earth. May it reflect the Savior of all. So, just as Christ has loved us, let us also love one another.
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Story of Living Hope
Story of Living Hope: Psalm 24; John 10:22-30
[SLIDE 1] I am strongly admonished not to mention my mother or tell family stories from the pulpit. However, I’m presently 5 hours safely away, and it’s Mothers’ Day. I also advised I could talk about my stepmother in the sermon, and that really didn’t go over well either. So let me give you a few good lessons I’ve learned from my mother: I have learned how to make the best meatloaf and mashed potatoes; I learned how to find a new recipe online and use very pan and pot in the kitchen to make it; I learned to be kind and gentle with people; I learned dignity and holding your head up high even when you are walking into somewhere you don’t want to be; I learned about faith and the importance of church even when it’s easier not to go. But most of all I learned to appreciate that there will always be a bit of Appalachian in me, and to be proud of who I am and whose I am.
[SLIDE 2] It may come as a surprise, but I’m not a fan of separating Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day. I understand the historic reasoning, but so many people have struggles with their own parents and being or wanting to be parents that it makes things hard. Too many people, who may not be direct parents, have loved, nurtured, and effectively reared children and adults when they needed a mothering kind of are in their lives. At some point, we have all be a bit like sheep and needed a guiding voice, a shepherd to guide us through the turbulent times. And, conversely, we will all, at some point in life, be called upon to be the shepherd to someone who is in need.
[SLIDE 3] When Jesus is confronted in our Gospel lesson for today, we hear him make a very clear identification of his followers in verses 27 through 29: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.”
[SLIDE 4] Jesus first calls on them to not forget who they are. And he calls them sheep. Now, sheep do not have the best reputations in the animal kingdom. They have a tendency to flock together for better or worse and to focus on grazing over all else. They’re not dumb, exactly, but they tend to often do less than intelligent things, especially when they have no guidance. Sheep will follow whomever or whatever is at the front leading them. If that sheep runs off a cliff, it’s likely many will follow. They constantly need a shepherd to guide them into the right pastures and keep them safe from troubles and predators.
[SLIDE 5] Jesus refers to his followers as sheep, not because it’s a subtle dig at human intelligence, but because often we need some guidance and protection in our own lives lest we fall into temptation’s bad pathways. But we must also remember this is a metaphor for behavior. We’re not actual sheep. We have a very high degree of ability to use intellect and reason. Not everybody does that I’ve learned, but we have the ability. The comparison is made because we need to realize that listening to the wisdom and guidance of our God and following Jesus is the right and righteous pathway for our lives.
Let me give you an example. I know who I am, and what I am capable of. But I also know I have to call my mother for 100 things a day. How do I know when these leftovers spoil. What temperature do I cook cornbread on? Did my response to this sound appropriate? Stay on the phone it’s dark and the GPS is taking me a new way home. Did I say the right thing in that sermon? Though I’m not helpless, I know I still need help. It’s like the man who cried to Jesus, “Lord I do believe, but help my unbelief.” Never forget who you are. We are all humans, and we need some guidance and wisdom in this life, whether from a trusted parental figure or from God. Life without help is brutal.
[SLIDE 6] But also, we must never forget whose we are. Jesus doesn’t say “these sheep,” or “the sheep.” Instead, he says my sheep. We belong to Jesus, the loving Redeemer, and nothing can snatch us away from that, not even our own foolishness at times. There’s a real sense of security in knowing this. The Psalm for today gives us a comforting reminder, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to [God].”
As followers of Christ, we belong to God, and nothing in this earth that challenges us, stresses us, or pushes our sanity and peace can take that away from us. We belong to God, period. A friend of mine recently was talking about his growing up experiences as a poorer kid in the Midwest. He said that his single mother didn’t give him everything he wanted. Clothes were second hand. Toys were the best they could do at the time. Food wasn’t from the gourmet restaurant. But he added that while she didn’t give him everything in life he wanted, she gave him all the love he needed. And that was more than enough.
In many ways that is how God is with us. We don’t always get every single miracle or blessing that we want in life. God isn’t the doting grandparent who caters to every single whimsy and indulgence. God is the parent who gives boundaries, structure, and equips us with the things we need in the difficulties of life. My mother was much the same. I was surely loved and taken care of. But I also got grounded, lectured, and my sassy teen mouth was curtailed REAL quick. But I also understood through love and nurture who I was and whose I was.
[SLIDE 7] Understanding these two things together: who we are in this life, and to whom we belong as children, will give us a living hope. We often get very caught up in the church talking about eternal hope or everlasting hope. But here on earth we also need a little bit of living hope from time to time. It’s this assurance and guidance that gets us through life’s struggles. We come to church for this. We may also get nice music, some good singing, the blessedness of Communion, and a half-decent sermon, but the biggest draw to come to church is the need to find God and have some of this living hope.
A close friend of mine is a staunch atheist. She knows my beliefs and that I will share God’s love and grace with everyone. And we are very close friends. She calls me her son’s uncle, and a part of the family. She grew up in a country where the church was, at best, abusive, and that has left her in a space of no belief. We were talking a few weeks ago about a mutual friend getting sick and facing death. She asked me if how I was so calm about it all.
I told her that my faith teaches me that death isn’t something to be afraid of and hope is the lasting word of life. After a pause, she said, “Yeah, I guess if I believed in God and an afterlife, all of this would be a lot easier. I’m just not there yet.” No matter who we are or where we are on this life’s journey, we all need some kind of living hope. As a child, we turn to our parents or mothers when we struggle. In our aged years, we may turn to children or friends, but in all seasons of life, we find that living hope in our faith in God.
[SLIDE 8] This Mothers’ Day, never forget who you are and who you belong to. All of us have a mother, aunt, church mom, or some woman in our lives who has nurtured, loved us, and reminded us to look to God’s living hope in this life. We may be a bit like sheep at times and need some guidance. But we also belong to God, for Jesus calls us his sheep. The question for us is how will we be and show that living hope of God to others? All around us are opportunities to heal, love, and nurture people who are in need of that mothering presence. May we be that living hope in this world through Christ, the loving shepherd who guides us.
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/545859685243769
Story of Redemption
Story of Redemption: Psalm 130; John 21: 1-17
[SLIDE 1] This week I did some long and difficult training with new attorneys on how to try a case. We give them a case pattern and critique them start to finish and they put it together and present it in a mock court situation. One of my students was really struggling. A few times when she was given feedback she rolled her eyes at us, which did not go over well. I later learned it was a nervous tick, and she had no idea she was doing it. [SLIDE 2] The day of the mock trial with fake jurors came, and all of a sudden, she hit a homerun. Everything was on point. Her questions were good. Her arguments on point, and her presence was strong. This was an attorney who would stand up and just stare at us because she totally shut down and couldn’t even formulate a question.
I looked at her and said, “I don’t know what ghost of a deceased brilliant attorney came and inhabited your body, but you sounded like a 20-year veteran of the practice today.” She grinned and said, “Good, I needed a little redemption tour after my mess this week.” And indeed, we all need a little redemption sometimes in life. With redemption comes a God-given calling, and that puts us on the right track of faith in this life.
This short passage in John’s gospel is packed with symbolism of Jesus proving who he was to the disciples. [SLIDE 3] They had gone out to do some fishing, but they had not caught nothing. Jesus appeared to them at dawn and told them to cast their nets on the other side. The net was so full they could not draw it in. We’ve heard this story before. Though it’s not in John, exactly, Jesus did this miracle and told them to be fishers of people. Peter then jumps out of the water and runs to Jesus. [SLIDE 4] It brings to mind when Peter walked on water trying to get to Jesus, but falls short and sinks. Jesus then feeds them bread and fish. [SLIDE 5] And at least this time he cooked it unlike the feeding of the 5,000 where there’s no mention of cooking and I fear they got sushi. Then he serves them food reminiscent of the Last Supper.
John is making a point. Though some of these things happened in other gospels, we have a term in the law called in pari materia, which means writings on the same subject should be interpreted together to understand their meaning and intent and create a coherent application. All of these acts of Jesus testify to his holiness because they recall the miracles which identify him. And all these miracles involved the disciples directly in some way or another.
[SLIDE 6] This is important because Peter is likely feeling a bit lost at this point in life. I imagine he is a bit uncertain of himself and of what is next. He may also be a bit scared of Jesus. We see him run to the empty tomb, but there’s no mention of him saying anything at the previous appearances of Jesus, which is not like Peter at all. He was never the shy or bashful type. But in his last interaction with Jesus, he had vehemently denied Jesus and even knowing him three times. Each gospel records this, and in the end, Peter weeps bitterly for what he has done. At this point and time, Peter is a broken man standing in need of redemption.
Each of us will face these broken times in life. It may be the end of a marriage. We may struggle with family relationships, with children and grandchildren. We may have a broken friendship. Because we are so flawed, there are times that we will feel broken and that we will be the one causing the problem. And if we were honest with ourselves, at one time or another, we have all said or done something that grieved our Lord. Peter was so imperfectly perfect. He was at times a mess, but his love and devotion to Jesus were very real. I think at times we can see a bit of ourselves in Peter. He’s the most real and human of the disciples. We have all been on fire so much that we lashed out as he did in the garden. We have been surly and disagreeable as he was in the courtyard. We have cried, struggled, felt ourselves sinking in the waves, and we have all tried very hard.
Peter is a man who needed redemption, and knew at this point he needed Jesus. That’s where we need to find ourselves each day. Sometimes we live this tug of war, only pulling Jesus in when it’s so hard we think we need him to help out. But faith isn’t about calling in the holy cavalry when the going gets tough. Faith is a daily offering of ourselves, our lives, and our hearts to the One who is the God of creation and redemption.
Growing up we were taught that each time Jesus says to Peter, “Feed my sheep (or lambs),” it’s like he’s cleansing away each denial and restoring Peter’s relationship and commitment. At the end of this discussion, a few verses down, Jesus concludes with, “Follow me.” I imagine this was a very emotional moment for Peter. By the third time Jesus asked him, “Do you love me,” Peter had to know what Jesus was doing. Each of those denials, just as bitter and hard as the lashes on Jesus’s body, was wiped away by the assertion of love for Jesus.
[SLIDE 7] Redemption is formulaically very simple: repentance and restoration. Peter had already had his moment of repentance. His bitter weeping and grief proved that he was heartily sorry for what he had done in betraying Jesus with his denials. What was still needed was his restoration. That came here. In any broken place in life, there has to be both repentance and restoration before the brokenness can be cured or rebuilt. Repentance without restoration is just forgiving and moving on. Restoration without repentance is just overlooking the toxic things that caused the brokenness in the first place. You must have both.
[SLIDE 8] But inherent in redemption is a calling. Jesus said, “Feed my sheep,” and concluded with, “Follow me.” Peter’s redemption would have been an utter waste if he had simply thanked Jesus and gone back to fishing. Jesus had done too much for him that he couldn’t help but be changed and called. Peter was a man of charisma, action, a fisherman who could relate to all the folks around him. I’m sure Peter was the person you wanted entertaining folks at dinner. Jesus had changed him, and now that he was redeemed and reconciled, he could never go back. He had a calling from God that be both incredible and dangerous. Yet, he was going to be the rock upon which Christ’s church was built.
Peter most certainly wasn’t ready for his calling. And, frankly, neither are you and I. When I became minister at the young age of 25, I remember being asked, “Will, what are you going to offer and teach those veteran saints who have years of experience on you?” At the time, I didn’t know how to answer that. In retrospect, 14 years later, the answer to that is nothing. But I am certain that God is still speaking to us, no matter how veteran of a saint we are nor whom God may speak through. Redemption, reorientation, and finding our way in faith all require us to trust in the Redeemer of humankind.
[SLIDE 9] When I was in college, I had a poster of Garfield the cat which said, “If I don’t know the answer, I’ll make one up.” That has adequately described my teaching style at this training for new attorneys. Thankfully I don’t apply that to this calling. Whatever was said or done that week of training, somehow, it got through to that new, young attorney. She got it and understood. She was redeemed from her place of defeat and dismay and re-found this work as her calling.
[SLIDE 10] My friends, God is doing the same for you, only the answers aren’t a best guess or what some human can make up for you. In a world that craves revenge and power, turn your eyes to Jesus who values redemption and purpose. Peter, who denied Jesus three times, wept bitterly, and lost his way almost entirely, found his redemption is professing over and over, “Yes I love you, Jesus.” And he found his purpose in Jesus’s reply, “Feed my sheep [and] follow me.” God can work miraculously through you too. It’s no different for us than it was for Peter: Do you love Jesus? Will you feed Jesus’s sheep? Will you follow him? May your answers be firm, and may God give you the strength to live them out.
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/2020401548452251/
Grace to Ask Questions
Grace to Ask Questions: Psalm 150; John 20: 19-31
[SLIDE 1] There are a few things in life that cause me to doubt: [SLIDE 2] gas station sushi, a burger where you have to pay extra for the fries, the 40 year old air conditioner on at least one part of this building, and anything elected in Washington, D.C. You may now be doubting the direction of this sermon, but I promise that’s the only political reference here. Fear not. We all have things in life and points in the journey where we experience doubts. It reminds me of the old joke. One man says, “Wise men hesitate, and fools are certain.” The other guy says, “Are you sure about that?” And he replies, “I’m certain.”
[SLIDE 3] Caution, questioning, and having doubts in life can lead us in one of two ways. They can hold us back, hamper our growth, and keep us stuck in the same old bad places we’ve long lived, or the questions, caution, and doubts can push us to seek out things which help us grow and be better in life. A wise preacher once said to me, “You cannot grow in faith unless you have wrestled with doubt.”
[SLIDE 4] It is no secret that the disciples had doubts. Just last week we talked about the doubts as the disciples rushed to the empty tomb. It took some time for them to piece together Jesus’s teachings and the resurrection. We tend to focus in on Thomas’s specific doubts in this text, but I think we are given a hint that he is not the only one struggling to understand and asking tough questions. When Jesus first enters the room while Thomas is away, we are told in verse 20, “As [Jesus] spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!”
Jesus showed them all his hands, his wounds, the work of love for us because they, too, had questions, doubts, and uncertainties in life. Remember, they had not seen him since the resurrection. They had seen an empty tomb, and they believed his words. But consistency is hard for humans. We tend to be wafflers on everything. I believe, however, this scripture shows us that God welcomes doubts and questions, but with one caveat. When we have doubts and questions, they should spur us on to seek out the truth and draw closer into our relationship with God to resolve those doubts and questions.
[SLIDE 5] Living with doubts can be a bit unhealthy for us. But doubts that act as the fuel to the engine of our faith journey can be truly good. A person who never embraces their doubts and questions has no reason to open the Bible, no reason to engage in prayer, no reason to study, learn, grown, and deepen the faith relationship. It is in times of struggle, pain, and doubt that we are driven to look for answers, for help, and for a word from the God we believe in and profess as Lord.
Thomas didn’t have a closed mind to it all. He wanted to see Jesus. He hadn’t lost his faith, exactly. He wanted to see more. Jesus was gone, and he was grieving. Maybe we look at this as a cynical and cold form of doubting. We consider that Thomas has denied and renounced Jesus like Peter in the courtyard. But that’s not the truth. Thomas is a man in deep grief, traumatized by the brutal death of Jesus. What he wants in this moment is not to wash his hands of faith, but to see his friend, and the one he came to believe was the Son of God. He wanted and needed to have Jesus in his life.
[SLIDE 6] Perhaps one of the more toxic theologies we have been taught is that it’s sinful to have doubts and questions. In and of themselves, those things are not inherently sinful. It’s the journey they send you on that can be problematic. One of the first Biblical figures to come to mind is Moses. He contended with God that he was unable to speak well, too insignificant to lead, too much past, he doubted himself, God’s calling, and questioned it right in front of a burning bush. Gideon asked for sign after sign from God before following what God said. Paul needed an entire vision from heaven before he understood.
[SLIDE 7] There are times we will have our doubts. There are times we will have questions in life. Sometimes we will look back and find regrets and places we wish we had done a little better. A friend of mine posted on Facebook this week a little thing that said, “My life’s summary is ‘Well that didn’t go as planned.’” None of us is immune. We will all find a point of regret, fall into questions, or doubt ourselves and faith at times. It’s always when we are struggling in life. Usually, it comes as an avalanche. All the bad things rain down upon us then the troubles cause us to question, and the questions lead to doubts.
[SLIDE 8] But what is import is where we go next. We can allow ourselves to wander down the path of misery and self-pity, or we can find a pathway that allows our questions to lead us closer to God. There are countless resources available for this journey. First and foremost is prayer. Too often we think of prayer as begging the medieval king for a grain of bread. But it’s more so a conversation with God. Prayer should allow us to listen and experience God in life, just as much as we talk to God and tell God things. We also have a good Word. This Psalm is one of my favorites. In my times of sadness, I am reminded of the encouragement, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” What is searching for God if not an act of praise?
We also have each other. The last couple of weeks of Lent were especially difficult. There was a lot to get done, multiple meetings/services, stressors with work and visitation. I think all of us had a holy week that was unholy at best. But one of the blessings is having each other in tough times. For example, on Palm Sunday, the communion chalice had water in it. I waved my hand over it a couple of times, but nothing happened. [SLIDE 9]Then on Easter there was a marshmallow peep in the chalice staring right up at me. Within that smidgen of sacrilege was a incredible amount of holy humor and joy. And Jesus, who was a master of wittiness in his commentary to the disciples and pharisees, would most certainly have appreciated the humor of it.
[SLIDE 10] Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” The harder part of our faith is when want and expect the miracle. We want and know the blessing will come, and it simply doesn’t. Too often we’ve tied our faith to what God can do for us like life is a quid pro quo or you take care of me, I’ll take care of you. First of all, there is nothing we bring to God to earn any level of grace. Blessings are just that, gifts of love and grace to us. I can imagine Jesus stretching this phrase to say, “Blessed are those who believe even when the answer is hard.” The journey of faith is not always the smoothest and fastest road. There is no google maps to help us avoid the pitfalls.
Faith tells us, however, that the destination is worth the journey. In every trial and struggle, in every doubt and difficult, and in every time where the questions cannot seem to find answers, the ultimate response is still there. God’s love for us, all of us, never changes. The faith we believe and practice is grounded in Jesus’s redemptive love and our calling to share God’s love and grace with all.
[SLIDE 11] When Thomas, in his grief, asked to see Jesus, to be near and know that holy presence in his life again, he was seeking out ways to know Jesus more. His doubts fueled him to look for Jesus and an answer. He could have walked away. He could have gone back to his old life or created a whole new one, and all of this would have been a distant memory. But he stayed. And he sought Jesus. And when he did, Jesus appeared in all his power and majesty. Thomas responded with overflowing faith, “My Lord and my God!” Doubts and questions will come. The question is what will you do? Will you toss it all out like fishy gas station sushi, or will you find a journey to draw closer to the God who loves you?
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1198986035264958/
Grace to Believe
Grace to Believe: Isaiah 65: 17-25; John 20: 1-18
[SLIDE 1] [SLIDE 2]The other day, while having lunch with a friend, I sat for a while in the sun outside of the restaurant. Having low Vitamin D, the warmth and the vitamins felt good on me even as I burned a bit. Seeing the arrangement donated for Easter with the gorgeous daisies and sunflowers welcoming in summer made me smile a bit this morning. The Easter lilies, however, still made me sneeze. In a world that is topsy-turvy, volatile, overly connected, an often hard to understand, we need these things that ground us, center us, and remind us of God’s grace and love in our lives.
Easter does just that for us. It grounds us back in the very basics and starting point of our faith. It brings us back to the very joyful fundamental of what we believe.[SLIDE 3] In Christ, and his life, we find our own hope and our lives. There are a lot of ways we can re-center ourselves and reconnect back to God when life seems to pull us a hundred thousand different ways. For some it’s gardening and getting their hands dirty in the earth and creation. For some it’s music, and the beautiful melodies stirring the soul. Some love their pets. Some love a good dinner and favorite food. Some love crafting. And some folks just need to sit on the couch and completely dissociate for a few hours.
We are promised that God is always with us. But all too often, when we become overwhelmed and overburdened, we can forget to abide in God’s love and God’s presence. In essence, we don’t lose faith, but we forget to stay close to the source of our life and our holy guide in this life. It’s easy to get a bit lost in the weeds when life throws too many things at us.
[SLIDE 4] Even the disciples struggled with the waiting period of Holy Saturday and understanding what Jesus had taught them all along. When Mary arrived at the tomb on the third day, they found it empty. No stone, no body, no guards, nothing, nada was there. She, Peter, and the other disciple all assumed that Rome, the leading elders, or someone else had illegally snatched Jesus’s body and desecrated his resting place. She even cries out to the disciples that someone or some group had stolen his body.
[SLIDE 5] But when they entered the tomb, it wasn’t a crime scene. The linens were there, the face cloth was neatly folded. It wasn’t a body snatching; it was a resurrection. And it was only at that point, John’s gospel tells us, that the disciples understood what Jesus meant. All the times they heard and experienced Jesus’s words and prophecies, and it was only when they saw with their own eyes, the most fundamental part of Jesus’s work, did they fully understand and believe.
We have the benefit of their testimony and writings. We have the benefit of looking back and deciphering what Jesus said in the whole context. For the disciples, belief was a moment by moment understanding. For us, it’s the big picture that we can understand from start to finish. But we must still have the grace to believe and have faith in this work of love.
That’s why we have to come back and center ourselves here. Be it sitting or walking in God’s creation, hearing and experiencing life around us, taking time to simply be still, we all have to find our way back to this starting point: belief in Christ, who offers life and hope through an understanding of sacrificial love. How do we take time in life to intentionally bring ourselves back to this starting point of faith—to the life-giving resurrection that so defines what we believe?
[SLIDE 6] I have had more than a few people tell me recently that the worry about what kind of future is being left for the next generation. There’s a lot of talk about the turmoil in the world, stretched resources, how different life is now. But I’ve learned a couple of things. First, I think almost every generation says that, and it’s true just the same for every generation. Life changes and becomes different and hard to understand as we get older. But I have also learned that there is, along with all that change, an unchanged truth. A co-worker had a baby this week. Yesterday we all got an email showing mom and a very healthy and beautiful baby girl.
Whatever is going on in the world around us, does not change the hope and love seen in that image of new life and the love of a new mother. And I believe, must believe, that even as God has cared for us for centuries, loved us, helped us, and tended to us in spite of ourselves, God will continue to do that for this new little baby and beyond. Grace is found in believing, almost recklessly, in God’s wisdom, power, and strength to love and lead humanity through until the end of time.
But our hope and belief go even beyond this, for in resurrection, Jesus offers us an understanding of life and love for all time. Isaiah talks about a new heaven and earth, where peace and God’s justice reign. The sufferings of life will be unknown to us. No death at young ages will come. No invaders to plunder and destroy. No misfortune, no struggles to work, peace, love, and comfort will reign in that time. We must, if we are to have any hope at all in this life, we must have the grace in life to believe in the Kingdom of God. That is both in life everlasting and the work of being God’s people here and now.
[SLIDE 7] A friend of mine loves to cook and bake. She’s one of those rare individuals who is gifted at being able to do both. Most folks either cook or bake, but it’s a rare skill to do both. You can tell if it’s been a rough week because there will be cakes, pies, breads, pastries, casseroles, and culinary concoctions galore. The thing is, though, she eats really simple: fish, chicken, and veggies. Beyond tasting for quality, she doesn’t eat much of what she fixes. And yes, I clarified she’s not secretly poisoning us. She does, however, give most of it away to folks when they have a rough week, visiting family, a new birth, an illness, and things like that.
If you ask her why she does all this, she will tell you that she feels closest to God when she has her hands crammed in a mixing bowl with a dirty apron and flour covering her and the kitchen. One time she laughed and said, “I’m a modern-day Martha, I guess. I’d never be able to sit still at Jesus’s feet. This is how I know God. It’s my version of being still.” She would also tell you that she prays every single cake, pie, meatloaf, casserole, and candy helps someone else see God’s goodness in their life.
For me, Good Friday was that moment. I got to hang out at the church all day, setting up the sanctuary and getting the elements of worship ready for that night all while humming “Nearer My God to Thee,” which also worked out perfectly for when I fell off the step at the Communion Table. It was a moment to be grounded again in the work of worship, to come back to the idea of death, life, and life everlasting that is so important to our faith.
[SLIDE 8] Where and how do we bring ourselves back to the beginning? Easter is both a reminder to us that one day we will rise up and be with Christ and that we must come back to the very fundamental point of faith: a Savior who offers hope and love to a people who don’t necessarily deserve it. What helps you to ground yourself, and when was the last time you engaged in that? When we come back to the empty tomb, we are reminded over and over again that every part of life is not in vain, for we can have the grace, and even the audacity, to believe in a life-giving God. [SLIDE 9] And so we proclaim our good news. The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed, hallelujah! [SLIDE 10]
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1170915824361866/
Grace to Accept Tragedy
Grace to Accept Tragedy: Job 1: 20-22; John 12: 1-19
[SLIDE 1] If you follow me on social media, you’ll see the grand tragedy of my Thursday. As I sat in my office with lunch spread before me, I meditated on how Jesus turned the water into wine. [SLIDE 2A-B] In front of me was a salad. And no matter how hard I prayed, the same Jesus who turned water into wine would not turn that salad into a bacon cheeseburger and fries. And for a few moments, my faith was truly tested in this tragedy of sad lunching. Now, obviously this is a joke, but in many ways, Palm Sunday is a full-scale tragedy.
[SLIDE 3] The story of Palm Sunday reminds me of reading Greek Tragedies in Freshman English class. They explore human suffering, the consequences of fate, and the worst results of humanity’s free will. Palm Sunday presents a celebration—light-hearted, fun, and exciting. But the underlying truth is that betrayal, abandonment, injustice, hatred and malice, deceit, suffering, and even murder lurk in the shadows of this celebration. Many texts call this the Triumphant Entry. The reality is that it is a tragedy. But it’s a tragedy that leads to triumph. And at times we must have the grace to accept and live out a tragedy in life.
[SLIDE 4] Author and blogger Sarah Christmyer writes about the meaning of Palm Sunday, “To rephrase the old saying, Palm Sunday comes in like a palm branch, out like a cross.” It begins with a betrayal. In the Gospel of Luke, we are told that Judas goes to the chief priests and temple guard to betray Jesus. In Luke it is because Satan enters him. In Matthew it’s out of his greed and disgust at the breaking of the jar of perfume by Mary. In John, there is no explanation. Judas simply slips away like some shadowy figure caught up in wrongdoing. The effect is no different. Jesus experiences the betrayal of one of his closest, a disciple.
Jesus also endures the misunderstanding crowd. On Palm Sunday he hears shouts and cheers hailing him as blessed and the King of the Jews. This had political and spiritual implications. It’s a blurry line whether they thought he was the return of a king like King David or the Savior of Israel. While they understood the wait for the Messiah, what they desperately wanted was a political powerhouse to overthrow Rome. That clearly was not Jesus, and just a short time later, they cry out for his crucifixion. On top of betrayal from Judas, Jesus experiences the cruelty from these people.
It’s proof that the crowd utterly misunderstood who Jesus was. They didn’t make a commitment. They didn’t come in faith. They didn’t listen to his teaching as a spiritual wisdom. They didn’t want the holy. They wanted the political power. Blessed is the KING, not savior, not messiah, but the King of Israel. [SLIDE 5] We even read in our Hebrew Lesson of Job, who encountered tragedy. Like Jesus it only took moments for the happiness and celebration to be swept away in tragedy. The only one left in his family was his wife, who was far more of a curse than a blessing.
[SLIDE 6] We often feel the same. Life seems to bring one tragedy after another. We face a friend or family member who is mad about something, and we don’t even know why. We can feel the pang of betrayal from loved ones or even our own bodies. We can feel misunderstood. We can experience loss. In so many ways, we face minor and colossal tragedies in our own lives that wound us, challenge us, and test our faith in ways we don’t want or expect.
I counseled with a friend many years ago who declared that all of her life seemed to be going from one tragedy to another. It’s a harsh test of our faith when we so desperately want the miracle to come, but it doesn’t happen. We can often identify with Jesus in the garden, fervently praying that this cup would pass from him. Yet he knew that he had to walk the difficult path, or the lonesome valley, as the spiritual says.
[SLIDE 7] But at times there is a glimpse of a light of hope. Mary, in our lesson, anoints Jesus with the essence of nard in an act of devotion. Now, often, nard was used for burial purposes. It would have been saved to anoint Jesus in his burial. Yet here, Mary pours out the whole jar, filling the entire place with the scent of the expensive perfume. As a pastor friend of mine noted, perhaps in all the time spent learning at the feet of Jesus, Mary knew and understood. There would be no burial perfume needed, for Jesus would not stay in the tomb. Her devotion here wasn’t just anointing Jesus with the expensive perfume, it was in her listening, her understanding, and her discipleship in believing what Jesus had said to her.
[SLIDE 8] The difference in the story of Jesus and old school Greek and Shakespearian tragedies is that when the tragedy hits, they just end. But Jesus continues to write the story into a finale of hope. He endures the betrayal, abandonment, suffering, injustice, all of it. Palm Sunday foreshadows a tremendous amount of suffering Jesus must undergo. But none of it is tragic, all of it is redemptive.
One of the things we do most as humans is look for some kind of meaning to the struggles and tragedies we go through. I’ve heard people say, “Don’t waste your trials,” or they talk about lessons learned in life’s tough times. After years of pastoring, I’ve concluded that some trials may contain a lesson. But sometimes, living in a world that is sinful and selfish leads us to endure tragedies, trials, and suffering that may not have a lesson in it. It’s simply a struggle in life.
A good friend of mine has been fighting bladder cancer for several months. She went for her checkup after completing chemo, and they discovered a second tumor on her brain. It’s not metastasized. It’s a whole different cancer. She’s facing a very complex operation to remove it. I cannot believe that the God who loves us and redeems us sent that to her just for some simple lesson to be learned. The God of the Old Testament is nothing like what we experience as people whom Christ has loved and redeemed. We are told plainly, God is love.
The human experience is often difficult and filled with good periods as well as periods of suffering. In the good times we offer God praise and thanks. In the tough periods of life, we are drawn closer to Christ who was well-acquainted with suffering. Instead of finding some educational justification for suffering and struggle, look to Jesus. His final word on all of human suffering is hope and life. It is redemption for all of us. Sometimes there is nothing that can make our struggles any better or easier. There wasn’t much that could make the cross easy for Jesus. But we know that no matter how hard life is we rest on God’s promises. The story of our struggling and suffering ends in hope.
What’s needed from us is the courage to follow Jesus. Judas betrayed him. The disciples fled when the guards came to arrest Jesus. All of Job’s friends and his wife turned on him and blamed him for his own suffering. But Mary not only had the courage to believe, but she also relied fully on what Jesus had said as truth. She knew that the burial perfumes would not be needed because Jesus had taught that death was never a final word. Tragedy would not reign in Jesus’s kingdom. She dumped out the burial ointments as an anointing of Jesus for the work and suffering he would do, and the hope he would bring.
[SLIDE 9] On Palm Sunday, the crowds lay their palms and cloaks before Jesus welcoming him as King of the Jews into the heart of Jerusalem. But just a short time later, they turned on him, calling for his unjust death and suffering. In our own hearts and lives, we make way for Jesus to be a part of our lives. But we too face the same question, will we have the courage to follow him, or will we turn and follow the crowd? Good Friday is coming. What will our choice be? [SLIDE 10]
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/697347279376543/
Grace in Life, Death, and Eternal Life
Grace in Life, Death, and Eternal Life: I Kings 17: 17-24; Selections John 11
[SLIDE 1] The other day, I was reading an article from Polly Green in a magazine about aging. [SLIDE 2] She took up surfing at the age of 50 and thoroughly enjoyed it. She recounts a conversation with a man on the beach while she was sipping her morning tea. He was an older gentleman looking at her in her surfing gear and asked, impolitely, how old she is. Her reply was 52. She writes, “His jaw dropped, and he said, ‘I thought you were seventy. You have really bad skin!’” She adds that this is not the first time this has happened. So instead of being bothered by it, she decided to start telling folks she was 85 so they think she’s doing incredibly well for her age.
[SLIDE 3] We have a bit of an obsession in society with looking and being young. It’s especially bad for women, but I’m starting to see the aging angst catch up with middle-aged men as well. I think, perhaps, that’s a wrong focus for us. Obsessing over youthfulness is not the direction we need to go as God’s faithful. Now you don’t have to have a praise break every time a new wrinkle or grey hair shows up, but God is a God of life, wisdom, and growth. We see in our lessons for today that God gives us grace and strength in life, death, and in eternal life.
[SLIDE 4] We read in I Kings that the widow who has helped Elisha loses her son to an illness. He was a young son, and as many would say, too young to die like that. The even greater unfairness of it is that he and his mom survived the famine in the land. It looks like God brought them through the famine just to cruelly snatch her child away with little explanation. But our God is a God of life, not of death, not of misery and suffering. We suffer and struggle in a broken world, but God is the presence of hope in spite of that. Though death doesn’t care about youth or agedness, God can bring life in any situation.
Here, God restored the widow’s son to life. Too often we focus on turning back the clock, forgetting that every minute is another gift of life from God. Do we fill up each moment of life with the goodness of God, or do we constantly search for the things in the past that have come and gone? God calls you to live life here and now, not meander back to places you’ve been already. If you live in a youth that has passed and time that is gone, you will miss all of the blessings and good work God has for you now, when you are wiser in life to do them.
[SLIDE 5] In our Gospel lesson, we read the heart-rending story of how Lazarus dies. This family is familiar in the gospels, providing us the stories of Mary and Martha, the anointing of Jesus’s feet, and here, the resurrection of Lazarus. Now Lazarus was not one of those who died for a split second then was revived. No, when Jesus came to town, Lazarus had been dead for four days. He was not just dead; he was very dead. And yet Jesus called him out of the tomb as if death was nothing at all and had no power whatsoever.
Martha and Mary, I’m sure, were a bit bothered by Jesus. Though Facebook and Instagram didn’t exist in those days, all sorts of news and gossip travelled faster than I would think is possible. So I am convinced that Mary and Martha knew Jesus delayed his journey to them allowing Lazarus to die. Perhaps that is why Mary stayed inside. Martha seems to have just been trying to make sense of it all. What they witnessed, though, was the greatest testament to God’s power to bring life from death in the whole of the Bible.
[SLIDE 6] It’s also a bit of a foreshadowing of Jesus’s work on earth. Some churches get a bit to hyper-focused on the cross and the crucifixion. Christ’s work here on earth was not to die, but to bring life and hope to a humanity that didn’t have that. The gift of grace we often hear about isn’t a bloodied instrument of torture, it’s an empty tomb where hope for humankind walked out alive and holy bringing life and the hope of eternal life to us.
So, the question to us is this: if God is a God of life and hope, then what do we do with our lives while we are here? Like Elisha, like Jesus, we are to bring life for those who feel stuck in the tomb, or hopeless. There are a few ways we can do this. First, when the widow’s young son died, Elisha advocated for him before God. I spent Friday at a small conference in Norcross. It was for advocates, clinicians, and professionals working to help those who have experienced family violence and domestic violence. One of the things we talked about was this idea of coercive control where an abuser exerts a form of mental control over the victim, which makes it hard for the victim to advocate for herself.
[SLIDE 7] Just like these advocates speak up for and help these women who are victimized by someone who should love them, we must be advocates in our own communities. Many struggle to speak for themselves, fight when needed, and stand up in difficult situations. Many may be too tired or sick. We have a calling to give a voice to those who are weary or voiceless, just like Elisha pleaded the widow’s cause before God until life was restored to the young boy.
[SLIDE 8] We must also be agents of healing and hope just as Jesus was in the Gospel lesson. There are many joy-filled parts of the job of a pastor. I love dedicating a child to God. I love baptisms, weddings. I especially love celebrating the Lord’s Supper each week with its powerful reminders. But my absolute favorite thing is visiting with folks and helping them feel comforted, or smile, or even laugh in tough situations. Sharing in a funny and uplifting story or reminder, can make the dreadful a little easier in life.
Each of us has the ability to minister and comfort or even bring hope in a dark situation when someone needs it. Some of that comes from our ability to be present here and now. If we live in the past and don’t look to the work of now and tomorrow, then we’ve gained all this wisdom for nothing. Both Jesus and Elisha made it a point to be present in the immediate moment with the widow and with the sisters when they were grieving and hurting. The widow was stuck in the past believing that God still intended to kill them all for past sins, and Martha looked too far into the future talking about the last day. In both instances God sent a prophet and a Savior to remind that God can work in the here and now to bring hope and life in dark places.
Our calling in life is to bring a little light and a little hope into someone’s life. But also, we must be willing to embrace the hope and life encouragement that others bring to us. In life we are sometimes the strong one lifting up and helping others, but sometimes we are the vulnerable ones who need an Elisha or Jesus to comfort and get our lives back on track.
[SLIDE 9] This week, I had the displeasure of…yet again…straining a tendon in my foot and heading back into the boot. Thursday night I was a bit miserable, but a good friend of mine, knowing how annoyed I was, came over and brought his two incredibly sweet dogs to visit. One hour of sitting at the dog park and playing with those two sweet, fluffy dogs made my struggle much, much lighter.
[SLIDE 10] Many of us cringe when we think of aging. The idea of wrinkles, grey hair, getting a bit slower, and all the jokes about age doesn’t exactly excite us. But as we live each day here on earth, we can find ways to build a closer, better relationship to the God who loves us through the Savior whose suffering and power over death gives us hope and life. As we grow, gain experience, and hopefully grow in wisdom, may we use what we gain to share that hope and life with others in our world. There are people all around us who are vulnerable. May we be the light of hope that they need to be made whole.
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1020888169372175/