Overcoming Opposition: Ourselves

Overcoming Opposition: Ourselves—Gen. 37: 1-17; Matt.19: 16-22

[SLIDE 1] Every self-help guidebook everywhere has a few similar quotes: [SLIDE 2] “You are your own worst enemy; Be yourself, but be your best self; Sometimes the best way is to get out of the way.” But most days it feels like the self-help quote we are living is this, “If you think everything is going really well, just wait.” Much of life is about overcoming obstacles, trials, and forging through when times are tough. [SLIDE 3] Life may not be a constant battle, but there are parts of life where we will have to fight: when we cause our own problems, when we are betrayed, temptation, feeling abandoned, hard times, and the creeping destruction of bitterness. For the next several weeks, we’re going to journey with Joseph in Genesis, looking at how he overcame struggles in his own life, with God’s help. Joseph’s first big problem was his own self. In our scripture for today we see three big internal struggles: overthinking, self-doubt, and desiring excess, greed, or gluttony, however you call it. 

All of us become overthinkers at some point or another. We see it in Jacob. [SLIDE 4] When he hears of Joseph’s dream, he chides Joseph for such a silly thing, but he doesn’t just go on. He ponders what the dream meant. Jacob was a savvy man, who had a close relationship with God. Jacob, remember, is the one who wrestled with God and had visions himself. Jacob could have gone to God and asked for clarification. He could have talked more to Joseph. This wasn’t outside the norm for Jacob or his family, yet he chose to dwell on it instead of addressing it. 

[SLIDE 5] Friends, one of the things that will challenge our faith the most is overthinking and “stewing” on things as the old saying goes. God has designed that we work through troubles with forgiveness and love, but also that we take our confusions and problems to the Lord in prayer. If you don’t address an irritation in under the skin, it soon becomes an open wound, painful and dangerous. By not addressing the dreams as a family, Jacob allowed the hatred of Joseph’s brothers to grow and foster until it was too late. One of the worst ways we damage ourselves is overthinking and allowing problems to go unaddressed. Take it to God in prayer, and have a gentle, open conversation. 

[SLIDE 6] Another way we cause our own faith struggle is with self-doubt. Look to Joseph’s brothers. They allowed their father’s favoritism to foster a murderous hatred of Joseph. They allowed his dreams to consume their whole thought process until they desired to kill him. Joseph was a child when they sold him off into slavery…only 16-17 years old. There’s no denying Joseph was arrogant and obnoxious at this point in his life, but it wasn’t his fault. Jacob spoiled him. His parents fashioned him into the favorite with all the entitled behaviors. Joseph’s brothers doubted themselves, their station in the family, their father’s appreciation, and saw themselves as less than in the family. And they took it out on Joseph instead of their father who caused it. 

Self-doubt can make us act in unfaithful ways. When God blesses someone else in ways that make us jealous, we grow in anger towards that person. God’s love is not a competitive sport. There is more than enough of God’s love, grace, and welcome to go around. Many of us struggle with this. Nowadays they call it “Imposter Syndrome.” Enough people struggle with self-doubt that they made a whole mental health disorder. The truth is that Joseph’s brothers didn’t need Jacob’s approval, competition with Joseph, or any other kind of dysfunction. God loved them, and they could have the same connection with God that anyone else did. Their life journey was not Josephs’s or Jacobs, or Rachel’s or anyone else’s. Faith is not a competitive sport. 

[SLIDE 7] I saw a quote the other day that speaks to this, “You’re seeking validation from a world that crucified a perfect man.” We must focus on our walk with God, our relationship to God, through Christ, and how Jesus teaches us to live in relationship with one another. We can run the self-doubt list all day: how I did as a parent, am I good enough for my co-workers, what do my neighbors think, and so on. But the only thing that really matters is how we trust God and follow Christ.

[SLIDE 8] And lastly we see a struggle with excess. This comes in several different things: greed, gluttony, coveting…all mean the same thing…an obsession with excesses in life. Independence Day allowed us to celebrate freedom, blessings, constitutional rights, and the ability to shoot off fireworks until 11:59 PM. But I fear there is some corrosion in the framework. Consider the idea of the American Dream—to work hard enough to become wildly successful and wealthy in this nation that is the wealthiest in the history of the world. How does this collective sense of wealth and success jive with our Gospel lesson? 

[SLIDE 9] The man came to Jesus asking how to have eternal life. He didn’t even seek to follow Jesus or become a disciple. He only wanted eternal life—the promised hope that Jesus taught about. He had followed the rules, he had obeyed the sabbath, he had done all the things legally required. But there was one sticking point—his wealth, or more aptly, his greed. Jesus told him to sell all he had, give it to the poor, and follow him. It was a bridge too far. There is no sinfulness in being a wealthy person. However, when we choose our riches over following Jesus, we have failed at our faith. 

Nothing in here says this man was bad, evil, or cruel to others. By all accounts he was very good—rule oriented—and wise in his actions. He had strived in his life to live according to the Commandments that God had given. He was a good, moral, upstanding person, but he chose what he had in life over following Jesus. No one can serve two masters. 

I spent Independence Day with my friend’s family. They are Mexican immigrants who have lived here for years. They aren’t rich by any means, and they live very simply having raised 5 kids on one job and a stay-at-home mom. There was food, fireworks, and cake. They decided my name was boring and translated poorly, so I was renamed “Tonio,” which I, too, find more interesting than Will. The whole gathering was different from any other 4th of July I have ever been to. 

[SLIDE 10] One of the greatest ways to overcome ourselves, our blind spots, our sense of isolation and insulation is to spend quality time with people very different from ourselves. This was exactly what Jesus did. He met the Samaritans, the Gerasenes, impoverished beggars in the streets, and even with Nicodemus, a man rich and powerful in his day. Jesus calls us to turn our sights from what we have to whom we should follow. 

Sometimes in life, the hardest thing to overcome is ourselves. Joseph’s dad, Jacob, was an overthinker. He had been all his life. He was known in his youth as a trickster and constantly bargained with God and acted in deceit to get what he wanted in life. Joseph’s brothers lived with self-doubt. They felt constantly unworthy to Joseph, knew their father favorited him, and grew in their hate and bitterness because of Joseph’s preferential treatment. 

Joseph, though, presents as arrogant and entitled in these early chapters. He gladly wears his fancy coat. He proudly tells of his dreams where his more senior family is bowing to him. Though these dreams are prophetic, there’s an undercurrent of disrespect to his parents and family. When we become our own worst enemy, we must make a choice to give in to all the cluttering thoughts or make a solid choice. 

[SLIDE 11] The young man of the gospel lesson was presented with a choice. As moral and good as he sought to be in this world, he still had an idol, yes, we’ll call it an idol, ahead of following Jesus. When anything comes before Jesus, we are choosing ourselves over God. May we, each and every day, choose to follow Jesus, our Redeemer and Sustainer, over anything that feeds our human self.

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Just Don’t Look Back

Just Don’t Look Back—Genesis 19: 23-29; Luke 9: 51-62

[ONE] There are a few things from childhood that I expected would factor in more greatly into my adult life. [TWO] One of those is Algebra. I have not, since 9th grade, solved for x on anything or graphed an equations. Another of those is my Blockbuster card. I have not rented a DVD since 2009, but I probably still have that card somewhere in a desk drawer. But there is one thing above all others that I thought would be a big part of my adulthood and isn’t at all, and that is quicksand. [THREE] Think about it…Indiana Jones, Bugs Bunny, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, any adventure cartoon or sitcom, at some point and time, there was quicksand. I have yet to encounter quicksand in my adult life. What I needed to learn, taxes, banking, social skills, and general life skills were not in a single class. 

[FOUR] But sometimes, what we expect, and what God does, don’t always align. I imagine, if we look at our Hebrew lesson for today, that Lot expected to live out his life in comfort and ease in Sodom and Gomorrah. There’s a very jarring disconnect in that God sees this abundance of wickedness, but Lot and his family seem to be oblivious to all the bad things going on around them in the city. 

But two angels showed up at Lot’s door and changed his entire family and their lives. They leave the city as refugees, homeless, and fleeing for their lives based solely upon God’s command and angelic visitation. Were they to stay, regardless of their personal faithfulness to God, they would have been burned up with the city, for it was NOT going to be spared that day. God would have spared the city for 10 righteous people. In the end only four were led out. And only three made it all the way to safety. 

[FIVE] One of the harder stories in the Bible is Lot’s wife being turned to a pillar of salt. While I understand she violated God’s command not to look back, in a very human way, we ache for Lot and his daughters who had to continue walking ahead even as their wife and mother’s life was ended and her body turned into salt. It’s a ghastly tale. And it is very hard for those of us who are blessed with comfort and privilege in the United States to understand. I daresay that it is far easier for us to identify with Lot’s wife than it is with Lot and his daughters. 

That’s because as we get older, we tend to look back. Lot’s wife wanted to stay where she was, in a place and situation which made her happy. But her happiness in the city didn’t detract from the evil that was happening in the city itself. In looking back to a place filled with sin, it proved her heart and soul were not devoted into going where God was leading them to safety. Her looking back was not without reason. By all accounts, she, Lot, and their family had a good life, a house, the resources to accommodate guests, and still were connected to God. But they couldn’t stay there. That place had turned wicked. 

[SIX] I said in the introduction that I thought quicksand would be much more prominent in my adult life. I meant that in the literal sense, but what I think many are not prepared for is that there is a lot of quicksand in our lives, but it’s spiritual. We get stuck on something or stuck in places, often where we don’t need to be. This escape was actually perilous for Lot and his family. He hesitated and hesitated to leave until the angels literally took him by the hand and drug him out. His wife looked back and turned to salt. Don’t be deceived into thinking this was cruelty. She looked back because her heart was still in the city, and she would follow on no more. If you are stuck, and if you look back, you can no longer follow Jesus because you’ve taken your eyes off of him. 

[SEVEN] The Gospel lesson gives us other examples of folks who become stuck and cannot follow Jesus, no matter how much they want to do so. One person says to Jesus that they would follow Jesus wherever. Jesus tells of difficult existence he lives and the difficulties they would endure, not even a place to lay one’s head. We can assume they turned back and chose not to follow. 

Jesus called on another to come and follow him. The man agreed to it, but wanted to go bury his father, a very noble and necessary thing. He was still looking back. Another agreed to follow but wanted to say bye to his family. This is also a very good thing. But it’s no different than Lot’s dawdling in leaving city. Jesus adds that anyone who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is unfit. Common sense says you don’t plow a field backwards. You have to move forward, or it’s a failure. None of these requests, none of these things are unreasonable for potential followers to ask to do. 

But compare them to the disciples who dropped everything they were doing and immediately followed Jesus. Their priority was following Jesus and working for the kingdom of God. For these folks, God was not the priority. God was the fascination and hobby. They were curious about Jesus but not committed to Jesus and his mission. 

Where do we find ourselves stuck? Where are the places of spiritual quicksand that we cannot escape? Where do we look back and find ourselves a bit salty about the future work of the kingdom God calls us to? I think too many Christians are stuck today. They are stuck in mode of ministry and evangelism that doesn’t exist anymore. They are stuck in social beliefs that sound more like a political theory than a theological truth. They are stuck in the 1950s and 1980s because no one was real thrilled with the 60s and 70s. 

Christians who always look back to where they came from cannot see where God is leading. Christians who are stuck somewhere else will never find Jesus’s call to begin with. The truth of the Gospel of Jesus is unchanging. But the way the church lives and preaches that Gospel must change. And for heaven’s sakes, we all need to find a bit of urgency about our calling from God. In this day, people need the peace and love of Jesus more than ever before. If you don’t believe me about the need to grow and change, remember this: Isacc Watts was scorned and almost expelled from the church for writing and singing hymns like “Joy to the World.” The church in his day ONLY sang Psalms from the Psalter. 

We even are given an example of this change in today’s reading. For their wickedness trying to sexually abuse the visiting angels, God saw the depth of wrongdoing in the city and destroyed it. When the Samaritan village refused Jesus entry under threat of physical abuse, he rebuked the disciples for wanted to rain down fire upon it. Jesus preached and practiced mercy, which was clearly on display here in our Gospel. 

[EIGHT] The church of God is a living, breathing, growing, and ever-changing thing because it is not made up of walls, buildings, books, or papers. It’s made of people, generations, who in their lives try to find a way to follow Jesus and grow in their faith in him. It’s this weird sense of two things at once. I like to compare it to the modern hymn, “Ancient Words.” There’s a line that says, “Truth unchanged from the dawn of time,” and yet the very existence of that modern praise hymn proves just how much the church of God changes over time. 

[NINE] I thought some things would affect my adult life much more than they have: algebra, video rental, shopping malls, pleated pants, but most of all was quicksand. Every single adventure show growing up had quicksand in it. But perhaps that is more of struggle than any of us realize. My friends, I pray we never become stuck in a place where we cannot follow Jesus. I pray we never look back and lose our lives because our hearts lost a love for God. [TEN] But most of all I pray that each and every day were are changed to follow Jesus more and grow in our faith. The only way forward in our lives of faith is to follow Jesus. So, let’s be on our way. 

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An Unenthusiastic Response

An Unenthusiastic Response—Psalm 42; Luke 8: 26-39

[SLIDE 1] A couple of weeks ago, I came across a performance from a music festival. The festival is called Coachella, and it’s held near Los Angeles, California. It is every bit as California as you would think it is. The folks there dress up in the latest fashions, which I describe as homeless mid-90’s chic. One of the performers was a man named Benson Boone, and he sang a song by the band Queen, popular in the 1970s and 1980s. [SLIDE 2] Out of nowhere came Brian May, the 77-year-old guitarist from Queen. He is still recovering from a mild stroke, but played in a way that would put any 20 or 30 year old to shame. 

And yet, I sat there aghast at the performance. The crowd was quiet. I expected yelling, shouting, an absolute mind-blowing response like the young women of the 60s when the Beatles or Elvis came out. But there was nothing. They were unenthusiastic and painfully quiet. Unfortunately, the same happens in faith. All of our enthusiasm and hope is met with a dousing of cold water. Increasingly, the story of our faith and hope in life is met with this unenthusiastic response. 

But that should not be so surprising. Jesus seems to have encountered the same thing. [SLIDE 3] Most people focus in on demon slaying part of this gospel lesson, but there’s a part more troubling than the possession itself. After the man is healed, he comes and sits normally at Jesus’s feet. We can assume from this that Jesus was either teaching or meeting with people in some capacity. After such an incredible miracle being done, one might expect the Gerasenes to embrace Jesus, be overjoyed, welcome him with open arms. None of that happened. They were afraid, and they begged Jesus to leave. They didn’t want more of him. They wanted him to go away. It has to be the most unenthusiastic response to any of Jesus’s miracles in the Gospel story. 

One commentary said that though they recognize the mystery and power of what has been done, they cannot make a place for it in their lives. They are unwilling and incapable of finding room for Jesus and his power within the lives they live. Perhaps that’s not surprising. The Gerasenes were at odds with the Jewish people. They were unclean because of raising pigs. They lived outside of the general area of the closely knit Jewish people. But most importantly, they were aligned with the Romans. Most scholars say those pigs were going to be fed to Roman soldiers as the Gerasenes had an ongoing deal with the Romans. That’s why the demon is named Legion after a Roman Army Legion. Jesus highlighted their wrongdoing and their betrayal of others. They had no room for repentance and no desire to see more of Jesus. 

[SLIDE 4] Many in our own lives will struggle in the same way. They know right from wrong. They know when they are failing. They know what it takes to do what is right and follow the goodness of God, but they’re just not there yet in the doing part. Though the folks we love may know Jesus, may know truth, may know what is right, they’re not ready yet to follow. They haven’t made room in their hearts and in their lives for the truth of who Jesus is, and what he has said. 

[SLIDE 5] Jesus tells the man he healed, “Go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.” So, he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.” Tell the story of grace and mercy even if people are not ready to hear it. Tell the story of God’s love even if the response is woeful or unenthusiastic. Tell of a welcome that says all should know the redeeming love that spans across all humanity, even if they don’t believe it, or others say they don’t deserve it. Go and tell was Jesus’s command to this man. 

Why does Jesus say this? At some point, hearts will be turned. A friend asked his preacher, “How many times do I tell someone about God’s love?” The preacher replied, “As many times as it takes for them to believe it.” Many will not. And many will not want to hear anything about faith. The church has done itself no real favors on this front. Instead of relying on God’s life-changing love and grace, we’ve tried a lot harder to scare the Hell out of people…literally. It is not fear that changed anyone in the gospel. Jesus healed, showed mercy, compassion, taught of love, tore down barriers between the people and God. That’s what changed frozen and sinful hearts, not fear, legalism, and oppression. 

At some point, every single person, will need to find the holy in their lives. Psalm 42 tells us, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.” At some point, we will all crave and need the living waters in our lives. Stagnant and still water will literally kill. Anyone who goes into an abandoned building or an uncleaned pool can tell you deadly things grow in still water and stagnant places. At some point, we will all want the living water of God. 

[SLIDE 6] That is why we must keep speaking, praying, and imploring. The commentary on Psalm 42 says, “Human life depends on relatedness to God.” And that is because God is a necessity of life. We can try to go through life without God, being self-directed. But there will come a time when a trouble, a situation, a sadness, or some aspect of life is too hard and too much. In that moment, we will call for help, and that is when the truth of humanity’s need for the holy is made real and known. This Psalm is a call to those who rely on self-direction and self-care to place their dependence on God for all things. 

Our job here on earth is to continue speaking, continue praying, continue imploring others to seek out and live the grace that Jesus teaches. Now, that is not the grace of people who would manipulate faith for their own gain. And that is not a worldly sense of grace from those who know and ignore the way of love. Too often we see the Golden Rule used in the sense of do unto others to get what I can, or do unto others before they get me first. Grace teaches us to offer mercy, love, dignity, and redemption to every person who is seeking something holy and something nourishes the soul. 

Growing up in church, there was always a time of prayer requests and prayer between the singing and the preaching. There was a woman who requested prayer for her husband to find faith every single Sunday…morning and evening service. She asked us to pray diligently and weekly that he would find something holy in his life. This wasn’t a sense of religious fear and fervor that she just wanted him to go to heaven. She loved him and wanted him to find peace, hope, help for trials and troubles that had plagued him for years given the trauma of his work. 

One day he faced a trial that was too much to handle alone. It was a health scare and the inevitable concern about health risks that getting to a certain age can cause. Finally, after decades of prayer and pleading, he asked her about what having faith actually does for her. Friends, I tell you this because it reminds that every heart and soul is beautiful and valuable, and that every single one can be changed to something holy and good. 

[SLIDE 7] I still believe in a volatile and fearful world that the love of God can change each and every heart and mind. I believe that our faith, our prayer, and our living of what Jesus practiced and preached can testify to how grace and mercy can change a life that is destructive or even cruel. Be undaunted when you receive an unenthusiastic response. Jesus said to the man he healed, “Go and tell your family,” and indeed all who would listen to him. Jesus’s departure wasn’t a goodbye at all; instead, it was a call—“Let’s get to work!” 

[SLIDE 8] Your words and faith may be met with a dose of cold water. When one of the greatest musicians and guitarists in the world took that stage at Coachella, the crowd was as dull as tarnished silver. The response may be unenthusiastic. But at some point in life, love can change each and every heart if we are consistent in our lives, our prayers, and our story of Jesus’s grace. May it be so.

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The Finish Line

The Finish Line—Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31; Romans 5: 1-5

[SLIDE 1] The fastest way to feel your age is to attempt to hike up a whole bunch of stairs with someone younger or more fit than yourself. [SLIDE 2] This was a lesson I learned the hard way on my trip to Colorado. One of the days we visited the Garden of the Gods with its beautiful rock formations. To follow the trail, you have to hike up more than a couple of stairs, and by the end of it, I looked and sounded like a dying mule both because it was stairs, and it’s a higher elevation making breathing harder. Life can be a bit like that at times. Problems, tasks, the hills we have to climb may seem quite insurmountable to us. 

We may, in some instances, be facing or have faced a difficult and horrendous trial or calling that taxes us to our very core in what we can humanly handle. Paul understood this. Sometimes, I admit, I struggle with Paul. He loved Jesus, but you can see a little bit of Pharisee still in him. But here, in Romans, which was later in his life, you can see that he understood the human condition and human struggle in a very keen and wisdom-filled way. [SLIDE 3] He gives us a pattern: problems and trial bring endurance; endurance brings strength of character; and character brings more confidence is a saving hope. Several times he says that in all circumstances we must have joy. Paul tells us that everything, in all of life, whether good or bad or terrible, should push us more in the direction of Christ and the grace we find there. 

[SLIDE 4] As we consider first that problems and trials exist, we look to Proverbs knowing that wisdom calls out to us and rejoices in dwelling with humanity. Please note that Proverbs says wisdom is a she. I’ll just leave that there. But in all of life, the wisdom we find is to seek God in all ways and in all circumstances. Doing so in times of trial is hard. The immediate response is to throw up hands and say, “I’m done with this mess.” Sometimes we may even argue with God that if we have been good Christians, why isn’t God blessing us? Trials and problems are simply an inherent part of life. There’s often not a rhyme or reason, no ulterior motive from a manipulative desire. Trials simply happen. It’s the struggle of living in a broken and often miserable world. 

But trials and problems should push us to buckle down and try to endure. Sometimes we respond by losing our marbles. Keep your marbles and find the strength God gives to endure. Romans tells us to rejoice in trials and tribulations because this helps us develop endurance. I’m learning a few things in life. Twenty-five-year-old me could have hiked those stairs in the Garden of the Gods without much trouble. Forty-year-old me needs a couple of months of practice and training to avoid a near-death experience. 

[SLIDE 5] Likewise, trials of our faith and spirit help us endure through the really bad things in life. A friend of mine told me about her conversation with an old colleague. She had endured much in life. Two divorces, death of her mother, an abusive husband, and a short period of homelessness. Her old colleague said, “I used to pity you, but then when something minor happened in my own life, I became jealous of how much strength and resilience you had.” He went on to say that he realized her trials and troubles gave her the strength and tools to not only overcome her own problems but to help him too. 

What he was alluding to is that building up endurance brings strength of character. Now, that’s a little hard to define. What is a strong character? I remember in the movie Grey Gardens, they refer to one of the folks in the house as a “staunch character,” but that was just a gentle way of saying that she was crazy. Character is found in how one lives consistently each and every day. We will all have isolated incidents and outbursts. Peter, one of the closest disciples, often had little outbursts and messy moments. But the consistency of his devotion and faith showed his good character. 

[SLIDE 6] Character is also found in our wisdom. The more tried and experienced a person is, the more wisdom and character they tend to have…not everybody, but for the most part. Proverbs tells us that wisdom was there from the beginning. But wisdom is something that comes from learning and experience. An old Appalachian man from back home once said, “You can be the most well-educated ‘id-git’ in the world and still not find a lick of wisdom.” It is knowledge that tells us how the trial happens. It is wisdom that pushes us to see God in those times of trial. 

Finally, that strength of character helps us find hope. We are told in our Romans scripture, “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us…” This is really where we want to find ourselves, after all, right? No one is a fan of the problems and trials part. Endurance is no fun at all. Strong character is noble and worthwhile, but we are still enduring problems. [SLIDE 7] But finally we find hope, and nestled into that hope is joy. This progression Paul gives us is a bit hard, and it’s a bit theoretical. By the part of strong character, we may be tempted to say, “So, what?” 

But we still live in a time where hope feels very hopeless, more like an idea than a reality, and where joy often just doesn’t happen. Everybody seems irritated everywhere I go. Most of this country feels gloomy and hopeless. [SLIDE 8] Some see all that is going on and feel they’ve lost the country they knew and loved over the years to chaos and unrecognizable ideas. Others, who may look somewhat different, live in fear day by day. We’ve lost hope because in many instances we’ve lost the ability to seek God’s peace over seeking our way. We have replaced understanding with fear, and that fear will always find us unfaithful. That has infiltrated our lives, our relationships, and in many instances, our churches. I daresay that if Paul were resurrected, the American churches would be getting a letter, and I’m not sure it would be a happy one. 

[SLIDE 9] But fear also rears its ugly head in seeing not just internal turmoil in hurting cities, hurting families, and hurting souls. We see more rounds of bombs being dropped all across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. We are forced back into a pattern of long endurance. We are forced again to ask how many hungry children could be fed if we invested in bread instead of bombs. How much peace could we find or make if we sought God over all else? 

Trials and struggles are meant to draw us in closer to the hope of Christ and the joy of finding ourselves in that loving family. People who have gained wisdom and hope find that the words of Christ saying, “Love your neighbor,” are not so hard as we may think. This pattern of finding hope and joy that Paul gives tells us how we can make it through in the darkest and most difficult of times. 

[SLIDE 10] If you want to know what that looks like, the Rev. Bill Hammonds and the Rev. Morris Wood gave me the example. Many of you know I’m not a fan of Father’s Day. Family dynamics make that a less than pleasant day in my world. After a very early sermon in my time here talking about that, Bill and Morris passed by me on the way out while greeting people. Bill slipped me a note saying, “Every man in this church would be honored to be your father. You have MANY fathers here.” Morris simply put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Thank you, preacher.” And he’s been there every time I’ve needed some wisdom since. 

If we find in life that hope and joy are lacking, we can be the ones to create just a little bit of that in someone else’s life. Offering hope and joy comes from the depth of our own wisdom forged in enduring through trials and finding the kind of character that gives us an unbreakable hope. Sometimes it only takes a note, a hug, or a tiny gesture to give someone else the strength to endure and build their own character. Because, at the end of the day, we all want to find hope and joy in life. 

[SLIDE 11] Sometimes we may have no choice but to pull up our pants and hike right through the middle of the trials and troubles we face in life. But God will give us the strength to endure, the character that makes future trials seem far less overwhelming, and ultimately leads us to a place of hope and joy filled with the gift of wisdom. May our trials push us closer to God, and may our wisdom and character found in endurance help others to find hope in their lives as well.  

Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/703597482296175/

“The Pentecost Pattern: How the Early Church Grew And We Can Too!”

The Pentecost Pattern: How the Early Church Grew And We Can Too!

By Rev. Kyle Ermoian

Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/743302761456963/

I Just Want to Be a Sheep

I Just Want to Be a Sheep

Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/572475282569489/

"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. 

Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1322955195459442/

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. 

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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. 

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