1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
“A Church with Nothing to Offer”
A young couple with children decided to go to church on Easter, so they checked out the church ads in the newspaper and picked one that was having an egg hunt before the worship service.
At the worship, the pastor was talking to the children up front during Children’s Time about the eggs the children had found and the empty tomb and its importance to all of us. He held out a yellow, plastic egg and asked the children what they thought was in it. After opening the egg to show it was empty, he told the children because the tomb, like the egg, was empty we no longer are subject to the death of sin. He said, “We should all be happy today because we are free!
One little girl stood up with her hands on his hips and said. . . .
"Pastor John, I'm not free. I'm four."
Check out the church ads on the religion page of the Saturday’s Gazette and you find some impressive sounding places of worship – places like: Community Church, Echo Hill, Family Fellowship, Good Shepherd, Home Page, King of Kings, Living Hope, Living Water, Lovely Lane, River of Life, just to name a few. There are sleek graphics of crosses, doves, people holding hands, and combinations thereof. There are catch phrases like “One people, one place, one purpose” or “A welcomed alternative.” Many boast of their assets -- their accessibility, their friendliness, their preaching, their ministries, their parking, their family life centers, their child care or nurseries, and their classes and study groups. Some churches on these pages seem to have it all.
Other churches, however, appear by contrast to have little or nothing to offer - absolutely nothing. And those are just the churches who have put forth the effort to take out an ad. What about all the churches in Cedar Rapids who have not? Take, for example, the church described in our text today.
Here, we get our first look at the disciples gathered together after the resurrection, the first glimpse, in other words, of the church at its very beginning, and, all in all, it is not a very pretty picture. Near the end of his life, Jesus had carefully prepared his disciples to be a devoted and confident fellowship of faith.
They were to be a community of profound love with the gates wide open and the welcome mat always out, but here we find them barricaded in a house with the doors bolted shut.
They were to be the kind of people who walk boldly into the world, heads held high, to bear fruit in Jesus' name, a people full of the Holy Spirit performing even greater works than Jesus himself (John 14:12), but here we find them cowering in fear, hoping nobody will find out where they are before they get their excuses straight.
In short, we see here the church at its worst -- scared, disheartened and defensive. If this little sealed-off group of Christians were to place one of those cheery church ads in the Saturday newspaper, what could it possibly say? "The friendly church where all are welcome"? - hardly, unless one counts locked doors as a sign of hospitality. Maybe it could be called "The church with a warm heart and a bold mission"? I doubt if we would want to call them bold or warm of heart, at least not at that particular time. Actually they were more like the church with sweaty palms and a timid spirit.
Indeed, John's gospel gives us a snapshot of a church with nothing – no plan, no promise, no program, no lively youth ministry, no powerful preaching, no parking lot, nothing. In fact, when all is said and done, this terrified little band of disciples huddled in the corner of a room with a chair braced against the door has only one thing going for it: the risen Christ.
1 James says, “Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now!” And in John 20:22 we read, “Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," Here was a group of believers with no life left in them – no breath to speak of – and Jesus became present among them and gave them his breath, his life.
And that seems to be the main point of this story. In the final analysis, this is a story about how the risen Christ pushed open the bolted door of a church with nothing, how the risen Christ enters the fearful sanctuary or assembly room of every church and fills it with his own life. It is about Jesus being present. It is about Jesus empowering these timid men and women to a life that is full and complete - a Christ filled life.
Theologian Karl Barth once said that the line from the Apostles Creed, "I believe in the holy catholic church" does not mean that we believe in the church. It means rather to believe that God is present and at work in the church, that "in this assembly, the work of the Holy Spirit takes place. ... We do not believe in the Church: but we do believe that in this congregation the work of the Holy Spirit becomes an event." So you see, if we were to leave that statement out of the creed, we would deny the work of the Holy Spirit in this place, and our being empowered to become the body of Christ in the world.
And this breath Jesus breathed on the disciples gave them a sense of peace they did not know before. An assurance they no longer needed to feel afraid. A confidence in themselves they could do it. A trust in God they would be all right, and the church they were to become would be all right. It’s as if this peace empowered them.
Harry N. Huxhold, in his book Which Way To Jesus?, writes about a new shalom – a new peace. He says, “When Jesus appeared to the disciples, his greeting was, "Peace be unto you." The Hebrew word shalom, for "peace," is a most comprehensive word, covering the full realm of relationships in daily life and expressing an ideal state of life. The word suggests the fullness of wellbeing and harmony untouched by ill fortune. The word as a blessing is a prayer for the best that God can give to enable a person to complete one's life with happiness and a natural death. If the concept of shalom became all too casual and light-hearted with no more significance than a passing greeting, Jesus came to give it new meaning. At Bethlehem God announced that peace would come through the gift of God's unique Son. The mission and ministry of our Lord made it quite clear that Jesus had come to introduce the rule of God and to order peace for the world.
What is it we have to offer those who are looking for a church home, if not peace? What is it we might become, if not a blessing to those who most need it? What is it we can show others, if not God’s great love for all of us and our love for each other?
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
March 23, 2008 - Easter Sunday
Colossians 3:1-4 (NRSV)
“Living the Right Way”
Did you hear about the lady whose house was infested with Easter eggs?
...She had to call an eggs-terminator!
Why do we paint Easter eggs?
...Because it's easier than trying to wallpaper them!
What's yellow, has long ears, and grows on trees?
...The Easter Bunana!
Listen once again to these words from Colossians 3: 1 and 2, “…seek the things that are above, where Christ is,… Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, The Popular Translation puts it this way, “…try to see the world the way Jesus sees it (that is, from heaven). Understand how Jesus sees things. Don't just look at everything the way people do.
Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians about some ‘real’ problems the community was experiencing. Perhaps foremost among these was how a person is to go about living ‘the right way.’ He urges them to live in a new way. Our reading today IS an introduction to Paul’s appeal for that kind of a lifestyle - living ‘the right way.’
Paul began with an interesting statement. It’s sort of like he’s assumed the Colossians had already died and had received resurrected life. It’s as if they have already gone through the ‘end times.’ Somehow they have already died with Christ and had been raised with him into his new life. It seems really strange.
Actually, though, they had done just that, but in a metaphorical sense. Because this is what was taught about baptism in the early church: death to self, life in Christ. So it would seem reasonable Paul was referring to this initiation rite into the Church when he said this. Likewise, in confirming our baptism today – we, too, talk about ‘death to self,’ and about ‘our life in Christ.’ This IS living the ‘right way” – IN Christ.
God comes to us to help us do just that. God comes to us in the Water of Baptism, through the Holy Spirit, and in the Word, made flesh in Jesus the Christ. From the Water and Word we receive God’s comfort and grace. In baptism, is our death to a life centered on things below and in baptism, is our resurrection to new life centered on things from above.
Refreshed and renewed. We have been raised with Christ in the waters of our baptism. Martin Luther said that “through our baptism we are snatched from death and sin to practice the work that makes us Christians” – in other words, to live a life from above.
In our baptism we receive Christ's risen life. That is something we ‘firm up’ at our confirmation, a belief that we should actually think differently (on upward or heavenly things). In other words, we should look at life through God's eyes. After all, you did receive the Holy Spirit. And you should act accordingly (see 3:12-24), Paul says.
"Put to death in you whatever is earthly," he cautions. In our society today, the things Paul is referring to are the very things that people ‘seem to think’ we should do. We want our lives to be full and so we ‘live’ to accumulate wealth and possessions, power and status. But these things are the very things that come between us and God. The very things we think are going to give our life meaning and identity, in fact, strip us from the meaning and identity that is given us in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul, in his call to the Colossians to a life in newness, reminds them, "When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead." You, too, are called to a new life in Jesus Christ – a life of full measure that is to be lived from above. It is a life seen through the eyes of Jesus, so that Jesus might minister to this world through our hands and our hearts and our living. Paul says, “Don't just look at things the way people do.…try to see the world the way Jesus sees it.”
Our life and our call and our journey is one headed toward the promise of the resurrection, and the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead has promised in the fullness of time to raise us up as well.
The Good News for us today, for all of us – not just those being confirmed - is that, even if weighed down by sin--and that is what sin does, it weighs us down--Jesus Christ promised us freedom and a new life. Jesus promises to bring us to everlasting life, into a life in fullness here, now, and in fullness in the kingdom to come, when Christ returns in glory.
Take time today to reflect on your baptism – your death to this life - all of you. How is it you see this new life in Christ before you? Amen.
“Living the Right Way”
Did you hear about the lady whose house was infested with Easter eggs?
...She had to call an eggs-terminator!
Why do we paint Easter eggs?
...Because it's easier than trying to wallpaper them!
What's yellow, has long ears, and grows on trees?
...The Easter Bunana!
Listen once again to these words from Colossians 3: 1 and 2, “…seek the things that are above, where Christ is,… Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, The Popular Translation puts it this way, “…try to see the world the way Jesus sees it (that is, from heaven). Understand how Jesus sees things. Don't just look at everything the way people do.
Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians about some ‘real’ problems the community was experiencing. Perhaps foremost among these was how a person is to go about living ‘the right way.’ He urges them to live in a new way. Our reading today IS an introduction to Paul’s appeal for that kind of a lifestyle - living ‘the right way.’
Paul began with an interesting statement. It’s sort of like he’s assumed the Colossians had already died and had received resurrected life. It’s as if they have already gone through the ‘end times.’ Somehow they have already died with Christ and had been raised with him into his new life. It seems really strange.
Actually, though, they had done just that, but in a metaphorical sense. Because this is what was taught about baptism in the early church: death to self, life in Christ. So it would seem reasonable Paul was referring to this initiation rite into the Church when he said this. Likewise, in confirming our baptism today – we, too, talk about ‘death to self,’ and about ‘our life in Christ.’ This IS living the ‘right way” – IN Christ.
God comes to us to help us do just that. God comes to us in the Water of Baptism, through the Holy Spirit, and in the Word, made flesh in Jesus the Christ. From the Water and Word we receive God’s comfort and grace. In baptism, is our death to a life centered on things below and in baptism, is our resurrection to new life centered on things from above.
Refreshed and renewed. We have been raised with Christ in the waters of our baptism. Martin Luther said that “through our baptism we are snatched from death and sin to practice the work that makes us Christians” – in other words, to live a life from above.
In our baptism we receive Christ's risen life. That is something we ‘firm up’ at our confirmation, a belief that we should actually think differently (on upward or heavenly things). In other words, we should look at life through God's eyes. After all, you did receive the Holy Spirit. And you should act accordingly (see 3:12-24), Paul says.
"Put to death in you whatever is earthly," he cautions. In our society today, the things Paul is referring to are the very things that people ‘seem to think’ we should do. We want our lives to be full and so we ‘live’ to accumulate wealth and possessions, power and status. But these things are the very things that come between us and God. The very things we think are going to give our life meaning and identity, in fact, strip us from the meaning and identity that is given us in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul, in his call to the Colossians to a life in newness, reminds them, "When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead." You, too, are called to a new life in Jesus Christ – a life of full measure that is to be lived from above. It is a life seen through the eyes of Jesus, so that Jesus might minister to this world through our hands and our hearts and our living. Paul says, “Don't just look at things the way people do.…try to see the world the way Jesus sees it.”
Our life and our call and our journey is one headed toward the promise of the resurrection, and the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead has promised in the fullness of time to raise us up as well.
The Good News for us today, for all of us – not just those being confirmed - is that, even if weighed down by sin--and that is what sin does, it weighs us down--Jesus Christ promised us freedom and a new life. Jesus promises to bring us to everlasting life, into a life in fullness here, now, and in fullness in the kingdom to come, when Christ returns in glory.
Take time today to reflect on your baptism – your death to this life - all of you. How is it you see this new life in Christ before you? Amen.
March 16, 2008 - Palm Sunday
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Matthew 21:1-11
"What's going on here? Who is this?"
On Palm Sunday, a 6-year old had to stay home from church with his dad because he was sick. When the rest of the family came home carrying palm branches, the little boy asked what they were for. His mother explained, "In church today, people held them over Jesus' head as he walked by."
"Wouldn't you know it," the boy pouted. "The one Sunday I don't go to church, and Jesus shows up!
Today our focus is on Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the “Hosannas!” of the shouting crowd. The Passion will wait. As later this week, we will join Jesus in the upper room on Thursday, walk in the way of the cross on Friday, and witness the empty tomb on Easter morning. Today though is a day of exultation, a day of joy and excitement, a day of celebration. It is a day of ‘arrival.’ Our victorious king has come!
Today is about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (his destination and purpose), but it could also be seen as our entrance into ‘Jerusalem’ (our destination, our purpose) as well. These forty days of Lent have represented our journey to faith and understanding of God. During this time we have recognized our need to place our trust in God.
Just as Psalm 118 called worshippers long ago to enter “the gate of the Lord” (v. 20) and celebrate, so we are now called to come and give thanks for God’s saving action in Jesus “who comes in the name of the Lord”. So, here we are, like Jesus, giving thanks to God for the journey and for the destination.
I look back over the road I’ve traveled and I’m amazed. I look at Matthew and the stories leading up to today (those found in Chapter 20) and I say, “Wow, that’s been my journey!” It doesn’t seem that long ago I understood for the first time the grace that can only come from God found in the parable of the workers. Or the cup we are all to drink from as revealed to James and John as they sought to be close to Jesus. Or the need to have our ‘eyes opened’ to God and Jesus’ ability to do just that, as related in the story of Jesus and the blind men on the way to Jerusalem. As the disciples traveled with Jesus, they discovered his journey to be their journey as well.
And when Jesus gets to Jerusalem, what happens? He gives thanks. His trust is in his Father, who he knows as good and always with him. Perhaps this parade Matthew tells us about is an expression of his thanksgiving - that God’s love endures forever.
Psalm 118:1-2 (from The Message) says, “Thank God because he's good, because his love never quits. Tell the world, Israel, "His love never quits." Isn’t that what Jesus was in Jerusalem for? To show the world that God’s love never quits.
God is good and God’s love always wins out. Jesus is happy.
1. God’s love abounds in the Old Testament books of Exodus, Jeremiah, Psalms, Micah, and Joel, all describing God as ever compassionate, loving, and forgiving.
2. The New Testament says one thing, “For God so loved the world…” It just says it in a whole bunch of ways. God’s love for God’s creation never runs out.
3. And that’s the love that is ours today. God continues to be present in our lives, lifting us, leading us, and loving us to our ‘Jerusalem.’
Verses 19-20 of this Psalm says, “Swing wide the city gates—the righteous gates! I'll walk right through and thank God!” Open up. Let me in. Here I come to worship and praise God! This Temple Gate belongs to God, so the victors can enter and praise.
Jesus is the one who has come to praise (not to be praised).
1. The parade isn’t about Jesus’ popularity, all the people lining the street, crowding around him wherever he went, following him everywhere.
2. Or the people along the road shouting, “Hosanna” or yelling, “Save us,” as they look for a Passover deliverance from slavery and oppression.
3. It’s about how Jesus feels, his state of mind, at this point in his journey. He has reached Jerusalem and he is pumped up. Without a doubt, he knows he’s there for a reason.
21-25 Thank you for responding to me; you've truly become my salvation! The stone the masons discarded as flawed is now the capstone! This is God's work. We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it! This is the very day God acted— let's celebrate!
Jesus recognizes God’s work in him and there is reason to celebrate - now.
1. The parade isn’t about Jesus but about God and what God has done and will do through him.
2. It is God’s work and was all along. God gets the credit for God’s promise kept. It’s time to celebrate, perhaps even for a parade.
3. Matthew writes, “Nearly all threw their garments down” on the road as the parade advances toward them. People are now counting on him. He must be the one.
26-29 Blessed are you who enter in God's name— from God's house we bless you! God is God, he has bathed us in light. You're my God, and I thank you. O my God, I lift high your praise. Thank God—he's so good. His love never quits!
It is a blessing to do God’s work – what God would have us do.
1. Large crowds come to hear what Jesus says. They follow him everywhere, straining to hear every word.
2. There is a renewed interest and excitement in religion in the country. There is hope where before there only hopelessness. And people shout Hozanna.
3. But soon, the cheering will stop. The tide will turn. The old excitement will be gone. Jesus will be attacked and more and more people will be against him.
And yet, for Jesus, there is a parade today. He is right there, up front, leading the way. He smiling and laughing and acknowledging all who greet him. And, as always, he calls us to come join him. Be happy. Know that God is good. Thank God for this day. See what God is doing. Imagine God’s work through you. Feel blessed in what you do.
His gracious invitation today is to know love, to have a reason for hope, to be set free to experience joy. He calls out to us to join the parade. Understand though that if you do, your ‘Jerusalem’ - will be “shaken and stirred” as well. People might even ask, as they did then, "What's going on here? Who is this?"
"What's going on here? Who is this?"
On Palm Sunday, a 6-year old had to stay home from church with his dad because he was sick. When the rest of the family came home carrying palm branches, the little boy asked what they were for. His mother explained, "In church today, people held them over Jesus' head as he walked by."
"Wouldn't you know it," the boy pouted. "The one Sunday I don't go to church, and Jesus shows up!
Today our focus is on Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the “Hosannas!” of the shouting crowd. The Passion will wait. As later this week, we will join Jesus in the upper room on Thursday, walk in the way of the cross on Friday, and witness the empty tomb on Easter morning. Today though is a day of exultation, a day of joy and excitement, a day of celebration. It is a day of ‘arrival.’ Our victorious king has come!
Today is about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (his destination and purpose), but it could also be seen as our entrance into ‘Jerusalem’ (our destination, our purpose) as well. These forty days of Lent have represented our journey to faith and understanding of God. During this time we have recognized our need to place our trust in God.
Just as Psalm 118 called worshippers long ago to enter “the gate of the Lord” (v. 20) and celebrate, so we are now called to come and give thanks for God’s saving action in Jesus “who comes in the name of the Lord”. So, here we are, like Jesus, giving thanks to God for the journey and for the destination.
I look back over the road I’ve traveled and I’m amazed. I look at Matthew and the stories leading up to today (those found in Chapter 20) and I say, “Wow, that’s been my journey!” It doesn’t seem that long ago I understood for the first time the grace that can only come from God found in the parable of the workers. Or the cup we are all to drink from as revealed to James and John as they sought to be close to Jesus. Or the need to have our ‘eyes opened’ to God and Jesus’ ability to do just that, as related in the story of Jesus and the blind men on the way to Jerusalem. As the disciples traveled with Jesus, they discovered his journey to be their journey as well.
And when Jesus gets to Jerusalem, what happens? He gives thanks. His trust is in his Father, who he knows as good and always with him. Perhaps this parade Matthew tells us about is an expression of his thanksgiving - that God’s love endures forever.
Psalm 118:1-2 (from The Message) says, “Thank God because he's good, because his love never quits. Tell the world, Israel, "His love never quits." Isn’t that what Jesus was in Jerusalem for? To show the world that God’s love never quits.
God is good and God’s love always wins out. Jesus is happy.
1. God’s love abounds in the Old Testament books of Exodus, Jeremiah, Psalms, Micah, and Joel, all describing God as ever compassionate, loving, and forgiving.
2. The New Testament says one thing, “For God so loved the world…” It just says it in a whole bunch of ways. God’s love for God’s creation never runs out.
3. And that’s the love that is ours today. God continues to be present in our lives, lifting us, leading us, and loving us to our ‘Jerusalem.’
Verses 19-20 of this Psalm says, “Swing wide the city gates—the righteous gates! I'll walk right through and thank God!” Open up. Let me in. Here I come to worship and praise God! This Temple Gate belongs to God, so the victors can enter and praise.
Jesus is the one who has come to praise (not to be praised).
1. The parade isn’t about Jesus’ popularity, all the people lining the street, crowding around him wherever he went, following him everywhere.
2. Or the people along the road shouting, “Hosanna” or yelling, “Save us,” as they look for a Passover deliverance from slavery and oppression.
3. It’s about how Jesus feels, his state of mind, at this point in his journey. He has reached Jerusalem and he is pumped up. Without a doubt, he knows he’s there for a reason.
21-25 Thank you for responding to me; you've truly become my salvation! The stone the masons discarded as flawed is now the capstone! This is God's work. We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it! This is the very day God acted— let's celebrate!
Jesus recognizes God’s work in him and there is reason to celebrate - now.
1. The parade isn’t about Jesus but about God and what God has done and will do through him.
2. It is God’s work and was all along. God gets the credit for God’s promise kept. It’s time to celebrate, perhaps even for a parade.
3. Matthew writes, “Nearly all threw their garments down” on the road as the parade advances toward them. People are now counting on him. He must be the one.
26-29 Blessed are you who enter in God's name— from God's house we bless you! God is God, he has bathed us in light. You're my God, and I thank you. O my God, I lift high your praise. Thank God—he's so good. His love never quits!
It is a blessing to do God’s work – what God would have us do.
1. Large crowds come to hear what Jesus says. They follow him everywhere, straining to hear every word.
2. There is a renewed interest and excitement in religion in the country. There is hope where before there only hopelessness. And people shout Hozanna.
3. But soon, the cheering will stop. The tide will turn. The old excitement will be gone. Jesus will be attacked and more and more people will be against him.
And yet, for Jesus, there is a parade today. He is right there, up front, leading the way. He smiling and laughing and acknowledging all who greet him. And, as always, he calls us to come join him. Be happy. Know that God is good. Thank God for this day. See what God is doing. Imagine God’s work through you. Feel blessed in what you do.
His gracious invitation today is to know love, to have a reason for hope, to be set free to experience joy. He calls out to us to join the parade. Understand though that if you do, your ‘Jerusalem’ - will be “shaken and stirred” as well. People might even ask, as they did then, "What's going on here? Who is this?"
Monday, March 10, 2008
March 2, 2008 Message
Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41
"From Above”
A pastor was giving a lesson about ‘right and wrong’ during children's message and told a story of a robber who broke into a jewelry store at night after everybody was gone.
The robber went to the safe where the jewels and the cash were kept, and on the door of the safe is a sign, "Please do not use explosives. The safe is not locked. Just turn the handle."
So, the thief turns the handle and immediately the alarm goes off. The robber panics, but by the time he figures out he’d better leave it’s too late. The police arrive and he is arrested.
"So, children," asks the preacher, "What’s the moral of the story?"
One little boy replied, "You can't trust anybody."
And yet we know there IS someone we can trust – we can trust God. Last week, we learned that the very nature of a ‘godly’ person is to trust God to do what is promised – to set us right. When Abraham finally let go and left it up to God to do what he couldn’t, God came through and delivered on the promise. And we were reminded once again that Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise.
Last week, John spoke of a different sort of birth. Next week John speaks of a different sort of death. Last week Jesus talked to Nicodemus about being born “from above.” Next week Jesus talks to Martha about death that comes from above – death that glorifies God.
Last week, Nicodemus told Jesus, "Teacher, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all… you do if God weren't in on it." And Jesus replied, "You're absolutely right.” Next week, Martha is absolutely sure “God will give (Jesus) whatever (he) asks.”
Jesus told Nicodemus, “Trust me and there is hope or don’t trust me and there is nothing.” Jesus will tell Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Trust what Jesus says about God and there is a “new birth.” Trust what Jesus reveals to us about God and there is a “new death.”
But what about this week, what’s the lesson for us this week? What are we to learn today? Well, between birth and death is a life to be lived that need not be the same – a life ‘from above.’ Teacher and writer Tony Campolo has asked his students, “Even if there were no heaven and there were no hell, would you still follow Jesus? Would you follow him for the life, joy, and fulfillment he gives you right now?” A life ‘from above’ causes us to live differently. It allows us to be glorified in Christ now.
Paul says ‘living from above’ causes us to do what pleases Christ. Graced by the "light" from above we discover what we are to be about – “doing what is pleasing to the Lord." And we don't have to wonder what that means. In Ephesians, Paul makes it very simple and straight-forward when he writes: "what is pleasing to the Lord" is "all that is good, and right, and true" (v.10). "Living from above” as “children of the light” is living a life of goodness, righteousness, and truth. This is what glorifies God.
And to Paul’s way of thinking doing what pleases Christ is definitely not the ‘busy work’ kinds of things we often find ourselves doing – things that don’t really accomplish anything. You know, all those little, trivial things that take up so much of our time and energy and keep us from ‘living the life from above.’ No Paul says, “Let the light of Christ – the light from above - lead the way.”
Living a life ‘from above’ causes us to help others by our involvement in ministries of presence and hope, such as One Great Hour of Sharing, which many United Methodist churches are observing today. Combining our gifts, we are able to more effectively respond to people suffering catastrophic losses due to natural and human-made disasters, such as those in Nevada displaced by terrible flooding at the beginning of this year. For many years, this offering has helped people all over the world through the involvement the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). This is a good thing
Living a life ‘from above’ also causes us, as Bishop Palmer has suggested, to grieve, to pray, and to make a ‘God shaped difference’ where we live by striving to make the prayer of St. Francis a reality in light of the tragic shootings and deaths two weeks ago at the Northern Illinois University in Dekalb. This is a right thing.
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
And finally this living a life ‘from above’ causes us to trust God in all things – in birth, in death, and in the life that lies between. This new life comes from God, revealed in Jesus Christ. This is God’s doing and not our own. This is a true thing.
Even though we think we earn what we get, today’s gospel lesson tells a different story. Jesus heals a man who has been blind from birth. Did he get what he earned? Jesus is pretty clear that his blindness was not something this man deserved because of anything he or his family did. And likewise, he was not healed because of anything he or his family did. Unlike his affliction, the man’s healing was ‘from above’ – something only a loving and omnipotent God can do.
And because of what God does, our life becomes a ‘life from above’ causing us to become ‘good’ and ’right’ and ‘true.’
Frederich Niedner (who teaches biblical studies at Valparaiso University) suggests that this story, at a deeper level, is an allegory of life and death among the baptized. Our baptism is life changing - effecting where and how we worship, whom we serve, and quite often our families. He says, “Reshaped in the mud of new creation and washed in the water of the sent One, we can now see what we could not before.” Concerning this new life, he says: “Daily we die and rise from the mud, washed and dispatched by the sent One into another day… quite capable of killing us. That’s all right. As it turns out, starting over is what we do best.”
This ‘life from above’ is ours. No longer are we alone. It’s a life based upon trust. God doesn’t abandon us in our confusion. God raises us up from our affliction. God holds ever so close. God is good, and right, and true. God is life. And that, my friends, is what living a ‘life from above’ is all about. That is the good news for us today and everyday. We can trust God it is so.
"From Above”
A pastor was giving a lesson about ‘right and wrong’ during children's message and told a story of a robber who broke into a jewelry store at night after everybody was gone.
The robber went to the safe where the jewels and the cash were kept, and on the door of the safe is a sign, "Please do not use explosives. The safe is not locked. Just turn the handle."
So, the thief turns the handle and immediately the alarm goes off. The robber panics, but by the time he figures out he’d better leave it’s too late. The police arrive and he is arrested.
"So, children," asks the preacher, "What’s the moral of the story?"
One little boy replied, "You can't trust anybody."
And yet we know there IS someone we can trust – we can trust God. Last week, we learned that the very nature of a ‘godly’ person is to trust God to do what is promised – to set us right. When Abraham finally let go and left it up to God to do what he couldn’t, God came through and delivered on the promise. And we were reminded once again that Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise.
Last week, John spoke of a different sort of birth. Next week John speaks of a different sort of death. Last week Jesus talked to Nicodemus about being born “from above.” Next week Jesus talks to Martha about death that comes from above – death that glorifies God.
Last week, Nicodemus told Jesus, "Teacher, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all… you do if God weren't in on it." And Jesus replied, "You're absolutely right.” Next week, Martha is absolutely sure “God will give (Jesus) whatever (he) asks.”
Jesus told Nicodemus, “Trust me and there is hope or don’t trust me and there is nothing.” Jesus will tell Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Trust what Jesus says about God and there is a “new birth.” Trust what Jesus reveals to us about God and there is a “new death.”
But what about this week, what’s the lesson for us this week? What are we to learn today? Well, between birth and death is a life to be lived that need not be the same – a life ‘from above.’ Teacher and writer Tony Campolo has asked his students, “Even if there were no heaven and there were no hell, would you still follow Jesus? Would you follow him for the life, joy, and fulfillment he gives you right now?” A life ‘from above’ causes us to live differently. It allows us to be glorified in Christ now.
Paul says ‘living from above’ causes us to do what pleases Christ. Graced by the "light" from above we discover what we are to be about – “doing what is pleasing to the Lord." And we don't have to wonder what that means. In Ephesians, Paul makes it very simple and straight-forward when he writes: "what is pleasing to the Lord" is "all that is good, and right, and true" (v.10). "Living from above” as “children of the light” is living a life of goodness, righteousness, and truth. This is what glorifies God.
And to Paul’s way of thinking doing what pleases Christ is definitely not the ‘busy work’ kinds of things we often find ourselves doing – things that don’t really accomplish anything. You know, all those little, trivial things that take up so much of our time and energy and keep us from ‘living the life from above.’ No Paul says, “Let the light of Christ – the light from above - lead the way.”
Living a life ‘from above’ causes us to help others by our involvement in ministries of presence and hope, such as One Great Hour of Sharing, which many United Methodist churches are observing today. Combining our gifts, we are able to more effectively respond to people suffering catastrophic losses due to natural and human-made disasters, such as those in Nevada displaced by terrible flooding at the beginning of this year. For many years, this offering has helped people all over the world through the involvement the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). This is a good thing
Living a life ‘from above’ also causes us, as Bishop Palmer has suggested, to grieve, to pray, and to make a ‘God shaped difference’ where we live by striving to make the prayer of St. Francis a reality in light of the tragic shootings and deaths two weeks ago at the Northern Illinois University in Dekalb. This is a right thing.
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
And finally this living a life ‘from above’ causes us to trust God in all things – in birth, in death, and in the life that lies between. This new life comes from God, revealed in Jesus Christ. This is God’s doing and not our own. This is a true thing.
Even though we think we earn what we get, today’s gospel lesson tells a different story. Jesus heals a man who has been blind from birth. Did he get what he earned? Jesus is pretty clear that his blindness was not something this man deserved because of anything he or his family did. And likewise, he was not healed because of anything he or his family did. Unlike his affliction, the man’s healing was ‘from above’ – something only a loving and omnipotent God can do.
And because of what God does, our life becomes a ‘life from above’ causing us to become ‘good’ and ’right’ and ‘true.’
Frederich Niedner (who teaches biblical studies at Valparaiso University) suggests that this story, at a deeper level, is an allegory of life and death among the baptized. Our baptism is life changing - effecting where and how we worship, whom we serve, and quite often our families. He says, “Reshaped in the mud of new creation and washed in the water of the sent One, we can now see what we could not before.” Concerning this new life, he says: “Daily we die and rise from the mud, washed and dispatched by the sent One into another day… quite capable of killing us. That’s all right. As it turns out, starting over is what we do best.”
This ‘life from above’ is ours. No longer are we alone. It’s a life based upon trust. God doesn’t abandon us in our confusion. God raises us up from our affliction. God holds ever so close. God is good, and right, and true. God is life. And that, my friends, is what living a ‘life from above’ is all about. That is the good news for us today and everyday. We can trust God it is so.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45
“God Living and Breathing In You”
_________________________________
"Do you believe in life after death?" the boss asked a new employee.
"Yes, Sir. I do." the woman replied.
"Well, then, that makes everything just fine," the boss went on. "After you left early yesterday to go to your grandmother's funeral, she stopped in to see you."
_________________________________
When we ended last week, I said this: A ‘life from above’ – one based upon trusting God – can be ours. We don’t need to feel alone, abandoned, or sick of everything life has thrown our way. God lifts and holds us close. God is good and right and true. God is life. We can trust God to always be there for us.
The week before we learned what Abraham finally knew in life – God can be trusted to do what God promises. Jesus says, in fact, you must be ‘born from above’ – becoming a new person relying on God rather than yourself – in order to live life to the fullest.
But there is more than being ‘born again’ and ‘living’ from ‘above.’ There is also our ‘rising’ from death – as did Lazarus – in a way that ‘glorifies’ our Lord. The catch here, though, being that death must precede life.
Now rather than apply this on a personal level, I want you today to take a more historical or traditional view of scripture and, instead, hear it on a different level – as a group. Paul’s letters, after all, were written to communities of believers that made up the churches of the day. So listen now as a community of faith – the church.
Paul says, “When God lives and breathes in you… you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!” Paul is talking about you – not each of you individually, but all of us collectively (all of us together). He’s talking about God living and breathing in us – a community of believers – the church. And Paul was writing to a church, perhaps like us, that had lost the life it once had.
At one time, this church, to whom Paul is writing, had really been alive. You’ve been there before, haven’t you? People were excited, full of energy and love for the Lord. They wanted others to know Christ as they did, so they shared this love and excitement. There wasn’t a thing they wouldn’t do. There was no stopping them in this church. Then things changed. Their focus was different. The life was gone.
Paul told the churches of Rome, “Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God.” Does that ever happen with us? Sure it does. When we begin thinking more about what we are doing than about God (and what God is doing around us)? Paul would say that’s no life at all! He wanted such a church to be delivered from a ‘dead’ life like that. So his advice to them was to have “God live and breathe in you.”
But how does that happen when you’ve been dead? Let’s try to get a handle on it. (And, by the way, there’s a pun in there if you look deeply enough.) Remember, we’re thinking here collectively, and collectively we are Peace United Methodist Parish – P.U.M.P. – get it? Now consider that pumps have handles on them, at least the old-fashioned kinds do. “Get a handle on it.” Get it? Oh well.
Let’s suppose for a moment theP.U.M.P. (this group of believers known as Peace United Methodist Parish) no longer has the life it once did. We could say it’s a ‘dead’ life, as Paul put it. And maybe we are dead if we’ve been thinking more about ourselves than about what God is doing in this community – more about our worship, our church school, our building, our newsletter, our groups, our vacation bible school, and our part in them. We’ve been confined and limited to this tomb that has defined us.
150 years ago, 500 people died of cholera in just ten days in one London neighborhood, marking the beginning of a terrible epidemic. Dr. John Snow, unlike his colleagues, believed that cholera was not caused by mysterious "vapors," but was instead a disease of the ‘gut’ spread by contaminated water.
With the high number of deaths in this neighborhood, he was convinced that a pump used by the neighborhood was the source of contaminated water and suggested removing the pump handle so no more water could be drawn from that location.
The handle was removed, cholera abated, and huge projects were launched for sanitation systems and clean water across Europe. That pump handle affected all of us. (Steve Loranger [CEO of ITT Industries], "Global Water Management," Vital Speeches, 15 March 20005, 325ff.)
A week ago this past Tuesday (on February 26) Starbucks got a new pump handle. Starbucks locked their doors. 7100 Starbucks in North America shut down for three hours - no customers at all. Why the coffee break? They closed down to clean up their original ‘pump handle’ that had been so changed that the company needed a new one.
Or in the words of CEO Howard Schultz, “We are passionate about our coffee. And we will revisit our standards of quality that are the foundation for the trust that our customers have in our coffee and in all of us.” "This is not about training," he insisted when talking to his employees about the need to reconnect the company to the "soul of the past." "This is about the love and compassion and commitment that we all need to have for the customer."
It is a concept that sounds like a contradiction. Shut down your business in order to open up your business. And yet doctors do it all the time when they induce comas in patients with life threatening injuries. Without going into all the details, they "shut down" the patient’s body in order to help it come alive to health.
Maybe our churches should take our own "coffee break" to rediscover our love and compassion and commitment for God and neighbor. Maybe we should think about a 3-day, or 3-week, or 3-month shut-down of our churches to revisit and reconnect with our own “soul of the past.” Maybe we need to find our original handle as well, to insure the living water that comes out of thePUMP is, in fact, healing and ‘thirst quenching’ to all who come to the well.
Perhaps our handle has been corroded and is in need of replacement. Maybe it has something to do with our busy-ness. Just look at how busy we are. Check out the bulletin or the newsletter... all the things going on in our churches each week, our Lenten services, our programs, our missions, our Sunday schools, and all the committees. We may feel good about our busyness. But has it taken over our identity? Have we forgotten why the church exists at all?
Starbucks closed down to find the "soul of its past" – to rediscover its beginning. Maybe our church needs to "close" itself off from its programs and meetings and activities in order to rediscover why we are what we are? And who are we? And why are we here? What was our original identity – what people knew us by – what was our PUMP ‘handle’ in the beginning? Perhaps this spring or summer we might try to find out.
And it could very well take our dying to find out. And dying is not easy for anyone. Lazarus had died. He was gone. Although he would be missed, he wouldn't be back. His sisters, Mary and Martha, were sad. They were angry. They were frustrated. They were all these things at the same time. But then Jesus came and called Lazarus forth to renewed life – a life rising from death in order to ‘glorify’ God. Just think… might it have been different had Lazarus not died at all? Or was death necessary for him to truly live?
Sometimes, life comes from being born. Sometimes, life comes from living. And sometimes, life comes from having died. May you all find God living and breathing life in you today. Amen.
“God Living and Breathing In You”
_________________________________
"Do you believe in life after death?" the boss asked a new employee.
"Yes, Sir. I do." the woman replied.
"Well, then, that makes everything just fine," the boss went on. "After you left early yesterday to go to your grandmother's funeral, she stopped in to see you."
_________________________________
When we ended last week, I said this: A ‘life from above’ – one based upon trusting God – can be ours. We don’t need to feel alone, abandoned, or sick of everything life has thrown our way. God lifts and holds us close. God is good and right and true. God is life. We can trust God to always be there for us.
The week before we learned what Abraham finally knew in life – God can be trusted to do what God promises. Jesus says, in fact, you must be ‘born from above’ – becoming a new person relying on God rather than yourself – in order to live life to the fullest.
But there is more than being ‘born again’ and ‘living’ from ‘above.’ There is also our ‘rising’ from death – as did Lazarus – in a way that ‘glorifies’ our Lord. The catch here, though, being that death must precede life.
Now rather than apply this on a personal level, I want you today to take a more historical or traditional view of scripture and, instead, hear it on a different level – as a group. Paul’s letters, after all, were written to communities of believers that made up the churches of the day. So listen now as a community of faith – the church.
Paul says, “When God lives and breathes in you… you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!” Paul is talking about you – not each of you individually, but all of us collectively (all of us together). He’s talking about God living and breathing in us – a community of believers – the church. And Paul was writing to a church, perhaps like us, that had lost the life it once had.
At one time, this church, to whom Paul is writing, had really been alive. You’ve been there before, haven’t you? People were excited, full of energy and love for the Lord. They wanted others to know Christ as they did, so they shared this love and excitement. There wasn’t a thing they wouldn’t do. There was no stopping them in this church. Then things changed. Their focus was different. The life was gone.
Paul told the churches of Rome, “Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God.” Does that ever happen with us? Sure it does. When we begin thinking more about what we are doing than about God (and what God is doing around us)? Paul would say that’s no life at all! He wanted such a church to be delivered from a ‘dead’ life like that. So his advice to them was to have “God live and breathe in you.”
But how does that happen when you’ve been dead? Let’s try to get a handle on it. (And, by the way, there’s a pun in there if you look deeply enough.) Remember, we’re thinking here collectively, and collectively we are Peace United Methodist Parish – P.U.M.P. – get it? Now consider that pumps have handles on them, at least the old-fashioned kinds do. “Get a handle on it.” Get it? Oh well.
Let’s suppose for a moment theP.U.M.P. (this group of believers known as Peace United Methodist Parish) no longer has the life it once did. We could say it’s a ‘dead’ life, as Paul put it. And maybe we are dead if we’ve been thinking more about ourselves than about what God is doing in this community – more about our worship, our church school, our building, our newsletter, our groups, our vacation bible school, and our part in them. We’ve been confined and limited to this tomb that has defined us.
150 years ago, 500 people died of cholera in just ten days in one London neighborhood, marking the beginning of a terrible epidemic. Dr. John Snow, unlike his colleagues, believed that cholera was not caused by mysterious "vapors," but was instead a disease of the ‘gut’ spread by contaminated water.
With the high number of deaths in this neighborhood, he was convinced that a pump used by the neighborhood was the source of contaminated water and suggested removing the pump handle so no more water could be drawn from that location.
The handle was removed, cholera abated, and huge projects were launched for sanitation systems and clean water across Europe. That pump handle affected all of us. (Steve Loranger [CEO of ITT Industries], "Global Water Management," Vital Speeches, 15 March 20005, 325ff.)
A week ago this past Tuesday (on February 26) Starbucks got a new pump handle. Starbucks locked their doors. 7100 Starbucks in North America shut down for three hours - no customers at all. Why the coffee break? They closed down to clean up their original ‘pump handle’ that had been so changed that the company needed a new one.
Or in the words of CEO Howard Schultz, “We are passionate about our coffee. And we will revisit our standards of quality that are the foundation for the trust that our customers have in our coffee and in all of us.” "This is not about training," he insisted when talking to his employees about the need to reconnect the company to the "soul of the past." "This is about the love and compassion and commitment that we all need to have for the customer."
It is a concept that sounds like a contradiction. Shut down your business in order to open up your business. And yet doctors do it all the time when they induce comas in patients with life threatening injuries. Without going into all the details, they "shut down" the patient’s body in order to help it come alive to health.
Maybe our churches should take our own "coffee break" to rediscover our love and compassion and commitment for God and neighbor. Maybe we should think about a 3-day, or 3-week, or 3-month shut-down of our churches to revisit and reconnect with our own “soul of the past.” Maybe we need to find our original handle as well, to insure the living water that comes out of thePUMP is, in fact, healing and ‘thirst quenching’ to all who come to the well.
Perhaps our handle has been corroded and is in need of replacement. Maybe it has something to do with our busy-ness. Just look at how busy we are. Check out the bulletin or the newsletter... all the things going on in our churches each week, our Lenten services, our programs, our missions, our Sunday schools, and all the committees. We may feel good about our busyness. But has it taken over our identity? Have we forgotten why the church exists at all?
Starbucks closed down to find the "soul of its past" – to rediscover its beginning. Maybe our church needs to "close" itself off from its programs and meetings and activities in order to rediscover why we are what we are? And who are we? And why are we here? What was our original identity – what people knew us by – what was our PUMP ‘handle’ in the beginning? Perhaps this spring or summer we might try to find out.
And it could very well take our dying to find out. And dying is not easy for anyone. Lazarus had died. He was gone. Although he would be missed, he wouldn't be back. His sisters, Mary and Martha, were sad. They were angry. They were frustrated. They were all these things at the same time. But then Jesus came and called Lazarus forth to renewed life – a life rising from death in order to ‘glorify’ God. Just think… might it have been different had Lazarus not died at all? Or was death necessary for him to truly live?
Sometimes, life comes from being born. Sometimes, life comes from living. And sometimes, life comes from having died. May you all find God living and breathing life in you today. Amen.
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