August 3, 2008
Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21
"We Have Only…”
"I am a follower of Christ, and the Holy Spirit is a witness to my conscience."
Jesus told me, "Why don't you give them something to eat?"
But I said, "I have only… “
enough by Thom M. Shuman of Cincinnati, Ohio USA
there was more than enough
grief
for Jesus,
hearing the news
that beloved John
had lost his head
to Herod;
there was more than enough
people
when all those folks,
men, women, children
(the press reported
more than 5000)
crowded after him;
there was more than enough
hunger
following each person,
gnawing away at
their hopes and dreams;
there was more than enough
doubt
feeding the fears
of his disciples,
whining for Jesus
to send everyone packing;
but what they did have
was more than enough
for Jesus–
taking,
blessing,
breaking,
transforming
their paltry panic into manna's joy.
when we look
into our picnic basket of scarcity,
murmuring,
'not enough money,
not enough people,
not enough time,
not enough energy,
notenoughnotenoughnotenough'
remind us, Overflowing Grace,
that it is all Jesus needs.
(c) 2008 Thom M. Shuman
Rev. Bill Cotton, retired pastor and former District Superintendent of the Iowa Conference, tells of a student who sat in the back of the classroom with arms folded as an expression of defiance. The instructor had just read the account of the feeding of the five thousand, not counting women and children, with five loaves and two fish. The student asked: “was that physical bread or spiritual bread”? The instructor replied, “Yes!”
The student’s question reminded him, Rev. Cotton said, of the Hebrew children as they woke up one morning in the wilderness and found the bushes covered with a strange substance. They asked (of course in Hebrew), ”What is it?” – which became translated into the English word, Manna or bread from heaven.
In both stories, the feeding of the five thousand plus and the feeing of the Hebrews in the wilderness, there is enough for everyone with an abundance left over. It seemed too good to be true. Yet I said, “I have only…”
Some say that Matthew is reporting Jesus putting an end to the scarcity myth created in the Joseph story in Genesis. Until the Pharaoh's dream about the skinny cattle eating the fat cattle the Hebrew scripture was all about God’s abundance. In the story of Joseph the scarcity myth was born. There will not be enough. Fear ruled then and today.
Jesus feeding the great crowd is a story and sign of God’s abundance. These days fear of “not enough” is the order of the day. There will not be enough, gas, corn, oil, you name it. Even in the church we are subject to the fear there will not be enough. Yet the role of the church is to make the signs of God’s abundance. Could it be that there is always enough? What is lacking is only our capacity to share.
Jesus feeding the great crowd is also a story about what is involved when we feed others. In first-century Jewish culture, there was more to a meal than just eating or gobbling down food. Meals were about hospitality, about sharing, about bonding. To eat with someone meant engaging in a deeper relationship. Jesus ate with lots of people, from the religious elite to the outcasts of society. For him, the meal was very much a part of his proclaiming God’s kingdom. In the meal, as in the kingdom, everyone is welcome, everyone is important, and everyone is fed.
But when Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.” I said, “I have only…”
What Jesus asks doesn’t even seem reasonable. You don’t have to be a genius to do the math and realize that it isn’t going to happen. Not when there is hardly enough for us. Their isn’t a whole lot, just five loaves and two fish, which is “nothing” compared to what is needed. It just doesn’t work out, especially when I have only… this much.
The disciples, like us, are thinking scarcity… Jesus is thinking abundance. Jesus says, “Don’t tell me what you don’t have. You give them something to eat.” We can look at the world around us, and all its needs, and right away we worry about what we don’t have. Jesus, however, calls us to look beyond what we don’t have to all the hungry people — people hungry for their next meal, hungry for God, hungry for grace, hungry for a chance to change their lives. Jesus says to us, “You give them something to eat.” When God promises to do the feeding, how can we say, “We have only…”
It’s appropriate, as we are about to celebrate Holy Communion, that this is our scripture. Because our belief is that at the Lord’s Table there is always more. With God there’s always more — more grace, more love, more room, more of everything. God takes the smallest that we can offer and multiplies it into more than we can ever imagine. Isn’t it time to get rid of our diet of scarcity and enjoy the abundance of grace God offers us.
From the book, To Bless the Space Between Us, A book of Blessing, by John O’Donohue (Doubleday, 2008. p, 91.)
“As we begin this meal with grace
let us become aware of the memory
carried inside the food before us;
The quiver of the seed awakening in the earth,
unfolding in a trust of roots and slender stems of growth,
on its voyage toward harvest, the kiss of rain and surge of sun;
The innocence of animal soul
that never spoke a word,
nourished by the earth
To become today our food;
the work of all the strangers
whose hands prepared it,
The privilege of wealth
and health that enables us
to feast and celebrate.”
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
July 27, 2008 Message
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52; Romans 8:26-39
“The Best Part of Your Life”
Jesus liked to tell stories of ordinary people and the ordinary things they do so that people like us might look at God and God’s kingdom in a new way. He told stories about ordinary things to explain the extraordinary – such as God’s kingdom and power with us, filling every part of our lives, changing, informing, and transforming us – making this, if we allow it, to be “the best part of our life.” Imagine the stories he would tell if he were teaching those same lessons today, the images he would draw for our mind’s eye.
Growing up on a farm, there are generally cats – several cats – and usually, for many of us, there is a favorite. There’s a story of the time a young boy’s favorite cat was involved in an accident and was killed while the boy was away at school. His mother was worried over how her son was going to react to the bad news, so when he came home from school, she explained to him what happened and tried to console him by saying, "Don't worry son, the cat is in heaven with God now." To which the boy, without hesitation, replied, "What's God going to do with a dead cat?"
“So he told them, Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom." (Matthew 13:52) There are a lot of new treasures in each of our lives, even some in stories of small boys and “dead cats” that help us understand God and God’s kingdom. Iowa native Susan Werner in her song “May I Suggest” sings of “our beginning to see the thousand reasons that were just beyond our sight and of our being blessed by them - this time that is the best part of our life.” Whether she intended to or not, her words seem to echo those of Jesus concerning the kingdom of God.
Jesus has talked to his followers about God’s kingdom, the inbreaking of heaven on earth and the transformation in life that takes place with its coming. In our readings from Matthew this month, Jesus has added to our understanding that: 1) God is ever present in our lives and makes it possible for us to be present in the lives of others as well. The kingdom is definitely near. 2) God spreads the seed of the kingdom indiscriminately, in both good and not-so-good soil. 3) The kingdom is not yet complete. God is not through with us yet and will burn away the worst in us.
And today, Jesus gives us a fourth image of what “kingdom come” is like: a seed planted, yeast added, farmers farming, a merchant's selling and buying, fishers fishing – a hidden presence and power, already come, making this “the best part of your life.”
This is what he says we are to look for – and what is critical to our understanding – when it comes to the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, we are to look to the here and now, and find the kingdom in the present.
The kingdom of God is God's power and majesty and glory here on earth. But often God's kingdom lies hidden beneath our normal field of vision, and if we never look beyond the surface, we could very well miss it.
Some of us go through life like that, seeing only the surface of life and not the kingdom of God beneath the surface. We see the surface of the earth but not the hidden treasure that lies below, we see the surface of the lake but not the great catch of fish below. And so we look for something better than our life on the surface - a heaven (beyond this life), while never noticing what’s hidden just below the surface - the inbreaking of God’s kingdom, and never realizing “this is the best part of our life.”
God may be hidden, but God is not hiding. God is revealed in every moment of time and in every breath of life. “There is a world that's been addressed to you; addressed to you, intended only for your eyes; a secret world like a treasure chest to you of private scenes and brilliant dreams that mesmerize.” (Susan Werner, “May I Suggest”) But a treasure hidden in a field will not be found until we start to dig. Jesus describes the kingdom almost as a riddle. The kingdom can be found in mustard seed and yeast, a treasure hidden in a field, a merchant searching for fine pearls, and a net full of fish.
- Like a mustard seed and yeast, it starts out small but grows larger and larger, until it includes everyone.
- Like a treasure hidden in a field, it is to be desired more than anything else.
- Like a merchant searching for fine pearls, it is worth everything we have.
- Like a net full of fish, it includes the “keepers” and the “throwbacks” alike.
Jesus said, "Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom." (52)
The Kingdom is always associated with righteousness and like the wheat and weeds parable of last week today’s reading has Jesus separating the righteous from the unrighteous. “Angels will come and separate the evil people from the ones who have done right.” (49)
Last week I suggested that as individuals we might be both weed and wheat at the same time, exhibiting characteristics of both in differing degrees. That’s why to those on the outside the church appears to be a bunch of hypocrites. We don’t measure up to the teaching of Jesus – we are, each of us, at times more weed than wheat. Yet there is hope for all of us, as God will burn away our imperfections, allowing us to be righteous and among those “who have done right.” Whether we realize it or not, in fact, “this is the best part of our life.”
Walter Brueggemann suggests that one definition for righteousness found in the Hebrew language is ‘the power to give life”. (Hope Within History, John Knox PressAtlanta, pp. 27-28.) That is why only God is deemed to be righteous. However, God has shared his righteousness, or life giving power with the Church, that we might be a life giving community. This is part of God’s will, God’s plan for all of us.
Again Susan Werner writes in “May I Suggest”: “There is a hope that's been expressed in you, the hope of seven generations, maybe more. And this is the faith that they invest in you, it's that you'll do one better than was done before.” But how can we ever do what we are suppose to do?
In Romans 8, Paul says we are weak; we can’t do it on our own. We can’t realize the kingdom Jesus talks about on our own. We can’t ‘become righteous’ because of our own doing. We need help. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. And that is the good news. The Holy Spirit makes it all happen.
Paul says that “God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him.” (28) He also says, “If God is on our side, can anyone be against us?” (31) And he assures us, “nothing can separate from God’s love.” (38)
That being so, this IS the best part of our life. (sing song “May I Suggest” by Susan Werner)
“The Best Part of Your Life”
Jesus liked to tell stories of ordinary people and the ordinary things they do so that people like us might look at God and God’s kingdom in a new way. He told stories about ordinary things to explain the extraordinary – such as God’s kingdom and power with us, filling every part of our lives, changing, informing, and transforming us – making this, if we allow it, to be “the best part of our life.” Imagine the stories he would tell if he were teaching those same lessons today, the images he would draw for our mind’s eye.
Growing up on a farm, there are generally cats – several cats – and usually, for many of us, there is a favorite. There’s a story of the time a young boy’s favorite cat was involved in an accident and was killed while the boy was away at school. His mother was worried over how her son was going to react to the bad news, so when he came home from school, she explained to him what happened and tried to console him by saying, "Don't worry son, the cat is in heaven with God now." To which the boy, without hesitation, replied, "What's God going to do with a dead cat?"
“So he told them, Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom." (Matthew 13:52) There are a lot of new treasures in each of our lives, even some in stories of small boys and “dead cats” that help us understand God and God’s kingdom. Iowa native Susan Werner in her song “May I Suggest” sings of “our beginning to see the thousand reasons that were just beyond our sight and of our being blessed by them - this time that is the best part of our life.” Whether she intended to or not, her words seem to echo those of Jesus concerning the kingdom of God.
Jesus has talked to his followers about God’s kingdom, the inbreaking of heaven on earth and the transformation in life that takes place with its coming. In our readings from Matthew this month, Jesus has added to our understanding that: 1) God is ever present in our lives and makes it possible for us to be present in the lives of others as well. The kingdom is definitely near. 2) God spreads the seed of the kingdom indiscriminately, in both good and not-so-good soil. 3) The kingdom is not yet complete. God is not through with us yet and will burn away the worst in us.
And today, Jesus gives us a fourth image of what “kingdom come” is like: a seed planted, yeast added, farmers farming, a merchant's selling and buying, fishers fishing – a hidden presence and power, already come, making this “the best part of your life.”
This is what he says we are to look for – and what is critical to our understanding – when it comes to the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, we are to look to the here and now, and find the kingdom in the present.
The kingdom of God is God's power and majesty and glory here on earth. But often God's kingdom lies hidden beneath our normal field of vision, and if we never look beyond the surface, we could very well miss it.
Some of us go through life like that, seeing only the surface of life and not the kingdom of God beneath the surface. We see the surface of the earth but not the hidden treasure that lies below, we see the surface of the lake but not the great catch of fish below. And so we look for something better than our life on the surface - a heaven (beyond this life), while never noticing what’s hidden just below the surface - the inbreaking of God’s kingdom, and never realizing “this is the best part of our life.”
God may be hidden, but God is not hiding. God is revealed in every moment of time and in every breath of life. “There is a world that's been addressed to you; addressed to you, intended only for your eyes; a secret world like a treasure chest to you of private scenes and brilliant dreams that mesmerize.” (Susan Werner, “May I Suggest”) But a treasure hidden in a field will not be found until we start to dig. Jesus describes the kingdom almost as a riddle. The kingdom can be found in mustard seed and yeast, a treasure hidden in a field, a merchant searching for fine pearls, and a net full of fish.
- Like a mustard seed and yeast, it starts out small but grows larger and larger, until it includes everyone.
- Like a treasure hidden in a field, it is to be desired more than anything else.
- Like a merchant searching for fine pearls, it is worth everything we have.
- Like a net full of fish, it includes the “keepers” and the “throwbacks” alike.
Jesus said, "Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom." (52)
The Kingdom is always associated with righteousness and like the wheat and weeds parable of last week today’s reading has Jesus separating the righteous from the unrighteous. “Angels will come and separate the evil people from the ones who have done right.” (49)
Last week I suggested that as individuals we might be both weed and wheat at the same time, exhibiting characteristics of both in differing degrees. That’s why to those on the outside the church appears to be a bunch of hypocrites. We don’t measure up to the teaching of Jesus – we are, each of us, at times more weed than wheat. Yet there is hope for all of us, as God will burn away our imperfections, allowing us to be righteous and among those “who have done right.” Whether we realize it or not, in fact, “this is the best part of our life.”
Walter Brueggemann suggests that one definition for righteousness found in the Hebrew language is ‘the power to give life”. (Hope Within History, John Knox PressAtlanta, pp. 27-28.) That is why only God is deemed to be righteous. However, God has shared his righteousness, or life giving power with the Church, that we might be a life giving community. This is part of God’s will, God’s plan for all of us.
Again Susan Werner writes in “May I Suggest”: “There is a hope that's been expressed in you, the hope of seven generations, maybe more. And this is the faith that they invest in you, it's that you'll do one better than was done before.” But how can we ever do what we are suppose to do?
In Romans 8, Paul says we are weak; we can’t do it on our own. We can’t realize the kingdom Jesus talks about on our own. We can’t ‘become righteous’ because of our own doing. We need help. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. And that is the good news. The Holy Spirit makes it all happen.
Paul says that “God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him.” (28) He also says, “If God is on our side, can anyone be against us?” (31) And he assures us, “nothing can separate from God’s love.” (38)
That being so, this IS the best part of our life. (sing song “May I Suggest” by Susan Werner)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
July 20, 2008 Message
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Romans 8:12-25 “Wait and See”
There is a story about the boy and his dad who were planning a fishing trip for the next day. That evening as the father was putting his son to bed, the boy hugged his dad’s neck and said, "Daddy, thank you for tomorrow."
That boy had no doubt about what was going to happen the next day and he was excited about it. Unfortunately, we may very well be living in what could be the most anxious time of our lives, a time of uncertainty about the future when sage advice seems to say, “let’s wait and see.”
Things were going pretty good for a while, we got used to a gallon of gas and a loaf of bread pushing a couple of dollars and then wham – prices explode. The economy’s downturn starts to look more like a tailspin, banks involved heavily in the housing market start to go belly up, and investments go in the tank. Sadly, today's investors can easily relate to Bob Hope's humor of forty years ago when he said: “Three of my stocks went off the financial page, into the help-wanted section. What bothered me was the speed of the drop — I called my broker last week and his busy signal cost me $8,000.”
A lot of people are hurting. For many, all that is left is the hope of a better day. But hope involves more than wishful thinking. Mother Teresa put it this way, she said, “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
Edward Demning, the fellow who taught the Japanese how to rebuild their nation following World War II, once said that, “hope without a method to achieve it is merely hope”. We can do a lot of wishful thinking and somehow believe that a miracle will save us - that wishing will make it so. But we know better, don’t we? Wishing really has no backbone, no substance, no serious resolve. Paul Tillich wrote that to hope is to work for its coming.
Yesterday, at men’s breakfast, we talked about the devastation of the flooding in the Time Czech and other areas of Cedar Rapids and the hopelessness that can result. We talked about the hope provided by the recovery effort - the work teams coming from other states to ‘muck’ out homes and our own efforts to help by providing meals for the work teams hosted by First UMC – Marion. We talked about the coordinated effort of our United Methodist churches in this area, from around the state and throughout the nation. And we talked about the need for ‘agency’ and ‘pathway’ – the importance of a goal, as well as a plan for accomplishing that goal – to overcome the feeling of hopelessness. Hopelessness is now being replaced by hope because there is a coordinated and planned effort rather than a “wait and see attitude.”
Demning talked about ‘hope’ and a ‘method’ for accomplishing it. Tillich talked about ‘hope’ and the ‘work’ required for achieving it. And psychology talks about ‘hope’ in terms of ‘agency’ (the goal) and the ‘pathway’ (the plan) to it. For me then, that raises the question: “As Christians, as followers of Jesus, what is it we hope for? Is it a matter of wait and see, or are we taking good advantage of this extra bit of time given us?”
The apostle Paul once again provides some helpful advice. In Romans 8 he talks about hope. Now Paul lived during an uneasy time very much like today. But the hope Paul talks about is not a “wait and see” kind of hope. Rather, Paul sees it as a great struggle, an effort of huge importance – in which creation is eager and poised, waiting for fulfillment — “like a woman about to give birth.”
There is the same sense of waiting in the story that Jesus tells: the field is almost ready for harvest, but it is far from perfect and we must wait for the sorting out of the weeds from the wheat. We wait for the time of decision that comes in the end, but only after things have grown to maturity.
Both texts remind us that we are not there yet. We must wait. We have not reached our potential. We need to let things unfold. We need to look forward with confidence to what is going to happen. We need to live in the “not yet,” trusting God’s ‘pathway’ or plan for us. Both Paul and Jesus are actually announcing the inbreaking of God’s rule on earth, the fulfillment of our hopes and the answer of our prayers when we pray the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…”
The Paul who sits in chains speaking of hope is not a wishful thinker. He has experienced what God can do in a person’s life. He knows firsthand how God changes lives for the better. So for Paul it is all gain. He is sure - as sure as a person can be - that nothing in this world or the next will be able to separate him or us from the great confidence or certainty he has found in Jesus the Christ. But are we as sure as Paul? Do we really want to wait and see?
What about the weeds in the story? A fiery furnace can get pretty hot, a lot hotter than the middle of July in Iowa. Maybe I’m not in such a hurry after all. But there’s still hope, right? Even if the weeds may have something to do with me and not just someone else, someone unworthy of saving, you know, those who have no place in God’s kingdom. It’s more comforting to hope I’m pure wheat rather than a weed.
What if though, I am pure wheat with some of the characteristics of a weed, what then? At times I seem to be my own worst enemy. It isn’t others who cause me to stumble and fall so much; it’s me. I would need to free myself of those ‘weedy’ things before I could become fruitful. I have to free myself of those things that choke and hinder my growth, right? It’s good news then that I’m living in a ‘not-yet’ time.
William Willimon writes, “The world is not yet destined for incineration by God, but rather for fulfillment, completion, healing, and restoration by God. The present world… is not God’s final act.” I want God in my life. I want to be part of God’s ‘field,’ active and growing toward a fruitful harvest. When I think of the separation of the wheat and weeds, the idea that God is not through with me yet, that God has a plan, a ‘pathway’ for me… and for you is Good News indeed. We wait. We labor. We hope for that which is not seen, yet somehow knowing that being a child of God is a good thing.
Romans 8:12-25 “Wait and See”
There is a story about the boy and his dad who were planning a fishing trip for the next day. That evening as the father was putting his son to bed, the boy hugged his dad’s neck and said, "Daddy, thank you for tomorrow."
That boy had no doubt about what was going to happen the next day and he was excited about it. Unfortunately, we may very well be living in what could be the most anxious time of our lives, a time of uncertainty about the future when sage advice seems to say, “let’s wait and see.”
Things were going pretty good for a while, we got used to a gallon of gas and a loaf of bread pushing a couple of dollars and then wham – prices explode. The economy’s downturn starts to look more like a tailspin, banks involved heavily in the housing market start to go belly up, and investments go in the tank. Sadly, today's investors can easily relate to Bob Hope's humor of forty years ago when he said: “Three of my stocks went off the financial page, into the help-wanted section. What bothered me was the speed of the drop — I called my broker last week and his busy signal cost me $8,000.”
A lot of people are hurting. For many, all that is left is the hope of a better day. But hope involves more than wishful thinking. Mother Teresa put it this way, she said, “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
Edward Demning, the fellow who taught the Japanese how to rebuild their nation following World War II, once said that, “hope without a method to achieve it is merely hope”. We can do a lot of wishful thinking and somehow believe that a miracle will save us - that wishing will make it so. But we know better, don’t we? Wishing really has no backbone, no substance, no serious resolve. Paul Tillich wrote that to hope is to work for its coming.
Yesterday, at men’s breakfast, we talked about the devastation of the flooding in the Time Czech and other areas of Cedar Rapids and the hopelessness that can result. We talked about the hope provided by the recovery effort - the work teams coming from other states to ‘muck’ out homes and our own efforts to help by providing meals for the work teams hosted by First UMC – Marion. We talked about the coordinated effort of our United Methodist churches in this area, from around the state and throughout the nation. And we talked about the need for ‘agency’ and ‘pathway’ – the importance of a goal, as well as a plan for accomplishing that goal – to overcome the feeling of hopelessness. Hopelessness is now being replaced by hope because there is a coordinated and planned effort rather than a “wait and see attitude.”
Demning talked about ‘hope’ and a ‘method’ for accomplishing it. Tillich talked about ‘hope’ and the ‘work’ required for achieving it. And psychology talks about ‘hope’ in terms of ‘agency’ (the goal) and the ‘pathway’ (the plan) to it. For me then, that raises the question: “As Christians, as followers of Jesus, what is it we hope for? Is it a matter of wait and see, or are we taking good advantage of this extra bit of time given us?”
The apostle Paul once again provides some helpful advice. In Romans 8 he talks about hope. Now Paul lived during an uneasy time very much like today. But the hope Paul talks about is not a “wait and see” kind of hope. Rather, Paul sees it as a great struggle, an effort of huge importance – in which creation is eager and poised, waiting for fulfillment — “like a woman about to give birth.”
There is the same sense of waiting in the story that Jesus tells: the field is almost ready for harvest, but it is far from perfect and we must wait for the sorting out of the weeds from the wheat. We wait for the time of decision that comes in the end, but only after things have grown to maturity.
Both texts remind us that we are not there yet. We must wait. We have not reached our potential. We need to let things unfold. We need to look forward with confidence to what is going to happen. We need to live in the “not yet,” trusting God’s ‘pathway’ or plan for us. Both Paul and Jesus are actually announcing the inbreaking of God’s rule on earth, the fulfillment of our hopes and the answer of our prayers when we pray the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…”
The Paul who sits in chains speaking of hope is not a wishful thinker. He has experienced what God can do in a person’s life. He knows firsthand how God changes lives for the better. So for Paul it is all gain. He is sure - as sure as a person can be - that nothing in this world or the next will be able to separate him or us from the great confidence or certainty he has found in Jesus the Christ. But are we as sure as Paul? Do we really want to wait and see?
What about the weeds in the story? A fiery furnace can get pretty hot, a lot hotter than the middle of July in Iowa. Maybe I’m not in such a hurry after all. But there’s still hope, right? Even if the weeds may have something to do with me and not just someone else, someone unworthy of saving, you know, those who have no place in God’s kingdom. It’s more comforting to hope I’m pure wheat rather than a weed.
What if though, I am pure wheat with some of the characteristics of a weed, what then? At times I seem to be my own worst enemy. It isn’t others who cause me to stumble and fall so much; it’s me. I would need to free myself of those ‘weedy’ things before I could become fruitful. I have to free myself of those things that choke and hinder my growth, right? It’s good news then that I’m living in a ‘not-yet’ time.
William Willimon writes, “The world is not yet destined for incineration by God, but rather for fulfillment, completion, healing, and restoration by God. The present world… is not God’s final act.” I want God in my life. I want to be part of God’s ‘field,’ active and growing toward a fruitful harvest. When I think of the separation of the wheat and weeds, the idea that God is not through with me yet, that God has a plan, a ‘pathway’ for me… and for you is Good News indeed. We wait. We labor. We hope for that which is not seen, yet somehow knowing that being a child of God is a good thing.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
July 13, 2008 Message
Romans 8: 10-11; Matthew 13: 18-23 (Contemporary English Version)
Dirt Poor
Q: What's the difference between soil and dirt?
A: Location, Location. Location
Paul says, “Christ lives in you.” (God is that close.) “You are alive because God has accepted you.” (God is that forgiving.) “You will be raised to life by God’s Spirit that lives in you.” (God is that loving.) [Romans 8: 10-11] There’s a lot God has done and IS doing in our lives, isn’t there? Once again we hear the message: God’s presence, God’s kingdom, is very close, even now.
It was the message Jesus shared all the time. He also told a story about a farmer who scattered a bunch of seeds on his land. He told this story so the people would better understand God and God’s kingdom. And, in the story, he told about the different places the seeds were scattered and what happened to them there. Later, Matthew tells us, Jesus’ disciples asked him why he told stories all the time rather than just saying what he meant. So Jesus told them what the story meant.
He said when it comes to God’s message and people hearing it, it isn’t always the same, just like for the farmer sowing seeds, the results can be different.
1. Some people hear the message about the kingdom, but don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. It’s as if it were never there at all. This is the hard ground.
2. Some people gladly hear the message and accept it right away. But they don't have deep roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up. This is the rocky ground.
3. Some people hear the message but they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. This is the weedy ground.
4. Some people hear the message and understand it. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted. This is the good ground.
It’s pretty clear the person we want to be, right? All of the people in Jesus’ story heard the message, but we want to understand it. We want to be that kind of person, to be “good soil” – close to God – that is fruitful and will produce a hundred fold. We don’t want to like those who are “hard” or “rocky” or “weedy.” But is it different kinds of people Jesus is talking about in his story, or rather four different responses to his teaching a person might make? If so, we might keep mind hearing,
Bradley Schmeling (pastor at St. Johns Lutheran in Atlanta, GA) suggests we should consider whether, in our lives, we might actually move from one place to another - that there are perhaps different soils inside each of us. He asks in this month’s Christian Century, “Isn’t life more a patchwork of various kinds of terrain and soil, going from one to the other and back again depending upon where we are at along the journey.”
Life is filled with familiar and well worn paths, like those traveled through the timber in the spring on your way home from school. The path you take is packed down to the point it’s virtually impossible for a new seed to take root and grow, and it will be as long as you always go that same way. But it’s hard to go a different way, to cut a new path, even if it means something could possibly grow where the old one was.
Along the way, on the abandoned railroad right of way, there is an occasional Sweet William or violet growing, but its only there for a short time because there isn’t enough nutrients or moisture in the cinder filled soil. The takes a right turn and meandered south toward the creek, where there is a patch of weeds that choke out and inhibited even the most promising new growth. That patch of weeds is like the distractions, serving no real purpose, which can overtake a person’s life.
The latest You Tube king is a 14 year-old named Fred who has over 45 million views. What’s this got to do with today’s lesson? Fred has no content. He’s one part funny, one part entertaining, one part sad and one part annoying. But Fred really doesn't have anything to say. There's no message. I know, I checked it out.
Some would say watching Fred is time wasted. For me, it was only a couple of minutes. But multiplied by 45 million, it becomes a huge patch of weeds, where something could have grown but didn’t. How much of our time is spent as seeds scattered on good soil?
Good soil is what we would rather be, knowing full well it is not what we always are. There are times we’re not even close. That’s when we are dirt poor. Times we’re still seeking - or looking for God - knowing something is missing from our life; times when we’re a little cynical, wondering if there’s really anything God can offer us; or times when we’re just plain sleeping – not even aware anything is missing from life, time we don’t even think about God.
We want to be good soil. We’ve heard and studied the Bible… and still we fail to understand it. We’ve been filled with joy aand the power of the word proclaimed… and still we’ve forgotten it when life called us to make a stand with those who suffer. We’ve all experienced times when Christ was in the forefront of our thoughts… and still our minds wander to the luxurious temptations of life.
But once again the lesson is not about me… or you. It is not about good dirt and poor dirt. It is not about what one kind of person does that another does not. It’s not about being swept up in cultural temptation, or about being too hard a ground for God’s grace or about being the right kind of soil. This lesson is not about our power, but about the power of God to grow the harvest.
It is about God. It is about the Good News. It is about the sower who generously scatters the seed everywhere – that it might grow.
God makes things grow even in marginal and in the most unlikely of places – adding to a full and abundant harvest. Christ of the harvest is at work within the fields of our spirit, whether it’s dirt poor or not. As Christians we are to be alive now with the reign of God, growing in the presence of Jesus. The kingdom is close, even now. And God continues to scatter the seed that there might be an abundant harvest. Thanks be to God!
Dirt Poor
Q: What's the difference between soil and dirt?
A: Location, Location. Location
Paul says, “Christ lives in you.” (God is that close.) “You are alive because God has accepted you.” (God is that forgiving.) “You will be raised to life by God’s Spirit that lives in you.” (God is that loving.) [Romans 8: 10-11] There’s a lot God has done and IS doing in our lives, isn’t there? Once again we hear the message: God’s presence, God’s kingdom, is very close, even now.
It was the message Jesus shared all the time. He also told a story about a farmer who scattered a bunch of seeds on his land. He told this story so the people would better understand God and God’s kingdom. And, in the story, he told about the different places the seeds were scattered and what happened to them there. Later, Matthew tells us, Jesus’ disciples asked him why he told stories all the time rather than just saying what he meant. So Jesus told them what the story meant.
He said when it comes to God’s message and people hearing it, it isn’t always the same, just like for the farmer sowing seeds, the results can be different.
1. Some people hear the message about the kingdom, but don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. It’s as if it were never there at all. This is the hard ground.
2. Some people gladly hear the message and accept it right away. But they don't have deep roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up. This is the rocky ground.
3. Some people hear the message but they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. This is the weedy ground.
4. Some people hear the message and understand it. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted. This is the good ground.
It’s pretty clear the person we want to be, right? All of the people in Jesus’ story heard the message, but we want to understand it. We want to be that kind of person, to be “good soil” – close to God – that is fruitful and will produce a hundred fold. We don’t want to like those who are “hard” or “rocky” or “weedy.” But is it different kinds of people Jesus is talking about in his story, or rather four different responses to his teaching a person might make? If so, we might keep mind hearing,
Bradley Schmeling (pastor at St. Johns Lutheran in Atlanta, GA) suggests we should consider whether, in our lives, we might actually move from one place to another - that there are perhaps different soils inside each of us. He asks in this month’s Christian Century, “Isn’t life more a patchwork of various kinds of terrain and soil, going from one to the other and back again depending upon where we are at along the journey.”
Life is filled with familiar and well worn paths, like those traveled through the timber in the spring on your way home from school. The path you take is packed down to the point it’s virtually impossible for a new seed to take root and grow, and it will be as long as you always go that same way. But it’s hard to go a different way, to cut a new path, even if it means something could possibly grow where the old one was.
Along the way, on the abandoned railroad right of way, there is an occasional Sweet William or violet growing, but its only there for a short time because there isn’t enough nutrients or moisture in the cinder filled soil. The takes a right turn and meandered south toward the creek, where there is a patch of weeds that choke out and inhibited even the most promising new growth. That patch of weeds is like the distractions, serving no real purpose, which can overtake a person’s life.
The latest You Tube king is a 14 year-old named Fred who has over 45 million views. What’s this got to do with today’s lesson? Fred has no content. He’s one part funny, one part entertaining, one part sad and one part annoying. But Fred really doesn't have anything to say. There's no message. I know, I checked it out.
Some would say watching Fred is time wasted. For me, it was only a couple of minutes. But multiplied by 45 million, it becomes a huge patch of weeds, where something could have grown but didn’t. How much of our time is spent as seeds scattered on good soil?
Good soil is what we would rather be, knowing full well it is not what we always are. There are times we’re not even close. That’s when we are dirt poor. Times we’re still seeking - or looking for God - knowing something is missing from our life; times when we’re a little cynical, wondering if there’s really anything God can offer us; or times when we’re just plain sleeping – not even aware anything is missing from life, time we don’t even think about God.
We want to be good soil. We’ve heard and studied the Bible… and still we fail to understand it. We’ve been filled with joy aand the power of the word proclaimed… and still we’ve forgotten it when life called us to make a stand with those who suffer. We’ve all experienced times when Christ was in the forefront of our thoughts… and still our minds wander to the luxurious temptations of life.
But once again the lesson is not about me… or you. It is not about good dirt and poor dirt. It is not about what one kind of person does that another does not. It’s not about being swept up in cultural temptation, or about being too hard a ground for God’s grace or about being the right kind of soil. This lesson is not about our power, but about the power of God to grow the harvest.
It is about God. It is about the Good News. It is about the sower who generously scatters the seed everywhere – that it might grow.
God makes things grow even in marginal and in the most unlikely of places – adding to a full and abundant harvest. Christ of the harvest is at work within the fields of our spirit, whether it’s dirt poor or not. As Christians we are to be alive now with the reign of God, growing in the presence of Jesus. The kingdom is close, even now. And God continues to scatter the seed that there might be an abundant harvest. Thanks be to God!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
July 6, 2008 Message
Romans 7:24-27a; Matthew 11:28-30
“That Would Be Good”
Today we are presented with a statement, a question, and an answer.
In Romans 7:24, Paul makes the statement, “What a miserable person I am.” I think of Paul being miserable and I think of Charlie Brown, the hapless young man in Peanuts. There were the times playing baseball, when you knew he was not having a good day – whether he was pitching, or running the bases, about to catch the ball – or not – even sitting on the bench could be painful for Charlie Brown. Would he be the hero or the goat? Would life be fair for a change? Charlie Brown life was a miserable one for sure.
Most people just keep their hurt and pain to themselves. They don’t really let others know how they are hurting. They say, “I’m okay, I’ll get by. Others need help more than I do.” But if they would really share how they felt, we would know just how tired they were from carrying their heavy burden. We would know they needed some rest. We would know they would welcome a lighter load and less weight on their shoulders. We would know they were hoping for a little help from someone.
At times like this, when there is too much water for some, too much wind and rain for others, and the loss of everything for so many, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone present in our life that has been turned upside down? For the worker who now must commute to an un-flooded Minnesota plant and be separated from family for a week at a time… someone to hear us, that would be good.
For the farmer this past week who has planted fifteen acres of beans and had to mud them in, while leaving the rest of his field untouched because of standing water, someone to listen would be good. When high corn prices don’t help because your crop is ruined and it’s too late to replant and now you have sell livestock because you can’t afford to feed them, someone to tell your troubles to… that would be good, as well.
For the grandmother whose cherished pictures of her children were ruined by water, or the newlyweds whose first home was totally destroyed, and all those in this country everywhere experiencing loss of place, despair is the norm. Their burden is heavy and it is weighing them down, perhaps about to destroy them. Someone who might really understand… that would be good, too.
When you are miserable, it isn’t so much you need someone to fix things, although sometimes that might be okay – you just need to know someone is there, with you. When everything seems to be going against you, you need someone on your side. That’s what miserable people like us need and that is what miserable people like us look for.
We look outside ourselves for help, beyond what we can do for ourselves, only when we discover we can’t help ourselves. That is when all that is left is our hope that someone will rescue us.
Paul asks for everyone who has ever been miserable – those who has been unhappy or sad, down or depressed, or just fed up about everything, “Who will rescue me?”
Perhaps we have found ourselves asking the same question? But where do you go for help and to be rescued - a friend, a neighbor; the Legion and its Auxiliary or the Lions or the Lodge; local, state or federal government agencies; our church? Those are all good places to go because I know they all have all provided help to a lot of people whenever there has been a need. Yesterday, two men from FEMA stopped by the parsonage gathering information about people in the church or community who might need help because of the flooding. That is all part of our federal government’s response to people who have experienced a devastating loss because of natural disaster and now need help. And that’s all good.
Ours is a great country, to be sure. On the 4th of July we celebrated another anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of this great nation. Over the course of its 232 years I imagine our country has helped or rescued countless people, whether citizens or not. But before you place all your hope in this country’s hands, consider that this is a country where:
- people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.
- we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage.
- we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and hot dog buns in packages of eight.
Is this really where we want to place our hope? Or might we look elsewhere? Perhaps these words from Pastor W. Gregory Pope, Crescent Hill Baptist in Louisville, KY (The Inner Struggle) would be helpful. He wrote:
On a holiday weekend like this one, we are reminded of the inner struggle of allegiance. We want to celebrate this land that we love, and rightly so, and yet we want to be careful that our allegiance to country never supersedes nor is ever equivalent to our allegiance to God. We sing "God Bless America," and yet we know that our faith will not allow us to ask God's favoritism toward us over other nations. We know there are no national boundary lines with God.
We struggle to love our country when our government acts in ways we feel are contrary to God's ways of justice and peace. But we love our country by calling it to God's ways of justice and peace. We must not let our fear and struggle render us silent and still. Our first allegiance is to the God whose truth still marches on.
There are a lot of places to get help. We can look to our government, our church, our organizations, or the people around us for help, but none of these are the real answer.
Jesus responds to both the statement and the question this way, he says, “If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28) What he is saying is, “If you’re feeling overwhelmed or crushed by what’s going on in your life, come to me. If you need a break, I’m “the man.” My yoke is easy. “Bank on it.” Learn from me. I’m gentle. I’m humble. “I’m smooth.” Picture him in the commercials for Dr. Scholl’s messaging gel insole, asking, “Are you gel’n’ yet?”
The message today is not about what we should do in response to misery. The good news is what God’s response to misery has always been and always will be, sometimes even through us. The crop is lost. The pictures are ruined. The dream is destroyed. And yet ours is a God who we believe is present – and a God who makes it possible for us to be present as well. What a great time it is to be present. What a great time it is to share the Good News – ours is a God of presence in the lives of miserable people like you and I.
Paul knows ‘the answer’ when he says, “Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.” (Romans 7: 25a) And Jesus gives every last miserable person here today ‘the answer’ when he says, “Come to me.” (Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30)
So, now we all have the answer. And we don’t have to go very far at all because he’s here in this place. He has provided a meal for all of us today. Come.
“Come to me all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest...” (Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30)
“That Would Be Good”
Today we are presented with a statement, a question, and an answer.
In Romans 7:24, Paul makes the statement, “What a miserable person I am.” I think of Paul being miserable and I think of Charlie Brown, the hapless young man in Peanuts. There were the times playing baseball, when you knew he was not having a good day – whether he was pitching, or running the bases, about to catch the ball – or not – even sitting on the bench could be painful for Charlie Brown. Would he be the hero or the goat? Would life be fair for a change? Charlie Brown life was a miserable one for sure.
Most people just keep their hurt and pain to themselves. They don’t really let others know how they are hurting. They say, “I’m okay, I’ll get by. Others need help more than I do.” But if they would really share how they felt, we would know just how tired they were from carrying their heavy burden. We would know they needed some rest. We would know they would welcome a lighter load and less weight on their shoulders. We would know they were hoping for a little help from someone.
At times like this, when there is too much water for some, too much wind and rain for others, and the loss of everything for so many, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone present in our life that has been turned upside down? For the worker who now must commute to an un-flooded Minnesota plant and be separated from family for a week at a time… someone to hear us, that would be good.
For the farmer this past week who has planted fifteen acres of beans and had to mud them in, while leaving the rest of his field untouched because of standing water, someone to listen would be good. When high corn prices don’t help because your crop is ruined and it’s too late to replant and now you have sell livestock because you can’t afford to feed them, someone to tell your troubles to… that would be good, as well.
For the grandmother whose cherished pictures of her children were ruined by water, or the newlyweds whose first home was totally destroyed, and all those in this country everywhere experiencing loss of place, despair is the norm. Their burden is heavy and it is weighing them down, perhaps about to destroy them. Someone who might really understand… that would be good, too.
When you are miserable, it isn’t so much you need someone to fix things, although sometimes that might be okay – you just need to know someone is there, with you. When everything seems to be going against you, you need someone on your side. That’s what miserable people like us need and that is what miserable people like us look for.
We look outside ourselves for help, beyond what we can do for ourselves, only when we discover we can’t help ourselves. That is when all that is left is our hope that someone will rescue us.
Paul asks for everyone who has ever been miserable – those who has been unhappy or sad, down or depressed, or just fed up about everything, “Who will rescue me?”
Perhaps we have found ourselves asking the same question? But where do you go for help and to be rescued - a friend, a neighbor; the Legion and its Auxiliary or the Lions or the Lodge; local, state or federal government agencies; our church? Those are all good places to go because I know they all have all provided help to a lot of people whenever there has been a need. Yesterday, two men from FEMA stopped by the parsonage gathering information about people in the church or community who might need help because of the flooding. That is all part of our federal government’s response to people who have experienced a devastating loss because of natural disaster and now need help. And that’s all good.
Ours is a great country, to be sure. On the 4th of July we celebrated another anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of this great nation. Over the course of its 232 years I imagine our country has helped or rescued countless people, whether citizens or not. But before you place all your hope in this country’s hands, consider that this is a country where:
- people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.
- we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage.
- we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and hot dog buns in packages of eight.
Is this really where we want to place our hope? Or might we look elsewhere? Perhaps these words from Pastor W. Gregory Pope, Crescent Hill Baptist in Louisville, KY (The Inner Struggle) would be helpful. He wrote:
On a holiday weekend like this one, we are reminded of the inner struggle of allegiance. We want to celebrate this land that we love, and rightly so, and yet we want to be careful that our allegiance to country never supersedes nor is ever equivalent to our allegiance to God. We sing "God Bless America," and yet we know that our faith will not allow us to ask God's favoritism toward us over other nations. We know there are no national boundary lines with God.
We struggle to love our country when our government acts in ways we feel are contrary to God's ways of justice and peace. But we love our country by calling it to God's ways of justice and peace. We must not let our fear and struggle render us silent and still. Our first allegiance is to the God whose truth still marches on.
There are a lot of places to get help. We can look to our government, our church, our organizations, or the people around us for help, but none of these are the real answer.
Jesus responds to both the statement and the question this way, he says, “If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28) What he is saying is, “If you’re feeling overwhelmed or crushed by what’s going on in your life, come to me. If you need a break, I’m “the man.” My yoke is easy. “Bank on it.” Learn from me. I’m gentle. I’m humble. “I’m smooth.” Picture him in the commercials for Dr. Scholl’s messaging gel insole, asking, “Are you gel’n’ yet?”
The message today is not about what we should do in response to misery. The good news is what God’s response to misery has always been and always will be, sometimes even through us. The crop is lost. The pictures are ruined. The dream is destroyed. And yet ours is a God who we believe is present – and a God who makes it possible for us to be present as well. What a great time it is to be present. What a great time it is to share the Good News – ours is a God of presence in the lives of miserable people like you and I.
Paul knows ‘the answer’ when he says, “Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.” (Romans 7: 25a) And Jesus gives every last miserable person here today ‘the answer’ when he says, “Come to me.” (Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30)
So, now we all have the answer. And we don’t have to go very far at all because he’s here in this place. He has provided a meal for all of us today. Come.
“Come to me all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest...” (Matthew 11:16-19; 25-30)
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