The Good Shepherd - Sermon April 21, 2013

Sermon  April 21, 2013:  Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday

(James W.)

            

Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30 

Let us pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

As I was reading over the lectionary readings to settle on what I would preach today, I thought that I made a clever connection.  I thought to myself “Aha!  The theme running through these readings is ‘shepherd’!”  And so, I told my wife about my discovery.  She replied “Well, yes, of course it’s Good Shepherd Sunday.”  I guess I wasn’t so clever after all, but I do have the theme for today’s sermon.

On Maundy Thursday, we looked at how Jesus was our Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God.  Now we hear that He is our shepherd.  Which is it?  Lamb or shepherd?  The passage from Revelation that we read today says “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd.”  Jesus is both lamb and shepherd.  As you might have guessed, sheep were a very important commercial asset in the ancient times.  They lend themselves as ways to illustrate God.  So yes, in some ways Jesus is the Lamb of God, but in other ways, He is our shepherd.  If you want to learn more about Jesus as Lamb, you can read my Maundy Thursday sermon.  You can ask me for a copy or go online to read it.  Today, we’ll talk about Jesus as shepherd.

It was fairly common for kings in the ancient Middle East to refer to themselves as being the shepherd of their people.  In those days, kings tended to view themselves as divine, and so the metaphor of Jesus, who is our God and Lord, as shepherd is not necessarily unique or groundbreaking.  The readings today tell us about what it means for us that Jesus is our shepherd.  And it’s very comforting to hear.

In the reading from John’s Gospel, we hear Jesus talking about his role as shepherd in response to a question from the religious leaders of the day.  The religious leaders asked him “How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”   These leaders didn’t have honest intentions and Jesus knew it.   So he replied to them that he had already given them the answer, but they wouldn’t listen.  But listen to what he says next.  Jesus tells them “you do not believe because you are not my sheep.   My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  What does Jesus mean?

Jesus suggests here that you need to be one of his flock before you can believe in him.  I think that what is meant here is that coming to fully trust and believe in Jesus as your lord and savior is a process.  Some people have immediate conversions, but they still need to take time to listen and learn about Jesus before they can fully trust and follow him.  One of my favorite movies is The Bourne Identity.  Jason Bourne is a highly trained spy who suffered amnesia after a traumatic experience.  One of the things that helps Jason discover who he is is his power of observation.  He sees and notices things that other don’t – such as who looks suspicious and is out of place, where the entrances and exits are, what could be used as a weapon, and the like.  The same is true of Sherlock Holmes, another favorite character of mine.  He notices clues that others don’t.  Both Jason Bourne and Sherlock Holmes notice things that ordinary people miss because they are looking to notice these sorts of things, while other aren’t even looking. 

And so it is with Jesus’ flock.  If we are part of Jesus’ flock, that means that we are looking to hear Jesus’ voice.  We want to hear what he has to say.  And if we are looking to hear Jesus, we will hear him.  Jesus is calling us to him.  By contrast, if we don’t want to hear Jesus, we probably won’t, though sometimes Jesus can be pretty insistent that we do listen, as St. Paul found out when Jesus appeared to him on the way to Damascus.  But mostly, if we don’t want to listen to Jesus, we won’t hear him.  

But if we are Jesus’ sheep and listen to his voice, he is our shepherd.  Today’s readings help us understand what wonderful news this is for us.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus declares “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”  Jesus is telling us that he is our protector.  This was one of the key tasks of a shepherd.  Just before he slew Goliath, David spoke about some of his adventures as a shepherd.  David said “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.  Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear.”  David, as shepherd, did battle with lion and bear to keep his sheep safe.

In today’s well known Psalm, we hear the Psalmist declare “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”  God doesn’t tell us that we won’t walk through dark valleys.  We certainly will.  Nor is Jesus saying that we will never die or suffer physical injury or disease.  Instead, what we are told is that if we are sheep of Jesus’ flock, we need fear no evil, nor do we need to fear that we will ever be snatched out of the hand of our Lord and Savior.  We will die physically and we may encounter sickness, injury and mortal danger, but our souls will never be in danger if we have Jesus as our shepherd.  Jesus will always be with us and looking out for us.  There is no force greater than God and if He is for us, than none can threaten us.

The job of a shepherd is more than just a protector however.  He must also lead his sheep to pasture and rest.  The first three verses of Psalm 23 speak to this.  We hear that God will provide for our needs.   “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures.”  He will also give us peace.  “He leads me beside quiet waters.”  And He will renew us.  “He refreshes my soul.”  Sheep are animals that follow, and so a shepherd must lead the sheep.  And we read this also in Psalm 23.  “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”  And in the passage from Revelation, we read “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.”

Remember that we should expect to walk through dark valleys in our lives, and we should expect that we will be confronted with evil, and that we should expect that evil will sting.  But what we do know is that our Good Shepherd, Jesus is guiding us through this – through the hard times, through the dark valleys, through destruction, and through death.  God’s ultimate destination for us is eternal life after the final destruction of sin and death.  This is what the passage from Revelation is looking forward to.  We are told about that time “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.  The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Jesus is leading and we need to follow.  And this is something worth pondering.  How often are we angry at God when we encounter evil or difficulties that have come upon us when we have decided to follow our own paths?  How often do we act as if we don’t need to follow God, yet still expect God to come and save us?  Well, the good news is that God will come to save us even when we stray.

The last duty of the shepherd is to preserve all the sheep.  In the passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus says of those who believe in him that “no one will snatch them out of my hand.”  Also, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable.  He says “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.   In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”

And so let us give thanks that Jesus is our Good Shepherd.  He calls us and speaks to us.  He protects us from evil.  We never need to fear for our souls, no matter how much darkness, death and destruction surrounds us today.  We know that no matter who we are, no matter how insignificant we might feel, no matter how irredeemable we might think we are, Jesus will come to seek after each one of us individually.  Each one of us.  Each one of you.  If you are the only one lost, He will come looking.  He seeks to lead us in the paths of righteousness, and bring us to a place of plenty, peace and renewal. 

What a great God we have!  Alleluia!

Let us pray:

Jesus, we thank you that you are our good shepherd, who laid down your life for us and rose again.  Teach us to hear your voice and to follow your command.  Keep us always under your protection, and give us grace to follow in your steps so that all your people may be gathered into one flock.  We ask this in your name.  Amen.

Christ our Passover is Sacrificed For Us - Sermon March 28, 2013

Sermon  March 28, 2013:  Maundy Thursday

(James W.)

              

Exodus 12:1-14 and   1Corinthians 11:23-26

Let us pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

One of the things I most appreciate about Anglicanism is its view of sacraments.  In its most basic definition, a sacrament is an action or ceremony that communicates God’s grace to us.  These are amazing ways that God has created to communicate the Gospel to us in a way that goes beyond words and books.

Maundy Thursday is perhaps the most sacramental service in the Christian year.   Not only does it commemorate the Institution of the Lord’s Supper, but also includes foot washing and the stripping of the altar.  We can hear a lot about the need to serve others, but seeing our pastor wash other's feet, or having our own feet washed, confronts us with the physical act of caring for another person in a way that words are not able.  Similarly, we can hear about how Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, but seeing the stripping of the altar can send chills up our spine and bring tears to our eyes.

Today, I would like to talk to you about the Lord’s Supper, also known as the Eucharist, Communion or the Mass.  One could spend a lot of time talking about the possible meanings in the Eucharist and only scratch the surface.  That is one of the amazing things about sacraments.  They are simple actions or ceremonies, but they convey such a depth of meaning.  Think about the Eucharist.  It is involves both a sacrificial death and a meal all in one!  Who else but God could have come up with such symbolism?  A sacrifice and a meal!  The ancient Romans were scandalized by this and accused the Christians of being cannibals. 

So how can we think of the Eucharist?  How can we understand something that is both sacrifice and meal?  Often we tend to focus on only one aspect of it.  Some tend to focus on the sacrificial aspect of it, reflecting on how the death of Jesus atoned for our sins, while others tend to focus on the Eucharist as a welcome meal.  Understanding the connection between the Passover and the Eucharist helps us understand how both of these aspects work together. 

We read about the Passover in our first reading and a brief background is in store.  The Passover came about when God was rescuing the people of Israel out of their bondage and slavery in Egypt.  Those who are doing the Bible Challenge would have read about it a month or two ago.  About two thousand years before Christ, Joseph brought his rather large family out of Canaan to Egypt in order to escape a famine.  The Pharaoh at the time welcomed the family of Israel.  But over the next 400 years, the people of Israel multiplied and prospered in Egypt.  Successive Pharaohs and the Egyptian people came to fear and hate the people of Israel and so they enslaved them.  Finally, God decided to rescue his people through Moses.  God sent several plagues on Egypt but the Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites leave.

Finally, God decided on the final plague that would surely cause the Pharaoh to release the people of Israel.  God would send the Angel of Death to each and every household in the land of Egypt and the first born – both human and animal - would be killed.  God set up a way by which the people of Israel could avoid this deadly fate, and we read about it in the passage from the book of Exodus.  Each household was to take a lamb, without spot or blemish, and sacrifice it.  They were to dab the blood of the lamb on their door frame.  When the Angel of Death saw this blood on the door frame, he would pass over that house.  This is where the term Passover comes from.

But there is more.  God knew that the Pharaoh would most certainly let the people of Israel go after this event, indeed he would be most anxious that they left right away.  And so God also instructed the Israelites that they should cook and eat the entire lamb that very night.  What’s more, they should eat it, while being ready to leave at moment’s notice. 

Understanding the Passover can give us important clues to one way of understanding the Eucharist.  We have all heard of Jesus referred to as the Lamb of God.  In fact, we often sing the Agnus Dei, which is Latin for Lamb of God, before we receive communion.  In the Eucharist, Jesus represents the lamb that was sacrificed for the Israelites.  If we come to the Eucharist in faith, we are trusting in the blood of Jesus to save us from sin and death, in the same way that the Israelites had to trust that the blood of the lamb on their door frames would save them from the Angel of Death.  Jesus is our lamb who was sacrificed for us and whose blood will save us from our sins.  This is what we must accept in faith – Jesus’ death on the cross has saved us from our sins.  But just as the people of Israel had to act in faith and sprinkle the blood of the lamb on their door posts, so we have to act in faith and accept both our need for salvation and transformation in our lives, and the wonderful gift of Jesus’ love, forgiveness and transformation.

The Israelites also ate the lamb to give them nourishment for their journey out of Egypt.  And in the Eucharist, we not only commemorate the sacrifice of Jesus, we also partake of His body and blood.  We are fed by the body and blood of Jesus.  Just as the Israelites were nourished by the lamb that died to save them from the Angel of Death, so are we nourished in the Eucharist by Jesus, our lamb that died to save us from sin and death.  And the nourishment we receive in the Lord’s Supper will give us the strength we need to keep us on in the journey that God is calling us to take.

In this way, just as the lamb was both sacrificial victim, savior and nourishment for the people of Israel who were about to escape from Egypt, so is Jesus our sacrificial victim, Savior and nourishment.  And so, turn with me to the middle of page 364 in the Book of Common Prayer as we recite together the refrain that we always recite before we come up to receive the body and blood of our Lord.

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Therefore let us keep the feast.

Amen.

Focus and Fasting - Sermon February 24, 2013

Sermon  February 24, 2013: Second Sunday of Lent, Year C              

(James W.)

Philippians 3:17-4:1 

Let us pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

We are now into our second week of Lent.  One of the things Christians have traditionally done in Lent is fast.  We often think of fasting only in terms of food, but we can fast from any activity that we do.  We can fast from certain types of food such as sweets or meat, we can fast from watching television, we can fast from shopping.  The point of fasting is to go without something, and use that deprivation to focus on God.  We want to create an empty space in our busy lives, and then use that empty space to focus on God, what He has done for us, and how we might live for Him.

In America today, it is very easy to let God be crowded out of our lives.  There is so much noise in the world – work, the kids, the parents, soccer practice, our favorite new TV shows, our favorite re-runs, the internet, social media, texting our friends, and the list goes on.  I enjoy going for an evening walk each day and listening to an audiobook on my MP3 player.  Sometimes I will start thinking about something unrelated to the book I am listening to.  Perhaps something that upset me at work, or a vacation I am looking forward to, or maybe a car that I just saw blow through a stop sign.  I start turning this thing over in my mind, and after a time I suddenly realize that the audiobook is still playing, but I have been totally tuning it out.  This is what we can do to God.

Some speak of the tyranny of the urgent.  By this they mean that we become so consumed in responding to supposedly urgent things, that we don’t have time to take care of the important things.  In contemporary American culture, there is another way that we become distracted away from God.  As a society we have become increasingly obsessed with feeding our ever growing appetites.  We have experienced multiple sexual revolutions that have swept away any and all constraints to our sexual appetites; we eat larger and larger portions of increasingly less nutritious meals leading to obesity and health crises; our houses get bigger and bigger; social media and smartphones encourage us to gossip and bully others all the time and everywhere; we can now watch TV anywhere in the house with a channel to cater to any taste or lack thereof; our cars are more luxurious; and we are all convinced that we fully deserve all of these amenities.  It is all about us and our needs and wants.

In their book TheNarcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, authors Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell suggest that Americans “…are seduced by the increasing emphasis on material wealth, physical appearance, celebrity worship and attention seeking."  They report that "in data from 37,000 college students, narcissistic personality traits rose just as fast as obesity from the 1980s to the present."  What have the results of this self-absorption been?  The authors report increases in personal debt, increases in the rates of cheating, increase in the number of gossip magazines, and a general increase in self-absorbed phoniness.

American Christianity often joins this trend, seeking to rationalize and justify our feeding of our fleshly appetites.  New York Times editorial writer Ross Douthat has authored an excellent book titled Bad Religion: How We Became aNation of Heretics.  In this book, he details how American churches have become captivated by a number of societal trends that seek to reimage Jesus.  The Christian faith is remade to be fully compatible with the new narcissistic American culture.  Some churches embrace the so-called prosperity gospel, which teaches that God desires riches for all of His followers, and that they will receive these riches and blessings if only they have enough faith.  This way of thinking encourages Christians to be every bit as acquisitive, materialistic and greedy as their neighbors.  Other churches adopt what might be called “the God within” school of thought, which holds that each person creates their own spirituality and system of beliefs for him or herself.  God is thought not to be very concerned with what individuals do with themselves, just so long as we are good, nice and fair to each other while we pursue our own personal appetites and fulfillment.  These churches consider it mean and unnecessary for the church to focus so much attention on the concepts of sin or guilt, and any church doctrine that limits individual autonomy.

And so, as American Christians follow the wider culture in becoming increasingly self-absorbed, we have lost a clear focus on what God is calling us to do, both individually and as His Church.  We have failed to be faithful ambassadors of Jesus Christ.  As a result, as Ross Douthat demonstrates in his book Bad Religion, American Christianity has failed to be the salt and light necessary to transform our culture.

Listen now to what Paul wrote to the Christians in the town of Philippi, which we heard read for us today.

For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

When I first read this lesson, I thought of myself.  Barbara and I have different approaches to meal times.   Let’s just say that Barbara is a little more flexible then I am about it.  Sometimes, she will want to go to a museum, a movie, or to the theater when I think it is lunch time or dinner time.  If I go to the show without having eaten, I will not enjoy the show, and I will be cranky and thinking of my stomach.  What governs me?  Is my mind set on the beautiful artwork, the play, the dance?  Or is it set on what and where I can next eat?

Note carefully what Paul writes.  He says that many LIVE as enemies of the cross of Christ.  He doesn’t say they are, necessarily enemies.  We can only serve one Lord – if we claim that we can serve multiple lords, then inevitably we will end up choosing one over another.  I can love both the theater and my stomach, but, in the end, one will win out.  And when I choose my stomach over the theater, then I am living and acting as one who does not love the theater.  If I am constantly feeding my face, I am missing the shows, and my destiny is to be a rather banal and uncultured individual.  Well fed, but uncultured.

In the same way, if we let our worldly appetites divert us from focusing on Jesus Christ, the gospel of our salvation and the call to live as His disciples, then we are living as if we aren’t Christians.  Paul reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven, and that through the power of Jesus He will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.  When we intentionally live as disciples of Jesus and follow His commands, we are in the process of being transformed by the Holy Spirit.  Our earthly selves will be transformed so that we will be living in the glory of Jesus Christ.

Paul writes about self-absorbed people that “their glory is in their shame.”  Things they should be ashamed about, they glory in.  There is a misplaced sense of priorities.  One word that has become a source of much mocking in contemporary culture is the word “holy”.  People snidely comment that Christians are holy-rollers and holier-than-thou.  And Christians often try to present a good-two-shoe holy image to impress each other and their neighbors.  But the word “holy” does not mean looking good or acting superior.  It means dedicated or consecrated to God or devoted to the service of God.  Being holy doesn’t mean that we participate in a phony whitewashing of our lives so that others think more highly of us.  Instead, holy means that we are about God’s business, and living as disciples of Jesus.

If we live self-absorbed lives, seeking to feed our own earthly appetites, then we will be living selfish and self-focused lives.  But if we live holy lives, seeking after God’s kingdom and living as disciples of Jesus, then we will start to live lives focused on the needs of others.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells his disciples a parable.  As you listen, ask yourselves this question – which group of people do you think were living self-focused lives concerned primarily with satisfying their own earthly appetites, and which group do you think were living lives seeking after God’s kingdom and focused on the needs of others?

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.   He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.   For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

We started out today talking about fasting.  Let me encourage you to choose to fast from something in your life, perhaps something that is primarily focused on yourself.  Take the time that you would have spent on that activity and spend it prayerfully reading Scripture.  There is no better place to learn how we can live as disciples of Jesus then the Bible.  If you haven’t yet, join the Bible Challenge – you still can.   Engage with Scripture this Lent and see how it can transform your life and refocus yourself on God.

Let us pray:

Lord, send your Holy Spirit to guide us and show us those parts of our lives in which we are feeding our own earthly, sinful appetites.  Help us to set these lusts and longings and to focus instead on You.  Give us the strength to fast this Lent and to turn our attention to the study of your Word.  We ask this in Your name.  Amen.

Jesus Bourne or Jesus Christ - Sermon June 24, 2012

Sermon June 24, 2012: Proper 7, Year B

(James W.)

Mark 4:35-41

Let us pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

This past Tuesday I agreed to bicycle into work with a colleague who lives near me in Sacramento. My bicycle is more of a road bike than his and I tend to ride like a vehicle while he likes to cross streets like a pedestrian. So when we got close to work I ended up beating him by a couple of minutes. I waited for him at the front doors to the library and when he finally arrived I said to him “what took you so long? It’s time to turn around and go home now.” Many of us do similar things. We like to pretend that a feat of strength was no big deal. It makes us look like we are strong, confident and in control.

Amongst the most popular thriller action movies are the Bourne trilogy series, which features the super spy Jason Bourne who has amnesia, but who nevertheless always responds calmly, competently and stays in control when he is repeatedly thrust into danger. As the three films unfold, we gradually learn that Jason Bourne was secretly trained by the CIA to be an assassin, with ice for blood in his veins and he is able to survive anything thrown his way. We would all like to be as icy calm and competent as Jason Bourne, and characters like this are very common in movies.

The reality is that most of us aren’t calm and competent when under stress. I remember reading an analysis after the Costa Concordia cruise ship sank that said that in an emergency situation while only a few people actually panic, the vast majority became passive, not sure what to do. About ten per cent of people take charge and organize the rescue operations. The passive people tend to follow those that take charge.

After reading today’s Gospel reading, what role does Jesus play? Let’s review the action. Jesus suggests to the disciples that they take an after-dinner boat ride. It just so happens that a frightful storm arises – something that is not uncommon for the Sea of Galilee where this event took place. The disciples are thrown into something of a panic, thinking they are about to die. They don’t know what to do, so they look for Jesus to take the lead. But what is Jesus doing? Having a nap! The eyewitness account says he was asleep on a cushion! Talk about someone trying to look calm, cool and collected. But it doesn’t stop there. When the disciples wake him up, Jesus tells the wind and sea to be still and then calmly asks the disciples why they are so worried. I don’t think that even Jason Bourne could pull that off!

So the question we need to think about today is this – was Jesus just being a great big show-off? Was he trying to be a first century Jesus Bourne? Or was there some other point to what he did? Well if Jesus wanted to be Jesus Bourne, then I think that I would not be standing here preaching in church today. In fact, the church wouldn’t be here because Jesus would never have died on the cross. Satan tempted Jesus to be Jesus Bourne, but Jesus didn’t take the bait. Instead we read in Philippians 2:6-8 that Jesus “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Jesus wasn’t showing off. So what is the point of today’s Gospel reading?

I think that one of the big clues as to the point of this story can be found in the disciples’ terrified exclamation near the end of the passage “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Why did the disciples have this reaction? Why didn’t they respond with thankfulness and calm when Jesus calmed the wind and the waves? Why didn’t they say “Thanks Jesus! Cool trick that.” Instead we are told that the disciples were terrified that Jesus could command the wind and the waves. I think that the reason for the terror was that the disciples finally realized who Jesus really was.

Early in the first Jason Bourne movie, The Bourne Identity, Jason meets up with a young woman who he convinces to drive him to Paris. At this point Jason is still not sure who he is, or why he possesses his fighting skills. He has no idea that the CIA is trying to take him out. The young woman, Marie, has even less of an idea who Jason is. When the two arrive in Paris, Jason is attacked by an assassin in front of Marie and then the two are chased through the streets by the Paris police. As this action unfolds, Marie gradually becomes aware of what Jason is capable of, who must be tracking him, and what sort of person he must be. This knowledge terrifies her because she realizes she is in for much more than she bargained for.

This is what happened to the disciples. They had seen Jesus do some healings and heard him preach, but that was nothing compared to seeing him rebuke the storm into silence. Only God could have such power. It was one thing to follow a charismatic teacher and healer, but quite something else to realize that you are actually following God in person. The point of this story is not that Jesus was trying to be Jesus Bourne, but rather that he was revealing himself to his disciples as Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

But should the disciples have been terrified to hear this news? Yes and no. This story brings to mind an excerpt from C.S. Lewis’s famous children’s book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, about the mythical land of Narnia. If you have not read this book, you should find a copy and read it. If you have, you will know that in the books, children from our world magically travel to the land of Narnia where they meet Aslan the lion. Aslan is the hero of the series and C.S. Lewis patterns him on Jesus Christ. In this excerpt, the children are first told about Aslan by Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. Listen to the interchange:

“Is – is he a man?” asked Lucy.

“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”

“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”

Jesus is the Son of God, and God certainly isn’t safe. Love is never safe. God wants nothing less than all of our life. But he’s good and he’s our King. In Luke 9:23-25, Jesus says “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for you to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit your very self?” If we think that Jesus will leave us to live our comfortable self-centered lives undisturbed, we are wrong. Love never leaves us undisturbed. So, yes the disciples were right to be terrified. They knew that their lives would be changed forever.

But in today’s Gospel Jesus also says to his disciples “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” One pastor writes that it’s easy for us to imagine Jesus speaking sternly and scolding his disciples for their lack of faith. But he writes “I imagine instead that Jesus looked on his trembling disciples with the compassion of a mother or father for a scared child, gently asking ‘Why are you scared honey? It’s OK. I’m here. Have faith!’” Jesus loves us like children.

We heard what Paul told us in Philippians 2:6-8 - that Jesus “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Paul also wrote in 2 Corinthians 8:9: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and he has awesome power, but he laid aside his power and glory and became nothing so that we might become God’s children. In Galatians 4:4-7, Paul writes

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

No, Jesus isn’t safe. Love is never safe. But he’s good, and he’s the king, and he gave his life for our redemption. We are right to fear God, but we must also realize the tremendous love that God has for us.

Last week Pastor Barbara told us what God could do if we had faith the size of a mustard seed. In today’s passage, Jesus asks his disciples “Do you still have no faith?” If we take Jesus seriously, then we will realize that he isn’t safe, but that he is good, and God, and loves us. We will be filled with awe, trust and gratitude and be ready to follow where Jesus would lead us. That is what faith looks like, and if we are ready to follow God – even with little baby steps at first - we can each begin our frightening but exhilarating journey with Jesus to be what God would have us be.

Amen.

Let us pray:

O Lord, the wind and waves listen to your voice, for you are their Creator. Like the disciples, we are right to be terrified by you for you are our Creator also. But you love us and set aside your power and glory and humbled yourself even unto death on a cross so that our sins might be forgiven. Such great love has great power. Give us faith to follow you and let that great love and great power transform our lives. Amen.

Love, Vine and Branches - Sermon May 13, 2012

Sermon May 13, 2012: The Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B

(James W.)
John 15:9-17

Let us pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

Today’s Gospel reading speaks a good deal about love and how God loves us, how we are to love one another, and how we can do that. Some of Jesus’ teaching about love can seem, on first glance to be a little difficult to understand. But Jesus says some pretty amazing things to us in today’s reading, so it is worth our while to make sense of it all.

One of the wonderful things about following a lectionary is that you get to hear from all parts of the Bible over a three year cycle. One of the weaknesses is that sometimes the individual readings miss out on some important context that helps us understand what is being said. Today’s Gospel reading is one such instance. This passage is best understood if you have read the preceding verses.

When we understand the larger context, then some of the potentially confusing parts in today’s readings make sense. Our reading today is only a smaller part of a larger section in John’s gospel. If you open your Bibles to John chapter 15, v. 1, you will read the opening line of this larger passage. Jesus says “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” Then a few verses later, Jesus continues “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Understanding this vine and branch metaphor is crucial to understanding the passage.

Even though we might not all be gardeners or farmers, we all understand what happens to a branch that is cut off from the vine. The vine gives nourishment and life to its branches. Branches cannot exist independently of the vine. Jesus is telling us that he is like the vine and we are the branches. In order to be productive followers of Jesus, we must remain connected to Jesus Christ and draw our power from him. Just as the branches of a vine cannot bear fruit, or even live, unless they are connected to the vine, so we cannot bear fruit or truly live unless we are connected to Jesus. It would make no sense for a branch to say “I am going to bear some wonderful grapes this year, but before I do that, I will ask the farmer to take his axe and cut me off from the vine.” We all know what happens to a cut off branch – it withers and dies, and most certainly does not produce fruit.

In verse 10 of today’s reading, Jesus says something which might startle us if we didn’t have the vine and branches metaphor already in mind. He says “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love.” This sounds like quid pro quo – we keep the law and Jesus will love us. But isn’t that antithetical to everything we have been taught about salvation by works? Is Jesus saying here that he will only love us if we follow the law? Isn’t salvation by grace alone? We always like to try to reduce things down to formulas – if we do this, you are obligated to do that. But Jesus is being much more holistic in what he is saying here.

The vine and branches metaphor has just taught us that we can only bear fruit if we are connected to Jesus. In other words, we can only do what Jesus commands if we remain in his love. Disconnect from Jesus and we wither and die. In this way, doing his commands and remaining in his love are two inseparable things. The only way that we can keep his commands is if we are deeply connected to Jesus. Jesus is not presenting to us a contract – if you do x, then I will do y. Rather, he is telling us that if we are his disciples, do the things he would have us do, then it must be that we are deeply connected to him.

Being connected to Jesus is also important to properly understand what Jesus’ commands are. In v. 12, Jesus tells us “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” and again in v. 17 he repeats “This is my command: Love each other.” Jesus isn’t telling us to love one another with a distorted human perspective on love. He is telling us to love as he loved us. We can only love others the way Jesus loved us if we are deeply connected to Jesus. The sort of human love we see in the world around us is often distorted. As we enter into election season, we will undoubtedly see a lot of manipulative love – love given in hopes of reaping votes or campaign contributions. In many interpersonal relationships we also see manipulative love – wherein one person loves another in order to satiate his or her own personal needs and not those of the other person. We also see manipulative love in advertising. Advertisers pretend to care about you, but are really only interested in what you have in your wallet or bank account.

Our society often also equates love with having no boundaries. We see the concepts of tolerance and hatred set up as polar opposites, when, in reality, tolerance is not really love at all, but simply apathy. If you spend a lot of time cooking for someone and when they finally taste your culinary creation, they tell you “It’s tolerable”, you would likely be quite hurt. There is a vast difference between “it’s tolerable” and “it tastes great”. Tolerance is not love. Love often does have boundaries.

The love that Jesus wants us to have for each other is the love he had for us. Jesus said “Love each other as I have loved you.” And Jesus then tells us how to love each other, and, in so doing, also tells us how he loved us. He says “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Sacrificial love is the kind of love we are called to. This is the kind of love that can cost us everything. Manipulative love has as its basis what the other person can do for you. Tolerance has as its basis apathy towards the other person. But sacrificial love has as its basis the genuine well-being of the other person. Sacrificial love is the kind of love that parents have for their children – the kind of love that we are celebrating today on Mother’s Day.

This is the kind of love that Jesus had for us. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” We know that, on the cross, Jesus laid down his life for us, taking our sin upon himself. But listen to what Jesus tells us next “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know their master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends.” We are Jesus’ friends, and he laid down his life for us.

Jesus commands us to love one another with sacrificial love, just as he loved us. Jesus says, in v. 16 “you did not choose me, but I chose you”. Jesus chose us, we did not choose him. Think about that for a minute. We are called to love one another as Jesus loved us, and we know that Jesus loved us FIRST! What does this mean? It means that we aren’t just called to love those who love us already, those people we hang around with. In Matthew 5:46-47, Jesus says” If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” We need to be proactive at seeking out those to love, and then loving them with the sacrificial love of God. This means looking out and loving those people that the world thinks are unlovable, but not for manipulative purposes, nor to easily and apathetically tell them they are okay, but to really love them sacrificially.

Doing this isn’t easy, and it can only be done if we remain deeply connected with Jesus, as a branch is connected to the vine. Barbara and I are taking a class at a local Presbyterian church near where we live called “Life Together”. This class is intended to make us better disciples of Jesus as we examine what it means to live as a community of Christians in this world. One of the things that the pastor and our readings have emphasized is that you can’t just go and do the hard things Jesus has commanded us to do without training to do them, because we will inevitably fail. If somebody decides to run a marathon, they don’t just begin running 26 miles on the spur of the moment. They will fail. They need to engage in a disciplined training regimine, and only after completing that, will they be able to complete the marathon.

Same thing with loving others in the way that Jesus loved us. We can’t expect to just be able to do this on our own. We need to follow a disciplined training regimine with Jesus at its core. We need to spend serious time in the Scriptures, reading the stories of how God has interacted with his people. We need to spend serious time in prayer, listening to God, and putting our heart right with God. We need to be connected to other Christians. In his book Life Together, on page 32, the German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer had this to say about Christian community:

Christian community means community through and in Jesus Christ.

Christians need other Christians who speak God’s Word to them. They need them again and again when they become uncertain and disheartened because, living by their own resources, they cannot help themselves without cheating themselves out of the truth. They need other Christians as bearers and proclaimers of the divine word of salvation. They need them solely for the sake of Jesus Christ.

If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian community in which we have been placed, even when there are no great experiences, no noticeable riches, but much weakness, difficulty, and little faith—and if, on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so miserable and so insignificant and does not at all live up to our expectations—then we hinder God from letting our community grow according to the measure and riches that are there for us all in Jesus Christ.

We need to be part of a loving community in order for us to love others. Our society is an individualistic one and we often think “there are no churches that we really fit in to. We will just be Christian on our own.” But the church is the body of Christ, and we can’t be part of Christ if we aren’t part of his body. There are other spiritual disciplines that would be profitable for us to follow also, but these are the major ones.

Our second reading from the first letter of John also speaks of how loving others is the command of God. John says: “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Our world is full of sin and death, but sin and death are not the last word. The last word is God’s sacrificial love for us – he gave his life for us, and he now calls us to love others with his sacrificial love. This is the victory that will overcome the world. Let us be Jesus’ friends, follow his commands, and stay rooted in him like a branch is to the vine.

Let us pray:

O Lord, let us remain deeply rooted in you so that you can sustain our faith and that we can bear lasting fruit in your name. We pray that you give us a desire for your Word, intimacy with you in prayer, and joy in our brothers and sisters in Christ. We ask this all in your holy name. Amen.

Pastor's Greetings

Dear Saints,

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian pastor, professor and teacher in the Confessing Church in Germany during World War II.  On April 9, 1945, at the age of 39, Bonhoeffer became a Christian martyr or witness for Jesus Christ when he was put to death by the Nazis.  Bonhoeffer is well known for his book, The Cost of Discipleship.  He also wrote a gem of a book entitled Life Together.  Recently I have been re-reading this book which discusses what it means to live with Christ in community.  Bonhoeffer writes; “It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us…Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of his heart. Let them thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren.” (p. 20 Life Together)

I take the fact that I can gather with other Christians for granted.  So many people around the world cannot gather publicly to worship Jesus Christ.  Many would give their all to be able to attend Church and worship our Lord together.  I also realize that I cannot grow as a Christian apart from all of you as members of Christ’s body.  Jesus gives us what we need through one another.  Jesus is tangible in the life of another sister or brother in Christ who is filled with the same Holy Spirit.

When I think I can live the Christian life alone I am fooling myself.  A pastor shared with me that this is like a branch of a tree saying to the rest of the tree; “I love flowering and producing fruit but I do not want to be part of the tree.”  It would be crazy of course to think that the branch could exist and live, let alone produce fruit, apart from the rest of the tree.

In a similar way St. Paul writes that we are a part of one another as we are all members of the body of Christ. (see 1 Corinthians 12)  If I am the elbow, I cannot say to the wrist that because I am not a wrist, I do not belong to the body.  Both the elbow and the wrist need each other in order to function and do their part for the sake of the whole body.  In the same way when one of us suffers, we all suffer and when one of us rejoices, we are blessed to rejoice with that person.

I am thankful for the body of Christ and for Jesus calling me into community for as Bonhoeffer writes; “Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ” for the Christian life is impossible apart from Christian Community.

With thanksgiving that God has called us into Christian community,

Pastor Barbara Elizabeth+

Sermon April 15, 2012

Sermon: April 15, 2012, The Second Sunday of Easter

Ron Olsen

1 John 1:9

I’ve been preaching since 1996.  In preparing today’s sermon I thought maybe a refresher on preaching would be in order.  So I typed in “What makes a good sermon”  Google came back with 30 million 5 hundred thousand responses. 

Well organized, easy to follow, Bible centered.  But I could have saved my time and just headed Charlie Merkins’ advice as all agreed on one  point: “keep it short.”  The majority also said to keep it on topic, but I ask your indulgence… in my quick internet search, a serendipitous occurrence happened. One seminary instructor defined his position citing: TV, the internet and now textings for shortening our attention span.  He compared this to a 45 minute long sermon (of a 19^th century preacher) he’d recorded on LibriVox dot org,.

The Serendipity: LibriVox is a site that is not well known outside the publishing industry, a site that provides free audio of books in the public domain - a site creation of Hugh McGuire, my brother in law.  

I also typed in “preaching” and found out preaching comes from a Greek word which I can’t pronounce, it is spelled “k-e-r-y” “g-m-a” (Kerygma) which means “preach the resurrection.” 

I’m going to preach from the second reading, the first letter of John.  A little background: The letter is written to the early church, specifically those who advocated that Jesus was God but didn’t really become human and only pretended to suffer. Note: the “we” isn’t an affectation, a ‘royal’ we, but John writing on behalf of the teachers and leaders of the early church.

Unlike Thomas, they can’t see for themselves.  John asks them to believe him and the others who had first hand knowledge.   Besides asking this group to believe, John lays out the relationship we have – or should have – with God.

John starts by using the metaphor of light and darkness. Some understand it to mean that God is light, that is, God is without sin, and we can’t be living evilly, unethically and claim to be walking in the light.  On our own, humans walk in darkness – some darker than others.

 We can also understand light to be the revelation of God’s presence and plan.  Central to his plan, is God’s willingness to forgive us when we admit our sins – reveal ourselves for who we are – we might as will confess since God knows anyway. Should we sin, Jesus will intercede on our behalf with the Father, as our “advocate”. Jesus, through the cross, brings us into unison with God – as he does for all who will believe.

I’ve never studied comparative religions, but one of the resources I read – Daniel Wallace – stated, “One of the most remarkable things about Christianity is this fellowship with God. We don't read of fellowship with God even in the Old Testament. The difference is not a lowering of God's standard, but an elevation of the believer: we are hoisted up to heaven on the cross of Christ.”

Wallace continued to tell us that, “The cross provides access to the Father: it gives us a new birth so that we are indeed the children of God. Yet, we still sin. Even though we are God's children, we often don't walk with God as we should.  It is through the cross that our sins are forgiven.”

Over the years, I’ve learned that if you dig deep enough you can find disagreement and altering views of even what seems like the simplest of scripture.  Chapter 1 verse 9 is one of those lines:  “⁹If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Come to find out there is confusion over what confession involves.

If you are ever a contestant on Jeopardy and you get the word “Greek,” the answer is “what causes all the confusion and disagreement among Bible scholars?” 

Some have argued that the word used here for "confess," I’m going to spell it cause I can’t pronounce it: oi mo lo ge vw (oJmologevw), means “only to name your sins to God.” It does not mean to “renounce your sins." So day after day you can just list out your sins without penance – because it would be blasphemy to reject God’s grace… pretty sweet, but I suspect we can tuck the 1 John 1.9 defense away with the Twinkie defense.  (a diminished capacity defense based on high sugar diet – used in the Dan White’s 1978 trial for murdering George Moscone and Harvey White.)

First and foremost, then, confession of sins is an admission of guilt--an admission which we affirm both in word and heart. Thus, confession always involves belief.

Second, confession of sin involves a recognition of our inadequacy and our need.  We need God’s grace, because we can’t do it on our own.  From prayers of the people form VI (6), “so uphold us by your Spirit that we may live and serve you  in newness of life,” … that with God’s help we change.   That we change our sinful ways – stop doing what we shouldn’t and start doing what we should.

And finally the recognition that Christ paid the price for our sins, we only have to believe in him.  We do this by keeping his law – love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our neighbors as our self.  

Alleluia. Christ is risen… the Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia.