PUMC March 22 2009 R Swenson Text Ephesians reading for the day
While were spiritually dead in our disobedience God brought us to life with Christ.
Hear that.?. Even when we were dead through our trespasses .. God made us alive together with Christ or in Christ..
by grace... you have been saved..
And raised us up.. With him.
.hear that? raised up ..that s resurrection ...language
we are alive ....you are alive..
What does that mean
or more importantly do you believe it ?
do yo believe that you really are alive
Rabbi Edwin Friedman . A great family systems therapist..
wrote this fable about a man who believed he was a dead
I tell it this way...one evening
a man came home .... and announced that he was dead
.Of course , some of his neighbors
tried to show him
how foolish this idea was.
Just look they said ...you’re walking .... and dead men cannot move themselves.
You cant be dead.. because your thinking,
you’re brain is functioning, your breathing
and those after all
are typical examples of being alive
But none of that had any effect on the man
No matter what reason they came up with
no matter how sensible the argument was
the man insisted ...that he was dead.
He answered their arguments with great skill.
He seemed to have a way of constantly putting the burden of proof back on them
. He never came right out and said, "Prove it."
But that was the message that he implied,
not so much by how he answered
as by how he avoided giving any answer at all.
Every now and then
someone thought,
"Now, I’ve pinned him down,"
now I’ve got evidence that he is alive..its so obvious.. no one could deny it.
But then he would use his trump:
"If I am dead, ..he would say ..then you don’t exist either,
because the living do not talk... or travel with the dead
Eventually
most of his friends and neighbors ..just quit arguing with him
and the few that were left
including his own family,
got very afraid
Several of them came to the same conclusion:
He had gone mad, or at the very least,
he was suffering from an erratic mental process.
Maybe it was Exhaustion from work, ?
A brain tumor?
He needs a rest,
we’ll call a doctor,
perhaps a psychiatrist,
maybe the family physician,
or call the minister.
The man, however,
was not upset by any of these suggestions.
He shrugged them off without even making any reply
and finally he said,
"I don’t know what’s the matter with you all.
It is just absurd
to think of a dead man ...as tired,
let alone sick."
His wife,
was almost literally beside herself
and she was thinking to herself
("If he believes this,
then how can he say that?
If he does that, .......how can he think this?")
the fear and the frustration in the house was so intense
they needed some outside help
so they invited a psychiatrist to interview him.
After some preliminary questions,
the doctor wanted to see the man alone.
And the man
agreed.
The two of them went into another room
and closed the door.
Now and then
you could hear a voice getting louder from the room
though nothing could be understood.
It was clear, however,
that the voice they heard getting louder belonged to the psychiatrist.
Some time later,
both men came back to the living room
The doctor had his jacket over his arm,
his necktie had been loosened
and his collar open
(in fact, the collar button was nt even there any more ).
As for the man,
he seemed totally unchanged.
"Hopelessly psychotic," muttered the psychiatrist.
"You will have to have him committed.
He has lost all awareness of reality.
If you want, I’ll call the hospital
and see if they have room."
But the man
said very calmly to the psychiatrist
"Now really,"
"what kind of therapy would you prescribe... for a dead man?
You do realize, doctor , of course
how ridiculous it would make you look
if they heard that you were trying to give therapy to a dead man?
Talk about losing your grip on reality!
The doctor started to answer,
but then
caught himself, and just left.
Next...... the family decided to bring in the clergy
well,, The family minister was not available.
So who should they get
Which type would be best?
Should they get the modern kind of pastor
with sophistication about psychological problems?
Or would it be better
a good old-fashioned fundamentalist?
someone said
"Let’s fight fire with fire,"
Now As it happened, that very evening
a well-known evangelist was in town
preaching at a nearby theater.
and when the preacher heard about the problem he rushed over,
he was thinking that a success with something like this.
.could really add something to the show
Once again,
the two men went into another room
the little group of family and friends
was waiting in the living room
they could here the voices behind the closed door.
Again, nothing that was audible, ,,they could not make out the words
again the rising tone,
again
never the man’s voice rising.
This time the clergyman came out alone
he looked at everyone,
.he seemed all shook up.
Then he kissed his little black book,
and bolted out the door.
Some of the family peeked into the room;
and
the man was fast asleep.
Then they decided
to call the family doctor
This doctor had known the man since he was a little boy,
and he was well known
not only for his medical reputation ... for patience and skill,
but he had this kind of old fashioned....down to earth wisdom.
He came right away
and after a couple of questions in front of everyone,
he said to the man ..
in a no-nonsense way,
"Tell me,..... do dead men bleed?"
"Of course not," said the man...dead men don’t bleed
"Then,"
said the doctor,
"would you allow me to make a small cut in your arm,
say
above the elbow?
I will treat it
; there’s no reason to worry about infection,
and we can see, once and for all,
whether you are dead."
again the man was not worried about anything
he simply said
"Doctor,
"Dead men do not get infections,
nor do they bleed,"
and he started to roll up his sleeve.
everyone was watching anxiously,
the doctor neatly slit the flesh,
and blood came spurting out.
There was a sigh of relief.. joy even
throughout the group.
Some laughed, others even applauded,
The doctor very quickly dressed the wound
and turned to everyone,
he said
"Well, I hope that puts an end
to this foolishness."
They were congratulating the doctor and thanking him
when they suddenly realized
that the man was headed for the door.
As he opened it, he turned to the group
and said, "I see that I was wrong...
dead men,
in fact, do bleed."
That’s the fable..
And of course its used as lesson
how deeply do get stuck in our denial and insist on our beliefs
no matter what anyone says , we get stubborn about our verison of the truth
I thought of that story
along with the words form Ephesians
and the very central truth of the gospel
we are alive..in Christ
so what’s the problem?
Aren’t we like the man in freidmans fable?
we keep insisting that we are dead
that we are dead men and dead women
we keep insisting
or acting as if we are spiritually dead
but the message from Ephesians this morning
says ...that we are not dead
well ok
yes
we used to be dead
we have been dead
and yes we might possibly still be dead
acting like we are dead
but the real truth
is that we have been raised with Christ
we are alive,, believe it or not
you are not dead..to the new life
So come alive.
.that the invitation
,the call..even the command of the Gospel
did you also here verse 10
we have been made alive
so we can do good deeds ..do good works
we are alive for Gods purpose...
for are being made alive for our true purpose of life
this is all part of that great faith language
spiritual understandings
about new birth.... new life
and being a new creation..
It’s the same idea as the born agin language in John 3
or the words about being in the light..and being alive
.but we are so good at denying ...this life.
How do we keep insisting that we are dead?
well..maybe it sound like this..
Listen to the words we use:
You have to look our for number one
Nothing ever changes
People never reelay change
he will always be that way
nothing good will ever come from her
or maybe..
"I can never get over this..
I will never be happy again"
Does that sound like words of the spiritual living or the dead..
we never did it that way before ?
this is hopeless.... We’re doomed
its will always be this way
its impossible
language of death
Whatever happened to the power of hope
and life
and new creation
as in
Christ has died and Christ is risen!
we are heading to the resurrection message on Easter morning
and part of that message is that if we can believe the resurrection
as the power of God
raising the dead
if you believe in the resurrection of Jesus
then you should be able to believe just about anything
right
what could be more impossible than that!
well how about your new resurrection..your new beginnings..
The resurrection in this world!
The overcoming of death and its powers
Y ou too are raised with Christ.
.in Christ
then we are opening the door
To power and vision that is beyond imagination
Easter in the resurrection of Christ says we too
a re a new creation
alive
yes we are dead to sin
we are dead to the powers of destruction a and oppression
dead to the power of greed
dead to whatever separates us from God and one another
dead to the power of violence
dead to the political powers of Caesar and Rome..or the rulers we have today
dead to the power of selfishness
dead to the powers of domination and injustice
Dead to all of that spirit killing behavior
but we are also alive
What are you alive to ?
alive to forgiveness. .reconciliation...
a live to the possibilities of peace..no matter what the nightly news seems to say
As the church
we are alive to mission and compassion
we are alive to the call of God
alive to the vision of God
where ther hungry are fed... they shall surdy war no more
we are alive to the kind community welcome...that gathers everyone
opening hearts...opening minds..opening the doors
going across the narrow boundaries of this world
In this new life in Christ
we are alive to the One who ate with tax collectors and sinners
bringing in .. the outcast
alive to the gospel of Gods redeemign love
life changing love
alive to prayer ..alive to the word of God
we are alive
to the life of faith hope and love
Jesus makes me alive to you ..
and you are being alive to the people next to you
to love your neighbor as you love yourself
alive to the pains of the world
to do as Paul
to suffer with those who suffer ..and to rejoice with those who rejoice
that’s life
so how is it with us this morning ?
more dead that alive
ready to come alive
As a church
as a person in your heart and soul .in your actions
are you open to the new ideas
the new surprises
are we alive to the urges of repentance and renewal
the new dream,,
the new courage
alive to the future
alive to the true life
again.. If you think
that this Easter resurrection thing is all about the time when you get put in a grave
well ..that’s just part of the message.
that is too small of a gospel
you are raised with Chrsit into new life.....Now..
And that what our ministry is all about,,,here at park church
in Jesus Christ..
raising the dead..
...learning how to be alive in this faith
I came that you may have life Jesus said in John 10
and have it abundantly..eternally..
Thats what we say..we believe... Paul is saying to the church stop acting like your dead..to God
Hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
.you are alive..by grace
by love
by the gift of God
you are alive... say it to the person next to you....by the grace of God .. you are alive
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
March 15 2009 PUMC
The cleansing of the temple
this is powerful scene
and it is one of those events that made it into all four of the gospels
that alone should tell you how significant..or maybe controversial this was
in fact it becomes part of the trial against jesus
according to Mark
they accused Jesus of saying he could destroy the temple made with hands
and build a new one
not made with hands in three days..
You heared echos eof that inthe gospel from john that we read this morning
of course we understand this to be a reference
to the temple of the risen christ
Jesus Christ ..and the community of the risen Christ .....that is our new temple
Mark also says
that this is the reason
that the religious authorities
started looking for a way to kill Jesus ... get if of him
now hes gone to far
hmm
I suppose that when you start criticizing religion.. now thats where you get in deep trouble
that’s tue isnt it...has your relgion been criticised recently
do you think if I started criticizing your beleifs and your practices
you might get defensive ..even hostile
or if I started to make too many changes here at park church..
.really shook things up..confronted some things
I bet you would start looking for away to get rid of me...call the ds maybe..
well
lets not go there
back to the scriptures
.... imagine the situation..... Jesus is doing this in the temple
understand
this is not in the inner part of the temple
but its on the temple grounds
its all temple area
so still
is Jesus going into this most holy place
the religious center of it all
the pride and joy of Jerusalem
and he is doing more than talking and criticizing
he ‘s lashing away with this whip
Tables are getting knocked over
cages are getting opened
the sacrificial livestock
and the sacrificial pigeons or doves
are getting driven out..
Maybe running around loose
someone chasing them
trying to catch them
and coins are falling and rolling around on the stone floor
Jeus is shouting
He even quoting scripture
something about a house of prayer
being turned into a market place
or even a den of thieves..
Well the money changers are there
just doing a religious service you could say
theyr e helping out with the temple procedures
what jesus is stopping is
..business as usual..
These are the daily operations so to speak
these people are allowed to be there
Money changers for example..
You gotta change those idolatrous, impure, roman coins
roman coins
have graven images on them
you cant make an offering or pay the temple tax with those
pagan coins
any foreign
coins
have to be turned into Jewish coins
so you can make the right offering
somebody has to provide that service..you need money changers.
And if your there for a sacrifice
you want to buy one locally ...you cant alwsy bring one along from another country..
Buy it when you get there
make sure you’ve got an animal thats been inspected and approved..
.certified to be clean
thats up to code
you don’t give God some scrubby old sick animal
something blemished for an offering
you get a good one
God deserves the best
this is all jsut a part of doing religious business
but Jesus
must have felt that the nature of it all
maybe the motive
maybe the effect
or
the spirit was wrong
yes there was abuse
maybe people we were getting overcharged or cheated
especially during the high holy days
business went up
it was a supply and demand market
get the pilgrims or tourists so to speak
well it happens..
maybe it was the idea of manipulating a profit out of peoples spiritual needs
taking advantage of peoples guilt or fear..or deepest needs
(I think I’ve seen that happen a few times in church history .
I don’t want to name some famous tv preachers..or big time evangelists..but I have some suspicion)
or maybe iti s simply the idea that
you could market your way
into the presence of God .
That you could buy your influence with God
pay for your sins
buy your peace
buy your forgiveness somehow
Somehow your relationship had to be brokered
it didn’t seem right
.we could get into layers of symbolism and interpretation and speculation
The gospoelesson today said zeal for Gods house is consuming him:
fulfilling the scriptures
but what was Jesus doing and saying ?
what was the problem
the corruption
what was he righteously angry about?
it would be interesting to do that interpreting...and studying
but im not sure if it would be faithful today ...
And to what Jesus was doing,
if we only t talked about the situation back then
it always easier to talk about the situation back then... talk about "them"
it seems to me
that
if we dare
If we dare ...then we might ask Jesus to come into our temple
into our places of worship
into our religious centers
into our religious practices
into the sanctuaries of the church
come here to park church
maybe even into the temple of our own hearts
come in my soul place
and help us see through the business as usual patterns
that maybe we don’t see anymore
maybe there are ways that we have lost sigh of the goal or missed the point
it does happen
remind sme of the story about a westerner
who went to the east to get some spiritual wisdon
so he went and found a spiritual master to teach him
he became
a disciple
in a group that lived a life of extreme poverty
they believed that all you nended was a loincloth and begging bowl
so he started this new simple life
that went on for a couple of years
studying and praying and learning the disciplines
by then ..the
spiritual master was very pleased with the man's progress
he said
Im going to he let you go on your own now
and Im going to be up in the mountains on pilgrimage
so the master left.
This man was living in a little brush and stick shelter where he slept at night
he was doing ok
.
One day,
he discover that the rats had eaten his loincloth some time in the night
he was very embarrassed
as he went out to beg for anew one
he had to use his begging bowl as a modesty cover.
The villagers were nice enough to give him a new loin cloth,
But after few days
rats ate that one, too.
And he had to go beggin again
Actually this happened
several more tiems
and the disciple had enough of this embarrassment
So he got himself a cat.
That took care of the rats,
but the cat was pregnant
and pretty soon he had several cats
and they needed food
so now
when he begged for his food
he had to also beg for milk
for his cats as well.
And this was cutting into his mediation time
"This won't do," he thought.
"I'll just get a goat
so I can have some milk."
Tha t will solve my problem and simplify my life
So he traded off some of the better cats
to get a goat
it wasn’t much of a goat
but at least now he had milk for the cats
and he wouldn’t have to beg so much
but then you know
he couldnt just let the goat go wandering off
causing trouble in the village ...goats can cause trouble if they are loose
He had to tie it up
so now
he had to go get grass and feed for the goat
and the goat also turned out
out be pregnant
now he had even more goats to take care
and he had less time to do any praying and meditating
So he decided to grow some plants to feed the goats
just a little garden
But that was using up his time..watering and weeding..and all that.. so he decided
to hire a worker
to take care fo the goats and also take care of a little garden
And the worker could could use as that garden for his pay
maybe work on shares
that worked out very well
but it turned out to be more than one person could handle
so he added another worker because the operation got a little bigger
well he didn’t have time to manage the workers..
so he decided to get married
and let his wife take care of the workers
of course you cant have a wife living in a little brush house
so he had to build a better house
several more years went by
After a time,
the disciple became the wealthiest man in the village.
One day The guru
,his old master was traveling by there
and stopped in.
He was shocked to see that his student was now living
in the nicest house in the whole village
with servants and luxuries
"What is the meaning of this?"
he asked his disciple.
How did this happen
"You won't believe this,
sir,"
the man replied.
"But there was just no other way I could keep my loincloth."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
that is a parable of our situation
I think that happens in the church again and again and again
adjustment,, distractions,, business.... Complications........
...................we have added on a lot from the time Jesus
traveling around with some disciples
or Paul meeting with some people in there homes
sharing their possession
praying and studying together and doing good.
..loving others
welcoming the tax collectors and the sinners .... and the foreigners
reaching out to the left out..
..livng the way of the cross
not the way of Rome with it opulence and power..
But the way of the cross
the servanthood life
forming this christlike community
I wonder if Jesus or Peter or Paul
would look at the church today
and hardly recognize it
and would wonder ... What happened
Do we ever look at the way the church is today
with our layers of institutions
and rituals and building
and wealth ..hierarchies...
and systems and rules ..
and personality issues and pet causes and turf protection...
..misguided loyalties..our patriotisins and our ideologies
Did we just get used to it being this way
. business as usual ...its always been that way
......................
do you ever personally look at how we practice and interpret
the Christian life today
and the way we live
Can you see Jesus the master saying
what happened here
how did you Christians get so rich
and comfortable
and busy with all these other things
how did you get to be so divided
from each other
how did you get so distracted
into these political debates and ideological labels
while you ignore the need s of people
disconnecting from the poor
how did we get so locked into our narrow views of judging who is right and who is wrong
How did this happen
How did we get so complicated..
....
wel what do we do?
do we have to go back and just recreate a primitive First century ..barebones chrsitinaity.....(soem people think thats the answer)
Do we leave all the church stuff behind.. ? Soem chruches pride themselves as beng non denominational..as if thats more pure....I don’t think so..
don’t misundersant me..
we need to adapt
grow
Organize in new ways to be in ministry
we need tools and resources to do that with
we need systems..
we needs institutions..we need money..
we need talent. We need plans.. We need levels of basic maintenance
................................
But do we lose the purpose in the process?
We cant afford to do that..!
we have to know our mission
.our purpose ,our spirit..we need that in every congregation.. here in you
why ..again
because Business as usual..without the main purpose
is becoming a barrier ...
There was recent survey that said
the percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian
has dropped more than 11% in a generation
heres a quote I pulled out of the report
"In a nation that has long been mostly Christian
, "the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion,"
you hear that?
our business as usual..is now turning people away
it needs to be reexamined
we are not being seen as a house of prayer for all people
Maybe Jesus is trying to sweep the church clean ...trying to tell us something ..as painful
as controversial as it might seem..(the tables are being turned in the church ..are we going to accept the change)
..like it or not.. Chrsitianity is now in a time of re-formation
Can we pray...reform us..and cleanse us... Jesus ?
Will our churches dare to listen to those
who can see
something more than our business as usual routines
I am excited by several things happening in the United Methodist church these days
I think jeus is cleaning us ..re-newing us..
when we practice the gospel imperatives being highlighted here in the Minnesota conference
do you know what they are ?
To cultivate spiritual vitality
and to reach new people for Christ
..............................
Or I think of the Three Simple Rules
the general rules from John Wesley
that are being re discovered again
first do no harm
do good,
stay in love with God
thats going to help clean up our business as usual thinking
or another thing that is happening
is is called Re think church
and you will hear more about that latter
but lets see church as a verb
something you do .not just something that you go to
all these are tools..
to help us be true to the purpose and the spirit..and the vision of Jeus Chrsit
;lent is a time to ask ourselves
Are we alive to the spirit of Christ?
..living in the world changing power of Gods love!
are we keeping our life in Christ... alive "as a prayer for all people"!!
we are the spiritual temple of God
.and anything that keeps us away from that..
well
maybe we need to check it out
and clean it up.
.but first let the cleaning start here..
Cleaning the temple here
maybe that is precisely why we read this lesson of the cleansing of the temple
in the soul searching
house cleaning season of Lent...
..
The cleansing of the temple
this is powerful scene
and it is one of those events that made it into all four of the gospels
that alone should tell you how significant..or maybe controversial this was
in fact it becomes part of the trial against jesus
according to Mark
they accused Jesus of saying he could destroy the temple made with hands
and build a new one
not made with hands in three days..
You heared echos eof that inthe gospel from john that we read this morning
of course we understand this to be a reference
to the temple of the risen christ
Jesus Christ ..and the community of the risen Christ .....that is our new temple
Mark also says
that this is the reason
that the religious authorities
started looking for a way to kill Jesus ... get if of him
now hes gone to far
hmm
I suppose that when you start criticizing religion.. now thats where you get in deep trouble
that’s tue isnt it...has your relgion been criticised recently
do you think if I started criticizing your beleifs and your practices
you might get defensive ..even hostile
or if I started to make too many changes here at park church..
.really shook things up..confronted some things
I bet you would start looking for away to get rid of me...call the ds maybe..
well
lets not go there
back to the scriptures
.... imagine the situation..... Jesus is doing this in the temple
understand
this is not in the inner part of the temple
but its on the temple grounds
its all temple area
so still
is Jesus going into this most holy place
the religious center of it all
the pride and joy of Jerusalem
and he is doing more than talking and criticizing
he ‘s lashing away with this whip
Tables are getting knocked over
cages are getting opened
the sacrificial livestock
and the sacrificial pigeons or doves
are getting driven out..
Maybe running around loose
someone chasing them
trying to catch them
and coins are falling and rolling around on the stone floor
Jeus is shouting
He even quoting scripture
something about a house of prayer
being turned into a market place
or even a den of thieves..
Well the money changers are there
just doing a religious service you could say
theyr e helping out with the temple procedures
what jesus is stopping is
..business as usual..
These are the daily operations so to speak
these people are allowed to be there
Money changers for example..
You gotta change those idolatrous, impure, roman coins
roman coins
have graven images on them
you cant make an offering or pay the temple tax with those
pagan coins
any foreign
coins
have to be turned into Jewish coins
so you can make the right offering
somebody has to provide that service..you need money changers.
And if your there for a sacrifice
you want to buy one locally ...you cant alwsy bring one along from another country..
Buy it when you get there
make sure you’ve got an animal thats been inspected and approved..
.certified to be clean
thats up to code
you don’t give God some scrubby old sick animal
something blemished for an offering
you get a good one
God deserves the best
this is all jsut a part of doing religious business
but Jesus
must have felt that the nature of it all
maybe the motive
maybe the effect
or
the spirit was wrong
yes there was abuse
maybe people we were getting overcharged or cheated
especially during the high holy days
business went up
it was a supply and demand market
get the pilgrims or tourists so to speak
well it happens..
maybe it was the idea of manipulating a profit out of peoples spiritual needs
taking advantage of peoples guilt or fear..or deepest needs
(I think I’ve seen that happen a few times in church history .
I don’t want to name some famous tv preachers..or big time evangelists..but I have some suspicion)
or maybe iti s simply the idea that
you could market your way
into the presence of God .
That you could buy your influence with God
pay for your sins
buy your peace
buy your forgiveness somehow
Somehow your relationship had to be brokered
it didn’t seem right
.we could get into layers of symbolism and interpretation and speculation
The gospoelesson today said zeal for Gods house is consuming him:
fulfilling the scriptures
but what was Jesus doing and saying ?
what was the problem
the corruption
what was he righteously angry about?
it would be interesting to do that interpreting...and studying
but im not sure if it would be faithful today ...
And to what Jesus was doing,
if we only t talked about the situation back then
it always easier to talk about the situation back then... talk about "them"
it seems to me
that
if we dare
If we dare ...then we might ask Jesus to come into our temple
into our places of worship
into our religious centers
into our religious practices
into the sanctuaries of the church
come here to park church
maybe even into the temple of our own hearts
come in my soul place
and help us see through the business as usual patterns
that maybe we don’t see anymore
maybe there are ways that we have lost sigh of the goal or missed the point
it does happen
remind sme of the story about a westerner
who went to the east to get some spiritual wisdon
so he went and found a spiritual master to teach him
he became
a disciple
in a group that lived a life of extreme poverty
they believed that all you nended was a loincloth and begging bowl
so he started this new simple life
that went on for a couple of years
studying and praying and learning the disciplines
by then ..the
spiritual master was very pleased with the man's progress
he said
Im going to he let you go on your own now
and Im going to be up in the mountains on pilgrimage
so the master left.
This man was living in a little brush and stick shelter where he slept at night
he was doing ok
.
One day,
he discover that the rats had eaten his loincloth some time in the night
he was very embarrassed
as he went out to beg for anew one
he had to use his begging bowl as a modesty cover.
The villagers were nice enough to give him a new loin cloth,
But after few days
rats ate that one, too.
And he had to go beggin again
Actually this happened
several more tiems
and the disciple had enough of this embarrassment
So he got himself a cat.
That took care of the rats,
but the cat was pregnant
and pretty soon he had several cats
and they needed food
so now
when he begged for his food
he had to also beg for milk
for his cats as well.
And this was cutting into his mediation time
"This won't do," he thought.
"I'll just get a goat
so I can have some milk."
Tha t will solve my problem and simplify my life
So he traded off some of the better cats
to get a goat
it wasn’t much of a goat
but at least now he had milk for the cats
and he wouldn’t have to beg so much
but then you know
he couldnt just let the goat go wandering off
causing trouble in the village ...goats can cause trouble if they are loose
He had to tie it up
so now
he had to go get grass and feed for the goat
and the goat also turned out
out be pregnant
now he had even more goats to take care
and he had less time to do any praying and meditating
So he decided to grow some plants to feed the goats
just a little garden
But that was using up his time..watering and weeding..and all that.. so he decided
to hire a worker
to take care fo the goats and also take care of a little garden
And the worker could could use as that garden for his pay
maybe work on shares
that worked out very well
but it turned out to be more than one person could handle
so he added another worker because the operation got a little bigger
well he didn’t have time to manage the workers..
so he decided to get married
and let his wife take care of the workers
of course you cant have a wife living in a little brush house
so he had to build a better house
several more years went by
After a time,
the disciple became the wealthiest man in the village.
One day The guru
,his old master was traveling by there
and stopped in.
He was shocked to see that his student was now living
in the nicest house in the whole village
with servants and luxuries
"What is the meaning of this?"
he asked his disciple.
How did this happen
"You won't believe this,
sir,"
the man replied.
"But there was just no other way I could keep my loincloth."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
that is a parable of our situation
I think that happens in the church again and again and again
adjustment,, distractions,, business.... Complications........
...................we have added on a lot from the time Jesus
traveling around with some disciples
or Paul meeting with some people in there homes
sharing their possession
praying and studying together and doing good.
..loving others
welcoming the tax collectors and the sinners .... and the foreigners
reaching out to the left out..
..livng the way of the cross
not the way of Rome with it opulence and power..
But the way of the cross
the servanthood life
forming this christlike community
I wonder if Jesus or Peter or Paul
would look at the church today
and hardly recognize it
and would wonder ... What happened
Do we ever look at the way the church is today
with our layers of institutions
and rituals and building
and wealth ..hierarchies...
and systems and rules ..
and personality issues and pet causes and turf protection...
..misguided loyalties..our patriotisins and our ideologies
Did we just get used to it being this way
. business as usual ...its always been that way
......................
do you ever personally look at how we practice and interpret
the Christian life today
and the way we live
Can you see Jesus the master saying
what happened here
how did you Christians get so rich
and comfortable
and busy with all these other things
how did you get to be so divided
from each other
how did you get so distracted
into these political debates and ideological labels
while you ignore the need s of people
disconnecting from the poor
how did we get so locked into our narrow views of judging who is right and who is wrong
How did this happen
How did we get so complicated..
....
wel what do we do?
do we have to go back and just recreate a primitive First century ..barebones chrsitinaity.....(soem people think thats the answer)
Do we leave all the church stuff behind.. ? Soem chruches pride themselves as beng non denominational..as if thats more pure....I don’t think so..
don’t misundersant me..
we need to adapt
grow
Organize in new ways to be in ministry
we need tools and resources to do that with
we need systems..
we needs institutions..we need money..
we need talent. We need plans.. We need levels of basic maintenance
................................
But do we lose the purpose in the process?
We cant afford to do that..!
we have to know our mission
.our purpose ,our spirit..we need that in every congregation.. here in you
why ..again
because Business as usual..without the main purpose
is becoming a barrier ...
There was recent survey that said
the percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian
has dropped more than 11% in a generation
heres a quote I pulled out of the report
"In a nation that has long been mostly Christian
, "the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion,"
you hear that?
our business as usual..is now turning people away
it needs to be reexamined
we are not being seen as a house of prayer for all people
Maybe Jesus is trying to sweep the church clean ...trying to tell us something ..as painful
as controversial as it might seem..(the tables are being turned in the church ..are we going to accept the change)
..like it or not.. Chrsitianity is now in a time of re-formation
Can we pray...reform us..and cleanse us... Jesus ?
Will our churches dare to listen to those
who can see
something more than our business as usual routines
I am excited by several things happening in the United Methodist church these days
I think jeus is cleaning us ..re-newing us..
when we practice the gospel imperatives being highlighted here in the Minnesota conference
do you know what they are ?
To cultivate spiritual vitality
and to reach new people for Christ
..............................
Or I think of the Three Simple Rules
the general rules from John Wesley
that are being re discovered again
first do no harm
do good,
stay in love with God
thats going to help clean up our business as usual thinking
or another thing that is happening
is is called Re think church
and you will hear more about that latter
but lets see church as a verb
something you do .not just something that you go to
all these are tools..
to help us be true to the purpose and the spirit..and the vision of Jeus Chrsit
;lent is a time to ask ourselves
Are we alive to the spirit of Christ?
..living in the world changing power of Gods love!
are we keeping our life in Christ... alive "as a prayer for all people"!!
we are the spiritual temple of God
.and anything that keeps us away from that..
well
maybe we need to check it out
and clean it up.
.but first let the cleaning start here..
Cleaning the temple here
maybe that is precisely why we read this lesson of the cleansing of the temple
in the soul searching
house cleaning season of Lent...
..
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Park UMC march 1 2009 Lent 1
I was just thinking about this first Sunday in lent
and if you follow the lectioanary
the three year cycle fo lessons assigned for the Sunday
the first Sunday of lent is always one of the gospel lessons
about the temptation of Jesus
now normally
when that happens
we actually name the Sunday after that scripture lesson or topic
last week
for example
was about the transfiguration
so it was called transfiguration Sunday
or the festival of the transfiguration
Pentecost is called Pentecost Sunday
and so on
Maybe we should call this morning.. temptation Sunday
the festival of the temptation
A Celebration of temptation
I think that could have some possibilities
I bet some of you could get pretty creative with that
peter Johnson could have fun one
.which
now
that I think about it might be a good reason
to not have something called temptation Sunday
Leslie Hobson heard me talk about this idea
and she said we already have a celebration of temptation and its called Mardi gras
ok enough of that...back on subject
two of the gospel versions for the the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness
get a little more detailed
they give us three examples of temptations
but Matthew and Luke don’t list them in the same order
which I don’t think is all that important
but Jesus gets
tempted to turn these stones into bread
or to show some special privilege or divine protection by jumping off the high point of the temple...
. And having God send angels to rescue him
And then to rule over kingdoms of the world..if he would just worship the devil
And these are versions of power fame or protection...
they are temptations of the ego
temptations of the flesh
would be an old way to put it.
But Mark
which most scholars tell us is actually the oldest of the gospels
the first one written down
Mark didn’t get into those three details
...just that Jesus was tempted..
And he overcame temptation....
That’s marks main point
All of this comes right after his baptism
Mark says it happened
immediately
just as he is about to live out his baptism
and set the path. for his ministry
he gets tempted
for forty days and forty nights
That’s a symbolic number in the bible
for this time of tempting and being shaped
the Hebrew people in Exodus were in the wilderness for 40 years
the story of Noah and the great flood
was about forty days and forty nights
Elijah had some 4o day experiences
Moses was on the mountain getting the law for 4o days
so this is not just a number that t you count on a calendar
This is is a period of revelation and struggling and learning
it represents being prepared . and changed
and it goes of course
e with our own 4o days of lent..
40 days of preparation and growing
So lets follow Mark this morning
and think about temptation
not with the kind of pattern from Luke and Matthew
but in larger terms of faithfulness
ministry and how we live our Christian life
Im thinking about one general temptation
the temptation to deny our temptations
We might be tempted
to deny the fact
that we have to deal with our temptation
This insight one come from verse 12
it says
it says that the spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness
were going to get biblical here in the Greek
The word is the same one that you use to catapult a stone...its like ballistic
its thrown
.
Eugene Peterson in the message
says that the spirit pushed him out into the wild
actually that a mild translation
its more like the spirit tossed him ..
forced him.
Projected him
this is a very forceful word
why would spirit do that..why that language?
think about that
do you ever have to be forced into something that just needs to be done?
God knows that you and I cannot
and will not spiritually grow
unless we deeply, honestly
face the powers of our inner life and our conditions,
but we don’t naturally do that..
are there some things in life
that you wont look at
unless you get forced into it..
im thinking we all have some topics
, that we are touchy about..
don’t want to talk about it..
Might be your finances .,, or something painful from your family
don’t want to have to feel it or deal with it
parts of our lives..
I think that the Spirt knows
we have to be forced into some of this spiritual work
and we have to let that happen
if you don’t face your real temptations
Could you also be resisting Gods work in your life
You are refusing to do your faith..work
if you don’t face your demons
,Temptations sort us out
thy reveal things about ourselves
The word for temptation
can also be translated as testing or trying
so you could also call this
the testing in the wilderness..
a time of self discovery ..examination
sorting yourself out
have to look at our selves .
.and see what is really there
testing the strength .
.maybe exposing something
look at our compulsion
our needs
our ego stuff
our passion
our fear
our true values and loyalties
our motives
Who wants to do that!
(but couldn’t it also be healing and freeing)
you also might find some gifts and blessings
..maybe the higher power
gets revealed in the wilderness
a gain
emphasizing
according to this scripture...it is required by the holy spirit
and if we don’t do that
we are simply not going to grow .,, as people of faith
Does that make sense with your expreicne?
Have you had those discovery expediencies in your life
Maybe they were horrible at the time..
but now look back..
. at what that this has done for you...
what happened because you went into the the wilderness
Let me say this another way
On Tuesday the pest control guy from plunketts
stopped in here at church
he came by the office
and said he was from Plunketts
..he said I just want you to know
I will be walking around in the church
checking my monitors
monitors
I suppose that’s a fancier word for bug trap
but pest control in the church
Looking for bugs and ants and spiders and hopefully not any mice
pest control in the church
Now that idea could preach
because what about
the pests that are more like spiritual pests
we need to have some spiritual pest control
emotional
social pest control
we better not talk about some people in the church being like a pest
But we
all have to take care of our own pest control
attitudes
Prejudices
Ideas
that need to examined,
,the grudges that we nurse
entitlements ... I deserve this..
the resentment
that we wont let go of
pests
it is tempting to say that we have no problems to deal
....................
What s that silly little song..
well there aint no bugs on me
there may be bugs
on some of you mugs
but there aint no bugs on me
but there is..
Lent is pest control time
its testing time
time for monitoring
And we need to see what’s out there
creeping around in the world
and in here
thats what confession is about
isnt?
its soul searching
and examining
reading the Bible As a guide
prayer
Reflection
getting some ashes on Ash Wednesday
to say that we are mortal
.and frail and need to repent.
.and believe the gospel
being honest
getting real with our selves
The spiritual practices
the act of Following Jesus
taking up the cross
self denial
the tools of Christianity
those are all gifts
to help us do that monitoring
but as I said
it tempting
to say that we don’t need to do that
there is a verse in
I John 8
that says
if we say we have no sin ..we deceive ourselves
hear that
we deceive ourselves
its interesting
that the other word for the devil or Satan is the deceiver
the liar
We resist deception
by going into the wilderness
and facing up to ourselves
face the deceiver
Getting monitored
and saying yeh
I got to watch out for the pests
or they take over
and spread diseases
and they multiply
and cause spiritual pestilence.
That’s what the word "pest"
actually comes from
pestilence
plague disease .... we get sick if ignore the spiritual pests
So the first thing we do in lent
on this temptation Sunday
is to say yes
we have to deal with our temptations
with our egos
with our forces that can plague us
our sin
...
Well..
How do you become aware of that.?
I already mentioned confession, prayer, bible study
but That’s also the idea behind this giving up something for lent
That idea of some kind of fasting
Has a great wisdom to it.
And fasting is going to be the spiritual practice for the month of march
...
its another form of pest monitoring
its so that we can get reminded
in at least some way
that we need to resist temptation
in some way..
It becomes a little sample experience of the bigger Picture
fasting
giving up something..
Is also a time to Get in touch withe power of those forces ..those hungers
those habits maybe
that operate in our lives un checked
trying resisting something
that you like..
and then you see how strong it is
Now believe me this gets a lot deeper
than just giving up meat on Friday
or giving up chocolate or ice cream
or smoking
or tv..
or whatever.
but we have to get in touch
with our deep addictions..the power of those things
and our deepest struggles
the pains that drive them
again it is tempting
to just play it off easy
And simply not do it.
---------------------------------------
I wonder if that is the reason that lent..
Is no longer done in many churches and
attendance tends to be down for those special lenten events
There might be several reason for that
(Sometimes we are just boring and dreary and out of touch )
but it could also be
avoidance
We are a "feel good" society
and it shows up in religious trends
this is serious hard stuff.
In the language of the scriptures
the temptation is fierce out their
the temptations fierce in here
in this wilderness
Its about wilderness untamed..
Frightening
barren..life threatening
with the wild beasts
is the way Mark put it..
or as the others gospel
say Jesus was hungry
he was famished
He felt his needs
His temptation was real
probably in ways that we cant fully imagine,,
but he passed through the testing
the soul searching
and the good News is
we are now led by his path
and held by his promise
he opened the way beyond the wilderness
to be with us ...fed by his grace..
in the journey
so People of park church
I invite you to consider your temptations
and first of all be aware of them
admit them
face them and name them
and do not take them lightly ..
And you will have to do that in some personal way
what is your version of the wilderness
at this time..
what is it for you, ..that you know Is an issue
or a struggle
I cant name that for you..
But you can ..you can
if you dare to be in the wilderness
will you make that part of your lenten experience
follow the example of Jesus
face the temptation struggle
but also let Jesus go with you
as the wilderness guide
Go there with One
who will bring you through
to the other side
amen
I was just thinking about this first Sunday in lent
and if you follow the lectioanary
the three year cycle fo lessons assigned for the Sunday
the first Sunday of lent is always one of the gospel lessons
about the temptation of Jesus
now normally
when that happens
we actually name the Sunday after that scripture lesson or topic
last week
for example
was about the transfiguration
so it was called transfiguration Sunday
or the festival of the transfiguration
Pentecost is called Pentecost Sunday
and so on
Maybe we should call this morning.. temptation Sunday
the festival of the temptation
A Celebration of temptation
I think that could have some possibilities
I bet some of you could get pretty creative with that
peter Johnson could have fun one
.which
now
that I think about it might be a good reason
to not have something called temptation Sunday
Leslie Hobson heard me talk about this idea
and she said we already have a celebration of temptation and its called Mardi gras
ok enough of that...back on subject
two of the gospel versions for the the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness
get a little more detailed
they give us three examples of temptations
but Matthew and Luke don’t list them in the same order
which I don’t think is all that important
but Jesus gets
tempted to turn these stones into bread
or to show some special privilege or divine protection by jumping off the high point of the temple...
. And having God send angels to rescue him
And then to rule over kingdoms of the world..if he would just worship the devil
And these are versions of power fame or protection...
they are temptations of the ego
temptations of the flesh
would be an old way to put it.
But Mark
which most scholars tell us is actually the oldest of the gospels
the first one written down
Mark didn’t get into those three details
...just that Jesus was tempted..
And he overcame temptation....
That’s marks main point
All of this comes right after his baptism
Mark says it happened
immediately
just as he is about to live out his baptism
and set the path. for his ministry
he gets tempted
for forty days and forty nights
That’s a symbolic number in the bible
for this time of tempting and being shaped
the Hebrew people in Exodus were in the wilderness for 40 years
the story of Noah and the great flood
was about forty days and forty nights
Elijah had some 4o day experiences
Moses was on the mountain getting the law for 4o days
so this is not just a number that t you count on a calendar
This is is a period of revelation and struggling and learning
it represents being prepared . and changed
and it goes of course
e with our own 4o days of lent..
40 days of preparation and growing
So lets follow Mark this morning
and think about temptation
not with the kind of pattern from Luke and Matthew
but in larger terms of faithfulness
ministry and how we live our Christian life
Im thinking about one general temptation
the temptation to deny our temptations
We might be tempted
to deny the fact
that we have to deal with our temptation
This insight one come from verse 12
it says
it says that the spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness
were going to get biblical here in the Greek
The word is the same one that you use to catapult a stone...its like ballistic
its thrown
.
Eugene Peterson in the message
says that the spirit pushed him out into the wild
actually that a mild translation
its more like the spirit tossed him ..
forced him.
Projected him
this is a very forceful word
why would spirit do that..why that language?
think about that
do you ever have to be forced into something that just needs to be done?
God knows that you and I cannot
and will not spiritually grow
unless we deeply, honestly
face the powers of our inner life and our conditions,
but we don’t naturally do that..
are there some things in life
that you wont look at
unless you get forced into it..
im thinking we all have some topics
, that we are touchy about..
don’t want to talk about it..
Might be your finances .,, or something painful from your family
don’t want to have to feel it or deal with it
parts of our lives..
I think that the Spirt knows
we have to be forced into some of this spiritual work
and we have to let that happen
if you don’t face your real temptations
Could you also be resisting Gods work in your life
You are refusing to do your faith..work
if you don’t face your demons
,Temptations sort us out
thy reveal things about ourselves
The word for temptation
can also be translated as testing or trying
so you could also call this
the testing in the wilderness..
a time of self discovery ..examination
sorting yourself out
have to look at our selves .
.and see what is really there
testing the strength .
.maybe exposing something
look at our compulsion
our needs
our ego stuff
our passion
our fear
our true values and loyalties
our motives
Who wants to do that!
(but couldn’t it also be healing and freeing)
you also might find some gifts and blessings
..maybe the higher power
gets revealed in the wilderness
a gain
emphasizing
according to this scripture...it is required by the holy spirit
and if we don’t do that
we are simply not going to grow .,, as people of faith
Does that make sense with your expreicne?
Have you had those discovery expediencies in your life
Maybe they were horrible at the time..
but now look back..
. at what that this has done for you...
what happened because you went into the the wilderness
Let me say this another way
On Tuesday the pest control guy from plunketts
stopped in here at church
he came by the office
and said he was from Plunketts
..he said I just want you to know
I will be walking around in the church
checking my monitors
monitors
I suppose that’s a fancier word for bug trap
but pest control in the church
Looking for bugs and ants and spiders and hopefully not any mice
pest control in the church
Now that idea could preach
because what about
the pests that are more like spiritual pests
we need to have some spiritual pest control
emotional
social pest control
we better not talk about some people in the church being like a pest
But we
all have to take care of our own pest control
attitudes
Prejudices
Ideas
that need to examined,
,the grudges that we nurse
entitlements ... I deserve this..
the resentment
that we wont let go of
pests
it is tempting to say that we have no problems to deal
....................
What s that silly little song..
well there aint no bugs on me
there may be bugs
on some of you mugs
but there aint no bugs on me
but there is..
Lent is pest control time
its testing time
time for monitoring
And we need to see what’s out there
creeping around in the world
and in here
thats what confession is about
isnt?
its soul searching
and examining
reading the Bible As a guide
prayer
Reflection
getting some ashes on Ash Wednesday
to say that we are mortal
.and frail and need to repent.
.and believe the gospel
being honest
getting real with our selves
The spiritual practices
the act of Following Jesus
taking up the cross
self denial
the tools of Christianity
those are all gifts
to help us do that monitoring
but as I said
it tempting
to say that we don’t need to do that
there is a verse in
I John 8
that says
if we say we have no sin ..we deceive ourselves
hear that
we deceive ourselves
its interesting
that the other word for the devil or Satan is the deceiver
the liar
We resist deception
by going into the wilderness
and facing up to ourselves
face the deceiver
Getting monitored
and saying yeh
I got to watch out for the pests
or they take over
and spread diseases
and they multiply
and cause spiritual pestilence.
That’s what the word "pest"
actually comes from
pestilence
plague disease .... we get sick if ignore the spiritual pests
So the first thing we do in lent
on this temptation Sunday
is to say yes
we have to deal with our temptations
with our egos
with our forces that can plague us
our sin
...
Well..
How do you become aware of that.?
I already mentioned confession, prayer, bible study
but That’s also the idea behind this giving up something for lent
That idea of some kind of fasting
Has a great wisdom to it.
And fasting is going to be the spiritual practice for the month of march
...
its another form of pest monitoring
its so that we can get reminded
in at least some way
that we need to resist temptation
in some way..
It becomes a little sample experience of the bigger Picture
fasting
giving up something..
Is also a time to Get in touch withe power of those forces ..those hungers
those habits maybe
that operate in our lives un checked
trying resisting something
that you like..
and then you see how strong it is
Now believe me this gets a lot deeper
than just giving up meat on Friday
or giving up chocolate or ice cream
or smoking
or tv..
or whatever.
but we have to get in touch
with our deep addictions..the power of those things
and our deepest struggles
the pains that drive them
again it is tempting
to just play it off easy
And simply not do it.
---------------------------------------
I wonder if that is the reason that lent..
Is no longer done in many churches and
attendance tends to be down for those special lenten events
There might be several reason for that
(Sometimes we are just boring and dreary and out of touch )
but it could also be
avoidance
We are a "feel good" society
and it shows up in religious trends
this is serious hard stuff.
In the language of the scriptures
the temptation is fierce out their
the temptations fierce in here
in this wilderness
Its about wilderness untamed..
Frightening
barren..life threatening
with the wild beasts
is the way Mark put it..
or as the others gospel
say Jesus was hungry
he was famished
He felt his needs
His temptation was real
probably in ways that we cant fully imagine,,
but he passed through the testing
the soul searching
and the good News is
we are now led by his path
and held by his promise
he opened the way beyond the wilderness
to be with us ...fed by his grace..
in the journey
so People of park church
I invite you to consider your temptations
and first of all be aware of them
admit them
face them and name them
and do not take them lightly ..
And you will have to do that in some personal way
what is your version of the wilderness
at this time..
what is it for you, ..that you know Is an issue
or a struggle
I cant name that for you..
But you can ..you can
if you dare to be in the wilderness
will you make that part of your lenten experience
follow the example of Jesus
face the temptation struggle
but also let Jesus go with you
as the wilderness guide
Go there with One
who will bring you through
to the other side
amen
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