rorysramblesermons

2011-09-18T14:14:00.001-07:00

Park UMC. Exodus 16 Manna Moments Sept 18, 2011
.we read that story of the manna in the wilderness
and it's one of my favorite stories..
but here s my question
have you ever seen any manna?
. now I know
it says that when the Hebrews entered
the promised land
the miracle of manna ended
,,but I don’t think so.. not quite
you see this is not just a story about a miracle long ago
this is also a living word.. for today
as picture of our life in faith
it's an ongoing metaphor

we too are in the wilderness
aren’t we? we too are on a spiritual journey
still being set free
traveling out of our slavery
the exodus is our story also
and we too
are being formed into a new people

and so the manna story is also our story
but then.. have you seen any manna
now I am
not talking about that mysterious flaky,,, seed like food on the ground
that they would gather up in the morning
and I know here are some theories . naturalistic theories
about what that manna might have been
was it a kind of honey dew from an insect
or an edible sap form the tamarisk
or even some kind of mushrooms.
well .. I’m not interested in those theories
I just like what the story says
manna
is God given food
Manna is the gift that comes to you each day
we have the words from the song great is they faithfulness..
morning by morning new mercies I see

great is thy faithfulness
that s the manna story

those day by mercies ..of Gods faithfulness
have you e ever s seen that manna.
what did it look like?
.now I love what the word manna itself means
it means what is it..
in Hebrew or maybe Aramaic
what is it
they look at this gift from god
what is it
,,they don't quite know how to describe it
they didn’t know what it was going to be ...
had not seen this before
but they recognize it as a gift from God

have you seen any manna like that
well look at it this way
have your you started out the day
not knowing
how you were going to get though this situation
have you ever been in one of those wilderness times
like these old Hebrews wandering and wondering what next
what next

maybe even complaining.. murmuring

I love the verse s
that say all the congregation was murmuring
murmuring has been around a long time
complaining
talking about the leaders
"whose idea was this ? can we trust this..
in verse3
they are asking have we been lead out here to die of hunger

at least back in Egypt
we had those stewpots / we had some meat
and we had plenty of bread
But now
what have we got here
nothing..
Murmuring... complaining.... doubting
and fear .... yes it fears..maybe anger
and uncertainty
Don’t tell me you’ve never been there.
this week someone asked me how do you handle being angry with God?

but this manna lesson says
God hears their complaining
v 9 says draw near to the lord
for God has heard your complaining
their murmuring
their doubt
I like the idea that murmuring or complaining can be a form of prayer
this is important because
I have prayer like that..

I see it a lot in the bible
read the psalms
psalms of lament
or even psalm of cursing ..... imprecatory psalms we call them
or read the prophets
you will hear complaining in the prayers
maybe that's another way
to hear the old song what a friend we have in Jesus
all our sins and grief’s to bear

hear that?
all of the sins and grief’s
what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer
sins and grief to bear
I think we give god a lot of grief
in our prayer
but the good news
is that god hears the complaining
God put s up with the grief we give to God
and God says
I will rain down bread from heaven
aren’t you glad
God goes doesn’t rain down fire and brimstone
when we complain and worry and grumble
manna is a story of grace
Gods is going give them bread

have you seen that manna

when you are going thought hard time
and gods hears it..accept it.
and god still gives and loves
..in spite of our doubts and our ..
have you seen that manna of Gods graceful listening to me Just as am
do you ever go and look for thann manna
gather rit up..the Hebrews were told to go and gather it up...
how do you do that
how do you open your eyes to it.
. I s suppose you could like at your daily spiritual practices as a form of manna gathering
do you think this is where the idea of daily devotions fits in
take a few minutes in the day
to read a verse ,,, maybe read the upper room or the daily bread
or some of the many on line emails that give you thought for the day
I think that's a form of manna that gather up day by day,
,you may not know w ahead d of time
what the verse or the thought or the effect might
but it might be what gets you through
one day at a time isn't it..
manna is one day a t time
a word of encouragement
a nudge of the spirit.. a peace that passes understanding
a moment of silence o
r prayer and you know that somehow you are not alone

that's manna have you see n any mann

Now another thing
that strikes me about this manna is that apparently it was very small
and maybe just a bible verse or a minute or so of silence
a little prayer time
can seem pretty small ..and insignificant
but God is teaching us to look for the small miracles day by day.
I know that the big flashy miracle s like the crossing of the red sea... those
things get your attention
like some scene form Cecil be demil in the ten commandments
but that little bit of manna on the ground ... is an invitation to daily miracle watching
..
Pam Serdar our district superintendent/ in her recent newsletter
described a man who claimed that nothing
had impressed him in his 55 years of living
accept the grand canyon
now you have to admit
that the grand canyon is big and impressive
but a s Pam serdar went on to say
how sad
that this person didn't get impressed by all the little daily things
that are around us in life
to live without a sense of awe and wonder
is sad
it’s like ignore the manna
it’s a refusal to gather the daily miracles
all the things that we could see as gifts from God
and she goes on to mention things like the winter frost
 The crackle of dry leaves on a chilly autumn afternoon.
 The endless shades of green on a summer hillside.
 The scent of lilacs in spring
have you seen a manna today

will you see some manna in the leaves as they begin to turn around here leaf by leaf..tree by tree.
will you open your eyes to gather the manna in your life

I think there is great mann song in the sound of music
these are few of my favorite things
'raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens'
and Maria thinks of those things ..when things are e going bad
that a way of gathering the emann..
acceptinghte daily signs of god that feed us.
have you seen a manna
maybe the manna of words
the manna of encouragement
the manna hope
the manna of help
the manna of another person
the manna of prayer.
let me leave you with a little story that I can hear as a manna story

from Howard Thurman .... in his autobiography,
( With Head and Heart)
. Thurman was dean of the Chapel at Boston University and a canon at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
but this story goes back to when
. He had just finished the eighth grade in Daytona Beach, Florida
and he was ready for high school.

But this is in 1912,... ..1912
and there were only three public schools in the state of Florida
that offered a high school education to African American youth
.but There were some church related schools that did,
and one of those was the Florida Baptist Academy in Jacksonville.

Thurman had a relative. that said that if he did some chores he could stay with them
and get one meal a day
So the school s season came and Thurman went down to the train station
he had an old trunk with no lock and no handles
,it was tied shut with a rope
but When he bought his train ticket
the railroad agent would not accept the trunk as baggage
because the Regulations said that the baggage check
had to be attached to the trunk handle,
not to a rope.
so he would have to pay extra to ship the trunk
but Thurman only had a little over a dollar left and it wasn't enough to ship the trunk
Thurman said
that he sat on the railway station steps
and cried his eyes out.
Until
when he opened his eyes,
there was a pair of work shoes standing in front of him.
The shoes were worn by a black man dressed in overalls and a denim cap.
He looked down at Thurman,
rolled a cigarette
, lit it and asked
,, what are you crying about?”
So Thurman told him,
and the man said,
“If you’re trying to get out of this town' to get an education,
the least I can do is to help you.
Come with me.”

the stranger got the shipping ticket for the trunk,
and he turned and disappeared
and Thurman says he never saw him again.

I think it was a manna moment
but why did that man notice this and care about it..and help him
The dedication to Howard Thurman’s autobiography reads
, “To the stranger in the
railroad station in Daytona Beach who restored my broken dream sixty five years ago.”

it was this gift that Thurman didn’t see coming
and maybe this generous stranger
did that because he had gather some manna his own life
and he could be manna in someone wilderness
have you seen any manna
well you can see where this is going
will you look for the many of daily signs and gifts.
.. trust that they are there
in maybe small.. daily,,but yet to be discovered ways..look for them
but then also maybe be them

the world is still hungry
we still need manna
we still need to share the manna
if you look at the manna lesson
youwillsee that above all it was teaching them to trust God
verse 4 and other s in the story say that God was using the manna to test them..to teach them..to shape them..into new behavior
and so in the manna lesson
they could not stockpile or hoard the manna.

it was a lesson in sharing and living with trust and gratitude and generosity
They were being taught o live in the manna moments
and to be manna people
I think the
and ,no malaria campaign
is very much a manna lesson for us today

manna a is a mosquito net . it saving a life just ten dollars at a time
or a sign that we care
God is giving manna though us,

manna is what we all need to receive..and learn
and to share. day by day
and I see manna all around you and in you
Have you seen any manna..day by day.. the manna is here

Holy Week and the Deadly Sin of Anger

2011-04-15T12:32:00.001-07:00

Park UMC April 17 2011
The deadly sin of anger or wrath is all over the story that we just read.
and we can literally see just how deadly it can be
this is the deadly sin that leads to murder, vengeance and violence
Jesus is at least indirectly killed by an angry mob...or angry leaders.
but what is behind this wrathful anger?

it's usually about some unmet expectations
we get angry when we do not get what we want or what we expect.

but even before this final week this holy week story
there has been a buildup of anger this smoldering anger has been there all along

there has been anger in t he voices
of the of the religious leaders
who accuse Jesus of blasphemy
and for challenging their authority and power
they have been angry with Jesus because HE DID NOT FOLLW THE accepted rules of community
and who is in and who is out
who is worthy and who isn't
Jesus ATE WITH TAX COLELCTORS AND SINNER

AND SOEM PEOPE WERE ANGRY ABOTU THIS
AS IF HE WAS MAKIIGN THESE Commoners
..THESE SINNERS.. EQAUL TO THEM...and equal in the eyes of God

Jesus was not meeting there expectations of religious teaching or piety

now ON palm Sunday I SEE this PENT UP anger OF THE Crowds
it in the crowds shouting hosanna
this may seem to be a day of praise and celebration but we are mistaken
there is something in the back ground
HOSANNA MEANS SAVE US
saves us
WAHT THEY Meant WAS save us from the Romans
save s from these ungodly people
who occupy our land
save us
from the armies that t march though our towns
saves us
from the burdens and the corruption
from the tyrants who tax us UNFAIRLY and take our food
where the rich get richer and the poor get even less.
save us Jesus
save us now..
be the messiah Savior who will exercise the wrath of God. and bring justice
be the conquering hero...
you have got to hear that IN THE he palm Sunday crowd
it is what they hope...what they expect!
but this is not what Jesus will do
and so IN FEW DAYS we see anger again.
of unmet expectations
.wrath rage..vengeance retaliation
anger is in the crowd shouting crucify him
give us Barabbas instead
but crucify this Jesus

are they angry
because Jesus refuses to be that angry kind of a messiah
Jesus refuses to embody the wrath of God against the enemy
instead we HAVE Gotten the savior on a donkey
who says turn the other cheek
we get the savior
who said love your enemies
pray for those who persecute you
blessed are the peacemakers
we get the savior
shows us a path of forgiveness
and a path of the cross
we have got to get this point
Jesus does not give us the wrath of God. that
we think we want God to be and to do

Now I know that Jesus
Jesus did show a level of anger in his life
in mark 3:5 the people were more concerned with following the Sabbath law
than they were with healing the man with a withered hand
it said that Jesus got angry with t hem
when we make our laws
more important than the needs and wellbeing of others..
there is a place for anger
and the most the most famous scene of anger form Jesus
is when the he is driving the money changers
out of the temple
he saw this abuse of religious power
as if access to God had to be brokered
or when people were being taken advantage of there is sense of righteous anger
and its there when people are e left to hurt without compassion
when there is no sense of justice for the poor.
read the Hebrew prophets
s and wee too are invited into Gods anger
when the poor and the weak and the foreigners are oppressed
when religion and piety is used as pretense to cover our greed
and religious language is abused to cover our prejudices
yes there are things wrong with he world
enough to be anger about it
at least a righteous indignation.
but what
we are talking about here as deadly
is wrath
..anger that is out of control...gone too far..
that doesn't know when to stop
anger that forgets to keep some humility
that does not understand its limits
. anger without mercy
anger that really is not redemptive.
Because it is also clear in Christianity
that we cannot take the wrath of God into our own hands
that's the great insight that Paul gives us in Romans 12
where he says never avenge yourselves
leave room for the wrath of God
vengeance is mine says the lord..in other words
it's not in our human ability to do this
we can't make that judgment of vengeance.
step away from the wrath

Jesus himself gave several lessons warning us about anger
Ephesians 4: 6 also says be angry but do not sin
James 1:19-20… “Let everyone be quick to listen,
slow to speak, slow to anger;
for
your anger does not produce God’s righteousness
you anger..my anger... does not produce Gods righteousness!.
.what a powerful insight
this is trying was to teach us a different spirit
and behavior in life
a life e that is not ruled by anger..
even when we see it as moral crusade..watch out.
with the rise of fundamentalism today in so many religions including Christianity we need this warning
we are directed away from this destructive violent anger that can kill us
it kill s us internally and it leads to the violence
the cycle s of violence and retaliation
that our world can't seem to break out of .
and what we are ultimately shown and taught is that
wrath is not the will and character of God

because God will is life and God's character,
god s holiness is love
.we are told clearly in I John that God is love.
I'm remembering the story
Two monks were washing
down in the river

when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning
. One monk immediately scooped it up

and set it upon the bank

. In the process he was stung.

He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in.

The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung.

The other monk asked him,

"Friend,
why do you continue to save the scorpion
when you know
it's nature is to sting?"

"Because," the monk replied, "to save it is my nature."

it may not be our character to save
and in fact tit may be our character to sting
but this steadfast love this mercy is the very character of god
and that the gospel I'm not making this up
and all you need to do is look at t he cross
Gods character is to save US .EVEN WHEN WE STING
that is the story of this holy week
but we should not be surprised because
we can back up all the way to the start of the story
in Luke's Gospel especially
we are being told right away that this Jesus story
will
not be about the wrath of God
oh yes
it will be about a revolution and a different reality
the last shall be first .....the first shall be last
read... Mary's song in the magnificent
the mighty will be brought low
the powerless will be lifted up
but the great gospel is about peace
the shepherds at Christmas hear the words...of peace on earth..
peace is our gospel..not wrath.
.God we are told comes to us in good will
that's the message of all our strained and differing doctrines s of atonement
are simply trying to say that we are at peace . God is not at war with us.
God has made peace with us

atonement at one ment..

if God's wrath needed satisfaction
however you want to understand it..
it's done..
and we are invited to believe it, God has made peace..
so as you enter the story of holy week
can you accept a peaceful God as your God..your Lord and Savior..
we too are invite to follow Jesus.
. face your own expectations and struggles with anger
we too are invited to see Jesus
who will not embody or call out the wrath of God on us
even when we cry out in anger crucify him
or when we betray him as Judas did
when we pull out a sword as Peter did or deny him as peter did ..
run a way as the disciples did
with all of that...
.still ...we do not see the wrath of God
even when we strike out against god..
in the death of Jesus ....
the response of Jesus...
to all of this was
father forgive them
they do not know what they are doing

where is the wrath of God in this story?
Jesus and his cross tells us that mercy ...forgiveness is the way
not wrath
love is the way
not vengeance
salvation is the way... not destruction
Jesus saves us from our own anger

I believe the idea of an angry God is meant to die at the cross
Gods anger ends at the cross
Your mediation for the week is this
look at the cross .what do you see?
do you see God's wrath ?
or a God of grace
then,,, take up your cross and follow him.
being set free day by day from the deadly sin of wrath

From Richard Rohr

2011-04-03T12:56:00.001-07:00

FALLING UPWARD

The soul has many secrets. They are only revealed to those who want them, and are never completely forced upon us. One of the best-kept secrets, and yet one hidden in plain sight, is that the way up is the way down. Or, if you prefer, the way down is the way up….

In Scripture, we see that the wrestling and wounding of Jacob are necessary for Jacob to become Israel (Genesis 32:26-32), and the death and resurrection of Jesus are necessary to create Christianity. The loss and renewal pattern is so constant and ubiquitous that it should hardly be called a secret at all.

Yet it is still a secret, probably because we do not want to see it. We do not want to embark on a further journey [the second half of life] if it feels like going down, especially after having put so much sound and fury into going up [the first half of life]. This is surely the first and primary reason why many people never get to the fullness of their own lives.

From Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
pp. xviii-xix

Nov 2009

2009-11-27T13:11:00.001-08:00

Nov 22, 2009 PUMC Phil 4:11ff

I picked out the reading from Philippians

just for this morning..
It seems to be a thanksgiving lesson

Paul is wring this letter

from a Roman prison....

.we need to know that background..
a prison...
or a jail.....maybe in chains..

Nothing good or comfortable about that.
I cant imagine what those conditions were like

. and yet
yet..
this is one of his most joyful
and positive letters

over and over it talks about gratitude and thanksgiving

and concentrating on the good..

He talks about being content or satisfied

whether he has a little or a lot...

. he says I’ve been been full and I’ve been hungry

Paul seems to have a spirit of gratitude that is unconditional.

.something that is not is not based on circumstance..

He seems to have a steadiness or a center

he seem to have grateful spirit or a grateful heart.

he calls it the secret..The answer
or the wisdom
that is there

through all the ups and downs of life.

.and it seems to me that’s what spiritual gratitude is really about ..

I’m thinking there area t least two kind s of gratitude

the firs t one is Conditional Gratitude ...when things are good.
.I m grateful
and I say thanks.

I think just about everybody knows about this kind of gratitude

thats what the thanksging holiday is..I suppose,, for most of us in the country

This is not a bad thing
its being thankful

when we have something good In our life
when we have the abundance

and something goes well

we should see it..and celebrate it..

. Maybe this is gratitude for your family..
And for your health
and whatever wealth you might have

that’s the gratitude
of counting your blessings.....name them one by one..see what you have

And even though we have this recession going on

and I know that people have lost their jobs
and theirs homes.
.and things are not want they used to be
for a lot of people

this circumstantial gratitude
still
invites you to look at what you have ....
and give thanks..
don’t ignore whatever good things you still have..
look for the good..
Don’t deny what is still good in your life

(thanksgiving invites you to do that.)

but then
there is this other kind of gratitude

I don’t know what to call it
,maybe just spiritual gratitude..

This is the kind of gratitude
Paul is taking about here..a different kind of contentment.

This is Paul’s secret strength.
.inner strength

And maybe

it come s down to just being thankful for God.. (Period)

a spirit of god in your life..
the gratitude of faith .

.Paul talks about this strength from God...(not strength from good circumstances)

but This inner joy or trust

Again, Paul
is still thankful
in

all the ups and downs of life
Paul says that he has learned this..
“I have learned to be content”
learning is a process

Im still working on that..I think we all are..
.it’s a learning curve..
But I want to learn this..
With prayer..and spiritual practices...

by following Jesus..
I want to learn ..the grateful spirit that Paul points to,

Paul.
.and the rest of the bible says it also

Circumstances change

And that’s a fact of life

but Gods presence

Gods love God holds on your life.

Whats that bible verse

the grass withers,
,the flower fades. but the word of the lord stands forever

God does not fail..

there is the greater
core goodness.

.that Paul ...knows about..
Paul believes in that

he lives in that.

And it keeps him thankful

lin fact in this same letter

Paul says rejoice in God always
(Rejoice inthe lord always, again I say rejoice)

then he says live with gentleness..
Don’t be anxious
pray with thanksgiving

he talks about peacefulness.
A steadiness.

I think that is the spirit of thanksgiving that the church is talking about.

. The thankful spirit
of faith in God..
No matter what the circumstance e might be..

I don’t know if we can ever get that I n our heads. (Intellectually)

But I believe I you can get it ..in your heart...in that deeper level..

.
let me say it a better way

with a story.. (Spiritual lesson are always better in a story. that’s why Jesus told stories

this is another story from the Hasidic Jewish tradition

a story from the bel shem tov.

.he was a famous teacher..a rabbi

form the early 1700s in eastern Europe
and of course th stories have become legends with a lesson

this one is called THE HOLY SABBATH BEANS

Once, the Baal Shem Tov
called his closest disciples,

his closest students

and he s aid to them

"My friends,
I'd like to show you something

this is something
that you've never seen before

. Just be sure
that you stay close to me next Sabbath."

They were all excited with anticipation,

they could barely wait for the next Sabbath to arrive.

When Sabbath finally came

they eagerly surrounded the BaalShem Tov during his prayers

. Suddenly,

they saw the Baal Shem Tov glance over to the side of the Synagogue.

They looked over

and they saw a pauper
this poor man

and he was praying intensely
and with great joy.

But
they didn't notice anything that seemed very special about the man.

After the prayers,

the Baal Shem Tov called for his disciples to join him.

They walked together,

quietly

they came to the pauper's house,

(it really wasn’t much of a place

and they stood outside the front door,

and they listened to the conversation

between the poor man and
his wife.
he greeted her with a joyful voice

"Good Sabbath, my sweet wife,"
.
She answered back to him

"And a restful
and holy Sabbath to you
my dearest husband,"

Then the husband

sang Shalom Aleichem (Peace to you),

and some other ancient spiritual greetings .

Then he said to his wife,

"Please
bring out the wine for Kiddush ..for the Sabbath blessing

but The man and the woman were so poor

they didn’t have any money for wine.

So instead
she
put two little rolls of bread
in front of him and said,

"My dear husband,
we don't have any wine ...

so make Kiddush ..say the blessing
over these two rolls of bread."

"Okay then," the poor man answered,

"We will make Kiddush over the two loaves of bread

and they will taste just as good as the best wine.. could ever be
After they finished the SABBAT blessing
over the two rolls of bread,

the poor man said

now "My dearest wife,

please serve the fish

and let us experience (the joy of Sabbath).

His wife came out with a plate of cooked beans

and she placed a spoonful pf beans

on each of their plates.

Then she said

"May it be God's will that these beans
have the taste of a wonderful fish delicacy."

Then They ate the beans

and their faces were bright .. with delight and inner joy.

Then the poor man began to sing Sabbath songs.

"Thank God we lack nothing to celebrate the holy Sabbath,"

we have everything that is needed

"Let us have the soup now."

Well there was no soup

as They both took
another spoonful of beans.

"Oh, this Sabbath we really have a wonderful soup,"

they said to each other.

Then they had a third spoonful of beans
for the meat dish

and a fourth spoonful as a dessert.

"Come, sweet wife,
the poor man said

now let us dance to celebrate the Sabbath,"

So they both got up from the table

and began to dance.

"Our dancing,"
commented the man,

"fulfills the saying of our Rabbis,

'He who properly sanctifies the Sabbath will earn a great
reward.' "

As they danced around their Sabbath table,

they laughed to each other, ..

.as they enjoyed the reward of the moment

"How fortunate we are!

how good is our lot."

The students that were watching this scene,
started to feel a warm glow well up in themselves.

The Baal Shem Tov said in a whisper.

"I see that all of you
are experiencing the gift of enjoying the Sabbath

just as much as this poor man and his wife

have been enjoying their Sabbath.

You should know

that it is not the earthly food that they tasted,
but the Sabbath itself."

And so it was.

I want you to hold on to that phrase..

It is not the earthly food that they tasted
but the Sabbath itself..

Well I would love once again to sit down in small group

or with each other
and ask you

what do you hear in that story

I think this is a wonderful thanksgiving story

Even though its not about a thanksgiving dinner

it is certainly about another dinner
the Sabbath meal

but as you heard
or I hope you heard in the story

it is not so much about the food at all
is it..?

but the gratitude. the giftness
the spirit of it all

the bel shem tov said..

It is not the earthly food that they tasted.

.but the Sabbath itself

That the real thanksgiving part of the story for me

now

I hope your thanksgiving dinner isn’t getting down
to just a plate of beans

go ahead and enjoy
whatever abundance can come to your table..

But what will you really be tasting?

will you taste just some turkey or potatoes or pie..

Or will you be able to taste thanksgiving itself
the real essence of the holiday

taste the gratitude
and the giftedness of life

taste a deeper kind of goodness

taste the other spices of life
taste the fruit of the spirit

which is love joy peace;;kindness,,gentleness
savor the riches of life

that goes far beyond anything you could put on a table

taste the holiness
..hidden behind it all..or deep inside of it all.

That’s we are really

we are hungry for grateful hearts

hungering for..

a sacred and essential goodness...
that maybe defies reason

a something of the soul

thanksgiving ultimately/ spiritually

Comes down to the mystery
that everything...everything.
is a gift from God.
.beyond imagination ..we live in a generosity ....
Of eternity..

the good ness of god..that does not fail
in the end..
All will be well..
Wholeness..redemption.. shalom

Thanks giving

is not what is on the table

its what is on your heart...from God

it is that
richness of love and grace

that we see in Jesus Christ
.Taste that.....for thanksgiving

now that a feast.

.............

..
‘;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

As we baptize little Thaddeus today..

We are also saying that
He is mysterious. secretly
faithfully
joined to that essential goodness s of life

..he too
is going to be raised to hear that story of Gods love in jesus Christ

he too
really is what his name means

Thaddeus means Gods gift

his name itself ...is a name that points to giftedness and gratitude.

Thats how we see him....
and we are saying thanks to God

but in this baptism we are also s giving him back to god...
we are saying God...
shape him and grow him..
Raise him
With faith and hope and love

make him one of your disciple to do good. In this world

May that be the divine sprit that washes him

and renews him all the days of his life\
let god be his strength
so baptism too is an act of thanksgiving

Baptism is thanks and giving.

Sabbath Beans story is © 2004 Baal Shem Tov Foundation – a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.
“Dedicated to spreading the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov” –www.baalshemtov.com

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Nov 15 2009 hannah and Prayer

what if This picture of Hanna in I Samuel this morning is a picture of prayer..

Did you get the image, or at least the feeling, of deep intense prayer.?

.prayer from the center of the heart..
and nothing is holding her back

prayer out of some deep pain ....b ut perhaps also
from a place of some deep hope

deep faith / deep love and desire

I see this as follow up to the lesson last week , about longing for God (Ps 42)

I see that same kind of desire with Hanna
and the yearning to be a blessing for God

she has felt that she was barren and worthless to God
and to the world.
.
The story is about moving from barrenness to blessing

spiritual barrenness to spiritual blessing

As she pours out her heart...............

it says she was praying silently... her lips were moving...

it says in some translations she was pouring our her soul

just hold on to that phrase for this image of prayer..

Now let me bring that out with a story from India
.I think it will help us see something in the story of Hanna as well

Its about an emperor, and a peasant women and prayer

Once upon a time

there was an emperor named Akiba

he was good leader and just and fair

..but every once in a while

the burdens of being a good ruler Would get to him

and he would need to go out hunting for the day

just to get away from it all..

Of course being an emperor

he would bring along his servants and a few guards for the hunt as well.

But in this day they had not gotten anything.

. Not even the sight of a deer.

And the emperor was frustrated and annoyed.

This was not turning out to be the kind of relaxing and joyful day that he needed

and so

he began to take out his feelings on the servants and members of the court who traveled along.

Then it came time for the prayers....

So...faithful to there tradition

they got off their horses and gathered together for the ritual.

They knelt down facing to the east

With their heads touching to the ground.

But akaba.

.even though he was saying the prayers

and following all the practices...

Still had a lot of things on his mind...

The worries of the kingdom/
his desire to go home with a good deer from the hunt,
he wanted

to have some sense of contentment.

.some good feeling/ before he would have to go back and face all those decisions

..all that work and responsibility

so many people depending on him..

He was thinking how he never really got to get away from his work

And now here it was and god..the compassionate one. Was not even letting him enjoy the simple satisfaction of a good hunt.

He blessed God in his prayers..

But he was hoping that after the prayers.
His luck would change

and he would get a chance to catch something

Now..
at the same time..while this was going on..

deep in the heart of the forest.

There was an older women

she was married..

And early that same morning..

Her husband had gone off into the woods

she was getting very worried

because he had been gone for a long time/ longer than it should have taken him.

And she loved him deeply

and was afraid that something had happened to him.

now just at the same time that akaba the Emperor and all his servants were kneeling down on the ground....to pray

she decided to go off looking for her husband..

Pretty soon she was just frantic..

. Running in every direction.

.up and down the trails

backtracking where she had been before.

More and more worried about her husband.

and in the intensify of her search..

She wasn’t watching where she was going..

And somehow..

She managed to actually trip over the emperor himself..

Because he was down there
bowed down in prayer..

.and she wasn’t looking down on the ground.

Well she got up..

Didn’t even pay attention to the emperor..

And ran off once again...deeper into the forest.

Looking so intently for her husband

The emperor was very annoyed..

But he finished his prayers along with everyone else..

And them.

Since eye was th emperor after all.

He sent some of his soldiers to go and find that women who had tripped over him,

and bring her back .

In the meantime

the women found her husband

. And she was filled with joy.

He was old..and not feeling well..

And he need her help

he had fallen

and she was helping him to get back to the house.

But the soldiers found her and dragged her back to the emperor.

he was giving her quite a scolding..

She needed to know what she had done!

.didn’t you notice

that you had tripped over somebody ?

and not only that..but he was the emperor..

Didn’t she even notice that.

She simply said..

What were you doing down there on the ground in the first place.

He said I was saying my prayers

and she said to the emperor

you were saying your prayers..

kneeling..face down to the ground

facing east.. With your head touching the earth

supposedly praying to the great Lord of the universe..

And still you noticed
that some one tripped over you.?!

What kind of concentration is that

she went on to say

While here I am

simply chasing after my husband..whom I love dearly

and so I did not notice you

You see
I was paying attention to my search
and my devotion

but you.

.if you
if you said your prayers better

you would have been paying more attention to the lord of the universe

and your search and your devotion

and then if you had been doing that..
you would not have even noticed
when someone fell over you.

The emperor listened to these worlds

and he was embarrassed.

Its true.. He had been distracted..in his attention...he had been self centered in his attention
while she..had not..

So in fact he gave the women some gifts..to honor her..

and sent her back to her home ..to her beloved husband..

And later

whenever
the emperor prayed.

He was not concerned about anything else

but God..
The compassionate One

and how he kept his attention on his prayer

and whenever somebody asked him

how he learned to pray that way..

He told them about a simple peasant women

who loved her husband..
And concentrated on the devotion.

And taught him to love the lord of the universe

and what prayer really was..

I m sure we could hear that story at several different levels.
It raises all kinds of questions

maybe we could see that the women is a picture of prayer

because she is passionate...
In her search

are you passionate in your prayer...

Or maybe she is picture of prayer

because what she is doing
an example of caring.

.she is up and moving ,
,taking action in her search for her husband

could determined..caring action be a picture of prayer? ..I think so

prayer as compassion
Passionate prayer that comes from deep within us.
prayer...as devotion..prayer as focus.
.prayer as the concentration of heart...

All of that fits in ..

But it reminded me of a definition of prayer from Simone Weil a french philosopher

she said
absolutely unmixed attention was prayer..

Prayer as absolutely unmixed attention

it seems to me
that the way the woman in the story was whole heartedly searching for her Husband

.. That was unmixed attention

in fact

many spiritual traditions
including some voices in Judaism and Christianity..

Would say that learning to pay attention

is a basic spiritual practice for prayer..
..........
When I was on renewal leave this summer

we spent a day on a spiritual retreat

and we learned about some Buddhist traditions

and for the meal time
we were told to eat without talking..eat in silence
...
Just pay attention to the experience of the food and the eating,
chew each bite
maybe 20 times or more

..slowly...deliberate taste it.
. And pay attention to it..

Thich Nhat Hanh.
.is a Buddhist monk who has written some great material in the Buddhist /Christian dialogue and how we can understand each other

he talks about the mediation practice of mindfulness when you eat

and he says Don't put anything else into your mouth, like your projects, your worries, your fear, just put the carrot in.
And when you chew, chew only the carrot,
not your projects or your ideas.
( The Path of Emancipation: Talks from a 21-Day Mindfulness Retreat)

but you know that not the not the way I normally eat...

even when I say a pray... before I eat (,,and I usually do that)

but then.. I still don’t pay that much attention to the food..
Do you?
Im more distracted when I eat.
I don’t really treat the gift of food like a blessing
..I don’t really turn my meals into act of thankfulness .

.but paying attention to it.
even though I said “Thank you god..in my prayer..bless this food

Wouldn’t it be more..a true prayer or deeper prayer
a meal time prayer
or a table grace

If I I actually continued to to thank God
by paying attention,, and treasured this gift of food as the blessing that it is..
Don’t just say a table prayer.

.but let that time become prayer at the table

I think you can adapt that..so that it also a time to pay loving attention to the people with you the table..
Try it some time.
... some people would call this the prayer of mindfulness..
Being present to the gifts of God

Prayer as unmixed attention.

Where and when do you come close to that ?
maybe your prayer times
Are those moments
when you lose yourself in the satisfaction of some good project.
..or some time
..maybe holding or playing with a child
or a grandchild
or working with the garden
or on some walk .
or maybe in music,
,when it just holds your attention and moves you along

in the moments
when you got caught up in something that touches your heart for good..and for God

That s a moment of prayer.

One of the biggest ways that we misunderstand prayer.

is that we make it too complicated..

or we define it in just very narrow ways
we make it into something that is beyond us. or limited to the church

We seem to have made up a lot of narrow religious definitions of what prayer is.
..
And Im also sure that at least 99 percent of us. Want to learn and grow in our prayer life

Well I am still learning more and more about prayer as well.

.and Im seeing that prayer

is simply being with God

prayer is paying attention.
.trying to be awake
to the presence of God
notice..watching for God
in all the experiences of Life
I think that what Paul pointed to when he said pray without ceasing...

.live prayerfully. Live .intentionally..
prayer is listening
and opening the eyes and ears of the heart

and prayer
is simply opening myself to God
with whatever honesty I have in my life at that time .

..being honest with my ups and downs
being honest and open with my life

paying attention to God in whatever yearnings and worries
and pains and fears I might have.

That what I see in Hanna this morning...
Pouring out her soul
paying attention to her life
she comes with such a passion
..such freedom

as she comes before God..

I would say that she comes to God with all her heart.. soul ,mind and strength

remember when Jesus said that the most important thing of all
was to love God
with all your heart soul mind and strength
and to love your neighbors as yourself

that sounds like a guide for prayer as well

it sound s like mindfulness...heartfulnes
.soul fullness
unmixed attention

Now Here is the homework for the week
(Can I give you homework)
Follow this lesson plan

pay attention to something....in a prayerful way
use it as a lesson to practice on
to grow your prayer life
pay attention to some person..
Some experience..it might be some problem
.something around you or in you
or
in the words about Hanna
Listen for the ways that you might be pouring out your soul.

What do you do..soulfully...?

Maybe we can hear the invitation to do the same
simply pray like that..
Pray from the inside..
Pray with your soul
pray with the honesty and with an open and passionate attention...that comes from the center of your life.
.from the heart
give your prayerful attention
this week in some way of love.
Pray with love.
.maybe that’s also what it means to pray in the name of Jesus Christ
And to pray for Gods will to be done
it means
To pray with love..

I think that’s the prayer life we are a looking for

pray.. in whatever way takes your heart..to God..

Amen

M Mckenna is my source for this story of the women and the emperor
McKenna Parables 98

2009-09-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have not posted for so long. Of course I went 8 Sundays without writing a sermon while I was on a renewal leave in Australia and New Zealand...but will try to catch up soon.
Last Sunday we had a chidren's musical during the services, and the Sunday before that, pastor Jeff preached at Park church

Sunday Services at Park church are 9:30 and 11:15 plus we have added a midweek communion time at noon (12:05) Wednesdays.
We often have an audio recording of the Sunday service, available at the church office.
Thanks for checking in!
With metta...........

and blessings
Rory

2009-07-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

the chest of drawers

I got it

at rummage sale

it was 35 dollars

The person

said that her grandmother had it

(or maybe it was a great grandma )

it was old and very well used

　

even though it had had some ornate decorations

the top was covered up with lots of scratches

the person showed me where as kid

she had scratched her name into the top

　

it was interesting piece

And we could use it,,

least thats what I told myself

I needed a project like that

so I started refinishing it

　

The scratches on the top were just in the varnish

and they came right out

but then

I noticed

that it had this chunk of wood splintered off in the back

(But it was just in the the back)

and some of the old stain

was actually covering up some tough stains

.

and there were some other scratches

that were a little deeper

even a gouge or too

this furniture had been though a few repairs

some of the repairs

were pretty good

I could see some old staples

in the drawers corners

and then

there was the place where

It had been hit with a hammer

right in the front

...had those hammer head dents

　

　

but I kept working on it

and some

of those wear marks and hammer marks

(we could call them stress marks

maybe some antiquing)

and basically

its going to work out

I think it looks pretty good

its got character

I would say ..its one of a kind...you cant buy something like that.

now

somebody else

might have lookd at that chest of drawers

and said

that’s just a beat up old piece of furniture

not worth much at all

maybe its junk

it had already sat there

for a day without being sold

but I saw

some thing there..

Im thinking

that we are like that old chest of drawers

wouldn’t you like to be treated like that chest of of drawers

in this way

Don’t you want somebody to look at you

and see something in you

　

despite or inspite of

what you might look like

on the outside

and what has happened in your life

　

here is the question

What is in you

behind the damage

and the stains

and the scratches

and the wear and the tear ?

what is inside of you?

underneath the homemade self repairs

that maybe worked out

or maybe they didn’t ..

but nevertheless its what happened

　

isnt there something in side of you

that is deeper

than the hammer marks

so to speak

well there is

there is

something like that in you

and in the church

we call that your soul

you got soul

we are the kind of people

l who believe in things that cant always be seen

we believe in things like souls

You have an inner design and a beauty

　

you have a value and character

that is still there

always there

even though your outside

your surface life

your circumstances

might not

look like much sometimes

　

　

you are a soul

　

　twe are gods children

we are spiritual being

with a living connection to God

　

　

we are not just what goes on in the surface s of our life

ths is abid deal!!!

we need to hear that again and again

we are not just our conditions

you are not just a body

not just a gender

not just a nationality

not just a job

not just a number

not just

any of those conditions or circumstances

　

of course all of that of Touches you

shapes you.

.its part of your identiy

don’t misunderstand me. .its all wrapped up with you

and in many way its your story

just as the dresser has a story

So and so

carved her name in this place

and it has this broken part

that Happened

And all that

that furniture

was in a certain house

it had its history

so do we all

but you

are still something else

There is still

that essential design and value

within you

a diserability

this character of your own

..a uniqueness

you are a child of God

and Gods sees you that way

　

you are a beloved soul

no matter what has happened

God sees that in you

god loves you that way deeply

God see through the damages

and the wear and tear and

all of the ‘whatever"

god see your inner wonder

and treasures your soul

thats good news isnt it

do you believe that?

Do live liek that and behave like that

　

It means that you are seen with grace

Living with grace

is to see... and

to be seen

the way

that Jesus sees you

We see still need to be a church

like that today

Chrsitians that

sees that beauty and worth in every person

we need to be people

who can see beyond the surface

\can see

the trashed

abused

the stained

Patched up

and stilll love them

because we still know who

we all are

we know

that you are still a treasure

maybe there on the inside

and By god

by god grace

we are going to treat you that way

we do not discount people

or toss them away

we are in the restoration business

the refinishing work of Jesus Christ

let God love you at that core

at the center

in your soul

And love everyone else through you

　

at your..true life.

How is it with you soul

as you leave the doors

of ths sanctuary this morning

walk out of here as a living soul

and as best you can.

.by the Help of God

do not hurt a living soul

2009-03-24T16:25:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

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...
..

2009-03-05T16:38:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-17T19:38:00.000-08:00

Jan 18, 2009 Come and see
I don’t normally start a sermon with the Book of Discipline
its usually not a big attention getter
the book of discipline is our book of church laws
it’s the constitution and by laws, I suppose, of our denomination
And every four years it can be changed or revised by General Conference
I want to tell you about a couple of changes that im truly excited about
and it has to do with our membership vows
you’ve already heard me talk about some of this
when we do the membership vows
for years
we have said its about our prayers
our presence
our gifts and our service

it makes a nice four point sermon
and whenever
we have a baptism
for example
we use those words and for confirmation and joining the congregation
prayers /presence/ gifts and service
Now we have added something else
We have added witness
prayers/ presence/ gifts /service and witness
if you’re a member your going to do that
it’s a promsie ...its a requirement //I suppose
But do .you witness?
I don’t think you can get grandfathered under the old version
the new vows apply to every member
Have you been a witness?
do you know how to witness
do we have a witness as a congregation?
what is the witness..what are we talking about ?

And im going to say more about that witnessing later on

but here’s the other change that I want to highlight.
. Open up your hymnal to page 38 for example
you see that first paragraph? in the black ink
this is for people coming into the United Methodist church
it says
as members of Chrsits universal church
will you be loyal to the United Methodist church and do all in your power
to strengthen its ministries
I understand what this was trying to say
to strength and commit your self to United Methodist ministries
This is an important ministry
as United Methodist we have a great Wesleyan tradition
I We want to change individual lives and we want to change the world
and we have mission work and ministries that go around the world
we are a huge church
we do big things That I want to support
but I used to catch myself
on this loyalty part..
(Im kind touchy about that world)
Will you be loyal to the united Methodist church
loyalty is a deep word for me.
Should I be asking you asking you to be loyal to the Untied Methodist church?
I think we have one loyalty
firs t and foremost
and its not to a denomination
or an institution
as good as it might be

Im thinking that my loyalty ..our loyalty is to God
it is to Jesus Christ..
And the new wording... Makes that more clear.
Now The membership wording is
will you be loyal to Christ
through the United Methodist church// and do all in your power to strengthen its ministries
What we are about here; is not just the united Methodist church
not just park U m Church
not just an institution
this is not "I pledge allegiant to this special church club "
with my membership
this is bigger and deeper .
its about faith and spirt.! And relationship to Jesus Christ/.
And you know what ?
you already had that figured out...
Im thinking
that you’re here this morning
because This is about Jesus Christ first
you are here to be a Christian
And if we didn’t
have a Untied Methodist church
you would proabbly be a Christian
in some other church
you would probably just be somewhere else..
Because its about Jesus for you
and if you are thinking
that this is
all about the United Methodist church
and your just here because you got your membership here
..and maybe you grew up here...
maybe you been a Methodist all your life
..and you got this great Methodist family tradition

well god love you.. That’s great..
Thank you
but ..thinking deeper.
.isnt there something else going on.
Isn t about Jesus Christ.
In some ways as Methodists
we are supposed to be like John the Baptist
we have had John the Baptist in a few of the Gospel lessons lately
People kept going to John the Baptist
h’s out there saying
repent
prepare the way of the lord
but he kept pointing them to Jesus
John came to give testimony..John was a witness
he kept saying
don’t settle for me
don’t stop here
Im just the helper.
look over there
look at Jesus..
He s the one
we United Methodists in that sense should be baptists.
Let me explain that
we should be baptists .... As in John the Baptist
Pointing to Jesus.....Seeing the main point
That was his witness..
Now
whats that got to do with the membership vows..

Remember we are witnesses
as member of park United Methodist church you are a witness
we tell about something else..
we verify the truth of something.. We point out something
How do you do that..?
What do think of when I say witnessing
what’s coming to mind for you
witnessing
well maybe you’ve got some bad experiences
with that people who come to "witness" to you
Katie Schneider Bryan
our district superintendent
wrote about this in the district newsletter
she talks about non aggressive evangelism
if you’re a typical United Methodist
The idea of evangelism or witnessing Can make you kinda nervous

and people have been abused in the name of evangelism
she talks about a peanuts cartoon
Lucy is talking to her brother Linus
Lucy says
I would have made a good evangelist. ...
do you know that kid who sits behind me at school
I convinced him that my religion
is better than his religion

Linus wants to know how she did that
and she says
I hit him with my lunch box

maybe you’ve been hit by a lunch box about faith by somebody
and you don’t like it one bit

But that lunch box evangelism
that kind of witness
simply is not Christian
Is is not witnessing to jeus Christ.
. Because Jesus Chrsit. Is about love ..The Bibel says God is love
and Paul says
in I Corthns 13 love is kind
love is not arrogant or rude

love does not insist on its own way
I think we could substitute the word witness
and then say that Christian witnessing
is kind
christian witnessing
is not boastful or arrogant or rude
it does not insist on its way.
......................................
There was speaker at the a clergy retreat this week
and he talked
about sitting next to somebody on a plane
and the person next to him found out that he was a pastor
and so they got to taking about church a
and the young woman said
Im spiritual but not religious
and then she went on to talk about how
she had basically given up on the church thing
because even though we talk about love all the time in the church
She did not experience love
She felt that the people in the church didnt really want to hear her opinions
or what she believed
it was like
she just wasn’t going them right answers
or she was somehow not up to some standards
she felt treated like she was second class
she felt inadequate
so she left it.
She said
I don’t experience God there
------------
That was a milder kind of lunch box evanglism..
It didn’t work
and Im sure that the church didn’t even know it was coming across like that
makes you think..
are we really witnessing to Jesus Christ
as a spirt of welcome
a spirit of community
a Holy spirit of grace
and forgiveness and dignity ..room for differences
....when Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners .
when he fellowshiped with the outcasts of his day
What a sense of dignity and respect
they were being given in his presence
.they were experiencing God..
As .genuine love and attention
I hope that’s what people feel and experience from us here
and from you personally
is that your witness..personally?
Im sure we fall short but ..
at least we have the desire
seems,to me
that when we truely get it right
on this open hearts /open minds //open doors
people are going to get a good witness for Jesus Christ.
I think the membership vows are calling us to be that kind of a witness

But now let me get to the gospel lesson
because ti too is about witnessing.

its there in the words "come and see" in John 2:46
Heres the setting ; Jesus sees Phillp
and says to him ....Follow Me
and then Phillip finds Nathaniel.... and he starts talking about Jesus, he says we found the one
and hes from Nazareth...
Nazareth?
can anything good come from there.. Is that possible/
And then PHILIP says
come and see..
Or See for yourself.
Is how Eugene Peterson put it.
But come and see

Now that’s a different kind of evangelism than Lucy and the lunch box.
Call it the Phillip style of Evangelism
it s invitational and welcoming .... come and see
come and see where Jesus is
come and see what Jesus does . see who he is with
Come and see
What Jesus is teaching and preaching
come and see what is happening
And you get the idea
that philip doesnt want to keep Jesus a secret.
. He want others to come and see..
But Use your own eyes..
do your own thinking.. Bring your own questions?
Don’t just take my word for it
He wants to share The life of Jesus Chrsit
and so do we!
We want to share the power of grace and forgiveness..in all its rich variety
we want to share
the vision of the world
as God meant it to be..
A world without poverty and violence
World of compassion..and community
And prayer
And we are called to be the witnesses
that say
come and see
see what we are seeing ...because of jeus
,,but also see it for yourself

On Wednesday at our church conference
I was inviting people to think about this verse
come and see
and I asked you to think about what excites you in park church
want do you want to point too
that has touched you
what do you want people to see.
.and
Mary talked about how she has felt a welcome here
when she did not have a church..
she has felt welcomed here
and I heard about the work of the mens group
and what they have built at star lake camp..
we heard about the United Methodist women
we heard about meaningful worship..
and youth group
and the fair both.. Or bible studies
we heard about trying to get involved with the coalition to end poverty in Crow wing county.
(So do you invite people into those things also )
but again
why does that happen ..wahts the motivation/.the inspiration
Because of Jesus Christ..
Because if we did not have some love to share
or some calling to pursue
if we did not want to say yes to the holy spirit in our life
we wouldn’t be doing this..
It points to the evidence of God at work

But I do think
that we can do to a better job of saying
that this is about Jesus Chrsit
this is about God
this is about the holy spirit.. Thi is our spiritual formation work
That is our motivation....we do this because it s how God works in us..
We do it ,,,because that how we see God around us
Because anything less than that... is not enough..

.we Unite Methodists
need to be more clear as witnesses
by being able to talk about and practice the life of prayer
that moves us.
Talk about the things that inspire you..
talk abotu the bible verses that guide you
..or point you to God.
.and what
we are passionate about..
and why
and how it is ..so essential to who we are,,because it’s a God thing

Gods spirit
Is Pulling us and calling us.
Maybe we need to tell our own stories
about forgiveness or belonging..or changing our lives
and how we have hope
sometimes we have hope
that is just there
or sometimes
we have a sense of peace that passes understanding
in our souls
just because we do ..in the life of faith...
.it’s the spirit in us
(Anybody give me an amen on that .give me a witness!)
And maybe the best thing we can say is
Come and see ..
come and see for yourself

its witnessing
its evangelism.
.its pointing beyond ourselves .
.pointing to Jesus
And then finally
I think that speaking and telling our story of Jesus
..is at the heart of being a witness
we have a story to tell
we have a story that give us life
we have a story in the life and death and in the teaching of Jesus
we have Gospel
and it has a power that Just comes alive in us..
I like the Story
Martin Buber tells about his grandfather who was paralyzed
one time the grandfather
was telling a story about his famous teacher
the bell shem Tov
and so the grandfather
started telling and describing how the bel shem tov
used to jump up and down and even dance around
when he was praying
but the paralyzed grandfather
got so wrapped up
and animated in telling the story
That he himself
actually stood up
and started to dance around
to show them
just how his teacher used to do it
and from that moment on
the grandfather was cured
I don’t know what to think of that story
except to say
that we too
have a story to tel;..about our Master. Jesus
and I believe

when we tell it
with passion and enthusiasm
when we get into it
when we believe
what we preach
when we follow Jesus
it changes us
when we try to actually show somebody else
want the gospel story is about
what Jesus taught
when we start acting it out for others.
we get so caught up in it..
..we get saved
we get healed
spiritual things happen in us
come and see
how the story of Jesus enlivens us
come and see
how the story of Gods love
gets us moving
come and see
how the story of abundant life
is happening
That’s the witness that we can make in Jesus Christ
come and see,
invite others to come and see.

2008-12-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

Advent Silence 11;15 Dec 14 PUMC
Kathleen Norris
is a writer that I would fully recommend to you and in her book
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris
She writes about an exercise that she developed
back in the years when she was a resident artist
in elementary schools in North Dakota.
she wanted to teach children about the mysteries of silence.
She said to them
first you get to make noise
and then you will make silence
the first part was pretty easy
apparently they already know how to make noise
Norris
would raise her hand and that was the signal to make as much noise as they could
the only rules were that you could not leave your desks
you could only use your hands,
feet and mouth
and when Norris put her hand down the noise had to stop

they would stop.
Actually This usually took a few tries to get a serious noise..going but
but also to stop.

The rules for the silence were also simple.
Don't hold your breath
and make funny faces
breathe normally
but quietly
and sit still enough
that was the hardest part..
Sit still enough to make no noise at all
..of course they would have trouble with someone moving or a pencil would roll off a desk
But
she said
In all her years of doing this
there was only one time
that a class of children
failed to find the silence.
It turns out that a certain class had a teacher
who was constantly
yelling orders at them ....
this teacher would yell
– Write, don’t print your name
in the upper right-hand corner of the paper;
set a left-hand margin and keep it;
use a pencil, not a pen;
line the paper up with the edge of your desk for collection.
These children had so many little rules barked at them
all day long
by a burned-out teacher
that they had stopped listening,
and listening does tend to be is a prerequisite
for silence

well
anyway
In most cases
Norris said the children
were able to become so still
that the silence
was like a presence in the room.
The interesting thing though
was not just that they could do it ..but what they discovered and experienced in the silence

Most kids thought it was fun
and they wanted to do it again
. Some ..however thought it was scary
like the little boy who said
"It's like we're waiting for something - its scary!"

After the exercise,
Norris s would have them write about their impressions
and what they experienced.
Because what she really wanted to see... In that experiment
was how it opened up the imagination
She found out that when the children wrote about the noise
it was mostly
the usual cliches
like
'we sound like a herd of elephants'.
But when it came to the to the silence
they came up with some stuff that was
deep
and thoughtful
One boy came up with an image of strength
as being
'as slow and silent as a tree'
another person wrote that
"silence is me sleeping.. waiting to wake up.
Silence is a tree spreading its branches to the sun."
In a private religious school
there was a third grader who wrote this poem kind of prayer school,
"Silence is spiders spinning their webs,
it's like a silkworm making its silk.
Lord, help me to know when to be silent."
And in a tiny town in western North Dakota
a little girl
offered a gem of spiritual wisdom. . .
. "Silence reminds me to take my soul with me wherever I go."
.....I am talking about this because...as you might know
,we are using wonder .
.the sense of wonder
as a spiritual practice
or spiritual disciple for the month of December
I am inviting us to do some intentional wondering.
and silence
being in silence is one of the ways to do that

here again we have seem guidance and clues right tin some of the most popular and I would say most prayerful Christmas songs
so pay attention to the signals that are built into these traditions
Think about
the third verse in o Little Town of Bethlehem,
is a prayer ful reflection
how silently how silently the wondrous gift is given
No ear..
May hear its coming... (Get that)
no ear may hear his coming.)
So it’s a different kind of listening and silence right?
But in this world of sin
where meek souls will receive him still the dear Christ enters in.

you hear that the invitation to silence for the birth of Christ in your life
or think of the most popular church Christmas song ...silent night
we are going to sing it here on Christmas eve
it usually comes at the end of a service
after all the other business of Christmas
It s like
we instinctively or intuitively know that after the noise
after singing the louder song of joy to the world
and Hark the herald angle sings ..songs about glory
then its time to be silent

silent night holy night
all is clam ..all is bright

but you see
we are not there yet

we are still in the noise part of the exercise and that ok too
because the nosie is part of life
and the noise also happen to so we get the contrasts

here in advent we have the noise of John the Baptist
Crying
shouting even
in the wilderness
repent the kingdom of God is at hand
prepare the way of the lord

we are in the the advent season of the busy world and the crowds

But there is also another kind of silence
Do you remember in Kathleen Norris example
she told about a kid
who said the silence was kind of scary
and like we are waiting fro something

that is so true
In advent
we also read the prophets and we read about the vision and the dream of shalom
you get the worlds about the lion and the lamp shall lie down together
and they shall study war no more
Swords beaten into plowshares
and spears into pruning hooks
That’s the vision and the peace
and we simply are not there...it leaves us speeches and in the silence of longing..
It takes some silence .
.to hear that ..and be with that .
That silence is also .is unsettling and sad because we know that we are not there yet
it is the silence of naming our reality
and our shortcoming
we are waiting ,,
as in O come o come Emannuel ...longing..yearning
and it is not easy to listen
and feel the reality of violence ..injustice...sin...in the world
to think about terrorists...Iraq or Afghanistan
or the tragedies of drought and famine
or maybe your own economic worries
and
Well
it is tempting to just keep busy
and make noise and be distracted
rather than feel the calling of the vision..
The noise can be easier than the silence of reflection
Or maybe
when everyone else is talking about Christmas cheer and good will and The Bible dream when Sorrow and morning shall flee way
.. Maybe it is hard to be in silence
because
well we know the emptiness and the Grief and the loneliness
That Is also Who we are
and the contrast is just to much to bear
so gain the silence is frightening
maybe we are afraid that there is the silence of giving up
the silence of hopelessness
That maybe in the silence it will just be too dark

but
let me ..in the name of Jesus Christ..
Call us to try the silence
any way
because in the silence
in the deepest silence
you can also here the words Of hope
The light shines in the darkness and does not over come it
Christmas ..remember
is about the world becoming flesh
in other words the world actually coming to us
entering our lives
And maybe the way for that to happen
is for us to become the sacred
listeners
to be silent enough to just hear the WORD
the world of Immanuel ..God with Us
god with us
the word of hope and healing and light and life
the word Was with god
and the Word is God
and the WORD is what we have in Jesus Christ..
That word is being birthed
and Given in this Bethlehem story
but God is also still speaking in the living Word
and very soon
John the Baptist will
step aside
he will quiet down ..
And we can prepare the way by becoming the silent listeners
For the word
the silent word of wonder the silent world of love
the world that says you are loved even when you’re not doing anything
but just sitting still

I wonder
how much of Christmas
we are missing
because we are so much enjoying the noise part
That we forget
or cannot simply be still
The silence in Advent and Christmas is pregnant
Christ is being born
. Something new is trying to be born.
As that little boy from Norris example said
said,
it is
as if we are waiting for something.

If you I can take you to the end of the Christmas story in Luke it will say that Mary pondered all these things in her heart.
Sound like silence and wonder to me

So I invite you to yes
make all the good noise
you can even enjoy it
and have fun with it..
but when God ..
Gives you the signal to stop and be silent..
Don’t miss the experience .
Don’t miss that silent part
because that is the part that will
Stir your imagination
that is the creative part that will Overcome the frightening silence that is in us
and take us into the true and deeper
silence of hearing Gods word
Silent Night Holy Night All is calm
all is bright
How silently how silently the wondrous Gift is given

2008-11-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

Nov 2 All Saints and Names 2008 PUMC Rory Swenson
The Bible knows how important names can be
have you noticed how some of the greatest stories of the Bible are about names
Jacob.///back in the book of Genesis is named heel grabber .
.that what his name means
and he lived up to his name
as Esau’s twin bother
he was always trying to grab and get something away from his older brother..
and when Jacob meets God at the river Jabbok
he struggles and wrestles with god or some angel of god of God
but as a result
his name
gets changed to Israel which means wrestling ... struggling with God..
It’s a story about names
Do you know the story about Moses
at the Burning Bush..
Moses wants be a name dropper
who are you God,,give me your name
who
should I say you are ?
and we get the revelation of the divine name
the most holy name is so awesome and undescribable
that we really don’t know what it means
something like I am
or I am who I am
I will be there

now go to the new testament
and the birth of Christ .
.and we get more stories about names
you shall name him Jesus...
he shall l be called Immanuel..which means God with us
I suppose we could sing all kind of songs about the name
"take the name of Jesus with you.."
"Jesus Jesus Jesus there is something about that name
"Jesus the name that charms our fears"
...names
are in the stories
but some of that naming doesn’t happen with a story
sometimes its just a list
Long names
lists of so and so begot so and so..
.. Genealogies...
Mike North and some of you genealogists
just love those lists of names
normally I say
don’t worry too much about that those lists
if you are trying to read the Bible
don’t get stuck on all those names Just move on.
But I probably should not say that
names are important..
. names are about people
and remembering names
remind us that is people
particular who carry the story
it is people who tell the story
it is people who are the story.
..God uses these people in a certain time and a certain place
and sometimes
those names are there
just to say that yes ...thats exactly the point
God uses people who had names
God doesn’t keep a list of people called anonymous
We are not just numbers
we are not just faces in the crowd... god know our names.
personally uniquely
God knows your name!
...
we want to know ...that we are known by name.
I remember talking to a young person in church
and I had not been doing a very good job of using that person’s name.
. And this person picked up on that and
said to me do you know my name..
Well I did.
.and I was able to say well of course I do ...you are.... .
.and I said the name..
I realized waht an awkawrd moment this was
....if I had not known the name
and I gotta tell you that sometimes in the quickness of the line at the door
coming into church or going out the door
I ve been known to call somebody by the wrong name...
Couple weeks ago I called Patty ..Pam
and it bothers me
I usually catch myself..
But its too late.
When I ve done that...
forgive me..please
Names.
And the reason we want to wear the names tags is to help us learn each others names..
now
there is another story in the Bible
that is about names
another example I want to highlight
. And this one is found in the book of Exodus
at least that’s what we call it... the book of Exodus
and it the story of the deliverance from slavery
the calling of the Hebrew people out of Egypt ....
the central redemption story of the Jewish scripture.
But they don’t always call it the book of Exodus in Hebrew
its also called the book of Names
because it starts out like this...
These are the name os of the sons of Israel
who came to Egypt with Jacob each with their household
Reuben, Simeon
Levi, Judah Issachar
Zebulun, and Benjamin Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher .....
then it gives a little more information and
it talks about Joseph who served in the courts of pharoah
But then it leads into a story
and it says a new king came to power
or as another version had it
there was a pharaoh "who know not Joseph "
In other word Jospehs name got forgotten.... it didn’t mean anything to this new ruler.
Josephs name meant nothing to this new Pharaoh
And now
he could see how these Israelites had grown
So they got forced into slavery
And the....the ruler. who by the way is not called by name.. In the bible
Decides to do some population control
and he told the Hebrew midwives to only let the girls live
when they were delivering the children
only keep the girls
but now here is the key to the story
two Hebrew midwives
Disobey the pharaoh..
They let the boys live
and we are told who these two women
are by name...
Do you know who they were
Thousand s of years late
r we know there names Shiphrah and Puah...
Do you know how amazing that is
after all thee years form way back then..
over 3000 years ago..maybe almost 4000 years ago Their names are remembered...
Not the kings name..
not the upper class.
.but these midwives..with the Hebrew slaves
They are the ones who God was able to use
and because of Shiprah and Pouah
this boy child,,,Moses..is able to be born//
a footnote here.
You gotta appreciate this
you know
.all this time Pharaoh was afraid of the men
don’t let them keep those baby boys...
But Go ahead and keep the little girls
as if to say ....
what can they possibly do..
There just the women ..we don’t have to worry about the women
. But look who undermined..him .
.it was the faithful women
it was was these women. And their faith..
Who set the stage for the exodus
God used the unexpect.
and we have a God who knows that
pahariah and the power people of the world..like to ignore some types of peopel
but God doesn think like that.
Our God is all about about learning the names of peopel like hebrew midwives.
.and lifting them up in sacred hsitory
In a culture that didn’t care about women ...didnt value women.
God called them by name
and we remember them by name.
.God knows the names of women.
.and is saying to us..learn the names of the women
learn the name s of the people that maybe today
our society is ignoring.
Learn the name of the immigrants..and the poor..
Everybody has name
these names shiprah and puah.. are now holy names
Now.. do you know any other holy names
is there any holiness to your name?
I don’t mean
like... do you have a name from the Bible........ like Mary or Beth or Daniel , John..Issachar Obadiah
I don’t know any little girls named Puah .... it’s a good Biblical name
but.....if you were baptized
We were saying something about your name
It used to be.. That in the baptism ceremony
the minister would ask the question; What name is given to this child?
And so in some ways
baptism was also a naming ceremony
but if you look at the instructions for a baptism ..in the United Methodist book of Worship
it says that Im not supposed to baptized you with your surname
Don’t use the last name...
It says just the first name and the middle name.....why is that
Do you think the idea is
that we are being joined to a larger family
we have a new family name
that is greater than all the other family loyalties and kinships and identities..
We are into something bigger than just being
an Olson or a smith or Chung or Alvarez

we are becoming Christians
it’s a christening
at the baptism
naming you...forming you..changing your identity in the family of Christ
it’s the deeper identity..
that overcomes ..
all the family names..all the nationality and ethnic names
..and bring us together in this new name.
In Jesus Christ
I am not just a swenson
I am Rory Lee
baptized in the name
hear that?
baptism is in the the name
of the father and of the son and the holy spirit

my name... is connected to another name
Holy Name
that who we are are.
Named in the calling ....belonging and the vison of god
and in baptism
we are asking you
and asking the church
to remember
your real name .
.your holy name...learn your name
live up to your name
grow into your spiritual name

I heard of a mother who had a little boy whose name was Jackson,
four years old or so.
And every night as she tucked little Jackson in bed,
after they’ve said their prayers,
and just before she turns out the light,
she says,
"Now Jackson,
let me remind you who you are."
And then she will go through this long list of superheroes,
. "Jackson, you’re my Superman.
You’re my Power Ranger.
You’re my Buzz Lightyear.
You’re my Rescue Hero
. You’re my Lightning McQueen."
And little Jackson would just lie there with a big smile on his face,
taking it all in.
One night,
the parents got home late,
and the mother put little Jackson to bed in a hurry.
She didn’t take time to go through the long list of superheroes.
And a few minutes later,
she heard this voice calling out to her from upstairs
, "Mommy, mommy."
And so she runs over and yells up,
"Yes Jackson, what’s wrong?"
And little Jackson says,
"Mommy,
you forgot to tell me who I am."

In the name of Jesus Christ we get to here God always telling us who we are
who you are
who I am
and it is a spper anem...a powerful wonderful name
youare a child of God
beloved... Called
claimed...
People of light and eternity..saved by grace.
Known by name...
As we read the names on this memorial roll this year..
I know how holy and sacred this is...
I have thought for weeks now
as I looked ahead to this Sunday
I thought
oh its going to be hard to read those names again this year
..because these are not just nameless people
these are people that I too got to know
and I got to know their families...
I know some of the stories that go with these names,,
,we know how God used these people in some way
to touch lives
to grow the church
to share the love of God..
we are going to be praying the names
thanking god for the names
holy names
in the communion of saints
And we remember then
by name
in the loving holy name of Jesus Christ

Amen

*I have lost the source of the Jackson and names story....when/if I find it again I will cite it. And if you, reader. finds it, please let me know.

2008-10-16T16:58:00.001-07:00

Park UMC The Bible and Hope Oct 12, 2008

I might have too many themes going on this morning
too many topics
first of all
we have kind of a Bible Sunday..going on with
third grader and confirmation students getting Bibles this morning

I put that theme in some of the music and prayers
and I want to talk about the Bible
I love to talk about the Bible
giving Bibles
is one of my favorite things to do
and I know that as a congregation we love to do this..
Doesn’t it feel good to give...and especially to give Bibles
Well
the spiritual practice that is also being emphasized this month
is about the practice of giving
..its about forming the generous heart.. Christianity is about giving
. And beside giving out Bibles
we have a very practical way to do that spiritual practice...
with
Your estimate of giving cards that are available this month.
..that’s a clear way for you to think about your stewardship
how are being a faithful steward or manger of Gods world
that what stewardship means
it means managing what belongs to God
and how you share
and use the gifts of your life
how do you share financially to do Gods work..
So that’s a second theme this morning too
..Im not going to say any more.on that For now
you know how important this is
But we have theme with in the stewardship campaign this year
and its about hope....(you see all those wonderful hope posters around the building..?
.
And this is a good time to talk about hope...
We need some source of hope
because some people see this as an anxious time
frightening economic time....
Wheres the hope?
Maybe we can bring some of this together
let try this
I want to talk about the Bible and hope...
When we
as the church give people Bibles
when we have Bibles in our life
what are we hoping for...

First of all I m hoping that you
You all
as in all us .
Will actually make use of the Bible
read it..
Think about your own Bible reading
...and the bible in your life
Did you read the bible this week .
if we treasure this spiritual resources
do we use it.
Were you in a Bible study groups.
do you where your bible is...right now.
..how many Bible do you actually have...
By the way
The average American household has 3 or four bibles
but again When was the last time you deeply read the bible
I read a bout a bible scholar who made the wisecrack
he said ,
"If all the neglected Bibles were dusted at the same time,
we would have a record dust storm
and the sun would go into eclipse for a whole week." (David Nygren)
sometime this year
we are going to look at Bible reading
as a spiritual practice
so were going to wait with some of that
but to make the point today
use the Bible as part of your daily life..
Or even better
would be
to let the Bible use you... as a word from God

Now let me talk a little about how the and hope
I grew up with holy respect for the Bible itself..
I know it was a special book
..powerful book ..
after al l it said so,,,
Holy Bible right on the cover.
Holy,,
I remember when I was in the fifth grade
my family was moving into a new house ..
. well actually it wasn’t a new house
it was great old house
built in 1912
it had Belonged to the Englstad family
..in fact
it was the house that belonged to my friend Mitch Englstads grandma
we all still called it Grandam Ollies house
so my friend Mitch
and I were going to stay in the house for the first time.
We hadn’t moved in yet
But
I was going to have my own bedroom upstairs
my folks I suppose
were in the downstairs bedroom
and the two other bedrooms upstairs were still full of old furniture
Being stored there..by the Englstad family
But the room at the end of the hall was going to be my room
it was open
and it had a bed in it.
.now remember
I was in the 5th grade and Mitch was a 6th grader
upstairs
by ourselves
in this old house
and then we got ourselves pretty worked up about this
you know the old furniture in the other bedrooms
Mitch told me..
well that belonged to dead people...
Kind of mysterious stuff...had a few strange stories about them
And this old house
was kind of spook y
all the old house kind of sounds
creaking floors
..drafty at the windows..
Little wind howling
And best of all
or worst of all
.you could hear the mice in the walls
old plaster and lath walls
Some of it was insulated with old newspaper
years later we took out some of those papers .
.they must have re-insulated with WW 2 newspaper
I found articles on the bismark
and the bombing of London.. And pictures of Mussolini..
Well anyway
in this old house
mice were in there
scratching away
in the walls,,
,right by the bed...by the headboard.
scurrying around You could here it
Maybe even a squeak along with the rustling now and then...
Well between the scary stories
that Mitch was telling
and the sounds of the mice....and the old furniture.
And the house creaking
We were just plane scared to death
afraid...
but the problem is
when you’re a 5th grade or sixth grade boy
you cant admit that your afeard.....
You cant chicken out.
Mitchs older brothers would tell everybody
So we did what we had to do
we did
the only thing we could do to face our fear
and be the first people
in my new house..
to spend a night up in that old bedroom
so we prepared ourselves
we got our security
we armed ourselves with a hatchet..
And a Bible.
Ready for anything.

Well
I suppose that’s one way one to have hope
Biblical hope of sorts.. To face my fears

Looking back
I know that was kind of childish way to think about the Bible
kind like a good luck charm..
or an amulet. Against evil
Bu the bible isn’t a good luck charm
that’s just superstition
.I know th t just having a Bible ...doesn’t protect me.

.I know people who had their Bibles with them
but they still had car accidents
or tragedies and such
it does not work like that
I know
but

at the same time

I haven’t rely outgrown that
when
I know that got something coming up
and it might be hard to face
or scarey
and Im worried about it...
you know
I still take I Bible with me.
,in fact I ve got this little travel one.
. Its been on a few trips with me.
Been to few hospitals with me
,when I went to the hospital after my brothers accident..years ago
I took this Bible
when I knew
that t I was going to say goodby to my Grandam Ethel
in th Fargo hospital
I took this Bible.
I just needed it..
But its different now
some kind of visible reminder..
it what that Bible reminds me of
..it reminds me e of the presence o god
and that I might need to go there
and be there in some words
some word from God
and for God
and for myself,
,when I don’t know what else to say
I got these words..of faith and hope and love..
Its kind of prayer room
in the words..
There is a sanctuary in the words

I might need what’s in the Bible
I might need that peace
and that
comfort and that reassurance ...
I want to be able to read that psalm
.or sometime just hold the Bible
just hold it like a prayer
and know that im not alone...
And that God is still God..
and there is life
even though what might be in front of me at that time
is about dying...or sickness
..there is a life
and there is hope .
.even though I might be in kind of a hopeless situation
and there is power
even though I might be feeling pretty powerless to t change anything in that moment
There is a deeper higher power..
that I can trust
no matter what happens there is a word of God ...
I me memorized Isaiah 40; v 8
the grass whithers and flower fades..
but the world of the lord stands forever.
You s ee that’s hope.
I hope these young people
will know in there own way
what Im talking about
and what the church has talked about
what spiritual faithful people
have pointed to ..for generations
( are you with me )
you see that’s hope..
hope from God
and the story of Gods love
love for all people..
That’s hopes
Love that changes the world
the gospel story
the Jesus story
that is carried in this book
,,,that encouragement
this hope
happens
when you let it be your living hope
your story
your truth..
When you decide to let be...
In your daily life
Say yes to it..believe it.
.in your life
the other day
I went to see Les drake in the hospital
he had a light stroke.

Les Drake used to be the pastor here when this sanctuary part of the building got built..
.Les was the pastor then

And we had nice viist .hes doing ok.
and after we talked about all the usual kind of hospital stuff..

And we had a prayer...
and you know it was one of the those times
when the prayer just felt deep
and when we ended
there was this kind of prayerful silence
for a few seconds
it just hung there after the amen
and then Les said
you know I put my life in the lords hands 53 years ago
.and its been a good life.
MYBE NOT BY THE SECUALR WAYS OF LOOKIGN A T LIFE..
BUT it been good
Well I knew what he was talking about
53 years I think that what he said
Les’s ordination
goes back to 1955
That would be 53 years.. Ago
just saying yes to God
im your s
I put my life in the Lords hands
53 years gao...
It been all right..
Well I know he had some grief
some loss
some illness in those years
but well
he knows that his life is in Gods hands
that is hope
..living with hope
And if you spend time with the Bible .
.I think you end up in that hope
and youl end up spending time with God
you might end up spending time with Gods people
and people who lvoe th ebIbel
and who know what needs to be done to face the scary stuff n this life
and you might end up wanting to let the Bibel guide you
you just might end up with some faith
and some hope and some love
tha t overcomes The fear
and you just might become a sign of hope for somebody else in this word
I htink its supposed to work like that
and you might come to know that your life is in Gods hands
and thats hope,,
I hoipe
that these third graders and confirmation students and you and I
That perosn next to you..
People not even here this morning
I hope that years form now
you can all say
I put my life in Gods hands
2o yeas ago
30 years ago
4o ,,50 6o years ago
,,,and it s been a good life

that what I hope for you
that’s what the church hopes for you
a life of hope
to grow
in the hands of God...
you just might need to know today
that this week
. Or next year... Or who knows when
but in the name of Jesus Christ
we want to give that to you
and to everyone.
.to everyone
hope
have you got it now?
So when you get the Bible today
or all of you
when you pick up the bible and read it..
You have hope in your hands..
Hope is in your hands
that is not something that you keep to yourself
People need hope.
hope ful hands are able to give..
Hopeful hands are not afraid.
Hopeful hands can do what needs to be done
I hope ..that here in Park Church,, for gods sake.. That you pass it on.

2008-09-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

Park UMC The Potters House Sept 21, 2008

This is one of my favorite things to do in the ministry:
baptism and confirmation
I have enjoyed my time with this class
and this just feels right...
But I gotta tell you (students) you know you’re not Bible experts ...
there's a lot to learn
We didn’t have enough time together, you really didnt get any church history and
Im hoping we can still learn about prayer.,,y
ou need youth group and Sunday school..and bible study and worship....
I hope you at least ..know who John Wesley is.. Right?

You have no idea how much you don’t know about the spiritual life an Christianity!
But that is true for all of us..
So you have to keep learning ! How does that sound.
One of our confirmation students actually put it very well..
All of the the students had to write an affirmation of faith ,,as a confirmation requirement
A couple weeks agoone of the student was all excited and pleased
and said to me "I got my Aggravation of Faith done!"I kept a straight face "your aggravation of faith?"I said
..I bet your talking about your affirmation f faith..
. "Oh yeh"
But you know that aggravation thing might also be right
.after all,,
some of this is hard to believe
and maybe it s aggravating to believe that I have to forgive
and serve and give my money ... care about people
and love your enemy...and I have to watch my words.. Let go of my ego..and try to follow Jesus,,deny yourself
aggravating
I looked up aggravation in the dictionary and aggravation didn’t originally mean irritating or bothersome... Its from a Latin word
that means to make heavy.. If its aggravating.. its heavier
That ll preach...
Or as another confirmation student told her mother
when she was writing her creed
she said you know this is not easy..
(Amen
this is heavy stuff...as in deep ,,,,profound... A lot to think about..
Is this Heavy enough to make you think?
So let me take you to little closer at a scripture lesson this morning..
See if it saggravating...
Jeremiah 18... (that Katie read)...
Jeremiah heard the voice of the Lord saying,
"Go down to the potter’s house."
right there
Im thinking that Jeremiah... said to himself
what??? the potters house..
That doesn’t sound very interesting does it,
,at least back in those days
pottery shops are allover the place...
Now days you gott go see Bill grange
or go over to the franklin arts center to find the pottery studio
But in the Bible days
this pottery is everywhere
its just the dishes..
Pots and pans and you carry stuff in those pots
its storage ...it was the tupperware of the ancient world... Basic stiff
why go to the potters house?
You walk by it everyday.. So h’s probably not too excited..
Pottery what is there to see.
I’ve seen it all my life
But maybe that the first point..
the first heavy point?
When Jeremiah got sent to the potters house .
.God is telling him to look closely at the ordinary
God can speak to us,,in the common and the everyday life
like pottery but also like storms and rainbows
and dreams or maybe that still small voice,,
And th e old testament prophets were able to see God working in those daily routines.
.. And Jesus did the same thing
he told us to consider the birds of the air
the flower s of the field
the signs of the season
the mustard seeds and fig trees
planting a field ,planning a dinner party
..common ordinary stuff
but Jesus used it ..to teach us
and said pay attention
..for the lessons of God
the common and the ordinary. ....now what does that mean for you
I suppose you could come here Sunday after Sunday
and think
well that was pretty ordinary
worship at park Church
pretty ordinary..
Same old... same old
pick up the same hymnal.
how many times have you said the Lords prayer
sing the doxology.
.....read that Bible verse agin.
oh it’s the apostles creed again..
And didn’t we sing that servant song last month ?
And the same people in that pew over there.
.(you know where im going on this ..don’t you.
. in these tradition of faith."
.the same old..same old"
..we can start to say ho hum.
.what’s the big deal
l been there done that
nothing new..
Its like going to the potters house
.but the lessons are there
God says go look and listen..
That where my word will come to you
Because the lesson are here
.even in the same old songs
and the same old thing.
.Now of course
we ve got to be open to new people and new ministry
and be open to change
we have to embrace new music and language ...
the church at its best
is always re-forming and growing..
. my point is that God is in this ordinary religious stuff
..both old and new...so pay attention
Go to the potters house..
go to the places that are already in your life
and that where I will show something
go to the potters house
verse two says that is where I will let you hear my words..
Where is God telling you to look today ? Where will you hear the world of God..
I hope you hear it
in these Bible verses..and in the people around you
you could hear it in things like confirmation robes
and flowers and baptismal water
songs and in the prayers..
But beyond that.
All around you
in the common life on Monday Teus Wed Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Your still in the potters house..

are you open to God presence that is all around you everywhere every day!
John ortberg has a wonderful book called God is closer than you think,,
( put it on your reading list)
Frederick Beuchner...a great presbyterian writer says there is no event
so common..that God is not in it.
. But God is always leaving room for you to recognize him or not...
Because in the last analysis
all moments are key moments and life itself is grace..
Thomas a Kempis back in the 1400s said every creature will be a mirror of life to you and a book of holy doctrine///
another famous Christian said... Each moment is a revelation form God
can you r imagine that...Do you believe that?
Just when you think God is only in the religion business you find out that God is in the life business ...everywhere its all the potter s house?
Now think about that in school and work and sports and out for a walk
or on a bad day.......its all ...the potters house
I think that’s heavy
Now point number two,
what did Jeremiah see in the potters house..
What the revelation
He goes there
and he says to the potter
no Im not her e to buy anything
Im just looking
..and he is
h’s just looking.. For this word of the lord...,this insight..
so he watches the potter with this lump of clay
spinning on the wheel
th potter is touching it
holding it shaping it on the wheel
with his hands

but then
something happens
it s out of balance
or off center
twisted maybe
too wet ,or too dry..
Too hard... Maybe its got sand or a bubble whatever
anyway
its gone wrong
and what does the potter do
He starts over..
He started all over gain
and the reason is found in verse 4
it says
if the clay got spoiled
..if ti wasn’t turning out right..
The potter reworked it..reshaped it.
. And made it into something else
or in some translations it says he reworked it as seemed good to him..
You see the potter has a vision
of what that clay .that pottery..that vessel .. can be.
..uniquely and for good
and God knows,,
as the potter knows.
.that things happen ..on the wheel of life
the potter didn’t cause it..
But clay is clay..it has its variables
and its surprises
.but the potter worked with it...
The potter and the clay ,interact..
.....
God doesn’t cause bad things in your life.
bad things are just in life..
..in this world
life is going to be off center
out of balance
grainy..
and too hard and too dry it off course..that what sin actually means..out of pattern off course..
And things don’t work out
it s messy ...in the pottery shop....
but the good news is that god keeps forming us...
Recreating us..
Now that’s the good news
yes
we have those disappointment
we have those tragedy ,,there is greed and abuse and violence..and hurricane
we have those time when nothing is ;looking for good..
This world doesn’t go right (just watch the news)
But God says there is hope....
pay attention to this
the potter
doesn’t the clay off the wheel
the potter doesn’t
walk away
the potter keeps working
for good.. Beyond the frustration
beyond the corruption
in spite of the uncooperative clay
God does not abandoan the project
there is a patience and a persistence
God does not give up on this clay
it is the faithfulness so f God...to stay with this wheel of life..
does that mean that god knows what you can be?
what we can be
god know what this country can be
God knows what this world
can be
God even knows what this church can be
God has a vision...shalom..wholenss..
and God does not give up
why because
because God is love
Working for Good...
Like a potter with that clay
that why we have word s in our faith
like forgiveness and repentance
and healing and new creation
when
we talk about salvation and redemption
and amazing grace
its all a way of saying that
the potter is working in our lives
never giving up.,,helping us..
And today as the church
we are saying... yes.. that’s what we believe
that’s what we see in Jesus Christ
God never giving up
even when the clay gets as bad.
.as spoiled ..
as death on a cross
God is still at work
Saving us..
No matter how bad the clay can get.
. God is still there..forming us
God is transforming us...healing..
Like the potter with the clay...
But ...be open to that touch
desire that touch
trust that touch of the potter
can you see that we are all a work in progress
can we see ....the Holy pottery potential in each other
do you ever wonder what god sees in other people
can you just hope and wonder..what..can be
(Bill grange when you sit down at the pottery wheel and put your hand on that clay do you ever just start in and say let see what happens here...letting the beauty just happen?
I think god id creative like that....interactive,,spontaneous..relational.
Are we at least Waiting for God to keep working...on you ..in you..
Trusting..
Letting yourself get formed ..saying God
Shape me ,,
help me.
use me..
Lets see waht we can be..
You see that’s spiritual formation. Formed in the life of Christ...
.formed to be a vessel of God s love..
Each of us..in our own unique ways... No two pots can ever be exactly alike..
"So the potter remolded the clay,
as it seemed good to him."
You notice
that I’ve got the song in here this morning
Have Thine own way..
It was written by Adelaide Pollard
she was born in Bloomfield, Iowa back in 1862
even when she was a little kid she dreamed of going to Africa
she wanted to be a missionary ....she felt this call ...she got missionary training..
But when she was already to go..
Their wasn’t any money
They cancelled her plans. She went home to Iowa ,,just in despair.
.how could this be..

And in that pain and confusion she began to meditate on the potter,
... the verses that we read and she wrote the words :
Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will
while I am waiting, yielded and still.
We call it faith..
And it begins by discovery ....by trusting,,, by saying yes... That you a re indeed ..in the potters hands
and in the potters house

My ideas for this sermon came after reading Jack Harnishs sermon about the Potters House preached at First UMC in Birmingham Michigan. That is my wife’s hometown church where my mother and gather in law continue to worship. Beside being able to access them on the church website. My mother in law sends them to me.

Worship pt 1

2008-09-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

Spiritual Practice; worship Park UMC Sept 7 2008

As you can see from the sermon title we’re going to think about worship this morning
Back in the church newsletter
I said I was going to give some attention to some spiritual practices this year
spiritual practices are tools or disciplines that we use to help us spiritually grow as Christians

I said I would give some type of emphasis or topic each month..
I might do that with a hand out.
I might have some homework for you to try
maybe you could actually try to do some fasting or tithing.
. prayer or spiritual reading
or silence ..maybe some attention to beauty or art.
..but I said that worship was going to be the first spiritual practice
And in fact....
.... lists spiritual practice or spiritual discipline
very often
put this at the top of the list.....
So here we are
Now as soon as I got working on this
I realized that this was One of those way "too much to cover" kind of topics
so this might end up as a two part sermon
ok?
we could look at Bible verse on worship
and we will
we could look at the traditions in the history of worship...
Do you think we have traditions!
well maybe a little
we could look at styles of worship ....
and you know there is a lot of variety out there.
Its one of those things where everybody has an opinion
we get so opinionated about worship!
" I don’t like those kinds of songs or that kind of music
and I want this or that (A s if its about you)
well
we’re not going to go there
maybe we could talk about "why" we worship
how to prepare for worship
think about it
..what did you do.. to prepare for worship?

and then of course
there is some thing very practical as well
I want to increase worship attendance!
just get here
And I would love to see you doing that this month...
I would love to set some attendance records this year
..Do you know that when you compare our membership..with average worship attendance
we get less than 50% attendance and we consider that normal in most churches
for a lot of churches we only plan on 50 percent attendance
in fact
if all the members from park church
w anted to show up
for the 9:30 service..
we wouldn’t have room for much more than 50 percent..
What does that say about expectations?
Does that sound right?
I want you to show
and up and be here.
We gotta count attendance every Sunday
Hey
I got file a report on that every year..
And You know people judge us by how many people come here.
..its just a fact//
we look better ....when we fill up the place..
So do your part..
Show up and get counted
Ok now that’s my confession

well... Not really....
You know im teasing you ..being a little cynical
I know there’s much more to it.
This goes way deeper than doing reports
it goes deeper
its what we do here
gathered together
in the name of Christ
this thing called worship
I believe this is the most important thing that we do
it becomes the center
that connects
al the res t of the ministry that we do as the church..
So its not just about numbers and statistics
its being the church

worship is one of the most important connections that we have with God and with each other
in the spiritual life
and I believe
that if we don’t get worship..right
in our church life.
,everything else is going to be in trouble
\
now
how about some Bible verses
you want to hear about worship
read the Psalms (Psalm 148)
all that talk about Praising the Lord
come let us worship and bow down
worship the lord with gladness
come into his presence with singing..
Make a joyful noise to the Lord
.I could go on
worship is all over te psalms
its what the psalms are
the psalms
are the song book
and the prayer book
for the Jewish people and for the church
and you see that it has a lot of joy
. And celebration
I think one of the best reformations in the life of the church
has been the rediscovery of joy and celebration
as the mood of worship
now I understand that the dark colors in sanctuaries
and the minor notes in the music
and the sense of solemnity and order
that was the main mood for a lot of the church.....
it meant well
holiness and reverence.
This .kind of solemn assembly..
.look your best,,sit up straight..don’t talk.
Respect and dignity in the presence of God
I understand that
..but ...did we squeeze out the Biblical joy of worship !..
Is it possible to make worship into something dull and boring/
God is not dull or boring.
.now on the other hand
I think we might have gone overboard
when we try to make worship into entertainment shows..
.I personally don’t want to feel like Im at a concert or some kind of Jesus Las Vegas show
(personally I like things on the quieter ..slower side..that’s just me.. I am an introvert)
so Getting ourselves hyped up for the lord ..and feeling good.
is not always the same as worshiping the lord
can we keep some sense of balance
or maybe variety in the mix.
Here at park church,
we have what I call a spirited traditional style.
.. I don’t see us as too high church or formal
..although we use the organ.. And we have the robes for the choir and for the pastor.
.except in the summer.
.and we do have something less formal here at 11;15 service

we also know that we have to offer some other choices in style and music
we are going to have the Awe services starting on October 19th
Sunday evening service..at 5 pm at the light of the Lakes
AWE as in alternative worship experiences..
It might not be your style and that oks,,
but it also might be
just what your looking for..

Worship has to have variety ...one size doesn’t not fit all..
but...... it needs to fit in somewhere in your life....
And its my job..
one of my jobs
to say that you just need to be in worship
.
And if you want that in a Bible verse
here it is
Hebrews 10:25
it doesn’t say that its... Specifically about worship
but the translators think it is.
It says "et us not neglect to meet together..as is the habit of some "
you hear that ?
As is the habit of some..
even the early church had people skipping the worship service..
Peterson in the Message translation
it says let us not avoid worshiping together

we know that gathering for worship
was a pattern in the early church ..
it was part of the Jewish tradition that the church started with.
Now
let me say two things about worship
#1
worship is a sign of Gods invlovment in your life
#2 worship is a sign of being in Gods new community
let s take them one at a time
first of all if you believe that god is involved in your life.
.then worship is how you show it.
Do you remember
when God was calling Moses to lead the people out of slavery
to lead the exodus
and Moses wanted proof.....a sign / .that this whole thing was real
and that this God was real
and God said back in Exodus 3:18
the proof
the evidence ,would be that the Hebrew people
would come out to worship God
..three days out into the wilderness.
They would worship God
Think about that
these Hebrew slaves
will not be worshiping the god of the pharaoh
or the gods of Egypt
the first sign of the exodus
the first sign of salvation
was worshiping this other God..this true God
Worship is a sign of Gods deliverance at work
worship is a sign
that we belong to God
you belong to God
not to some pharaoh
not to some other ruler
some other nation
not to the economic power of the world
not to the government
not to your job
not to you past
you are not a slave
you are not a prisoner or a captive
but rather
a child of God..
.Gods people..yes you are a chosen people
worship is a sign that you are being set free
by the power
and the claim and the call of God
do you believe that?
now that should excite you
Why would you want to miss that
or
forget that..even for a week..
every time you come to worship god
you are living in the great truth of a god who is saving you and loving you

and working to over come all the chains and the shaming
and the oppression of the world in your life
no wonder
it was expressed with joy and thanksgiving and songs of praise..
It was good news ..and hope and promise
worship is a time to live out that kind of life ...that god has for us...
Worship is an experience
of entering into this new world
into this life that god is working ..to give us..
again
If you were a Hebrew slave
and you were out there worshiping God
it was a sign that you were getting away from your old life
you got away from Pharaoh and the abuse
and the degradation of that life that was trying to use you
to break you down and keep you down
worship was sign of God.at work
and it was sign..of course that pharaoh...or any ruler of this world
does not want to see true worship threatens the order of the world
you know if you want to really control somebody..you gotta control their religion.too...
(If you want to oppress people..you gotta suppress their religion)
worship was a sign that there was greater power happening in this world
worship in that sense becomes a witness of defiance
it this holy rebellion that says
..w e belong to God
to this God and this God alone

because this is the only God who saves us.
That’s what you are saying... (oh ..you bunch of radicals.!
You are saying that you have this Holy God working in your life..
Powerful stuff
do you want to say that.
. Then come to church and worship
worship is a sign of belonging to God
we are Gods people.
And nobody else owns us.
that’s my first point
now .
related to that
worship is also sign of community. Holy Community
In Bible faith
in Biblical spirituality
your "God life" and your "people life...cant be separated.

This is not just something private and individualistic
In the church
we can talk about this in a uniquely Christian way a s well..
Its about Communion..
..(And this might surprise us as United Methodists)....
communion
was at the very center of Christian worship services
they had some kind of communion meal all the time
not just once a quarter
or even once a month
the lords table was the central image for Christian worship
we gather in Christ around the bread and the cup..
.and John Wesley by the way
tried to keep that central importance
but we lost it along the way..
now
why was that so important to the worship life of the early church ?
Because they saw it..in Jesus
its what Jesus did.
. Jesus formed his life
and he formed his followers around the idea of an open table..
Look at his parables about banquets and wedding parties .
About who to invite
and where to sit..
Look at his his lifestyle and his practices..
He embodies this gracefully open table
But in the Jewish culture of his day ...
and also a lot of the Roman culture.
this table talk was full of rules..
was very structured and hierarchical
status and prestige got demonstrated at the table
power got demonstrated at the table
your table was like a miniature model for your society
your table was like a microcosm of the world
and who you ate with
was a statement...and you didn’t just eat with anybody..
Except that Jesus did..
and he got in trouble for it..
one of the clearest things we know about the historical Jesus
is that he ate with tax collectors and sinners...
and in some of the verses it refers to harlots..
..now that word needs to be clarified
it meant that he included women who didn’t fit in with the strict rules of society..
they might have been single
but they stayed more independent of male ownership
or control
.they didn’t become some mans property
and so they were disgraced...or just left out
they didn’t fit in..except with Jesus.
.he took them in
and it looks like the early church did that pretty well at least for while
and the communion table
this open table..
.this shard life in equality.. And acceptance
Was ritually built in to the worship service of the Christian church..
It was there In the practice of Holy communion
the lords table was a key to Christian worship services
Worship therefore
is a sign of being a new kind of community..formed by different values
formed by God in Jesus Christ
formed around forgiveness and grace.
That makes a different community
I remember the words that were written over the door way of Marsh Chapel back in Boston University
it sais :Abandon rank all who enter here."
worship is a sign
that God had made us one..
One level.
God has overcome our brokeness ..our sinfulness that spiritually divides us
even though we still have our diversity and our differences.

pay attention to that..
In Christianity worship and fellowship are intertwined
God has given us all value and equality
God has called us to care for each other....
.and we worship God by Demonstrating that in our life

we embody what Jesus said
and
its about experiencing the great commandment
about both loving God
and loving our neighbor as ourselves
worship again
is a sign of what God is doing our lives
God is bringing us together in new way.
.something very different than the rest society
worship points to our higher obedience
The lords table ..the communion table
is our microcosm
or little example
our foretaste.
of the kingdom of god
and the new creation..the new social order
God is making us into this kind of people.
.God is making us one in Jesus Christ
or as st Paul put it
in Christ
we are neither slave nor free
Jew or gentile
male or female..we are one in Christ,,

and in Christianity
it means
that when we leave people out
when we demean others
exclude others
when we treat others as inferiors
as less than the way
that Christ treats them

.then our worship is not in spirit and in truth
why ?
because it is not worshiping in the name of Jesus Christ.

there is a little piece of wisdom form the Persian poet Hafiz
14th century mystic poet
If Godinvited you to a party andsaid,"Everyone in the ballroom tonight willbe my specialguest."
How would you then treat them when you arrived?
Indeed, indeed!
Have you ever thought about worship like that.
.it is your invitation as Gods special guest.
At the banquet the feast
the ball room
. not only you..
.but everyone else..
Everyone here
called by name
chosen people!
Graced people
loved by God

And how
would we then see,
and treat
each other in light of that invitation

You know...
we try to have this special open house month every September
in the United Methodist church..
.try to be extra nice..
.we are nice. .its not an act. and polite
and practice hospitality.. And I know sometimes we miss people and we mess up.
but this also has to be more than a program or something to try for a month
its part of worship..its worship.
Its who we are in the spirit of Christ
.it how we are to be
together
in the presence of God
worship
is who you are....
It who we are as the body of Christ
the body of Christ is a body of worship glorifying God
It’s a powerful way for us to grow as Christians
Again in the words of Hebrews
let us not forsake or miss the habit of meeting together

Its time for the call to worship

2008-09-04T07:56:00.001-07:00

These were passed out for the Rosebud trip

Prayers and reflections for your use
May I walk this dayin the realm of grace,walking with Youmy feet firmly on your earth-path,my heart loving all as kindred,my words and deeds alive with justice.
May I walk as blessing,meeting blessing at every turnin every challenge, blessing,in all opposition, blessing,in harm’s way, blessing.
May I walk each step in this moment of grace,alert to hear Youand awake enough to saya simple Yes.
- Robert Corin Morris From p. 213 Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life

Prayer for Simplicity
Lord, help me now to unclutter my life,to organise myself in the direction of simplicity.Lord, teach me to listen to my heart;teach me to welcome change, instead of fearing it.
Lord, I give You these stirrings inside me,I give You my discontent,I give You my restlessness,I give You my doubtI give You my despairI give You all the longings I hold inside.
Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth;to listen seriously and follow where they lead,through the breathtaking empty space of an open door. - Northumbria Community (from Celtic Daily Prayer)

EVER-LOVING GOD, who having loved us loves us still, help us to hear again your word, "By this shall they know you are my disciples; that you love one another." Turn our hostility into hospitality and our callousness into care. Through Christ, we pray. Amen.
- Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck From p. 175 A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People

GRACIOUS LORD, you are the beginning and ending of all things, my center and my circumference: root and fix me in you in such a way that my soul finds rest in its true home and never stops growing in grace, safe and secure in your loving embrace. Amen.
- Paul Wesley Chilcote p. 23 A Life-Shaping Prayer: 52 Meditations in the Wesleyan Spirit

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"» Abbey of Gethsemani
-
GRACIOUS LORD, you sang all that exists into being: give me a voice to sing your praise in all that I do, a heart to seek harmony with all your creation, and a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving to tune my heart to the keynote of my life, my Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
- Paul Wesley ChilcoteFrom p. 41 A Life-Shaping Prayer: 52 Meditations in the Wesleyan Spirit

WHEN DISTRACTING NOISES come, don’t fight against them, do not elbow them out, but accept them and weave them by prayer into the silence. Does the wind rattle the window? Then pray, "So let the wind of the Spirit shake the Christian church into life," and absorb it into the silent listening. Does a child cry in the street outside? Then pray, "So cries my infant soul, which does not know the breadth of Thy heart," and absorb it into the silent listening prayer.
- Thomas Kelly The Sanctuary of the Soul p. 54

ALL-WISE GOD, you have called me here. Sometimes I question that call. All I ask is that I have the mind of Christ, who emptied himself of personal gain and was obedient to death. Let me die to my ego and in dying to my fantasies accept the reality of where I am. Amen.
- Richard Morgan p. 87 Settling In: My First Year in a Retirement Community

OUR PRAYER BEGINS where all prayer must begin, in the realization that the One to whom we speak is a God of grace. … To pray to such a God is like falling into the arms of the one you love. You open up your life to the One who is always faithful and trustworthy. You look to God, in the midst of hopelessness and in confidence, during times of deep personal agony and glorious triumph, from positions of overwhelming abundance and of utter desperation, and you find the Lord already near.
- Paul Wesley ChilcoteA Life-Shaping Prayer: 52 Meditations in the Wesleyan Spirit
From pp. 21-22 of A Life-Shaping Prayer

GOD, YOU ARE AT THE CENTER of this. Or you are all about me. Or even though I cannot name how you are here at all, still you are. I cannot rush matters now. Where would I rush to? I cannot deny that I am completely at sea. The sea and the drifting are all I look upon, day to day.
Yet somehow, by the thinnest of membranes, you keep me from sinking into the abyss. With your barely perceptible touch, you convey me, though I have no idea where. Through all of this uncertain movement, let my heart be toward you. Let me trust … and wait.

- Stephen V. Doughty "Adrift" 19-20 Weavings Journal
GOD OF THE GOOD NEWS,in the fullness of my life,empty me of distractions.Still my busyness.Quiet my chatter.Sing your song of grace to meuntil the tune ringsin the core of my beingand my life resonateswith your good news.
- Alive Now From p. 36 of Alive Now, November/December 2000
GOD,forgive my faultsand re-create mein your love,through Jesus Christ.Amen.
- Marianna K. Nealdevozine magazine , November/December 2004

FROM OUR BLINDNESS that cannot see the pain in others’ lives, from our fears that distance us from others, from our indifference that cannot relate to others’ suffering, deliver us, O God. Amen.
- Richard Morgan Settling In: My First Year in a Retirement Community From p. 141
COMPASSIONATE GOD,help me notto walk behind othersor to walk in front of thembut to walk beside themwith kindness.Amen.
- Richard Morgan
MAKE US AWARE, O God,that even in the darkestplaces on earthsome love is foundand music abounds.Amen. - Richard Morgan
O GOD, CHANGE my heart. Transform the attitudes from which my actions grow that I may honor you and others in my daily interactions. Amen.
- Mary Lou ReddingThe Upper Room Disciplines 2007

POTTER GOD,shape meand form meinto a vessel holding your good news.Amen.
- Alive Now
From p. 55 of Alive Now, September/October 2007

God, may I no longer be my own but yours. Put me to what you will; rank me with whom you will. Put me to doing; put me to suffering. Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you. Let me be full; let me be empty. Let me have all things; let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God — Creator, Redeemer, and Inspirer — you are mine, and I am yours. May this promise that I hereby make on earth be ratified in heaven. Amen.
- W. Paul JonesAn Adaptation of Wesley’s Watchnight Vows

2008-09-02T18:16:00.001-07:00

THE APPLICATION
"Doing" Christianity (or not?)
Read of each of thes 4 quotes one a time but pause before reading the next one and write down your one or two word "gut reaction" first thing, that comes to mind response to the quote you have just read.

I remember a conference in NYC. The topic was social justice. Assembled for the meeting were theologians, pastors, priests, nuns and lay church leaders. At one point a Native American stood up, looked out over the mostly white audience, and said, "Regardless of what the New Testament says, most Christians are materialists with no experience of the Spirit. Regardless of what the New Testament says, most Christians are individualists with no real experience of community." He paused for a moment and then continued: "Let’s pretend that you were all Christians. If you were Christians, you would no longer accumulate. You would share everything you had. You would actually love one another. And you would treat each other as if you were family." His eyes were piercing as he asked, "Why don’t you do that? Why don’t you live that way?"
By Jim Wallis Source: The Call to Conversion
Your first reaction_________________-
"The cost of following Jesus entails not only giving up the past, but also giving up various options for the future." Vinay Samuel Quoted in Cry Freedom, by Charles Ringma
Your first reaction_________________-
The Talmud (Jewish )Look ahead. You are not expected to complete the task. Neither are you permitted to lay it down. (In other words we cant quit just because something is to big for us to finish!)
Your first reaction_________________-
"Serving others was meant to be more of a lifestyle than an event"
Jennifer L Arnwine in Jan Feb 2008 Alive Now p. 4
Your first reaction_________________

Reflecting on these quotes together: What do they say to you? Do you agree with them? Does it seem impossible? What did you do today to be a Christian on purpose?
How can you do this more often? Do you want to make this more of a lifestyle rather than an experience?
What is one step you can take to make this happen more in some part of your life.... try to be as specific and practical as possible considering your particular situation in life? What will get in the way of your doing that?
Spend time in silence and reflection, then journal your thoughts
Possible group sharing..what is some small change you could try make in the way you live your daily life..give an example if you can

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DEVOTION AND REFLECTION FOR WEDNESDAY
" THE DAY OFF"
This is (or was) a day to think about how you spend time not working or at rest and play, slowly down to think or just to be!... whether you went tubing or off to see some site, or just spent the day around the Tree of Life Center.
Continue to practice your sense of awareness and peace.
Maybe this is a day to not do any multitasking? Maybe you can do some inner listening or be quiet as you think about what you are doing or what you did.
Pay attention to beauty and joy and things that make you happy? There is always some goodness of life in every day. Celebrate it!
What did you enjoy about not having to work! Consider also these thoughts
W. Muller writes about Sabbath and Sabbath times:
"We need to listen to the spiritual traditions. Jesus said, "Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy," and "Come, that you might have life and have that abundantly." The Buddha spoke about joy being the fruit of spiritual practice. No spiritual tradition says that God wants us to be exhausted. No scripture says we’re supposed to be totally burned out. Almost every scripture says that the fruit of life is joy—being happy in all that we have been given and all that arises in the course of human life. There are sorrows, but the more spacious we become, the more joyful we become in being able to embrace everything. The Sabbath has a joyful uselessness to it. We are not supposed to accomplish anything of any significance so that we can stop looking for what’s not there and have the time to drink from what’s already here. When we’re on the wheel of constant work, our eye is on the next thing that has to be done, what hasn’t been accomplished yet. Sabbath is a time to eat what you’ve cooked, to harvest what you’ve planted and to give thanks for what you’ve been given. It’s a time to bless our loved ones and to eat, drink, ..... The sensual delight associated with Sabbath reminds us that one of the fruits of spiritual practice is useless happiness.
Once people feel nourished and refreshed, they cannot help but be kind; just so, the world aches for the generosity of a well-rested people. Source: Sabbath By Wayne Muller

WHEN YOUR SPIRITstarts to feel weary,feed yourself with quietness,with beauty,and with prayer.
- Helen R. Neinast and Thomas C. Ettinger
**********************************************************************On poverty and the poor.
A devotional focus
Obviously you are seeing conditions that might be very different from your own. Rosebud is at least among the top ten poorest area in the United States. Journal some of your observations about this.
Read the following statements slowly and let them settle into you. You might also write down a word or two of response or question after each of these statements

The median income for a household in the Census Data Population fpr Rsoebud was $19,906, and the median income for a family was $19,866. Males had a median income of $17,188 versus $23,886 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $8,462. About 40.8% of families and 43.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 46.8% of those under age 18 and 11.9% of those age 65 or over.

Wacantognaka, the Lakota word for generosity, means to contribute to the well-being of one's people and all life by sharing and giving freely. This sharing is not just of objects and possessions, but of emotions like sympathy, compassion, kindness. It also means to be generous with one's personal time.http://www.aktalakota.org/index.cfm?cat=1&artid=46
The measure of a society’s progress is not whether it can give more to those who have more, but whether it can provide enough to those who have less.- David Lim
O God, to those who have hunger give bread; and to us who have bread give the hunger for justice. - A Latin American prayer Quoted in Cry Freedom, by Charles Ringma
.
Psalms 72:1-4 Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king's son. May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness. May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.

Deuteronomy 24:19 When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.
Proverbs 22:9 Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.
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Proverbs 13:41 Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor [God].

For not only do people need food, but they need also the touch of a hand, the sound of a voice. For food lasts but a day, but love is for always.
- Mother Teresa

By Shane Claiborne Source: The Irresistible Revolution

Almost every time we talk with affluent folks about God’s will to end poverty, someone says, "But didn’t Jesus say, ‘The poor will always be with you’?"
As we study the Scriptures, we see how many texts we have misread, contextualized and exegeted to hear what we want to. Like this one about the poor being among us, which Jesus says in the home of a leper and after a poor marginalized woman anoints his feet with perfume. The poor were all around him. Far from saying in defeat that we should not worry about the poor, since they will always be among us, Jesus is pointing the church to her true identity - she is to live close to those who suffer.
The poor will always be among us, because the empire will always produce poor people, and they will find a home in the church, a citizenship in the kingdom of God, where the ‘hungry are filled with good things and the rich sent away empty.’ I heard that Gandhi, when people asked him if he was a Christian, would often reply, "Ask the poor. They will tell you who the Christians are."

By Leonardo Boff Source: Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor
Is it possible to live in peace and happiness when you know that two-thirds of human beings are suffering, hungry and poor? To be human we have to have compassion. This solidarity is really the defining factor of our humanity and is gradually being lost in a culture of material values. It’s not only the cry of the poor we must listen to but also the cry of the earth. The earth and human beings are both threatened. We must do something to change the situation….
There won’t be a Noah’s Ark to save only some of us. To meet people’s fundamental concerns, change is needed. The world as it is does not offer the majority of humanity life but rather hell. I believe that change is possible, because I cannot accept a God who could remain indifferent to this world, but only one who cares about the poor and the suffering.
...............................
So you Americans who really want to help the poor have to change your own government first. You Americans who want to see an end to hunger and poverty have to take a stand. You have to fight just like we’re fighting—even harder. You have to be ready to be jailed, to be abused, to be repressed. And you have to have the character, the courage, the morale, and the spirit to confront whatever comes your way.
- Elvia Alvarado Don’t Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart

By Frederick Buechner Source: The Longing for Home

Woe to us indeed if we forget the homeless ones who have no vote, no power, nobody to lobby for them, and who might as well have no faces even, the way we try to avoid the troubling sight of them in the streets of the cities where they roam like stray cats. And as we listen each night to the news of what happened in our lives that day, woe to us if we forget our own homelessness.
To be homeless the way people like you and me are apt to be homeless is to have homes all over the place but not to be really at home in any of them. To be really at home is to be really at peace, and our lives are so intricately interwoven that there can be no real peace for any of us until there is peace for all of us.

Jean Vanier
When I discover that I am accepted and loved as a person, with my strengths and weaknesses, when I discover that I carry within myself a secret, the secret of my uniqueness, then I can begin to open up to others and respect their secret. Each human being, however small or weak, has something to bring to humanity. As we start to really get to know others, as we begin to listen to each other’s stories, things begin to change. We begin the movement from exclusion to inclusion, from fear to trust, from closedness to openness, from judgment and prejudice to forgiveness and understanding. It is a movement of the heart.
It is not just a question of performing good deeds for those who are excluded but of being open and vulnerable to them in order to receive the life that they can offer; it is to become their friends. If we start to include the ‘disadvantaged’ in our lives and enter into heartfelt relationships with them, they will change things in us. They will call us to be people of mutual trust, to take time to listen and be with each other. They will call us out from our individualism and need for power into belonging to each other and being open to others. They will break down the prejudices and protective walls that gave rise to exclusion in the first place. They will then start to affect our human organizations, revealing new ways of being and walking together.
So, the one-way street, where those on top tell those at the bottom what to do, what to think, and how to be, becomes a two-way street, where we listen to what they, the ‘outsiders,’ the ’strangers,’ have to say and we accept what they have to give, that is, a simpler and more profound understanding of what it means to be truly human.
If we start to see people ‘at the bottom’ as friends, as people with gifts to bring to others, then the social pyramid, with the powerful, the knowledgeable, and the wealthy on top, becomes a place of belonging where each person finds their place and where we live in mutual trust.
Is this a Utopian vision? If it is lived at the grassroots level, in families, communities, and other places of belonging, this vision can gradually permeate our societies and humanize them.
I’m not suggesting for a moment that each one of us must welcome into our homes all those who are marginalized. I am suggesting that if each one of us, with our gifts and weaknesses, our capacities and our needs, opens our heart to a few people who are different and become their friends, receive life from them, our societies would change. This is the way of the heart.
Jean Vanier is the founder of L’Arche, a network of communities in 30 countries for people with intellectual disabilities and their assistants. This writing is from his book, Becoming Human.

I ONCE heard a wise priest say, in a meditation on gratitude, that we should be especially grateful for whatever breaks our hearts. Reflecting on God’s promise to write "upon" our hearts rather than "within" them, he suggested that our own hearts are so hard that all God can do is write upon the surface (Jer. 31:33). It is only when our hearts break, that they break open: then the word of God can enter deeply, like a seed in a harrowed field.
Perhaps this heartbroken availability is the "gift of tears" the desert fathers prized so highly, and urged each other to seek so urgently. … But in a special mercy, not only the specifically prayed-for tears of the ascetics will avail us this vision and this ministry: the ordinary sorrows of an ordinary life will suffice.
- Deborah Smith Douglas "Wounded and Healed" From p. 23 of Weavings Journal, March/April 2000.
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This Devotion or Spiritual Practice Exercise is on words and language ;
what and how we communicate with each other
Be mindful and careful with your words.. We use them all day long, both giving and receiving. It is one of the most powerful things that we do each day. As a group these words can hurt or help us in community. Listen to how you hear language being used around you. How will you let Christ speak though you today? How do words shape your actions and feedings and altitudes. How are you listening?

Consider the following statements.

By Margaret Wheatley Source: Turning to One Another

A gesture of love is anything we do that helps others discover their humanity. Any act where we turn to one another. Open our hearts. Extend ourselves. Listen. Any time we’re patient. Curious. Quiet. Engaged…. Conversation does this—it requires that we extend ourselves, that we open our minds and hearts a bit more, that we turn to someone, curious about how they live their life.
Speaking to each other involves risk. It’s often difficult to extend ourselves, to let down our guard, especially with those we fear or avoid. When we’re willing to overcome our fear and speak to them, that is a gesture of love. Strangely, what we say is not that important. We have ended the silence that keeps us apart.

By Dietrich Bonhoeffer Source: Life Together
It must be a decisive rule of every Christian fellowship that each individual is prohibited from saying much that occurs to him….
Where this discipline of the tongue is practiced right from the beginning, each individual will make a matchless discovery. He will be able to cease from constantly scrutinizing the other person, judging him, condemning him…. Now he can allow the brother to exist as a completely free person, as God made him to be.
Now the other person, in the freedom with which he was created, becomes the occasion of joy, whereas before he was only a nuisance and an affliction. God does not will that I should fashion the other person according to the image that seems good to me, that is, in my own image; rather in his very freedom from me, God made this person in His image. I can never know beforehand how God’s image should appear in others.

Scripture: Read James 3
What was the most helpful or encouraging word that your heard all day? How will you consider your words tomorrow?

Hiddenness

2008-09-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

Hidden Work
Scripture Matthew 6
"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' in front of others, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Read this quote by Henri Nouwen
Hiddenness, a Place of Purification
One of the reasons that hiddenness is such an important aspect of the spiritual life is that it keeps us focused on God. In hiddenness we do not receive human acclamation, admiration, support, or encouragement. In hiddenness we have to go to God with our sorrows and joys and trust that God will give us what we most need.In our society we are inclined to avoid hiddenness. We want to be seen and acknowledged. We want to be useful to others and influence the course of events. But as we become visible and popular, we quickly grow dependent on people and their responses and easily lose touch with God, the true source of our being. Hiddenness is the place of purification. In hiddenness we find our true selves.

Write your first reaction______________

is this easy for you to do?

Aug 31 sermon notes, unedited

2008-09-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

One and Half Followers Matthew 16: 21-28 Aug 31 2008

There is an old sufi tale..a story from Iraq or Iran that talks about being followers..
.and I am going to tell the story because it compliments what Jesus is talking about in the Bible verses this morning..
You heard Jesus in verse 24
if anyone wants to become my followers..
Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me..
Verse 25 takes it even farther.. Those who want to save their life...will lose it..
Now those words should slow you down
this is not casual conversation
... talking about life and death..its serious stuff.
..listen to what this is taking about to follow Jesus
(And you do want to follow Jesus don’t you...isn’t that why you’re here?
Well
there is a cross involved..
not just the cross of Jesus..(not jsut what he did....)
but it says take up your cross..
It talks about losing your life
and denying yourself...and what you are going to do,
Now
you might want to ask yourself what that means
and how it could poosbly apply to your life
are you and I that much of a follower
and do you want to be..?
..that’s a deep question
and as a pastor or a preacher this morning
.I cant let us just skim by these verses
so let me back up
and let it settle in with this story
as I said
a story from Iraq or Iran..
Once upon a time
there was a man who became the head ,the sultan,
of the great ottoman empire
and that meant
that he was also the ruler of a great territory
his land included the desert
those parts of the empire
that were hard to live in
but for the people who knew how to live there
it was also rich with beauty and strength and treasures

as soon as this man became the sultan
he was warned about a certain caliph.. or a master teacher
who was said to have thousands of followers
this man had great influence and power
so much influence
that if this caliph ever decided to rebel against the sultan
he could overthrow the empire
and maybe become the ruler himself

or if this caliph of the desert ever joined forces
with somebody outside of the empire
They would have a combined force that could not be stopped..
But the head of the empire ignored all these warnings..
The years went by.
And in those years
there were plots to overthrow the government
Coups that failed
and there were assassination attempts
And always
the caliphs name came under suspicion
who else could be doing this?!
who else had that kind of power?
....he must be behind it all
so finally
this leader of the empire
listened to this accusations and set up a meeting with the caliph of the desert...
He went out to meet him alone.. Out on the edge of the desert
the caliph came riding out of the desert on his great Arabian horse
he got off in front of the sultan the leader of the empire
and he knelt down in the sand with his head touching the ground ;
(which was the custom of loyalty an allegiance )
then
the caliph stood up
and said you are my master.
What ever power I have here in the desert
..belongs to you and I will gladly give my life .so than my master may live.

The sultan hugged him and said
"how are you my old friend
I just wanted to make sure that you were still my follower
You see
my advisors have been afraid of you and suspicious
they have warned me about your thousands of followers
they are afraid that you will turn them against me
and they would do whatever you commanded
But I know
that you are my follower
so that everybody who follows you
will also follow me..
whether they know it or not
And so the two leaders
talked about their days together
back when they were young and lived in the desert.
Finally
the sultan ,said
"By the way my friend
how many followers do you have
just between you and me.
.how many faithful followers do you really have?

The caliph thought about this for awhile and finally he said "one and a half-
yes, I think that’s it one and a half.
The sultan didn’t like this answer
he felt insulted
as if his friend was lying to him
or toying with him
Why would my advisors be afraid of man who only has one and a half followers!
we are going to see about this
I am going to find out how many followers you have

and so with that that the sultan rode away and sent out orders for the caliph to be arrested..
he was captured and put into chains and taken off to a prison
Then the sultan sent out orders ...through the whole empire
he announced that the caliph of the desert had fallen from grace and that he would be killed
unless all of his followers showed up on certain day in a certain place.
Then the sultan set up a tent on the edge of the desert
out where the meeting place was supposed to be..but inside that tent. The sultan put about a dozen soldiers and a few sheep
And he waited.
On the appointed day,
he brought out the caliph..still in chains
and they waited on the edge of the desert to see how many of his followers would appear.
And as the sun came up that morning
They came hundred and thousands of them
on horseback and camel
on donkey or on foot
they came as far the eye could see.
.such a huge number.
Young and old
.men
women and even children

the sultan looked at the caliph
and said
one and half followers you say?! Then who are all these people?
The caliph said to the sultan " I do not know "
Well
we shall see...!
and then the sultan faced this great mass of people
and he said
this man..(he pointed to the caliph)
your master has fallen from grace
and I am going to behead him
on this very spot
right now
but if 10 of you
are willing to give up your life
so that your master can live..
then .step forward
...and if not...
well..
the sultan pulled out his sword
there was a terrible silence.
.a long silence
then a man stepped forward
and put his hand over his heart
and spoke the ancient ritual words of loyalty
he said
Sultan this man is my master.
Everything I know of wisdom and truth, he taught me
Whatever I have of strength and power in the desert ,
he share d with me
. I will gladly give my life so that my master may live.

The sultan snapped his fingers
and the solders marched out and grabbed the man
they marched him into the tent
took him inside
dropped the flaps so no one could see inside the tent
and then they cut the throats of three sheep
and they did it in such a way
that the people could see the blood run out form under the ten
and into the sand
there was murmur in the crowd
and if you looked carefully
you could see people slipping away
back into the desert
not many .
but still enough that you would notice.
Then
there wan another long silence
by now the sun was higher in the sky
and the desert heat was rising as well
the people were sweating and you could see the tension
and the sultan shouted out and said
That s one. I need nine more ...or your master dies,
again
there was whispering and murmuring in the crowd.
. And again a long silence
until finally a women stepped out of the crowd
and the crowd groaned
because she was a woman
and in those old Islamic culture..
for such legal matters as this..
. a women only counted as one half...only as half a perosn
But the women
put her hand next to her heart
and she spoke the ancient words of loyalty
this man is my master.
Everything I know of wisdom and truth
he taught me
Whatever I have of strength and power in the dessert
, he shared with me.
I will gladly give my life
so that my master may live.
Again
the sultan snapped his fingers
and the solders came
and got the women
and took her into the tent
covered up the doorway
and the cut the throats of three more sheep
once agin
the blood ran down the sand dunes underneath he tent
but this time
there was panic in the crowds
and people pushed and shoved
and they scattered back into the dessert
soon
there was no else except the sultan and the caliph standing out side the tent...
The crowd was gone
so the sultan took the chains off the caliph
and lifted him up on his feet
and said My friend I am sorry
you were right
You have only one and half followers
How awful you must feel
all of your time and your work
and this is all you have
only one and half followers

But the caliph looked at the Sultan
and said to him I know what your thinking
you are thinking that the man is my one true follower
and that th women is the one half follower
but that is not true
the sultan said
what do you mean
according to our law... The women is only counted as one half.. And the man is one.
But the caliph said it has nothing to do with law
discipleship is not about the law

It is all about faithfulness and love and devotion
when the man stepped forward
he didn’t know that he was going to die
he thinks everything is a test.. And he has a lot to learn
h’s a good man ..a bit arrogant ..and kinda naive
But he has possibilities
he is the half follower

but when the women stepped forward..
She had already seen what had just happened
and she knew she was going to die
therefore she is my one true follower!
And the sultan had no more to say
And (Megan McKenna says)
when they tell this story today they ask. Which one are you?
are you the crowd that shows up. To claim loyalty
.but then disappears when they are asked to step out..
Are you the person
who is arrogant or naive and thinks everything is a test..
but you have possibilities
Are you the woman
who knows that if you follow the master
if you follow Jesus
you will die with him
...................
Well...I think we still need to bring this closer to home
giving our life for Jesus ..dying for the faith .
.making the single great sacrifice
probably wont happen to you this week
or maybe this year.. or maybe never in your lifetime
but the work of your cross
the dying of your old life..
.so that you find the new life..
is the daily spiritual pattern of our faith
as Jesus said in verse
by losing your life in Christ..you will find it..
You come to the true life.
You come to the true life
by denying yourself
by crucifying
your self centered life
you let the ego control die.
Eugene Peterson gets at that layer of meaning
in his version of these words from Jesus
Jesus says..
Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead
your not in the drivers seat..
I am
don’t run from suffering
embrace it.
Follow me and I will show you how..
Self help is no help at all.
Self sacrifice is the way..
(you hear that self sacrifice is the way)
my way to finding yourself. Your true self
underline that
the only way to find your true self
is the way that Jesus shows us.
.it is the way of the cross
.
the life of surrender...giving up your ego life
NOW back to the question
how much of a follower are you

I don’t know if I can even claim to be one half.

but here we are as propel claiming the name of Jesus Christ..
are we like that crowd that shows up..maybe Sunday after Sunday ready to promise our loyalty
but how do we really do and show our love and our faithfulness
I gotta tell you about Ed Harrison
on our trip to Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota
we had a fantastic week by the way and I hope we keep going out there to work with Tree of life Ministry.. Of the United Methodist church
anyway
Ed WAS A medicine MAN WHO PRACTICES some of the traditional Lakota ways..
And he was taking to us about the sweat lodge ceremony
and some of his experience with Christians. And the church
. Basically what he said
is that as Christians
we make claims that we don’t live up to
He made me think about what it means to claim to be a Christian..
And you know we toss that claim
and that identification around pretty easily
don’t way
im a Christian
we say
Christian this
Christian that
but Ed
caught us off guard
because he would ask us as a group
are you Christians..?
Are you a Christian
.and when someone said "yes.."
he said
"can you walk on water... ?"
Show me.
.we can go to my stock tack
and you can show me
.well he was Teasing us some...pushing us around a little
but his point is valid
what he was really saying

was that if you are a CHRISTIAN ..as you claim..
show me something
besides just taking
show me some Jesus things
show me that Christian life
show me some evidence
some power

but I would also say that this not just about walking on water
but show me your faith
show me who you follow
show me how much of a follower you are
by showing the world
The sacrifices of your life
your love
your compassion
your genuine trust
your generosity of sharing.
. And yes
being willing to suffer for others ...to pay the price .
.to at least be inconvenienced.
.to make others have things better.
If someone wanted to see if you were a follower of Jesus Christ
could you show them your cross...in your life
how much do people see the Jesus life in us
the cross shaped life. .... people are askign to see how many folowers he has.
Maybe that’s how how we let Jesus know
who the followers are..
By giving our life
.our time
our talents,
our will..
Or
its like Jesus simply said
This is how they will know that you are my disciples
that you love one another.. As I have loved you ..
How can you take up your cross..?
And do something specifically..
. Intentionally, practically
.. Not just theoretically
as a follower of Jesus Christ..
But something that shows..
That’s what this life
is all about
As the church ..as disciples of Jesus
maybe we can show the world
or maybe just show the neighbors
or show even one other person how many followers Jesus has

How about you

The One and Half Followers story is in two of Megan McKenna’s books , Parables, and Lent, Sunday Readings. Orbis Press..
I have adapted the wording to my delivery style

2008-08-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

Aug 3 2008 sermon A miracle of Faith
I can appreciate the feeding of the 5000 after fair week
I wonder how many people we fed at the fair booth
and I gotta tell you I think it is a miracle to see that happen every year
.. And of course the whole point of a miracle
is to help you believe in God..
.and I think that happened with fair week
and Im thinking too, of all the ways that we spiritually feed people all year long
now having said that..Look at the gospel lesson
Jesus does the miracle but The disciples cooperate with it
the disciples are also part of the miracle ;
they set the stage by their act of trust and obedience as well
they give up something..to see something greater..
did you see it in there?

The disciples see this huge crowd of hungry people
Jesus says: you give them something to eat
they said
we don’t have anything here
but 5 loves and a couple o f fish
and then Jesus basically says
ok Give me all you ve got
give me your food...
share what you have
And that’s where the excitement and amazement begins
..but really
the miracle starts with the disciple giving their food to Jesus
We would have no story
if the disciple had said ‘no way...
this is our food
we need this bread
and we need this fish..
If we give you this,,
then we wont have anything..
But instead they trusted..
.they over came their natural reluctance and self centeredness
and the offered what they had
not knowing what would come next

not knowing what this would mean
that’s the lesson that I would underline this morning
as a picture e of faith and ministry
some time Christian miracle making is very much about giving up what we have
offering..
or even sacrificing up
what we have worked for
giving up
what we think we need...
Doing things
that might seem even foolish or counterintuitive
As an act of faith
giving that up
and then to see the greater vision..that really is what I see in this gospel lesson
now here a story to illustrate the lesson
maybe help it sink in..another old Jewish story
Once upon a time there was school teacher who had not seen his wife and children.
For twelve years
you see... he had to leave his home because of the debts he had back in his little village
he had been running a small inn there ;just a few rooms
but he could Not make enough money to keep ahead so he went to another town
far away where he worked as a Hebrew teacher
,,teaching young boys their alef-beit
but the teacher lived very simply
saved as much as he could
and finally
Coin by coin, through the years,
he saved up a grand total of nine hundred rubles.
Now..With his savings..
he was determined to go back home at last...
He could pay off his debt to his landlord ,the Duke,
marry off his daughters, and spend his older years in the company of his patient wife.

Now, this teacher was also a faithful Jew, Hasidic jew
and before he started out on his journey back home
he went to Berditchev,
and prayed in the synagogue of the great Rebbe Levi Yitzchak.
To his joy, the Rebbe greeted him warmly after the prayers,
and invited him to eat at his table
But all Through the meal,
the teacher kept thinking about his travels.
he decided, that as soon as he got a chance
he would ask the Rebbe's blessings
for a safe trip and speedy return home.
But then Suddenly
the Rebbe turned to the teacher,
and spoke to him

"If you wish, the rabbe said
I will tell you three words of advice."
Well this was so wonderful for th teacher to hear
..he was so proud just to have this chance
"But .the rabbi said
for each word of advice
you must pay me in full.
For the first piece of advice
you must give me three hundred rubles."
The teacher looked at the rabbi and he could hardly believe his ears

Three hundred rubles?!
But he obeyed
instantly.
After all.. Was it not written,
"Words of Torah are more precious than gold?"
So the rabbi gave him the first words

the Rebbe said
"When a man does not know which way to turn....
"he should always turn to the right, as it is written,
'All your turnings should be to the right.'
Now If you want to hear the second piece of advice
you will need to pay another three hundred."
The teacher froze in his seat, his heart was beating wildly.
For these few words he had just paid three hundred rubles?
And three hundred rubles for the next?
What about his wife his wife?
His many daughters? His debt to the landlord?
His years of labor?
But his Rebbe had spoken,
and the teacher could not refuse.

He counted the second 300 rubles on the table, and waited.
"An old man and a young wife is half death,"
spoke the Rebbe.
"If you wish to hear the last word of advice,
you must once again pay the same amount."
Torn between two impossibilities
the teacher sat paralyzed for a long moment.

Then, with trembling fingers,
he opened up his sack for the third time
and emptied out everything that was left
He was filled with a strange recklessness and elation.
It was his Rebbe speaking. Come what may,
he would obey him.
The final set of wisdom was this."Know
, my son, that you should believe only what you see with your own eyes.
This is the last advice I give you.

Now go in peace, and may the L-rd bless your journey home."

Dazed and bewildered,
the teacher wandered through the streets of the town.
His faith in the Rebbe, in the holiness of his purpose,
never wavered, not for a moment.
But how could he go back home empty-handed,

He was poorer now than the day he had left?
No, no, it was best to go back to the school,
and save up some money again.
How long? Another twelve years?The teacher walked blindly,
oblivious to his surroundings;
in fact did not notice the townsmen until they were upon him.
"Where are they?
The thieves, which way did they go?
A reward is on their heads!
To the right or to the left?"
The teacher hesitated only for a moment.
"To the right!"
he said firmly,
remembering his Rebbe's words.
A few hours later,
the teacher was on his way home,
he was walking with such joy
because In his hands
was a bundle of 600 rubles,
his share of the reward for the capture of the thieves.
In his eagerness and anticipation he could have walked all night.
But it was growing dark,
so he needed to stop
the road was deserted,
and a hard rain rain was staring to come down
. The teacher stopped at the first inn that he came to
and asked this frail old innkeeper if he could spend the night.
The old man was about to let him in
, when a beautiful young woman appeared along side of him
and, to the obvious astonishment
of her husband,
this younger woman firmly refused.
"There is no room for you here tonight!"
she said sharply.
Go Find some place else"

the teacher remember the second set of words from the rabbi
"An old man with a young wife,"
. He decided to stay there anyway so he got up under the eaves..tight against the walls
A few hours later
, the teacher was startled by the sound of wagon wheels.
He looked through the rain,
he saw two men get off the wagon and stand for a moment in front of the inn,
they were pointing to one of the darkened windows.
They knocked on the door,
and were let in right away
but In the beam of light from the doorway,
the teacher saw that one man was carrying a deadly weapon.

Now you gotta know teacher was not a reckless man,
but the wonderful events of the last few hours gave him courage.
Leaping to his feet, he started to hammer on the window of the inn
. "Help!" he shouted. "Murder! Murder!
Don't let them get away!"

The household woke up with a great noise.
Lights flashed in the windows.
There was a clatter of wheels,
and the would-be-murderers escaped.

In the morning, the teacher was once again on his way,
richer by 300 rubles.
The grateful old man, who seemed to have suspected the plot,
would have given him even more.
But the teacher had refused. After all he had his nine hundred rubles.
... After that He had no more adventures along the way
and in just a few weeks
he was in sight of his village.
H could see the old stream,,his old school..the streets
and just down the road
there was his own house
But
The teacher remembered the last warning of the Rebbe,
and he did not go right back to his home and family,
even though
every nerve in his body wanted to rush home
Instead,
he stood around on street corners,
at the front of shops,
he was like a curious stranger,
chatting with the Jews of the town.
But no one recognized him
The 12 years of exile must have aged him
But he knew all the people that the meat
Casually,
he questioned them: Does anybody know about the innkeeper
who had left the town about twelve years ago.
But what he got back was puzzling looks ..and a kind of sadness
Ah, yes,
the poor man disappeared,
not a trace of him for twelve years.

And his wife,
may the L-rd have mercy,
such a fine family!

How sad--she had left the straight path,
she had fallen in evil ways.
The teacher
listened to their words
and he was upset by What he heard

but remembered the Rebbe's dearly bought advice:
"Believe nothing you do not see with your own eyes."

That night
the teacher stood outside of his home,
in the shadow of a large oak.
In the pale light of the moon,
he saw the figure of a young man go up to his house,
and knock on the window.
The face of his wife appeared at the window
and was gone
. The door silently opened.
Hours later, the youth left, as silently as he had come.
The teacher would have turned his back, and left his home forever,
but he remembered What the rabbi had told him
so , he calmed himself and waited.
The next morning, the teacher knocked on the door of his home,
he was all dressed up in fine clothing,
his arms were full of gifts,
he was a father returning to his family.
Everything was just as he had dreamed a thousand times.
His wife ran up towards him,
her face was radiant,
"My husband, my husband!"
His children, were numerous and beautiful, they had grown beyond recognition,
they surrounded him, drowning him in kisses and tears.
But In the middle of all this teacher stood silent,
he was sick at heart.
Alone at last with his wife,
he had to say something .
"What is the use of all this?
Haven't I heard the whole town talking?
And, yes,
I have seen it with my own eyes..."

"Stop, please stop!"
His wife said
her face was so full of sorrow
"Don't say another word.
You left us for so many years,
have you forgotten everything?
Have you forgotten our youngest son?"
Then the teacher realized that in all the turmoil of his homecoming
he had not noticed that his youngest son was not there
he had been such a small boy back then 12 years ago

the wife said
"The Duke has taken him,..... when I could not pay our rent.
As security on our debt, she said, they took our son
. For months, for years, I cried, and pleaded.
But it was no use.
He has been in the Duke's house ever since.
But God has been good to us.
He is a fine boy. And Every night,
he has slipped away from the manor and come home,
and I have studied with him, a little bit of our ways
. It wasn't much,"
"But thank God, at least he knows he is a Jew.
Now do you understand?"

, the teacher nodded. ..he didn’t say a word
He understood.
And
In the days that followed,
the teacher paid the debts..got his son , and married off his daughters.

He spent the rest of his days in peaceful study,
at the side of his good wife.

But before he turned to the urgent matter of setting his house in order,

the teacher tried to share his understanding with his wife.

he said
It was not only that God had given the Rebbe this extra wisdom ;;;
that was marvelous enough.
But What seemed even more wonderful to the teacher
was the wisdom of having to pay all those rubles to hear those words from the rabbi because if he had not paid so dearly for the wisdom..he might have ignored it at the end

But the greatest of all,
and here the teacher shook his head
in humble amazement,
the greatest was how G-d
had given him--such an ordinary Jew-
-the strength to give up his last ruble
when it had seemed easier to sacrifice his life.
----------------------
Now what that’s got to do with the gospel lesson this morning
all along in that story the teacher had to trust things that he did not understand
and in the process he had to give something in faith
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
as the story ...says that..That too is a miracle

In a sense we live out the feeding of the 5 thousand again and again
whenever we ordinary people
trust god enough with out work
our time ..our money ...our own needs
And our dreams
but dare to somehow give it to God
and let Jesus use it...
Ministry happen When we trust the word of God
Good things happen... that would not have happened other wise
people get fed
Physically and literally and spiritually
the ministry that we do in the church
always uses your cooperation..your commitment
it is your time
your work
your money
that is the loaves and fishes that Jesus Multiples and people get fed...

As you share communion this morning
you and I,,,,, on one hand .... we are the crowd of 5000 people
that Jesus fed .. We are being fed..in this communion food of Gods love ..forgiveness..and Gospel
but those multiplied loaves and fishes came from generations of disciples before us....
We are not the first to do this.!
And on the other hand we are also those disciple giving the loaves and fishes that will feed the multitudes to come
through the miracle of Jesus
What will you offer to Jesus this week,, and in the year to come
how are you living the miracle of faith

Weeds

2008-07-20T19:52:00.001-07:00

Park UMC R Swenson Mt 13 July 20, 2008
We are in what I call the Ag department of the Gospels
..this is farming country
in Matthew 13 we have these agricultural parables
.... farming stories
the parable of the seeds and the sower with the different kinds of soil
now this morning we have the wheat and the weeds
and next week
we get something about a mustard seed

but did you also noticed that mixed in with these seed parables
there is actually talk about parables themselves
in this same chapter... in verse 10
the disciples are asking Jesus; "why do you speak in parables?"
and then Jesus talks about the use of parabels
again in verse 34
and you can also here
the disciples wanting Jesus to interpret the parable
so let me actually start with a little story
about parables and truth
it’s a traditional Jewish story
Once upon a time,
Truth went into the streets ...just as naked as the day he was born.
It was the naked truth
But no-one would let him into their homes.
No one wanted him around
When People saw this naked Truth
, they turned away and ran
One day
when Truth was wandering around feelign all sad
he met up with Parable.
Now, Parable was dressed p in some fine fancy clothes with beautiful colors.
And Parable, looked at Truth, said,
"Tell me, neighbor, what do you look so sad?"
Truth said, very bitterly ..
truth said
My friend, things ,are bad.
Very bad.
Nobodys want to hear the truth
maybe I'm so old,
that no-one wants to have me.
No-one wants anything to do with me."

Parable head this and said,
"People don't run away from you because you're old.
I am also very old . And I have always been here too.
But the older I get,
the more People seem to like me
so
I'll tell you a secret:
Everyone likes things disguised and prettied up a bit.
Let me give you some splendid clothes like mine,
and then you'll see that the same people who pushed you away
will invite you into their homes
and they will enjoy your company."

so Truth took Parable's advice
and put on the borrowed clothes.
And from that time on,
Truth and Parable have gone hand in hand together and everyone loves them.
They make a wonderful pair.'

some other version of the lesson go on to say that Truth put on the clothes..
Of metaphor and symbol
poetry plots and story

Edward R. Murrow must have known the story of parable and truth
when he said
Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them
and cover them up, at least a little bit –
so what is the naked truth that Jesus is dressing up in the parable of the wheat and the weeds?

remember the parable for just a little bit... a farmer gets good seed planted in the field
but somewhere along the way
something else shows up
and when the wheat heads out
the other plants get discovered

now it doesn’t spell this out in the parable.... but in the middle east back then
there was a common problem with kind of wild grainey weed
the older translations called this parable of the wheat and the tares
the tares were the weeds
this kind of weed looked like the good wheat
it was sometimes called false wheat
.. you couldn’t tell the two apart until closer to harvest time
when things headed out
you see the good wheat
would get heavy
and it would droop down a bit
but this false wheat ..was lighter
.it didn’t fill out as much
so it still stood up straight.
That was your first clue ,,it didnt really amount to anything!
.it stood out for its lack of weight
and you didnt want to jsut harvest it
becuase those little weed grains were poisonous...
You get bad flour out of th deal
anyway
You could NOT see any of this until later in the growing season...close to harvest time.

and by then
there was another problem..
the roots had usually grown together

mixed in tight with the good wheat
and the bad stuff had strong roots.
That’s why Jesus said , as every farmer would know
that when you pull out the bad stuff
you'r going to be damaging the good
it makes sense doesn’t it.
if you’ve done much garden weeding
you know that it can happen.. The roots get tangle up..pull one..you get the other
I remember that the Englstads up in Thief rivers Falls
who did the grain farming right where I grew up
sometimes
they would hire some of us kids to go into the wheat fields
and pull out the oats
the wild oats
so they wouldn’t get docked at the elevator
or sometime
we would go out
and pull out the pig weeds
(do you know about pig weeds.?
They probably got a more official name.
..thy get great big dirt clomps around the roots ,,
you get a chunk of ground when you pull those big weeds up..
Anyway we were just kids
and sometimes we weren’t all that careful
we pulled out a few good things along the way
well
now again what’s the point..
Jesus said it.. right out..
Should we pull out the weeds ...should we pull out the bad things?
No.. ... For in gathering the weeds..
you would uproot the wheat along with them.
Let the wheat and the weeds grew together

Do you hear the naked truth that Jesus is dressing up in that parable?

This is probably
one of the most ignored lessons from Jesus in all of the gospel
this is a truth that we have not listened to..
Do not pull up the weeds!!!!!
why
because you will damage the good.
You will do more harm than good...
Let them grow together
hear that???

You see ...we want to be like the servants in the story
we want to pull the weeds
we think we should pull the weeds
we think that we can pull the weeds
but Jesus says ..keep out..
Even in the interpretation that Matthew gives us later on
those same field hands
are not going to be the ones sorting out the crop.
.. Human judgement ...never gets a chance to do this..

The problem here
seems to be human judgement and human clumsiness when we try..
But oh we try..

Back in Jesus day
the field cleaners were ready to go to work
the patriotic zealots were there..
to rise up in violence..
Drive out the romans
drive out the unbelievers
the pagans
the Roman influence
the Greek influence
in their way of thinking it was as a moral cause.
.they were soldiers of light..
we have old scrolls that talk about that.
.
ready to be martyred..
Maybe they were just desperate to do something.
Judea was an occupied land
and that was such an oppressive burden
Romans were taxing them to death..corruption was everywhere
the weeds were thick!
and soem of the Jewish people did rise up in rebellion
eventually that urge to purge.... leads to the burning of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in 70 Ad
it lead to a slaughter of Jerusalem by the Romans
Jesus taught this lesson
in that kind of a setting
that’s why some people wanted Jesus to give them that permission
they wanted him to be that kind of messiah...
to clean up the field
Get rid of the weeds
shall we pull up the weeds?

By the way.. How did Jesus live with weeds
. he ate with tax collectors and sinners
he ate with people who didn’t seem to be very pure
he ate with people who collected taxes for Rome
and cooperated with that enemy
Jesus healed the servant of Roman officer healed the centurions servant
you get the idea that Jesus ..in his life demonstrated this parable of the wheat and the weeds

but no
we don’t want to live with the weeds! we want to pull
.. gotta pull at the weeds
...
How many times has the church said.. we gotta clean up the field..
Heretics ..outa here..
we have burned people at the stake..trying to pull the weeds
well
we haven’t done that here I n park church or Brainerd
but you know its in the church history
we have gone on crusades...
Done inquisitions...
Split churches
Thinking we could pull the weeds
we have this puritan impulse... to purify and purge
pull up the weed

its an old story
I know.. we want to be right....we want to be faithful to God..
We are like those field hands; eager to please and serve
\
and that’s good
"
Master do you want us to go out and clean this up.?"
Didn’t you plant good seed
of course you did!
this isn’t what you had in mind..right
...an enemy did this..
We know there’s a problem,
you see
this is not a denial of the problem
Don’t try to turn this into a kind of anything goes.
.parable with moral blindness
its not that..
Nobody is saying that the weeds arent out there

we know
we live in a mixed up world
this is not a weed free life

but the issue here...seems to be , what we do about it
how do we live with it..
how do we live
in this inte-rooted,
interconnected..,entangled... world..
Maybe there is a clue in the Bible study itself

listen to the words
in verse -30
where it says
let the them grow together until the harvest
translations say things like "permit it"
;;allow it...
but you could translate it some other ways
the word that is used can also be translated as forgive...

the word that is used here
is used 156 times in the New Testament a
about a third of the time ...its translated as forgive
and could be translated that way even more
What if Jesus is telling us
that t our job is the forgiveness..or at least the tolerance
not the judgement
I don’t know
"
forgive the weed?"
sound strange doesn it .. but then again Jesus said...
love your enemies
pray for those who persecute you
forgive 7 times 7o times s
makes about as much sense as forgiving the weeds ... Allowing the weeds to live.
Can you imagine that..

Could we ever like that ? I’ve got some questions here
:
Are we supposed to be passively resigned in the face of evil?
are we supposed to let things go to weed
this is not a divine command to ignore injustice in the world
I think that the larger weight of scripture says
that we must work for justice
no.. we don’t just ignore the failures of the church either

this is not some hopeless resignation
This is not a call to despair
or abdication of responsibility...
(nothing you can do about the weeds!)

Actually there is something we are supposed to do in here
and I believe its harder thing to do..than actually pulling the weeds..

we are called to protect the whole field.
.let them grow together.. The parable says
There is a type of faith work
that we are being called into
but this is not conventional wisdom and its not the way of the world
So we avoid the truth of this parable
How do we live with the weed?
first of all we trust and obey the master of the field
that means we have to admit our moral clumsiness in weed cleaning
we are not able to do this job
pulling the weeds
the second thing we do..in living with the weeds
is avoid doing more evil ....
to do no harm
if you pull up the weeds you will do more harm than good
we are suppose to let the good keep growing
We are suppose to stay with the good course and the wisdom of the master
we are supposed to trust the owner of the field
and trust the power of the good seed
get this
In this parable the ability of the good seed to produce a harvest
is never questioned.
In fact ....what is the only thing that might hurt the good seed?

The only thing that threatened the good seed
is the eager but clumsy work of the servants
The wheat will survive in spite of the weeds

that the good news that the servants need to hear
..the good will be there..
BUT Can we believe that!

apparently God is more comfortable with this weedy mixed up world
than we are
God allows a mixed up world
whether we like it or not
whether we understand it or not
this is how it is,
..

Now what’s that got to do with us today
how about
if we read this parable
whenever we talked about soemof the most tangled up and complicated thigns that we face today
like sexuality issues
in church and society
we could come up with a mixed up list
of social issues and moral issues
abortion. Evolution ..poverty, global warming, illegal immgaration,
,gay rights
,,separation of church and state..politics,,,interpretation of the Bible...the war in Iraq...
All of that is very tangled up stuff

like it or not..
its there
Have we done a very good job talking about those things?
I wonder ..if in the process of trying to sort this out
maybe we have also hurt the good
sometimes we have done more harm..than good

we have hurt the witness of the church and neglected our ministries.
we have Not been at our best
We have ripped into these delicate and sometimes personal..complicated matters
churches get torn part.. By the roots
lives get hurt.
I know we may not be comfortable;
with the mixed up ..and compromised conditions
but sometimes..it’s the best we can do.
As the parable seems to say
we are all in this field together

we are bound..inseparably for now.. at the roots
we live along side of each other
what I do effect you
what you do effects me..
and if the roots are entr-twined as they are
then we need to protect each other
sound strange doesn’t it..co existence
I protect myself..by protecting you..
I care for everything in the field.
First do no harm
no matter what we think of each other
Maybe this is parable that we desperately
need to hear today
God allows
God..forgives
the mixed up field ..at least for now.

Maybe this is even bigger than just the church
maybe this parable is about the world

maybe we need to hear this lesson that as Christians ...Jews... Moslems... Buddhists... Hindus... atheists.. Humanists... New ages or whatever

Jesus is telling us that we need to learn to live together for our own sakes
for the good of the harvest.

Let the good grow
It is a call to keep the good growing
to learn forgiveness
patience... humbleness... prayer..
to trust that God will do what we simply cannot do.
Let the weeds and wheat both grow toghter until the harvest
That’s the Naked truth that Jesus is dressing up
and ends the lessons by saying Those who have ears to hear..let them hear
,,listen up ..if you can
amen

July 6 2008

2008-07-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

ARTS in the park July 6 2008 Matthew 11
Well as you can see..it is Arts in the park day again
and I have told you before
that this is one of my favorite Brained events..
Of course I like the fireworks and the parade also
but arts in the Parks isn’t quite so intense
it’s a little more relaxed..
I know it complicates the parking situation around here a little bit
but we have a great location right next to the park ..hundreds of people get to see that we are here..in this beautiful well kept building
so being part of this neighborhood .is a privilege that we have
so get on over to the park sometime today
you might see a juggler
probably a nice variety..of music
pan flutes
violins ..dulcimers
bagpipes
all kind of arts and crafts
Bill grange
I’m guess has his pottery stand right over by the water fountain...
you can get some stain glass work
or wood work
or fabric art..
.the list goes on
don’t forget to check out the classic cars
and well there’s the food
I always get some kettle corn ...maybe a brat..
its all there for arts in the park
well I went through my notes
and some of you will remember that I’ve talked about this before
we even did a kind of Arts in park church theme
for one of our church photo directories
and I also did a sermon on this back in 2005
I'm sure you remember every word of it
right...Bob..etc...(Darwin!)
so I better not do a rerun here right...
Anybody remember that sermon /
Back then
I talked about the spiritual arts
and the arts of ministry
I quoted Ephesians 2;10
and there is this GK word poema which sounds like the word for poem
the GK word can can actually be translated to say
that we are Gods art work ...
we are gods creation and handiwork

back then
I highlighted some spiritual or metaphorical arts
that I could see in he Bible
the art of pottery
God is potter.
we are the clay...
Then the art of architecture..
we are Gods building ..
you can get that in I Peter
. and then the art of storytelling
we are a story that God is telling ..
The gospel is a story of good news
and some of you know an old hymn
that says I love to tell the story of Jesus and his love
.
but what kind of spiritual arts should we look at this morning.....
How about dancing Maybe free style interpretative dancing.
I need you to work with me a little
but the word dancing is here in the gospel lesson
did you catch it in there?
and were going to spend our time in the gospel lesson this morning
so Im going stretch this a bit
but I think
I got the spirit of the lesson right

First of all..did you notice
Jesus is comparing the people to a bunch of children playing in the market place..
You get this sense of teasing and whining and complaining
and its about who gets to make the rules
and Who didn’t do it right.....
(you know any churches like that.? )
(Not here.. But I’ve seen a few..
We played a dance song and you didn’t dance
you didn’t do it our way
then we did a sad song
and you didn’t cry..
you didn’t whine and complain with us
You didn’t play along with us.
And Jesus goes onto say
that he did more of that dance spirit in his life
he lived with a spirit of celebration..
This is an important point here..
It says
The son of man came eating and drinking..

And he got criticized for that lifestyle
some people said he didn’t get it right.
He broke the rules and didn’t play the game
.
In some ways
Jesus is contrasting his spirit of Life .
.his style of religion
his path of discipleship
with John the Baptist
or maybe some of the strict religious leaders

John the Baptist for example
had a very severe and austere way of being faithful
and that should have satisfied those really strict folks...
but not even John the Baptist wasn’t good enough for them .
And Jesus
well
he didn’t live with all those harsh tight rules
but that wasn’t good enough either
for these very religious people
and then
Jesus closes that part of the lesson with these words
he says
Gods wisdom
or the truth
will be shown by its results
in other words
look at the results..look at what it does.
the proof is in the pudding.
Look at what the life of Jesus is going to produce..
That an important line in this lesson
so don’t forget it..

Now let me demonstrate this lesson with a story
its about Robinson Crusoe
actually it comes from the movie
one day
Robinson Crusoe got tired of just sitting around
and eating fruit
and laying around on the beach with all the sunshine
so he went over
and captured a man that he called Friday
he took him from a local tribe
so he could "educate" him
he taught him the English language
of course Caruso never thought about learning Fridays language
Anyway
Caruso was going to "educate" Friday
even though it was Friday
who had actually taught Caruso everything that he needed to know
like
how to get food
and clothes and shelter..
Well bot being civilized
like the Englishman, Carouso
Apparently Friday didn’t know that his life wasn’t quite complete.
Because civilized people
know that life is not here just to be enjoyed
Life has to be conquered and measured.
So Caruso decided that they would have their kind of mini Olympics..
A sport..
with some competition
and first of all
he set up a race
Caruso said we are going to run to that tree
the better runner wins

Wins what?
Friday wants to know
"wins the race of course "
he gets told
Friday still doesn’t get it.. "Why do we race?"
Because we want to know who the better runner is..
Why
he says..again
Why
And Caruso says
:we have to know who is best at things."

Friday says
"isn’t it enough to know that we are both good.
No Caruso says
now
stop asking stupid questions and lets start the race

we are going to see who the better runner is..

Ready ....set..... go..
The two of them start running
Crusoe is pumping his arms and legs with good disciplined form
he is gulping for air
as his feet are driving into the stand..
Pounding the ground
and his face is turning red with the hard work of running

but Friday is doing a different kind of run.
Its almost like he was dancing
he legs are flying
and his arms are swinging in the wind.
H’s got this big smile on his face.
Caruso got to the tree way ahead of him
and he is bent over trying to catch his breath
as he waits for Friday to get to the tree.
He is doubled over..just breathing so hard
When Friday finally got there
Friday says "I win"

carouse is all upset..
Are you mad.. ?
I was here way before you
How can you think you won?!
and Friday says
you told me th t the better runner would win the race.
I saw how you ran..
you ran like you were being chased by a wild boar.
You strained every muscle
and you didn’t enjoy that running one bit.
Now you stand here
and you can hardly breathe
and you look like you are in pain.
How can you call that winning!
But I ran with my legs running beautifully
like they were meant to do
I didn’t jam them into the ground like you did.
And I breathed in he air so that my face could smile
but you
you look like you could faint any minute
so clearly
I am the better runner
because I enjoyed it.
Cruoso of course is not hearing this;
he says
But I got tot the tree first
so I am the faster runner. I win.
Ah but listen
Friday says
You did not say that the faster runner would be the winner ...

`You said "the better runner
besides what good is it to get to the tree first
if you cant enjoy yourself
when you get the there..

I think you can here the metaphor...
you can figure the meaning..
How do you live your life
in the art of living
are you dancing well or running hard
are you more like
caruso
driving somehow
to prove that you measure up...to prove that you’re the winner
that somehow how
you are better or good enough..and expecting everyone else to follow your interpretation of the rules

Or more like Friday
moving through life
in a way
that still leaves a smile
Lets you breath
and can still be enjoyable
I like to think that Christian ministry
and the spirit of park church
our style
the spiritual artistry here
is more like Fridays..
Yes
we also have a sense of destination and purpose ..and a calling
we re not loitering
...we are still moving to the tree
to the finish ,,
,getting to the goal
but the way
that way we get there
is what matters
the way
is not just a set of rules
t is also
I believe
the way that Jesus talks about and show us and give us
when he says
I am the way
it is a way that leaves room for the human element
it knows us.
And so
it
.is going to be about love...
Its going be about giving and forgiving
its going to be about hospitality and grace
Where the tax collectors and the sinners don’t get left out or left behind
(you heard that in the lesson didn’t you)
because that who Jesus dances with
like or not...
( And some wont like it.)
and it is a way that lets us be the church
with a kind of beauty and gracefulness
so that
it is not
just about pounding it out through life
and living by the egos rules
maybe
as the Gospel lesson also says
in verse 25
as the world sees it
the Jesus way
.. will not the the fastest.
.or the most rational,
intelligent
or sophisticated..
but
we believe
it is the best..
and in the last analyses
in what really matter
its the kind of life
that lets you enjoy getting there.
In case you need a little more scriptural support
if you want this in bible talk
Listen to the words of Jesus again in the gospel lesson
I think you will hear the same point being made
Jesus says
"come to me all who are weary and heavy laden.
.and I will give you rest...
Take my yoke upon you.."
that is
take my way upon you
my rules
my teachings
my way of running the race.
.may way of living life
upon you.
Take my yoke upon you
..learn from me..
Because I am gentle and humble in spirit

and you will find rest for your souls
for my yoke is easy.
That is
my yoke is kind or good
it is fitted just right for you
in other words
this is not the yoke of slavery and oppression.
And my burden is light.

Eugene Peterson
translated it this way
in The Message
Jesus says

Are you tired
worn out
Burned out on religion
come to me
Get away with me
and you will recover your life
I’ll show you how to take a real rest
walk with me and work with me./
..watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace

you feel that
learn the unforced rhythms of grace
that’s what
I was seeing in Fridays way of running the race
the unforced rhythms of grace

Jesus says
I wont lay anything or ill fitting on you
Keep company with me
and you will learn to live to live freely
(there you have the fourth of July part of the sermon
"you will learn to live freely)
(a deeper freedom)
and you will learn to live lightly.

what would it mean for you to live more freely and lightly?

..Again think of Friday and the race
Crusoe
Thinking he has won.
.but he is gasping at the end

..or Friday
who has enjoyed getting there

who s rules s do you follow
what would it mean for you to lighten up..
in your attitudes.
.your judgments.
your behavior...your heart..your soul..

what would it take
for you to change the drive and the pace of your life
what does it mean for the church
to loosen up and let go
and maybe let people in
all people
what would it mean mean for us
to be a church
where we move together
in the common yoke ..the communion yoke of Christ
in a faith
that gives people room to breath.
.to smile
because
this Jesus way truly
is gentle and kind
........
maybe this kind of spiritual living
Would look and feel .
.something
more like a dance..
Maybe that is the spiritual art that Jesus is trying to teach us
right here in this Park
maybe that’s the proof...the results .that he was talking about

* my source for the Robinson Crusoe story is Fellow Travelers by Terry Morehouse p, .79 Kirk House Publishers..he cites other sources going back to Stevie Ray

2008-06-08T14:44:00.001-07:00

June 8 Dancing Shoes
On Tuesday morning I was driving into church for Vacation Bible school
and when I was still over block away.. Just coming past the Sawmill; I could see a couple of little kids getting dropped off.
The parent waited to make sure they got all the way into the building;
and I couldn’t tell who they were ..I was too far way ;
but it just made my day
because these two children literally danced ...
sort of bouncing and swinging their arms...maybe the were singing...
all the way from the car to the church building
and I thought wow
now that the way to come to church..did any of you want into like that this morning?
those kids were already getting into the swing of it all
the joy of it ...
Then I realized that we Methodists ..well we know how to be happy
but we just don’t have much a dancing tradition.Iin fact
Protestants in the united states ...
don’t really have any form of religious danceW we are short in the dancing departmentand that’s unusual
because most religions know how to dance...
They have some kind of dancing ;ceremonial dances..
Or ritual dances,

I know we have some liturgical dance
but we don’t’ get the whole congregation in on it..
...
BUT maybe that s what those two kids were feeling ..the need to dance and move a little..
And of course when Sunday school kids and vacation Bible school kids
are singing
they get to move a little
they get some actions and hand motions
with some of the songs..
But still
most of the time
worship for us
means sit down and don’t move too much..
Now when some f us were at the synagogue a few weeks ago
we got to see a lot more ceremonial movement
when they bring the torah scroll
that precious copy of the books of Moses...
A coupe of times during the service
the scroll get carried out into the congregation
down the aisle on one side of the synagogue
so people can step out and touch the scroll
or even kiss the scrolls as a sign of respect and thankfulness and blessing
And then later it gets carried down the other side
but once a year
there is even a bigger kind of dance with t he scroll
. When the yearly cycle of scripture reading is down.
.. There is a special service of dancing with the scrolls
of course it has a special Hebrew name
but I don’t know how to pronounce it
its is something like simot Torah
and its a day of rejoicing
they carry the torah scrolls 7 times around the sanctuary
And they sing and dance between every round .
You see the people are so glad
that they got to live through another year of having the scrolls read to them/
well in the Hasidic Jewish tradition
this dancing got to be very important..
And there is a tale
a story that goes back to the days of two famous rabbis who
lived in the 1700s ..in eastern Europe
in fac they lived about the same time as John Wesley did
the story was about the famous rabbi
the Baal shem tov
and rabbi Dov Baer
And the story also has a popular tradition
that even after the gates of paradise
were closed after Adam and Eve
you could still make mystical visits to paradise
and a common .theme in those stories of paradise
would be about the leaves from the garden of Eden
they had wonderful and blessed fragrance in those leaves

well here’s the story:
one year
when the people were celebrating with singing and dancing..
Everybody noticed

the Ba'al Shem Tov did not join in the dancing,
he stood off by himself.
He seemed to be strangely somber
on that joyful day.
Then
all of a sudden Rabbi Dov Baer’s shoe went flying off his foot
as he whirled in the dance,
and then
that same instant
the Ba'al Shem Tov smiled.
A little later the Hasidim saw the Ba'al Shem Tov pull a handful of leaves out of his pocket,
he crushed the leaves
and scattered their powder in the air,
it filled the room with a wonderful scent,
like that of Paradise.
Then
the Ba'al Shem Tov joined in the dancing

The Hasidim had never seen him so happy,
and they, too, felt possessed by a greater joy than ever before.
Afterward,
when they had all caught their breath,
from dancing so hard.
one of the Hasidim asked the Ba'al Shem Tov
what he had smiled about,
after having been so solemn.
He replied:
"While you were dancing,
I went into a trance, and my soul leaped from here
into the Garden of Eden.
I went there to bring back some leaves from the Garden,
so that I could scatter them among us,
making this the happiest Simhat Torah of all time.
I gathered fallen leaves with the greatest pleasure and put them in my pocket.
As I did,
I noticed that there were scattered fringes of prayer shawls
in the Garden,
as well as pieces of worn tefillin,
from the straps Jews wrap around their arm when they pray.
Not only that,
but I saw parts of shoes
heels and soles and shoelaces,

and sometimes even whole shoes.
And all of these objects were glowing
like so many sparks, even the shoes
— for as soon as they entered the Garden of Eden,
they began to glow.
Now this was very strange
that shoes would be glowing!
"Now I was not surprised to see the fringes and straps,
for they come from sacred objects,
of course these objects
used in prayer..would be special
but I wondered
what the shoes were doing there. Whats so holy about a shoe
"Just then
a shoe flew into the Garden of Eden,
and I recognized it at once
it belonged to Rabbi Dov Baer."
The Ba'al Shem Tov turned to face him.
"Dov,
I realized that your love of God was so great
that your shoe had flown all the way there.
That is when I understood why there were shoes in the Garden of Eden.
And that is why I smiled.
"I would have come back to join you at that very moment,
but just then I saw two angels in the Garden.
They had come to sweep and clean the Garden

and to gather those precious, glowing objects.
"I asked the angels what they were going to do with the shoes,
and one of them said: 'These shoes have flown here from the feet of Jews dancing with the Torah.
They are very precious to God,
and soon the angel Gabriel will make a crown out of them
for God to wear on His Throne of Glory.'"
The Ba'al Shem Tov stopped speaking,
and everyone who heard this story that day was filled with awe.
And Rabbi Dov Baer's shoe was never ever seen again,
for it had truly flown to the Garden of Eden.
Ok
it’s a strange little story... isnt it.,
,quant. and cute
but it has its truth

dancing shoes are a delight to God
they too become sacred objects..
Because they are expressions of love
So here’s what I hope;
that maybe your foot will feel a little rhythm
maybe a little bounce
a little toe tapping ..in church...and
the music
will find a way to become your way of celebrating Gods word
and aw ay of showing your love for God
As the music Points us to God
to faith
to hope and to love
as we praise God
as we make a joyful noise..
As we make music with the handbells..
and the vacation Bible school singers
and the Girls choir
and the hymns and the piano and the organ...
I do believe Something of the words and the rhythm
the singing and the leaping in our heart
really does find its way
to paradise
where it is gathered up
as a holy treasure of God..
As signs of love
amen

April 27 2008

2008-04-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

April 27 Everyday to us is Easter
Ad lib intro......Did you get the feeling that Easter was just too early this year?
came up around too fast
did you feel like that?
well you're right
it was early ...there won’t be another Easter that early for 152 years
this early Easter ....was something very rare
but at least you can say.... that you were there in 2008
you did it
one of those "once in a life time" kind of Easters
I’m still thinking
it just came up too fast ..
But then
I noticed (as I said )
we get another chance at Easter on the orthodox church calendar .
..it's Easter today..
So I decided to do Easter all over gain..
And I tested this idea out on the Wed Bible study group and they seem to like it.
,,,Easter all over gain..
I know...
We don’t have the Easter crowd
and the extra chairs
and the sunrise service with youth and the Easter breakfast..
No we don’t have all the Easter flowers..
I tried to tell Lorraine Ehrich that I needed about 40 flowers for today
And of course
I didn’t give the choir time to get ready again
so we are not going have the hallelujah chorus at the end
.and d Angel rolled the stone away..
But we’ve got some special music..
And "no" I don’t Easter candy. for all of you
.I was too late to get the Easter candy on sale

But its still Easter.
We have the whole season of Easter
so its never one day on the calendar
Easter is who we are
Easter is the new life that we live in..
.as we sang "everyday to us is Easter and
And you do know
that the reason we have worship on Sunday
is because every Sunday is a little Easter
our whole life in Christ is pointed to the resurrection..
We are the Easter celebration
this is simply who we are

now with that
let me go back to one of the Easter gospel lessons
back in March
we looked at the lesson from Matthew
but John's Gospel can be used for Easter every year..
And what always get my attention in Johns Gospel
is the timing...
you’ve heard me say this before
but in John
when did the resurrection happen?

In John 20 it says
early on the first day of the week
while it was still dark..
May Magdalene came to the tomb
and saw that the stone had already been rolled away
That intrigues me..
that means
that Easter happened in the dark ,
resurrection happened
in the dark,,
by the time that Mary got there
the tomb was already opened..
Easter happened in the dark,
Now the orthodox church has this figured out
Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox and so on.

so they usually start the Easter service
just before midnight.
.they start in the dark
and its a kind of candle light service
as they spread the light of the Easter candle though the congregation there in the dark
It's a powerful
liturgical way of saying
." the light shines in the darkness
and the darkness does not overcome it"
But you hear that?

.they seem to know
that Easter starts in the dark
and it does
look at the days before Easter Sunday..
the darkness of the suffering for Jesus
the darkness of that night in the garden of Gethsemane
the darkness of Judas betraying him and Peter denying him
the darkness of the cross
and Good Friday
the darkness of our sins and the injustice of it all
the pain and the agony
MY God my God why hast thou forsaken me..

The darkness of the tomb and that long day of Saturday
the disciples are hiding in the in fear and confusion
Easter gets set up.. The stage get set in the dark,,
now this is not just the way the Bible story plays out
this is not just some interesting theology
this is the spiritual truth in our life..

This is the reality of faith
That’s how it is

you cant have resurrection without the cross
you cant have Easter without Good Friday
you cant have the life... without having the death
Jesus himself said it.. Again and again
to find your life you must loose

you see what’s going on ...don’t you ?
we are being invited to look into the dark
and see it in a different way
we look at the dark and we don’t see just the darkness
we can look at the darkness of world
the pain of this world
the suffering in the world and we can see it..in a different way
some people look at the war in Iraq and the thousands of people who have died
or they look at the fuel prices ..food prices,
and the economy and the mortgage crisis
or global warming
...and yes those are serious
and complicated ,,troubling things..
But some people just get sour and cynical..
.and they want to just drop out somehow..
they get down
. They don’t have the energy of hope
But if we believe that Easter happens
that resurrection happens
in the dark
or even
especially in the dark,,
then we cant afford to be cynical
and passively resigned..
We get to be Easter people
searching and looking for the hope .
.for the signs of resurrection
in the dark.
and maybe
you and I can also dare to look in our personal darkness
of our confusion and our brokenness
we can look at the darkness of our shadows and pain
and we can trust that we are not alone in the dark
God is already there rolling away stones in the dark
God is already there working for life even in the dark.
In your life
Do you believe this
that resurrection is happening in you ..
God is raising you from the deadness
maybe your emotional deadness/
God is in the moving business ..on the night shift..
in your heart..
Moving away the stones of sin and death
this is where faith meets you life..
can you hear that!
The darkness is not Godless
and the darkness
is not hopeless
because resurrection happens
when?
in the dark.
in Jesus Christ we are being that picture.
Easter is the picture ..it is the revelation of Gods ultimate power and truth
Let me add a little story from
Rachel Naomi Remen
she talks about this in her book called
Kitchen Table Wisdom
its about something in her home growing up
when she was just a very little girl
her parents liked to do jig saw puzzles
they had those great big thousand piece puzzles kept up on a table
but just to make it more of a challenge.
Rachel’s father would always hide the top of the puzzle box
so you couldn’t see th e picture ..
you didn’t get to see what you were making.
You couldn’t see the picture ahead of time
now this was an ongoing project
and the custom was
that if you came to visit at their house
you could go ahead and work on the puzzle ..
if you saw a piece that would fit you could just put in
so people would do that for few minutes
or sometimes Rachel mom or dad
would be there for hours..
working on the puzzle
......usually in a few weeks
with these hundreds and hundreds of pieces
it would all come into place..and they would see the finished puzzle
Rachel said that over the years her family did dozens of puzzles like that
and she got pretty good at it.
She really loved being the first one to guess what the picture was
when they got some sense of what the pattern was.
She could see what had been hiding there all along
but then she tells about the first puzzle that she could remember
They had just gotten the puzzle table
it was a birthday present to her mother from her father
she was about 3 or 4 years old
and she can remember how happy they were
when they set up the table
and dumped out the puzzle pieces on the table

back then for this first time as just a little girl
she didn’t understand what this was about
and they figured that she was too young to play this game
or whatever it was they were doing
so they didn’t explain it to her
but of course she wanted to know what this was
so one morning when she was alone in the living room she climbed up on a chair
and dug around in all the loose puzzle pieces and all these pieces spread out loose on the table
.of course these pieces are pretty small
; some of them had bright colors
and they looked like they might be birds or flowers
and they seemed to be the fun shapes..
But
some of them were dark and shadowy.
And The dark ones seemed kind of scary
shaped maybe like they were spiders or bugs,
ugly and strange.
She didn’t like dark things. So she took some of those dark scary puzzle pieces and hid them underneath one of the sofa cushions.
For several weeks, whenever I was alone in the living room,
she would get up on the chair,
take a few more of those dark pieces,
and she would stash them in that hiding place
down in the couch
Well of course it was taking the adults forever to finish that puzzle
something was just wrong
and people got frustrated when they tried to work on the puzzle

,the mother finally counted the pieces
and she realized
that more than a hundred pieces were missing!
By this time
Rachel had been seen hanging around the table now and then
so the mother said to her
Rachel have you seen any of the pieces
do you know anything about this

so Rachel took her over the couch
over to where where all the missing pieces were hiding
The mother got the missing pieces and in just a little while
she got the whole puzzle put together
Rachel remembered watching her do this.
And she could see the picture coming to life
As she watched it come together
little Rachael back them
didn’t even know that it would be a picture
so she was surprised
to see this the beautiful picture of a deserted beach
with just a start.. of the sunrise
the sun was coming up to start this new day.
that was the picture
but Rachel had taken out the dark pieces..
And the picture could not happen
without those dark pieces
the sunlight
the sunrise
the beauty
the wholeness
could not be seen with out those dark pieces
.
There is a lesson in there
maybe it is the gospel story
th Easter story..

Maybe it tells me something about living in faith..

There are e pieces that we don’t like in this puzzle of life
we don’t understand them
probably don’t want them..
..but pieces like that...are in every persons puzzle

And when they are just a single piece ..its true
they can be senseless and frightening and ugly..
And that’s a fact.
But can we leave them out
can you leave out pieces of your life.
Can you leave out
and hide or deny the pieces
that t you don’t want..
Well we do that in some ways
we take out those pieces
and stash them deep in some hiding place in our hearts..
But that doesn’t really work...
The puzzle work of life .gets stuck..
eventually we have to go and find them
and dig them out
Because we cant live with those holes in the puzzle
those blanks... in our life ..
to get the picture We have to eventually claim all the pieces.
The failures
the losses
the choices we made
the mysteries
and the bad ..along with the good
every life has those pieces that we think... cant fit
When you look at the story of the cross
and the Easter Sunday
I'm sure those dark pieces
standing alone ...
By themselves..
have nothing much to offer..
But like Mary on that Easter morning
we can go ahead and go to the tomb in the dark

not knowing at all what could be there..
Probably expecting only to grieve..and
then to find
that God has already been there..and rolled away the stone
something indeed had happened
and more of it..will come to light
like Rachel and her puzzle
we can....see that t life is not just one piece at a time.
.and life is more than the piece of the puzzle
that you might be holding right now in you life.
Trust that there is a promise of light
a son rise
the rising of God’s son
it’s a bigger picture of life
its like getting to see the picture of the puzzle
on the box
"While it was still dark
Mary went to the tomb..and saw the stone had already been rolled away"
Christ is risen
Christ is risen indeed

.

Caring for Creation

2008-04-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

Faithfully caring for Creation April 20th 2008 PUMC R Swenson

I thought about some ways to talk about this Celebration of God’s creation
Of course it is designed to stand along side of earth day
which ,,by the way..
is now printed on my little church calendar from Cokesbury
I hope you know.... all across the church

Catholics.... Protestants
right and left ,,conservative and liberal.
evangelicals or.. mainline
the church might actually agree on this issue !

we just might try to be eco friendly
Caring for creation is getting talked about

as a basic and essential part of Christian living and discipelship.

Its not just a little special interest for some people on the fringe
its really a core concern
... centered around the belief
that God is the creator
that somehow
this life..
whether intelligent design
or creationism..or evolution
.the methodoolgy ....is not even the point
because ..in faith...
this creation... is a gift from God

and it needs to be treated that way

as human beings we have a special responsibility for taking care of creation.

That is what the Genesis story is really saying

Christianity also teaches us that all of creation

is included in Gods healing and saving work in Jesus Christ
Paul in (2 Corinth) says
God was reconciling the world
restoring the world back to God..

God so loved the world..... ,,not just people on the world

so as ....the church
we’re trying to pay attention to how we live on the planet
and with each other

..well anyway

I thought about going on with all kind s of theological support
and Bible verses
and their really is quite abit of Biblical material for us..

But I also choose the lesson from Matthew

because so much of the injustice in world
and the waste and the environmental abuse
happens

because we are over consuming and we aren’t sharing things very well.

we are all wrapped up with our worries
and our comforts..and insecurities
about getting enough

“What shall we eat... what.. shall we wear...and so on..”

.instead of keeping our eye on God..

anxiousness \and greed
..Lack of faith feeds the environmental problems....

Worry and insecurity
feed the ecological problems.

and those are spiritual problems

Worry and insecurity

are ,not just political or social problems ..
but spiritual issues.

And as the church..
we need to say that.

faithful living
involves a more trusting and simple and balanced kind of living....

It means that we live prayerfully and gracefully on Gods earth

That’s the theology behind it.

then too
for this morning

I thought about some of the practical things that we can do

and that could be the whole sermon ....

.there are policies and practices for us to implement

again
we need to pay attention to the problems in the world

when the word is sick... the people get sick...

doesn’t that mean that we need to learn about alternative energy..

And the carbon footprint ?

and trying to be more socially and politically educated about global conditions...

Do you know about the connections between rainforest and agriculture and global markets

and pollution..

Do you know
about the deforestation and the hunger riots in Haiti

Can you make some sacrificial consumer..choices in your life..

.because for you
its an act of faithfulness

I know that many of us are trying to be more green

in our lifestyles and in our shopping...

most of us..
I think try to reduce and reuse and recycle

and I admit that I don’t do enough

Personally..this is something that I want to do more of...

.and by the way

one of the things that we haven’t gotten done here at Park church

we’re trying to use less paper.. But
we still need to get our paper recycled

.. We got the cans and bottles covered and so on.

.but we need somebody to collect the paper.. And recycle it.

Personally
I would invite you to pick one thing you can do,,,
This week even

think of one thing
you could do that would be better for the environment
and know that you are doing it as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Now
I want to tell you a story that about caring for the gifts of creation
with deeper spiritual respect.

once upon a time
long ago when the earth was still very young
there lived a women who decided to live near the water

there was also village nearby

and the people lived by planting their fields and setting out their fishing nets..

Now the woman had been born in that village

but as the years went on
she moved farther and farther a ways form the village

you see
while she was growing up

and the other children were learning their skills and trades form the teacher s and the elders

she discovered that she had a very special gift..

Instead of putting out nets to catch the fish as they went up stream

she would spend long hours looking into the water
until she could see the fish

then,,exactly at the right moment
.the fish that was going to be caught

.would come right up into her waiting hands.

She would catch the fish with her bare hands

and strangely enough.
.whatever she caught
was Always enough to feed her and her family with even a little bit left over
for someone who might be visiting.

All the villagers
soon heard about this
she tried to explain her new way of catching fish

she told her friends
then she told the elders f the tribe..

but they just laughed and made fun of her.
After all.they had been putting out the nets the same way for years and they had always gotten plenty of fish.

In fact they caught so many fish that they had enough fish to toss the leftovers to the dogs
and they could use the fish as fertilizer in the gardens and the fields
well sometimes thy just didn’t need it all. The fish would always be there!

Besides
this new way
was stupid and time consuming

what good could there be

from something that took more time
..waiting
and wasting endless hours ............
watching the water ?

so they decided that the young woman didn’t have any special gift

she was just lazy
or slow witted..or strange

And the people just mocked her
more and more
so ,,
sadly
she moved farther and farther away from the village

and she spent more and more time..watching the water.

Then one day

after thinking about this for quite awhile

she decided to break with her tradition
she would even move down stream
and go to another village
maybe these other people would understand
and they would take her in.
And so she moved on.
Settled into the next village
worked in the fields
taught the children
lived like everyone else

but always she would go back to the edge of the water
dangling her feet in the water
watching the water

sometimes she would be there very early when the sun was barely up..
sometimes she would come out and watch the mist and the fog over the water
before the sunlight melted it away

sometimes
she would just go out and watch how the wind

would make its ripples and waves,,,

or sometimes at night

she would come and see how the stars reflected on a clam night on the water
sometimes it was so dark
with no moon at all..
no stars
but she could hear and smell the water in the darkness.

Through all of this
she knew the water
almost everything about it.
.and when the fish came rushing up stream

or when they came just to swirl around in the sunlight or the shade

they would look at the women there along the shore

and sometimes they would jump out of the water and into the air.
And the women knew exactly which ones she was supposed to catch
..and which ones belonged to another village and which ones needed to be safe so they could spawn and keep the species strong
And whenever her village set out the nets,,

she cringed inside...
such unnecessary..

indiscriminate death.
Finally she had to speak out.
She told them about this other way to fish..
.standing still..watching..

Taking only what you need,
,carefully thoughtfully.

But again...
just as they did back home in her other village..they just laughed,

they told her to leave them alone..

And so she did.

.and she went like that from village to village

always the same old story

finally she came back to the village of her childhood,

she had changed..and so had they

They didn’t remember her days when she was a young woman with them

but there was another change in the people as well.

They were tired
and slow moving..
They were hungry and there was no laughter.
Strangers were not welcome anymore because
They were just another mouth to feed
and their was barely enough food to go around.
She went back down the path to the old house down by the water. Where she used to live
No one had been there.. All those years..

But she could still here the water calling to her..
.. and so
obedient to the call
she went down to the water
and looked deep into the water,,
for a long time a very long time.

But she now she could se that the water had also changed..

It was murky ,slow, stale and lifeless.
She felt this ache in her heart,she had lost her gift..of water watching...
and she could not see though the water.
Worse than that,,, she had also lost the fish

their were no fish in the water.

And she began to weep
well now

she understood why her village was lifeless

and she knew that this was going to be the fate of all the villages that she had visited, o

now she was weeping for her people

who had lost so much because of their carelessness
..and their ignorance.

Even she, herself

had not seen how important her own gift had been,

and how she had to insist on teaching this wisdom to others.

Now she needed to learn to feel as much tenderness and appreciation

for the people
as she had felt for the fish and the water
and the gift for catching them.

And so she cried,,

for the villagers as well as all that happened,

and as she bent over and cried,,
she could not stop her tears,
they fell into the water at there feet
and then something so mysterious happened,
as the tears entered the water

they darted away

flashing for a moment before swimming away as fish.
The tears streamed from her eyes
dripping into the water.. Turning into fish
and the fish multiplied.

Until the villagers,,, hungry and desperate
saw the gleaming of the fish
leaping once again in the water.

But this time they remembered the strange words of that young woman
who lived in the village long ago

so They watched the fish and went to the water
with patience and gracefulness and newness
they sat still with waiting hands and the fish came to their hands now
just as they had come long ago
to the hands of that waiting young woman,
They say that this woman is still there.
By the edge of the water..
Alone and weeping still keeping her people alive..
Learning the truth of her gifts.
And so it is said. In the old sayings
The old wisdom..
What you catch and take for your own..
Can be returned by compassion alone.

So it is today that we sit..at the edge of the water..
With the res to the village.
Watching.. And leaning to se and to be in true compassion and wisdom.. not to abuse or to hoard or to waste..
So My friends remember the woman who caught fish with her hands..
As you think about the story of the woman whose compassionate tears
continue to give life

its not that far fetched of a story....it’s a sacrificial picture
isn’t it.?.. based on love..

Don’t we also talk about being saved...... and fed
by the sacrifice of Jesus ..
the suffering servant
..his sacrifice is the bread of life..
(A Fish was also the ancient symbol for Jesus and the church ...)..

don’t we talk about a compassionate savior
who gives his life for us
and
that his sacrificial love is still

giving life to this wounded world.....

not just for the people but for the world
..
Life depends on compassion

For God so loved the world
Perhaps we need to love it as well
that the gift we have been give..and it must be taught

Adapted From Keepers of the Story by McKenna and Conan p. 103 Orbis Books 1997

2008-04-07T05:39:00.001-07:00

Holy Thursday Bread and Story

2008-03-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Holy Thursday 2008
As we gather this evening we have two right things in front of us
we have the sacrament.. this Holy food....
Sacramental bread
and a story ...and we also have a sacred story.
They ..of course,,, go together....
It reminds me of another story about bread and stories.
a true story...
It was During WW2 in a Nazi labor camp,
concentration camp......
the prisoners
were packed into tents
with a few hundred people
in every tent
I cant imagine what the conditions were like
and Every morning, the prisoners would come out of those tents
and they would be marched out for another day of hard labor.
When they got back in the evening,
they gave out the food rations
but they only gave food to the prisoners who had worked that day
of course
it wasn’t much
thin soup
and some stale bread.
Now of course
with such poor nutrition,
prisoners usually got sick.
It barely kept them alive and sometimes it just was not enough
But still
If you did not walk out from your tent
for that days work,
if you did not work
you got no food at all that evening,
and soon that person
would die of starvation.
The food was so scarce
that they had this unwritten rule
don’t share your food..
The evening food rations ....just could not be shared
– it was everyone for himself or herself.
So Every tent got into this horrible rhythm of work,
starvation and death.

But now the people in this one tent
had a story teller in there group
every night they also got into the rythymn of listening to this old women
who told them stories
the would huddle together
they would hold their meager rations in their hands.
and listen to her stories.
But one morning
they woke up
to find
that their storyteller was sick.
They left her in the tent that morning,
they knew what this would mean
would she even make it through the day?
But then
That night
the people in this tent broke the pattern
they did something different
and one by one
they broke off a little piece of their own stale bread
and gave a drop or two
of their soup
and they shared with the old story teller.
And she told them stories.
The next night,
the same thing,
they shared what little they had with the old story teller
and she kept telling them those life giving stories.
Soon
the people in that tent decided
that the old storyteller
just should not go out and work anymore.
They would..work all together
to guard her health
they would all share their food rations with her.
From that day on,
until the war ended
and the camp got liberated
there were no more deaths
from starvation in that tent that had the storyteller
now of course people still died
starvation was not the only horrible thing that happened in that labor camp

but in that tent
nobody else died of starvation,
and most of them lived and survived the war.’
That’s the story
and it true
its true in many ways
Now,
I could let you think about the story and find your own meaning but let me point you into a few directions

in some ways that story is like us
Here we are in our tent,
certainly not in the misery of a concentration camp
I don’t mean to compare us. Tot hat.. Or minimize the horror of that setting..
But
we also live in a world
where selfishness and work and sickness and death...can get to be the pattern of existence.. Just look out for yourself.
except that we also have something different going on in our tent..

We have a story teller
and we have stories
we have stories that bring us together
and keep us alive

this week
the story is bringing us together
It is story of a crowd that shouts hosanna to Jesus
it the story of a different kind of power and authority making an entrance into our lives
it is the story of a last supper..
it the story of a crowd that shouts Crucify him
it is the story of a selfless life
and a sacrifice
it is the story of a divine power
that forgives us
and it forgive us from the cross
when we are at our worse
when the injustice is at its worst
when faith had died
and betrayal and denial has gone to work
but it is also this story of an undying power
and undefeatable love
it is the death and rising of Jesus Christ
it is our story//
and in that sacred story of Jesus Christ there is also the sharing of food..
This is my body this is my blood
the bread and the cup..
And we too come with that food and the story and the story teller
is there enough to share
.is it mine and only mine
to keep it for myself
and we discover that there is enough to share..
Love to share. .grace to share..
Does that change you..?
We do not have to protect or hoard this bread of life
It creates
the community of sharing
..and it makes life different in this tent of faith
and in this world
we share the forgiveness
yes we protect the story
by keeping it alive.. We believe it.. We tell it..
we share the possibilities
we share the vision
we share..
and because we learn to share and to give..
in light of the story
no body goes hungry anymore..
The law of selfishness gets broken.
Life gets changed because we come to the story
there is an old song
I love to tell the story of Jesus and his love..
Come tonight as we in this gospel tent
the old revival tent....I suppose
or you can call it,
story tellers tent..
Share the food.. ...and live.
This is how survive.
. This is how we live the bread of life
by .the WORD of God

Source Mircea Eliade by way of David Mesenbring SEE
(the St. Mark’s website: http://saintmarks.org/)

2008-03-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

Easter 2008 Christ is Risen
I used to spend quite a bit of time
trying to come up with just the right sermon title for Easter Sunday
I wanted to be creative and clever or maybe sophisticated or philosophical
just something .. to get your attention somehow.

.(.its not like you have never heard this Easter thing before)
but I don’t do the fancy sermon titles anymore.....
All I have to say is this : Christ is Risen!
and honestly even though I do love the whole Easter crowd experience
if I had my way
..instead of doing this whole preaching thing to a large group at once
or whole congregation
I would like to do this ..as a pastor....in more pastoral kind of way
I would like to get personal..

Maybe more like that first Easter morning was... almost 2000 years ago
this didn’t start off with a crowd ..there was no preacher with a congregation at the first Easter
in the Bible it started off with one or two people
John’s Easter gospel says it was just Mary Magdalene at first
and she thinks she is talking to the gardener..
And then the Easter recognition moment happens
when Jesus says to her "Mary"
Jesus said her name .
Hear that?.. .the Risen Christ. Got personal.. ..by name
Or here in Matthew
this morning
its just a couple a of women who get the news at the tomb.
.and then later
they are supposed to tell the disciples
but Jesus appears to just the two of them
,but it starts off small and personal....
One or two or three people at a time
if I could this morning
I would do Easter like that..
I would go around to each one of you....
one at a time ....face to face
and we would look each other in the eyes
for a moment of silence
we wouldn’t go too fast
take our time and
..maybe we could hold hands
and look at each other.
And maybe I would know something about the ups and downs in your life.
The hard times and the pain...your hopes and your dreams,
.it would be kind of a prayer time
...a personal liturgy
looking at each other

and I would say your name like this
I would say Charles. Or Beth.. (Or Sandy or Jean)

"Christ is risen... "and then after a little bit
you would say my name too
Rory ..."Christ is risen"
..Christ is risen. Indeed
I wish I could do that.
It suppose it would take all morning
But I want you to have that moment... to hear that word personally..
Christ is risen.
But
I cant do it that way..
we don’t have all morning..
so will you help me?
can we do that with each other
kind of a liturgy
I know you already did an Easter greeting this morning..
but this one is a little different
Don’t leave anybody out
you can say this to more than one person
Turn to somebody around you ...and say there name..
It can be family or it can be somebody you don’t know..
If you don’t know who they are
.ask them...
say there name
look them in the eye ..if you want to hold their hand that’s fine..
If you know anything about their life..
then think about that ,, for a moment..see the perosn in front of you,
what are they going through
what’s going on in their life
But look them in the eyes
and say that word of hope and presence
that word of healing and light
that world of life
the word of rising..
Christ is Risen
.and then wait until they say it back to you.
Christ is Risen
.don’t rush now
but let s do it.
I know we are in Minnesota and we are Methodists
and you want to be anonymous.
I know ...we don’t normally get that personal in worship
.and its disorganized and noisy
but hey
its Easter.. And we’ve got to say it.
This is sacred conversation
Go and do this now..
..................................
All done..?
I suppose we could just sing the Hallelujah chorus and go home now?.

But let me say a little more to all of us together
what did we just do?
what is the power of that of Easter message
what did you here?
Why do we come here at all.
What were you looking for?
Why does this touch us..?
Why is the church and Christianity even here?

How about this:---- in some deep way
we know...that this is just so true.
You cant get at it .rationally or scientifically.
.but it has
truth..
you know there is some spiritual power in that message
I think you’re here
because you really want to believe it somehow
it calls you
and you want it to get inside of you
and you want it to change you
you need this message of life and hope.
somehow you want it ...to raise you up.....

And that’s right
it’s the right desire....so pay attention to it.
Some of the great spiritual leaders of the church
called it the deepest desire.
.the holy hunger inside of you..
And Easter ...can take you to that spiritual life force.
If you look at how the early Church understood the resurrection
.they saw it as a renewing..and world changing power.
It was not just an idea or a creed
It was a spiritual reality
.Divine power. Life in Christ..the redemptive power..salvation was at work..
it is something
that still goes to work in us
the work in Christ.
it is the overturing of sin and death.
.in all its forms.
it changes us..
somehow
it raises us up also

Christ is also risen in us..

st Paul says in Colosians 3
that we too
are raised with him now.. to a new kind of life
This is not just a Holiday
or just a doctrine ..for the afterlife
but it is the redeemed life.. ..working in us..now....for this life..
..
it is the heavenly power to live
in a new way.
.it is a sprit of Christ..that is still alive
(are you with me?)
it is something to live by..
Easter is our way of Living in Jesus Christ.
* A heard a story about a teenager named Marcia
when she was young Marcia loved to dance.
So When Marcia was sixteen
her parents gave her dance lessons at the Martha Graham Dance Studio
in New York City.
Now this was a big thing..
If you don’t know who Martha Graham, was
she was a creative pioneer
maybe you could call her the Picasso of the dance world
she introduced a whole new style of contemporary dance
Anyway
Marcia’s parents signed her up for lessons
three nights a week.
One night
when Marcia going was going to her class,
she opened up the door,
but it was the wrong door,
so when she looked in
she could see these very professional dancers
they were dancing at a very high level of mastery.
She realized,
this was Martha Graham's personal company.
This was the top class and the inner circle of it all.
It was wonderful.
Her heart was pounding just to see this and be that close
so She decided to stay
just inside the door
and watch.
Two nights later when she went to her class,
she said to herself,
"I wonder?"
She opened up the same wrong door and she found that same company in there dancing again.
This time she snuck into the back of the room
just to watch.

But As they went through their dance routines,
she started to move with them
as they were practicing.
Week after week,
that is what she did,
she didn’t tell anybody
She cut off her leotard at the ankle
just like they did;
for weeks in a row
she danced at the back of the room
no one said anything to her

But one night
while they were in the middle of rehearsal
the door to the middle of the room opened
and in walked Martha Graham herself.
She was dressed in purple except for some long white gloves

She looked at the dancers and said,
"Group in threes and move across the floor.
Show me your exercises."

Marcia just stared at Martha Graham. This was like seeing the Wizard of Oz.
And the next moment
all of a sudden she realized
that every dancer was now on the other side of the room,
and she was all alone
and visible.
Martha Graham looked at her,
and of course
Martha Graham knew she did not have a sixteen year old in her company.
But she
said to her,
"Move across the floor.
Do the exercises."
Marcia thought to herself,
"I have two choices.
I can say,
‘I can't do this
I'm a fraud.
I’m just a kid;
can't you tell I'm just a kid?
I can't do this;
I'm sorry;
I've lied by being in here;
I'll apologize;
I'll get my parents to reimburse anything;
but I can't,
I'm a fake. I'm out of here.’"
Or,
she thought to herself,
I could reach deep down inside of me,
and with everything I am,
I could live this moment.
I could just dance.
I could just become dance."

She decided to dance
She said that to this day
she still does not
remember crossing that room.
But the experience
was like
being ...a beam of
light.
Everything in her
was living her life
at that moment
-- the melody was carrying her, the love was carrying her.
She trusted the power and the movement of the dance
She got to the other side of the room,
and she remembered again
how afraid she was.
The dancers were positioned there
like dancers stand,
one hand on a hip,
so she got behind another dancer
she was wondering what was going to happen next.

And what she saw
was the finger of Martha Graham
beckoning her to come
to her.
This young woman stood before Martha Graham.
Years later
she remembered what Martha Graham said.
Martha Graham looked her right in the eye
and she said,
'Young woman.
There is no reason to live any moment of your
life
other than the way
you just crossed that floor."

Well ...that is also the story of our faith..
That is also the invitation of the resurrection
God is calling us to live this moment...
with everything we are.
We have been taken into a new dance company
so to speak..a new community..a new school ..a new Way...this Jesus Way

so now
Le the dance of resurrection fill you
go ahead and trust the Gospel of life
and move across the floor

Yes I know
can stay in the corner
locked in our fear
or we can live life
in hope,
carried
by love.
We can believe what we hear

Our Scripture said this morning that
the women ran from the tomb
with fear and great joy.

Filled with fear and with joy.
That is how life is,
isn’t it?
And there is plenty of things that would keep us afraid
I Don’t KNOW WHAT KEEPS you or a church
hiding AGAINST THE WALL....
.instead of moving out across the dance floor
it might be the cancer or some illness
maybe the economy
or the war ..or the news.
or the mortgage ..
or the school situation.
.
or the trouble at home.
.I don’t know
tombs come in a lot of ways..
Fear is always around..
But Resurrection happens.
In the Scripture this morning the angel says to the women,
"He is going before you to Galilee,... there you will see him."
Its as if
the angels
are saying to those women and to the disciples..
and to us..
go and move across the floor.
The invitation..
the call..the beckoning... is given
but You Make the decision .
.you can say
I don’t really belong here..
This is not for me.
I don’t deserve it..
and I cant trust this..
Or
you
take that leap of faith.
Again and again
.you can want it..and try it..
you can believe this ..
maybe that too
is a mixture of both fear and joy!
It sounds too good to be true..
.but .go back on the road..
..the scripture is saying
.go out there
and he will be there..
the gospel says
He will be there
and he will meet you
trust it

in verse 10
Jesus says it so clearly
Do not be afraid
maybe that is the mysterious power that pulls us here..
every year
and every Sunday
..the Easter Gospel
do not be afraid
do not be afraid of death
do not be afraid of the enemy
do not be afraid of your failure
do not be afraid of your shame
do not be afraid of your weakness
do not be afraid of the future..
do not be afraid..
of Gods love. and the vision of True Life.
move out of the fear.
.and move
more and more..into the joy of the dance
(Remember last week the choir sang.. Lord of the dance..)
And the dance goes on..
Christ is Risen
the impossible is happening
that means that you ..and
this church
can dream
and you can change
you can be more courageous
you can be more forgiving and joyful
you can be more graceful
you can be more generous.
you can be more prayerful and faithful.
.we can be peacemakers
and we can be people of the Risen Christ.
We can be the church
we can dance this life of incredible Love
ok
I know ..like Marcia in the back of the dance room
maybe you need to watch for awhile..
Learn a few moves..
Try it out. Imitate it ..
and be around out
..just be amazed to see what it can do..
But eventually.
.maybe right now..in some way
you can let it actually move you
..move us..carry us... inspire us
And there is absolutely no reason for you personally
..and for this congregation
to Not move ...faithfully....and joyfully
across the dance floor..of life
Jesus said do not be afraid.

Christ is risen...say it now..
Maybe this is the fist dance step..
Say Christ is Risen again..but this time..
say out loud to yourself
say it with your name...in the sentence..say it to your self..
as if God is saying it to you..
Rory
Christ is risen
Say it out loud.. All together with your own name it

....that was your invitation to dance

* The source for Martha Graham dance story is Martie McMane, senior pastor at First UCC in Boulder Colorado ..from one of her sermons printed on their website.www.firstcong.net. She says it was told to her by a friend. . I have adapted it.

Raising of Lazarus

2008-03-09T11:00:00.001-07:00

PUMC John 11 Raising of Lazarus

This is one of the longest gospel lessons we will ever read.

.and I’m sure that it would be worth at least a dozen sermons
I’ve preached on it a few times already.

What do you need to hear..this morning; which sermon is the one for you today?

...I’m sure you all don’t answer that in the same way
for some of you this morning..

as you heard the lesson
this is another clear and direct word
that Jesus is the resurrection and the life

and I have spoken those words
somewhere
in just about every funeral service
and memorial service that I have ever done.

I believe these words
I need those words

I depend on these words for ministry
they are gospel to me

resurrection and life....
life that is stronger than death ......the gospel of hope in Jesus Christ

as you know... I said that Gospel again this week

as we gathered to remember Dorothy Little on Wed

I said these words of resurrection life again
on Thursday
as we said good bye to Dean Prushek

. This Lazarus lesson is another chance for us to tell some of the Easter story

with revelation and power of Jesus Christ

yes..we can come forth from the tombs

I could say amen......
and sit down

and I think you would say amen also.

That would be one sermon
......
Another sermon is in this image of Jesus who weeps with us..

And of course
we get the shortest verse in the bible
in the King James version its
Jesus wept

You all have that one memorized don’t you ?.
(I can teach it to you)
repeat after me
. John 11:35 Jesus wept.

.. Really its not a bad verse to memorize

Jesus weeps with us..

Why does he weep
he weeps ...because he sees our pain

he see our fear... he see our ignorance.
.he s see our struggles he sees our lack of understanding

for all these reasons and probably more

Jesus wept with compassion

will you let God do that with you...don’t deny it.
..but let God be there with you...

We don’t have some impersonal God who does not join us
in the human anguish

maybe that’s the message you need to hear this morning
God who grieves with you..and with this world
our God...enters the pain with us.

but
now this morning
I am looking at this strange part of the story

sometimes it bothers us
you know what it is

it’s the delay..

Its all over this story
. What do you do with it?

They send for Jesus

and he does Not come running
when he hears that Lazarus is ill.

Jesus doesn’t come right away to the rescue

and it is an issue
or a question at least in the story

And yo can hear that ,,
confusion
frustration. anger.. Maybe.
.or at least some disappointment..

With Martha in verse .. 21

she says
Lord if you had been here
my brother would not have died
..
As if to say
where were you.?

.why didn’t you do something
don’t you care about your friend..

don’t you love him..?

but this isn’t just a Martha’s feeling

because Mary also says the same thing

in verse 32

Lord I f you had been here

my brother would not have died.

And then later
some of them said
well if Jesus loved Lazarus so much.
.why did he let him die..

You see how this is being underscored..

this disappointing delay....
one more example

when Jesus tells them to roll away the stone

they say
on no there will be a stench

it has been four days
again
emphasizing

lord .. You made us wait..and now..its too late....
And course

as you heard from the story

Jesus does raise up Lazarus

and they are called to unbind him... and set him free
so...

Here’s want I want to spend time with this morning

Lets talk about the delay

on the surface..
it’s a way
of demonstrating the power.
and giving glory to God...

se how great this really is .......power and truth

.Lazarus is dead //Jesus says

and he was so dead.
.that it stank...

But even that condition
that much deadness could still be resurrected.....

now
back up on this other issue
what’s the spiritual lesson

I think its this

new spiritual life and faith

doesn’t just happen in an instant..

Well sometimes it does... in some ways .,,,I know that..

But that just is not the whole story

We have to deal .
.in our lives..
We have to deal with..what looks like a delay

sometimes
we are going to be spending time in the tomb..\
like Lazarus
in the cold dark times of the soul

sometimes
you are simply going to have to wait for the process of life to unfold

And in fact ..if you get the point of this story

the greater miracles happen
or get learned..
And discovered

revealed....by the waiting process..

time in the tomb..

that’s what makes this such a powerful story..it’s the delay..

The delay even shows the greater glory of God

But
we don’t get that part of the story very well

in fact We could even be accused of Ignoring that part.... Of the spiritual life

sometimes we make Christianity just sound like it s all quick and easy....
a little too easy..

Bill Meier who is at St Cloud now..

talks about a TV commercial that he saw for some big church in a city

the commercial shows the senior pastor walking along the shore of a
lake in a beautiful park.

He stops

looks into the camera and
then says,

“If you believe, anything is possible.”

then He starts to walk towards the water.

He steps into this shallow water

and you get idea that he’s going to walk on water
as a demonstration of faith.

You know if you believe.....anything is possible..

But then,

as he goes into the water.

you see that his expensive suit is going to be ruined
..he is not walking on water..
H’s getting wet
he finally stops
when the water is over his knees.

Then, he looks at the camera again

and he says,
“Perhaps
there’s more to it than that.

If this is where you are at,
we’ve got a place for you to grow in your faith...”
and then he gives his pitch for the church.

“Perhaps there’s more to it ..than that.”

This lesson
with the raising of Lazarus is also saying Perhaps there is more to it.

Jesus doesn’t do a long distance quick miracle resurrection

sometimes the journey of faith
makes us wait
until it seems too long ..and we go under.

Sometimes the change doesn’t come
until things really stink in the grave

so to speak.

we know ....what Mary and Martha feel like

Lord why did we have to wait ?!
why did it take so long

where were you....

.when we needed you
in the hospital..
in that misery...or in that doubt..in that problem..

have you been there,

Im thinking of all the psalms

that talk about having to wait..

Psalm 119 says How ,long must your servant wait.

Psalm 130 Out of the depths I cry for thee. O lord
I wait for the lord
my soul waits..

Why are those words in there..?

You can find those words again and again in the bible..

and I think this lesson
of Lazarus is an illustration of that waiting..and crying out in the depth..in the low dark times,,

maybe this story
allows us
to tell our stories ...that also feel like that.

We all know ...in some way or another...

that our faith is not just
as simple as walking on water in an instant.

in our believing..we are still going to get wet.

Sometimes
it is more complicated.
or confusing.
.or mysterious.

.and we end up .and wondering...
What next ...why..
and what now? When..when..

Have you ever felt like Lazarus in the tomb
or Mary and Martha.....left to grieve and wonder.

We need to be honest and truthful about that..

---------------------------------------
The book study retreat
that we have rescheduled with the Pums the church seniors group

is using Sue Monk Kidd’s book When the Heart Waits..

In the book

she uses the example of caterpillars and cocoons and butterflies

those are a old symbols for Easter and the soul and the spiritual transformation process.

You know that you cant just skip from caterpillar to butterfly

and she talks about how
that cocoon time
is just necessary
for the growth process

or the transformation process..

And she compare the cocoon time
to those times

when we are growing through change..

It is a process.
Cocoon time
is the waiting time..
The time when we are maybe vulnerable

or in the dark..scared,,,maybe stuck..
or feeling like we are in a tomb

and we are not in control
we are having to wait.

Its Biblical
she says

.look at the story of Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days
kind of tomb or cocoon story

or the Hebrew people as slaves in Egypt
or 40 years...of wandering in the wilderness
or the time of the exile...

or even the stories of the beggars ..blind and
waiting along the side of the road..

..and even Jesus in the tomb ...three days

waiting

and one of the chapters has a very relevant message for us

she talks about the quick-aholic thinking that we have
in so much our faith and church..tall

She says we get caught up ‘Quickaholic Spirituality”
so we have to keep busy,
rush past our pains and doubts,
and we try to avoid our cocoon stages

she says

and I quote
"When it comes to religion today,
we tend to be long on butterflies and short on cocoons.

Somehow we're going to have to relearn that the deep things of God
don't come suddenly.

It's as if we imagine
that all of our spiritual growth potential is dehydrated contents
to which we need only add some holy water to make it instantly and easily appear." (p. 26)

Maybe Mary and Martha
represent that quickaholic thinking in the story..

Jesus fix it ...we prayed ...
quick now..
we have the faith
we are calling for you Lord..
We know you love us..
now what!

Lord if you had been here.

Sue Monk Kidd gives this example

.... .A 20 year old college student who came to see her in a crisis.

After years of denial,

this young woman was finally facing the realization
that she had been sexually abused as a child.

This whole thing of course
had her in a lot of pain and confusion

. As she told Sue Monk kid
that she already
"turned it over to Jesus" three weeks earlier.

She asked Jesus to heal her wounds,

take away her pain, and resolve her torment.

To put it simply

she wanted God to come with an eraser and make it go away.

God hadn't done that.

Kidd says
she could understand the urgency
that this person felt to have everything okay again.

But The college student said
"If I can't trust God now, when I need Him the most,

how can I ever trust Him again?"

this was causing a real faith crisis for her

“If not now,,how can I ever trust him again”

Sue Monks Kidd goes on to say.. It wasn't a matter of whether God could be trusted, but whether or not she could wait.

She didn't understand that there was a journey to be made here
. A waiting.
A gestating.
A slow and uncertain birthing.

That is where God would be found. Not in the erasing of the experience, but in the embracing of it.
Archbishop William Temple once said that one of the mistakes Christians are fond of making
is trying to be more spiritual than God..
. When Jesus was in pain,
he didn't try to squirm out of it. He embraced the pain. He let it happen. He experienced a sense of God's absence. He cried out "My God, where are you? Why have you forsaken me?"

What that college student didn’t know .at that time in her life

Was that to be spiritual is to confront our pain,
instead of just making an enemy out of it

When Jesus told us to love our enemies
, maybe he was also talking about our inner enemies too.

He knew that love was the only means by which to transform them.

...
Finally Kidd in her words again
says
How did we ever get the idea that God would supply us on demand
with quick fixes?
that God is merely a rescuer
and not a midwife? "

Can you see that same kind of lesson in Raising of Lazarus?

process .....time... time in the emptiness...in the pain
in the tomb
waiting ..transformation..
The longer time of trusting.

Yes the resurrection still comes

The calling forth still comes
the new life still comes.
.the unbinding and the setting free

but sometimes it doesn’t come until ..its almost seems too late.

Do you need to hear that part of the story today.///?

Maybe you have been struggling with something for years and years
or maybe just a few weeks or months..

Maybe your getting impatient..
About something in your life

and wondering if Jesus will ever show up
if the help will EVER happen
if you will get through IT
get free OF IT
and the problem will ever BE over
r..

I cant promise that it will be easy

/so maybe as a pastor and a s a church

we need to help each other
to wait
to listen
to be together.
.to feel with each other
to pray
and to be in silence

sometimes to share the grief
to share the dark...

to do what Jesus did

to weep

...to feel the situation..

And yes sometimes it will just plain stink as if its hopeless

Do you think we need to need to a better job of teaching this lesson
teaching people how to do this..

spiritual .waiting
.and trusting God in this kind of way..

Listening in our wounds.
.. Listening to God in the dark.....
.discovering God at those shadowy places of our lives..as well

can we .as the Gospel lesson says ,,,let that that too.. lead to the glory of god..

Of course
the waiting is not the only part of the story

because as I said...
When we think nothing can be done as if the problem and the grave
really is the last word.

.we still
can share the promise
that Jesus is the resurrection and the life..

Maybe its it s in the waiting...this long long
deep
waiting
that we really discover
the greatness of God....

Maybe after we have given up hope
.beyond what we thought was possible
we find ...
Resurrection can still happen..

I think that is the Lazarus lesson
............................

Sue Monk Kidd When the Heart Waits

Blind to the Message John 9

2008-03-02T15:15:00.001-08:00

Source note. Touching the Heart By William J Bausch p. 59
PUMC March 2 2008 Blind to the Message John 9 R Swenson PUMC
George Bernard Shaw said that the British and the Americans are "two nations separated by a common language".
I think that saying fits a lot of the conversations in johns Gospel.
You get the same words being used..
but they don’t mean the same thing to everybody in the conversation....
you get two people separated by a common language.
for example in the last Sundays we had Jesus talking to nichodemus
they are talking about being born again or born from above.. Nichodemus is thinking literally and physically
how can I be born again !!!
Jesus uses the same words "born again"
but he s not talking about anything literal or physical at all,,
same word
but a double meaning..
And the spiritual meaning is the message.
.the implication for us
is that we shouldn’t just be like Nichodomus..
h’s a scholar and a teacher.. thinking at the natural //intellectual..literal level of the world
last week
we had another example
the woman at the well
they are talking about water and thirst..
but the Samaritan woman is thinking H2 O And physical thirst..
She is thinking about this literally....or in the rational kind of way
because after all
Jesus wants drink
and they are standing by a well
but relay this all about that deeper meaning
and the inner well..
Spiritual water
living water
spiritual thirst..
Now
by now..
As readers of Johns Gospel
coming into the 9th chapter.
We are supposed to have this figured out.
We should have caught on by now..
..John is famous for these double meanings
in the stories s of Jesus .
.and the good stuff.
The important part..
.is in the second layer.,
in the symbolism.,
If you think on just the surface
if you think on just the literal level
if you think a storm is just a storm
and a physical healing is just a healing
and a cloud is just a cloud.
And a death is just a death..
.and so on..
you are going to miss the message
and you will miss the truth.
.
But to give us still another clue
John has a special way of telling us that we are supposed to go deeper in all these stories
healing stories
miracle stories
these object lessons
are called signs.. In johns gospel
he uses that word 17 times.
So this morning
in the story of the blind man
it is a sign for us.
as I said
by now
you gotta know that the physical healing
and the physical blindness is not the real point..
this is about getting your spiritual eyesight.
The blind man gets that
and so he is truly not blind
but the pharisees ...who have perfect physical eyesight.
.are blind
because they do not see who Jesus.
and they are blind to the message.
To .the revelation.. In this story.
Now here the important part for us
this is the interesting question
when you read these stories of Jesus
are you and I
still blind to the deeper kind of message
when you read the scriptures
can you do
what John wants you to do
and get the metaphor
and the symbolism
and the double meanings and the spiritual message carried in the words..
Are you with me..
we have to be interpreters..
Johns Gospel style is telling us that we have to become interpreters.
Now..let me underline that with a story to make my point.

One upon a time
there was a young king
who decided that it was time to find a bride.
Now this king was different
H e didn’t care if his bride was tall or thin .
.blonde or dark.
.but he wanted her to be intelligent..
.with a special kind of wisdom
so he decided to go traveling around in his kingdom
trying to find the most intelligent woman in the land.
He took off his royal robes
and put on the overcoat of a common peasant..
Disguised I suppose
as kings sometimes do.
He went off wandering around on the roads. From town to town .village to village
one day
as he was walking down a dusty road...
the king met an old man.
And since they were going in the same direction the kind said Grandfather where are you going
the old man gave the name of the town
just down the road
and since the king was going that way as well
they got to taking
and very soon the king said to the old man
Grandfather
should I carry you
or should you carry me?
"My what a strange question" the old man said to himself
this traveler must be crazy Im not going to answer him.
And so the old man didn’t say a thing.
He just walked a little faster.
The king didn’t say anything either.
But then they came to large field
and they could see these ripe heads of grain.
Grandfather.the king said again to the old man..
As he stopped to look at the field
Do you think that grain is already eaten or not?
Already eaten or not
What kind of a question is that
this man is truly crazy.
What nonsense is he talking..... I am not going to answer him.
Th older man shut his mouth tight
and would not even look at the this traveler with him along the road..
He just walked faster.
The king kept up with him..walking without a word.
Finally they came to the walls of the city..
But they couldn’t go into the gates right then
because a funeral procession was going by.

Grandfather, the king said..
Do you think the man in the coffin is alive or dead?
Now the old man was again thinking to himself..this fellow is not to be talked with.
Another foolish question
.so he turned to the younger man
and said
"Thank you for your company along the way
but this is my town and I am going home now.
"Thank you for your company’, the king said..
"But don’t forget to knock on the door first
before you go into your house."
‘Knock on my own front door."
the old man was just fuming.
. Knock on my own front door.
I don’t need to do something like that!
By the time the old man got to his house
he was so upset
that he threw open the front door to his house.
.stormed through the doorway
and as he did that.
.he knocked his daughter down to the floor.
Oh daughter,,, he said.
.I am so sorry
I guess I should have knocked
I should have listened to what that young man said..
.but everything he said...was such nonsense.

Father ....slow down..calm yourself.
What young man./
What nonsense?
..The young man I traveled with along the road.
You will never believe the ridiculous questions he was asking me.
Tell me father..said the daughter..
tell me what he said.
First he said to me,
"Grandfather
should I carry you, or will you carry me?
Now what kind of a question is that?
I am not so old that he has to carry me?
And he wasn’t so young that I had to carry him..
Both of us could walk just fine.
‘O father" the daughter said,,
that s not What he meant at all.
He wanted to ask you..... if he should tell you a story..
or if you would tell him one?
The journey is so much shorter when you’re listening to stories

it is the storyteller who carries the listener...that what he meant

oh... said the old man,,
maybe that is what he meant
but that doesn’t explain the next question:
we came by a field of grain.
.and he wanted to know if the grain was already eaten or not?
Now what kind of a question is that..?
We could see the grain right there in the field.
Oh father said the daughter..
What he was talking about;
was whether you thought the owner of the field had already sold the crop
or not..
If he had already sold the crop and spent the money..
it would be the same
as if the grain had already been eaten.
Oh daughter I see..what you mean
But you cant explain the last question.
We waited for a funeral to pass by..
And he wanted to know if the man in the coffin was dead or alive.
..Isn’t that a bunch of nonsense.
Father think about this.., the daughter said
He was asking you if the man inside the coffin had any children.
Because if the man had children in his family line ....then was living on.. If not. Then he was truly dead.
Oh daughter I’ve been so foolish
I think I should go back and find that t young man and apologize.
So the king went back
and looked around the town until he found the king who was still wearing a disguise.
I am so sorry ..,
He said, Now I understand what you were asking me.
Please come and have dinner with me.
But the king had another question
who helped you to understand/
it was my daughter,,,
now please come back to my house with me..

They got to the old mans house just as the meal was ready
the young man sat down at the table with the older man
and his wife
while the daughter came to the table with platter full of roasted chicken
Because the young man was a guest
..she put the platter in front of him
and asked him to carve the chicken.
And so that is What he did.
He gave the drumstick to the wife
he gave the daughter ..the wings..
And to the old man he gave the back and the neck.
When the old man looked at his plate and saw the scrawny neck and the head of the chicken he got angry
his face turned red
and he stood up to yell when his daughter gently put her hand on his shoulder.
Father
its alright
the young man carved the chicken very well.
He gave the drumsticks to mother
because she is always standing and working
he gave me the wings because one day soon
I will marry and fly way form home
he gave you the head and the neck
because you’re the head of the household
he kept the rest for himself
because there was no one else to share with.
When the king heard this..
He realized that he had found the very clever women he had been searching for.
He asked the father if he could marry her.
The father looked to his daughter to see if this was her wish
she nodded her head.. Yes it was.
It was then that king took off his disguise
and the daughter realized that she would become the queen.

now that is a very old story from Persia
to our modern western ears
it a strange and charming little story
but our minds
and our ears
are years away from the mentality, that formed that story
we are more like the grandfather who took everything so literally
it is hard for us to appreciate a culture
that so easily accepted symbolism and metaphor
..images and hidden meanings.
The idea that language might say..more than it says..
Is something we know about in other areas of literature.. Art and poetry and theater.
. But why then
do we seem to forget that when we come to the bible.

But that is the kind of world that gave us the Bible..
and that is the kind of story telling and teaching that Jesus gave us..
It is exactly the kind of world that we get in Johns gospel..
And it is essential
that we learn how to be more like the daughter
with the ability to listen to the bible stories.
.listen to the words and ideas....
and to go deeper than the surface.
.to go deeper into the meaning.
Now
sometimes
that means that we have to learn the expression of that time and place
the old sayings of the Palestinian world from the first century
don’t always translate with the same meaning today
but even more important
..is the interpretation into the spiritual insight./////.the seeing..

The scripture lesson this morning is a good example
this is about two different kinds of blindness
and different kinds of seeing and being in the light..

If you just think this as story about a man being physically healed of blindness..
You really are blind to the big picture of the story

you don’t need to try and figure out medically..
or scientifically
. how Jesus did this miracle .....but I’ve been in few Bible studies where I had people trying to do exactly that!
But that’s that the foolish part of this long conversation.
That’s what the pharisees are trying to do!
.all this interrogating that they are putting this man through!
Trying to see if this really happened...and figure it out
.we don’t need to interrogate and examine..the story and try to figure out if its real..
and say how did Jesus do that!
It’s a sign !
Its an illustration..a symbol..

spiritual eyesight.. Into the revelation of God in Jesus Christ

You see how the scriptures in John themselves
are kind of like the story
about the king and the old man and the daughter.. ?

In John 16:26
Jesus says
I have told you these these things in figures of speech..
Hear that? "figures of speech.."
figurative language..Images,,
symbols ,,metaphors,,
like sheep and vines..and branches..flesh and body... And light and water..and bread.
and then
he goes on to say that you need to understand those things
through the Holy spirit.
.with prayer..with spiritual interpration
Not with the rational intellect of the head
but the heart..
...listening and interpreting at a spiritual level.

Now as I said..
I think it’s a serious problem for us in our head based .
.intellectually based..
science minded..
Literal kind of reading...
Lots of people
try to read the bible that way,
and they don’t believe the bible or Christianity
.because it looks like non sense to them
... they cant figure it out?

but its not just a modern problem
St Augustine
the great theologian and bishop from the 4th century...
Three hundreds years after the time of Jesus
he was trying to understand the scriptures..
Augustine was smart man ..with a great classical education
but he went to Bishop Ambrose
and told him
that he thought the Bible was inferior literature..
he wasn’t impressed.
But Ambrose said to him
You young fool..
You cant get it,
because when you read the bible a bout fish..
You think fish....
when you read Bread.
.you think bread..
Ambrose..had to explain the meanings
Told him
that he could not just go with the surface meanings..

Well
we still have people making that mistake to day...
. how blind are we when we read the scriptures
..
or do we listen to the holy Spirt
and get down
To the spiritual level that feeds our faith
down in the heart and the soul.
.where believing really happens
---------------------------------------------------
This morning we are celebrating a baptism
Does it look like we are saying some words and putting some water on little Coopers head..
but if you ve got your spiritual eyes and ears open you
will see so much more..
Its not just water .
.and it s not just a ritual
that we do...
but its giving Cooper publicly
into the path of God
the love of God..is his gift.
..and the presence of God
somehow at work
its not just water..
but it’s the living water
and the life of God
and the cleansing
and the renewing
and the washing of Gods spirit
it’s the new ....regenerative.. life of Jesus Christ
or in terms of the Gospel lesson today
we pray
that the muddy or earthly human blindness
that we are all born with.
(Yes.. .we are all the man who is born blind..)
But the sign of baptism.
. Is That the darkness.
.and the blindness..
will be washed away from our eyes ..
by Jesus Christ
so that we can see Jesus ..as the Christ..
and we can see the truth. ..
We pray that Cooper.. will grow to see the light..
And as we do that
I would also ask you today
what do you see
..

FOR 11:15 only,,,,,,This morning in the sacrament of Holy Communion..
we have another example of this symbolic meaning and metaphor..
Jesus himself said it..its not just t bread
its not just fruit of the vine..
Its his life
his body
his blood
his love his forgiveness..
Present with us
Your physical eyes
are not going to be able to see that.///
. But in the light of Jesus
we can see the sacrificial and redemptive. gift of God

What do you see.. This morning.. .