Spending time Jan 20 2008

Jan 20 2008 John 1: 29-43 Epiphany 2A Park UMC

James Moore, in one of his books, passes on the legend of the touch stone .

According to the legend there is a certain stone on the coast of the Black sea...
and if you can find this touch stone and hold it in your hand
then everything you touch will be turned to gold.

The legend says that you will know when you have the touchstone
because it will feel warm when you hold it in your hand.

Every other stone will just be cold when you pick it up but the touchstone will turn warm
Now again as the legend goes;
there was a man who sold everything he had
and went off to the black sea.........looking for the touchstone

so he walked along the shore everyday picking up the stones
one after another,going along the coast looking for the stone
he did this day after day,...

pick up a stone ......feel it.... and toss it back down again
but then he started to think that

maybe he was picking up the same stones all over again

so he decided to have a plan
more of system..he decided that after he picked up a stone he would toss it into the sea so he wouldn’t pick it up again'
and that’s what he did;week after week.
But then one morning he came out early

looking for the touchstonethe same old way;
pick up a stone... if it was cold... toss it into the sea

pick up a stone throw it into the sea

every stone was cold
So he would toss it into the sea


but one day he picked up a stone

and it turned warm in his hand
...and before he even knew what he was doing

guess what..? He threw it into the sea..

He had it in his hand ...but he threw it into the sea

By now he was so much into the automatic rhythm of the routine
so much habit of repetition...not paying any real attention..
Pick up a stone
throw it into the sea

that when he actually found what he was looking for

..it was too late.
He didn’t see what he had
and he missed the treasure that was in his hand

I tell that story because it might be a parable of what happens to all us

we handle so many things in our lives

we get into these busy routines handling our lives

in a sense ...picking up things all day long
one after another....

jobs and ideas
things and people
relationships
here and there
do this
and do that

and we know
that in all of that picking up and moving on

in all of that process
yes..we are looking for something
and along the way
your probably going to pick up something
that warms your heart

something that you really are looking for

something that you really want to notice
and hang on to

but Before we realize what we have done

we have already tossed and lost it..
and moved on..by accident.
Does that make sense?

you know what I mean?
So often we just don’t pay attention to what we have..

Distracted by busyness and speed or endless routine

I think we even do it in the church
and in our spiritual lives

we love to be busy
And keep it moving ..
We live in a hyped up .
High energy..multi-task culture..high sensory , entertainment society
and we want it exciting and want it now..
And I think we do that (as I said)
because we are desperately looking for something

we think that moment is a sign of life .and real power
IF Its NOT MOVING
IT MUST BE DEAD..
RIGHT?
are you moving or not

You gott a know that ...in the church even,

there is always this pressure ..spoken or not
to be doing something new..exciting..stimulating

What are your doing !
what’s your next goal
what’s your strategic plan

What’s on the calendar
what’s new ?and what’s next ?
..................
We had a visitor a couple weeks ago.. who came to church on Sunday morning

and afterwards I gave her a phone call to say thanks for visiting ..

(Sometimes I get around to doing something like )

and the person told me that she liked the worship service..she was at the 11:15 service
and she was so impressed with all the things that we had going on

she told me that she read every one of the announcements
..(this was back when we had a whole bunch of inserts in the bulletin)

Well now... I was impressed that she read all of that !

because we ve got a lot of announcements

We are a busy placeand I’m impressed with that too..I'm impressed with you!
we are busy
.I love being here because there is some vitality
and ambition and energy to try new things



The PumS /senior group ..and some families..off to see the Velveteen Rabbit..and speakers coming in
the youth group... ...and selling soup for missions..
Last week we had Fred Vanderwerf here..
Missionary in the Ukraine

We’ve got these Bible studies
last Dec we added the Candlelight dinner

Now. coming up next Sat...
the UMW book sale..
.. This is just the second time for that..its still new!
new things


I love it....so clearly this is good,,,don’t get me wrong at all..

and I want to say thank you to everybody who helps with that.
You work hard...

but what if ..... what if...
.in all of that.... we get so busy
that we forget to hold on to the touch stone?

we get so busy moving on and trying all these good things
that we forget what we have ..
in all of this

Or We miss what we are looking for..

We get into this automatic work mode..Sunday after Sunday
Busyness after busyness
Ministry after ministry
Project after project
meeting after meeting

Or I can do sermon after sermon..hospital visit after hospital visit..

but we have to remember
that what we are looking for ....is the touchstone of real truth and value..life
and warmth

what we are looking for .. Is Jesus Christ

what we are looking.. for is the redeeming..healing g..touch of God
that spiritual connection
the grace and the peace..and the deep wholeness of God
I want the treasure of Gods will, God love

....what we are looking for... is the real point of it all.

That why I like one of the very first questions in the gospel lesson this morning

in verse 38 ,,,Jesus says what are you looking for?
----------------------
But lets back up and remember the lesson so you get the flow of it all

John the Baptist points to Jesus
and says behold the lamb of God.....

in essence h’s saying... look ....there’s the touch stone..

And two of the disciples go to check it out ....is this really it... ?

They are going to pick up the stone .. so to speak

and that’s when Jesus gives them one of the first questions that we all have to ask in the spiritual life

If you’re going to ever get in touch with your spiritual calling in life

you have to hear the question:
What are you looking for..?
What’s the touchstone that you’re looking for?

Jesus says...to all of us.. what are you looking for.?

Nowdid you notice that in the gospel lesson they don’t simply say well
we are looking for you!

Even though John the Baptist has pointed him out

they give Jesus this open ended kind of response....
they come back with another question to Jesus..

They say ..Teacher..rabbi..where are you staying?


It s like they are saying “ we’ll let you know ..after we find it..and get to know you

This is so human.
.so honest....we don’t know it..until we find it...we need to learn..and explore

So . they say to Jesus “where are you staying... ?
Where will you be?
..
.and Jesus says basically;that ok... Good answer..

come and see.. (Verse 39)
Come and see for yourselves

Jesus invites us ..
to get to know him ..to learn..to search..
Jesus invites us to explore him
Jesus invites our curiosity
come and spend time with me..
study with me.. Go with me...follow me..listen to me..
pay attention .and be with me.
Come and find where I am..and be with me

Come and see for yourself

Maybe Jesus is saying

don’t just take John the Baptists word on this
don’t just go by hearsay and the words of others..


you can know it personally.
.in the context,,the situation ..the experience of your life
come and spend time with me

(in another words
pick up the touch stone and see what happens)

Now an important footnote here;
when Jesus says “come and see”
in Johns gospel

he doesn’t use the word for seeing with the physical eye.

.that would be the word “blepo” in Greek

but he uses a word for spiritual seeing... we would call it insight..
or spiritual seeing

Jesus is saying come and get your personal spiritual insight..

So we know
that this is going to about a spiritual lesson for all of us..

and then in verse 39

...(This Is what I really want us to catch this morning)
if you fell asleep ..wake up now)

Jesus says come and see personally .
get your insight.
and they go to where he is
and they stay with him

they stay with him!
Underline that..
and again the word for "staying"
is not just being there in physical way...in a house or a location...
but it’s the word for abide and remaining
and it’s a special word about deep connection and a living relationship


Is all a kind of theological..spiritual code language

.this is a kind of prayer language and spiritual communion language..almost mystical

Jesus is saying “come and really be with me” abiding

.......come and see ...stay with me

and thats what they do

they go and remain with Jesus

They experience Jesus ..as the Christ
.and not for a little bit of the day
because the clue about 4 o’clock

means that they started
toward the end of one day and stayed through the night
and into the next day....

. Remember that the Jewish day starts and ends with the evening
so what we are getting in all this double meaning and symbolic language
is a picture of going to Jesus ..in a complete...almost timeless .way.

And personally being there..all your day
Staying remaining...being with each other, all day..


In other word they were really present

and they didn’t rush around


Now days we would say ...they got spiritually centered..

This is the opposite of what we usually do in life

routinely picking up the stones
and tossing them away

it was actually holding the touch stone
Feeling the warmth
being aware
and knowing that this is it..
Having the treasure


Are you with me..?

I'm going to come back to this point later

And then after that spiritual centering

after the seeing and the staying and the listening and the being
and the praying
after the deep connecting
After theyg et their heart warmed with the touchstone... (the Wesleyan warm heart!)
Thats where the outreach comes from


that where the witness comes from
and the action and ministry come from
so that Andrew goes to Peter and says ; We found the Messiah
we have the touchstone ..come and see it for yourself..we don't keep it in some privatized feel good way...

--------------------
The real attraction and ministry of Park church ... or any church

can only come from that integrity of spending time with Jesus


We share what we have seen


it all comes form Staying with Jesus....
.holding on to the touchstone...at least
long enough to know that you have it. and you want to share it.
....centering on the love...

So I have, really ...
a very simple and practical point this morning.
An invitation
from the Gospel lesson:

slow down...pay attention to the routines and the business of your life

because the touchstone
the treasure.
may very well be in your hand right now.
So what in your hand!
Jesus might be in something that you are routinely.. ..hurriedly.. Overlooking


Don’t rush though your life
don’t rush through your church life
don’t rush though the worship service
don’t rush though your daily devotions
don’t just mindlessly..or dutifully do the volunteer work

Pay attention to what your doing

because we are told to ask personally
every day
and all day long
the same spiritual question that the disciples ask

where are you staying Teacher?
...where are you .. Lord.?
is this my Christ moment with you as my rabbi..my teacher.
is this time..the teachable time with you..right now?
..and Jesus says
come and see

open your eyes of faith..awareness!
..look ..pay attention. ...follow me..and Ill show you
...
and then you and I are also left in the position

of paying attention

where are you staying Jesus in my life
and in your life..and in this congregation

where will you meet me..and teach me..

are you here in this certain....place of my life ?
are you staying here..?
Should I slow down and be present

.where do I need to be ..to be with you


and you know what?

...its going to be a little bit different for each of us..

It gets personal..

I hope you can come here to worship
and discover that you are spending time with
Jesus in the word
in the songs
in the prayers or the fellowship.. and so on
The Teacher ..Jesus is here.

or maybe in your life
Spending time with Jesus
might mean
that you have to go an be present with him at the hospital
or the nursing home
or at the school
or at work
at home
or with the neighbor next door

because thats where Jesus is going to be
for you. .and h’s going to teach you there.
.and you need to spiritually ...be there too,

maybe you’re going to find
for you
that for Jesus is staying with the Sunday school class
or the Bible study
..youth group..or soup kitchen
and that’s where you have to be with him too..

Start the day with the question: “Jesus .. where are you staying in my life today ?
in my words today
in my thoughts today..?

Maybe Jesus is saying that today
Im going to be very present and real in the scriptures for you
and you need to come and read and pray

maybe Jesus wants to stay with you
in a quite time of reading
or walking or reflection
prayer
confession and soul searching

maybe thats where you need to be..
.to stay with Jesus today

and to find what you are really looking for


Duane Thompson at Christ... UMC in Bethel PA _(from a sermon on thier website)
writes about something that an old preacher told him
this older pastor said

“I could write volumes about how to find what you’re looking for,

But I’ll save myself a bunch of writing,
and I’ll save you a bunch of reading
by just telling you this:
Just set aside a few minutes a day,
ten minutes maybe,
or five, or even two minutes,
two minutes a day,
and think about God,
think about Jesus Christ
and what he has done for you,
and confess your sins,
some days
you may need more than two minutes,
but confess your sins,
and pray for those who are in need,

and pray for those who have done you wrong,
pray for those who have done you wrong
and ask for strength for the day,

don’t worry about yesterday,
or tomorrow,
ask for strength,
ask for what you need,
for the day.
And if you do this,
if you do this consistently,
day after day,
before long,
you will begin to find what you’re looking for.
.........................
Doesn’t that sound like spending time with Jesus?

paying attention to the touchstone in the hands of your life

don’t accidentally ...
toss your spiritual life.. away ...
find out how and where Jesus is staying in your life
and then go .
.faithfully...mindfully..soulfully.. ...heartily, openly..be there..with him..
...
Thats probably what your looking for.