Sermon for January 28, 2024

Readings:

• Deuteronomy 18:15-20
• 1 Corinthians 8:1-13
• Mark 1:21-28
• Psalm 111

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Lj7EUicarnw%3Fsi%3DJf2cjm3BXvn9oiex%26start%3D1408

People are astounded at Jesus in the gospel this morning, even before he casts the demon or the unclean spirit out of the man in the synagogue. Even before Jesus performs this miracle people are astounded at his teaching because he is teaching and preaching as one with authority. Authority. Jesus is talking to folks as if what he says actually matters. He is talking to folks, not as some speculative, starry-eyed philosopher asking “what if” questions; he is talking to folks as someone who has more than just questions, but also answers. Jesus has answers and Jesus has authority. That is what astounds people. That is why they start following him.

Now if you are paying attention on Sunday mornings and listening to Jesus in the gospel, then you will know that Jesus doesn’t always give folks straight answers; he often answers people with more questions or stories, but still he speaks with authority and that authority is demonstrated in his actions. He has more than knowledge; he has power. 

One wonders what kind of anodyne, lukewarm sermons the people in Capernaum must have been used to. Certainly there had been bold and gifted prophets in the past. And certainly there must have been plenty of faithful rabbis teaching and interpreting God’s law, but was there anyone who could stand up and speak authoritatively and compellingly? And in comes Jesus, talking to them like he knows what he’s talking about and like what he has to say to them actually matters. Can you imagine having a preacher that has important things to say and actually knows what he is talking about? 

Don’t answer that. That’s a rhetorical question…sort of.

I can imagine that there are many people in churches today that would be quite sympathetic with the people of Capernaum, with clergy rambling on at length without any discernible point whatsoever, trying to be inoffensive to everyone, without making any clear claims about God or truth. Preaching like they have never read the scriptures, or don’t particularly care what they have to say. Obviously, I don’t think that happens here, but I know it happens. Religious folks either lose their zeal or they become zealous about the wrong things, but either way they lose touch with God’s revelation. They lose the fire of conviction and then they lose their power. But that is not how Jesus spoke. Jesus spoke with authority. Jesus offended people. Jesus made claims about God and truth. And then he demonstrated to people that there was power behind those words. It is true that Jesus left many questions unanswered, but he does answer some and he does so with the authority of the son of God. That is why people are astounded by him, and that is what has drawn people to Jesus throughout the ages. 

Jesus’s words have power and authority. The demons and the unclean spirits in this world know that, but how often we forget it. 

There are, of course, always prophets and preachers and rabbis and priests who will say MORE than what God has told them to say. This is what I mean when I talk about religious folks who become zealous about the wrong things. There’s a reason why Moses had to threaten death to any prophets speaking falsely on behalf of God in our Deuteronomy passage this morning. There are always those who want to definitively know more than what God has revealed to us. There are those who want to put words in Jesus’s mouth or God’s mouth and have him say things that he didn’t say. There are folks who will say that things are God’s will when we have no idea if they are God’s will or not. There are folks who will project onto God their own values, their own ideas, and their own politics. It has always been this way, and it is not just preachers, but average, everyday religious folks do it too. We have folks who want to speak about things with an authority that they don’t have.

Well, our response when we encounter priests and prophets claiming too much authority to speak on behalf of God is often to do just the opposite. We humans are always prone to being reactionary. If I think that some Christians go too far and say things they shouldn’t say or make claims that they can’t make, then my reaction may be to do just the opposite and say nothing, believe nothing, and to make no claims about God or truth. But you see, that’s not helpful either. Jesus came into the world, teaching and preaching, as one with authority. Through his miracles and demonstrations of power, and chiefly through his death and resurrection, Jesus confirmed the authority of his teaching, so his words still speak with the authority of the son of God. Those of us who claim the name Christian and profess to be followers of Christ, we may not be able to say more than Jesus says about God and truth, but we dare not say less. 

Jesus still speaks as one with authority and there are still people in the world that need to hear his words and experience his power. We have authority, as Christians, to share Jesus’s words with the world. We have the authority to share the truths that he has revealed to us. We have the authority to answer the questions that Jesus answered. Maybe we can’t, and shouldn’t, answer every question, but we do have some answers. We may not have a blueprint of heaven, but we do have a vision. It is possible to share one without claiming to have the other. It is possible to answer some questions, without pretending to have the answer to every question. That is the tightrope that we are all challenged to walk as Christians. It is definitely true for priests and prophets that we can’t say too much, but we shouldn’t say too little, but it is true for all of us as well. 

Do I completely understand demons, unclean spirits and the forces of evil in this world? No I don’t, but I do know that Jesus has power over them. Do I have the authority to say whatever I want about God? No I don’t. But I do have the authority to share what Jesus says. No more, no less. His words actually matter. His words have real authority. And it is his words that people really want to hear whenever they come through those doors. All of our power and authority as Christians, come from his words.

Sermon for January 14th, 2024

Readings:

• 1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20)
• 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
• John 1:43-51
• Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

https://youtube.com/watch?v=57k94PRHnRI%3Fsi%3DE3OEK1AcXwazdW6d%26start%3D1466

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.

The Apostle Paul, in his characteristic style, is trying to tackle how some folks are misunderstanding the Christian faith. Is Christianity meant to be a more strict, or less strict version of Judaism? How are Christians meant to relate to God’s law? What should direct and drive Christian behaviour? What is the relationship between Christian freedom and Christian responsibility? These are some of the very practical questions that Paul addresses in his letters, including his letter to the Corinthians that we heard a moment ago. Funny thing is, Paul was addressing these issues with the Church in Corinth a couple thousand years ago, but these issues and these questions are still very much present in our own day. They aren’t irrelevant.

I know that there are many people in the world that think that church (and possibly religion in general) is either one of two things: a get out of jail free card that offers a pie-in-the-sky promise of heaven for those who subscribe to the correct beliefs, OR an ethical system of dos and don’ts that is primarily designed to make nice people nicer. Plenty of people look at us and think that that is what Christianity is about: no rules or all rules. There may be many faithful Christians who see their faith as being about one of those two things: Correct beliefs or correct actions. Believe the right thing and go to heaven, or do the right things and go to heaven, or even more common nowadays for those who strain to believe in an afterlife: do the right things and make heaven for ourselves. But what if I told you that it’s not an either/or situation? What if it isn’t a choice between believing and doing? What if it isn’t a choice between waiting for heaven and trying to make the world a little better? What if belief and action are married to each other and walk hand in hand? 

What I think Paul really wants the Corinthians to understand is that in Jesus Christ God has revealed his love to us in this most astounding way. God has shown us self-sacrificial love. Christ offers himself as a sacrifice for human sin. He fulfills but does not negate the law. He offers us freedom from this cycle of sin and death that we get trapped in. The same God that led the Children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, offers us all a way out of slavery to the forces in this world that dominate us. Sometimes the forces in this world that dominate us are very personal demons. Maybe it is addiction or anxiety or greed or anger. We live in a world filled with good things, including amazing food, but any of those things, when taken out of perspective or out of balance, can dominate us. That is Paul’s point. Christ offers us freedom, but with freedom comes responsibility. We have this amazing promise of forgiveness of sin and everlasting life, and we have been given a foretaste of this resurrected life in Jesus’s resurrection, but that tremendous gift still calls for some response from us.

There was a biblical scholar named John P Meier, who once wrote that “if religion is grace then ethics is gratitude.” “Radical demand, flows from radical grace.” If religion is grace then ethics is gratitude. What that means is that if our religion, our belief system, teaches us that in history and in our own personal lives, God has shown us unmerited grace, meaning God gives us love, forgiveness and salvation that we don’t deserve, then our ethics, or how we live our lives, the code of conduct that we willingly subscribe to, that should be a reflection of our gratitude for that grace. God acts first. God gives us life. God knows us, God calls us. God offers us forgiveness, love and salvation. That is all grace. God’s work in the world is grace. When we stand up and recite the creed, which is the core belief of our religion, we are reciting and retelling a short history of God’s grace. God acts first.

But does an encounter with that grace change us in any way? Does it change how we live moving forward? God may indeed act first, but does that mean that everything we do as humans is irrelevant and bears no consequences? The Apostle Paul certainly didn’t think so. Jesus didn’t think so either.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he talks about being free from a rigid and narrow understanding of God’s law. He talks about being free from this idea that in order to be saved we must fulfill God’s law perfectly, meaning that we must be faultless in our actions. If, in Christ, we are free from that kind of slavery to a rigid interpretation of law, does that then mean that we should just do whatever we want? Paul doesn’t think so. All things may be lawful for me, he says, but not all things are beneficial. Just because you can do something and get away with it, doesn’t mean that you should. We live in a very free society here in our country, and that is indeed a blessing, but with freedom comes responsibility. There are many, many things that are perfectly lawful for us to do, but that doesn’t mean that we SHOULD do them. It doesn’t make them good for us, or for anyone else. 

Christianity is not just about rigid adherence to a bunch of rules; nor is it about willfully just doing whatever the heck we want, regardless of the consequences to ourselves or others, just because we are confident that God has an ultimate place for us in his eternal kingdom. It is about freedom AND responsibility. A responsibility that comes from gratitude, NOT guilt. We are called to be people who witness to God’s grace, not only with our lips but in our lives. We are people who value rules and traditions, NOT because we think that our eternal salvation is contingent upon adhering to them, but because we find in them wisdom. They are good for us and they help us to not be dominated by the forces of this world, even our own demons and desires, that would dominate us. If Christianity is about grace, then the Christian life must be about gratitude. If my life means so much to God, then it should mean something to me too. If your life means so much to God, then it should mean something to me too. That is Christian ethics in a nutshell. Just because we can do something, doesn’t mean that we should.

Sermon for Christmas Eve 2023

Readings:

• Isaiah 9:2-7
• Titus 2:11-14
• Luke 2:1-14(15-20)
• Psalm 96

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ODsU5R3FOJ0%3Fsi%3DxMXjY9m4jye8xliV%26start%3D1754

Every year at this time we set up our creche, our nativity scene, right underneath this pulpit. It was the most convenient and the most prominent place we could put it, and it is fitting really since the good news, the gospel, which is what the pulpit should be all about, that begins here. This is the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe to be the Messiah, the Son of God. At least, that is the story that these statues are pointing us to. On the one hand, they are really just plastic. Molded plastic with some paint. And they are imperfect and fragile. This angel’s wing is chipped. Part of Mary’s robe is cracked. One of the wisemen is a little damaged. It’s a beautiful set, but that is what happens over time with material things, including our own bodies; they get a little worn and banged about, and these statues are just material things. But on the other hand, I think most of us would recognize that they are much more than that.

When you pass by this scene later, you won’t look here and see molded pieces of plastic and paint. You will see Joseph, and Mary, and Jesus. They are symbols. They are material things, we can see them and touch them, but they point us to and remind us of something that we can’t see or touch. Despite whatever jokes I may sometimes make, none of us was actually at the birth of Jesus. No one here saw him in the flesh, with our own eyes; no one in here held Jesus in our arms. But tonight, these very fragile, imperfect, material things can direct us to, and help us to see, something that our eyes don’t have the power to behold. 

That may sound very philosophical, but the truth is, that’s what happens every time you look at a photograph or a picture of a loved one that is no longer with you. Material things have power and meaning. Whether they are a piece of photographic paper or molded statues of plastic and paint, material things can point us to things that are harder to see and impossible to hold onto or contain. Material things are NOT meaningless. If you don’t believe me, then go and look in the face of any child tomorrow morning.

There are quite a few presents under my Christmas tree tonight. Most of them aren’t for me, which is as it should be, but I will still find joy in them. Presents, which are of course material things, can bring you joy. I’m here to say it. They can be a source of joy whether you are getting them OR giving them. They can be a gift of joy to you either way. Material things can give you some measure of joy. Joy is one of those things that is hard to nail down. It is an experience that isn’t always easy to define and it is impossible to fully control. Joy can come in odd and unexpected moments in life. Joy isn’t a material thing, it is an experience or an encounter that is more than a simple emotion, but a whole bunch of emotions and thoughts rolled together. Joy is spiritual. I think that joy is an encounter with the love of God. Material things are not the same thing as joy, just like this statue is not the same thing as Jesus, but they can help us to encounter it.

Now you might be expecting me to stand up here tonight, and like Charlie Brown, rail against the materialism of our society and the commercialism and consumerism of Christmas. You might be expecting me to chastise you for all of the shopping and the partying and over-eating. You might be expecting me to drone on about all the suffering in the world. But I’m not going to do any of that. Stealing joy never alleviated anyone’s suffering. Besides, I don’t want to be too much of a hypocrite, because I can be something of a materialist myself. 

I appreciate material things. Whether it is a good piece of cake or roast beef, nice china on a beautifully set dining room table, a comfy sweater, a good book, a sharp kitchen knife, or watching my son play with his stuffed giraffe; material things can bring me joy and I won’t deny it. 

You see, there are two types of materialism though. There is the materialism that finds joy in material things, and there is the materialism that thinks that material things are all that there is. The first can be a real problem when it leads to greed and avarice and ignoring the material needs of others. It can lead you astray. It can lead you to thinking that joy can be marketed or found in the wrong things, it’s not completely benign, but the second type of materialism is far more devastating because it destroys joy all together. It destroys all emotions, including love. If the material world is all that exists, then things like joy are just an illusion: chemicals crossing neural pathways with no deeper meaning or significance. Well I might be guilty of being the first type of materialist, but not the second. 

While I love science, and have benefitted greatly from some of its advances, it is only really good at describing things that can be seen and touched and even that it does very imperfectly. But there are things in this world that can’t be seen, touched or measured. I think that there is more to this thing called life than just one long chemical reaction. There is meaning and there is mystery. There is love and there is joy. In a universe that could simply be chaos, there is actually order. We live in a world where pieces of plastic are actually much more than just pieces of plastic. Isn’t that amazing?

The story that is told by these statues, the story we tell here tonight, is that in the fullness of time, in the middle of the story of our existence, the ultimate spiritual thing, the God of all the universe, became one with the ultimate material thing, a human life. God was born among us. Heaven and Earth meet in Jesus Christ. It is an improbable and magical story that defies easy explanations, but it is a story that I believe to be true. It is a much better story, and I think a more believable story, than the meaningless, joyless story that is told by the world in so many ways. It is a story in which material things, including flesh and blood, have meaning and value to God.Material things are not God, that is idolatry, but they can help us to encounter God. They can point us to God and to spiritual truths and realities and stories that don’t get old. They can connect us to future generations and past generations. They can bring us joy and in the process remind us of the source of our ultimate joy. Christmas is a complicated time of the year filled with so many emotions: love, grief, anxiety, frustration, fear, stress. My prayer for all of you, is that whether you are celebrating alone or with family, whether there are many presents under your tree or none, my prayer is that you will find in at least one of the material things you encounter, a symbol of God’s love and that you will realize in that moment that God has come to meet you and that there is a world of reality beyond those things which we can see and touch. Material things have the power to do that. They aren’t meaningless you know. 

Sermon for December 10th, 2023

Readings:

• Isaiah 40:1-11
• 2 Peter 3:8-15a
• Mark 1:1-8
• Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LaYLEdVcHBQ%3Fsi%3D_SezsvZ3fRuI-As9%26start%3D1315

The Prophet Isaiah is preaching to some tired and hopeless people. 

By the time you get to the 40^th chapter of the Book of Isaiah, the cities of Judah, including Jerusalem and the surrounding area, all of that had long ago been laid to waste and destroyed. The temple, the ultimate symbol of God’s presence, that had long ago been destroyed. The Judean people, many of them at least, have been living in exile in Babylon for ages. As a matter of fact, this part of the Book of Isaiah isn’t even addressing the same people that the beginning of the book addressed. Those people are dead. This is written to their children and descendants. This is a message to people with very little hope. Their ancestors made bad choices and they are suffering for them.

You see, the first part of the Book of Isaiah, is one warning after another from the prophet to the leaders of the Kingdom of Judah. It is one warning after another about how all their schemes and plans to save themselves and save their kingdom from invasion are going to fail. Isaiah calls them out for not putting their trust in God, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Corruption is rampant. Leaders are incompetent. Everyone is just looking out for themselves. No one cares for one another. People are worshipping foreign Gods. There is no cohesion to the society and the nation has become terribly weak. Isaiah warned them. Over and over he warned them. Put your faith in God. Don’t trust in your own strength. Listen to God. But the people didn’t listen. Not to God and not to Isaiah. And all their schemes failed. Politics and foreign alliances and material wealth didn’t save the Kingdom of Judah. The temple was destroyed and the people were hauled into exile. The kingdom was no more. 

But by the time we get to this point in the Book of Isaiah, that was a long time ago. People have given up hope. Our leaders failed us, we couldn’t save ourselves, and we are starting to wonder if God even exists at all, and if he does, if he even cares. To these tired, hopeless children of a failed state, this is what the prophet has to say:

All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.

That is a message of hope. It is a message of hope to people that may not know what to hope for. Isaiah tells these people where their true hope really lies. People are not constant. All people are grass the prophet says. They come and they go. Their words are not always trustworthy, but the word of God, that stands forever. The word of God will stand forever, Isaiah says, and he says it to people that may be wondering if God even exists. 

God is coming Isaiah says, get ready. Be comforted in this news, but also be prepared. He is coming both as a mighty ruler and as a gentle shepherd. With the same arm he can knock down the mighty and lift up the lowly. He can be just and merciful at the same time. Your God is not dead. Your God has not forgotten. Your God is coming to you. And soon all of Jerusalem is going to proclaim, God is here! God is here and that is good news. What a message.

To people who are tired. To people who are hopeless. To people who have grown cynical with the world. To people who have been betrayed or oppressed. To people who have tried to save themselves over and over and over and just can’t get out of their own way. To people that don’t know who or what to trust. To all of these people, this is good news. Human failures come and go but the word of God lasts forever. That is good news. God has not cast off his children or forgotten them. He’s just waiting for them to get tired of trying to do everything for themselves and to turn to him for help. God is making a way for his children to return to him. That is good news. That is also repentance. The ability to go back.

It’s good news. You know we often think of repentance like it is a bad thing. I mean, it’s good when other people do it, it’s just bad when we have to do it. Repentance sounds like bad news, like giving up something you love, or getting caught doing something colossally stupid. But how many of us have wanted to go back and do something differently when we have seen the consequences of a bad choice or a wrong action? Sadly, in life, time only flows in one direction. We don’t usually get the chance to go back and start over. We don’t get to be born again and start life anew, or at least we might think that we can’t. But the scriptures sometimes tell us a different story. We may not think that the future holds much hope, but the scriptures frequently remind us that God has bigger plans. God hasn’t given up on us and there is a way for us to return to him when all our hopes in humanity and our own strength have proven to be misplaced. That is good news. But Isaiah’s message to people living in exile was just a foretaste of the good news that was really coming. There was more.

When Mark wants to tell his story about the good news of Jesus Christ, the messiah, the son of God, he goes back to Isaiah and he makes a direct link between Isaiah’s good news to the people living in exile, and to John the Baptist’s message to the people at the Jordan river. John’s message is a message of good news. Repentance is good news. Repentance is good news, because it means we can always turn back to God. We can be born again; we can start over. Our story isn’t over yet. God isn’t dead and God isn’t done with us. That is good news. It was good news to the people living in exile; it was good news to people looking for hope down by the Jordan river; and it is good news for us today. 

The story we tell here, isn’t just about something that God did once. It is about something that God does over and over again. God saves us. When humans prove to be as constant as grass, God is dependable and unchanging. God is not dead and God is not done with his children. That is the message of Advent, that is the message of Christmas…it is the message of Easter as well. Throughout the year and throughout the ages, that is the good news that the church has been entrusted, like Isaiah, to share. When the world seems to be at its darkest and all seems lost; when we are confronted with our own failures and limitations; when we are tired and hopeless, we are reminded that God has not forgotten or abandoned us. God is always about to break into our world and into our lives and he has made a way for us to enter back into his loving arms. It is called repentance, and it is good news. 

Sermon for Nov. 5, 2023

Readings:

Micah 3:5-12
Psalm 43
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Matthew 23:1-12

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0njxLSEeAlY%3Fsi%3DBKOLB_X0Cu280kC9%26start%3D1454

One of the things that truly separates humans from animals is our capacity, and our propensity, for hypocrisy. It isn’t just that we humans are capable of being hypocritical, it is that we invariably ARE hypocritical. We do not practice what we preach, not consistently. Yes, to greater and lesser degrees depending on the person, some folks are better at living their values than others, but we all in some way find ourselves holding on to values or professing beliefs that we don’t live up to. We are not true to ourselves and we are not true to others. We often care more about appearances, than substance.

Now part of our conviction, as people of faith, as Christians, is that we were created good by our creator, along with the rest of God’s good creation, we were designed to be good; a blessing to the land we walked on. But we also believe that somewhere along the way things went wrong for us, we took a wrong turn, and we no longer live the lives that God created us to live. We were created to be good, but we aren’t anymore. At least not consistently. The evidence is all around us. We no longer live the lives that God created us to live. This is what we call “the fall” and it is a problem that is now woven into human nature. We can’t escape it. We were created to be good, but now sin is a part of human nature. Sin is a persistent, inescapable problem for us.

It is a problem for humans, but it is not a problem, I hasten to add, for animals. Animals live the lives that God created them to live. They aren’t capable of hypocrisy or falsehood. They don’t pretend to be rational or reasonable. They don’t pretend to be wise or good. With the exception of some animals’ ability to camouflage themselves, they don’t pretend to be something that they are not. They especially aren’t false to themselves. They aren’t fallen. Sin isn’t a part of the equation for them. So animals have a different relationship with God than we do, and therefore have no need of things like sacraments or God’s forgiveness. They live the lives that God created them to live. We humans on the other hand rarely do that, although we often pretend to.

This distinction between humans and animals is pressing on me this week, in part because of this morning’s gospel reading and Jesus’s discussion of religious hypocrisy, but also for another reason that most of you are aware of. Winston. Losing a pet is a very painful thing and I know that some of you know that pain all too well. It isn’t something that I want to talk about a lot right now, because it’s too hard, but I do thank you all for your prayers and words of support. It means a lot. 

I will say this though, and maybe this will be a comfort to some of you as well, if God was willing to suffer and die upon the cross to save sinful, fallen human beings and to offer salvation and everlasting life to hypocrites like us, that do not live the lives that God created us to live, if God is willing to do that for us sinners, if God is willing to offer us new life in the new heaven and earth that his is creating, then can you imagine what God must have in store for the parts of his creation that are not fallen? There is much about paradise and heaven and the world to come that is just shrouded in mystery for us. There is much we just don’t know. But God’s love for his creation has been revealed to us. We don’t need to over-simplify our faith, but we don’t need to over-complicate it either. The Bible is filled with animals and filled with evidence of God’s love for them. They may not be made in the image of God in the same way we are; humans may have a unique relationship with God through Jesus Christ, but I have no doubt that animals will have a place in the new heaven and earth that we all live in hope of. God’s love for his unfallen creatures is abiding, and I think God often uses them to show his fallen ones just what love is all about. Animals have so much to teach us about being better humans.

In Jonathan Swift’s famous novel Gulliver’s Travels, the last land he has his hero Gulliver visit, is this island where the relationship between humans and horses has been turned on its head. The horses, called the Hounyhmns, are the masters and humans, called yahoos, are the slaves. The hounyhmns are reasonable, rational creatures that don’t even have a word in their language for a “lie” and the yahoos, the humans, are every bit as deceptive and nasty as the humans are in the world we live in today. It is a revelation to poor Gulliver, and when he finally does return home, he chooses to spend all of his time in the stable talking to his two horses. I was thinking of that story this week as I read this gospel and reflected on how we humans tend to think that we are better than we actually are. Now if the world gets you down, I’m not saying that you should buy a pet and give up on humanity like Gulliver, as tempting as that may be, but I do think that our animal friends have a lot to teach us about humility, service, love, loyalty, and not pretending to be something that we are not. 

We humans often pretend to be something that we aren’t. We pretend to be wise, we pretend to be virtuous, we pretend to be religious, we pretend to be smart. We are so good at pretending that I think we convince ourselves that we have God fooled. We can certainly fool ourselves into thinking that we are better people than we actually are. But God is never fooled. God knows what kind of life you live. God knows how you treat other people. God knows that we are hypocrites. The question, I guess, is do we?

Do we know that we are hypocrites or have we fooled ourselves? Do we genuinely care about living the lives that God created us to live, or are appearances enough? Jesus warns us this morning that we need to get beyond appearances. They don’t impress God. God is not moved by performative spirituality and self-satisfaction; God is moved by humility. God is not moved by people who think they have it all figured out; God is moved by people who know they are hypocrites, but are trying to live better. God is moved by people who recognize that they are fallen, yet still try to live the lives that God created them to live. God is more moved by creatures that show honor and respect than he is by those who seek honor and respect. So if we are looking for inspiration and guidance, as God’s children, on how to live lives of faithfulness and humility, and love and devotion, if we are seeking to be less hypocritical, our best examples may not be our religious leaders who preside at high altars and walk around in fancy vestments. The best among us, might in fact be the one down on the floor, gathering up the crumbs under the table. 

Sermon for September 10th, 2023

Readings:

Ezekiel 33:7-11
Psalm 119:33-40
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20

https://youtube.com/watch?v=I-U0pfRkZUY%3Fsi%3DAsrsGg6of7L9L7K6%26start%3D1460

Jesus says in the gospel this morning that “if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” Now, if you think that that means that you can hold hands with the person sitting next to you and agree to win the lottery, then I have bad news for you. It doesn’t work exactly that way. I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant. If any of y’all do win the lottery after praying together, you can rest assured that I will be showing up at your house with a tray of cookies and a pledge card. All things come of thee o Lord indeed. It would be great if all of our problems could be dealt with so easily: just say a prayer and blam…done. But we all know it doesn’t work that way. So why does Jesus say this? 

Well, here’s why I think he’s saying it: Jesus wants us to pray together. Yes, there are times when it is appropriate for us to go into our closets and pray, as Jesus says. There is nothing wrong with praying right by yourself on the couch, in the bed, in the car, wherever. We are all called to have a rich prayer life with God and that naturally involves private prayer. But we are not called, as Christians, to worship by ourselves all the time. In fact, it is just the opposite. Time and time again the scriptures point out to us the importance of the assembled congregation, of communal worship. And I think that is what Jesus is getting at this morning. Don’t just pray alone. Find someone else that you can pray with. Gather with other believers and pray together, because there is power in the church. Jesus Christ is present when Christians gather together to pray. I’m going to say that again: Jesus Christ is present when Christians gather together to pray. Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them. Yes, we believe that Jesus is present when we receive communion, but Jesus is also present when you say a prayer with someone else. 

I don’t think that Jesus is trying to give his disciples some secret formula to getting their wishes granted; he’s trying to teach them the importance of the gathered community. Yes, he wants them to put their ultimate faith in him, but he also wants them to lean on and support each other too. Just because two of God’s children ask for something doesn’t mean that God is just going to give it to them if they don’t need it or shouldn’t have it. That doesn’t mean he isn’t listening and it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. We have a lot of parents here and I imagine that many of you have probably said something along the lines of “oh I would do anything for my kids.” But of course you don’t mean that literally, because if your kids asked you for something that you knew would be harmful for them (in some way or another) you probably wouldn’t give it to them, not even if two of your kids agreed. If we would expect the average decent loving parent to want what is best for their child or their children, then why would we expect anything less of the almighty God? Just because God doesn’t give us exactly what we want all the time, it doesn’t mean he’s not listening, because when Christians are gathered together, God is there.

Prayer works. God may not be some kind of cosmic vending machine, and your prayers may not be answered the way you want, but prayer always works. There is a connection between heaven and earth when we pray together. And I have witnessed prayers being answered, sometimes almost instantly. I have experienced miraculous healings. And sadly, I have also been present when people prayed for a cure, and didn’t get one. In both of those circumstances, I think God was present. Jesus was there when two or three were gathered together. Is it painful to not have a prayer answered the way you want? Yes. Sometimes it can be devastating. It is especially in those times when your faith in God may be a little shakey, that you need someone else’s faith to help hold you up and hold you together. That is why we need to pray together. That is why we need church. We need church. We need each other.

Yesterday afternoon our choir gave a marvelous performance on our front steps for about half an hour. I was so glad that so many of y’all were present to listen and show your support, but I was even more glad to see that there were a number of faces in the crowd that I had never seen before. And there were also people there that maybe I had met, but weren’t worshippers here. It was a great way to take just a little bit of our faith outside these walls, and we didn’t have to go very far to do it. There are so many people that walk past our doors that have no connection to God in their lives at all. But we know that Jesus is here, in the midst of us. In the sacraments, yes, but also in our daily lives and in our relationships with one another. Jesus is here. I know that the world needs Jesus and I know that Jesus is here, alive in this community, and that is what keeps me going, and I would venture to say that it is what keeps most of you going as well. Church may be messy, it may be expensive, it may be stressful, it may be a pain, and sometimes it might even be a little boring, but we need it. We need each other. We need to worship together.

That is the crucial thing that Jesus is trying to drive into his disciples today, the importance of coming together; gathering together, eating together, laughing together, crying together, and yes, even arguing together. Yeah, soon or later you learn that Christians are still sinners, and we aren’t always nice and don’t always get along. This wasn’t news to Jesus; it shouldn’t be news to you. 

The first part of the gospel this morning is Jesus’s instructions to his disciples on how to work out their differences. Jesus says that if someone refuses to listen to you personally, and then refuses to listen to two or three others, and then refuses to listen to the entire community, then let them be as a gentile and a tax collector. That may sound a bit harsh, until you remember who is writing this gospel. A man called Matthew, one of the Apostles, who just happened to be a former tax collector. Despite being on the margins of his faith community for a long time, he found a way back in. Jesus invited him back in. And Matthew accepted that offer. In the end, I guess he realized that he needed church too. 

Sermon for August 13th, 2023

Readings:

1 Kings 19:9-18
Psalm 85:8-13
Romans 10:5-15
Matthew 14:22-33

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TBVwMYwtyOo%3Fstart%3D1044

A year ago a company called the Barna group released the results of a survey they performed among US protestant pastors. One of the questions that pastors were asked was this: Have you given real, serious consideration to quitting being in full-time ministry within the last year? Real, serious consideration to quitting the ministry. The answer: 42% said yes. 42%. Close to half. And what is remarkable is that that number had jumped up 13% from the last time the survey was conducted only a year before. What were the three main reasons these pastors gave for wanting to quit? The immense stress of the job, feeling lonely and isolated, and current political divisions. 

Now I am not sharing this with you as any sort of plea for sympathy, because although this job is a lot more stressful than many people realize, there are plenty of people who have stressful jobs. And I am not trying to scare anyone into thinking that I am a part of the 42%, because I’m not (let’s be clear), but I do understand the temptation to quit and the frustration that pastors go through. I get the stress, and the isolation, and the exasperation at the maddening, ridiculous politicization and polarization of everything right now. I get it, but none of those things are new. Stress isn’t new; isolation isn’t new; and political division isn’t new. And the temptation to quit serving God isn’t new either, and the clergy aren’t the only ones who feel it. 

In our passage from first Kings this morning we find the prophet Elijah at a low point in his ministry. The evil Queen Jezebel wants to kill him. He is running for his life. Despite all his efforts, people are still turning away from the one true God and worshipping false idols. Elijah has not been able to change or fix a thing. Society is still a mess. He wants to quit. He is so despondent he doesn’t want to eat, but God forces him to eat. He heads out into the wilderness, completely alone, a dejected failure. God asks him: “what are you doing here Elijah?” Elijah tells his sob story. God says “go outside” and before Elijah can even make it out into that terrifying world he hears a great wind, and then an earthquake and then a fire, but he can tell that God isn’t speaking in those great, cataclysmic things, but finally in the silence he can hear God’s voice. Elijah knows that God is present, and he covers his head and face out of respect. And God asks again: “what are you doing here Elijah?” And again, Elijah tells his sob story. This job is hard, I’m the only one, and everyone is against you and your prophets, oh and did I mention they are trying to kill me? And God offers Elijah the kind of pastoral advice that only God can give: Get back to work!

Go! Get back to work. Here is what you are going to do. You are going to minister to this political faction; and then you are going to minister to that political faction. You shouldn’t be doing this alone, so go and get Elisha to help you, but trust me to do the final sorting out. I know who has worshipped an idol and who hasn’t, and there will be faithful people in the land. There is going to be war and division. God says that plainly to Elijah. Fixing the world is NOT a burden that God has put on Elijah’s shoulders. Elijah has work to do, but that work requires him to have more faith in God and what God is doing than he does in his own abilities. Elijah had imagined that success in ministry would look like popularity and huge numbers of converts, and billions served like the hamburgers on a McDonalds’s sign. But what he learned is that true success is just being faithful to what God has called you to do. 

There is a pressure on religious leaders and religious communities right now to try and do everything, and be everything, and fix everything. In a world that is so broken, simple faithfulness is no longer praised or prized as much as innovation. We want entrepreneurs. We want social justice warriors with a superhuman zeal to go out and right every wrong. We want visionary leaders who will go out and change the world putting an end to disease, war, poverty, racism, ignorance, inequality and the list goes on. We want pastors who can walk on the water in the midst of stormy seas. And this pressure to go out and do everything and be everything, it comes from our leaders as much as it does our congregations. Maybe for some, it even comes from some place deep within. We want to save the world and somewhere along the way many of us discover that we can’t even save ourselves, so we want to quit. When we discover that we actually can’t walk on water, or transform the world into some utopian dream 42% of us want to quit. 

And if this is true for pastors, I imagine that some of this is true for people in the pews as well. If you think that the point of having faith is fixing the world, if that is what you think religion is about: a program for social transformation, then you are likely to get a little frustrated when you look around and see the world on fire in every direction. Perhaps you wonder: what’s the point? Stress, loneliness, political division, these things don’t just affect pastors, they affect all of us. All of us can be tempted to give up: give up on God, give up on ourselves, because we have created an unrealistic expectation of what success looks like. But what if true success is really just a matter of simple faithfulness to the call we have received? Not ingenuity, not creativity…just simple, stubborn faithfulness. How much good has been done in this world by the people who just showed up? Faithful people, not trying to fix the whole world, but just trying to follow Jesus as best they can. 

It was Jesus’s command to come that gave Peter the ability to walk on water, not his own power. As soon as Peter took his eyes off Jesus he sunk and realized very quickly that he still needed a savior. The same is true for us. The moment we take our eyes off of Jesus and what he is actually calling us to do; the moment we become more concerned about fulfilling our own agendas than faithfully following him, we sink. And we will drown if we don’t learn to grab onto him again. Jesus can give us the power to do amazing, impossible things, but it is his power, never ours. Elijah was called to minister to people on both side of a political divide, but that was God’s idea, not Elijah’s. The ministry is God’s; it isn’t ours. He is the one who calls, he is the one who sends, and ultimately he will decide what success and failure look like. Our job, whether we stand in the pulpit or sit in the pew, is to be faithful to the one who calls us. 

When that same survey that the Barna group sent out asked the pastors that had NOT considered quitting, what it was that made them want to keep working, what made them stay, they said two things overwhelmingly: that they believed in the value of their ministry, and that they felt that they had a duty to fulfill their calling into this ministry. Not self-confidence, not renewed vision, not growing churches. Belief in the value of your ministry and a sense of duty and calling. That is what keeps pastors showing up, and I think it is probably what keeps Christians showing up as well. A belief in the value of what you are doing, no matter how small it is, even if it is just showing up to pray. And a belief in, a faith in and a sense of duty to, the one who call us all: Jesus. Those two things can be summed up in one word: faithfulness. Faithfulness is something we should spend a little more time celebrating.

Sermon for July 16, 2023

Readings:

Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65: (1-8), 9-14
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

https://youtube.com/watch?v=SR34wwTuaAs%3Fstart%3D1057

In the year 1701, Jethro Tull, the eighteenth-century British farmer and agriculturalist, NOT the 1970s rock band, invented a thing called a seed drill. It was a device that allowed farmers to plant seeds precisely: in rows at the proper depth, exactly where the farmer wanted them to go. It was really a revolutionary thing, because before that time the most common way of planting seeds, especially for field crops like grains, was called broadcasting. You took a handful of seed and you scattered it across the newly tilled soil. There are even manuals from the Tudor period in England explaining to farmers exactly how to do this. You take a step, and scatter. Another step, scatter. Step, scatter, step, scatter, on and on until you have covered your field. This was the way that planting was done pretty much as far back as anyone could remember. It was effective, but it wasn’t efficient, because you couldn’t control exactly where the seeds went. Inevitably some seeds would wind up on your footpath, in untilled soil, and of course you always had to worry about things like weeds and birds. Before Tull’s invention of the seed drill this was simply the life of the farmer. It was the way that things were. You knew that some seed would be wasted and you accepted that because you also knew that a lot of it would grow. Broadcasting wasn’t efficient, but it did work. 

If you look at this method of farming through modern, enlightened eyes, you are liable to think, as Jethro Tull did, that this is a problem that must be fixed. This is wasteful. This is inefficient, which in our modern world is just about the most horrible thing ever. God forbid something should be inefficient! We must find a way to stop scattering seeds in places where it is unlikely to grow. We must fix this problem. That is what Jethro Tull saw when he saw seeds being scattered in the field. A problem that needed to be fixed. But Jesus saw something different.

Jesus and all of his disciples would most certainly have been aware of how fields were planted. They would have understood how broadcasting worked. But what Jesus saw in the practice of scattering seed across the field was not just a farmer planting his crops; Jesus saw an image of how God works. Jesus saw in the sower a symbol or an image of God and God’s kingdom. And that is what he wants his disciples to see. This is what Jesus does all the time; he takes an everyday symbol, often from farms and fields, and he uses it to help his followers see God at work, in their everyday lives. 

How is God at work in the world? God is like a sower scattering his seeds across his field. God’s word, God’s grace is being cast all over. Is it landing in soil that is rough and rocky? Yes. Do enemies encroach? Yes. Is that seed, that word, that grace always going to produce the fruit that it could? No. Is every poor sod that gets a seed or a kernel deserving of such? No. But God goes on sowing. He keeps scattering seed relentlessly, even on pieces of ground that don’t deserve it and where it isn’t likely to produce much fruit. Why? Is God a fool? Does God need a seed drill to make sure his grace and his word is neatly and efficiently planted? What does Jesus want us to do with this image of God that he is sharing with us?

What does Jesus want us to do? Well my suggestion to you is this: nothing. Jesus isn’t asking us to do anything in this lesson today. I know that is hard for some people to hear. Especially if you are the sort of person that is a fixer, or if you have spent so much time in corporate performance improvement that you can’t look at any process without trying to make it more efficient, but it may just be possible that Jesus is simply revealing a truth to us. That this is, quite simply, the way things are. God scatters his grace broadly, but it doesn’t always bear fruit every place it lands. That is a reality that we are probably not going to change. Jesus isn’t telling us to do anything about it. Now Jesus has never been shy about telling his disciples to do something when he wants them to do something. The gospels are filled with Jesus giving specific instructions and commandments. But he doesn’t do that here. The only instruction that Jesus gives here is “Listen!” Listen. In part of the passage that gets cut out, Jesus tells his disciples that they need to know some of the mysteries of the kingdom and that is why he is speaking to them in parables and helping them to understand and see and interpret the symbols of God’s kingdom. Jesus isn’t looking for action here; he is looking for understanding. But he also tells the disciples quite plainly: some people won’t get it. Some people won’t understand, but Jesus wants his disciples to understand. So he uses symbols to reveal to them God’s kingdom.

God is like that man in the field casting his grain seeds. The seed is good. The seed has life within it and can bear fruit. It always has the potential to grow, but sometimes it doesn’t. Whether the seed lands on hard soil, or whether it is consumed by weeds and birds, sometimes it just doesn’t grow. But sometimes it does. Much of the time it does and bears fruit abundantly, and that is enough to keep the sower sowing. The sower doesn’t seem too concerned about the seed that lands on the path. God sows his word, his grace in this world, knowing, knowing that some of it is going to land on hard soil and won’t grow, or won’t grow for long. But he keeps on sowing. Some of God’s grace lands in place where it simply can’t bear fruit, but he keeps scattering it anyways. Why? Well, perhaps because some of it does bear fruit, and that is enough. It is enough for the sower to know that some of the seed will bear fruit. Some of it will grow. To the modern mind this is foolishness and inefficiency and waste. But to our Lord this is the mystery of the kingdom.

It is a human tendency to want to try and fix this system of wastefulness, to make all of the seeds grow, but Jesus isn’t asking us to do that at all. Not here. The thing is, I don’t think we are always very good at knowing how to prepare the soil or what helps things grow or not grow. That was actually one of Jethro Tull’s problems. He couldn’t fathom how manure could be good for growing anything, but it is. Manure actually helps crops grow. So you see, even if we are clever enough to devise a tool to control where seeds go, we don’t always know what is good soil and what is bad. Jesus doesn’t ask us to make God’s kingdom more efficient. Jesus will eventually send his disciples out with instructions to preach, baptize, heal and forgive, they would be sent out to sow God’s word in the world and to show people his grace, but Jesus also repeatedly makes clear to them that much of their work will not produce the fruit they desire. Some people will outright reject them, some people will convert and backslide, some will just wander away. Jesus tells them and makes it very clear, that this is the way that it is. It is not a sign of failure; it is not a sign of not working hard enough; it just is. We go on sowing seeds knowing that some people won’t get God. Some people won’t respond to grace. When you accept that, when you accept that some seed just isn’t going to land where it can grow and when you stop worrying about it and making it some personal failure, then you can get on with the scattering and that’s more important because much of the seed that you scatter does grow. 

We work very hard to try and sow the seeds of the gospel here. But some people have no interest in the story we tell. Some people seem enthusiastic and want to sign up for everything and then disappear two weeks later. Some people just drift away, finding one excuse after another to come less and less until they forget why they ever came at all. Frustrating, yes. But on the other hand, some people come here and find this place to be part of the bedrock of their lives and the people here become family and Jesus’s story becomes their story and their lives do indeed bear much fruit. You can never be too sure how people are going to respond. This is how God’s kingdom grows. Not in neat and efficient little rows and not always in the places that we expect. 

God’s method of spreading his kingdom isn’t always efficient, but it is effective.