Call, Covenant and Mission - I Corinthians 13

Last Wednesday was the 59^th Wedding Anniversary of Jim and Pat Tubach and this week I got to hear a little more about their romance.  While students at K-State, Pat lived in Clovia House.  I asked Jim how many times he visited that place.  He said, “Just once.”  She looked at Jim and rolled her eyes and smiled, as if to say: “It was a lot longer than that.  She told about their first date.  She had phone duty at Clovia so he had to wait around until her shift was over and then they could go on a coffee date.  They were married at Danforth Chapel and proceeded to the Wesley Foundation Building for their reception.  Campus ministry was very much a part of their covenants.

Some years back a small Christian college made an announcement in compulsory chapel.  “On this campus, there is to be absolutely no physical contact between male and female students.  There is only one exception to this rule.  If a student happens to see a member of the opposite sex about to fall, it is permissible to touch them to break the fall.”  The announcement continued, “The college staff will not tolerate any deliberate falling or the practice thereof.”

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, And the store are filled with cards, candy, and balloons. The diamond commercials and florist commercials have doubled or tripled on television. 

Though not about romantic love, Paul’s ideas can apply to all kinds of love.  He has in mind a very cantankerous church in Corinth.  If they did not have something to fight about, they invented it. 

If there is anything that should mark our church, our lives, our families…it is love.  Tuesday morning Bible study remembered that the very name of God in Hebrew is a phrase with a verb: “I am.”  And God’s name includes “I was, and will be forever.”  The existence and love of God is permanent and absolute.  With the name for God more than a noun, we remember that love is to be more of a verb than a noun. 

I am convinced that the capacity of our church to flourish and grow is closely tied to how we can live in the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.   When we are envious, boastful, arrogant, rude, irritable, resentful, our church diminishes.  To be a member of this church is to be an agent of God’s love in the world. 

LEIGH’S BAKE SALE

I wish you could have been part of a conversation I had last Wednesday evening.  Leigh Adams, who is in Marlatt School, 2^nd or 3^rd grade, had sent me an email.  Her school held an International Week where each student learned a great deal about different countries.  She was really fascinated with Haiti and as she learned she listened with a heart of love and compassion.  She decided the children of Haiti needed some help.  I think we would all agree.  380,000 people are still living in tents and unemployment is at 90%.  Dawn and Phil Anderson from our church worked in Haiti a couple of years ago.    Leigh and her friends had decided to hold a bake sale here on February 17 after church and before our church night meetings.  As she prepared to tell me her shyness took over so she whispered to her mother and her mother forwarded the message.  I am excited about this too.  I told her if she needed more, Penny and I would provide some goodies to sell.  She told me “no!”.  She had it already planned.  But of course I could buy things.  Leigh, I plan to, and thank you for doing something.

WEDDINGS AND THIS TEXT

Love is an action thing…not just a heart thing.  I would imagine that 99% of church-related weddings have this text as part of the worship.   I enjoy hearing about how couples first met.  I get stories about how one was not too interested at first. Many couples meet through mutual friends or family and then the rest of their married lives they can blame things on this person.

I Corinthians 13 is not the best scripture for weddings but it works because it about the primacy of love, the nature of love, the strength of love.  Paul is writing to a conflicted church full of behavior that is very human but less than Christian. 

The call to get married, the call to be a Christian, the call to be a church, the call to build on to a church begins with God.  Couples have a physical and social attraction.  They learn they share guiding values.  They begin to form a covenant with agreements, promises, and commitments that form the bond of love.  This covenant is something that has God as a partner.  And couples learn that they share a common purpose: to help each become all God intended.  This mission might to be to give birth and guide children.  This mission truly includes serving others in the world.

DO UNTO OTHERS

When Jesus outlined the best way to act, he used simple words with a proactive twist.  He urged us all to “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”  That is: you do the kind thing first, before they have a chance to do good things for you. 

IMAGE OF PAYING IT FORWARD WAS PRESENTED IN A MOVIE SOME OF US REMEMBER

A teacher gave a seventh grade social studies class an assignment of how they might change the world.  As we think about call/covenant/mission we can see all three in this one clip.  The call was the teacher’s challenge.  The covenant was the commitment made by several in this movie to “Pay It Forward” based on love.  You will notice that some of the students like it and some do not. The teacher questions him at the end asking if it is “too utopian?”.   I love the boy’s answer….”SO?”

CALL/COVENANT/MISSION

I so hope you had a chance to read the other lectionary texts for today.  Jeremiah receives a call from God and his first thought is that he is too young, too inexperienced, inadequate.  Jeremiah has not traveled very much, he is perhaps short and not good at communication.  He comes up with all the excuses.  But he finally realized that God will guide him.  Not all things that change the world are giant things…they can be simple things of love.

For example: Patience.  So many movies and television shows show how someone get’s revenge.  I think there was a whole TV series called just that.  But not to take revenge in this kind of love can be a way to victory.  I was reading a little more about Lincoln after I saw the movie.  No one treated Lincoln with more contempt than did Edwin Stanton.  He called Lincoln terrible names.  Lincoln had opportunities to give it back to him but did not take them.  He made Stanton his war ministers because he know of his incredible gifts of organization.  Lincoln treated him with courtesy even when Stanton went around the President’s back.  But as they worked together Stanton changed and when Lincoln was killed Stanton he was there and said with tears in his eyes, “There lies the greatest ruler the world has ever seen.”  The patience of love had conquered in the end.

Peter Cameron, is the priest at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown, Connecticut.  He addressed worshippers after a gunman killed 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary.  “All the world’s eyes are fixated on us, and they must see the faith keeps us alive.  The certainty of joy is that evil does not have the last word…that love wins.  The most reasonable thing we can do is live that love in faith.”

 

THE NATURE OF LOVE

Everything comes to an end.  All the monuments we construct crumble sometime.  Even every human life comes to an end. 

No matter what else matters in life…the most important is love.

Love is the one thing that is closest to heavenly things.

SO?

So listen to the call of God, for what can be done for God.

Celebrate all the gifts we have.

Remember now is the time we have to love.

Strengthen the covenants that empower us to love.

Without love everything we have is zero.  You can take the biggest number you know…and multiply it by an even bigger number and multiply it all by zero.  You get zero.  It does not matter what is on the left side of your equation…it becomes zero.  Paul is saying that life without love is zero.  We can pile all of the good deeds, all the education, all the spiritual gifts.  Without love, we do win, no matter how many touchdowns we can make.

God so loved the world…and that includes you and me.

We love because God first loved us. 

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love and the greatest of these is love!        SO?

Jesus is Eager to Get in Line The Baptism of Jesus Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Picture a line of people with filled with expectations…think of the lines of people that waited to get into Times Square on New Year’s Eve.   Piper Fowler of our church is so excited about her upcoming trip to New York with the Kansas East Conference of the United Methodist Church.  The UN-DC Tour has blessed and changed the lives of many of us.  Penny and I both went on that trip on different years.  Mary Stamey and I went the same year.    It is a life-changing experience, to experience the centers of political and economic power and to reflect on them from a Christian perspective.  The visit to the Church Center for the United Nations and our United Methodist office just across the street from our nation’s Capitol Building is an enormous trill.  Throw in visits to those who represent us in Washington and a Broadway play…it is great.  She will come back and give us a report.

We all line up for ice cream, our favorite restaurants, sports events, weddings, plays, and concerts.  Penny and I recently lined up to see the movie, Les Miserables.  Along with Lincoln, it was one of the best movies I have seen.  But as we went into the theater, Penny and realized that we must be the only couple left on the planet that use cash.  I feel that sometimes when I go to some places and I hold out cash and see the frown.  But at the movies in Manhattan, cash is an advantage as there is a special line for “cash only.”  There were all of these lines of people and I walked around to the left and there was no one with cash and I got my ticket without waiting. 

People are always in line to buy things.   People in this story were lined up to get baptized by John the Baptist.   John, a relative of Jesus, was part of a movement to get people turned toward God.  With many things not going well, many people wanted to get closer to God.    John was happy to help with that but he pointed out that he was not the Savior; Jesus was that.  He was a helper to point people to Jesus.

One of the most remarkable parts of this is that Jesus was eager to get in line to be baptized by John.  And in that act he shows how eager he was, in all his ministry, to line up with people, all people, especially the downtrodden, the broken people who formed in lines hoping for a new beginning with God.  Jesus lines up with people who need God.  And for me that means me and you.

Leonard Sweet re-tells an ancient story about a gatekeeper at a city gate.  A traveler trying to find a new city in which to live appears out of the darkness.  The traveler approaches the gate asks what the city is like.  The gatekeeper does something strange.  He reverses the question and asks the traveler, “What was the city like where you came from?”  The man said, “I am moving on because the city charged terrible taxes and people were so selfish and mean.  It was awful. “   The gatekeeper said, “That is pretty much what you will find here, too.”  So the traveler went on to another city.  Another traveler appeared and the gatekeeper was asked again, what is this city like?  The gatekeeper again turned the tables.  What was your city like?   The traveler answered:  “It was great.  The neighbors were friendly, ready to help you.  The politicians worked hard to make sure life was good for all the citizens not just the rich business people.  I did not want to leave.  But my job ended.  The gatekeeper said, “That is pretty much what you will find here.”  And in he came. 

A great deal of life is what you see and expect to find. 

I ran across a new story this week that made me sad and shake my head.  It shows about human nature.  On Guernsey Island in the English Channel, a 29-year old Matthew Clark got in line for a fishing contest with a big cash prize.   He had visited the island’s aquarium and saw a 15 yr.-old sea bass, a huge fish, that he saw as his way to win.  He broke in stole the big fish and had plans to return the fish.  He hid the fish until the weigh-in. This monster won the prize.  Until….until….one of the other contestants recognized the fish as being the one in the aquarium.  He had just taken his family there and he recognized the fish with its unique markings.   After the contest was over he headed to the aquarium and sure enough the fish was missing.  The man had planned to return the fish after winning.  And to make it all worse the winner dropped the fish and it died from the injuries.  When the fish died he could not put it back, so he sold it to a fish market.  Police identified the fish from the remaining pieces.  The man charged with breaking and entering and theft and fraud confessed.  He turned in the prize money and is doing 100 hours of community service.  He confessed.  It is kind of silly story, but it shows something of human nature.  And people wrote to him on how stupid he was.  If he had just eaten the fish himself instead of selling it, there would be no evidence.  Two wrongs do not make a right.  You would think the aquarium keeper would have noticed!

Jesus knew people, and he got in line, to show his love for all of us, not just some.  Jesus is eager to get into line with the best and the worst.  I need that salvation as much as any.   A church is not filled with perfect people, nor necessarily the most respectable.   We sometimes think that way.  I know of one woman who has not attended church for years because of something her son did.  She feels like she is not worthy to come here.

We are hungry people who have found in this community spiritual food.  It is the Holy Spirit who nourishes us through community, spiritual growth, and compassion.

There has been, since the scriptures were written a controversy regarding why in the world Jesus was   I think he did so:

1.  Jesus was eager to teach us that baptism is a means of grace. 

He certainly was acknowledging that he was part of world that needed much change.  We as a global community have much to repent of. 

2.  He must have felt a great deal of connection with John.  Jesus agreed with John in wanting to put spiritual growth at the center of life.  Many people were crying out for the light of God and John wanted people to look in the right places.    John was a forerunner.  Jesus was thanking John for the hope he put into people and the preparation his made so that Jesus then be seen as the new life and new age of God’s spirit. 

3.  Jesus was showing us all God’s willingness to meet us where we are.   When you see Christ going to get in line, you see a great love going into a great redeeming act of claiming us, all humans.   The Lord of Glory goes wherever people have need.  He did not care what that did to his reputation.  He was doing God’s work.   He often sat with outcasts.  He stood beside them.    He made our trouble, his trouble, our burdens, his.  The only love which can ever have redeeming power is a love that goes out and connects with others.

George Fox said that for Jesus to be baptized, we see a sign of solidarity with people in every condition, every needs, every joy, and every sorrows of humankind. 

4.  Jesus received the blessing of God and then passes it on to us.  In the moment of the baptism, two things came….a voice and a vision.  The voice spoke to him out of heave and in the vision of the dive the Holy Spirit descended.  The voices was the call for which through many years Jesus had felt but not heard.  The call was for the work of his life….the Spirit empowered him for that work. …the answering of the call and the carrying it out. 

“Thou art my beloved…..in whom I am well pleased.”    That swept the last hesitation from Jesus’ soul and the messianic vocation was accepted.  And with this event came the vision, the power.  Visions give power. 

The Holy Spirit which first formed the earth was active here.  The Holy Spirit which fired up the prophets, blessed Jesus in a special way that day.  It focused his life and concentrated it into a power that carried him all the way through the cross to heaven.

5.  This event asks us to remember that we are able to bless one another.  We are able to live as a faith community in ways that communicate clearly:  GOD IS WELL PLEASED WITH YOU!  And often that comes at times when we cannot see that ourselves. 

I ran across a story this week about an older Jesuit priest who was asked to visit a Catholic Elementary School.   After a first grade classroom discussion, a girl came up for a closer greeting and handshake.   She was excited to greet him and to tell him she liked what he said and how he said.   He reminded each child how important they were to God.  She was in line and finally got her turn.  (It was kind of like being in line to see Santa.)  In their brief conversation, she suddenly realized that he was blind.  In a second she went from joy to sorrow.  She blurted out….you can’t see.  The priest confessed it.  And then she added, “You can’t see yourself.” He hardly knew what to say.  He could feel how perceptive she was.  He said, “I guess you are right.  I cannot see what I look like.”  She said, tentatively to the old priest in a whispered voice, “You are beautiful.”  The priest thanked her and left with a blessing.

None of us are able alone to see our beauty.  We need each other to remind us.

The Christian Faith is at the center joy and gratitude.   In our days of worry about safety from gun violence, more taxes, budget cuts, it is time to claim and celebrate God’s pleasure.   Grumping together will bind us together, but it will not lift up us up.  Jesus does that.

Les Miserables is a great movie and I hope you take time to see it.   As I have ready John Wesley’s writings and the great good he did in England, it can be argued that the Methodist created a system that prevented the violence of armed revolution.  John Wesley preached that all are equal; factory workers and royalty are the same in the eyes of God.  His societies instituted methods of care for those in prison and among the working people which civilized and cared for people.

John Wesley got it right John Wesley’s Rule

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

Finding Our Way to the Manger - Mathew 2

Today is still Christmas and our sanctuary decorations help us celebrate Epiphany.  In our text for today, the author invites us to the manger to learn that Jesus is the Messiah.  We are invited to ponder how the God of Heaven came to live as one of us.  This season allows us to enjoy again the stories of Christ’s birth.  Following the church calendar, it is the 12^th day of Christmas, a special day called Epiphany.  This is a celebration of Christ being discovered by the world, as the Light of the World.  Matthew invites the whole world including foreigners called Magi.

Epiphany offers us a chance to make new beginnings to see that Light.  To the manger come both shepherds who were the simple, home folk awakened to the glory of God all around them and now Magi who were spiritual leaders/scholars/foreigners who studied the stars.  The Magi were willing to travel a long distance to seek out God and God’s truth.  I think of the scholars like Kate and Alex and Aubrey will come to Kansas State University from far away places like Ghana to teach and to study.  You are our Magi symbolized on our paraments today. (Pointed to them)

The love of God that came to earth in Jesus is for all people.  The Magi came because they had a burning desire to be more than they were.   What was happening for them at the moment was not enough.  Epiphany celebrates the deep interior longing we have to be close to God and it promises to us that authentic searches for God are often rewarded. 

Epiphany is a celebration that declares that faith sends us on spiritual journeys to where God is found.  Epiphany opposes the idea that good religion is supposed to shield believers from change.  There is so much change in technology and politic and social conditions, and that part of each of us that does not want to change wants the church to stay the same.   Here is a story to teaches us that faith gives us encounters with God to help us navigate change.  Faith should not prevent change, faith guides change.

Matthew says: “Ask and it will be given to you….seek and you will find.”  I believe that we become what we seek after, what we spend time doing, what we spend our money on.  Matthew takes very seriously the intent of the Magi journey for in it he finds a model for any of us who seek to be closer to God.  As Matthew tells about his birth, Jesus is seen as the one who addressed all people.   In his ministry Jesus touches the whole world.  All can find in Jesus a fruitful and glorious path to God.  You do not need a passport, or admission papers, or any kind of papers to be a follower of Jesus.   In his adult ministry, Jesus was rejected and excluded.  But he taught us that God includes.  Any seeker can find a way to the manger and find there something of the greatest value, forever. 

In this story we learn:

1.      A church is blessed by new people who come eager to learn something new about God.  Welcome Magi!

2.      Those of us who have been around a while need to remember that another trip to the manger can be breathtaking again.

3.      It is a reminder that the all are equal kneeling in the hay…shepherds and magi.  From intimate parent to the stranger, we are all the same before baby Jesus.  Science, art, medicine are part of God’s truth, but there is more to life.  I love this story because I was an astronomy major; I love the stars and still do, but my faith in Christ leads me to a new place. This trip to the manger gives us great comfort and great humility.

It is a reminder that the more hospitality we show, the more we reflect the light of Christ.  Anyone who admits a true hunger in their hearts will find something new following the star. 

Knowing a bit about some of you I know that there is deep variety in the way swe come today.  Some of you are recovering from the effects of chemotherapy.   Some of you need support having lost your spouse.  Some of you are still navigating life following a divorce.  Some of you are just eager to start a new year with God more in the picture. 

What a way to begin the New Year: a contentious Congress, leftover devastation from the storm named Sandy, gun violence at a school.  A Baptist pastor wrote: “We have become a nation rife with domestic terrorism – moving from a land of hospitality and freedom to a land of the fearful and the besieged, with gun violence being one of the driving forces behind this change.” 

Howard Thurman was a professor where I went to seminary.  He was also Dean of the Chapel.  He was an amazing writer and preacher.  I would like to tell you the way he started each year.  He would, on New Year’s Day, write in his journal his understanding of the nature of God…what was God like and what was God about.  After completing his work he would get out last year’s journal and compare the two.  His goal was this year’s account would show some spiritual growth.  If it did not then he would plan his year’s reading and prayer and study.  No wonder his books and sermons were unbelievably powerful.  We can see in his life his passion to see God more clearly and to love God more dearly.  The highest desire that one can have is longing to see God. 

As Matthew wrote, he knew the dreams of Isaiah so many years before.  Isaiah wrote in a time of great distress and knew that the God had not deserted them.  Our Hebrew ancestors were living in captivity in Babylon and Isaiah dreamed of a day when those same captors would travel to the Hebrew homeland bringing gifts and learning of God.  And here it happened as the Magi came to worship Jesus.  God does not abandon us.  God has plans.

Mt. wrote to the early church having a hard time accepting Gentile Christians.  Jewish Christians were OK.  Gentile Christians were a problem.  So Mt. includes them right at the beginning.  Hooray for Matthew. 

We gather as a faith family today seeking to stay on the right path.  As the Magi learned maybe we need new trips to the Christ Child following a star.  We need a greater love of creation as God has given it.  We need a greater understanding of God in relationships.  God is at work in our faith family…clearly at work. 

I close with a story about a city family with a baby.  They had been Christmas shopping and on their way home and saw a diner.  Their baby was tired and very hungry.  He was at the age they could put food in front and what did not go in his hair or on the floor made it into his mouth.  They were ready for all of the attention their baby usually got from other adults.  The only table was near the door and the waitress helped with a great high chair.  What happened next was unexpected.  A man with tattered clothing staggered into the diner and sat at table nearby.  Without any planning he ended up sitting directly in line with the baby’s vision.  He appeared as one who spent a great time on the street; he smelled of alcohol and a long time since the last bath.  The most surprising thing was the way the baby reacted.  The baby looked at the man and smiled and squealed with delight.  The child was so excited that he lost interest in the food.  The parents got a bit nervous and really did not know what to do because by that time the homeless man was smiling back and cautiously waved.  He ordered and got a cup of coffee and watched the baby with great fascination.  It was if they were communicating.  As the parents left they could not leave any other way but to go by the man’s table.  The man spoke up, “You have a wonderful son there.”  “Thank you!” the father replied.  Then the father did something that did not make sense but he did it anyway.  He sat down and put the baby on the table facing the man.  The baby jabbered and smiled again and kicked his legs.  The man’s eyes filled with tears and said, “Thank you for my Christmas!” 

The homeless man had a shepherd Christmas. 

The father and mother had a Magi Christmas! 

The baby’s parents went back to the café later finding out if the homeless guy came in often.  He did and so they gave some money for some meals.

Matthew tells us:  You can come as a shepherd to wonder at the glory. 

You can come as a Magi to search for the greater meaning of life.

Matthew invites us to come to Bethlehem (House of Bread) and be filled with good things.  Come and eat and enjoy the Lord’s Supper fellowship and the bread and wine. 

My eyes already toward the sunny hill,

Going far ahead of the road I have begun.

So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp.

It has its inner light, even from a distance-

And it changes us, even if we do not reach it,

Into something else which, hardly sensing it, we already are.

And Why Has This Happened To Me?

Someone brought to the office a little statue from our Annual Rummage sale.  Santa Claus kneeling in front of baby Jesus.   It is a numbered piece in a collector series, made in Italy, and it may have been donated by one of you.  I keep for a sermon during Advent and so here it is.  We learned in our Service of Decoration of how Santa derived from St. Nicholas.  So there is some truth in this.  But we know that in the popular culture, Santa has come to serve many commercial interests.  Someone sent me an email with a child’s letter to Santa.  “Dear Santa, I just learned that you are not the reason for the season.  I do not want to be mean but I thought you would want to know.”

Jon, Aged 4 wrote, “Dear Santa, I’m sorry, but I don’t have a chimney.  I left the cat flap open for you.  Watch out for litter box.

Kayla wrote, “Please Santa, don’t bring me any new clothes. “  Kayla, Aged 9

Dear Santa,

You know that remote control car you brought last year.  Thank you!  It broke the next day.  I know you tried and that’s what counts.”  Alex, 8

I am eager to gather with you on this last Sunday of Advent.  Christmas is almost here.  I am hoping that you will spend some reading the stories of our faith.  We have heard that the Pope has started on Twitter.  He is not following anyone, but he expects to have lots of followers.  And he has already clarified that many things that are popular beliefs are not in the scriptures.  Over the years our Service of Decoration has been altered in order to contain less of the legends and more of the biblical stories.

So today we visit a story about two pregnant women laughing together in joy at what God has done.  Elizabeth is older than one would expect to be pregnant; she is so happy God has blessed her in this way.  Mary is a younger family member who has made a journey to be with her for a while.

You cannot fault Mary for wanting to get out of town for a bit.  Mary went to visit Elizabeth both out of need and out of strength.  I would guess the gossip and ridicule around her was strong and she needed a break.  She was poor, pregnant, unwed though engaged.  She was in a hurry to find a safe secure place within her extended family to be comforted, supported and affirmed.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Mary was blessed with a pregnancy of world-changing importance.  The two could spend some great mother-to-be time together.  I can safely say that if a young mom were to become a great mom, conferring with a veteran mom would be great, don’t you think.

Spending a few months with Elizabeth was also for a very positive reason.  For Mary to be blessed in this way was thrilling and she needed to tell someone who would listen and respond in a favorable way.   The messiah is going to be born with Mary; that would take some getting used to.  So she received confirmation and she gave confirmation.  Elizabeth needed to know what God was doing.  Joseph must have coping with the news in his own way and getting many things ready.   The Holy Spirit filled both Mary and Elizabeth at the moment they got together…there was great joy.  So Mary and Elizabeth offered to each other emotional connections and spiritual growth.  They blessed each other with confirmation of the blessing of what God was doing in their lives.

We all need places to express and receive confirmation of our joy at God’s goodness and love.  We need places of affirmation.  That is one of the purposes of our church.

This church needs a revival.  Most churches I know need a revival.  Each of needs to revive our beliefs in God’s goodness and God’s power.  Currently there are Christians who are convinced in God’s goodness, but not in God’s power.  And others, to hear them talk, are convinced of God’s power, but God’s goodness is only for those just like them.  Mary’s song is about both, a witness to God’s grace who has done great things for her and looks with favor upon the lowly and fills the hungry with good things.  God’s mercy is God’s forgiveness and long-suffering patience with the weakness and corruption and violence of humanity.

We see in Mary a humility which elevates God to the highest.  God has claimed her and us to be disciples ready to transform the world.  We rejoice in this blessing.  God has been blessing us from the beginning of time, so says Mary’s song.  God is saying to us:  “I will be your God, won’t you please be my people.”  Mary’s song tells the greatest blessing of all:  God is good, God is powerful, and God keeps promises.”

CAUMC IS PLACE OF BLESSING AND COMFORT SORELY NEEDED.

CAUMC IS ALSO A PLACE OF CHALLENGE TO HEAR GOD’S GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR.

In the last trimester of the time in the womb, the inner ear is fully-developed.  At 26 weeks, most fetuses respond with an increase in the heart rate to sound stimulation.  There is evidence that some sounds comfort and excite excite the fetus.  Even exposure to music is thought to increase the interest of a baby after birth in sound imitation.  Find a young mother around our place and ask them what they think.

I hope that our worship and the experiences you have here both bring you comfort and stir you to greater faithfulness.  It is time to sing Mary’s song louder and live it in the world around us.

Leonard Sweet tells the story of a wedding about to begin in a Catholic church.  The groom’s party was in place and the bride and the women were lined up ready to process.  The moment had come but the organist was not playing in the loft.  The pastor waved…nothing.  The usher snapped fingers….nothing.  Finally the usher called out, with a loud voice, the organist’s first name.  “Neil, Neil!”  All over the church you could hear the dropping of the kneelers and most people kneeled.  

This week I have the privilege of hearing a mother tell about the impact of this church on the lives of her children, now grown.  They loved this place and it was the reason they started coming here.  Children were more than tolerated…they were blessed continually.  They saw this church, through children’s eyes, as a grand gathering of extra grandmas.  And grandpas, though that was not part of the conversation.  Here were people who cared about them, valued them, interacted with them, taught them new songs, and called them by name. 

As adults her children come back home and plan that visit around times when they can come and visit because they know they are loved here.  The greatest complement a church can have is to be a place of multiple Marys and Elizabeths.  And Josephs and Zechariahs.   What a blessing from God that we have that at College Avenue UMC.

The mother also told that one of their daughters had found a similar church where an usher gave high fives to children when they went by or put an offering in the plate.  High fives can be the work of the Holy Spirit.  Hugs work too.  The purpose of those things is to connect persons of faith.  What this means is that we come here awaiting opportunities to connect more deeply with people around us.  We are here hoping that God will combine our stories and connect them with God’s stories.

So…here are two expectant mothers, hugging, laughing, and singing one of the radical songs of the centuries.  They, along with Joseph and Zachariah, have listened.  It is time to laugh, to treasure, and to see where God is appearing again.  It is time to join God working for justice. 

I hope the Holy Spirit will touch your heart and you too can say with a smile along with Elizabeth:  “AND WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED…TO ME?”  We often say that when negative things happen.  But we should be saying that with positive opportunities given to us from God.

All of God’s greatest stories in the Bible start with human-sized beginnings.  God can turn a shepherd boy into king.  God can turn a poor couple into the parents of the Son of God.  God can turn a carpenter into the King of Kings. 

I am so glad that this church gives to children and youth two gifts that cannot be wrapped but are most give-able.  We want to give them a core trust that is not built on arrogance, but confidence in God.  We want them to know they can rely on the steadfastness of God; this enables them to be steadfast.  It is an awareness that if they drum well, or sing well, or write well…this is the best gift they can give their Creator.  They learn to know that there is a future ahead that takes everyone God-ward. 

How about you and me?

TURNING TOWARD CHRISTMAS – Luke 3:1-6

Larry Fry

College Avenue United Methodist Church

ADVENT IS PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS

Christmas is coming so quickly.   Have I told Penny what I want?  No.  Have I gotten Penny request…not yet.  Have I written our Christmas letter or sent cards.  No.   Penny has been baking.  We bought some stocking stuffers yesterday.  And this afternoon we will put up our tree.  

For some of you, it means planning for a trip to Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl.  If guests are coming, we plan out sleeping arrangements.

So, we prepare our homes, gifts, cards, parties, trips….but what about preparing our hearts, our lives, our families, our church?  The Service of Decoration is an example of what Advent is about…remembering and reclaiming the meanings of Christmas.  We come to worship so we don’t lose sight of the essentials as we get caught up in busyness, or worry.  One person in Bible study this week, helpfully reminded us that we do not need everything.   We hope to welcome Jesus into our lives, in a new way, in order to grow more faithful in our discipleship.

We want to be prepared.  If we were Amish folk this morning we would be worshipping in someone’s home.  The benches might be brought to your house on a wagon and set up just for the day.  There are no clergy.  A worship leader is chosen by lot or last-minute consensus.  If you were coming to worship you might be the one chosen to give the sermon that day.  It would be good to have one ready.  Wow!  You are selected to read scripture and tell what it means.  I would guess that most of you would say that it is hard enough to gear up to listen to a sermon, let alone be ready to give one at a moments notice.  What would your message be if you were to give the sermon this day?  Would you be prepared?

And even more importantly: Are you, in your relationship with God, ready for a celebration of Christ’s birth.

One chaplain described the way I write Christmas in my daily logbook.  I put an “X” down and put “mas.” “Xmas.”  The chaplain went on that it was OK to do that but it was so easy at this time to go into Xhaustion, Xcesses, Xcuses, Xtravagances, Xasperation, Xhibition, and wordly Xcitement.  And he said some want to Xcape from it all. 

I read that some big box stores give anger management classes to employees before the shopping season and now keep their top selling items off the shelves to prevent fights.  They tell customers they are sold out.  And we found out that GPS unites can now be purchased by churches to put inside their outdoor nativity sets so that when they are stolen they can be found.

How do we prepare the way of the Lord?  How do we open our hearts for Christmas.  How do we make smooth the rough places.  How do we make more straight our paths for Christmas.  And how do we make the rough paths that someone else is traveling on, and make them smoother.

In our church family there are many paths to Christmas.  Some of you have lost a spouse or a parent this year.  It is really tough road if you have just gone through a divorce.  Anyone battling depression goes into this season holding on.  How can I make it when everyone around me seems so happy?  Certainly for all of us—happy or sad—it is a time to ponder our priorities regarding time and money and thing that matter most.

Advent offers to us all an opportunity reflect on where we are in life and what we need to do to get back on the right road.  One woman in a church decided to turn away from worry.  She was facing a biopsy and she figured out that no amount of worry was going to improve the diagnosis of her biopsy.  She decided it was time to take a deep breath and figure out how to live more deeply each day.   For others it will be a time to set aside a few minutes each day to turn off all other voices and to listen to the voice of God.

ADVENT IS PREPARING THE WAY FOR GOD TO ENTER OUR LIVES….

Penny and I enjoy watching an occasional episode of Top Chef.  Chefs battle against each other to win a cash price and bragging rights.  Chefs receive a short amount of time to prepare a gourmet dish and they are given some awful secret ingredient like “gummy worms” that must be highlighted in the final dish.  I remember one show because a man named Lance was competing against a French woman who wanted to win the prize to visit a grandmother in France.  The reason I remember this was the amazing faith witness Lance made.  He said that before his faith commitment he was a jerk willing to do anything to win.  He did not care who he walked over.  He edged out the woman in the competition and then gave the woman enough money to journey back to France.  He said, “Life is a journey.  None of us are finished products.”

TURN TO THINK OF WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU

Last week Bill Bunyan did the presentation of Saint Nicholas and passed out potatoes.  Bryce Hutchinson did not get one and his face fell.  So Colin Hohenbary gave him a potato.  And I do not remember who, but a grateful child ran by me at the door, saying: “This is going to going to be French Fries.”  At the end of the pageant last week, Grace Hutchinson had handed out all of the potatoes.  So as she sat with St. Nick to finish the program, Bill handed her one, too.  You should have seen her smile.

TURN TO MAKE A NEW LIST OF HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR GRATITUDE

TURN TO FIND NEW WAYS TO MAKE ROUGH PLACES SMOOTH

Advent is the time to trash the idea that each of us can live however we want with no consideration of the consequences of our actions.  We are the ones who write the stories of God for others to experience.  How are you doing that?  How does Jesus bring peace, joy and love into this world, this year, through you?

Sigmund Freud tells the story of a three-year old boy who went to bed scared.  He called out from a dark room in the night: “Auntie,” the boy cried, “I am scared, it’s dark.”  His aunt answered him, “What good would that do?  You cannot see me.”  The boy cried back, “But, when you talk it gets light!”  The world needs your voice.  Your family needs your voice.

In the news, a woman got a surprise.  She was eating at a restaurant and two men in fatigues came in and sat down and ordered.  She responded in gratitude by telling the waitress that she wanted to take care of their meals.  “Are you sure, asked the waitress?”  So as the waitress headed off with her credit card,  a dozen addition soldiers joined them and headed to the banquet room.

One ten year-old girl just won an award in a Texas school.  Some of you know her.  Her name is Hope Jeffers.  Her mom, Nicole Sherwood Jeffers, grew up in this church and Hope has been around here a lot too.  She was awarded a Medal of Compassion for her extraordinary care to other students.  When she was presented the medal she thought she was just going to a regular school assembly and she did not see her family there ready to see her receive it.  She has learned to help rough places smooth. 

GOD COMFORTS AND SO WE COMFORT OTHERS

It is time for you and me to seek a bit of comfort where comfort is truly found….not in possessions, or wealth, or overflowing appointment books, or endless self-examination.  Advent is the time to renew our connection God.  God is the only One who can truly comfort us.  Isaiah, the ancient prophet, even more ancient than John the Baptist….here Isaiah:  “I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to them.”  (Isaiah 57:18).

There is a time to be comforted and a time to comfort.  John calls out to us from 2,000 years ago that Jesus was coming and did arrive that first Christmas.  Thank God John still points us to Jesus. 

The world HAS to change.

Christ began the change.

And we have are the ones to make that change.

Two Kings on Trial - John 18:33-37

Two Kings on Trial, Both for Life

John 18:33-37

Christ the King Sunday

Rev. Larry Fry

Jesus and Pilate are having a kingly discussion.  They both were kings about the same age, yet what a difference.  Both had amazing power, yet so different.  And their conversation shows how the Kingdom of God is so different from any worldly kingdom.  And this story helps us define how to bring God’s kingdom into our worldly kingdoms.

Christ the King Sunday was created as the last day of the Christian year.  Next Sunday is the beginning of Advent.  Christ the King Sunday helps us see more clearly how we may honor Christ as King over all we do and say.  The kingdom of God transcends any earthly kingdom and is at work in every kingdom.

Pilate even made into our Christian creeds:  “he suffered under Pontius Pilate.”  He was a Roman ruler sent to Judea representing the world’s greatest political power at the time.  Even though he is in charge we can imagine that he was not too pleased with this assignment.  While his friends who had graduated from whatever training, many of them had cushy jobs in Rome near the spas.  Here he was in the middle of a desert trying to maintain order over a rowdy bunch of people who continually threatened revolution.  

Pilate came in and tried to straighten out the religious leaders by putting images of Caesar in the Temple.  To protest, Caiaphas, the high priest, sent 2000 Jewish men to surround Pilate’s Palace for 6 days.   So he took the images out.  Then he decided to give Jerusalem a new water supply: that would make everyone happy.   But, the money he needed for the project he took it from the Temple Treasury.  So there was a revolt and he had any other rebellion.   He was so violent that he was called to Rome and was told not to make any more mistakes.  And he is about to make the biggest one of his life.

People have told him about Jesus.  And what is about to do is built upon rumors.  So what does Pilate do with Jesus?  First: Is Jesus a king?  Pilate does not want to be responsible for more problems.  He would like to give this whole mess back to the religious council who brought him this mess.  Unless he confesses that he is a political king, there is nothing in Roman law which Jesus violates.

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If he releases Jesus the religious leaders will be mad again.  He is caught between trouble and trouble.  So he has to decide what kind of trouble he can avoid and what kind he can live with.  Even though he is still in power, he is terrified and frayed beyond belief.

It is a very interesting dialogue.  Jesus is on trial for his life.  But the way John writes we can see that it is Pilate who is on trial for his political life and he is scared.  Pilate has all the worldly power; Jesus has all the spiritual strength and he is calm, the one without fear.  

We can hear Pilate grabbing the power:  “Don’t you know I have all the power in the world over you…I can set you free or crucify you.”  So are you King or not?  

Jesus asks him a very personal question that does not have anything to do with the law.  What about you, Pilate?  I would like to know you.  What do you think?  I know what people have been telling you about me.  Do you believe it?   At that moment Pilate could have opened up and started a new life journey.  

Jesus, as a good shepherd king, even tries to gather Pilate into the fold.  He could have a more fulfilling life and amazing spiritual growth.  But truth for him is totally in the area of political power.  

The world since the time of Jesus has seen so many in power act poorly.  Kings, tyrants, monarchs, and emperors claim they have God’s blessing, or worse they are gods, to demand complete obedience.  Kings see themselves as accountable to no one.  We squirm when the news tells us a new world leader is grabbing power.

Jesus always puts people first with politics to serve people.  Every society of all time tends to put some people down in order to make thing better for others.  Every society founded on money and law and power finds Jesus very troublesome.  What changes would our nation make to put people first?  

Pilate was about to impose his version of the truth on the situation as he saw it.  He would love to get rid of Jesus.  

One key to the story is that we all belong to something or someone and Pilate belongs to Rome and Jesus belongs to the kingdom of God.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.  This means Jesus is the truth, he lives the truth, he belongs to the truth.  He belongs to God in such a powerful way that the religious leaders of his day saw him as a major threat.  And the only reason Pilate thinks he is a threat is that he wanted to keep the religious leaders under control.    Pilate does not want trouble.  So he tries to find a technicality that will allow him to crucify Jesus.  Are you a king?  If you are a political king…I will get rid of you.

JESUS DID NOT NEED PILATE TO TELL HIM WHO HE WAS

Jesus knew who he was.  Pilate was not so sure.  If you do not know who you are there are plenty of people to tell you who you are. Jesus is real, authentic, together.  Pilate is frayed, pretend, and with clay feet.  

An Amish man was once asked by an enthusiastic evangelist: Are you saved?  Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?  The man answered….”Why do you ask me that?  I could tell you anything.  Here is what you need to do.  Here are the names of my banker, grocer, my farm hands…ask them if I’ve been saved.”

Jesus could have told Pilate anything.   For Pilate, the only truth was what he believed.

In a school district there was a terrible battle between the school board and the teacher’s union.  The Superintendent’s son was had a 97% grade average, has gotten high ratings on the tuba, and had the highest scores on the ACT test.  But the school board did not like what the Superintendent had done in his attempts to get them through the conflict.  So they made certain his son did not get into the National Honor Society.  Things like that happen all the time.  After a short time of disappointment the son said: “I do not need them to tell me who I am.”  And he did not.  Jesus did not.

BELONGING

Pilate belongs to the kingdom of fear.  And when Jesus asks him a personal question that goes right to the heart….he grabs on to power, pulls rank, and get edgy.  Pilate’s kingdom depends on violence, capital punishment, soldiers, torture, and jails.    

As I look ahead to the future of our church, I see more children, thank God, who need to know who the are.  And as they grow I want them to experience a community that lives out our guiding values.  I want them to have help knowing that God-stuff is all around, that guides the human stuff.  I want them to know that God puts things in our hands and asks us to make something beautiful. We have the job of bring stuff that is beyond this world right in the middle of the world.  

So what is our truth?  Is it God’s truth?  For Pilate it was what he could impose by law and violence.  For Jesus is was to expose God at work in the world.  Truth is when we stand with those who need help.  Truth is family love around the Thanksgiving Table.  Truth is choosing our guiding values and not the ones in the world.  Truth is found in self-sacrificial love instead of self-serving power.  Truth for Pilate could have meant protecting an innocent man instead of trying to make the others satisfied.  If Pilate had protected Jesus he would have been a great leader.  He would have given the world something great….instead he crucified greatness.  

The world so needs the church to witness to the truth.  Without voices of concern,  forces arise with a twisted truth and grabbing for power to benefit themselves.  The world remains full of violence, poverty, oppression,environmental distress.  We have God’s call to make it different.  God calls us to transform the world with love…justice, healing.  Our Christian faith is what fills to overflowing.  The church, to tell the truth, offers us spiritual growth.

We have the opportunity to offer the world, God’s healing presence.

Giving in to Good Balance - Mark 12:38-44

We do not always know what a single act of kindness will mean to someone or to the world.  Tarn Wilson, a high school English teacher sat with a student to discuss a diary the student had written about her depression and thoughts about harming herself.  The teacher expressed his appreciation for the wonderful description of a painful time.  He asked her “What helped?  What inspired you to keep going?”  The student told of her friends who encouraged her and sat with her even when she was to despondent too respond.  Then she said: “Just being there.  Physically. Being there.  You don’t have to say anything at all.”

In the story of the day, we can see the impact one woman’s gift had on Jesus.  A poor widow presented a very small gift; it turned out to be the one with the biggest impact.  It was the biggest gift of all.  This is near the end of the public ministry of Jesus.  This is it.  Next is the last week and crucifixion.  Jesus is on his way to give his all…his whole life…for something that needs saving…all of humanity.   All of us!  And so this woman’s witness affected Jesus in his final days.

He also criticizes the Temple staff for using the money, not to help widows, orphans, and immigrants, but by buying privileges and benefits for themselves.  Jesus knew this because the religious leaders wore fancier clothes and called attention to themselves.  He must have known of more than one widow who lost her house.

THE RIGHT BALANCE

Today, let’s think about the impact of the woman’s gift.  I do not think that Jesus would normally suggest that we give all we have.   Everyone needs to care for themselves!  It is good stewardship of the gift we truly have…the gift we were put on earth to offer to others: OURSELVES.   At the same time the gift of her coins represented faith-filled generosity of great magnitude.  There should be a balance in our lives…giving not more than we should in order to care for ourselves and our family and at the same time not giving less than we can.

She trusted God, giving all she was and we she hoped to become.  Offering for her was much more than the amount.  It meant the giving of herself.   With her coins she presented to God all she was.  That is what Jesus was ready to do.

THERE IS AMAZING POWER IN OFFERING

The whole world is thinking about a young girl who made a witness, speaking up for the education of girls.  Malala Yousafzai survived being shot in the head by extremists, who targeted her because she has been an outspoken advocate for the education of girls.  We celebrate her words:  “I have the right of education.  I have the right to play.  I have the right to sing.  I have the right to talk.”  Indeed she does.  What scares religious extremists most is a girl with a book.   Think of what her witness has done!  With an offering of words…she has changed the world.

The church can show to the world the enormous power of offering.  This woman was offering all she was to help God shape creation.  As a church we take the grace of God, the abundant and wonderful grace of God and live it with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.  This act of giving not only supports others, it sustains us.   Jesus saw in her trust, joy, hope, and compassion.  It is my hope that Jesus called the disciples to think about her wisdom…but also to challenge them to include her in the extended band of disciples, men and women, following Jesus.  God dreams of a beloved community, a network of mutual support and blessing: so that no one is left out and everyone is supported.  Part of our task as a church is to call all of society to care for the orphan, the resident alien, the poor.  It is part of any societies’ primary purposes.

Jesus almost always gives the harshest criticism to those who don’t care much for others, especially the rich.  These scribes and Pharisees were sometimes the ones who devour widow’s houses.  They live privileged lives while the vulnerable suffer.  There is much of the world that lives off of the poor.

And the days are numbered for religious organizations that exist for their own well-being.  Someday in the whole scheme of things, the poor will be delivered.  They will be free of the oppression of bad religious.  They will be freed by good religion that helps the community claim the poor and mutual compassion will thrive.   

INVITATION TO RETURN THE FAITH IN ACTION FOLDER

I invite you to receive and return the greatest gift…a gift of yourself.  Here is one way you can communicate with staff and leadership about what you might offer to creation through the church.  You might volunteer at Odgen Friendship House of Hope or commit to bringing food each week.  You will find as you offer yourself, you will get renewed.  You might want to serve on a committee or a ministry team, join one of the choirs.  It will impact your life and you will be in ministry to others.  Perhaps your child would like to sing in the Cherub choir.  (To tell you a secret: I would like to sing in the Cherub Choir.)  I invite you during the offertory to begin this process of changing the world.

HERE IS A CHALLENGE TO OUR OWNING SO MUCH

Many of you gave items to our rummage sale to benefit Ogden Friendship House of Hope.  I want to thank all of your who volunteered hours and hours of time to make it happen.  Thank you to all who brought items for the sale.   American Christians have a bunch of stuff.

Marilyn McEntyre gives some great practical ways American Christians can work against a self-centered consumerism and toward concern for the neighbor and the community.  She invites to us to ask every day, “What might I share with others?”  What do I have that I do not need but someone else might.  One church set up a storage shed as a sharing station where all kinds of tools were stored for others’ use.  A retired church member served as its facilitator and taught younger people how to use the tools safely as he checked them in and out.  Another in the list was to set aside 15 minutes 3 times a week to call friends for no other purpose than to renew friendships.  One church member chose to do a documentary night once a month, taking a public problem and ending the evening writing a few letters to leaders in order to promote solutions.  Another family decided that their household would be “steady state.”  Whatever new comes in the door, something goes out to share with others.

WHAT MAKES A CHURCH VITAL?

What makes this church vital?  We have committees and structure.  We have these values we seek to live out in all things we do.  These things are like the skeleton of our church.  What drives this church is the Holy Spirit driving us to care for God, for each other, and our neighbors in every part of our world. 

Yes, we deliver food to Ogden, but we also work for a society when the only food boxes we give are just to give.  People would not need them…we would just give them back and forth in love.  It would be a society where everyone has a chance to succeed and to give. 

Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. This brings us joy. Lots of joy.  And if our life also meets the world’s needs…that is the greatest joy of all.  We are created to be the gifts that God created for a grand purpose. 

This is why the church is important, God made us for community.  It is like a plant living in an ecosystem that supports it.  It is the church that reminds me who God made us to be and keeps us responsible and accountable.  The church is the place that to follow Jesus means to love God and our neighbors as ourselves. 

THE CHURCH HELPS US GET OVER OUR FEARS

I wondered this week about the fears in the lives of the people Jesus was around.  The woman being a widow must have been afraid of how to make it to the next day with food.  The scribes and Pharisees who liked to wear long robes must have been afraid they were not meeting the spiritual needs of the people. 

One of my office managers used to tell me…”Do good and if you can’t at least do something religious.”  That is the problem.  They were arrogant and corrupt and wanted to be seen as superior to others.  The scribes put on the long robe on the outside because they had lost track of the amazing good inside of them, waiting to get out. They were not faithful to who God made them to be and not faithful to their responsibilities. 

Being made in the image of God means that we arrived on earth with a journey to discover who we are and the one to whom we belong.  God’s truth is given to us Is our truth.   THANKS BE TO GOD!