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Monday, March 17, 2025
3.16.25 "Soul Care" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA
Luke 12.13-21; Luke 12.22-34
What time is it?
We look at our phones, or check our watches … are we on time, are we fashionably late, or just plain late?
We are creatures of time … morning, noon, and night …
We are creatures of time … childhood and youth, the teen years, young adulthood, middle age, retirement, and old age.
We are creatures of time … the rising of the sun, and the changing of the seasons … birthdays and anniversaries.
Ancient societies, you and me - we mark time … we can hardly wait for vacation, and we dread going to the doctor … time passes quickly when we’re having fun, and slowly, when we’re not … we eager for springtime, and if you live in Michigan or Wisconsin, you’d rather not think about shoveling snow.
We are creatures of time … with time and seasons, early Christians shaped their worship, their studies, their prayers … the seasons of the church year … in one year, the essential pieces of the gospel, lifted up and celebrated … Christ at the center …
The birth of Christ … the life of Christ … the death of Christ … and the resurrection from the dead … his ascension … and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
The Great Seasons of the Church Year … Advent and Christmas … Epiphany and Lent … Holy Week and Easter … Pentecost and the Season of the Holy Spirit …
In all of this, we journey with Christ - his birth in troubled times … we sing with the angels who sing to the shepherds… we journey with with the Wise Men from afar … we, too, lay our gifts before the Child of our dreams …
And we flee with him and his family to escape the rage of Herod the King … we’re with him in the River Jordan, as he’s baptized by John … we go with him into the wilderness, to see him weary and tempted …
He walks upon the seashore and calls the first disciples …
And with him, we journey across the land of Palestine … crossing boundaries, as he preaches the kingdom of God, a kingdom without boundaries, a kingdom for all …
We’re at the well in Samaria where Jesus meets the woman all alone … we’re in the crowd watching Jesus deal with a mob ready to stone a woman …
We watch him gather the children in his lap, we’re fed by him with the loaves and fishes of a little boy … we journey with him to Jerusalem … we watch the crowds welcome him, and we listen to those in power as they conspire with one another to do him in …
We’re at the Last Supper as Jesus breaks bread and pours out the cup, we hear the immortal words: This is my body, this is my blood …
We see Judas get up and leave the table, on his way to betray Jesus, for his thirty pieces of silver … we’re in the Garden with Jesus … we see his agony … we hear his prayer, because he’s frightened by the gathering storm … we watch his arrest, as he’s led away by the police … we listen in on the trial … we stand with Peter as he denies knowing Jesus, because Peter is afraid, too …
We watch our LORD beaten, ridiculed, and led through the streets on his way to Golgatha, his arms lashed to a crossbeam.
We watch him fall … we watch a soldier collar a nearby man to carry the cross for Jesus … even the Son of God needs some help along the way, to bear the burdens of love, and hope, and peace …
We’re at Golgatha … where the soldiers do their work, two others killed that day … three crosses raised up, three men deemed “criminal” by the Roman Empire … we hear his last words … and with him, we breath a sigh of relief, “It is finished!”
We watch the disciples melt away into the crowds …. we see the woman who remain … we see their tears and hear their cries.
We’re at the tomb in the early morning of the Third Day … when the stone is rolled away … and the angels comes to that tomb and tidy up, as I put it … the gave clothes are strewn about, but the head wrapping is neatly folded and laid aside …
We see Mary come to the tomb in sorrow and fear … we see her bewilderment and anxiety … something is wrong, something is not right … where have they taken him?
We see the Gardner approach her … she quickly asks, “What have you done with him. Tell me, I’ll claim his body.”
And he says to her, “Mary” … in an instant, she knows him to be the LORD and Savior of the world …
We’re in the Upper Room, praying with the disciples, when the Holy Spirit arrives, with the sound of rushing wind … we see the tongues of flame dance upon their heads …
We’re with the Saul on the Damascus Road … we feel his anger and bitterness, as he’s out to set things right … to put a stop to this Jesus business, once and for all … and we’re with Saul when the light bathes him in love … we hear Saul say, “Who are you?” … and we hear the words that change everything, “I am Jesus.”
Saul is no longer Saul, but now he’s Paul … the Apostle Paul … who becomes the great preacher of grace … the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body … hope in this life, and hope for the world to come.
The great stories of our faith, our faith at work in the world … the work of the Holy Spirit across the whole wide earth, and in every heart … from time to time, and everything in between, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
What time is it?
It’s springtime … it’s Lent …
The word Lent comes from an old English word, Lencten, related to the word “lengthen” - because the days lengthen … the early church took root in the northern hemisphere …
The birth of Jesus is celebrated in the darkest time of the year …
The Psalmist says, darkness is not dark to you, dear God, night is as light as day.
John’s Gospel puts it this way: there is a great light, and the darkness strives to overcome it, but the darkness can’t do it … the light prevails … the light is greater than the darkness of human sin and sorrow … the eternal light of God … the first words of God to the world, Let there be light.
From this light, from eternity to time, and time to eternity - light … to bring warmth and hope, to melt the cold snows and bring out the bud … to cheer us on our way, to light the pathway ahead, to guide our souls and lighten our burdens … that we might journey well in the time allotted to us …
The Season of Lent … and all the other stories of grace, mercy, and peace … stories of faith, hope, and love … the presence of Christ …
the Holy Spirit in our midst, calls us, guides us, challenges us …
holds our hand in the worst of it,
walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death …
stands by us in the moment of our conception, and when take our first breath of time, as we we draw our last mortal breath … and ahead of us, to greet us, in the Land of Forever, world without end.
No matter the time, no matter the season, we have our work cut out for us, as Paul the Apostle says to Timothy, in season and out of season … to pay attention to the great stories of our faith, to embrace the gospel with all the might we can muster, and to share kindness and mercy as best we can.
Jesus once said, You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
The salt of the earth … to preserve the best and bring out the full-bodied flavor of joy and peace …
The light of the world - to point the way ahead … this way, not that way … upward, not downward … all the way with Christ, to the end of road and beyond.
Amen and Amen!
Monday, March 10, 2025
3.9.25 "Forty Days" - Lent 1, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA
Psalm 91.1-6; Luke 4.1-13
LORD, you have been our dwelling place in all generations …
It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High …
The LORD is king, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world, it shall never be moved.
O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD all the earth.
The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!
It’s the month of March.
Springtime and freshness, renewal and growth … a time to start over, a time to begin again … take a deep breath, hitch up our jeans, step ahead to a new season … set the clock a full hour ahead … to get a jump on the day!
I googled “quotes about springtime” and found the following:
"In the springtime, the heart regrows hope"
"The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day He created Spring"
"With the coming of spring, I am calm again"
Springtime doesn’t come easily - if you live in Michigan or Wisconsin … winter holds on fiercely … one day, it’s lovely, and everyone dons a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and then the next day, there’s snow on the ground … it’s a miserable time of the year …
Winter doesn’t let go easily …
But the daffodils and the crocuses pop up through the snow, shoving it aside … springtime wins the day …
To move into Lent, we rise up with hope …
Real hope, hope forged in the rough and tumble world of daily life.
Real hope … forged in the wilderness with Christ.
Real hope … the possibility, but never easily gained … hope has a price tag on it …
The Spirit takes Jesus into the wilderness … alone … amidst the barren rocks and parched bramble, Jesus meets head-on the primal questions:
Who am I?
Where have I come from?
Where am I going?
What’s right, what’s wrong …
How shall I live?
Jesus eats nothing … forty days, nothing … we might well ask if anyone can go so long without food … apparently it’s possible, but not recommended … when it’s over, he’s famished!
Why does Jesus choose this radical way of self-denial?
There’s no specific answer, and nowhere - is anyone commanded to such radical fasting, though over the centuries, many a soul has found fasting to be of value.
I tried it once for a week, with three other friends - juice, water, and vitamins … for me, it was totally unrewarding … I’ve never tried it since.
The point is this, I think: Jesus made himself seriously vulnerable … Jesus leaves behind all the usual defense mechanisms - food, shelter, comfort, companionship …
Jesus weakens himself in body and soul, to face the Tempter, the Tempter that comes to all of us, all the time, especially when we’re weak, when we’re vulnerable, when we’re tired and worn out.
The Tempter says, Make yourself some bread. No sense being hungry, and besides, you can feed the world.
The Tempter takes him up to view the whole wide world, and says, I’ll give it all to you. You won’t have to work for any of it. Just bend the knee a little bit to me.
The Tempter takes him to the pinnacle of the Temple, Throw yourself down from here - God will take care of you … go ahead, show off a little … have some fun. You’ll have the world at your feet.
Jesus. says. No!
But let’s not pretend it was easy for Jesus.
Never for a moment doubt the reality of the temptations … Jesus has to decide, Jesus has to choose, Jesus has to sort it out, figure it out … these are real temptations for the Son of God.
The Tempter offers the easy way out, the shortcut to success, a surefire deal … Jesus chooses the right way, the hard way, the long road of faith, a deal that requires the cross.
The simple fact of life: what’s easy is not always best for us … what’s hard often proves the greatest value.
Columnist David Brooks writes:
When faith finally tiptoed into my life it didn’t come through information or persuasion but, at least at first, through numinous experiences. These are the scattered moments of awe and wonder, he says, that wash over most of us unexpectedly from time to time.
I love how Brooks puts it: when faith finally tiptoed into my life …
Most of the time, God is hidden … a kindness to us …
The unfiltered glory of God short-circuits us … like a power surge.
To make it easier for us, God shows up in subdued ways …
We pay attention …
We for God in the shadows and the dark corners of life … God is there …
We list for God in the voice of our own conscience, in the sounds of God’s world … in the sounds of music … in the consoling words of a friend …
We look for the face of God in the faces of people all around us … the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker …
God draws close to us … our soul is moved, tears may come, our voice is quieted … who can speak in the presence of The Divine?
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Let all the earth keep silent; the LORD is in his holy temple.
Places like this are designed to help us experience the presence of God … brick and mortar, stone and steel, yes, to the glory of God.
But it can be anywhere:
Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there, says Jesus.
Trees budding, birds singing … the rolling seas and the cry of a gull … for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear …
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
God meets us in places of great sacrifice … Gettysburg and Normandy …
Places of human achievement and strength: the Eiffel Tower …
Monuments to the great dreams of good people, the Lincoln Memorial …
In small things - the smile of a child, a scrapbook full of memories, a glass of wine with a loved one … a piece of music, a piece of pie, the peace of Christ …
So it is with springtime … so it is with Lent … the days lengthen … the chill of winter gives way to the warmth of spring … the world turns …
something stirs, something holy comes this way,
something tiptoes up behind us … like God in the burning bush, so sayeth the LORD to us: Take off your shoes; you are on holy ground.
Jesus in the wilderness says “No!” to the temptations … so that he might say “Yes!” to us!
In him, it is always Yes! For in him, everyone of God’s promises is a Yes!
Amen and Amen
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