Monday, November 25, 2024

11.24.24 "Last Word" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, Ca

 2 Samuel 23.1-7; John 18.33-38


"Are we there yet?”


The proverbial question of a child on a long trip … 

Huntington Gardens


And it’s a long trip for us every year … from Advent, 2023, to this, the last Sunday of the year …


Yup, you heard me correctly … the last Sunday of the year, the church year!


It begins with Advent … and ends with Christ the King Sunday!


Kings play an important role in the Bible …


Before there were kings, there were judges … women and men called in the moment to lead God’s people.


You know some of their names … Samson … Jephthah …Gideon … Deborah … and Samuel … 


The story of the judges ends abruptly … In those days, there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.


The people go to Samuel and beg for a king, like all the other nations, they say!


We need a king - a strong man on the throne, someone to rule decisively, law and order, manage our affairs, protect the nation, expand the realm.


Samuel puts it to the people - Are you sure this is what you want?


Kings take, says Samuel, and never give … you will belong to the king, and the king will do with you as the king pleases - your property, your children, whatever the king wants. And on that day, you’ll cry out to God, and guess what, God won’t pay any attention to you … 


The people say to Samuel, Baloney! We want a king …  


Samuel goes to the LORD, and the LORD says to Samuel, Listen to their voice, and set a king over them.


And that’s exactly what Samuel does … about a thousand years before Jesus … the first King of Israel, King Saul … a good guy, but not suited for a throne.


Then comes David, a gifted leader, a shepherd and a poet, a warrior-king  … 40 years on the throne … peace and power … though he has issues with Bathsheba … and the story goes downhill from there … 


Upon David’s death, his son, Solomon, accedes to the throne. 


Solomon, noted for his wisdom, his many wives, foreign entanglements, and cruelties … it’s Solomon who builds the temple, but at great cost to the people … after Solomon’s death, the nation falls apart … north and south, Samaria and Jerusalem … the north often called Israel, the south, called Judea …


The northern kingdom is destroyed by Assyria in the year 720, before Jesus … the southern kingdom holds on until 586, before Jesus, when Babylon destroys Jerusalem and hauls thousands into captivity …  


That is pretty much the end of the affair … some 50 years later, after Persia conquers Babylon, the ruler allows many of the Judeans to return, to what was left of Jerusalem … the Temple is rebuilt, but it’s a shadow of its former glory.


In 332 before Jesus, Alexander the Great conquers Jerusalem … in the year 63 before Jesus, Rome captures Jerusalem … and installs puppet kings … at the time Jesus is born, we have Herod the Great - sitting on the throne, at Rome’s pleasure … Herod the Great and Caesar Augustus get along just fine … the Pax Romana prevails … prosperity abounds.


Herod rebuilds the Temple lavishly … not everyone likes the arrangement … some abandon Jerusalem to live in the wilderness, far away from the noise and politics of the city … these are the folks who write what we now call the Dead Sea Scrolls … 


Lots of other people make their own arrangements with the powers that be … the Sadducees are satisfied, and make some money … the Pharisees find relief in the Temple and their prayers … the Zealots are revolutionaries, and Barabbas is likely one of their own … 


When Herod the Great hears of a royal birth in Bethlehem, he goes nuts … he orders the death of children two and under.


When Herod the Great dies … Herod’s three sons divide up the kingdom:


Herod Antipas rules Galilee and the east bank; Philip has the Golan heights in the north-east; and Archelaus governs Samaria and Judaea.


With all this, we’re into the New Testament … these are the rulers Jesus knows … 


When Jesus is arrested, and questioned by Pilate, Pilate sends Jesus to Herod Antipas, because Jesus is a Galilean … Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate … and you know the rest of the story.


Is Jesus a king?


When Jesus is crucified, a sign is nailed to the cross: “This is Jesus, King of the Judeans” … in other words, this is what happens to anyone who competes with Rome.


Is Jesus a king?


When Jesus comes into Jerusalem from the east, he rides on a donkey - Jesus knows what he’s doing … he brings to life what the prophet  Zechariah says:


Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.


Palm branches are waved; cloaks laid down - folks cheer, At last, we’ll have a king again … glory will be restored … we’ll be great again.


But the work of Jesus moves in other directions … it isn’t about Israel, it’s all about the world … it isn’t about the past, it’s all about the future … it’s not about greatness, but humility and love …


Jesus says to his disciples:


The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.


Is Jesus a king?


A king for the soul, for the world, for humanity  … a king who dies for the sins of the world - which kings never do - because kings make sure other people die … 


He’s loved by many, despised by others … 


He’s crucified, dead and buried … on the third day, the stone is rolled away.


Christ the king … Pilate can’t see it, nor can Herod … blinded by their own power, they cannot see the King of kings.


Yet others see him in truth and love … Paul the Apostle meets him on the Damascus Road … millions of people have believed and followed him … here in this place, here and now, Christ the king is present, his Spirit at work, loving you, loving me, loving the world.


To him, our loyalty, our hope … that we might be, as he says: the light of the world, and the salt of the earth.


And that, dear people, is the Last Word! Amen and Amen!

Sunday, November 17, 2024

11.17.24 "The Iron is Hot!" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 1 Samuel 1.4-20; Mark 13.1-8


Places like this were built by two powerful energies …

Hasselback Potatoes & roasted carrots!
Hope the sermon is as good
as they were!


The Christian religion … and a Christianized culture …  


When Norm Haynes and his wife moved here from Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1959 to work at JPL, there were, as he says, two questions: 1) What school will our children attend? and 2) What church will we attend?


The first question remains: What school will our children attend? … but the second question, what church will we attend, has retreated … it’s not entirely gone, but it’s not the question it was in 1959.


It is a huge transition in America … as with any transition, there’s loss and there’s gain.

We’ve lost the material support of society … it’s not going to change … the past is past, and never returns … and if God is God, and Love is Love, there’s always a way forward … 


No doubt, we’re in a bit of fog … 


I think of Hannah, from our first reading of the day … her broken heart, her lost dreams, the distress and pain of her desire … she's the brunt of cruel remarks; when she prays fervently, Eli the priest thinks she’s drunk … year after year after year … how much longer, O God, how many more times must I pray, how many more times will I be disappointed?


She doesn’t give up … and neither must we … she prayed and prayed and then prayed again … how long does it take?


The early church prayed for James, and still Herod killed him … the early church prayed for Peter, and the angel set him free.


I do not know the mind of God, but I know God can be trusted.


Now is not the time to wring our hands … now is the time to fold them!


Now is not the time to fall down in despair, but to bow down in prayer.


Like Hannah, to persist in prayer … because every prayer is heard by God … every prayer counts … but the times of fulfillment belong to God.


Paul the Apostle writes to the church in Galatia: When the fulness of time had come, God sent his son … the times belong to God … 


In the best of times, in the worst of times … to be a church of prayer … a church faithful to the high calling of Christ … a church repentant for the sins of the past … a church confident, because God is God, and love is still love, and prayers are still answered … in the fullness of time.


In this time and place, I celebrate Westminster … a story of courage and hope … and some sadness, as well.


1962, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. scheduled a stop in Pasadena … when a larger venue was needed, Westminster stepped forward … and from this pulpit, Dr. King addressed the nation.


In 1970, Pasadena in the throes of desegregation and court orders, the Session went on record in favor of school integration …


On both occasions, dozens of members walked away … but many stayed … we can be proud of our forbearers … even as we’re sad about those who left in protest …  


To this very day, Westminster is a church of welcome and affirmation … a church with open doors, open minds, open hearts, and open arms … because God love the world, the whole wide world … a love without boundaries, a love without condition, a love freely given to all.


The words of Jesus say it well: You are the light of the world, and the salt of the earth.


At the center of any church’s life: Soul-searching … 


The content of our faith, the depth of our commitment …


But we have to be careful, lest we turn obsessively inward as many a fundamentalist has done … nerve-wracking spiritual assessment … do I believe, and do I believe enough? … do I pray, and do I pray enough? … are my prayers good enough? … do I witness to my neighbors, do I share the gospel, do I truly serve Christ? … what are my innermost thoughts? … woe is me!


The danger here is ME … spelled capital M E … rather than looking at Christ, we look at ourselves … rather than relying upon the grace of Christ, we rely on our own spiritual energies and work … before we know it, we’re all wrapped up in ourselves … 


Like taking our blood pressure every three hours, and stepping on the scale after every meal … 


vigilance and soul-searching are good things, 

but a ceaseless monitoring of our spiritual health becomes counter productive … 


Taking us further away from the love of God.


Soul-searching - a necessary element of our faith journey … it’s right and good to ask the big questions, but it’s even more important that we keep our eyes on Christ … 


his cradle in Bethlehem, 

his cross in Jerusalem, 

his words in Galilee … 

his message of hope and love.


In our second reading of the day, the disciples are moved by the beauty of the Temple, but it’s Jesus who says, It won’t last! … stone and iron have a limited shelf life … what stands will come down … but God remains God … because God is God, and love is still love.


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 forever.


When things change, we have a chance for a fresh start.


Can we do it?


Of course we can! Because God is at work in all things for good!


Will it take work?


You bet it will.


Jesus said, Come, and follow me!


The Christian life is an adventure … we don’t know where it will lead, but we know what’s required … to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves

Now is the time for great faith … now is the time for tireless hope … now is the time for love divine.


Carpe Diem … seize the day.

Strike while the iron is hot …


Amen and Amen!