10.27.24 "All's Well That Ends Well" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

Job 42.1-6; Mark 10.46-52

Oh no, it can’t be true … please tell me it ain’t so.

Britain’s Royal Mail to close down rail operations … after nearly 200 years of moving mail by rail …

It’s called “the Royal Mail” - to carry the king’s mail … Henry VIII established the Royal Mail in 1516 - by coach and horses, of course -  rail came in 1830, with the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway.

And now, a long and storied tradition reaches the end of its days, or more appropriately, the end of the line.

All’s well that ends well …  

And if things are not yet well, it’s not yet the end … 

Our Gospel story this morning is that of a blind man … Bartimaeus … in the fabled city of - Jericho …  

You remember the spiritual: Joshua fit the battle of Jericho … and the walls came tumblin’ down …

Centuries later, Jesus in Jericho …

Jesus and Joshua … the same name … different languages - Joshua in Hebrew, Jesus in Greek … both mean: Salvation.

Salvation happens in Jericho … it’s the gateway to the Promised Land when the wandering people of Israel finally make it across the Jordan River … trumpets blow, the walls tumble down …

Salvation happens in Jericho … the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector … a wee little man who climbs a tree to see Jesus … Jesus passes by and sees him and says to him: Come on down; I’m going to your home today.

Salvation happens in Jericho … the story of the Good Samaritan … a man on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho is attacked, robbed, left for dead … a traveling Samaritan takes pity and washes the man’s wounds, takes the man to a local inn for treatment and pledges to cover all medical expenses.

Salvation happens in Jericho ..

Blind Bartimaeus cries out - Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! … the crowd hushes the man, but the man shouts louder … 

Jesus hears the man, stops, and says to the disciples: Call him here.

 Bartimaeus throws off the rags of a beggar and goes to Jesus … I imagine the crowd, making way … touching Bartimaeus, telling him, Jesus is straight ahead, go on, you can do it … he wants to see you.

Jesus asks Bartimaeus: What do you want?

My teacher, I would like to see again.

Bartimaeus was born with sight … he knew what it was to see the bright skies of Palestine, the faces of loved ones and friends, he knew what it was to make a living … but now, by the side of the road, in the rags of a beggar …  

His vision is restored … he becomes a follower of Jesus.

All’s well that ends well … 

But care is needed when we express our faith.

Statements of faith are more easily said in circumstances of comfort and safety.

It’s easy for me to affirm the goodness of God in the comfort of Pasadena …

Compared to so many places in our world where suffering and sorrow are woven into the everyday fabric of life.

Can we speak of God in such times and places?

Yes, we can, but let’s do it with care!

The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

There is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.

The LORD is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence.

There are times when words fail us … words don’t always work … what is needed is friendship, quiet friendship … to sit with someone in their sorrow and pain. 

To hold a hand quietly … to sit at someone’s bedside … 

We weep with those who weep … we walk with those who cannot run … we sit with those who cannot walk … 

Far better to offer a tissue where there are tears … a bandage where there is a wound … a hand where steadiness is needed.

Words may come later … and we do have words, that’s for sure … good words, words of faith and hope … the LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want … the LORD is my helper, I will not be afraid … Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever… words that point beyond themselves to the larger reality of God’s love for the world … 

Not a triumphant love … a suffering love … a love that takes up the cross, bears the sins of the world, dies a hideous death at the hands of Imperial Rome, conspired against by the religious authorities … crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell. 

Yes, he rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven … the Holy Spirit comes to the upper room with flame and wind, to inspire and empower the disciples to enter into the world and proclaim the word of hope of … the goodness and power of God’s love.

a suffering love, that abides with us in the night,

a love tiny enough to lay in a manger, 

and small enough to hang on a cross … 

a love just right to fit into the contours of our heart!

Jesus said to one of the crucified beside him, Today, you’ll be with me in paradise.

In this life, not all things end well … but in the end, the trumpet will sound, and a new heaven and a new earth will appear …

If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Faith points beyond the boundaries of time and space … beyond the immediate hopes of this life … 

Millions of people never regain what is lost … 

millions suffer hardship and misery … 

untimely death and untold sorrow …

our task, our work, our love, arm-in-arm, side-by-side, to change as much of the world as we can:

as much justice as we can achieve, 

as much peace as we can establish,

as much health and healing and hope as we can muster … 

constantly praying, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

In time …

We all walk through the alien door called death … 

age, accident, war, disease … 

our mortal flesh returns to God’s good earth for safekeeping, 

our breath, our soul, returns to God’s heart, for safekeeping … 

until that great gettin’ up morning when all is made new. 

In the end, the final healing … on the other side of the alien door … 

Some say with conviction, this is it - there is nothing more … dead is dead, and gone is gone … but love never ends … in a mystery vast and incredible, what we are is held in the heart of the universe, in God … 

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee 

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

….

One short sleep past, we wake eternally 

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

In this life, much to gain … in the life to come, much more to attain. To live is Christ, to die is gain.

We live for the sake of love … we seek justice … we pay attention, we give of ourselves … we strive for the best and the brightest … we confess our sins, we sing God’s praise … because it all counts, it’s all vital, it’s all important … our love, our hope, our deeds, belong to the universe, to the Almighty God who lives and reigns forever and forever … we belong to Christ, we belong to the ages … we belong to the stars …

All’s well that ends well …

Hallelujah and Amen!

7.9.23 "Getting On With Our Life" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

 Psalm 51.1-5; Romans 7.15-25a

Good Morning Westminster Presbyterian Church …

I’m glad to be back in town … we had a fine time … our Amsterdam family is well … and now, back to work.

Nothing new about work … the Christian life is a life of work … a work in progress … the quest for truth, enlightenment, the practice of hope, the work of love … to work things out, to live the justice and peace of God, as best we can … reaching beyond ourselves to the infinite mercies of God.

It’s work! to follow Christ.

Jesus invites the first disciples to follow him - he makes it clear: work is ahead … you’re fishing now on the Sea of Galilee, but you’re going to fish for the souls of women and men, you’re going to fish, all the way to the ends of the earth.

When God gave the Commandments to Moses, God made it clear: six days you shall labor … 

Did Moses try to negotiate that one? … God, maybe, we could do four days? … well, maybe five, if we have to … six seems a bit extreme.

The rhythm is set … six days for work … and then one day for rest … one day to catch our breath, recalibrate our moral compass, look to God … speak the name of God with reverence and love, sing hymns, listen to a sermon … give the body some rest, give the soul some refreshment …  

Because on the morrow, it’s back to work.

We work to make a living, of course … more importantly, we work to make a life … Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go …

When we’re five years old, we work … we work hard, we play hard, because play is work, and work is play for a child … we stomp our feet in puddles of water … we finger-paint, and make a mess … we run, we laugh, experiment with life in all of its wonder and mystery … we skin our knees and bump our noses, and we cry like mad. 

We are creatures of work.

We work to make a living, we work to make a life … and in our case, not just any life, but a Christian Life, 

a life energized by the Holy Spirit, 

a life centered in Christ, 

a life devoted to God’s creation.

The Apostle Paul works hard at life … he’s on the margin all the time … hunger, danger, death … he’s put himself all-out for the gospel … because on that Damascus Road, Paul saw the light … 

The light blinded him …

It was too much for him, this man who lived in the shadows of his own self-righteousness …

If anyone had good reason for being satisfied, it was Paul … he could point to an entire wall in his home, covered with diplomas and ancestral pedigrees … shelf after shelf of trophies, tributes, and awards … he was at the top of his game … but on the Damascus, Paul discovered something better … 

The love, the glory, the grace, of Christ … the call of Christ to work, for the kingdom of God … thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

In our Bible reading this morning, we encounter Paul at work: self-awareness.

The good I wanna do, I don’t … the nasty I don’t wanna do, I do … woe is me.

Paul was feeling what we all feel sometimes, when we take a long, hard, honest, look at our selves … 

In the light of Christ, Paul can no longer point to his achievements, his prior work, his abilities … now, he points to Christ … who abruptly changed Paul’s trajectory on that Damascus Road … Paul could no longer take comfort in his achievements … Paul discovered a greater comfort in the love of Christ.

The transition into what is sometimes called Salvation … 

No longer tied to ourselves … 

no longer tied to our past, 

but set free for the future … 

for the days that remain to us in this life … and - for the life to come.

Paul the Apostle shouts out to the world: there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ … and who, I ask you, is in Christ? 

Just a few of us, a select number of humanity? 

That’s how some folks answer the question.

A few are called, a few are chosen, and to hell with the rest.

For me: not some, not a few, but all! 

All of humanity encompassed in the work of Christ … 

All the world, all the time:

past, present and future … 

all of God’s creatures, great and small … 

the proud and the broken, 

the self-sufficient and those who know they’re not … 

those who despise the thought of God, 

and those who long to be with God … 

all of them - all of me, all of you … 

all of us, for God so loves the world!

It’s God’s purpose, God’s work, God’s love … none of it’s easy, not even for God … 

God bears the first cross, 

God dies for the sins of the world, 

God descends into hell to set the captives free … 

God lies in the tomb, enfolded by death.

God rolls away the stone.

We’re called to be a part of that work … 

Come with me, says Jesus … walk on the sunny side of the street, but even there, take up the cross … challenge the purveyors of hate and lies, the demons of ill will and violence … don’t run from the world, but run into it, bearing the gospel of hope and peace … 

From the LA Times:

Hate crimes soared in California in 2022 …

All told, there were 2,120 reported hate crimes, a 20.2% jump from the year prior …

Overall, the number of such events has risen 145.7% since 2013.

State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta attributed the rising numbers to what he characterized as an encirclement of hate.

“Hate-filled rhetoric fills our social media feeds and dominates the news cycles.”

“It infiltrates our schools and our community gatherings. It seems to be at so many places; it’s so pervasive.”

Here is our work, here is our purpose … in other times and places, other kinds of work and ministry … but here in California, now, and across the broad expanse of our land, the work is clear: the welfare of humanity, lift up the Cross of Christ, proclaim his resurrection, tackle the worst in our world … offer up - the best.

Jesus said: let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

And so it is … the call of Christ, let your light shine, let it sparkle, let it dance … make a difference in this world … celebrate the past by charting a new course for a new day … 

A new day at Westminster … 

After worship today, a meeting of the congregation, to elect new elders, and to elect a Pastor Nominating Committee … to begin the search for a new pastor. 

Hallelujah and Amen!