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!

July 5, 2015, "New Wine, New Skins"

First Congregational Church of Los Angeles

July 5, 2015

Mark 2.21-22

Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem …

Can you be more than you are?

And so begins a new sermon series today …

A sermon series Dr. Colglazier and I will be working on for the next two months … we’re excited about the series and grateful to share with all of you in the Parables of Jesus.

Because parables are the way Jesus taught … and why did he teach this way? 

Parables provoke, raise questions, startle us with unexpected images … 

A dishonest steward who knows what he’s doing with money … a shepherd unwilling to lose even one sheep … a pearl merchant making a deal … a father who never gives up hope for a wayward son.

Parables offer a different way of thinking about the tried and the true … maybe the tried and the true can tell us more than we expect … maybe the tried and true ain’t so true anymore, and it’s time to try something new.

Which reminds me - last week, I put a dollar into a change machine, and nothing changed! 

Shall we move on?

Today’s parable: new wine, new skins … a parable understood by everyone, growers and consumers alike … the last of the old, and soon the new … hip hip hooray, a new vintage comes our way.

And who knows, the new wine might surpass the old in flavor and quality!

Wine is one thing … but religion another …

Religion tends to settle down and settle in … hard and fast … decades worth, centuries worth … smells, bells and doodahs … this is the way it’s done because this is the way we’ve always done it, and by golly, no one’s gonna change our mind.

And here comes Jesus … pushing hard to make some changes … and lot of folks didn’t like it one bit.

Scribes question his “table manners” - eating with “sinners and tax collectors.”

People wonder about his fidelity to the rules of fasting.

Pharisees question his commitment to Sabbath restrictions.

The prim and the proper are offended by the woman who anoints his feet with her tears.

Jesus speaks to all of them of new times and new ways.

The old is good, but it’s time has passed.

Nothing lasts forever.

Several months ago, a Sunday morning, getting ready for church, I put my Bible on the trunk of the car, brought a bag of garbage to the trash bin … went back upstairs … returned a few moments later, walked around the front of the car, got in and drove off to church: you know what happened.

My Bible was gone.

A hour later, my wife and son followed my route to church, looking for it, but to no avail - it was gone. 25 years worth notes, cross-references and comments. 

Gone!

Jesus my LORD.

I ordered a new Bible … and here it is … clean and fresh … and it feels great …

Would I have willingly set aside the old one?

I don’t know. Nostalgia and familiarity are powerful resistors to change.

Let me say that again: Nostalgia and familiarity are powerful resistors to change.

I miss that old Bible sometimes, just the thought of it - wondering where it is, what happened to it, but I’m glad the LORD took it from my hand … new wine, new skins.

On another note:

The Santa Monica Art Museum is moving out of Bergamot Station … the Executive Director said:

I want it to be very clear that we are not closing. We are moving. Our museum is all about agility and experimentation and being a collection of ideas, not being a permanent collection of art. Although this is not something we had planned, we realize we have to take the mission, vision and purpose to a next stage.”

Sometimes by choice, sometimes by chance, sometimes by necessity, the next stage … time doesn’t stand still … and God moves on … new wine, new skins.

As for Jesus, he’s no iconoclast … though he does overturn a few tables.

Jesus honors the traditions … and then plays with them.

Like Christoph on the organ, and Peter Fennema today.

Take what is, and play with it.

Bring out new insights.

Raise questions:

Maybe we can go this way.

Or that way.

Let’s see what happens.

Like a potter with clay.

An artist with paint.

A dancer with form and movement.

An actor with a script.

And Jesus with his stories.

“You have heard it said thus and so, but I say unto you, here’s another take on it.”

New wine, new skins.

Last year’s vintage is done.

It was good.

We drank it all.

The skins are depleted now.

And what we didn’t drink, turned to vinegar.

“Fear not,” says God.

Never ever, ever, ever, be afraid.

A new season is upon us.

Grape clusters hang heavy on the vine, ready for harvest.

God is never done with us.

And we are never done with God.

The nature of faith is dynamic … moving, shifting, dancing.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

      they shall run and not be weary,

      they shall walk and not faint.

The nature of faith prompts us to change:

Change of heart.

Change of mind.

And who doesn’t need a change of mind now and then?

Moses said, “I can’t do that,” and then changed his mind.

King David said, “I didn’t do anything wrong,” and then changed his mind.

Jesus said to God, “Get me outta here,” and then changed his mind.

Saul, on the Damascus Road, said, “I know everything about God,” and then God showed up in a bright light, and Saul changed his mind real fast, and God changed Saul’s name to Paul.

And in our time and place … changed minds have made for a better world … school desegregation, voting rights and lunch-counter integration, women’s ordination … and these days Marriage Equality and the Confederate Flag … changed minds, changed hearts … new wine, new skins …

Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

Can you be more than you are?

Some turned away and said, “No thank you.”

We’re satisfied with the way things are.

And, by the way, Mr. Jesus, don’t press your luck with us.

Others heard the invitation and said, “Of course, tell us more.”

Jesus said, “It won’t be easy, but it’ll be good.”

And people still said yes!

Peter, Andrew, James and John left their nets to follow him.

Mary and Martha opened their hearts and home to him. 

Joanna and Susanna, women of means, provided for him.

Matthew set aside his stacks of coins to join him on the way.

One-by-one, two-by-two, they heard the call and followed him.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem …

Can you be more than you are?

New wine, new skins.

Because we’re not done with God.

And God isn’t done with us.

From the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock 

To the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles.

You and me, right here, right now!

For this world, and for the glory of God.

What else can we do?

But follow Christ anew.

“Come and follow me,” says he.

I’ve places to go and people to see.

Lives to change and a world to set free.

New wine, new skins!

Dear People of God.

Are we ready?

I know that we are! Amen and Amen!

June 3, 2012, "The Will of the Wind"

John 3.1-17

Nicodemus, ol’ boy, you’ve got to start all over again!

That’s the message Jesus offers to this bright and timid man.

Nicodemus is bright.

One of Israel’s best.

A leader, a teacher!

And he wants to know more about Jesus.

But he’s also a timid man.

He comes to Jesus under the cover of nightfall.

He’s not about to meet Jesus in broad daylight.

But meet Jesus, he does.

He’s on the right track!

He recognizes in Jesus something great.

Something important.

His eyes, still partially shut, but he sees glimpses of truth … and timid or not, he goes to Jesus.

When it’s dark, or when it’s light … when things are good, and when things are bad … every day of our life, to Jesus we go.

The hymn puts it beautifully, I need Thee every hour!

Jesus in the morning … and Jesus in the night.

When I’m rich and when I’m poor.

When I’m happy and when I’m sad.

When my heart is full of joy.

When my eyes are full of tears.

I need Thee every hour!

To this timid man, this bright man … a man who desires truth, Jesus says, You need to start all over again!

Who doesn’t need a fresh start from time-to-time?

A change of mind.

Change is the nature of life.

Change occurs as we grow up.

Go to school … fall in love … get a job.

Change occurs through suffering and sorrow, as well as happiness and surprise.

To live is to change.

All of us have changed a great deal in the last seven years … think back to where we were and what we were doing seven years ago.

Can we even remember?

Seven years ago is a faint memory … and seven years from now, this moment will be a faint memory, too.

Change is the nature of life.

Jesus invites Nicodemus to change.

Dramatic change … life-altering change, change of heart and change of mind … Nic, ol’ boy, you’re on the wrong path. No sense trying harder to make somethin’ outta nothin’. Ya’ gotta go back. To the beginning. Start all over again!

Jesus uses the image of birth … all the way back to the beginning.

Nicodemus wonders if Jesus has lost his mind.

Can someone enter the womb again? 

This entertains Jesus … Oh Nicodemus, you’re so bright, but you just don’t get it. 

You’re a leader, a teacher, and something as basic and simple as starting all over again, you don’t get it.

Jesus takes his time with Nicodemus.

Jesus never hurries, when it comes to people.

The woman at the well.

Zacchaeus up a tree.

The blind man beside the road.

Jesus takes his time with all of them.

Because it takes time to grow.

Dandelions grow fast, and we call them … weeds.

Oak trees take their time, and we call them … mighty.

Jesus takes his time with Nicodemus, because it takes time to grow a human being.

And it works.

Slowly, of course, but it works!

Nicodemus shows up two more times in the story … in John 7, Nicodemus cautions his colleagues in their rush to judgment. They want to condemn Jesus, but Nicodemus urges patience; tells them to get better acquainted with Jesus.

They pay no attention to Nicodemus, but he speaks firmly - no longer timid.

In John 19, after the death of Jesus, Nicodemus goes with Joseph of Arimathea to claim the body … they properly bury Jesus, with lots of spices and expensive linen. 

It would seem that Nicodemus has made some deep decisions about what he values, what he believes, what he loves.

Whenever we meet Jesus … for the first time, the 100^th time, the 10,000^th time, it’s always a brand new day … a day of discovery … whatever we might know of Jesus, there’s always more to learn … whatever we have done for him, there still more to do!

Why does Jesus ask Nicodemus to go back to the beginning?

Because fiddling with what we already have produces very little more … an old car is an old car … though we may love ol’ Betsy, and she may have served us well, her tires are worn, her paint faded, the seats full of holes, the engine tired, and she’s out of alignment.

It takes more money and time to keep the old car up … it’s no longer worth it.

Time to retire ol’ Betsy.

There’s nothing Jesus can do with Nicodemus and his world as it is  … it’s time for something new … a new world is dawning; old ideas have to be set aside.

Is this easy?

Never is.

Always hard.

Most of us talk a good game of change, as long as it’s the other guy who has to change. 

The Bible says, Sing a new song to the Lord … because God is tired of the same old, same old, songs we love to sing … God wants to hear something new out of us … but if you’re anything like me, give me the old time religion - stuff I know … the tried and the true … the familiar and the comfortable.

The trap of time.

The pit of the familiar.

The couch of the comfortable!

How can I change? Asks Nicodemus … and we might well ask the same of ourselves - how can we change?

There are lots of things we can do to initiate change.

Go on a diet!

Look for a new job!

Read a book about gardening!

Find a new way to drive to work.

Make a new friend.

Learn how to knit!

Visit a nursing home!

Shop in a farmer’s market!

We can do all kinds of things to change bits and pieces of our life.

But Jesus drives home the central truth of the Gospel … to be “born again” - this is not possible for human beings.

We can be good … very good.

We can be wise … very wise.

We can be kind … exceedingly kind.

Yet still walk in darkness, burdened by sin and sorrow … a prisoner of ourselves … no greater prison than personal virtue … because we spend so much time preening in front of the mirror, comparing ourselves to others … too much time patting ourselves on the back.

I met a friend the other day … his arm was in a cast … I asked, “Hey, what happened?” He replied, “I broke my arm while patting myself on the back!”

Only God can set us free, whatever the prison may be.

Only God can birth us anew.

It’s always a miracle.

Just like physical birth.

Do any of us claim responsibility for our physical birth? Did we plan it? Map it out? Tell Mom and Dad, “Now’s the time!”?

Of course not.

Nor can any of us claim responsibility for our birth into Jesus Christ …

We didn’t choose God.

God chose us!

We didn’t pick ourselves up.

God picked us up!

We never went forward at that revival meeting.

God took us by the hand and pulled us out of seats.

We never accepted Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ accepted us and turned on the lights!

God plucked us out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the world of light.

We were dead in our sins and trespasses - not just maimed, injured, or weakened - we were dead, lost, gone … but God saves us … saves us because of God’s great love.

It’s a miracle that any of us are here today to sing the praises of God … it’s all God’s work … God’s mighty love … 

Never ours to command, but always ours to receive.

The work of the Holy Spirit.

The will of the wind!

All of this, from the Great God Almighty.

Amen and Amen!