March 2 7, 2022, "Get Set" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

Joshua 5.9-12; 2 Corinthians 5.16-21

On your mark.

Get set.

Go!

That’s how the race begins … 

We are the people … these are the times. 

It’s our race … our moment … no one else to run the race for us … others have run their race long before we born, and to all of them, a debt of gratitude.

From the vast beyond, they say to us:

Thank you; thank you for your gratitude; we’re glad you recognize what we did. 

We built something with stone and steel; we built it by the Spirit of God … we didn’t give up, we didn’t give in … by the mercies of God, and for the love of Christ, we raised this Tower to the glory of God - a beacon of love and hope.

We did it for you.

We did it for the world.

We appreciate your gratitude, but we want something more.

We want you to run your own race.

That’s the best gift you can to us. 

Gratitude, for sure, then your gumption.

Your determination - to run the race as well as you can.

Here we are dear friends.

We’re on the mark.

And now the announcement: “Get set!” …  

In our prayers and with our devotion.

In our meetings together and our plans.

In the strength of our bodies, as best we can.

And if the body isn’t what it used to be, then the courage of our soul. 

No greater tower can be crafted, than the tower of prayer.

From God’s call to Abraham and Sarah to the final trumpet of the Book of Revelation.

The race is set.

Always forward, always something new … not forgetting the past, but building upon it … denying the temptation to recreate the past, bring the past back - like Lot’s wife, who turned around to see from whence they had come; she turned into a pillar of salt. 

Nothing wrong with salt, but a pillar of salt ain’t going anywhere. 

It’s stuck in place and stuck in time. 

The challenge any of us face, when times are changing, when one era is ending, to know how to say “Farewell!”

“Farewell!” to what was, and welcome the new.

Even when we haven’t a clue what the new will be like, or where it’ll take us.

In our reading from Joshua:

The people are now, finally, in the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the Wilderness.

Moses did his work.

Moses confronted Pharaoh and demanded the release of his people.

Pharaoh said Yes, and then Pharaoh said No.

There was the crossing of the Sea, just in the nick of time.

Pharaoh and his army are washed away.

The people march through the sea - safe and sound.

A pillar of cloud to guide them during the day … a pillar of fire to give them light at night. Manna in the morning, and water from a rock.

Moses on the Mountain … Moses and the Ten Commandments. 

But when faced with the Promised Land, they fail to take it.

They’re afraid … Maybe we should go back to Egypt. It wasn’t so bad after all.”

The lure of the past.

The troubling trick of the mind -  when we trick ourselves about the past … we remember the best of it, and not all of it … “if only we could regain the past,” we think, “then we’d be happy.”

Churches succumb to this troubling trick of the mind … so do political parties, and entire nations, and folks just like you and me - when the past lays hold of the mind and imagination, it leaves no room for innovation, experimentation; fear takes over and the future dies.

That’s what happened to Israel, as they stood on the threshold of the Promised Land, the first time around. Their spies came back and said: There are giants in the land, and we can’t fight them. In their eyes, we’re as small as grasshoppers.

It was all “fake news” - the people rose up in anger at Moses and Aaron … better dead instead, they cried. Why is God doing this to us? Let us choose a captain who will take us back to Egypt.

So off to the Wilderness God sent them; forty years of wandering, until they could shake off yesterday's dust, set aside inaccurate memories, reject fake news, trust the LORD God Almighty, and get ready to try it again.

In our reading today, Joshua 5 - the second time around …  they crossed the Jordan, set up camp, just shy of Jericho. 

Joshua said: We’ve got some prep-work to do. Here and now. To get ready for the Promised Land.

Circumcision for one … the cut of the flesh to mark the body. To God we belong, in life and in death … God’s purpose is our pursuit.

The Lords says, “Today, I’ve rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” The past is past … this is now … tomorrow stands before us.

And then the Passover Feast - to remember when the Angel of Death came to do its hard and terrible work - taking the first-born of all living things … but the Angel of Death passed over the homes marked with the blood of a lamb.

It’s a harsh and terrible business sometimes … 

To set the captives free.

To right the wrongs.

And clear the way.

To see a brand new day.

That day, the Children of Israel ate the produce of the land.

The manna was no more.

Forty years of wandering - behind them.

Ahead of them, the Promised Land.

Centuries later, the Apostle Paul says to his friends: If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away … everything has become new!

Paul says: in Christ, God was reconciling the world to God, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ.

The high and holy calling of God.

The past is behind us. The race is before us.

On your mark!

Get set!

Amen and Amen!

October 6, 2019 "Great Things, Great Purpose" - El Monte Community Presbyterian Church

Lamentations 3.19-26; 2 Timothy 1.1-14 

“The Culture of Remembrance,” he said … 

The Director of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer House in Berlin, Germany … “the Culture of Remembrance.”

I was there recently, and Jane Holslag, one of our missionaries, joined me for the tour … Jane had lived at Monte Vista Grove Homes for about year, and then some months ago, returned to Germany.

When I learned that I would be visiting Berlin, I contacted Jane, and she was kind enough to be a tour guide for a few days, and one of the things we did was to visit the Bonhoeffer House.

“The Culture of Remembrance,” said the director.

Germany has worked hard to remember in the last 25 years… though at first, after the war, no one wanted to remember anything, but just to get on with life. 

Everyone wanted a culture of forgetfulness.

But who can forget the horrors of World War 2, the death of 6 million Jews, and millions of others throughout Europe and around the world.

In recent years, Germany has worked very hard to remember, and not to forget … Germans have built memorials and museums … 

To remember what happened, and to remember why … why a madman like Hitler should be able to come to power, and in a few short years, drag the nation and the whole world into war.

Some things deserve to be remembered …

The culture of remembrance …

 To be sure that history doesn’t repeat itself … that hatred and bigotry will never again win the day, that Anti-Semitism will be identified and condemned quickly and thoroughly, and all forms of hatred and discrimination, that especially the churches will remain vigilant, and speak out against the false gods of nationalism, militarism, and racial supremacy.

“The Culture of Remembrance” …

And that’s why we gather here for worship, Sunday after Sunday … we gather to remember … 

To remember why we’re here this morning … and who we are, and what needs to be done … we remember the words of Christ, the stories of creation, the politics of the prophets, the courage of the early church … we remember great things, and God’s great purpose.

First off, we’re here to say Thank You … the way of gratitude is the heart and soul of the Christian Life … it all begins and it all ends with these simple but profound words: Thank you!

Thank you to God for the gift of life, the mercies of Christ, the joys of creation, friends, and family … to give thanks to God Almighty that we belong to God … this is our first task when we gather together.

When we thank God, we have a chance to remember:

God’s promises … there is nothing than can separate us from the love of God … nothing in life, and nothing in death … nothing anywhere, or anyhow, that can break the bond of God’s covenant love for us, sealed upon our life by the waters of baptism, and confirmed for us in the bread and drink of the Lord’s Table …

“You belong to me,” says God.

You belong to me, and I will see you through all of life’s tumult and sorrow … I will be with you in the best of it, and in the worst of it …

I am with you always … I am the Alpha and the Omega … the beginning and end … I am your first breath, I’m your last breath … in time and eternity, in the frailty of the flesh and in the hope of the Spirit, I am there, says God, with you, for you and by you.

The culture of remembrance - that we not forget all the LORD’s blessings … but that we remember such things, so that we might live well before the world … and honor Christ with as much of life as we can.

And, then, a little bit more …

We’re here to welcome one another … to pay attention to each other … to listen to one another, to listen with care, to look upon one another with kindness and mercy …

We’re here to remember how to treat one another … to love one another as Christ loves us …

To remember, not just words and ideas, but to remember what Jesus did: how he put off his robes, and put on a simple towel around his waist, to wash the disciples’ feet …

In that moment, no longer the teacher, but a servant … no longer words of instruction, but deeds of kindness and humility … 

When Jesus washed their feet, it was the sign of welcome:

To welcome the disciples into the household of God … weary travelers they were, all of them, feet covered in dust and grime … the journey of faith is long and hard … and in such a kindly moment, the Son of God is the one who washes their feet.

And sets an example for us … 

It can be something as simple as eye contact and the nod of our head - “I see you, I acknowledge your presence, I will not pass you by, but I will give you my eyes, and I acknowledge your life.”

It can be a handshake, an arm around a shoulder, and even a hug.

It can be all kinds of simple things … to treat one another with dignity and respect … to do unto others as we would hope others would do unto us … and always, like Christ, to be the servant of the household of God.

Jesus washes their feet … and later, hosts the Table … 

It’s Jesus who blesses and breaks the bread, who pours out the cup … and serves the household of God … here’s some bread, and here’s some drink … eat to your hearts content, and drink deeply of the mercies of God.

All along the way, and throughout the three years of his ministry with the disciples, and his ministry to the world, Jesus shows us all how to treat one another … 

How to be the household of God … where all are welcomed, and none are turned away … because we are all one in Christ, in whom there is no longer the great cultural divides of race and religion, economic status, and gender distinctions … Paul the Apostle says it well:

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

The household of God … 

Where there are no boundaries, no walls to be built, or ditches to be dug, no families to be separated, and no fuss and fuming about who’s in and who’s out …

 In the church, we build bridges, and open doors, with words of welcome … fresh water to wash dirty feet, and good bread and drink to refresh hungry bodies and weary souls.

With our love, we bear witness to the world, we challenge our politicians to rise above party interests to care for the nation and all its people … and we challenge our politicians to care for the nation in such a way that every nation benefits, not just the United States, but the whole wide world.

And day-by-day, we strive to grow in the grace of Christ, even as Christ comes to us in a thousand different ways … to help us grow up into the things of God, to even do some great things now and then, with great purpose, all for the love of God.

Such is what it means to remember the goodness of God.

To be, for the sake of Christ, a culture of remembrance.

To God be the glory. Hallelujah and Amen!

Prayer - July 27, 2008

Romans 8:26-39

Persevere in prayer (Romans 12:12).

Devote yourselves to prayer (Colossians 4:2).

Pray in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18).

My house shall be called a house of prayer (Matthew 21:13).

Teach us to pray, said the disciples.

Prayer, whatever it is, is very much a part of our life.

A universal thing … every human being prays … an instinct hardwired into our DNA.

We cry out in a hard moment, “O God” whether we believe or not.

It’s a rare person who does not pray … I suppose there are some, but I suspect they are few and far between.

What is prayer?

I don’t know!

“Preacher, you’re supposed to know. You’ve been to seminary; you have a theological degree; preacher, you oughta know.”

But I don’t know.

Do I pray?
I pray most every morning … my Forty Days of Prayer Journal.

I pray before I eat … I pray while I’m driving (but I never close my eyes) …
I pray a lot.
I’ve prayed all of my life.

Everything from:
“Come LORD Jesus, be our guest, let thy gifts to us be blessed. Amen.”
… to …
“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the LORD my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the LORD my soul to take. Amen.”

Do I know what prayer is?
No, I don’t know.

Sort of like asking,
What’s bicycle riding?
Sitting on a porch at Lake Tahoe with a great book?
Having dinner at a fine restaurant with the one you love?
Going to sleep?
Taking a shower after a hard day’s work?
Sitting and crying with a friend who’s lost her husband?
What are any of these things?
Can we put ‘em into a computer, or a test tube?

What is prayer?
I have no clear idea what is it … but I pray, and I pray a lot, and I know that you do, too.
We’re human beings.
That means we pray.

There are different ways of praying … different postures … standing, sitting, kneeling … hands folded, hands open; arms raised … head bowed or head raised upward … eyes closed, eyes open.

A part of praying is learning something about God.

A little refrain that’s been popular in recent years:

God is good … all the time.
All the time … God is good.

O taste and see that the LORD is good (Psalm 38:4).

Someone might ask, “But how can a good God allow all of this suffering?”

Let’s think about it for a moment … “What should God do?”

Should God hold up every airplane in the sky?
Should God stop every mutating cell?
Should God eliminate every dangerous microbe and virus?
Should God prevent every auto accident, every robbery, every argument, all disagreement?
Should God halt arms dealers, border disputes and ethnic issues?
Should God put an end to capital punishment?
Should God replenish oil supplies, modulate the weather and manage the commodities market?
Should God wipe away every negative thought, every jealousy, every angry emotion, every moment of doubt and fear?
Should God answer every question, resolve every cognitive dissonance, make everything black and white?
Should God put a stop to hurricanes, earthquakes and lightening strikes?
Should God eliminate every wolf that takes a cow, every bear who attacks a hiker, every ant who crawls on our kitchen counter, and every one who speaks unkindly?
Should God do away with death?
Should God make time stand still and the sun never set?

Where would God draw a line?
What should God manage and what should God leave alone?
If I don’t want it to rain on my parade, what about the farmer who needs rain for the wheat?
The tectonic plates move only because our planet has a molten core that generates a gravity field that prevents oxygen from escaping.
We channel our rivers so that folks can live beside them, and when the rains comes, the channels force the river every higher, and higher levels weaken the levees, and the levees are more likely to fail … and when they fail upriver, the downriver threat lessens.

It’s a complicated thing being God, hearing the prayers of billions of people – all at the same time – enemies engaged in war praying for victory over the other … basketball teams and soccer clubs praying for a win …

Everyone of us in this room has prayed mightily for something or someone … but nothing happens, or the worst happens.
Sometimes we hold God accountable for this … maybe we walk away from God – angry that we didn’t get what we wanted … because in our mind, what we wanted was really good; it made sense, and would have been terrific, if only God had come through on God’s part of the program.

What’s a good God to do?

I wouldn’t want to be God even for a moment.
Bruce Nolan finds that out in Bruce Almighty.
At first, when given the chance, Bruce is taken with the absolute power of it all – “I can do anything I want” … but slowly realizes that power alone isn’t the answer to anything … in time, Bruce “Almighty” realizes how small his mind and heart are … and when it’s all done, he’s glad to turn it all back to God!

So what’s up with prayer?

Paul says, we don’t know how to pray as we ought.
Hmm!
Is that true?
Do we know how to pray?

Most everyone prays …
Prayer is a natural instinct …
But then so is eating … but we learn to how to eat well.
Love is an instinct … but we learn to love wholesomely.
Being a parent is a natural thing … but we learn how to be a wise mother or father.

Prayer is a natural thing … but we learn to pray rightly.

A father and his five year old son were headed to McDonald's one day, and passed a car accident. Usually when they saw something terrible like that, they’d say a prayer for those who might be hurt, so the pointed and said to his son, "We should pray."
From the back seat he heard his son’s earnest prayer: "Please, God, don't let those cars block the entrance to McDonald's."

How then shall we pray?
Is there a right way or a wrong way to pray?

Let begin with affirmation: “God hears every prayer, no matter what, and God answers every prayer appropriately.”

The essential answers to prayer:
Yes.
No.
Not yet.
Maybe.

Sometimes we hear someone say: “God didn’t answer my prayer.”
Well, yes, God did answer.
It’s just not the answer we’d hoped for.
Sometimes the answer comes slowly … over a period of time … in unexpected ways.
In one of my espionage books, an Alan Furst character says: “This is a war, and, in a war, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win, and, sometimes, when you think you’ve lost, you’ve won” (The Foreign Correspondant, p.58).

How shall we pray?

The Spirit helps us, says Paul.
The Spirit of God … at work in our spirit … helping us to pray.

Jesus says: Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive (Matthew 21:22).

LORD, let me win the lotto.
LORD, let me have a fabulous career.
Let my loved one get better.
Help my children do well.

Who doesn’t want to win the lotto, and who wouldn’t do good things with the money?

Who doesn’t want a good career … or a loved one to recover … or our children to do well?

Is this what Jesus means?

Whatever you ask for in prayer, says Jesus … with faith.

The key word is “faith” – whatever you ask for in faith.
We could substitute the word “love” – whatever you ask for in love … in love with God, in love with your neighbor, in love with life …
We could substitute the word trust … whatever you ask for, with trust in the goodness and reliability of God … with trust, that God is at work in all things for good … with trust, that God has His eye on the sparrow.
We might use the word patience … we are those who wait with patience for the things of God … we wait upon the LORD … as Abraham and Sarah had to wait for the promised son … as Israel had to wait a long time in slavery until God set them free … and then had to wait 40 years until the Promised Land … waiting is a part of the program … and patience is the virtue.

We learn to ask in ways consistent with God’s will and purpose.
We learn how to align our heart with God’s heart.
Our tastes are elevated … we begin to desire what God wills, and we begin to will what God desires.

Prayer, too, is very much about remembering grace … paying attention to how many times we’ve been saved and didn’t know it … how often good things have come our way, and we didn’t notice … how many accidents didn’t happen; how many illness were averted … how much the luck of the draw on our investments was really the hand of God.
Remembering grace … all the free lunches we’ve had … gracious moments that came in the blink of an eye, and we didn’t even say thanks.

Paul says, pray without ceasing …
To live gratefully.
To live generously.
To live kindly.
To hunger and thirst for righteousness.
To be peace-maker.
To love Christ.

Thank you LORD for the gifts of life.
For the folks who love me.
For everyone I love.
For opportunities and possibilities.
For doors that close, and doors that open.
For the hard times that have sharpened me.
For the good times that have delighted me.
For all the dear and sweet people who keep this world going, who build things and manage things … who protect us at night and take care of us in the hospital … for teachers and dancers, for magicians and car mechanics, for painters and producers, for Hollywood and New York City, for Phoenix and Dallas, for Fords and Chevys and the Honda Prius … for Vons and Ralphs, Bristol Farms and Trader Joe’s …
O LORD my God, thank you, thank you, and thank you.

Thanksgiving opens our eyes to the abundance of life.
I remember, in my first calling – two small churches in the mountains of West Virginia south of Charleston – Toots Adkins – Toots had never worked a day in his life, always sickly, always frail; not a tooth in his head, and he lived in a little tar paper shack no bigger than my office, at the head of Camp Creek.

He was an elder in the Camp Creek Presbyterian Church … and taught himself to read by reading the Bible, and when the kids had a dance at Pee Wee Sutphin’s place, someone playing the fiddle, Toots would do a mountain clog that was both wonderful and funny, as he clogged away with shoes too big for his tiny frame.
Toots was a man of prayer.
Every prayer - a prayer of deep thanks.
For the simple thing of life.
The grace of God.
Jesus and the Bible.
The church and its missionaries.
Preachers and teachers.
Birds and flowers.
Streams and clouds.
Rain and sunshine.

Toots was a man poor by the standards of the world.
But his heart was rich with the grace of God.
Toots had everything.

Toots was a man of prayer.

What is prayer?
I really don’t know.
I pray every day … you do, too.

There’s always something to learn about prayer.

And the Spirit helps us. Amen and Amen!

Thank You - October 14 2007

Luke 17:11-19

I love the way our story begins … on the border … an in-between place, a no-man’s land, neither here nor there …
On the border … between Judea and Samaria, neighbors and kinfolk, sharing the blood of Abraham and the Law of Moses, but no love lost – each believing the other to be defective.

Judea to the south, centered in Jerusalem … the City of David, the Second Temple built by Herod the Great … God’s dwelling place on earth … tens of thousands of lambs and goats, bulls and birds sacrificed … a place of atonement and hope … beauty, power and pomp.

To the north and west, Samaria, descendants of the 10 Northern Tribes – under the iron heel of Assyrian conquest in the 8th Century before Jesus, intermarriage, racial mixing, dislocation …

Judea looked at Samaria with contempt.
Samaria looked at Judea with disgust.
No love lost between these neighbors and kinfolk.

But on the border, things are different … in the in-between place … ten lepers, nine Judeans and one Samaritan … brothers in sorrow and suffering … leprosy … unclean and dismissed from family and town; objects of fear and loathing, under the wrath of God, so it was thought – to fend for themselves, beggars along the road.

We are the desperate
Who do not care.
The hungry
Who have nowhere
To eat.
No place to sleep,
The tearless
Who cannot
Weep. (Langston Hughes)

As of late, I’ve been reading two books, and only recently did I see their connection … Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath – portraits of the poor … trying desperately to make something of this life … but hamstrung by events and systems beyond their control.

Scrooge bah-humbugs his way through Christmas, believing the poor to be poor by their own hand, and if they want shelter, they can go to prison or a workhouse. A cold, mean-spirited man avoided even by the neighborhood dogs.

The Okies hit the road in rattletrap trucks and oil-burning cars, stacked high and deep with whatever belongings they can take – off to California, the land of dreams and opportunity … their farmland decimated by draught and dust, their farms swallowed up by banks and big corporations – homeless migrants on the road west … trying to make something out of this life.

On the border between Samaria and Judea … ten lepers … vagabonds, the abandoned ones, trying to make something out of life.

Jesus goes to border regions often … He moves with ease between places and peoples … Judea and Galilee, Samaria and the Decapolis … He shuns no one, welcomes everyone … pedigree and purity mean nothing to Him … ancestry and social position are irrelevant to Him … religious claims carry no currency with Him … He sees the heart and knows the soul … His love has no boundaries … there’s a wideness in His mercy.

The lepers call out to Him … forbidden by law to approach, they call out from a distance … with a loud voice, says the text – “Can you see us? Can you do something?”
“We know who you are … we’ve heard the stories … will you help us?”

With a marvelous simplicity, Jesus says, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
The priests determine who’s clean and who isn’t … who’s in and who’s out, who’s naughty or nice.

Jesus nods his head to convention … “Yes, show yourselves to the priests” … let the priests examine you, so they can declare you clean.

We might imagine the lepers saying to one another: “What’s up with this? Look at us, we’re lepers … we’re a mess … what’s to show the priests today any different than yesterday.”

But they go as Jesus says … simple obedience.

On their way, they’re made clean!
One of them, seeing that he’s healed, turns back and falls at the feet of Jesus, praising God with a loud voice.

Were the others not grateful?

They were all grateful for their healing … but only one returns to say it.

The other nine hurried home to greet their friends and attend to their business, intending, I’m sure, to return to Jesus and thank Him.
But things turned out otherwise; they were kept at home longer than they meant … and in the meanwhile, Jesus was put to death.

Albert Schweitzer writes:

We ought all to make an effort to act on our first thoughts and let our unspoken gratitude find expression. Then there will be more sunshine in the world, and more power to work for what is good.

Schweitzer reminds all of us that the waters of gratitude run deep in the human heart … but rarely rising to the surface, never coming up like a spring.

Jesus said: “The water that I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

Schweitzer continues: “… we ourselves must try to be the water which does find its way up; we must become a spring at which men can quench their thirst for gratitude.”

Maybe that’s the point of the story … say it … put it into words … let someone know that you’re grateful.

Emerson said: “Words are alive. Cut them, and they bleed.”
The poet, George Herbert, noted: “Good words are worth much and cost little.”

One of the common stories throughout my ministry – someone says, “I know that my folks loved me, but they never said it.”

The story is told always in the same way, the same words, “I know they loved me, but they never said it.”

The story is told because something is missing … the words are missing, “I love you” … powerful words … words to finish the work of love. We are creatures of mouth and ear, as much as mind and heart.

People with whom I’ve counseled over the years all say the same thing, “I wish my father could have said it to me before he died. How I would have loved to hear those words.”
I know many a story wherein an adult child worked up the courage to sit beside a dying parent, take a hand, and say, “Dad, I love you” … and something like a dam breaks, a window is thrown open, a light turned on, a spring gushes up … and Dad says, “I love you, too” …
With tears and hugs – so long avoided, so long withheld … why?
Why the reluctance?
Why the restraint?
What’s to fear?

The words, “I love you” – frosting on the cake, butter for the bread, gravy ladled hot over mashed potatoes.

I know that my children love me, but I never tire of their words: “Love ya’ Dad.”
When we part and say goodbye, when we chat on the phone and have to go, we say to one another, “Love you.”

To put it into words …

Jesus asks, “Where are the others?”

That has to be the most poignant question ever asked by Jesus: “Where are the others.”

With a delightful tongue-in-cheek, a wink of the eye, Jesus says to the Samaritan at His feet, “What? Only a foreigner returns to say thanks?”

To put it into words … “Jesus my LORD, thank you.”

God longs to hear those words, and our soul longs to say them.
There’s something healthy and redeeming in speaking the reality … to let those words rise from the deeps, rumble through our throat and finally pass our lips: “Jesus my LORD, thank you.”

Jesus tells the man to get up and go on his way – “your faith has made you well.”

That day, there were two healings … a healing of the flesh, all ten of them.
A healing of the spirit, but one … the one who returns, the one who puts it into words.

Some years ago, I received a letter from a young mother who wrote: “Dear Rev. Eggebeen, perhaps you’ve forgotten me. You were my pastor when I was in high school, when my folks were going through a terrible divorce.
When I was able to make it to church, you’d give me a hug at the door and tell me that it’s going to be all right.
I made it through those hard years.
I’m married now to a fine man, I’m the mother of two young children, and in my Bible study group, we talked about people who made a difference in our lives, and we decided to write letters to them, and that’s why I’m writing to you, because you made a difference for me, your words of encouragement meant the world to me, and I want to say, “Thank you.”

She put it into words.

Some years ago, I wrote a note to one of my former pastors, when I was in high school and college, Grand Rapids, Michigan - Dr. Jerome DeJong – now at home with the LORD.
A passionate, articulate preacher … a man of the Word … who made it clear every Sunday, there’s nothing more important in this life than returning to Jesus, to fall at His feet, and with a voice of conviction and surrender, to put it into words, “Jesus my LORD, thank you.”

He wrote back a few weeks later: “Yes, I remember you, and how grateful I am to have received your letter. One always wonders if anyone hears or anyone cares. It’s gratifying to know that I had some small part to play in God’s work in your life.”

It’s more than gratitude … it’s putting it into words … it’s turning around and going back to Jesus, saying it loud and clear, Jesus my LORD, Thank you!

Amen!

Baloney - Oct 7, 2007

Luke 17:5-10

A fly was buzzing along one morning when he saw a lawn mower someone had left out in their front yard. He flew over and sat on the handle, watching the children on their way to school.

One little boy tripped and fell, spilling his lunch on the sidewalk. He picked himself up, put his lunch back in the bag and went on. But he missed a piece of baloney.

The fly real was hungry. So he flew down and started eating the baloney. He ate so much he couldn’t fly, so he waddled across the sidewalk, across the lawn, up the wheel of the lawn mower, up the handle, and sat there resting and watching the children.

There was still some baloney on the sidewalk. The fly was stuffed, but that baloney sure looked good.

So he jumped off the handle of the lawn mower to fly over to the baloney. But alas he was too full to fly and fell straight to the ground... splat!

The moral of this story is simple... don't fly off the handle when you are full of baloney.

Baloney … who likes it? … I do … I love a good baloney sandwich – white bread, Velveeta Cheese, mayonnaise and lettuce … in Oklahoma, you can go to a barbeque place and get it smoked … umm good, but don’t ever ask what’s in it.

“Baloney,” says Jesus … when the disciples say, “Increase our faith.”

Well, he didn’t exactly say “baloney,” but that’s how I read it … when Jesus says, “Faith, the size of a mustard seed, can uproot a mulberry tree and plant it in the sea.”

It’s not about having more faith, it’s about using what faith you have!
And it doesn’t take much faith at all … even faith the size of a mustard seed … a tiny, tiny, itty bitty bit of faith – more than enough to do great things.

The immediate context for this episode is forgiveness … how many times? As often as it takes … as often as the offender repents, and then some!

There is no other way to survive life – without forgiveness, we imprison ourselves behind heavy bars … bars of resentment and bars of dependence, debilitating dependence on what others say or do, or fail to say or do.

Forgiveness is our freedom …

Jesus makes it clear … go ahead and let someone know if they’ve hurt you … it happens, and it happens a lot … things said poorly, the flick of an eyebrow, the tone of voice, a misunderstanding, a miscommunication, a forgotten promise, or just a bad day, and we’re hurt by someone else’s behavior.

We all have a large book, many chapters, wherein is recorded a lot of difficult memories … parents berating us, teachers scolding us … our own personal faults and failings, and the various and sundry versions of unkindness that flow through our lives.

At the end of teaching for several days, Jesus ends with piece on forgiveness … what else is there, to set us free from the attitudes and behaviors of others.

Go ahead, and let someone know they’ve hurt you, and if they repent, forgive them … and if the sin occurs again, and again, and they repent, forgive them – as often as it takes. The name of the game is NOT the other person’s behavior, but our freedom to live and get on our with life.

But there’s more to this then meets the eye … think about Jesus … the ultimate moment of His suffering and humiliation – dying on the cross – bloody and beaten, stipped naked for all the world to see – those discreetly placed loin cloths we see in artistic recreations are not a part of the Roman crucifixion – criminals were hung on the cross, naked.

So there our LORD hangs, death approaching … in words so utterly profound they still leave us breathless, Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Radical forgiveness … the Lamb of God dying for the sins of the world … not waiting for an apology, no waiting here for repentance … God goes way beyond our behavior.

Remember several weeks ago when the Words of Assurance came before our confession of sin? Remember when I said, “Confession doesn’t trigger forgiveness; forgiveness triggers confession.”

God acts before we do … because God is free … free to love and get on with it, to set us free, too.

Both God and humankind free from an endless cycle of hurt and recrimination … to close the book rather than writing new chapters – set free for higher and better things.

For this, the disciples say, “Increase our faith.” We need more faith to do this!

“Baloney,” says Jesus!

It’s not about having more faith; it’s using what faith you have!” Use it, and you will do great things with it.

The last part of Jesus’ teaching goes after a bad attitude … the attitude of entitlement … “Ill scratch your back, and you’ll scratch mine” – where things are done in order to gain something else.

Life in terms of reward and recognition … a crippling sense of entitlement.

Where good deeds and worthy efforts are undercut by our desire to be patted on the back and rewarded.

Talk about dependence … and we’ve all been there:

We invite Bill and Susie over for dinner, and six months later, no reciprocal invitation … we’re bummed – “That’s the last time we invite them over.” But Jesus asks, “Why did you invite them over in the first place?

We do something nice for Sam and Sally, and they don’t even bother sending an email, and we’re irritated. Jesus asks, “Why did you do the good deed in the first place?”

We work ourselves silly in our job, and no promotion. We grow resentful and jealous. Jesus suggests, “Let the quality of your work stand as it is – work for the sake of doing good work; don’t work for the sake of reward.”

We do a great deed, and there’s no recognition … or worse, our name is misspelled in the bulletin.

Speaking of bulletins – the following announcements actually occurred:

∑ "The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer conference includes meals."

∑ The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water.” The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."

∑ "Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands."

∑ The peacemaking group scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.

∑ Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

∑ Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again", giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

∑ For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

∑ During the absence of our Pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.

∑ The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing "Break Forth into Joy."

∑ At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

∑ Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

∑ Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

∑ Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 pm - prayer and medication to follow.

Well, who doesn’t need a little prayer and medication now and then? … and good prayer and medication is what our LORD is offering to us today. To set ourselves free – from what others have done or failed to do, to see ourselves free the crippling attitude of entitlement.

“LORD, increase our faith so we can do this!”

“Baloney,” says Jesus … “It isn’t about having more faith, but using the faith you already have.” Trust God, trust those around you, and trust yourself.

Let’s think a moment about self-trust … I use something inspired by Joel Osteen … a little mantra of sorts to pull myself back to center … “I am who God says I am. I have what God says I have. I can do what God says I can do.”

Self-trust … God created us, our gifts are good, abilities are more than sufficient … we don’t need more of anything; we already have all that’s needed.

We have to be clear how debilitating is this “increase my faith” thing … strangely shifting the blame to God … “God, I can’t do this, because YOU haven’t given me what I need.”

“I’ve asked for more faith, LORD, but you didn’t do it. It’s your fault, LORD, because I asked, and you didn’t follow through.”

The great “If only I had … (fill in the blank – more money, more brains, better parents, better looks, better children, a better boss, better employees, a better education, more faith … ) … if only I had, then I would … (fill in the blank – then I would be happy, satisfied, content, successful, joyful, be more available, go on that mission trip, teach Sunday School, share Christ and study the Bible … if only.

“LORD, increase our faith.”

“Baloney” says Jesus.

It’s not about having more faith. It’s using the faith you have.”

This week, a good conversation with Marj Miller … responding to my Genesis comments about today’s message …

Is self-trust a form of pride?

What about humility?

Self-trust is a form of gratitude – that our Heavenly Father did a good and decent job creating us …

Self-trust, a form of gratitude along the whole stream of life: our parents, though not perfect, did a reasonably good job raising us … all kinds of folks have helped us … life is good and we’re glad to be here.
Self-trust – a form of gratitude – a way of saying “Thanks.”

If one of our children constantly berated themselves, put themselves down, doubted their abilities, questioned their character, we’d finally say: “That’s not true. You’re capable, you’re gifted, you’re strong – you can do it, you can handle it, you’ll make it. Trust yourself,” we’d say.

On the flip-side of self-trust – humility - plain and simple recognition that life is a web of relationships – all the way from the butcher who helps us pick out a good cut of meat to our Father in heaven.

Thanks Mom and Dad, thanks teachers … thanks to all the world that made it possible for me to be who I am. And thanks to God: I have what it takes, and whatever it takes, I have..


Tomorrow, we’ll face all the usual challenges, and then some.

Jesus said it well, “occasions for stumbling are bound to come.”

But you’ve got what it takes … you already have the faith that can move mountains and transplant mulberry trees.

It’s not about having more faith; it’s about using the faith you already have.

I am who God says I am.
I have what God says I have.
I can do what God says I can do.

And that’s no baloney.

Amen!