Eulogy for One Who Took His Own Life

We all face the end of life, though it’s not something we think much about in our youth, yet as the clock ticks on, it gets a little louder as the years pass on, and we’re a bit more mindful of our mortality.

Death comes in so many ways … and for some, it comes by their own decision, their own desire, their own hand. And we’re all left bereft, wondering if might have done something differently … and our tears reflect the gaps that exist in every relationship and in every moment of time.

It’s a hard story … but no need to make it harder than it is.

The Church has not dealt kindly with those who take their own life. They were condemned and refused burial in sacred ground. Their sin, mortal to the core, forever barred them from the gates of Paradise.

Or so it has been said.

For me, the moment of decision came in 1973, Altoona, PA … on a Sunday afternoon, when Thelma called in tears, “Can you please come to the house; George just shot himself.” 

Just around the corner from the manse next to the church, I hurried over … and in the upstairs bedroom, lying on their bed … where it ended for George.

That day, and then for the funeral, I had to decide … and I decided with what I have known all the days of my life: the kindness of God, the wideness of God’s mercy … the welcome and the love of God … for all of God’s creatures … no matter the manner of death … 

That day, in distress, a distress the living cannot fathom, when life has no more meaning, and death becomes the best choice, God is there with infinite love and understanding … on that Sunday afternoon, God said to George, “Come on in. I see that you’ve had a hard time of it. Here, let me get you something to eat.” When God is the perfect Jewish mother.

I celebrate William Ralph Vogel’s life … and I assure you, for those in distress, whatever it is, there is special kindness in God’s heart. Let there be no doubt that God would turn away in the last moment of our sorrow and despair.

In this matter:

The Church was wrong … truly and profoundly wrong.

Can I right the wrong?

Dare I stand against Tradition?

The Church is changing on this question, and a whole lot more than me push for a better understanding … 

And I know - your heart yearns for the mercy of God in such things …

We all know that life can be very hard … and for some, life becomes unbearable, and by their own hand, death is invited in. 

How this comes to be, I do not know … but I know that it does … and I stand firm on this note: that in the end, however it is, the End is God … and God is light, God is love … God is mercy … God is kind … eternally and powerfully kind.

XXX is safe with God.

Period.

That’s how it ends … where it begins … in the heart of God … 

That’s the gospel, dear friends … that’s the message … that’s our hope.

Safe at last, safe at last, thank God Almighty, safe at last.

We take leave of our brother, our friend, our companion and fellow-traveler with hearts broken … as it should be … but we leave also with some degree of courage, to live as best we can, with all the love and skill and music we can muster … 

And in the end, all is good, all is God.

Amen and Amen!

July 22, 2012, "Promises and Prayers"

2 Samuel 7.4-9

How do the Ten Commandments begin?

Be careful.

Trick question.

Most folks think of a commandment … no other gods … don’t lie, cheat or steal … 

Which reminds me:

A religion teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds.

After explaining the commandment to "honor your father and your mother," she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"

Without missing a beat one little boy answered, "You shall not kill?"

How do the Commandments begin?

The Commandments begin with a declaration:

I am the LORD your God who brought you of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage … 

The Commandments begin with grace.

The bedrock of the Bible.

The cornerstone of faith.

The heartbeat of Calvinism.

We’re Calvinists … we belong to the Reformed Tradition; the Swiss Reformation in particular: Zwingli, Bucer and Calvin … we’re Presbyterians, because our spiritual forebears in Great Britain used the term, “Presbyterian” to describe our form of government - we’re governed by Presbyters, or Elders … I’m a teaching Elder; Lucy Ann Bristol is a Ruling Elder.

Grace is the heartbeat of Presbyterian life.

It is by grace that we are saved!

I went to a Christian High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan … Dutch Reformed high school, Calvinist to the core, steeped in the language and life of grace.

Kids from other traditions attended, as well, and one day, in Bible class, a discussion between an Anabaptist student and the teacher. 

Anabaptist means rebaptism … infant baptism not good enough; baptism allowed for adults who confess their faith in Christ.

Calvin fought the Anabaptists.

Why?

Because believer’s baptism shifts the focus to the believer and compromises the glory of God.

Churches that practice “believer’s baptism” are Anabaptists. If we were to join an Anabaptist congregation, they would rebaptize us, because our infant baptism isn’t good enough.

Anyway, the student advocated “believer’s baptism.” 

The teacher said to the student - I’ll never forget it: Salvation is too important to be left in human hands.

Only a Calvinist can say that!

Salvation is from God, from the first inkling of faith, to the full blown faith of worship and love.

God builds the house - all of it, from the foundation to the roof, basement, living room and attic … all of it, built by God!

By grace alone we are saved! 

Dear People of God: We are people of grace!

Grace is the heartbeat of our hymns.

Grace is the theme of our preaching.

Grace is the strength of our prayers.

Grace alone.

God alone.

Pure gift - all the time.

A child in her mother’s arms, clings to mama’s dress with tight little fists … in the child’s mind, she hangs on to her mama; but we know the truth - mama holds the child.

Were mama to let go, what would happen?

The child would fall.

The child isn’t strong enough to hang on; it’s mama’s strength that holds the child.

That’s the story morning glory.

The story of grace.

Amazing Grace.

How sweet the sound.

That saved a wretch like me.

Once I was lost, but now am found.

Was blind, but now I see.

Grace is the hope we have for life in the midst of all the craziness … God doesn’t wait for a perfect world, or perfect people … God is on the move, here and now, in the world just as it is … 

Sorrow and violence.

Terrible things.

Jeremiah thrown into the well.

Jesus crucified.

Paul arrested and sent to Rome.

The crusades and the Inquisition.

Wars and rumors of war.

There is evil in the world.

The shocking events in Aurora, Colorado leave us bewildered and frightened.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death …

Shadows of death, deep, dark and cold.

But the darkness isn’t dark enough to blind God … darkness is the same as light to God.

Where there is sin, there is grace all the more. 

For every killer, there is a visionary who sees a better world.

For every inhuman moment, there is a Mother Teresa wrapping the wounds of a dying child.

For all the powers of hatred, there is a Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Dag Hammarskjold, Albert Schweitzer.

A TV movie about nuclear war - my son was but 7 or 8, and it frightened him … that night in bed, we talked about it … he was upset and worried … and then I said to him, “Josh, don’t worry. For everyone who wants to make war, there are many more who work for peace.”

God sees to it there are people who love.

Who forgive.

Who work for peace.

Who make the room brighter when they enter it.

Who make life easier for all the rest of us.

People of Grace.

Gracious People.

Who chose the best, lift up hope, speak kindly, affirm and welcome, open doors, and love with the love of Christ.

We find grace on every page of the Bible.

Our passage this morning is filled with grace:

David, you got here only because I cleared the way for you.

David, I took you from the pasture to be the leader of my people.

David, I’ve been with you wherever you’ve gone.

Then come the promises … promises to David … promises for David’s family … David’s future … the people … the long haul … the whole world … you and me, here and now! 

It’s God who builds the house!

THEN David prays!

After the promises - comes the prayer.

Before we do anything, comes the grace.

The sequence is important.

How many times have I heard people say, “If only I could pray better. If only I had more faith. If only I knew what to say.”

But thank God we don’t have to think like that.

It’s not the words we use, or even the faith we have.

It’s always God, and God’s promises … God’s grace.

Prayer is a response to grace.

A response to the promises of God.

Listen to how David prays:

Who am I LORD to have such grace in my life?

You have me brought me this far, and that would have been enough, but it wasn’t enough for you … you have established a future for my family and the generations to come.

What more can I say, O LORD?

You are honorable and faithful … you are great.

And with your greatness, O God, we’ll be great, too.

LORD God, you are truly God. Your words are trustworthy!

John writes centuries later:

This is love: it is not that we loved God

But that God loved us and sent his son

As the sacrifice that deals with our sins.

That we might love - not first, because we can’t.

But at last, because God has loved us first.

When a friend started ministry, an associate pastor … every time he did something - preached, taught a class, took some kids on a mission trip - he would receive a hand-written note of thanks from a retired doctor, Fritz Schwartz.

My friend soon had a stack of notes.

Took them to a staff meeting one day, and they all nodded knowingly.

The staff had been getting these notes for years.

They all had stacks of them.

The pastor said, “You know why he does this?”

My friend said, “Because he knows the value of encouragement and gratitude.”

Then my friend heard the full story.

For more than 50 years, Fritz’s wife had written the notes.

When she died, he decided to continue her legacy.

To honor her and stay in touch with her love.

He took up doing what she had done all those years.

She loved first that Fritz might love at last.

God loves first that we might love at last!

To God be the glory.

Amen and Amen!

August 22, 2010, "Jesus Didn't Wait"

Luke 13:10-17

Do you notice anything unusual about the timing of this healing?

That’s right … on the Sabbath … and let me ask you a question, “Why didn’t Jesus wait until the next day?”

After all, the woman suffered her infirmity for 18 years … couldn’t she have waited 24 hours?

I imagine the synagogue leader taking Jesus aside later in the day, saying to him, What’s your hurry Jesus? This woman could have waited 24 hours. You could’ve healed her tomorrow, and everything would have been just ducky. Why did you did have to do it today, on the Sabbath? What’s the rush?

The synagogue leader is right.

Jesus could have waited.

The woman could have waited.

Everyone could have waited.

And the results would have been the same.

The woman would have been healed.

Folks would have seen it.

No rules violated.

No laws broken.

All would have been ducky.

Couldn’t Jesus have waited?

Of course, he could have waited.

Everyone could have waited.

24 hours.

That’s all.

I bet all the Gideon Bibles in the LAX Hilton that if ya’ had asked the woman, “Can ya’ wait 24 hours?” she would have replied, “Of course I can. I’ve been sick 18 years; one more day isn’t going to be the end of me.”

Jesus could have waited.

And everything would have been fine.

But Jesus didn’t wait!

And that begs a question.

[what’s the question?]

That’s right.

Children ask it all the time.

“Why?”

Why do waves crash?

Why does the sun shine?

Why do birds sing?

Why do I have to go to bed right now?

Why?

Why didn’t Jesus wait?

Because Jesus is God-with-us!

God in the flesh.

God, here and now.

Yes, just a man.

Born of Mary.

But God-with-us.

Who suffered rejection and humiliation.

Dying cruelly at the end.

At the hands of the State.

God-with-us on that cross.

Executed by Rome.

Between two terrorists.

God-with-us on the cross.

Because Jesus didn’t wait.

Mercy can’t wait.

Love doesn’t wait.

God doesn’t wait to forgive and make things right.

God doesn’t wait to love us and make a way for us.

God doesn’t wait for us to get outta the way.

God doesn’t wait to heal the woman afflicted for 18 years.

Time and again, Jesus comes against the rules and regulations of religion.

Everyone’s upset.

What kind of man is Jesus?

What kind of a God is this?

Didn’t God institute the Sabbath Day?

Didn’t God create the rules and regulations that govern it?

Six days you shall labor, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On that day, you shall do no work. Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.

The Fourth Commandment.

But Jesus didn’t wait!

What’s up with God on this one?

Does God change God’s mind?

Does God contradict God’s own ways?

Or is it possible that we’ve misunderstood some things?

Is it possible that what God intends and what we do with God’s intentions are two different things?

That maybe we don’t always get it right when it comes to the things of God?

Remember Jesus in his hometown synagogue?

His first public sermon?

He spoke of God’s redeeming ways, of God’s love going to work, and everyone nodded their heads and said, What a good preacher he is.

And then Jesus began to speak about Elijah in a time of great famine.

That God sent Elijah, not to the house of Israel, but to the home of a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon, and provided food for her … and she was a Gentile.

And how there were many in Israel with leprosy, but not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman the Syrian.

And then all the people in the synagogue were furious.

They know what Jesus was saying: God’s love is bigger than you are … and they didn’t like that one bit.

They got up from their pews, then and there; they took Jesus to a nearby cliff and tried to kill him.

God-with-us is not always so easy to handle.

God-with-us says this is the way, this is the truth, and this is the life.

And it may not be our take on things.

God’s people frequently get it wrong.

Our ways are not God’s ways.

And that’s a hard lesson to learn.

Especially for God’s people.

Even when we are absolutely convinced that we understand God, it’s likely that we don’t.

God says Keep the Sabbath day holy.

And that means, totally devoted to God.

Don’t work for yourself – ya’ got six days for that.

But on the Sabbath, deal with God.

Jesus says to the folks there in the synagogue – if you have an animal tethered on the Sabbath, do you deny it water? Of course not! Ya’ untie it and take it to the well for a drink. And if you wouldn’t treat an ox or ass this way, why treat this woman this way and deny her the water of life?

Because our ways are not God’s ways.

The super-religious of the world have it wrong.

The Bible-thumpers and the go-to-hell preachers have it wrong.

And why that should be, I don’t know.

Why did the leader of the Synagogue miss the point?

Why did so many of the religious authorities in Jerusalem miss the point?

Why did so many professors of theology and so many pastors sign on with Hitler?

Why did so many Presbyterian pastors deny the humanity of the slaves and tell their folks every Sunday that slavery was a God-given mandate?

And why were women told to stay in the kitchen and let the men handle it?

Why were women denied ordination for so long?

There’s a lot of wrong in the church.

And there was a lot of wrong in Israel.

In the hometown where Jesus was raised.

In Jerusalem where he died.

God’s people are often the last people to get it.

That’s why God has to come against us sometimes.

Because God is always more than we are.

God is always bigger in love than we are.

To make a point: God’s love doesn’t wait.

Throughout my ministry, I’ve heard good and decent people say a common four-letter word … easy now … calm down … don’t head for the gutter … a four-letter word that begins with the letter “w.”

Hazard a guess?

That’s right.

WAIT!

Since 1976, the Presbyterian Church has been considering the question of ordination for gays and lesbians. And for many of those years, I waited!

I read and I studied.

And I waited.

It wasn’t clear in my mind, so I waited.

I’ve always been an open-door kind of a guy.

I knew some gays in college, and I was appalled at the words my friends used about gays.

I tried, in my own way to befriend the few gays I knew.

I said “Good morning” in the classroom, and I had lunch with them a time or two.

I was ordained in 1970.

It wasn’t a question then for most Presbyterians.

I sort of accepted the maxim: “The Bible tells me that gays are just lost, that homosexuality is wrong, sinful, and abomination before the LORD, and they’ll all go to hell when they die if they don’t repent.”

That’s what I thought the Bible said.

It wasn’t an issue.

So I could wait.

And then I read my first Bible study on homosexuality in 1976.

And my eyes were opened.

I was wrong about what I thought the Bible said.

I said what a lot of pastors said, “We can welcome gays into the church, but we can’t ordain them.”

So I waited.

In the early 80s, I had a funeral for a young man who died of AIDS.

I called on him in the hospital.

He was so bitter.

He was a gentle soul, an artist and musician, but the church had told him that we he was no good.

That he was going to hell.

The church slammed in his face every door it could.

I knew his parents and siblings, and they were a loving family … deeply and faithfully Christian.

I began to think all the more.

I began to teach.

It’s not gender that counts.

It’s how we live that counts.

That’s what the Bible teaches.

And then in 1992, an associate pastor came to work with me.

Her brother was gay.

Her parents were involved in PFLAG, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and I had never heard of the organization.

We talked a lot.

I told her, “Wait!”

And Wendy said to me, “My brother can’t wait any longer. And neither can my parents. And neither can I.”

And I thought, and I thought, and I thought. And I waited.

I prayed and I studied, and prayed some more, and I waited.

And then folks like James Dobson and Chuck Colson began to weigh in on the issue … Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority … James Kennedy and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale.

They didn’t wait.

They shouted, “We have the Bible on our side.”

And I said to myself, “No you don’t. That’s not what the Bible says!”

But Dobson and Colson didn’t wait.

And neither did Falwell and Kennedy.

They wrote and they campaigned against gays and lesbians.

And millions of Americans believed them.

The louder their voices grew, the more disturbed I became.

Why should I wait any longer on this?

Dobson and Colson and Falwell and Kennedy do not represent me!

I am a Christian, too, and I see things differently than they do.

They’re not quiet about it.

So why should I be quiet?

I have a message, too.

And the message deserves to be told.

I will not wait any longer.

God-with-us doesn’t wait to heal the woman.

Jesus doesn’t wait even 24 hours.

Jesus heals her now.

Love has to be now.

Mercy and kindness are now.

That’s the God who saves us, now.

That’s the God who loves us dearly, right now and here.

The God who doesn’t wait!

Amen and Amen!

July 25, 2010 - "Learn to Pray"

Serra Retreat Center, Malibu

Luke 11:1-13

The whole thing begins simply enough … the disciples say to Jesus, Teach us how to pray.

The disciples reminded Jesus that John taught his disciples to pray … so maybe Jesus outta get on with it?

Whatever the motive, it’s a universal thing.

This business of prayer.

Because the world is so big.

And we’re so small.

And we know it.

And we hope there’s a god out there somewhere!

Let’s be honest.

We’d all like a little help now and then from the gods.

Protection for loved ones.

Healing from disease.

A little more money in the bank.

Safe travel.

Human beings pray

We’re profoundly and incurably religious.

Ancient caves thousands of years old reveal drawings and artifacts of religious activities …

History might well be read as a story of what we worship and what we think the divine beings want of us.

Life is full of religion:

Song and dance.

Art and music.

Holy men and holy women.

Rituals and rites.

Good luck charms.

Magic potions.

Spilled salt thrown over our shoulder.

Don’t walk under a ladder.

Don’t step on sidewalk cracks.

Go to church and say our prayers.

If there’s something out there, we’d like it to be on its side.

Prayer is a big business.

Google prayer … 77 million results, .13 seconds …

Go to a book store …

How to pray …

What to pray …

Ancient prayers …

New prayers …

Traditional prayers with thee and thou …

Hip prayers for the young …

Prayers of comfort for the old …

Prayers for parents.

Prayers for children …

You name, we’ve got prayers.

Prayer is a big business.

Teach us how to pray, said the disciples to Jesus.

Simple enough …

And Jesus offers a simple prayer, When you pray, pray like this …

And thus the LORD's Prayer … 

Let’s say it together this morning …

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen!

We can do no better then to pray The LORD's Prayer.

Pray it often.

All sorts of ways:

Pause on each line.

Devote a day to one line.

Let it sink in.

Our Father who art in heaven.

The LORD's Prayer is clear.

Honor God and pray for the stuff of life – bread and forgiveness.

But one line is strange.

Hazard a guess?

You got it,

Lead us not into temptation.

Let’s do some work.

The word can also be translated “testing.”

In Genesis 22, it says, God tested Abraham.

It’s quite a story, but God had to find out what kind of a man Abraham was.

God had to do some testing.

And we know the rest of the story.

God asks Abraham for his son.

The very next day, early in the morning, Abraham loads a mule with wood, and off he goes with his beloved son Isaac … three days trek to a mountain, a high place, to meet God and God’s awful demand, and on that mountain, Abraham builds an alter, places wood on it, binds his son and lays him on the alter, to sacrifice him to God.

At the very moment when Abraham has the knife in hand, ready to do the deed, the LORD calls out, Abraham, Abraham.

Now I know, says the LORD.

No need to go any further.

In the bushes, you’ll find a ram.

Now I know.

You’re the man.

You’re the one to shoulder the burdens of faith for a new day, for a new world.

You have withheld nothing from me.

Even your beloved son.

Life is full of tests.

Teachers test us.

The boss tests us.

Life tests all the time.

Lead us not into a time of testing, says Jesus.

Don’t put us into a place where our faith will be challenged, like Abraham was challenged.

We’re not up to it.

And that’s what this piece is all about.

Humility.

LORD, we’re not superstars.

We’re not Abraham or Isaac or Jacob.

We’re not giants in the faith.

We’re just fisherman and tax collectors and ordinary folk who try our best.

We don’t pretend to be anything more than what we are.

Flesh and blood human beings.

We love and we laugh.

We work and we weep.

We mess up and do foolish things.

We do good things and smart things.

We are what we are.

And here we are LORD.

We don’t ask to be tested, because we’re not that confident.

We don’t ask to be put on trial, LORD, because we’re not so sure of our selves.

We’re not proud LORD.

We’re not boasting about our faith.

We don’t look down our noses at anyone else LORD.

We know how tough life is for everyone.

So, LORD, don’t put our feet to the fire.

Don’t expect too much of us.

Lead us not into a time of testing.

The prayer ends with one final petition:

Deliver us from evil.

Let me say clearly: This is not a prayer for deliverance from bad things … bad things happen to all of us … there is no escape from hard times …

There was no escape for Jesus, and no escape for us either.

Life is what it is.

It’s prayer for deliverance from the greatest of all evils.

The evils within us.

There is no evil “out there” that can match the “evil within.”

Deliver us from the evil within.

Attitudes that frighten and frustrate.

Ideas that turn our heart heavy with envy and jealousy and anger and impatience and pride.

Longings that make us bitter and cranky and hard to live with …

Things that twist our soul and distort our values.

Deliver us from evil.

And with that, the prayer ends.

But the prayer is NOT the end of the story.

Jesus continues to teach.

Not how to pray.

But to whom we pray.

Anyone can use the words.

But Jesus wants us to know God.

The one to whom we’re praying:

With that, Jesus tells a delightful story.

Let me rework it a bit for you.

It seems that Donna and I got a midnight call from a friend, who just landed at LAX, and needs a place to stay, and he’s really hungry.

And we don’t have a thing to eat in the house.

So I go to my neighbors across the courtyard and pound on their door.

My neighbor hollers, Who’s there and what do you want?

I shout back:

I have an unexpected guest in my house, and the cupboards are bear – do you have any extra bread?

Go away, says my neighbor. I’m in bed; we’re all asleep. Let me alone.

But I keep pounding on the door.

And my neighbor finally gets up and gives me the bread.

Now here’s where the story gets complicated.

Some translations put the emphasis on the persistent person, as if Jesus were teaching us that God is a sleepy neighbor who doesn’t want to be bothered, so we have to make a lot of noise and pound on heaven’s door.

Is that what Jesus is teaching us?

That God would rather be left alone?

That the only way we can get something from God is pound on the door and make a lot of noise?

Make a fuss and embarrass God in front of the neighbors?

Is that what Jesus is teaching us?

Let’s read carefully.

Other translations suggest something else.

The man got up because he didn’t want to appear shameless.

The word for “persistence” can be translated “shameless.”

The burden is not on the guy pounding on the door; the burden is on the man in bed.

The man has a reputation to maintain.

He doesn’t want to look bad.

Now this may not catch our attention, but in First Century Palestine, reputation is everything, and hospitality is the heart of it.

In First Century Palestine,

It was a serious offense to withhold hospitality.

Now we have to stay with the story.

Is God concerned about God’s reputation?

The answer is yes!

Psalm 23: God leads us in paths of righteousness … finish it … for his name’s sake.

For the sake of God’s name.

God’s reputation.

But Jesus goes further.

You all know how to give good things to your children.

And if you know how to love your children, even though you’re not so hot.

How much more does your Father in heaven love you?

This parable moves from the lesser to the greater.

If your neighbor can be awakened in the middle of the night, how more will your Heavenly Father be willing to hear your prayers?

If your neighbor is concerned about his reputation,

How much more is God ready and eager to defend God’s name and maintain God’s reputation?

If we, who are the lesser, know how to love our children,

How much more will the Greater One know how to love us and provide for us?

We don’t have to bang on the door all night long.

God is our friend, and so much more.

God is our Father in Heaven.

God gives what we need.

So, go ahead and ask, and you shall receive.

Seek and you will find.

Knock and the door will be opened.

But you say to me, Preacher, wait a minute … I’ve asked, and I didn’t receive … I’ve looked high and low, and I didn’t find … I’ve knocked on the door, I’ve pounded on the door, and it remains closed.

Jesus adds something that catches us by surprise:

How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The Holy Spirit?

What’s up with this?

I’m not asking for the Holy Spirit.

When was the last time any of us asked for the Holy Spirit?

I’m asking for health, for a job, for a child in trouble …

But Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit.

To bind our heart and mind to Christ.

And to bind Christ to us.

It’s not what happens to us.

It’s what happens inside of us.

Attitude is everything!

The Holy Spirit is what we need.

A Spirit-filled heart.

Let that be our first prayer in the morning, and our last prayer at night:

O LORD my God, fill my heart with your Holy Spirit.

So that however life plays itself out for us, we sing the songs of God.

In life and in death.

In the best of times and in the worst.

In our laughter and in our tears.

With faith, hope and love.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Amen and Amen!

January 31, 2010, "The Headwaters of Life"

Message – “Headwaters of Life”
January 31, 2010 – Jeremiah 1:4-10

1. God had big plans for Jeremiah …
a. As God does for all us …
b. We’re all a key to some part of God’s plan …
c. Maybe not as big as God’s plan for Jeremiah.
d. But big enough …
i. Like being a parent – that’s a big deal.
ii. Like keeping your head when others are losing theirs.
iii. Being a positive influence where you work.
iv. Staying ethical when others cut corners.
v. Steady in prayer and growing in faith.
2. In order for God to move Jeremiah forward, God had to take Jeremiah backward … to the headwaters of life.
a. Before anything else, I knew you.
b. Before you were conceived, I loved you.
c. Before you were born, I had a plan for you.
3. Bulletin cover … take a look … this is the Mighty Mississippi …
a. Small, isn’t it.
b. God can be really small sometimes.
c. Like a little cradle in Bethlehem.
d. Small, not to frighten us.
e. Father tells a story … little boy … Florida trip – going to the beach … a family pulls up in the car – Wisconsin license plates … the family dashes out to the beach … a little boy – stands by the ocean, for the first time, and wets his pants!
f. God doesn’t want us wetting our pants.
g. So God takes us to the headwaters, not to the ocean.
h. In time, the ocean.
i. But now, the headwaters – small and gentle.
j. Jesus is like that.
k. In time, Jesus takes us to the Father.
l. But for now, Jesus.
4. The headwaters …
5. So that Jeremiah would know – you can trust God no matter what, no matter where …
a. Jeremiah was going to face some really tough times.
b. God gives Jeremiah inner strength …
6. I got you here; I will get you through!
7. Don’t we all have to learn that?
8. Just how good God is.
9. Jeremiah learned how to defer to God!
a. Turn to God in prayer.
b. Turn to God in trust.
c. Turn to God for wisdom and courage.
d. Turn to God for patience and peace.
i. Psalm 46 says it well:
ii. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.
iii. Psalm 91: You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand but it will not come near you.
10. When we defer to God, something mighty important happens.
a. We get connected to God …
b. Not just using God, but connected to God!
c. Everyone wants to use God, but not everyone wants to be connected to God.
d. This is a serious issue with spirituality … using God, but preferring to stay at a distance from God …
e. Sort of like a job and like work – everyone wants a job, but not everyone wants to work.
f. Everyone wants to use God, but not everyone wants to be connected to God.
g. Jeremiah learns how to be connected to God!
h. Connected to God’s network …
i. Connectivity is the heart of faith, networking …
j. “No man is an island,” wrote the poet, John Donne.
k. But so many of us live as if we were … social relationships are at an all-time low … casual is the word … lonely is the result! And frustrated …
l. It does take a village to rear a child … it takes a village to get anything done … collaboration, teamwork … connectivity.
m. Connecting to God ...
i. We are no longer an island.
ii. No longer isolated.
iii. No longer our own!
iv. Now that’s a toughie for Americans.
v. We’re proud of being our own: self-made, self-governed, self-helped … but it kills a big part of our soul … pride in our individual prowess cheats us of the power of others.
vi. The heart and soul of faith: we are not our own …
n. Calvin understood this … not the Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes … but the Calvin of Geneva …
o. Calvin’s words – 1541 edition, Institutes … p.685
p. We are not our own; therefore let our reason and will not rule in our counsels and what we have to do. We are not our own; therefore let us not set it as our goal to seek what is expedient to us according to the flesh. We are not our own; therefore let us forget ourselves as much as possible, and all that is about us. Next, we belong to the LORD; let us live and die to Him. We belong to the LORD; let His will and wisdom preside in all our actions. We belong to the LORD; let all the parts of our life be referred to Him as their unique goal [Chapter 17, Institutes, 1541 edition; Elsie McKee trans.].
11. The key to spiritual strength … the heartbeat of faith.
12. Social networking on steroids …
13. Primal and powerful … the headwaters of life … where it all begins: unconditional, totally reliable, pure and good … like the mighty Mississippi flowing out of Lake Itasca … this is where it begins … the headwaters of life!
14. To God be the glory!

Escape - September 14, 2008

Exodus 14:19-31

(See Prayer for the Prayer of the Day)

Good morning … welcome to Covenant on the Corner!

I’m glad to be here, and I know that you are, too.

A Kindergarten teacher was observing the children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work.
As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.
The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."
The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute.

We’re all drawing God-pictures!

I met a young man the other day who said to me, “I grew up with a harsh God – rules and requirements, and if ya’ didn’t do it right, God would get ya’ in the end.”

“So I’ve chosen another God.”
“The nurturing, loving God … that’s the God I believe in and honor, and it’s made a huge difference in my life.”

We’re all drawing God-pictures!

What’s your God-picture like?

In the bulletin, 4 images:
Square,
Circle,
Straight line,
Curlicue …

If you were going to choose one of the four images for your God-picture, which one? … or is there another image you’d prefer?
give it some thought for a moment … which image seems good to you? As a God-picture.

We’ll do a little work here this morning …

Turn to your neighbor - share the image you’ve chosen … and why?

[Pause … … … … …]

Like the little girl in school, we’re all drawing God-pictures …

The Bible is a virtual museum of God-pictures …
From Genesis to Revelation … God-pictures …
Straight lines, curliques, boxes and circles … every color in the rainbow and then some …
Genesis, Deuteronomy … Leviticus … Job and Psalms … Ezekiel’s wheels and Isaiah’s “peaceable kingdom.”
Matthew and Mark … Paul and Peter … Hebrews and the Book of Revelation …

I have my favorite God-pictures … I bet you do, too.

I like the picture of God out for an afternoon stroll in the Garden of Eden …
God telling Moses how to get water from a rock …
God visiting us in Bethlehem … a little cradle boy who one day carries a cross …
And I like the God-picture in Revelation – when God puts it all back together again!

The Bible is like a visit to LACMA… different galleries, different periods of time; different artists … different styles; different techniques …

Some pictures are hard to look at: the brutal destruction of Canaanite towns …
But right next to it hanging on the same wall, Jesus and the woman at the well.
Some pictures I understand; some elude me.

This morning, we’re in one of the galleries … the Exodus Gallery …

I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.

The Exodus Gallery …
One room of many …

Let’s back up a bit and review …
Last week, a question:
What should God do with us?

What should God do with you?
With me?

God learned the hard way – violence doesn’t work.
The flood failed.
The world was no better off, not one bit safer, after the flood.
All of that shock and awe didn’t work!

So what’s God to do?

God decides to work with the world as it is …
To work with us, not against us … work in partnership, accepting our limitations; the way we do things … sometimes doing things very well, and sometimes capable of hideous behavior.
But God works with us as we are.
In the hopes that we can all build a better world together.

So what’s God to do?

God creates a people in the midst of the nations … a people with sensitivity … guided by the Ten Commandments … not better than anyone else; not bigger and tougher … just different …

Starting with Abraham and Sarah, God creates a family.
And the family grows … strives and struggles to figure it out.

Famine drives them down to Egypt, and there they stay … to become slaves of Pharaoh, for 400 hundred years …

What’s God to do?

God raises up a leader … Moses by name … a Hebrew baby rescued from the reeds and raised in Pharaoh’s palace … in a moment of rage, Moses kills an Egyptian overlord and then runs for his life to the desert of Midian, where he becomes a successful shepherd …marries and settles down.

What’s God to do?

A burning bush on the hillside … Moses steps over, and before he knows it, God says, Take off you shoe Moses. Kick back and relax. We’re going to be here for a while.

Moses, I want you to go back to Egypt … lead my people to freedom.

So Moses, albeit reluctantly, takes up the mantle of leadership and returns to Egypt … but no smooth sailing for Moses.

Because Pharaoh doesn’t like what Moses suggests.

Pharaoh has a dream … a sense of the world and how it ought to be … Pharaoh sees himself as divine, and Egypt is a divine power … the world belongs to Egypt … Egypt, love it or leave it!

What’s God’ to do?

Plagues come and plagues go … finally the trump card: the death of the first-born – Pharaoh relents and lets the people go.

But buyer’s remorse sets in … Pharaoh calls up the army and off they go to bring these runaway slaves back to Egypt.

And when Pharaoh’s army arrives, the Hebrew people have their back to the sea.

Trapped!

Ever feel trapped?

Trapped in a crummy job.
Trapped in a destructive relationship.
Trapped in self-defeating behavior?
Trapped in an unpredicted turn of events?
Trapped in someone’s gossip?
Trapped in childhood memories?
A father who drank too much and raged and rambled …
A family member a little too friendly with you …
You were too tall for a girl, and too fat for a boy … and you’ll never forget the withering remarks and scalding jokes …

Trapped!

Ugly feeling.

We’ve all been there.
It’s a part of life …

So what do you do when you’re trapped?
Let’s look at the story again.

The situation appeared hopeless:
Pharaoh threatening …
The sea ahead too deep to cross.
No way through.
No way out.
Yet at the last moment, salvation.

Why did God wait?
Right down to the wire.
The last tick of the clock.
No more timeouts.

I don’t have an answer for that.
Maybe an answer isn’t needed.
What we have is a promise.

I am with you always!

I will never leave you or forsake you.

I am at work in all things for good.

The Exodus story is a story of hope and encouragement.

The seas part and the people are safe.

And you’re safe, too.
There is always a way through …
Over.
Under or around …
There’s always a way …

Sometimes God waits to the last moment to make it clear …
Patience is everything …

When you find yourself trapped, remember the Exodus story.

God is a God of escape!

You will be safe!

Amen and Amen!

God with Us - May 18, 2008 - Jeff Siker

Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a Matthew 28:16-20

The scripture lessons for today from Genesis 1 and Matthew 28 tell us a simple yet radical truth that we constantly need to hear again and again. This truth, this message is not complicated, it’s just that we don’t quite know what to do with it. This message is the very heart of the entire story of Israel and the gospel story of Jesus. Indeed, it is at the core of our own identity and journey of faith. When I reveal to you this not-so-secret truth, my hunch is that you’ll shrug a bit and think… yeah, and? So let’s see. You ready? Ok, here goes – the central message of the entire Bible can be summed up in one simple sentence: God is with us. Let me repeat that: God is with us. We know this in our heads, and perhaps we even feel it in our hearts, but if we pause and reflect on the magnitude of this simple message, I would suggest that this is an overwhelming realization. So let me put it another way: the Creator of the universe who created each and every one of us in God’s own image, this very Creator wants to be in relationship with us, each and every one. Or perhaps better put, this Creator not only wants to be in relationship with us, this Creator in fact is in relationship with us. Indeed, God is with us.

The creation story from Genesis 1 describes in quite some detail precisely the ways in which God is with us. Lest we take how God is with us for granted, listen to a litany of what Genesis 1 recounts. God is with us in the light all around us. We can’t see it or touch it, but there it is, and God envelopes us in this light. God is with us in the darkness. Again, we can’t see it or touch it, but God is present to us in this darkness, in night. God is with us in the creation of the sky, the clouds, and the stars beyond. Billions of light-years away, and yet even there God is with us. God is with us in the waters – so fundamental to our existence. We drink a glass of water without giving a thought, and yet there God is with us.

God is with us in the earth, the dry land upon which we walk and move. Once again, we do not think so much about the land, though in this era of global warming and rising sea levels we are starting to think about it more! Let’s try something – stand up if you are able to. Look down at your feet. Think about that land of carpet under your feet. Think about the foundation of this very building and the earth under it. God created that. We stand upon it because in it God is with us.

And then, of course, we are overwhelmed yet again when we reflect upon all that the earth brings forth – plants and trees of all kinds, flowers that delight our eyes in the light that God has created, the sweet smell of honeysuckle or jasmine that brings its own simple joy. Yet another way God is with us. And the tastes of these plants – the utter surprise of a red or yellow beet (Judy’s favorite vegetable), the earthiness of a potato, how our breath is taken away by the taste of a ripe heirloom tomato, the sweetness of a honeydew melon, the tartness of a grapefruit, the creaminess of an avocado. God is with us in each bite, as each swallow nourishes our bodies. How incredible that God has so coordinated this world that the first things of creation – light, water, earth – in turn all give life to these plants. “And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.”

As if all of this weren’t enough, God goes on to create the fish and the birds, and then all the animals of the land, “living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind. … and God saw that it was good.” Yet again we are overwhelmed. Words, songs, paintings, sculptures – none of it can but begin to describe and capture the amazement we feel as we experience God’s presence in each of these living creatures. Is it any wonder that the movie The March of the Penguins so captured our hearts, or that – if you’re like me – you can turn on virtually any nature show on TV and watch it with childlike curiosity at these creatures all around us. I remember seeing a show on crows; it was amazing to see how clever they were. It was downright astonishing to see them rolling down hills covered with snow, and then as if they had sleds they went back to the top of the hill and rolled down all over again. God is with us in all of these critters. When I take our dogs Gus and Hendrix for walks in the morning I occasionally come upon a parent out for a walk with a small child in a stroller. The child’s wonder and attention is immediately caught. “It’s a dog! A dog!” The brave ones will even reach out to touch and pet. The older ones might ask why our dog Gus only has three legs. (He lost a leg to cancer about a year and a half ago.) But what a marvel these creatures are! And what joy and craziness they bring to our lives. God is with us in all these animals, large and small.

When I was a kid I developed a fascination that I still have for spiders. They are just really cool little critters. Spinning webs, eight eyes, all manner of ways of catching prey. Judy’s not so thrilled with them as I am, but I find them incredible. I’ve sat and watched spiders weave their webs. When I was young I confess that I would occasionally undo one of the anchoring strands of the web to see what the spider would do. I imagine now that the spider cursed me out and sent up its own little prayer to God about this thoughtless human, and couldn’t God do something about this injustice.

And then, finally, God created humankind in God’s own image – male and female, equal in God’s eyes and God’s hopes. How incredible that God created us not as individuals meant to live in isolation, but that God was determined that we be with other people. God created us to be in community with one another. Friends, family, business partners, lovers, even committees. God is with us in and through each other. I think that’s most often how we feel God’s presence, through the people around us. And since we were created in the image of the Creator, we also have the capacity to create communities – which is what we do here each Sunday. We create a community of people who gather to worship and to bear witness to the love and care of our Creator. And God is with us here as we worship.

It is God’s final act of creation that is perhaps the most amazing. On the seventh day God finished creation by resting. Now the original Shabbat, of course, was not Sunday but Saturday. And we are told in the Genesis account that God rested on the seventh day. By making the Sabbath holy God created rest, rejuvenation, recreation. In this rest God creates the space and time for us to be with one another and with all of creation. God is especially with us on this day we set apart to check in with God as a community of faith. It matters not whether we observe the original Shabbat, as in Judaism, or Sunday (the first day of the week) in remembrance of the resurrection within our Christian faith. The Sabbath day is all about resurrection as God restores and creates us anew in the Sabbath rest.

We are told that Jesus observed Shabbat, that he went to synagogue, that he read the sacred scriptures and proclaimed God’s word to God’s people. Jesus also bore witness to God’s presence with us when he called together a new community of disciples, a community that we embody today. Jesus too saw God with us in all of creation -- the birds of the air, a donkey. Remember his appeal to the lilies of the field that neither toil nor spin, but that are more beautifully adorned than even Solomon in all of his glory. Jesus shows us how God’s creation itself teaches us about life and about God’s constant presence with us, God’s constant care for us.

The final words of Jesus in today’s Gospel lesson from Matthew remind us once again of this most central lesson that we need not only to understand with our mind, but that we need to absorb into our hearts and souls, into our very being. As the crucified and risen Jesus commissions his disciples and sends them forth, as he sends us forth, he tells them: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” “I am with you always.” This phrase hearkens back to the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, to the birth story of Jesus. Recall what the angel of the Lord said to Joseph as he was planning to divorce this pregnant Mary, “’Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from the sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Isaiah], ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.’” Jesus is God’s Emmanuel, God’s very presence with us. Just as God was with the people of Israel even as they wandered through the desert for forty years, so in Christ is God with us in our sojourn – ahead of us leading the way, beside us taking our hand, behind us giving us a swift kick in the rear when we need it, saying “get off your butts and let’s go!” (I’m sure that’s in the Bible somewhere.)

Jesus believed and trusted in the God who is with us each step of the way. Even in the midst of rejection, even at the fleeing of the disciples, and even as he cried out on the cross “Eli, eli, lama sabachthani? – My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” – even in this quotation from the beginning of Psalm 22 while on the cross, Jesus believed and trusted in the God who is with us. For by invoking the beginning of the Psalm, a prayer for help in great distress, Jesus also invokes the end of the Psalm, which proclaims with confidence: “I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you… for he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.” The cry from the cross is not a cry of utter abandonment, but a cry that even in the agony of the cross Jesus trusted in the God who is with us, the God who brings all or creation to existence out of nothing, the God who brings life to death. It is with this confidence that Jesus sends out his disciples, sends us out, with the reminder that God is with us always. Emmanuel.

So that is the good news ever before us. But… (you knew there would be a “but”)… this good news comes to us with an implicit question. God is with us, but the question is… are we with God? For in truth, to know in our hearts that God is with us means that we are willing to be searched out and found by God. It means that we respond to God’s grace and God’s love. As God is with us, do we seek to be with God? Do we trust in God’s redeeming presence in our midst? Do we accept God’s acceptance of us in faith? Do we know that we are God’s people and that we are created in God’s very image? Do we look at our neighbor and see God? Do we feel a windy breeze cooling our face on a hot day and know that God is there? When you had breakfast this morning, did you know that God was there? When you go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow, do you know that God will be there? Emmanuel. God is with us.

Emmanuel, the Creator of the universe, the God beyond all, this God is with us in the most intimate way, breathing life and love into our hearts and souls and minds every moment. How amazing it is that this God, this Lord, this savior, this redeemer is with us, even to the close of the age.

Amen and amen.