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

Job 42.1-6; Mark 10.46-52

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

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

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

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

All’s well that ends well …  

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

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

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

Centuries later, Jesus in Jericho …

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

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

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

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

Salvation happens in Jericho ..

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

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

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

Jesus asks Bartimaeus: What do you want?

My teacher, I would like to see again.

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

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

All’s well that ends well … 

But care is needed when we express our faith.

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

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

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

Can we speak of God in such times and places?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

a love tiny enough to lay in a manger, 

and small enough to hang on a cross … 

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

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

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

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

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

Millions of people never regain what is lost … 

millions suffer hardship and misery … 

untimely death and untold sorrow …

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

as much justice as we can achieve, 

as much peace as we can establish,

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

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

In time …

We all walk through the alien door called death … 

age, accident, war, disease … 

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

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

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

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

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

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee 

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

….

One short sleep past, we wake eternally 

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

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

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

All’s well that ends well …

Hallelujah and Amen!

March 31, 2013, "For Thine Is the Kingdom"

Luke 12.35-48; Luke 24.1-12 

All around us, again and again.

The dark shadows of death and fear.

The soul of humankind.

Wracked with sorrow and sin.

Hatred fills our history books.

Our stories, bent and broken.

Humankind, created in God’s image.

Has adopted the ways of hell.

We sow our seeds of peace.

But reap only war.

We kill, mostly in god’s name.

Whatever our god may be.

We have high hopes.

And make many a promise.

But often find dust instead.

And bitter at night are the tears.

What’s wrong with us? we ask.

And can anything be done?

Can there be any real hope, anywhere?

Or is hope only our vanity?

And when death comes.

Then what?

Is it all gone?

Is there no more?

Our hearts ache for a better world.

A time when sorrow ceases.

When swords are beaten into plowshares.

And children laugh without fear.

When all might live in safety.

And tables are well-spread.

And to see beyond the march of time.

As days and years roll ahead.

A final hope?

A final peace?

A new heaven and a new earth?

Tears gone and death no more?

As the hymn puts it:

Up from the grave he arose; 

with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; 

he arose a victor from the dark domain, 

and he lives forever, with his saints to reign. 

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

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

To the risen LORD belongs the day … and to the risen LORD belongs the night … in the brightness of the day or in the darkness of the night … when when time is good and life is sweet … when times are hard and death comes near … when joy fills the heart … when sorrow lays us low … 

To the risen LORD it all belongs: For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

I love Easter … it’s the capstone of our faith.

Christmas is wonderful … but it’s Easter than anchors our hope … a child was born in Bethlehem … but that child became a man, and that man, as no other, is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

The dark domain does not have the final word … though powerful that dark domain may be.

A great victory has been won … a heavy stone, sealed and guarded … was rolled away … 

It took three days … it takes some time … but it didn’t take three weeks or three months or three years … there’s an urgency to God’s work here … time it may take, but God is in a hurry … it has to be done, and it has to be done quickly … to anchor history and build hope … to make a few things clear, once and for all … to lay the foundation of a new world … that you and I might even now have the courage to face whatever time brings to us … whatever sorrow or heartache might come our way … and stand firm … and stand with our eyes upon the LORD.

We must yet all cross the threshold of death.

Sin and sorrow remain, and life is hard.

Our bodies, frail and fragile, and mortality always nearby.

Yet, on the far horizon, a glimmer of hope.

The gift of peace … wrought in the agonies of the cross and in the darkness of the tomb.

When it seemed as if God were defeated.

God’s mighty work was proceeding.

And when the time was right … in the span of those three days … that stone was rolled away … with grace, mercy and peace, Jesus stepped out of the tomb … power and violence cannot win the day … death and sorrow do not have the last word.

So, we live in hope.

Hope in things not always seen.

But hope in things promised … promised by the Man from Galilee who calls us still to follow him … to lay aside our nets and boats … to find with him what life truly means … to love God with all that we are, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves … 

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. "That laundry is not very clean; she doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap." Her husband looks on, remaining silent. Every time her neighbor hangs her wash to dry, the young woman makes the same comments. A month later, the woman is surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and says to her husband: "Look, she's finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this? " The husband replies, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows." And so it is with life... What we see when we watch others depends on the clarity of the window through which we look.

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

A young lady from Temple City, Alexandria Salazar, writes:

I got asked to Prom my Junior Year by this Guy named James. He has Down Syndrome and nobody wanted to go with him. When he asked me I said of course, not thinking too much into it. I remember when his mom called me on the phone crying and thanking me for going with him. She offered to pay for my dress, hair, and makeup because she said she knew nobody would've wanted to go with him. I told her it was okay and that I was happy to go with him. I remember hanging up the phone crying to my mom about how honored I was, to actually go with him. Prom night was kinda of hard to actually enjoy at first because James was kind of all over the Place, but then I remembered that this was HIS Senior Prom. Not Mine. So after that, I went a long with whatever he wanted to do and I ended up having so much fun! Out of the 4 proms I went to during high school, this was actually my favorite.

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

Christ is risen.

He is risen, indeed.

The stone is rolled away.

Light and life prevail.

When we grow weary of the cross … the angels of God whisper to us - Don’t give up, and don’t give in … your work is not in vain … your care for the world is right and good … your labor for justice and peace is God’s mighty work … trust the risen LORD.

When sickness lays claim to us … when our bodies fail … the angels of God whisper to us - Don’t give up, and don’t give in … there may yet be a miracle for you … a healing unexpected … pray much and pray often … trust the risen LORD.

When death comes to a loved one, and death comes to us … when medicine and science reach their limit … when the time has come for the last act and the curtain to fall … the angels of God whisper to us - Don’t give up, and don’t give in … there is still more to come … in the grave, God is at work … your loved ones belong to God, and you do, too … safe and sound are your loved ones; safe and sound are all … for God’s love is expansive and universal … all creatures, great and small, all of life, the whole of creation … don’t give up, and don’t give in … trust the risen LORD.

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

Christ is risen.

He is risen, indeed.

Amen and Amen!

April 15, 2012 - The Power of Together

John 20.19-31

The disciples were afraid.

Who can blame them?

Their leader was dead.

Crucified, dead and buried.

But as bad it was, they were together!

They clung to one another.

They were not ready to let go.

That much they had learned from the Master.

Strength in the company of the faithful.

And now news from Peter - The tomb is empty!

Mary says, I have seen him!

Even as they talk, wondering what’s up.

The LORD comes to them.

In their bewilderment and doubt.

In their uncertainty and fear.

The LORD comes to them.

Not as a reward for faithfulness.

But as a comfort in the hour of need!

Peace be with you.

Wonderful peace.

Peace that surpasses all understanding.

Peace that only Jesus can give.

The peace of God.

That’s where many a Christian ends the reading.

Folks put a period, where God puts a comma.

Jesus says to the disciples a second time: Peace be with you. 

And then adds: As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.

Jesus breaths upon the disciples and bids them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

Remind you of anything in the Bible?

Two powerful stories come to mind:

1) Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones, Ezekiel 37 … God commands the Prophet to call the breath, the wind, and the breath enters into the dry bones, and and they come to life and stand on their feet, defeated no more, but ready to move on.

2) And Genesis 2, the primal creation story … God takes the dust of the earth, blows the breath of life into it, and a handful of dirt becomes a living creature.

Jesus is the creator … a new creation … a new creature, to care for the world - no longer defeated, no longer just a fistful of dirt, no longer behind closed doors - to take up the mandate of creation - sent out as the Father sent the Son - to be bread for the hungry and living water for the thirsty, to be hope and peace for a weary world, to lift up and heal broken spirits and broken bodies - didn’t Jesus say that we would do his works, and even greater works [John 14.12]?

Jesus then reminds the disciples of what is prayed in the LORD’S Prayer ever day, all around the world: If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you don't forgive them, they aren't forgiven.

We cannot mistake the words of Jesus as if he were saying “forgiveness is an option.”

“Will I forgive, or will I not?” - forgiveness is never an option in the Kingdom of God. To forgive is divine; to fail to forgive is death.

Forgiveness IS the story.

Forgiveness IS the life and work of Jesus.

Forgiveness IS the heart and soul of the gospel.

Forgiveness IS the power of peace.

Peace with God.

Peace with one another.

Peace among the nations.

God did not fail in the work of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is not an option for God.

As if God ponders the question:

Shall I forgive them or not?

Shall I release them from their sin, or shall I hold them accountable?

Shall I forget what they’ve done, so that we can all move on from here … or shall I wallow in my hurt and my pain, and constantly throw it in their face?

God doesn’t play games with forgiveness.

And neither must we.

But forgiveness always comes through the cross.

The New Testament is full of the language of the cross … our cross, our crucifixion, our death with Christ.

With Christ, our old instincts of violence and war are crucified, dead and buried.

The spirit of vengeance and grudge-holding that lurks in our heart …

Bitter memories that take up endless time and dominate our emotions … 

We die with Christ on the cross.

So that the old can pass away, and we’re raised up with Christ, with something new at the center of our life, something new to give away, a better way to live and a better way to love.

God didn’t fail in forgiveness.

And neither must we.

If we fail to forgive, all that’s wrong with the world goes on.

If we fail to forgive, our soul is distressed and anxious.

If we fail to forgive, our relationships are poisoned.

We are sent into the world as the Father sent Jesus … to be emissaries of forgiveness, peace and hope.

Jesus says, I send you as my Father sent me.

Dare we understand how powerful these words are?

Dare we touch them?

Like the burning bush - take off our shoes and spend time with Jesus, there’s no going back, no retreat … only forward, with a great commission.

The same commission God gave to the Son.

The same task.

The same determination.

To face a world of sin and violence and offer the gift of peace.

One of the great challenges facing Christianity today is violence.

Violence of unprecedented scale - nations left destitute … whole populations decimated … violence despoils the environment and ruins the soul … 

From the day Cain killed Able, humankind has foolishly believed that violence can bring peace, death can create life, war can resolve problems, stand-your-ground laws can make us safe.

Humankind foolishly believes that violence, wielded by the “right” person or the “right” nation, sooner or later, will bring about the better world. 

But it never does.

It never will.

It’s can’t.

Violence is the script of hell.

Christians, too, have succumbed to violence, by misreading the the Bible … the violent parts of the Old Testament and a few verses ripped from the Book of Revelation … onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war.

1) Last year, a megachurch pastor walked onto the stage with a 50 caliber machine gun and ammo belts draped over his shoulders, like some kind of a Rambo or Terminator, and fired away - blanks, of course … but the point was clear: this was a demonstration of God’s fire-power.

2) Over the last ten years, John Hagee called for the bombing of Iraq and now that Iraq has been laid low, Hagee calls for the bombing of Iran … the man loves the smell of napalm in the morning.

Many a Christian pulpit - filled with violent words of hell-fire and eternal punishment, damnation and death, and that’s just for Christians, and even more violence for evil-doers and sinners.

Death, death, and more death.

Is this the way of Jesus? … … … 

I think not!

He is the Prince of Peace!

Amen and Amen!