Get Off the Porch

September 10, 2017

Palms Westminster Presbyterian Church

Matthew 18.15-20

Good Morning Palms Westminster … and what a morning it is … all of us watching Irma … and earlier Harvey … people in harms way … some of us have friends and family at risk, and for them se pray.

Yet, for us here, in this moment, 

it’s a good morning .. because we’re here.

We have a chance, 

all over again, 

to practice the Great Commandment, 

to love God with all that we are, 

and to love one another dearly and deeply.

And practice it is …

Think of a pianist, practicing a piece of music over and over and over again … pencil in hand, making notes … trying this expression and that … to make the music her music … the intent of the composer, her intent … until she’s satisfied with it … 

But that’s not the end of it … the purpose of all that practice, all that sweat, blood and tears … it’s the concert on the weekend … when hundreds, maybe even thousands, show up … to hear great music offered by the pianist …

The practice is utterly important, but the real test of what’s practiced is the audience who hears it … 

Or in our case, what the world sees of us tomorrow morning.

Jesus said it, and said it clearly:

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

What we do here this morning is practice … out there, it’s the concert …

They’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.

Yes, they’ll know we’re Christians by our love.

Our text this morning is all about practicing … practicing the ways of love.

Jesus addresses the hard question: what happens when the church fails to love God and fails to love one another?

What happens when another member of the church sins against you.

Who’s the you?

These words directed to the disciples … to the leaders of the church …

And what’s the sin?

The failure to love.

It’s to the leaders that Jesus speaks …

A method of care and kindness … 

go to that person … 

talk about it.

Explore the gospel together.

What does faith in Jesus Christ mean?

If that conversation doesn’t prove helpful, then have another one, but with one or two additional leaders, so that the conversation can be carefully noted … 

The purpose of the meeting is to heal … 

to help someone better understand the purpose of the church;

the meaning of faith.

If that person refuses to listen, then tell it to the church … if the member still refuses to listen … 

Treat them as a Gentile and a tax collector, says Jesus.

That sounds bad doesn’t it?

But it’s not bad; it’s good!

First off, let’s ask: How does Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors?

Throughout the gospels, Jesus offers the mercy of God to Gentiles and tax collectors … Jesus heals their children, helps them along the way, eating and drinking with them.

From Matthew 9:

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

Matthew himself is a tax collector.

Treat them well, Jesus says; 

start all over with them … 

go back to the beginning, square one … 

never, ever, give up on anyone.

But there’s more to the story.

The whole 18th chapter reveals the way of the gospel for us …

The chapter begins with humility … Jesus calls over a child, and then says to the disciples: unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And then a warning about causing trouble: those who put stumbling blocks in the way of these little ones.

Who are the little ones?

Children, literally … the vulnerable.

But little ones also means defenseless ones … those who have no voice … folks who cannot defend themselves … folks at the mercy of those bigger than they are … 

Little ones … the trinity of need outlined in the law and the prophets - the orphan, the widow and the alien … 

Little ones … to whom great care must be given … to avoid stumbling blocks.

And what is a stumbling block?

The failure of the church!

The failure to defend the defenseless … 

To offer the cup of cold water.

To cloth the naked and visit those in prison.

To honor God’s creation with care and tenderness.

To say no to lies and bigotry.

To not be covetous of wealth (which seems to be a major problem in American Christianity these days).

To not bear false witness when Tweeting.

To care for the poor and the oppressed.

Every day I read about the decline of the church in America … 

Google, “young people abandon the church,” and you will learn a lot.

Here’s a for-example list:

• Churches seem overprotective and stifling.
• Faith and theology feel shallow and small.
• Lots of churches are antagonistic to science.
• Attitudes about sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental, especially with regard to gender questions.
• Young people are put off by the exclusive claims of Christianity.
• Many young people, especially white evangelical youth, are disappointed in how their parents failed to deal with racism.
• And these days, young people have little room for a faith that cannot tolerate and understand doubt.

There is nothing more powerful than a living example of faith:

Words and deeds put together 

to make a good and decent life … 

an example that children will always remember.

Walter Cronkite, the great newscaster of the 20th Century, tells a story - when he was young boy in Houston, in the 1920s, Jim Crow laws in effect. Walter’s father was a dentist, and recently hired to teach in a Houston dental school …

A few days after arriving in Houston, the Cronkite family had a dinner invitation to the home of the school’s president, and in those pre-air conditioning days, they were all on the porch after dinner … to catch a bit of the evening breeze, and await the delivery of homemade ice cream from a nearby drugstore.

In Cronkite’s own words:

In those days, there was no air-conditioning and residential refrigeration options were limited. The Jim Crow “rules” of Houston said that African Americans could not approach the home of a Caucasian from the front. Years later, Cronkite recalled what happened next: “The black delivery boy drove up on his motorcycle and looked with his flashlight, clearly for some way to go to the back of the house.” Not finding a driveway or alleyway to deliver the ice cream, the young man started up the sidewalk. When he hit the first step to the porch, Dr. Hight, in Cronkite’s words, “jumped out of his chair like a cat, and hit him right in the middle of his face, wham!—knocked him back into the grass, ice cream cart spilling—and he said, ‘That’ll teach you, nigger, to put your foot on a white man’s front porch!’ My father said, ‘Helen, Walter, we’re leaving.’ ” 

The three Cronkites marched out of Dr. Hight’s house. When the embarrassed host tried to coax them into staying, Dr. Cronkite said “get lost” and kept walking. After that incident, Dr. Hight had the long knives out for Dr. Cronkite because of his “pro-Negro” sympathies. “I was horrified about the incident,” Cronkite recalled. “Terrified by the walk through the oak trees with their long Spanish moss dripping in them. It looked like a Walt Disney forest that I would expect all the animals jumping at us. We finally got a ride from somebody on a street corner. Got back to our hotel. But from that moment on I was wholly aware of the racial bigotry, prejudice, and treatment of blacks in that part of the world.”

Hats off the elder Cronkite who would not countenance such bigotry even from the president of the school … and what an important lesson he taught his son …

Walter Cronkite learned to take a stand against evil … even at the risk of personal wellbeing … it wasn’t easy, I’m sure, for his father to get up and leave, but it would have been a tragedy had his father stayed on the porch and turned a blind eye to evil.

That night, what might have become a stumbling block to young Walter Cronkite became, instead, the Mt. Everest of moral conscience.

Whether it be Walter’s father getting up off the porch, or anyone of us here, we know what know what has to be done.

Jesus has left us enough instruction to figure it out … 

the Beatitudes and all the rest, 

Paul’s letters and the book of Revelation … 

the whole of the Bible, Moses and the prophets, 

and for us Presbyterians, our own creeds and statements of faith - 

The Confession of ’67, he Barmen Declaration of Faith … we know what have to know, and we know what we have to do … 

Dear friends in Christ, Palms Westminster … Presbyterian to the core … with a past for which we can be grateful, and a future for which we can be glad:

Let us agree this morning:

With fervency of heart, 

clarity of mind, 

in Jesus’ name, 

to get off the porch, 

to set before our children and youth,

the high mountains of faith, hope and love … 

To set before our children memories, strong memories, that will see them through their youth and guide them into adulthood. 

All of this, and more, for the glory of God, and the welfare of the world.

Amen and Amen!

My 12, 2013, "What's In a Name?"

Exodus 20.7; 1 John 3.23-24

Human beings always live in an in-between place … neither here nor there, but somewhere in between … in the middle of moving currents … one pulling us this way, and the other tugging at us for the other … betwixt and between, we say … first one way and then the other … never quite sure who we truly are … 

Are we good?

And if we’re good, how do we explain all the horror of history? 

Are we evil?

And if we’re evil, how do we explain all the good things we’ve done for one another?

Betwixt and between …

Genesis 2 - created in the image of God, shaped by God’s loving hand, filled with the very breath of God … given the garden … called to greatness … all is good!

Genesis 3 - foolish and irresponsible … fear takes hold … quick to blame everyone and everything else for the ills of the day … a shadow falls upon the human race … our story takes a bitter turn … all is not so good any longer … the Garden is lost … humankind begins its tired journey.

Betwixt and between … neither here nor there … who are we?

Today, it’s Mother’s Day … and what a joy it is … we celebrate those who gave birth to us … and those who raised us … and sometimes they’re not the same person … but whatever our circumstance, we’re here … and we give thanks …

We send cards full of loving thoughts … we plan dinners with care … we make our phone calls and extend our love, our best wishes, and wish you were here, if distance holds us at bay.

It’s a good day … our hearts are full of kindly thoughts and dreams …

Yet, who are we?

Are we not betwixt and between?

War and rumors of war plague our world … economies out of whack … lack of health care, safe food and clean water … it seems as if the powers-that-be are incapable of finding peace … and maybe even prefer the state of war, though none would say so … there is something seriously wrong with humankind … something still working its way through our story … and it’s not good at all.

Yet goodness abounds on all sides of the story, too … grace, mercy and peace … faith, hope and love … great advances made for health … justice breaks out in the most expected ways and times … the Berlin Wall is torn down, apartheid comes to an end … sometimes the buses even run on time, and the Expo Line nears completion all the way to Santa Monica.

Betwixt and between …

Neither here nor there …

Darkness on the one side ...

Goodness on the other ...

Betwixt and between … that’s where we are, and that’s where religion is born … 

Born in the in-between places of life … religion comes about when the sorrow of life and the joy of life run side-by-side … when, like Paul, we cry out - Who can save us from this crazy state in which we find ourselves … the good we know so clearly to do, and often fail to do … and the wrong that we despise, we often end up doing … can anyone save us? 

Can anyone put this together so that it makes sense for us, and maybe we can find some ways of moving along to a better place with all of this?

That’s religion … the cry of the heart for something, or someone, to make sense of it all … to bring together all the bits and pieces of life … to diminish the evil and increase the good … to spread abroad the happier message that maybe, just maybe, we might find ourselves and our best purpose, and get things worked out, after all … 

That’s religion … 

And of religion, God’s says, Be careful … my name is likely to be involved … and if my name is involved, be careful … you can use my name; I give it to you, but use my name well.

God knows all too well that religion can go haywire.

Religion can be tempted to use God’s name in vain … those who speak immodestly of God, as if they knew all about God, as if they had all the answers … as if God were on their side in all manner of undertaking … every religion does it - Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism - we all speak as if the gods were our own possession, and  everything we undertake in God’s name is our right, because God said so, God told us, and, frankly, one of the worst things that Christians say far too often, “It’s in the Bible” … 

That phrase, “it’s in the Bible,” has been used to justify just about every crime imaginable … slavery, because it’s in the Bible … subjugation of women, because it’s in the Bible … whipping children, because it’s in the Bible … war, because it’s in the Bible … 

People who pay attention to such things note how religion has declined in Europe throughout the 20^th Century, and continues to decline in influence; people have walked away from the church.

Those who study such things and ask the big questions attribute the decline of religion to religion’s immodesty - religion’s lack of restraint - seen in both World Wars - all the combatants claimed the will of God for their own purposes, sending out soldiers with God’s blessing and hymns, accompanied by chaplains to anoint bombs and bullets.

So confident were the nations that God was on their side … and in the death of millions, the suffering of millions more, people rightly ask, What is this god-thing that some talk about with such ease, and smugness and confidence - that they can willingly send millions to their death and believe that somehow or other this is God’s mighty will and purpose?

Paul Tillich, one of the great 20^th Century theologians wrote: “I speak now of a public use of the name of God which has little to do with God, but much to do with human purpose - good or bad. Those of us who are grasped by the mystery present in the name of God are often stung when this name is used in governmental and political speeches, in opening prayers for conferences and dinners, in secular and religious advertisements, and in international war propaganda” [“The Divine Name” - in sermon collection, The Eternal Now].

God cautions Israel to use God’s name wisely, to use God’s name with care … because God knows how crazy religion can get … immodest religion full of itself, convinced that it has the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and we’ve seen plenty of that in our world.

God reminds Israel to be modest in all things, restrained and tactful … for who can claim to have the final word on God? Indeed, we have much to say, and much to give, but we’re limited, and in our limits, God calls us to be cautious, lest we violate those limits and begin to violate one another, too … when religion loses its humility, religion quickly becomes cruel.

We can only speak of God with restraint … humility and awe … because we don’t have the last word … for now, we can only see through a mirror dimly … we know only in part … and what counts, says Paul, is that God knows us!

That’s what Moses had to learn when Moses asks God for some inside information - Let me see your glory so I can lead this people through the wilderness.

But God says to Moses, No, you can’t see my glory; you can’t have more of me than anyone else can have … but this much I say to you, and I say it to you, Moses, and to all the people: I am with you, I will go with, and I will help you.

Modest religion …  religion with restraint … religion, more often quiet than loud … with a holy silence, respectful of the great mysteries of God …

Job says to his yakety yak friends - Oh, be quiet … If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom! [Job 13.5].

The writer of Proverbs says: Even fools who keep silent are considered wise; when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent [Proverbs 17.28].

And on a more positive note, the Prophet Habakuk says: the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him! [2.20].

The poet Dyer noted, long ago, in the 16^th Century:

The firmest faith is in the fewest words;

….

True hearts have eyes and ears, no tongues to speak;

They hear and see, and sigh, and then they break.

Oh to be careful with the name of God … to use God’s name well … to speak modestly of God, for love is modest and gentle … believe in the name of Jesus, says John, and to love one another … love and belief; belief and love, walk hand-in-hand, quietly … 

A quiet faith is open to life’s most profound emotion - if love is the greatest of all spiritual gifts, the greatest part of love is sorrow.

Jesus comes over the brow of the hill, and when he sees Jerusalem, he weeps … he weeps for all the lost opportunities … all the bad choices the great city makes … the arrogance of faith that claims the power of God for itself … the pomp and circumstance of temple and throne … 

Jesus weeps … it’s a good thing to weep now and then … we needn’t fear tears … tears soften the heart, when our heart is tempted to be hard … tears humble us when we’re tempted to be proud … tears quiet the heart when we’re tempted to shout out with condemnation and pride … tears are the stuff of justice … tears are love’s companion.

With humility … let us put our hands to the plow and not look back, and with faith, hope and love, and great modesty, take up our work.

The high and holy calling of God Almighty … to join with Christ, in the work of building a better world … that mothers everywhere could look upon their children with joy and peace … healthy children, safe children, children with a future.

We take seriously the name of God, because there is serious work to be done … we use the name of God carefully … we speak of God modestly … in matters of faith, restrained and humbly quiet … careful to measure our deeds by the faith we profess; careful to profess a faith that is measured by deeds of love.

Happy Mother’s Day to you, and to all the Mother’s of the World, grace, mercy and peace … rest assured dear ones, there are millions of people all around the world, religious people, and people who choose other pathways, who are all doing good, and God is pleased!

 Amen and Amen!

April 14, 2013, "Pharaoh Teaches Abram"

Genesis 12.10-20; Mark 8.14-21

Who was the first President of the United States?

Ya’ got that right … George Washington … a great he was ... the right one at the right time for the moment of decision … who knows what might have happened had the mantle of leadership fallen on shoulders other than Washington’s … but this we know - the mantle fell on his shoulders, and he wore the mantle well … winning the gratitude of his nation and deserving of our admiration.

George Washington died in 1799, and one year later, a book was published, entitled, The Life of Washington, written by Mason Locke Weems, an Anglican priest, who took pride in having lived in Dumfries, Virginia, nearby to a church where George Washington had worshipped in pre-Revolutionary days … Mr. Weems capitalized on this slight connection and claimed knowledge that was more fiction than fact … oh well ...

In this little book about Washington, Weems creates a story that now everyone now knows to be fanciful … about the young George Washington … anyone wanna guess what that story might be?

Right! … the Cherry Tree Incident … as Mr. Weems wrote it, young George experimented with a hatchet, and chopped down his daddy’s favorite cherry tree.

When confronted by his father, young George confessed, I cannot tell a lie, father; I did it.

It would be good, I suppose, if life played out this way … 

But life doesn’t play out like this … life’s vitalities are strange and oftentimes dark … befuddling and frightening … a mystery to us … why we behave as we do, sometimes … children sometimes chop down a tree, and when confronted, may flat out a lie about it - It wasn’t me; it was my sister.

Paul the Apostle said it well, when he wrote to the Romans … I know what I should do, but I don’t always do it. In fact, I often do just the opposite. What’s wrong with me?

The Bible never stops with just the good stuff … it tells the whole story, the good, the bad and the ugly.

From Genesis 3 on, we know that it’s going to be a bumpy ride:

Adam and Eve pluck the fruit ...

Cain kills Able … Lamech boasts of his blood-vengeance … Noah gets drunk … his son Ham laughs at him, and Noah curses him … 

As the Genesis 12 story unfolds, after God’s call to Sarai and Abram, to be the mother and father of a new nation, with blessings for the world, we’re told in stark terms: There was a famine in the land.

Abram and Sarai set out to find food; they’re refugees now, hunger gnawing away at them … and so they end up in Egypt, of all places … Egypt!

When the story tellers of Judah crafted the Genesis material, they would have laughed at this point, an ironic laugh, to be sure … Egypt, of all places - what a strange sense of humor has God.

Genesis was written 1500 years after Abram and Sarai made their journey to Egypt … a land that would finally become  the land of slavery and the house of bondage … four hundred years of slavery for the sons and daughters of Sarai and Abram.

And when Jesus is born, and Herod gets his back up, Mary and Joseph hit the road, refugees fleeing a bad political situation, and where do they go? The land of Egypt.

To fulfill, says Matthew, what the LORD had spoken: I have called my son out of Egypt.

Egypt, of all places!

Strangers in a strange land … and they’re scared.

Refugees are always scared, aren’t they?

Abram says to Sarai: You’re a fine looking woman …

Abram was already an old man - 75 years old he was … and Sarah was quite likely a bit younger … 

Tell Pharaoh you’re my sister, if he wants you … that way he’ll spare my life.

Pharaoh falls for Sarai and takes her … things go well for awhile … Abram prospers … then things go south … plagues strike the house of Pharaoh … maybe Sarai dropped a few hints … Pharaoh adds it all up … calls Abram and says to him, Why did you lie to me?

Here’s Sarai … take her … and get the heck outta here … take what I’ve given to you; you don’t need to give me anything back, but leave us, please … be gone with you!

In this little story, so many truths … 

The dreadful onset of famine ...

The power of fear …

The readiness to lie …

The woman as a pawn … 

And strangely enough … Pharaoh the teacher!

What? What’s that you say?

Pharaoh the teacher!

More laughter, for sure … that the father of the nation receives moral instruction from, of all people, Pharaoh.

Humiliating … and honest!

Abram is a good man, but not all the time … he loves God, but sometimes self-love is all that he knows … 

We don’t know what would have happened if Abram and Sarai had told the truth …

The story is not intended to promote speculation … the Bible doesn’t deal in what ifs, and what could have happened … as my son always says, “wouldas, couldas and shouldas never get us anywhere.”

So why would Judah tell such a strange story about the Mother and Father of the Nation?

Why not a story like the George Washington Cherry Tree Incident?

The Bible deals with reality … reality is where we live, and reality is where God does God’s work.

God at work in all things … 

God in love with human beings … just as we are!

The message is clear ...

If God can love and call Abram and Sarai, then God can call anyone of us, all of us, just as we are … and though we don’t always get it right, God uses us for great things … great love, great moments … to change the world … and if not the world, at least change our corner of it … or maybe just change our mind, and change our heart.

I saw the movie, “42” yesterday, the story of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the major leagues, 1947, hired by Branch Ricky, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, “Dem Bums” … with hell to pay - heckling in the games, threats of violence, terrible letters written … Branch Ricky violated the code of baseball - A game only for white men … 

When Jackie asks Branch Ricky, “Why did you do this?” Mr. Ricky replies, “I could no longer ignore it.”

Earlier in the story, Mr. Ricky says of Robinson, “He’s a Methodist,” and then adds, “I’m a Methodist, and God’s a Methodist - we’ll get it worked out.”

Mr. Ricky changed his own world, and then he changed the Dodgers, and then he changed baseball … when Branch Ricky had a chance, he did good.

God calls us to greatness … and Abram and Sarai were great people … doing great things for God … but they were not morally superior.

The call of God doesn’t make us morally superior to anyone else!

To know Christ doesn’t make us any better than someone who worships Allah, someone who’s a Buddhist or a Hindu … and certainly it doesn’t make us any better than an atheist … in the world we all live in, sometimes believers are terrible people, and sometimes atheists do wonderful things.

That’s a hard lesson for believers to understand sometimes … but it’s a vital lesson, which is why the Bible makes it so clear - it’s not about perfection, moral superiority, being better than others … it’s being available, available to God … Here I am, O LORD, here I am …  and humble about it all, willing and ready to see the hand of God all over the place, and in all kinds of occasions, in every moment, and in all kinds of people.

God sees to it that goodness and morality and truth are found everywhere … 

A constant reminder to us all … even Pharaoh can teach us some lessons now and then … 

Maybe there are no enemies in this world after all, if we really think about it … who knows? … we can learn from everything and everyone, can’t we? … maybe that’s why Jesus says Love your enemy … that doesn’t mean have mushy gushy feelings - it means to give respect, pay attention, to - give to the enemy that which we would hope for from anyone else - treat others as we would hope to be treated … and, who knows, even from Pharaoh, we might have a thing or two to learn.

Teachers and learning-moments come in surprising ways … 

Amen and Amen!

April 17, 2011 - Palm Sunday, "Save Us, We Pray"

Matthew 21:1-11

There’s always so much to learn!

If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.

On the job, at home, in school, and even in church, there’s always so much to learn!

Just the other day, one of our members said to me, as she reflected on health issues and a change in living status, “There are lots of adjustments to be made.”

I like that.

A gentle way of putting it.

Life is all about adjustments!

We get married, and we spend years trying to figure out one another … and then we have children, and spend years trying to figure out how to raise them, love them, guide them, guard them.

We take a job and spend years trying to figure out how to do our best, how survive in tough economic times, how to make something of ourselves, and leave a legacy for our families.

We gather together in our church, and we spend years trying to figure out how to love one another, honor and share the gifts God gives to us, and what does it mean to be the church of Jesus Christ?

And always the hard times … illness lays us low … death takes a loved one … the job is lost … a child chooses badly and brings sorrow to the family … misunderstanding divides friend-from-friend … time marches on, and we didn’t have a chance to say what was needed, or do a kindly deed.

There’s always so much to learn.

Which reminds me:

Little Susie asked her teacher: “Would you punish me for something I didn't do?”

Her teacher replied: “Of course not.”

With a sigh of relief, little Susie said: “Good, because I didn't do my homework.”

There’s always so much to learn.

No wonder we cry out sometimes, “LORD, save me. I need your help. This is more than I can handle.”

And Jesus comes our way.

To save us.

When the people cried out, Hosanna, which means “save us,” they were right. They needed some serious help.

Who doesn’t need some serious help now and then?

I heard the LORD speak, two times in my life … as clear as a bell.

Would anyone else have heard it?

I think not!

But I heard the voice of the LORD.

The first instance was in my second year of seminary … I can see our tiny little place, a second-floor apartment, and there I am, sitting at my desk, reading the New Testament, I’m pretty sure it was one of the Gospels.

As I was reading, I said to myself, “I’m not sure I believe any of this.”

And right then and there, clear as a bell, the LORD said, “That’s all right Tom. I still love you.”

I’ve never forgotten that moment.

It’s an anchor in my life.

It’s the heart of the gospel.

Whatever any of us happen to think at any point in time, God doesn’t change one bit!

There are days when we’re really faithful … and days when we’re not … there are times when we believe with all that we are … and other times when we don’ … there are times when we love God, seriously love God, with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and then there are times, when our love is like a drop of water on a hot July sidewalk in Dallas, Texas.

God is the one who remains constant.

I had to learn that, then and there.

A young seminarian.

If I was going to preach the gospel, I had to understand grace … I mean real grace.

I had to understand - God’s love for us is unchanging …  James says of God: the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.[1]

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.[2]

Thanks be to God: it’s not our belief in God that brings about the gospel; it’s the gospel that brings about our faith.

And that never changes.

God is always the source of faith.

Like water flowing from a hose.

It’s not the hose.

It’s not even the water.

It’s the snow in the mountains – that’s where the water comes from.

High up in the mountains.

And that’s where our faith comes from.

High up in the heavens.

From the heart of God.

And God is steady.

God is sure.

Faith struggles sometimes.

Darkness frightens us.

Faith limps along.

But, The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want … yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me!

The second time I heard the LORD speak was a time of great travail, sorrow and hurt … I felt that all was lost, and sitting in my car in a restaurant parking lot – I had dropped off my family, and I had parked the car.

There I sat, with all the world falling down around me, and I said to the LORD, “Save me!”

And I heard the LORD again, clear as a bell, “I will.”

I think of the shortest prayer in the Bible.

Three words, spoken in a moment of desperation.

Anyone know it?

Peter walking on the waves.

Good for him.

He got outta the boat and did it.

He really did it.

He wanted to be like his Rabbi.

“If my Rabbi can walk on the water, so can I.”

And when the LORD invited Peter to get outta the boat, that’s what Peter did.

And for a few glorious moments, Peter walked on the water.

And then the moment overwhelmed him.

Wind and waves frightened him.

Peter began to sink.

He cries out to the LORD.

The shortest prayer in the Bible.

Three words:

LORD, save me.

As quick as the blink of an eye, Jesus is there.

Hand outstretched.

And Peter is saved.

Hosanna.

Save us, LORD.

Hosanna in the highest.

The highest, indeed!

The people know that salvation comes from on high.

From the throne of God.

The River of Life in the Book of Revelation.

And Psalm 46:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.

Salvation comes from God.

And it comes with certainty.

For God is at work in all things for good.

The people who welcomed Jesus that day had high hopes.

Is he the Messiah?

Is he the answer?

Will he save us?

Jesus rides a donkey.

A symbol of humble power.

This is how kings came into the holy city.

Not on a prancing warhorse decked out in polished silver and well-oiled leather.

Not with legions of soldiers in battledress.

Nope.

None of that!

Just on a donkey.

A beast of burden.

Because the real king takes up the burdens of the people.

A ruler, true and good, lightens the load.

Jesus himself becomes the burden-bearer for us all.

He carries on his shoulders the sins of the world.

Jesus comes our way to forgive our sins … when the nails are driven into his flesh … hideous forged nails of iron hammered through sinew and bone … a brutal business done by professionals who know how to hurt a man, how to kill their victims slowly.

And what does Jesus say?

Father, forgive them.

Why does Jesus say that?

Did a soldier say to him, Oh, I’m sorry, LORD … I don’t really mean this?

Did one of the religious authorities say to him, O LORD my God, I’m truly sorry? Please forgive me.

We learn from Jesus one of the toughest lessons of life.

And one of the most important.

Raw forgiveness.

Forgiveness that comes from the deeps of love.

Like a volcano, hot and fierce, burning away the junk and trash of our lives.

Jesus knows we’re not very good at confessing our sins, though we do it most every Sunday.

Jesus knows how hard it is for us to see the log in our own eye.

So Jesus doesn’t wait for us to ask.

Jesus doesn’t wait for us to get it figured out.

Jesus doesn’t wait for us to come to him.

Jesus doesn’t wait for an apology!

Jesus says:

Father, forgive them.

And with grace all the more, Jesus excuses everyone - those who condemn him … those who kill him … those who abandon him - he says, They don’t know what they’re doing.

The love of God understands better than we understand ourselves.

Most of the time, we haven’t a clue.

We think we’re right, when we’re mistaken.

We see the splinter in our neighbor’s eye and overlook the log in our eye.

We judge others.

And exonerate ourselves.

They all thought they were doing what was right.

Soldiers obeyed orders.

Judges condemned a troublemaker.

Pilate preserved law and order.

And everyone seemed to agree – it’s a good thing to take this man to the cross.

But they didn’t know what they were doing.

For all of us, this gives us pause.

When we think we’re right about something, and tempted to get carried away, it’s good to remember the Jesus story.

The next time, we’re convinced that someone else is wrong, and we don’t want to listen to them, it’s good to remember the Jesus story.

When we’re afraid and getting edgy, and we’re tempted to say harsh things, it’s good to remember the Jesus story.

When we believe that forgiveness isn’t possible, unless someone apologizes first to us, it’s good to remember the Jesus story.

When we think all is dark and all is lost, it’s good to remember the Jesus story.

LORD save us.

Save us, we pray.

And the LORD comes to our assistance.

The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.[3]

So a blessed and powerful Palm Sunday.

When Jesus comes to us on a donkey.

Don’t be fooled by his humility.

Don’t look for another.

He’s the real deal.

He’s the way.

He’s the truth.

He’s the way.

Donkey and all.

To God be the glory.

Amen and Amen!

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[1] James 1:27.

[2] Hebrews 13:8.

[3] Psalm 46:7.