5.7.23 "Life: The End!" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

Life Series: Part 2

Proverbs 4.10-18; Acts 7.55-60

It’s a terrible end for a good and decent man.

Stephen … chosen to be a Deacon … to care for the needy … the daily distribution of bread.

Then or now, people are hungry … 

Stephen is gifted for the work …

But it didn’t take long for some to challenge him … 

lies are told …

rumors are spread …

reputation questioned

anger stirred up … 

Stephen defends himself well … 

He speaks the gospel with intelligence … 

He doesn’t pull his punches … 

maybe he should have pulled his punches … 

maybe he should have eased up a bit … 

maybe he should have held his tongue …

The crowd heard enough, and they didn’t like any of it.

When a mob is ready, there is no convincing them otherwise.

They dragged Stephen outside of the city … they stoned him … 

So the end comes to Stephen … 

his mortal life undone …

his last breath taken … 

final words spoken:

forgiveness, 

mercy, 

LORD, do not hold this sin against them!

May such grace be ours at the end of the road.

Because the end of the road comes to all of us.

One way or the other.

Slowly it comes upon us, or in the blink of an eye.

Painful, or not.

My father died suddenly … at a Gideon’s meeting … after dinner, he and my mother were chatting with others, when suddenly, he fell backward … a friend said, “he puffed a few times,” and then was gone.

My mother died more slowly, and finally, in the hospital.

Death comes a-calling for all of us …

We’re mortal creatures.

Dust to dust, earth to earth, ashes to ashes.

The thought of mortality is disturbing … maybe for all of us, when we think about it … keen observers of the human story all agree - we spend a lot of time, and a lot of money, trying not to think about our death.

Early in my ministry, I spoke of death and dying, with a detached confidence, as only the young can do.

When I was young, death was more abstract than real; it was far removed … but time has pushed me along the road … my future is a lot shorter than my past - death is no longer quite so abstract … 

We begin to hear the clock ticking somewhere in our mid-30s, or a bit later, … 

When we’re children, time is timeless … 

the future stretches endlessly to some distant horizon - 

there’s alway time, and plenty of it … 

We’re in a hurry when we’re young - to hit our teen years … get that driver’s license, graduate, and so on … and then one day, we’d like time to move a bit more slowly … the days hurry on by, taking us to our singular destiny - the way of all flesh … as the Bible says, to sleep with our ancestors.

Death becomes the companion sitting silently in the living room of our mind.

We’ve been able to extend our lifespan well into our 70s and more … for that, we can be grateful … 

We outlive most of our ancestors for whom death was much more the constant companion … 

Our ancestors learned from the nearness of death …  

The poet John Donne:

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee 

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; 

And soonest our best men with thee do go, 

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. 

One short sleep past, we wake eternally 

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

Death wasn’t easy for any of our ancestors - they felt deeply the loss of loved ones … they wept, they walked through the valley of darkness with bowed heads and broken hearts … they grieved as we do … death is what it always is - hard and sad and unrelenting.

Donna and I both have family genealogies.

Donna’s great grandfather in Sweden kept a marvelous diary, a diary of faith and sorrow; life in all of its ups and downs … 

My great great uncle wrote beautiful letters to his “dear wife, Elizabeth,” from the Civil War battlefield … 

Donna’s grandfather, my great great uncle, lived with death nearby … both spoke of Christ - who was just as near, always kind, and ever-loving … it wasn’t dogma … it was devotion … devotion to the things of God, with a sense of God’s devotion to them … their God was very large, and God’s promises were central to who they were, and what the future held.

My great great uncle assured his dear wife, that if he didn’t return home, he would see her in heaven. 

In the meantime, she wasn’t to worry about harvesting the potatoes - just do the best she could.

Our ancestors might well encourage us:

Remember the things of faith …  

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

God of the Ages, Whose Almighty Hand

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

The ancient creeds:

I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

The Heidelberg Catechism … the first question:

What is your only comfort
in life and in death?

And the answer:

That I am not my own,
but belong—

body and soul,
in life and in death—

to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

As it was for Stephen … perhaps it will be mine, as well, and yours, too - to see Jesus at the right hand of God, and the heavens opened up …

However it ends … it ends ... suddenly or slowly, painfully or easily … it ends …

I pray that I have lived well ... not always easily ... life has had some hard corners for me ... probably for you, too.

I've walked with a limp, as Calvin once put it ... 

In the end, little Tommy Eggebeen will be whisked off to the everlasting arms ... some will weep, but the world won't much notice ... time hurries on!

Perhaps I will hear the words of Jesus, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Jesus will likely add, "Well, Tommy, m’boy, you didn't always do it right, but come on in anyway, and we'll see what's next! 

Welcome home Tommy. Welcome home!”

Hallelujah and Amen!

4.2.23 Palm Sunday, "The Triumph of All Good!" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

Psalm 118.19-29; Matthew 21.1-11 

Much of the news this week has been sad … very sad … and infuriating … 

I watch this great nation of ours stumble and fall, again and again, on the issues of gun violence and needless death … 

I hear politicians excuse and defend our current failures … claiming their right to own, carry, and use guns.

A right, they say, not to be challenged or changed … a right greater than all other rights!

What about the rights of the teachers who’ve been wounded and killed … the rights of the children … the rights of families forever scarred with sorrow and loss … the communities where they live, the nation we all love … needless death and suffering.

There is in all of this, something terribly wrong, terribly frightening, incredibly sad.

It doesn’t have to be … 

Yet for reasons known only to hell, we’re incapable of confronting the issues, stymied on writing legislation, to improve safety.

Of course, perfect solutions don’t exist, we know that … but we can do a lot more than what we’re presently doing.

I want our schools to be safe, our children secure … so they can enjoy a good education, with good teachers, and libraries …yes, libraries, free of mindless censorship and narrow-minded oversight, a pinch-faced morality, that does more harm than good.

Every day, I see racism at work … anti-Semitism on the rise, attacks on Asians, violence against gays and lesbians, against “woke” people (of which I am one) … I support the teaching of CRT, the truth about our history, because truth is always hopeful, even when it’s hard.

I hear terrible things said about trans-children and their families … terrible things said to teachers and librarians, at school board meetings and city hall … attacks against women and their freedom, women and their right to choose the level of healthcare they deem important …  

I watch our Democracy - challenged and questioned, at every turn, by too many people who would set aside what this nation fought for in the Civil War.

What we fought for in both World Wars … 

For Democracy to win the day, freedom prevail, human rights endure … because liberty and justice for all is possible … 

We must not set aside our ideals, our dreams, our hopes … we must preserve our Constitution and its Bill of Rights!

God has give us this nation … a nation from sea to shining sea … we’re a long way from perfection, but we’re on the right road, and the right road IS our Democracy … 

Wherein all religions have a place at the table.

Where faith is respected, in all its forms and practices.

Where people are honored, in their diversity and uniqueness.

Where children are precious … and the common good celebrated.

We’re in this life for one another … do unto others what we desire for ourselves … love one another … with all due respect … care for the widow, the orphan, the stranger in our midst … feed the hungry … cloth the naked … these deep biblical principles are the pillars of Democracy … 

To seek the best, and pay the price … goodness is never cheap … justice is expensive … peace is costly … but whatever the price we pay for a better world - is a price far less - than what we’re paying right now, in the sorrow and tears of our children

Truly, this IS our Lenten Journey … 

The realities of the day, a role to play, an important work to be done … to be the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.

Yes, it’s Palm Sunday … the day our Lord rode into Jerusalem, on a donkey, a beast of burden, a humble creature, slow and steady … this is not the stuff of power and worldly glory, but peace and grace … Jesus, not a conquering hero, waving a sword and marshaling armies, but a servant of God … prepared to give himself away, until there’s nothing more to give … Jesus takes the cross … he’s crucified, dead, and buried.

He descends into hell … he falls into the faraway land of death … the deepest, darkest, realms of human failure and sorrow … to give hope to everyone … heal the sin-sick and ravaged souls of humanity … break down the walls of sin and violence … set the captives free … gives sight to the blind … points the way, not with a spear, not with a sword, not with AR-15 … but with mercy and words of truth … this is my body, this is my blood … given for you.

Palm Sunday, a festive day … yet we pause to think … beneath the joy, a strange tide running … a few days later, the crowd cries for his death.

Why did they turn? What did they expect?

They were were looking for a hero … a mighty king … like King David, who ruled Israel for 40 years … 

We have to clear about something: David reigned in ancient Israel a thousand years before Jesus came to Jerusalem … a thousand years, twice the age of this nation, and then some - a thousand years … what do any of us remember from a thousand years ago?

When was the last time we had a lively conversation about:

~ The Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066.

~ Pope Urban II calling for the Crusades, 1095.

~ Or the Magna Carta signed in 1215.

The people of Jerusalem had a long memory, an incredibly long memory … centered in King David … they longed for the past, they yearned for the past, they prayed for the past, they measured everything by the past … a past that never existed, quite as they imagined … 

Nothing more dangerous than long memories … political memories, religious memories … memories that long ago lost touch with reality, and turned their backs on the future. 

Jesus said, If you put your hand to the plow. don’t look back …

When the angel rescued Lot and his family from the doomed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the angel said, Don’t look back … but Lot’s wife turned her head, and in that moment, she became a pillar of salt … paralyzed, immobilized, stuck in time, unable to move forward.

The crowed welcomed Jesus, with expectations - to bring back the good times, to make things like they once were … 

Who doesn’t have some of that same instinct?

To be young again, Christmas like we remember from 25 years ago, that first car we bought, the happy times on vacation … our college days, or whatever it be … that happy place in our memories.

Yes, plenty of good, but never so good as to deserve a restoration in time, a reincarnation, a reenactment, a return.

The crowd longed for the past … when Jesus failed to bring the past into fruition, the crowd turned on him … when he pointed to the future, they lost what little faith they had in him.

 By the end of the week, they demand his death … Rome was more than happy to oblige; Pilate said, “Have it your way!” … the religious leaders were pleased … “Who needs a troublemaker?”  

Palm Sunday … a festive day, a mindful day … a reminder … love is the way of life, it’s the only way to keep life holy and good, to keep life balanced and purposeful, safe and secure … optimistic and realistic … love builds, love creates, love forgives, love is patient, love makes all things new … love rolls up its sleeves and goes to work … love never ends.

Palm Sunday … we welcome Christ into our lives, we sing the songs of love, we wave our palm branches in salute to his glory, we lay down our cloaks, and bow before the LORD Almighty … the LORD of day and night, the LORD of all hope, the LORD of all our futures … the triumph of all good.

Hallelujah and Amen!

August 3, 2014 - Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles - "I Was Hungry"

Matthew 14.13-21

Bad news comes to Jesus … as bad news usually does … all of a sudden, out of the blue, just like that … 

Maybe Jesus was expecting it, but when it comes, it comes hard and fast … as bad news usually does … hard and fast … out of the blue, just like that.

“John is dead,” they say … “We buried him just awhile ago … a headless body it was … we hear it was a birthday party, and plenty of dancing, and the old fool made a promise to a dancing girl … ‘You can have anything you want.’

She wanted John’s head … that’s what her Mommy told her to say … what a fool Herod was … too much drink and a belly full of food.

He didn’t want to do kill John, or so he said … but John is dead anyway, all because of a birthday party … We buried him a little while ago … sorry to bring bad news … but we wanted you to know … so sorry … we wanted you to know.”

And with that bad news hard and fast on him, Jesus heads off into a wilderness area, by himself … to do what we all do, I suppose, when bad news hits us hard and fast … our mind is a mess, thoughts whirl here and there without rhyme or reason … tears come unbidden … we’re sad, angry, frightened, confused … best left alone for awhile … “Don’t talk to me right now … leave me alone … I have to be alone for awhile” …

So human is Jesus when bad news comes his way … no tower of strength, impervious to the slings and arrows of life … he’s just flesh and blood … like us, and he hurts and he cries … when bad news comes his way … I’ve got to get away for awhile … by myself … and he finds a boat to sail him away.

But the crowds … always the crowds, press in upon Jesus … the crowds find out … someone spills the beans, “We know where Jesus is.”

And off go the crowds … on foot, dust a-flying … determined to find Jesus … “What is he going to say next? … what kind of trouble is he going to find?” … the crowds want to know more about him … hear his take on life and faith … and for the sick, maybe a chance, a chance to get healthy again … the crowds press forward, kicking up the dust …

Then or now, folks have a way of finding out where we are …

The text brings a knowing smile …

Jesus takes a boat … onto the sea, canvass billowing, the lap of waves, the smell of fish, a fresh wind - he knows it all, he’s familiar with the sea and those who make their living on it .. and there finds peace … a slow boat it is; he’s in no hurry … when the boat pulls ashore, the crowds are already there … they beat him to the punch … they’re waiting for him … no rest for the weary … the work is never done.

Let’s pretend for a moment that we don’t know the rest of the story … let’s pretend that it’s you and me … our heart is heavy with bad news, we’re tired, bone tired, dead tired … we taken time to get away from everything … we want to be be alone … “Don’t call me, I call you!” 

And the smart phone - oh, we should’ve turned the darn thing off … but we didn’t … bells and whistles and show tunes and clicks and gongs … email, instant messages, voice mail, notices and tweets … 

“Oh, just leave me alone!”

But no alone for Jesus … no rest for him today!

And now the story takes a turn … the heart of Jesus shines like a bright light in a very dark night … it says of him, simply, plainly, When he saw the great crowds, he had compassion for them … and he goes to work.

The work is never done …

For Jesus … or for us …

The work of the Kingdom … bring good news … raise up hope … engage in the stuff of life … make things better … fill in the low places where life is hard and hope is thin … bring down those high and mighty places puffed up with pride and power … prepare the way of the LORD, make straight his paths.

Jesus has compassion for the crowd …

By this time, the disciples show up … they, too, see the crowds … they listen to Jesus … they watch him work … they know he’s tired, they know he’s sad … they watch him go to work.

When evening falls … the disciples make their move … had they been thinking about it for awhile?

They’ve been thinking about it for some time, stewing about it … whispering to one another … and before Jesus can say a word, they say a few words to Jesus - Look here, Jesus, this crowd is hungry, and there’s no food to be found here; things might get outta hand … we suggest, send them into the villages … not that far away … they can buy food for themselves.

But Jesus has none of it … There’s no need for them to go away, says Jesus … you give them something to eat.

But we don’t have enough, not near enough to feed this hungry crowd … we have only five loaves and two fish … 

Bring the food to me, says Jesus.

And to the crowd, Sit on down, and make yourselves comfortable! 

With food in hand, Jesus looks up to heaven … gives thanks to his father … that’s what “bless” means here … no need to bless the food - that’s a pagan ritual … food is already holy, already blessed … it comes from God’s good earth … when Jews said a blessing before the meal, it wasn’t to do anything to the food but to bless God, to praise God, to hallow God’s name … Hallowed by thy name … that’s the blessing … Jesus gives thanks for the food …

And then Jesus breaks the bread …  

Truth be told?

Jesus doesn’t trust the disciples right now … they’re not about to share their food … all the disciples can think about right now is their own hunger … they’re not about to share what they have …

Jesus doesn’t waste any time even asking them.

Give me the food; I’ll handle it.

When he breaks it, he proportions it, fairly … everyone gets a piece of bread … there’s more than enough to feed everyone, if everyone takes their share, and no more … when the loaves and fish are divided fairly, everyone can eat.

The disciples don’t know that yet … don’t know how much they really have … or the power of sharing … a whole lot they don’t know about God, and life, and what the work of the kingdom is all about.

Jesus sees to it that everyone is fed … no one sent back home … nobody turned away … 5000 hungry men … women and children, too.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Some have suggested that when the crowd saw Jesus take the bread and fish, turn toward heaven, give thanks, start to pass it out, the spirit of fear was driven away … 

One-by-one, they reached into robes and satchels and found what little they had … some flat bread, a dried fish or two, a piece of cheese, some dates and nuts … folks were no longer afraid … they began to share with their neighbors what they had.

I don’t know if that’s what happened.

But as far as I’m concerned, that’s the greater miracle.

It would have been an easy for Jesus to simply make bread and fish … what a fuss the crowd would have made, patting their full bellies … but there would have been no redemption in that miracle … nothing to change the disciples, nothing to change the crowd … everyone would have loved Jesus a little bit more, for what he gave to them … 

Jesus isn’t interested in having folks “love” him … he wants us to love one another … brave enough to stop sending the hungry away … see the world - with the eyes of God.

I wonder …

Did the disciples ever feel ashamed of their behavior?  … did they talk amongst themselves about it, later that night, or the next week?

Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Libya … Arizona and Texas and California … a refugee crisis … people are hungry … children are crying.

If ever the Christian Church in America has an opportunity to step up and bear witness, it’s right now, right here, on our border … 

Some call ‘em illegals, some build walls, some send in the soldiers …  some wanna send the children away … fend for themselves … but Christians are taking the high road of faith … Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, plenty of other groups, too … to help America be the America of our highest and best dreams … the promise engraved on our Statue of Liberty:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Yesterday, the birthday of American novelist, James Baldwin.

An important moment for Baldwin came when he and a friend were standing on a street corner in New York City, waiting for the light to change. 

Baldwin recounts that his friend, an artist, "pointed down and said, 'Look.' I looked and all I saw was water. And he said, 'Look again,' which I did, and I saw oil on the water and the city reflected in that puddle." 

In that moment, Baldwin learned how to see, see the world differently than he had before.

Carl Sandburg the poet said: “In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning.”

The poet, Dana Gioia … wrote:

“What more could I have wanted from that day?
Everything, of course. Perhaps that was the point—
To learn that what we will not grasp is lost. “

Yes, we can do it.

We can feed the hungry.

Jesus my LORD, take my fish, take my bread … my hands are not strong enough to break it fairly for all; in your hands, it will be rightly broken, and fairly given … teach us, dear LORD, there’s enough for everyone … 

And when the dinner was done, and folks had eaten their fill … something extraordinary … 12 baskets of leftovers … enough for latecomers and midnight snacks … and who doesn’t love leftovers?

We can do it!

Amen and Amen!