February 17, 2013, "Things that Destroy"

Genesis 3.1-8, 21-24; Romans 7.13-25

By the rivers of Babylon … hearts broken, and there we wept … no music left in us … all is gone … 

Like all good parents, they wondered what their children would believe. 

Will our children opt for the gods of Babylon? Will the power of Babylon win them over?

What can we say?

What good does it do to talk about ancient military victories when our armies are no more?

What good does it do to talk about kings and queens when, in the end, all of their palace politics brought us nothing but sorrow?

What good does it do to talk about the beauty of the temple when that temple lies in ruins?

What good does it do to talk about Yahweh when we languish here in a strange land, the laughing stock of the nations … they look upon us with haughty eyes and ask, Where is your god now?

What can we believe about God, life and hope, faith and love? What can we tell our children? What do we tell ourselves?

Crisis of faith prompted big questions!

And from that crisis of faith flow the words of Genesis.

The ancient writers and poets, taken into Exile crafted the first chapter of Genesis, and then put the whole book together … to express the deepest faith in God … a faith beyond their own personal story … a faith larger than the moment … larger than Babylon … larger than Israel and Judah … larger than tears and sorrow … a god their children can believe in … a god worthy of their time … a god for the best of times, and most importantly, a god for the worst of times.

The ancient writers crafted and assembled a collection of documents that were to become the foundation of Judah’s hope for a new day … the Hebrew Bible … the Bible that Jesus studied, loved and memorized … the Bible that guided Paul the Apostle and his work … the Bible early Christians quoted to one another, and the words they used in prayer and worship … the Hebrew Bible … what we commonly call the Old Testament … 

To answer the big questions:

Is there a story bigger than our own story of sorrow and defeat?

Is there a god bigger than the gods of Israel and Judah … our gods failed, but perhaps we failed to really understand God?

Is there a god bigger than the gods of Babylon, the gods of Alexander the great, and the gods of the Roman Empire and their mighty armies?

Is there a god our children can believe in and trust?

The writers and thinkers and theologians penned Genesis 1, In the beginning … before Abraham and Sarah, before Israel and Judah, before Assyrian and Babylon … before everything and anything, God.

And there is darkness all about … plenty of darkness, and chaos, too … dark waters and darker night.

But God says, Let there be light.

A gentle light for the night - moon and stars … bright light for the day, the sun, golden and warm.

In the darkness, light … 

The biggest story of all … 

But the Hebrews are no one’s fool … light there is, the light of God, and the light of hope, the light of God’s mercy, the light of love … lots of light … but still the darkness.

Death and sorrow, war and hatred … we have a million ways of hurting ourselves, hurting those we love … a million ways for destroying what God made … a million ways to make it dark even when God creates the light.

So the ancient writers told the story of Genesis 3 … a clever creature comes along and raises questions about the trustworthiness of God … 

That’s always the question, isn’t it?

Can God be trusted?

The ancient writers sometimes wondered … just like we do.

Abraham and Sarah wondered if God would deliver on the promise on a son.

Jeremiah the prophet accused God of betrayal.

Job accused God of cruelty.

Jesus hanging on the cross wonders if God has abandoned him?

And in such moments, danger …

The Book of Genesis lays it all out - Judah tries to figure out: What happened to us? Why did we get here, in Babylon, drowning in our own tears?

WHAT went wrong?

We overreached our grasp, they said … we ate the fruit of the tree that rightly belongs only to God.

We wanted more … we loved armies and kings, power and glory; we despised enemies, thought we were better than everyone else, thought we had god on our side.

But it all fell apart … 

Judah had to rewrite its own story … 

And part of the story - things that destroy … 

We thought god would always protect the Holy City and preserve the throne of David … but, no, we were wrong … God is very different than what we thought.

Judah had to come up with a new story to fit the times and build a road to the future … the past was gone; long gone. No since crying over spilled beer, as they say … no sense looking back - look what happens to Lot’s wife … no, the only way out of this is the way forward, new ideas, new ways of doing things … the old is gone; gone forever … and that’s okay … because God is taking us to new places … it hurts to go where God is taking us, but we have to go where God leads.

A local church was having some issues, so they invited a consultant who, they hoped, could help them find new purpose.

The consultant arrived in January, when the Ladies Association was beginning a new year - new officers and a new program booklet for the next twelve months, listing times and places, programs and people, luncheons and dinners and Bible Studies.

And it was their fortieth year.

In the fellowship hall, laid out on a table, all the program booklets from the last forty years - an impressive sight - red booklets, green booklets, yellow booklets and blue.

The consultant picked up the first booklet - an old mimeographed booklet stapled together with red construction paper - and began to read the names of the leaders and the programs for the year to come. The consultant was impressed.

So the consultant read the second booklet … then the third, the 10^th booklet, the 25^th, and then the last booklet, the 40^th booklet on the table … she was shocked to see that in the last 40 years, nothing had changed - same programs, same schedule, same topics, same restaurants - and many of the names were the same, too.

Judah had to face a painful truth:

We didn’t change! 

Our god grew smaller and smaller every year for us … and we grew smaller, too.

Our prophets warned us, but we put ‘em in prison, we drove them out, we killed them. We stopped thinking, we stopped growing.

Judah learned a hard lesson - those who will not CHOOSE the future, are HAMMERED by the future when it arrives … for Judah, the future looked like an enemy, a Babylonian soldier, but God said to the people, Even Babylon is my servant.

In the Genesis story, Adam and Eve are driven from the Garden, just like Judah driven from Jerusalem - there’s no going back … angels on the east side of the Garden bar the way with flaming swords.

There’s no going back to Eden, no going back to Egypt, no going back to Jerusalem.

But there’s a clue in the text: fertile land OUTSIDE the garden! Good earth! 

We will make it, and so will our children.

God’s people need the greater story … of a god much greater than we could ever imagine.

The creator-god, the god of heaven and earth - greater than our own story, greater than Israel and Judah, greater than David and Solomon … greater than the temple … greater than Calvary Presbyterian Church, greater than the United States of America … greater than all the nations of the world and all the religions of world … greater even than Christianity itself.

As long as God remains big for us, we will be big, too … big in courage, to face the future … with creativity, to find new ways of serving the LORD … and love … love for one another, no matter what … love that transcends boundaries of race and creed … love greater than we could ever imagine.

Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down; fix in us thy humble dwelling; all thy faithful mercies crown!  

Jesus thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art; visit us with thy salvation; enter every trembling heart. 

Amen and Amen!

February 10, 2013, "What Does God Want?"

I leave behind even 

my walking stick. My knife 

is in my pocket, but that 

I have forgot. 

I bring no car, no cell phone, 

no computer, no camera, 

no CD player, no fax, no 

TV, not even a book. I go

into the woods. I sit on

A log provided at no cost.

It is the earth itself, I’ve come to,

the earth itself, sadly

abused by the stupidity 

Only humans are capable of

but, as ever, itself Free.

A bargain! Get it while it lasts.

[“Look It Over” by Wendell Berry. Leavings: Poems (Kindle Location 16). Kindle Edition].

A fine poem by one of America’s leading writers, Wendell Berry … who always reminds me of the basic things of life … stuff that counts … what’s important … truth to live on. 

Creation …

It’s never just dirt and trees and water and storm and snow and oceans …

It’s creation … God’s creation!

And every bit of it is Holy Ground.

Which is why children love to run around without shoes.

Children are smart enough to know that it’s Holy Ground they run on … God’s good earth … 

A little dirt between the toes … a little bit of God’s handwork ground into the soles of their feet … 

Creation … God dreamed it up … and made it so.

God said, Let it be, and it is … full of life.

Creative and creating … 

Beetles and bumblebees … humming birds and hawks … whales and walruses … lions and lemmings … alligators and aardvarks … all in their place, and a place for them all.

And when God was done with it all,

God wondered … can I yet make a creature?

To care for it, up close and personal?

A creature to be my hands and feet and mind and heart?

A creature who will love the world as I love it?

A creature who can take the raw stuff and cook it a little bit … take the clay and mold it … take a tree and cut it down with a prayer, because that tree has life, a part of my life … and with love, create a board to build a home … a plank to build a ship … a stave to build a barrel?

What does God want?

A creature to share God’s heart.

God’s heart for creation … and all of its creatures, great and small …

When it comes to creation, to be mindful … to be thoughtful about consuming … polluting … what we buy and what we throw away … 

When it comes to our politicians, women and men who have a heart for creation, let us pray … they don’t have to be Christians, or Jews, or believe anything at all about God … but if they care about the earth, about air and water and land … how we farm it, how we mine it, how we use it - pay attention to politicians who care about the earth, and give them our support.

When it comes to corporations who mindlessly break the earth to please Wall Street, make our views known … protest irresponsible mining of the Appalachian Mountains for coal … the Niger Delta for oil … Peru for lead and copper … and the terrible smelting factories that belch out pollution sickening the population and killing the children in so many third-world nations.

What does God want?

A creature who shares God’s heart for creation.

A creature who understand justice … how to level the playing field …

A creature who looks upon the whole of the human race and sees only sisters and brothers … we’re all in the same race, if you will, the human race … we all share the same ancestors … our blood is red, our tears salty …

We all love our families and our friends … we all have hopes and dreams … we all lay awake at night fretting … and when someone tells a good joke, we laugh our heads off, and when someone close to us dies, we cry.

Justice … to be sure that everyone has a chance … remember the Year of Jubilee … when God told Israel to start the whole game over again - every 50 years - free the slaves, return property, cancel debt - restart the game, so those who have gotten much won’t have too much, and those who gained little won’t have too little.

We can be mindful of charities and their good work … when it comes to politicians, listen carefully to the message … to whom do their words cater? … is it to the wealthy who make a great show of their wealth as they walk up to the offering box in the temple to put in their bags of gold and demand the best seats in the house?

Or to the widow who gives her last two pennies?

Be mindful of the politicians and what they say … 

What DOES God want?

God wants justice … and kindness.

What can be said about kindness? … we all know it when it happens … kindness heals a broken heart; helps a fallen friend … kindness forgives and kindness gives another chance … kindness rejoices with those who rejoice, and weeps with those who weep … kindness laughs a lot … restrains the mouth, restrains the hand on the keyboard … thinks before it speaks, and speaks with the heart of God.

Kindness …

That’s what God wants.

And to walk humbly with God … to presume nothing, receive everything … 

Whatever we have, it’s been given … no matter how hard we’ve worked, it’s all by grace … call it chance, fate, luck, whatever … 

Never a reason to pat ourselves on the back and look down on anyone else … Paul the Apostle put it well, I am what I am by God’s grace … and God’s grace hasn’t been for nothing. In fact, I’ve worked harder than all the others - that is, it wasn’t me but the grace of God that is with me [1 Corinthians 15.10].

In the Bible, we’re all just takers … as it should be, and God is the Maker, the Supreme Maker, the only maker of all things good and bright … 

What does God want?

A creature who looks at hungry crowds and wonders they can be fed.

Those first disciples looked at the hungry crowd and got frightened … how can we feed so many? We have barely enough for ourselves. Send them away LORD. They can fend for themselves. They weren’t smart enough to bring extra food anyway, so it’s their problem Why should we worry? Send ‘em away. 

And Jesus said, No, you feed them. You have what it takes. Don’t be afraid. You can do it. Take what you have and let it go. Be open-handed, and open-minded, and you’ll be surprised by what can happen. Besides, here I am. Have you no faith in what I can do with what you can give? Give it to me first, and then you can give it away to the hungry throngs, and I tell you this clearly and directly, they will be fed, they will be full, there will be leftovers, twelve baskets worth of leftovers - enough for another day … but nothing will happen if you give in to fear … if you think there won’t be enough for you; believe me, if that’s what you believe, there won’t be enough for you; you will starve to death on your own greed.

A friend of mine tells of the very first Easter Egg she and her young children were in … she went home discouraged, as she watched the children push and shove one another out of the way to get all the eggs they could.

When she became an early-childhood specialist, she arranged Easter Egg hunts with a twist: each child could find eight eggs, only eight, and then help those who hadn’t yet found eight eggs. 

They learned to count, and they learned to help one another … lessons vital to the good life … life truly good, and life truly life.

What does God want?

Disciples who look upon the hunger of others with compassion and a determination to do something about it …

Disciples who don’t blame the hungry for their hunger … the poor for their poverty … the sick for their disease … 

Disciples who look into the face of the naked and the bruised and see the face of Jesus who was himself crucified naked, and bruised by the whips of Rome.

What does God want?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to answer the question … we can read it for ourselves … page after page of Scripture … the rich traditions of the Christian faith … our hymns and prayers … 

Genesis 2.15-20; Micah 6.1-3, 6-16; Matthew 14.13-21   

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist - it does take some courage … to open the doors, and let God have God’s way.

We can run, but we’ll never hide from God … the will of God will never leave us alone … there is no cave in which Elijah could hide … or far-away land where Moses could run … there is no place of hiding for Jacob … no sea big enough to hide Jonah from God’s purpose … 

But it took courage for Moses to leave Midian and return to Egypt to lead his people out … it took courage for Jacob to return home and face his brother Esau … it took courage for Jonah to finally admit that maybe God had a point … it courage for Elijah to leave the cave and get on with the hard work of speaking to dangerous kings and rulers.

What does God want?

A creature to care for creation …

Someone with God’s heart for justice … who loves kindness …

Wise enough to be humble.

May it be said of Calvary Presbyterian Church, that when this church professed its faith in Jesus, it really meant it … you really believed in Jesus and what he said and what he did … may it be said of this place on the Boulevard, it really took Bible seriously … you paid attention to your politics and fed the hungry … you condemned no one and welcomed everyone … you were not proud, but humble … you spent what you had, and what you had, you spent … you were givers for sure … giving time and treasure … reaching deep into you pockets and deep into your hearts, because you trusted God to do great things with what you could do for the love of God.

Amen and Amen!

February 3, 2013, "The Creation Story: What Does It Mean?"

Genesis 1 and John 1 (selections from both)

In the beginning … when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth had no form, and there was only darkness …

And God went to work … creating … with the Spirit hovering over the waters … and by the power of God’s spoken word … things happened … light emerged … water and land … plants and trees, critters and creatures of all sorts and shapes … and, at the last, human beings … in God’s own image … male and female … bidden by God to care for God’s creation … and it’s all good, supremely good, and it ends at the beginning of the Genesis 2, with a Sabbath Day … a day of rest for God and for humanity … because creating is hard work; caring is hard work … rest is essential.

As the proverb puts it, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Genesis 1 is powerful and beautiful … glorious and profound … gracious and kind.

Genesis 1 is poetry … it’s music and song, theology and reflection … and we’re pretty sure we know when it was written … sometime during the Exile in Babylon … 

A time when all was lost, and nothing made sense … 

It was all gone.

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept.

The glorious history of Israel was all gone.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel failed 150 years earlier under the domination of Assyria.

The Southern Kingdom, Judah, held on for dear life to make the best of it … but now Judah was defeated and taken captive by powerful Babylonian armies.

Prayers for deliverance failed … the walls of Jerusalem breached; the city of David destroyed … the best and brightest hauled off in chains to Babylon.

It was all gone now … the whole story was gone.

1500 years of kings and queens and marching armies and tales of conquest and victory, the ark of the LORD and the crossing of the Jordan … tumbling walls and enemies defeated … Saul, David and Solomon … palaces built, a glorious temple raised on Mt. Zion … all to the glory of God, or so it seemed, and now it’s dust … everything gone … the palace in ruins; the temple thrown town …. Jerusalem a pile of rubble … now what?

That’s the big question for the people in Babylon: “Now what?” … where do we go from here? … what do we tell our children? … what do we tell ourselves? … is there any hope for us? … do we yet have a future? … and what have we learned from all of this? … oh, if only we could start anew, things might be different? Could they be different?

A writer … a poet … a preacher … a theologian … began to muse … and began to write … 

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth ...

Here is something we can tell our children, the bigger story, the back story … there’s more to life than our own personal story … there’s a whole lot more to life than Israel and Judah, and our kings and queens and all of our marching armies and pomp and circumstance - those who live by the sword die by the sword … we’ve been there and done that … we have lived by the sword, and we have died by the sword but there’s more to the story …

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth ...

Genesis 1 is full of hope … God is creator still … 

Is life without form? … without purpose? … God gives form to the formless … and purpose to that which has no purpose. 

Is there only darkness? So dark we cannot see our hand in front of our face? … we cannot see tomorrow? … so dark, that all we can do is hide away and cry?

God creates light where there was once only darkness … the Spirit hovers over chaos and darkness … God speaks and life emerges … there is light.

There is yet hope for us!

Always hope … hope springs eternal, because God is full of hope, and we’re created in the image of God, and hope is powerful in all of us, God be praised!

What’s missing from Genesis 1?

There is no mention here of Israel or Judah … there are no national borders in Genesis 1, or lands to be conquered … neither enemy nor foe … neither kings nor queens, nor marching armies and gleaming steel … 

It is one world, a world without boundaries … God’s world … all of it created by the mighty Word of God … Let it be, says God, and it is … everything suffused with the light of God, full of creative energy … and supremely good!

The writer of Genesis 1 … the poet, the muse, the preacher, the teacher, a teller of tall tale tales in Babylon … we have to start all over again … from the beginning … we got it all wrong … we fell in love with ourselves … we thought we were better than others; others could never be equal to us, because we were God’s people, we were special … we believed in the power of the sword, and we gave ourselves over to violence …

We can start all over again … In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth … 

All of its creatures, great and small … and the strangest creature of all, you and me … created in God’s image … to care for God’s creation … to put our creative energies to work, shape the world, put our very own stamp upon it … help the world be fruitful and grow all the more glorious.

The poet, the writer, the muse, the preacher and the teacher … there is yet hope for us … our prophets were right: they told us to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks …

They told us to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God.

They reminded us that no matter what, no matter where, God is our hope and our consolation … 

⁷      Though the fig tree does not blossom,

      and no fruit is on the vines;

      though the produce of the olive fails,

      and the fields yield no food;

      though the flock is cut off from the fold,

      and there is no herd in the stalls,

¹⁸      yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

      I will exult in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹      GOD, the Lord, is my strength;

      he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

      and makes me tread upon the heights. [Habakkuk 3]

500 years later, John puts pen to parchment and writes his gospel … In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … and the Word of God was incarnate … came to live with us, and we have seen his glory, full of grace and truth.

All things were created by him, through him … and though there be darkness in many places, the light shines bright and clear in that darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome the light.

And his name is Jesus … 

To believe in Jesus is to believe in life … to follow him is to spread life abroad where there is no life … to bring light where there is darkness … to bring peace where there is war … and welcome where there is rejection … 

To believe in Jesus is to refuse the boundaries and borders that require death and blood to defend … 

An aside here … something I read in the LA Times (January 13, 2013) this week ...regarding the immigration issues facing our nation, and most of the nations of the world … human beings are always on the move … check any of our genealogies, and we’ll find how much our families moved, all over the place, across borders, legally and illegally … to flee war, or poverty or starvation. Anyway, a 70-year old gentleman is interviewed, and he “wants gun towers along the border and guards with orders to shoot.” He says: "The point is some would have to lose their lives, but when they realized that they can't cross without being shot, they would stop."

I’m not surprised that someone should feel like this, but it’s the next piece that truly disturbs me - it says of him, “he sings in his church choir.”

And I have to ask, What the hell kind of church choir does he sing in, and what kind of church does he worship in, and what has he heard from the pulpit? … while he sings about Jesus, he talks about shooting people along our borders.

Could he stand before Jesus on the cross and say that?

To Jesus, dying at the hands of a powerful empire that killed all the time to defend its borders … could he say that Jesus?

I’m not surprised that some should think this way … but Christians can’t think this way … not with Genesis 1 and not with John 1.

The poet, the muse, the teacher, the preacher, calls us to transcend the boundaries that divide, the borders that kill … a world defined by God’s creation and God’s love. 

To believe in Jesus is to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth … to love what he loves and do what he loves.

To believe in Jesus is to see all humanity as the family of God, sisters and our brothers are we all … red and yellow, black and white … they are precious in his sight … Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Turn to the beginning, when all things seems lost and hopeless.

Turn to the beginning, when hatred and fear take root in our hearts.

Turn to the beginning, when death seems so strong.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth … in the beginning was the Word.

There is yet hope for us and for our world; turn to the beginning.

Amen and Amen!

January 27, 2013, "Begin the Work"

I Chronicle 22.15-16; Luke 4.14-21

In the Friday LA Times, a teaser for the Sunday edition, “Stories made for this Sunday.”

I can’t think of a better story for Sunday than Jesus preaching in his hometown of Nazareth … his formal introduction as a rabbi … when he returns from his baptism and his trial in the wilderness … where the Devil threw at Jesus temptation, to take the easy way out … take care of yourself first of all - feed your hunger, said the Devil to Jesus … and you can feed the world, too … and the world will be eating out of your hand - look at all these stones; you can make bread from them. To which Jesus, True enough, but human beings need more than bread; they need the word of God.

The Devil tries another tact - Jesus, you and I both know how hard this life is going to be … you’ve chosen a difficult assignment - here, I’d like to show you a shortcut … why not make things a little simpler … you want the world to know your Father’s love? Well, I tell ya’ what, just bow down to me, and I’ll give you the world, and then you can do with it as you will. Just bow down; it’ll be easy … no one needs to know; just you and me … to which Jesus replies, True enough, but it is written, plain and clear, worship the LORD your God and serve only him.

The Devil, if you will, plays his last and final card … Astound people with your holy power, do a few tricks, a little razzle-dazzle will go along way; people are suckers for the fantastic - jump off the temple pinnacle; you and I both know God’s angels will bring you down like a feather … and your fame will grow, and you’ll have the world at your feet … to which Jesus replies, True enough, but it is written, clear and firm, don’t tempt God with your own vanity and foolish desires.

With that, the Devil leaves, as Luke says, until the next opportunity … then Jesus heads home, in the power of the Spirit, to announce good news.

Jesus begins with the people he knows best - hometown folks - they know him and his family - they watched him playing in the streets with his friends, they watched him learn how to plane a plank of wood under his father’s guiding hand … they loved his mother and her faithfulness … they were proud of this young man now become a rabbi, commissioned by John the Baptist in the Jordan, at the age of 30, when a man ends his schooling and becomes a teacher of others - rabbi Jesus, in his hometown.

Jesus preaches an imaginative message … can you imagine what the world would be like if the reign of God were to hold sway over the affairs of men and women? … can you imagine what the world would be like if the reign of God could set the pace for government and commerce? … can you imagine what the world would be like if the reign of God governed the banking system and how we care for one another?

Can you imagine these things?

The power of imagination is great … science, art, religion … the greatest human ventures of idea and ideal are born in the fires of imagination.

The American Poet, Emily Dickinson said, “The possible’s slow fuse is lit by the imagination.”

Imagination is the energy of invention ...

Henry Ford imagined a better way to build a car …

The Wright brothers imagined a way to link a gasoline engine to a glider ...

Einstein, when but a 16-year old boy, dreamed of chasing after a beam of light … 

Abraham Lincoln imagined the United States free of slavery, a more perfect union … 

Gandhi imagined India free of British Rule …

Mandella imagined South Africa free of Apartheid …

“You can’t depend on your judgment if your imagination is out of focus,” said Mark Twain … 

Will you seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love? We ask Deacons, Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders.

The key word is imagination … energy is good, and so is intelligence, but without imagination, energy and intelligence never spread their wings, never take off and go anywhere … and love? Without imagination, love cannot rise above itself, or go anywhere truly great … imagination sets love free, free to fly high, and reach far.

Frederick Buechner writes:

"To journey for the sake of saving our own lives is little by little to cease to live in any sense that really matters, even to ourselves, because it is only by journeying for the world's sake - even when the world bores and sickens and scares you have to death - that little by little we start to come alive."

William Barclay, one of the great Bible teachers of the 20^th Century said: “There are two great days in a person’s life - the day we are born and the day we discover why.” 

Imagination is the way of discovery … imagination is the only way we can think big enough to imagine the love of God … big enough to see what we can be, what we can do for the glory of God.

Faith requires imagination … so does hope, so does love … faith, hope and love are always beyond the immediate reach of reality … of all the things that can be said about God’s people: “We don’t give in to reality, low down and dirty, as it is; we believe and we live things that cannot be seen by the physical eye … we believe and live in the greater reality of God’s reign, ultimate reality, true and lasting reality … we imagine what the world could be like if the reign of God held sway.

Paul the Apostle writes: God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear heard … things that have never crossed the mind … God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit [1 Corinthians 2.9-10).

Can we imagine the reign of God? … can we see it in our mind’s eye? … what love looks like? … all the fruits of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? … can we see these things? Imagine them? What the world would like if the reign of God held sway in the affairs of humanity?

Imagination sets the soul free to fly high and wide in the glories of God and the ways of Jesus … They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint [Isaiah 40.31].

When Jesus goes home to Nazareth, he invites his hometown people to imagine, to imagine with him, the world God imagines!

Luke says of Jesus, He went to the synagogue as he normally did … rhythm to his life, built around worship and learning, instilled in him by Mom and Dad … a faithful family set in the ways of God - to Jerusalem when they could, with all the other pilgrims, to celebrate the feasts of Israel’s life - to imagine a world made new!

The imagination was alive and well in his family … now, in his hometown synagogue, Jesus begins his ministry with one of the most imaginative readings of all, from the Prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of the LORD is upon me …

The LORD has anointed me ...

Can you imagine what this means?

Can you imagine good news preached to the poor? Those who have not enough, who are without hope in this world, for whom life is hard and mean?

Can you imagine release to the prisoners … prisoners of injustice - who wear the shackles of Rome’s brutality and human cruelty?

Can you imagine?

Can you imagine the blind receiving sight … when eyes can see the glory of the LORD … the majesty of God’s creation and the wonders of love. 

Physical eyes blinded by disease … spiritual eyes blinded by sorrow and sin … the eyes of the soul, the eyes of the heart … can you imagine?

Can you imagine what it would be like to liberate the oppressed … those who suffer under the iron heel of the powerful and the mighty, who rule the world for their own pleasures, and care not a whit for the lowly? Can you imagine the oppressed set free?

Can you imagine the Year of the LORD’s favor? When debts are released, when slaves are set free, when land given as collateral for a loan is returned to the original owner, whether the loan is paid or not, so that every family can retain its inheritance … the year of the LORD’s favor, can you imagine, when the world starts all over again … the Year of the LORD, the Year of Jubilee … a new beginning for the world … can you imagine this?

Luke tells us that Jesus hands the scroll back to the synagogue assistant and sits down … every eye is fixed on him; they’re waiting for him to teach … and to them he says, Today the scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.

It’s possible, says Jesus.

It can be done.

The way will be hard, that I know … the Devil tempted me to take the easy way, and I said no, because the easy way is no way at all … I have taken up the task of my Father in heaven, and I invite you to come with me, stand and stay with me, learn from me, dream with me, imagine with me, and go my way.

You have within you what it takes … now get busy, and get to it.

The reading from 1 Chronicles … David’s encouragement to his son, Solomon, to build the temple … you have all that need, now get to it.

Nothing more needs to be given; what has been given is sufficient.

Can we imagine it? Can see it in our mind’s eye?

What we see with our eyes depends very much on what we see with our soul … imagination fires up the soul, sets the soul free to imagine the goodness of God and the glory of God’s work … 

Like David to Solomon, You have what you need … look no further; no need to wait for another day … just get going and build it.

The marriage of imagination and reality … imagine the temple of God, then to build it.

Imagine the Year of the LORD’s favor and live it.

Imagine the reign of God in all things great and small, and apply ourselves to make it happen.

Can you imagine it? Asks Jesus!

Can you imagine this kind of a world with me?

Can you imagine walking with me,  to the far places, to the ends of the world, where there is darkness, so that we can bring the light of love to the loveless and the forlorn?

Can you imagine?

Can you imagine doing the great work of God with me, to salt the earth with goodness and peace?

Can you imagine a world made new?

Our hearts cry out to the Lord, Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can.

To the glory of God. Yes we can!

Amen and Amen!

January 20, 2013, "Water Into Wine"

1 Chronicles 22.17-19; John 2.1-11

How strange … how curious … how wonderful …

The ministry of Jesus begins …

At a party … a shindig … a wedding feast … several days of drinking … lots of drinking … and the wine runs out …

Oh oh … someone miscalculated … too many guests showed up … or not enough wine was ordered … or maybe everyone was just feeling so good, they drank more than should have … 

The wineskins are flat … empty … the wine is all gone … and the host is about to be embarrassed … perhaps not his fault, but embarrassed nonetheless … it’s his party … and guests will talk about him … he’ll become the joke of the town … years afterward, folks will hoist a cup of wine, and say to one another, “Remember when we ran outta wine at the wedding party? What a cheapskate, stingy host … didn’t get enough wine for all of us … well, I’ll tell ya’ this much, if it was me, there’d be enough wine, enough wine for everyone. Wouldn’t run outta wine at my party! No siree, wouldn’t run outta wine at my party.”

But the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray, as the poet puts it … things happen … we plan carefully, we set our strategy, and then, the unexpected … the hiccup … the strange twist of fate and fortune … who knows where that came from … who knows why … and there we are, the wineskins are empty … we did our best, or thought we did, or hoped we did, and the best wasn’t good enough … and now we’re about to be pay the price … 

Life is full of blips and bumps … gaps in memory, lapsed promises, dreams ignored, promises made and forgotten, plans gone astray and maybe we did our best, and it still didn’t work out, and maybe we didn’t do our best, and we hoped no one would notice, and sometimes no one does notice … there is the unexpected grace in all life …  we breath a sigh of relief when we finally pile into bed that we made it through the day … it wasn’t as bad as we thought … or even it it was bad, really bad, and sometimes things get really bad … we made it anyway … we came out the other end, and it was okay … not that it was easy … very little about life is easy … but we make it through the day … we make it through the dark night of the soul … there is grace to be had, grace that comes our way, whether we ask for it or not …

Maybe someone else steps into the gap for us … for our sake.

Did the groom know that the wine was gone?

Did the host know how close he was to failure?

He didn’t know it … but others did … Mary’s mother was drinking her share of the wine, and when she held out her cup for a refill … the servant shook his head, and said, “Sorry, ma’am, we’re out … this has been one heck of a party; folks were real thirsty; there’s no more wine left.”

Mary tells her son, “There’s no more wine left” … and he tells her right back, “Woman, what’s that to me? My time hasn’t yet come yet; I’m not ready for this.” 

Was Jesus reluctant to get involved!

Did Jesus have an inkling where it would all go if he took the first step? … “If I do this now, then I’ll no longer be just Jesus the rabbi, Mary’s son, but a man destined for who knows what? … once I say, Yes, there’ll be no end to it … when the wheels of history begin to turn.”

Jesus is fully human … he’s not so sure he wants to say yes … does he know the fateful road that lies ahead of him?

Perhaps he did … and maybe he needed Momma to give him a gentle push to take the first step.

A little more wine for a wedding feast.

Do what he says, says Mary to the servants … and we know the rest of the story.

The wine made by Jesus is the best of it … 

There are so many things in this remarkable story …

I think of Mary ...

She’s an intercessor for the groom, for the party, for the guests.

She doesn’t waste time wondering if her son might do something … she tells him the deal …

I like that about Mary … she’s on the side of the host … she’s not willing to let things take their course … she doesn’t want the groom to be embarrassed … she doesn’t want the party to flop … 

She’s got compassion in her heart.

She’s got some courage, too.

She’s not afraid to put the question to Jesus?

Are you gonna do something about this?

Maybe when Jesus says to his Momma, You think I care about this?

Maybe it’s a rhetorical question … a good question put to all of us … Does God care about the stuff of our life? 

Right now, in our study of Job, that’s one of the big questions - does our life matter to God? Does God even care what’s happening to us? Is God gonna do anything about it, or do nothing about it?

Dear friends, this little story, the wedding at Cana, is a very big story …

Perhaps the story reminds us, that in all of life’s many difficulties and sorrows, there is grace.

And in ways we cannot even imagine, or see, God is at work, because others are at work, too … I wonder how many people are praying for us right now, and we don’t even know it … 

When the headwaiter samples the wine, he’s surprised - it’s the best wine yet.

He compliments the groom for saving the best wine for the last … most parties begin with the best; when folks have had they’re third or fourth cup, or fifth or sixth, then bring out the cheap wine; folks won’t even notice.

Perhaps the groom, already a couple o’ sheets to the wind, simply smiles and enjoys the compliment … the party goes on.

Only a few know the real story … the grace, the grace unexpected, that saves the day.

When I was in high school, I was the third or fourth car in a line waiting for a train to pass … I’m not sure if there were gates, or just lights, but when the train passed, the cars ahead of me crossed the tracks, and I did, too … I wasn’t very much on the other side of the tracks when I looked in my rearview mirror only to see a high-speed freight train rumbling through the intersection from the other direction.

I came close that day … close, but no cigar, as they say.

I wonder how many others moments I’ve had that I don’t even know about … when grace unexpected came my way.

How many times have we been saved, all of us, and we didn’t know it? … grace shown to us, and we didn’t see it? … folks interceding for us, and we haven’t a clue?

Life is full of grace … 

We don’t always see it … we can’t always see it … much of it behind the scenes … those who pray and those who serve … parents and teachers, friends and family … the saints of old, and the saints today … 

Water turned into wine.

The party goes on.

Amen and Amen! 

January 13, 2013, "God's Son"

1 Chronicle 22.6; Luke 3.15-22

John the Baptist made quite a splash (yes, a bad pun, I confess).

Baptizing in the Jordan River … with a promise of God’s mercy, love and forgiveness.

John’s message caught the attention of the people … they came out in droves … hungry for hope, eager to hear good news.

John preached mightily … what he said was important, but where he said it was important, too.

Preaching in the Jordan River, where it all began centuries ago when their ancestors stepped out of the wilderness and crossed over into the Promised Land.

We’re starting over today says John … leaving behind the wilderness of sin … to find the Promised Land all over again.

Now get to it, and live a just and faithful life. It can be done; it must be done … and God will help you … more than help you … God lives through you … in you … and with you … God is making a fresh start with us, here and now … prepare the way of the LORD … your sins are washed away … give without hesitation … set aside your old ways … give thanks for what you have … acquire without being mean about it.

The people were expectant … Could John be the Messiah? … the Anointed One, who will save us, restore us, put all things to right, make it all good again?

John quickly reminds the crowds; It’s not me!

There is one still to come … I’m not worthy to loosen the straps of his sandals. I only baptize with water … he will baptize you with Spirit and fire.

Jesus comes to John for baptism - he’s 30 years old … the age when a man finishes his training and becomes a rabbi … 

Jesus prays, the Spirit comes down upon him … in bodily form … like a dove … 

Does the dove remind us of anything?

Noah and the Ark? … water, water, everywhere … Noah sends out a dove, and it returns to Noah in the evening, with a torn olive leaf in its beak … the flood waters are receding, danger passing, death ending, life beginning all over again.

Seven days later, Noah sends out again the dove, and this time, it doesn’t return … the dove has found a home in a new world.

The dove comes down to Jesus … the dove finds a home in a new world … and filled with the Spirit, Jesus builds the house of God.

A house not made with hands … the Most High doesn’t live in houses built by human hands [Acts 7.48].

Solomon built with wood and brick … God’s Son builds with Spirit and fire.

A voice from heaven says, You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.

Jesus is the Son of God … 

Now we have to think in terms of royal families … then, or now, the royal family is present in the sons and daughters, and even grandchildren … when Prince Harry visits South Africa, it’s the whole royal family who visits in his person … it’s the Queen whose presence is felt … Prince Harry is Great Britain, and Great Britain is Prince Harry.

To see the son of a king is to see the king himself … 

Jesus says to his disciples: If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father … I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.

The writer of Colossians says: the Son is the image of the invisible God.

John’s gospel says it well: The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, glory like that of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

The Nicene Creed says:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, 

the only Son of God, 

eternally begotten of the Father, 

God from God, light from light, 

true God from true God, 

begotten, not made, 

of one Being with the Father.

Why is this important?

Because we can have some very strange gods … gods of wrath and vengeance, gods of anger and judgment … a god who hates gays and lesbians … a god who doesn’t like science … a god who loves one nation more than other nations … a god who loves some people and hates the rest.

What is God truly like?

Early Christians tried to clear the air … make the point … remove the dross and get to the gold!

If we want to know the heart of God … look no further than Jesus!

If we want to know God’s purpose and God’s intentions for creation … look no further than Jesus!

If we want to know how to treat one another  … look no further than Jesus!

If we want to know God’s ways, and what God desires  … look no further than Jesus!

If we want to know what God is like, and what we need to value  … look no further than Jesus!

If we want to know how to read Scripture and interpret God’s Word  … look no further than Jesus!

If we want to know the price that needs sometimes to be paid in order to follow the ways  of God … look no further than Jesus.

When we look at Jesus, we see God:

God, in the little cradle in Bethlehem town … fleeing with Mary and Joseph from Herod’s rage … in the temple, learning … 

God, in the Jordan with John … in the wilderness, hungry and tempted ... out and about in the hills of Palestine, on a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee … healing, teaching and coming under attack from those who resented his free-wheeling ministry to everyone and anyone … 

God, standing before Pilate, condemned and beaten … spat upon and mocked … taken to Calvary, crucified, dead and buried … because humankind is too blind to see, and too deaf to hear ...

In the strange ways of God, the Cross becomes the tipping point when a new world is birthed … and in three days of darkness, something profound and good is worked out … and on the third day, the stone is rolled away … 

Though it takes awhile, the first disciples come to believe, and cannot help themselves; they must tell the world - Go Tell It On the Mountain; What a Friend We Have in Jesus … He is the way, the truth and the life … believe in him, cast your cares upon him … walk with him, talk with him … abide in his word, and your heart is transformed, your life, no longer your own, but a life lived now for the glory of God … your light will shine, and you will be the salt of the earth.

Jesus builds us up and bids us follow him … though many a dark night come our way … though tears and sorrow remain for us all … there is light at the end of the tunnel, an undying hope greater than death… a promise that God never leaves us or forsakes us.

I close with some recollections - people I’ve known who have shed the light of Jesus upon my life … 

Pastors who preached with intelligence and imagination, with the fire of God’s love … unforgettable memories for a little boy sitting in church, legs too short to reach the floor, and sometimes counting beams in the ceiling …

Teachers who managed to capture my imagination when I was anything but a good student … I went to an excellent Christian high school and college, where religion was in the air, but never hammered … where love was large … where science and faith walked hand-in-hand.

Donna’s parents - faithful people, filled with kindness … Donna’s Dad, an elder with a large vision for the gospel … Donna’s mother, a gracious woman who always signed her name, Mrs. Ruth Geurkink, when it was customary for a woman to sign her husband’s name.

My mother, for whom life was largely difficult and emotionally painful, but it was her faith in Jesus that saw her through and kept the family together … my father died suddenly when I was 22 and six-months married … I recall but a few things of him, but what I remember was a man with integrity, who prayed that his sons would enter the ministry.

And a dear friend, since seminary days, who pursues truth relentlessly, an unstinting devotion to making this a better world, for only the truth can set us free.

The list goes on … those who made my life better because of their faith, and because of their faith, I can do no less than take their faith seriously … and live that faith for myself as best I can … failing much of the time to live up to my own standards, and sometimes, by the grace of God, finding the strength to live well and to love much, to strive in my own way for a world better tomorrow than it is today.

Dear friends, let us remember those who shed Christian light on our life … and promise now to shed that same light on others who come our way.

After all, it’s but a short walk between cradle and grave … it behooves us to be kind … to love one another as Jesus loves us.

Amen and Amen!

January 6, 2013 - "Everyone Needed"

1 Chronicle 22.2, Matthew 2.1-12

Went to the Rose Parade in Pasadena this past week …

A great time was had by all …

After the parade, walking along a very crowded sidewalk, here comes a young man with a loudspeaker, and loud it was.

Ranting on and on about sin … we’re all horrible and hideous sinners doomed to die.

Behind him, another young man, holding the loudspeaker, an embarrassed smile on his face; I felt bad for him.

But not for the big mouth, screeching away at the top of his lungs.

I stopped walking as they approached; it was a crowded sidewalk, and he walked right up to me, shouting into his microphone … he stopped for a moment ... I said to him, “You know nothing; you know nothing at all.”

He looked at me fiercely … not sure if he heard me … he was so busy listening to himself, so busy shouting, to hear anyone else … I know these characters … they behave like jerks and then go home and tell their friends how they were “persecuted for the sake of Christ.”

He stepped aside and continued on down the street, blaring away at the top of his lungs … condemning everyone with a message of hatred and judgment, all in the name of Jesus, of course.

Is this kind of preaching really in the name of Jesus?

We have to be clear dear Christian friends.

Not everything that glitters is gold.

Jesus says, Not everyone who says, ‘LORD, LORD,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. They may prophesy in my name, cast out demons and even do miracles, but they’re not a part of my work. To them, I say, ‘I’ve never known you.’ Get away from me you people who do wrong [Matthew 7.21-23].

And what’s the wrong here that Jesus is getting at it?

Is it murder, theft, violence?

Well, those things are wrong, but that’s not what Jesus is getting at.

The wrong is twisting the gospel, turning it upside down … it sounds like the gospel, looks like the gospel, but it is … something is wrong with it … kinda like spoiled milk: it looks good sitting in the bottle, but pop the lid, and we quickly smell that it’s gone sour.

This is what Jesus means by saying, Beware of false prophets … they may look like sheep, sound like sheep, walk like sheep, but are nothing more than vicious wolves.

Jesus is clear … religion attracts all sorts of folks for lots of different reasons; sometimes religion attracts profoundly unhealthy people … and that’s good, because religion can heal the sick and cure the soul; but sometimes people remain unhealthy, refuse the healing, and produce a “gospel” just as unhealthy as they are.

We need to be thoughtful about all of it … sort it all out … test the spirits

 as John says in his first letter.

Test the spirits … like smelling the milk before we drink it.

Jesus says, You will know them by their fruits.

What is the fruit of that young man strolling down the sidewalk, blaring away about how horrible and hideous everyone is?

The friends with whom we were walking simply dismissed the young man as a religious nut; they were not impressed, nor was I.

There was nothing thoughtful about what he said … he was full of fire, that’s for sure, and he was eager to burn everyone around him. Passion without intelligence; fire without a fireplace, burning everything down around it.

The young man is a hindrance to the gospel … Jesus preached with intelligence, compassion, concern and great wisdom … Jesus had harsh words sometimes, but only for the religious leaders of Jerusalem, the high and the mighty, those who wanted to lord it over others … to the people, Jesus speaks tenderly, with kindness in his voice and always with hope for a new and better day.

Yelling street preachers appeal to biblical characters like Jeremiah by the Temple, or John the Baptist by the Jordan, but that appeal doesn’t fly … social context, the nature of the message, the way it’s delivered, where and how and why - all very different than a screaming preacher with a megaphone marching down a busy Pasadena street after the Rose Parade.

The shouting street preacher in Pasadena knows nothing … he has a few words, a few ideas, but it’s all hatred and harangue, denunciation and damnation … the young man knows just enough to be dangerous; he doesn’t know enough to help anyone.

Believe me, Jeremiah and John the Baptist would stand in line to tell the young man that he knows nothing, and it would be better for him and the gospel, to hush up, go away and leave the world alone until he’s figured out who he is and what the real message of  faith, hope and love is all about.

What is the real message, the real message of faith, hope and love?

Think of everything Jesus does and says. How he says it, and how he does it.

Remember the New Year’s Resolution I’ve asked you to adopt? - to know Jesus through and through … to read the gospels with care, and read them often throughout the year.

What is message Jesus proclaims?

Can it be summed up easily?

Well, not easily, but if we read Jesus, we’re clear, crystal clear, about a few things:

Welcome to everyone.

No one turned away, especially those who’ve been turned away by organized religion … 

Jesus pays special attention to the ignored, the condemned, the lonely and the broken, the weak and the abused … the woman at the well, Zacchaeus up a tree, blind Bartimaeus by the side of the road, the woman with the hemorrhage, little children, the blind, the deaf, the lame and the dead.

Jesus makes a special effort to pay attention to all of them, to give them a second change, fresh hope and life … his words are gentle and kind and welcoming.

One of the finest descriptions of Jesus: He will not break a bruised reed, nor quench a smoldering wick.

If we’re down, he won’t smack us down … if we’re hurting, he won’t add to the hurt … if we’re guilty with sin, he forgives us … if we’re wracked with fear, he assures us … if we’re sad and frightened, he won’t add to the burdens we carry; he lifts our burdens and gives us rest.

That’s why we get to know Jesus … he sets the standard for all of us … what we say, and how we say it … what we do, and how we do it …

It’s open doors and Table fellowship … welcome and affirmation … second chances and then some … no one excluded; no one left behind; no one overlooked.

In our readings for the day, from the Book of Chronicles … a small verse and a simple phrase: David gives orders to gather together the aliens who were residing in the land of Israel … inviting them to be a part of a great public works project … the building of the temple. 

It wasn’t to be, of course.

The LORD says to David, You have too much blood on your hands … the one who builds my house needs to be a man of peace.

It will be David’s son, Solomon, who builds the temple.

But for our purpose here this morning, David’s desire to include everyone, even the aliens living in the land … because everyone has worth … value … importance … everyone counts … all are invited … all are welcomed … social status means nothing to the LORD; for the LORD loves us all.

The New Testament Lesson … the Wise Men from the East - Babylon, Persia … today’s Iraq and Iran … they followed a star and found a child.

The Wise Men are the stars of the story … yes, bad pun … but they’re the heart and soul of Epiphany, the Season of Revealing, when God makes it clear that everyone has a place at the Manger … not just God’s people, not just Israel, or a select group, but the whole wide world, from A to Z, top to bottom, and everyone in between.

Luke’s account of the shepherds standing watch over their flocks at night; who smell of sheep and sweat and campfire smoke … Matthew’s account of the Wise Men traveling from a-far - learned philosophers with gifts of gold, incense and myrrh … the point is clear and simple: everyone welcomed at Bethlehem.

‘Tis a kindly LORD we worship, and a gracious king who governs … he is the healer of our wounds and the balm of Gilead … he is the bright morning star and the rose of Sharon whose fragrance fills every heart with grace … his words are the truth, and his truth always set us free.

That’s the gospel, dear friends … the greatest story ever told, and the finest message ever heard.

Amen and Amen!