November 15, 2009 - "Ultimate Concern"

Hebrews 10:11-25

Love is the ultimate concern that flows through the pages of Scripture … love is the bedrock of the story … love is what it’s all about.

Faith, hope and love … and the greatest of these is love.

When a young man asks Jesus what’s most important, Jesus replies: love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself … on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Owe no one anything except love, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Let love be genuine … love one another with mutual affection.

Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.

For God so loved the world … loved it enough to give the beloved son … God’s lamb … to take away the sin of the world.

There is no greater love than this, then to lay down one’s life for another.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 

When it comes to love, kids see it for what it is … here’s something I picked up from the internet – kids and love:

WHAT MOST PEOPLE ARE THINKING WHEN THEY SAY "I LOVE YOU"

"The person is thinking: Yeah, I really do love him. But I hope he showers at least once a day." (Michelle, 9)

HOW A PERSON LEARNS TO KISS

"You learn it right on the spot when the gooshy feelings get the best of you." (Doug, 7)

"It might help to watch soap operas all day." (Carin, 9)

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

"It's never okay to kiss a boy. They always slobber all over you...That's why I stopped doing it." (Jean, 10)

HOW TO MAKE LOVE ENDURE

"Spend most of your time loving instead of going to work." (Tom, 7)

"Don't forget your wife's name...That will mess up the love." (Roger, 8)

"Be a good kisser. It might make your wife forget that you never take out the garbage." (Randy, 8)

At the heart of the Bible, God’s love for us …

And the hope of the Bible, that we might love God, and never be afraid, and love one another with the kind of love God has for us.

Love is always an action word … an ethical word … love rolls up its sleeves and gets its hands dirty.

How do we know that God loves us?

Because God said so?

No.

Because God did so.

God did something about the problem of sin …

God met it head-on, battled with it, died with it on Calvary’s cross … to pay the ultimate price – to undo the damages of sin and recalibrate the universe.

This was no easy thing for God.

Compared to the cross, creation was a breeze.

It was no big deal to create the world.

God said, Let it be!” and it was so … boom, boom, boom, just like that.

But sin required something more … a whole lot more of God … no easy words here, but life on the line … from birth to death and everything in between … Jesus, born of Mary – a little boy, a precocious 12-year old in the temple … and a very ordinary life, the son of Mary and Joseph, until it was time, time for the young rabbi to begin his work.

Time to preach the kingdom of God.

Time to heal and time to love.

Time to forgive and time to give hope.

Time to confront and time to challenge.

Time to overturn a few tables.

Time to take up a cross and carry it to Calvary.

Time to suffer … and time to die.

This was no easy thing for God.

Jesus anguished in the garden.

Jesus cried out on the cross.

This was no cakewalk.

This was hard.

Bloody hard.

Terribly hard.

To die for the sins of the world.

To offer a sacrifice, once for all … a sacrifice, so pure, so good, that it would cover the world with grace … big enough for everyone … deep enough to reach the gates of hell … good enough to reach the gates of heaven … tough enough to face whatever hell would throw at it … strong enough to conquer the human heart.

God at work on Calvary’s cross and in the tomb, going to hell and back again, and then, for us, God at work - in our hearts and minds.

God inscribes the words of love in the deep places of our life – in heart and mind, God writes the covenant upon us – You belong to me, and I belong to you … a tattoo on our soul … and nothing can ever separate you from my love, and my love will hold you forever … every day and every night – in hardship and in joy … God’s love holds us!

So, we have this relationship with God …

Connected to God, and God connected to us … and the connection is love …

So be brave, says the writer to the Hebrews … be brave, be bold … don’t be afraid of God … enter into God’s presence with confidence … because of Christ …

And then two guidelines:

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.

And …

Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Two remarkable guidelines …

First of all:

Hang on to your hope!

BECAUSE - God is faithful.

It wouldn’t be enough to just say, “Hang on to your hope.”

We’re not strong enough, big enough, or smart enough.

Real hope is not just a human thing.

It’s a God thing.

It has to be.

Because the human thing is too crazy.

For the last few days, a dear friend of ours has been living a nightmare …

She wrote to me late last night about her brother …

"Rev Tom...John has not been found...his boat was found capsized "washed ashore" on Thursday. He went out Wed. at 5:00 AM…they have called off the search…49, father of 24 & 17 year old sons…his 24 year old is a Captain on a freighter ...this is so not real to us. John is a lover of the ocean and fishing…freak accident as the storm came up quickly and the waves were huge…we "think" he was trying to call for help but did not have a signal per telephone company…family is still searching the islands...his cooler and life jackets were found about 100 yards from the boat...The boat was beaten up pretty badly my older bother told me tonight…Prayers for my 89 year old mother that just realized today that it was John her son...this is her fifth son that she has lost...Peace I pray for...hope all is well your way....thinking of Josh and his new adventure...hello to Donna...prayers please Rev. Tom...Patti"

We need more than our human stuff.

We need God!

Hang on to your hope because of God.

Because God doesn’t give up on any of us.

God doesn’t give up on the world.

All the sorrow and all the sadness … all the hatred, all the war, all the greed … but God doesn’t walk away … God loves the world, and is at work in all things … for good!

That’s what we confess.

That’s our hope.

Not in human resources.

Not in our cleverness.

Not in our science.

But in God.

God!

This is our gift to the world.

This is our ultimate concern: to know God’s love, and to share that love with the world.

Because God’s love is the real hope of the world.

But we can’t do it alone.

I can’t do it alone.

You can’t do it alone.

But we can do it together!

Here’s the second guideline:

We need one another.

The simplest admonition – meet together regularly … in worship and Bible study, in prayer groups and ministry teams, mission trips and justice projects …

The greatest enemy of faith is separation from one another … when the Devil has us running around like chickens with their heads cut off, faith dies … when we’re too tired, too preoccupied, too full of ourselves, to show up here for the sake of one another, faith evaporates in the heat of the day; faith slinks away in the fears of the night.

All that’s left are a few words and the broken fragments of love.

I like how the text puts it to us:

Provoke one another – push hard on another … I think of a good coach who pushes a young athlete to excel … a teacher who sees what a student’s mind could be … a good manager guiding a young salesperson.

We mentor one another.

To be more today that we were yesterday.

The text puts it to us:

Don’t neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some.

The greatest temptation – that we try to follow Christ by ourselves, by our lonesome … all on our own.

But, you see, that’s the very opposite of love, isn’t it?

To try to go it alone with God is to contradict God.

To seek God without a commitment to God’s people – we might as just tell God we’re not interested in God’s family.

But it’s worse than that:

If we turn our backs on one another, we cut ourselves off from the lifeline.

We deny ourselves the privilege and the power of the other person helping us.

And we deny to others the value and gifts of our life for them.

To want God all by ourselves is just plain selfish.

Because God is love.

And the ultimate concern of life is to love …

To love God …

And to love one another as Christ has loved us.

We’re all in this together.

We need one another.

Together we stand, or divided we fall.

We encourage one another, as we see the day approaching.

Because time moves on … history is always fateful.

If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.

Every day takes us one step closer to God.

The inevitable sweep of time.

To the finale!

The end of life, God!

Period.

God!

The finale!

With that reality in mind, we press on with the kingdom of God.

Time is precious.

Let’s not waste it.

So we devote ourselves to ultimate things!

Things that count!

Things that shape our life in the highest and best of all possible ways.

 

We hold on to our confession of hope - because we know in Christ God is utterly faithful.

We hold on to one another in the fellowship of love, to make one another stronger in faith and service.

Our ultimate concern:

To love God with all that we are.

And to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Amen and Amen!

November 8, 2009 - "My Story"

Hebrews 9:24-28

What’s your story?

Everyone has a story to tell … and every story is important.

I recently read a biography on Carl Sandburg.

One of my favorite poets, but now I know a little more about his life – how hard it was in the early years … how he toiled to perfect his poetry – often against great odds, because his poetry was different – and the critics were harsh – but Sandburg and his wife were a marvelous team, supporting one another in the face of professional hardship and personal sorrows.

Knowing a little more of Sandburg’s story, I have an even deeper appreciation for Sandburg’s poetry.

When I read his Chicago poems, I can hear the clank of steel and I can smell the smoke.

When I read of the people who’s story Sandburg wanted to tell, I can see their toil in sprawling factories, feeding the blast furnaces; I can see miles and miles of railroad cars lurching into Chicago loaded with cattle and hogs, to feed a hungry nation.

Sandburg has a story to tell.

I’m currently reading a Hemingway biography.

I’ve read plenty of his stuff over the years, but to learn about Hemingway – his growing up years in Chicago, summers in Petoskey, Michigan ...

An ambulance driver on the Italian front in World War 1 – journalism in Europe; living in Paris - his books take on a new meaning for me … as I get to know Hemingway’s story.

What’s your story?

May I tell you my story?

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long;

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.

“Blessed Assurance” - written by Fanny Crosby …

One of my childhood memories, singing “Blessed Assurance” in church next to Mom and Dad, just across the aisle from Dan Smies and my Sunday School teacher Burt, and Elmer with the lisp and Mary with the little mole on her chin.

Voices soaring, faith filling the sanctuary, organ and piano cranking it out, “This is my story, this is my song” - “Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine.”

A wonderful hymn of faith, just as it is.

But even greater when we know something about the author.

Fanny Crosby was born blind in 1820 … and blind she would remain for all her years.

Yet grace was found in the darkness.

Ms. Crosby penned more than 8000 poems, thousands of which were set to music and became beloved hymns sung by millions of Christians all around the world to this very day.

In 1858, Fanny married Alexander Van Alstyne, a fellow teacher at the New York Institution of the Blind, a musician and a composer, and he, too, blind.

Their only child, a daughter named Frances, died as an infant.

After Fanny and her husband were married 44 years, he died in 1902.

A preacher said to Fanny one day: "I think it is a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you."

She replied quickly, "Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?"

"Why?" asked the surprised pastor.

"Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!"

We all have two stories to tell.

We have our own personal story, our biography: where we were born, schools attended, work and career, and a fair share of laughter and tears along the way – that’s one story.

Then we have Christ – the other story, the rest of the story, the bigger story – “blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, oh what a foretaste of glory divine.”

Our personal story is a tiny chapter in a huge, giant, book – and maybe not even a chapter, maybe just a few pages, or even just a footnote … but we’re all there in that story, that great, incredible story, with the likes of Sarah and Abraham, Moses and Miriam, Mary and Joseph and John the Baptist … King Herod and Caesar and Pilate are there, too – Zacchaeus up a tree and the woman at the well; blind Bartimaeus and the man in the tombs … the long march of history, millions of stories, all wrapped up into Christ.

THIS is our story, THIS is our song, praising our Savior all the day long.

If our story grows dark,

The light of Christ shines brighter.

When our story loses its meaning,

The love of Christ arises stronger and clearer.

When our story ends,

The story of Christ goes on.

Yesterday, at the Griffith Observatory, the overwhelming smallness of my story … a tiny blip in a small galaxy in a faraway corner of the universe.

Our story is a very small one, indeed.

But in Christ, our story has eternal meaning.

You see, we don’t need to have a big story.

Because we have a big Savior.

It’s good to know this.

So we don’t make such a fuss about ourselves.

It’s good to know this,

So at every turn in the road, we turn to see Christ standing there.

The man of Galilee … hands outstretched to us.

With bread for the hungry.

Drink for the weary.

Love for the lost.

Grace greater than sin.

THIS is our story, THIS is our song.

For reasons known only to God,

God has brought us to Christ.

God has put Christ inside of us,

And put us inside of Christ.

As the years of our life unfold and flow toward their inevitable end, we grow into Christ, and Christ grows into us – at first, his story is small, small enough to fit into a child’s imagination … and then, one day, his story becomes the main story of our life … and in the end, when our little story comes to the last page, when the book of our life is gently closed, Christ is there!

It’s his story …

It’s history …

Grace and mercy,

Peace and providence,

Hope and courage,

Faith and love,

Salvation and glory.

Bethlehem’s Cradle and Calvary’s Cross.

Three days in the tomb.

The stone rolled away.

Ascension into heaven and the promise to return,

A trumpet blast and the work is finished.

The new heaven and the new earth.

We discover, one day, that we are not own,

But that we belong,

To a faithful Savior.

That we are not our own.

For we were bought with a price.

The life of Christ given for us.

One day we awaken, and discover that we are not our own.

Have never been and never will be.

But always a possession of God!

That’s who we are.

And that’s our story.

“Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine.

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.”

Amen and Amen!

November 1, 2009 - "Hope"

Isaiah 25:6-8 ~ Revelation 21:8, 1-7

Mary & Jim invited three couples to dinner. All afternoon, Mary and Jim work in the kitchen, their six-year old daughter working with them.

At the table, that night, it was quite a gathering.

Mary turned to their daughter and said, “Would you like to say the blessing?”

“I don’t know what to say Mommy,” the girl replied.

“Just say what you hear me say,” Mary answered.

The daughter solemnly bowed her head, took a deep breath and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”

Welcome to Covenant to on the Corner.

A place of faith and family.

A church with courage and possessed with a godly vision.

A church serious about God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

A church that recognizes the grace of God.

Celebrates love of God.

And lives the hope we have in Christ because God is at work in all things.

Covenant on the Corner –

A good church with a radiant love.

Eager to serve the LORD.

Ready to make good things happen.

A church serious about justice!

When the chips were down, Covenant stood up for fair housing.

And there were a lot of people who didn’t like it.

A lot of people who walked away from Covenant.

But Covenant didn’t back down.

Covenant stood up for what was right.

That any human being could live wherever they wanted in America, in Los Angeles, in Westchester – that race would no longer be a wall in a neighborhood … that real estate covenants barring some would no longer be accepted … because America is the land of the free, and justice is the mission of the church of Jesus Christ.

When the chips were down, Covenant stood up for gays and lesbians in their quest for marriage rights.

Covenant stood up and said No to Proposition 8.

And when Proposition 8 passed, Covenant stood up again in favor of its repeal.

I like that about Covenant.

We understand justice in this place.

We understand what it means to love God’s world.

To embrace a vision greater than the moment.

The vision of Isaiah – that all peoples are included in God’s plan … no one left behind; no one excluded … a place at the table for everyone.

A world without tears.

A world of great love.

A world of ceaseless grace.

Now, let’s honest:

There are always those who scoff at such things.

Pilate scoffed at Jesus.

Felix scoffed at Paul.

The Emperor and the Pope scoffed at Luther.

But Jesus didn’t cave.

And neither did Paul.

And Luther stood his ground.

They believed in a better world.

They fought for God’s vision.

They did God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.

Covenant on the Corner:

We are a people not content with things as they are.

Because we dare to believe the gospel.

We believe in God’s vision.

And that’s what we work for.

That’s what hope is.

Hope puts on its gloves and goes to work.

Hope builds God’s world.

Lee and Leslie in Nicaragua.

Willie and Ann with clean water technology.

International Justice Mission … a group of Christian attorneys addressing some of the most shameful problems in our world …

27 million slaves today … more than ever before …

Young children trapped in the international sex trade …

And in third-world countries where men die from disease and war, the theft of widows’ property.

IJM sends in a team of attorneys to investigate and build a case – they use existing laws rarely enforced, and they work with a justice system too often intimidated and bought off, and they’re winning cases …

They’re freeing slaves and helping them find life all over again.

They’re freeing the children caught in the sex trade, and rehabilitating them.

They’re recovering widows’ property …

They’re finding that if they can build just a few cases and win, putting a few high-profile criminals away, the rest of the criminals slink away …

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.

Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. “Boys, if Jesus were sitting here, he would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.' Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, “Ryan, you be Jesus.”

We’d all like someone else to be Jesus, wouldn’t we?

You be Jesus.

You take up the cross.

You take the chance.

You sign up.

You volunteer.

Ryan, Bill, Susie, Mary, you be Jesus.

But in a very real way, you see, every one of us has to be Jesus.

His eyes to see the suffering.

His hands and feet to do the work.

His mouth to speak the words of peace.

His heart to love and to help.

Covenant on the Corner has a good and steady track record … we have been Jesus many a time …

But let’s not get uppity on this …

Let’s not rest on our laurels …

Let’s heed well the solemn note of Revelation 21:8 – those who miss the point, who get it wrong, who buy the lie rather than the truth.

The somber warning of verse 8 – you see, all of those people buy the lie …

That God doesn’t count.

That only I count.

That me and myself, my life and my dreams – that’s what counts.

That I can take advantage of the poor and the powerless.

That I can ignore suffering and hardship.

That I can feather my own nest.

And if I’ve got mine, it’s because I’m so smart: I worked for it, it’s mine, and I’ll break my arm patting myself on the back.

Every bit of it is a lie.

And the lie is powerful.

The lie is all around us.

Again and again, the Book of Revelation pleads for us to be vigilant … to never give up and to never give in.

To be brave and faithful.

Because there’s more work to be done.

A world to be embraced.

A gospel to be proclaimed.

Justice to be given.

And peace to be won!

Are you with me on this?

I know that you are.

Because YOU … are Covenant on the Corner.

Amen and Amen!

October 25, 2009 "Permanent"

Hebrews 7:23-28

There are three groups of people in our world:

Some play the game …

Some watch the game …

And some don’t even know the game is being played.

The players …

The watchers …

And the disconnected …

I don’t want to be disconnected …

And I’m not satisfied to watch the game …

I want to play the game!

That’s what Jesus invites to do …

Come and follow me.

I’ll make you into a player …

I’ll show you how to love.

That’s the game we want to play.

Play it hard.

Play it to the end.

Play it to win.

Play it with everything we have.

Until the coach calls us off the field,

And sends us to the showers!

And when we’re done, other players will take our place.

When we’re all done, another team.

Every 30 or 40 years, a whole new team hits the field.

Perpetua and Felicitas …

Clement of Alexandria and Origen …

Thomas Aquinas and Erasmus … Wycliffe and Hus … Luther and Zwingli, Calvin and Knox …

Mother Teresa and William Sloan Coffin …

Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day …

Barbara Brown Taylor and Diana Butler Bass …

You and me …

Covenant on the Corner.

There will always be a team.

Jesus still calls fishermen to leave their boats and nets behind …

A tax collector to change professions …

A physician to become a healer of souls …

A man on the Damascus Road to become an unexpected disciple …

To play the game,

Play it well.

Play it for everyone who’s played the game for us.

Before we ever showed up … long before any of us were here.

When the day is done, the lights turned off, we lay our head down,

We know, don’t we?

We know that we played the game well, or maybe we didn’t.

We struck out a few times, and dropped the ball.

Maybe we hit a Grand Slam and made the winning catch!

Good or bad, or mostly in between, we played the game.

That’s what counts!

Dear friends in Christ,

Play the game … play it well!

Don’t waste your time with thoughts and things that are of no account.

Don’t fret and fuss about those who see the world with different eyes and sing a new song in the old land.

Don’t dig in your heels and resist change, because change is the heart and soul of real life.

Listen to the voices of compassion.

Pay attention to those who seek justice.

Learn from those who push, wider and wider, the boundaries of love … infinite love, unconditional love … because God is love, and God so loved the world …

Set your mind and heart upon Jesus.

The High Priest of our faith.

Keep on surrendering.

Keep on giving your life.

Again and again.

Because, the Christian life is a SERIES of surrenders.

At every turn in the road, we give our lives to Christ all over again.

Because we’re always becoming new people.

Who we were no longer exists; what we did is only a faint memory.

We’re brand new people every seven years.

And every seven years, if not more often, we need to give our life to Christ … at every turn of the road; in every moment of time!

As a child in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Hope Reformed Church, I remember some fine pastors – I remember Rev. Vermeer, tall and refined, with a shock of silver hair … then he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and we moved there, too, some years later.

One Sunday, we visited his church.

I have neither idea nor recollection, except for one moment.

I can still see the church, and where I was sitting with Mom and Dad.

Rev. Vermeer asked in the course of his message, “Who will go?”

There I was, a high school student, and that question, like a spear, drove deep into my heart, and I wanted to stand up, right then and there, and shout with everything I had, “I’ll go. I’ll do it. Yes, I will.”

Being a sedate Protestant in a Dutch Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I didn’t jump up and I didn’t shout, but I jumped up in my heart, and I shouted to heaven that morning, “LORD, I will go. Yes, I will.”

A year or two later, at Immanuel Reformed Church, the Rev. Dr. Jerome DeJong … a man of dignity and preaching skill, well-read and passionate … every year, a week-long missions conference … and always a special evening, a service for young people, ending with candlelight and a moment of dedication for “full-time Christian service.”

I was there that night … I have no idea how it all went, but I remember the candles - I remember the invitation to come forward and give my life to Christ for full-time Christian service …

I remember sitting there …

The Spirit at work …

A few young people went forward.

But I was glued to the pew …

So God fired a full barrage at me …

God is ruthless.

God threw a roundhouse punch and it landed:

A cute blond went forward …

And I wanted to meet her.

A cute blond was God’s pry bar that got me outta of the pew!

What a God!

So unethical!

So I stepped up to the front with my candle, a prayer of dedication was said over al us, and then the youth pastor took us to a side room for counsel and further prayer … I don’t remember what he said.

But later that week, the blond and I had a date!

And for the rest of my life, I knew that I had given my life to Christ for full-time Christian service.

The blond and I went our separate ways in a year or so, but my walk with Christ has lasted the whole of my life.

God is good all the time.

And all the time God is good.

God is not above using teen hormones to move a young man a little closer to Christ!

Plenty of other moments along the way.

Retreats and conferences, mostly.

A pastors’ group in West Virginia … the Ecumenical Institute in the early 70s … a charismatic prayer group in northern Wisconsin …

A small monastery in Oklahoma and conversations with Fr. Jim Conner, a Trappist monk.

Leadership Conferences at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois.

Prayer groups and Bible studies …

And a lot of light and funny moments, too – pizza and beer with all kinds of friends – cooking together, going to the movies, enjoying the power of friendship, and the love of Donna, and the love of my children.

God in a thousand different ways touches our lives with grace.

Moments of love and hope that come like a downbeat in music … or an exclamation point in writing.

A moment slightly unusual.

A transforming moment … maybe a great joy, like the birth of a child, or a great sorrow like the premature death of a loved …

And in it all, the hand of God.

We hit the bed at night with a grateful heart, and breath our last prayer of the day: Thank you, LORD. Thank you!

Moments of surrender.

Many years ago at a retreat, the leader spoke of his marriage …

He loved his wife, of course, but as a young man, he saw himself as unattractive and odd, and if he didn’t marry this girl then and there, he believed no other girl would marry him … so, “I got married,” he said, “by default.”

He was responsible and faithful to his wife.

He mowed the law and took out the garbage.

But over time, he realized: “I never chose my wife.”

“I guess she chose me,” he said, “but I had never chosen her.”

“I looked at her one day, and my heart was flooded with indescribable joy, and that day, after twelve years of marriage, I choose her … for the first time, I choose her, and I gave my life to her.”

Sometimes we’re related to Christ more by circumstance than by choice.

We grow up in the church.

We’re baptized, confirmed, trained and taught … we do the church thing, and we do it well …

But circumstance is one thing; choice is another.

For those of us in the church, steeped in its ways and patterns, it may come as startling news to us that it’s been a long time since we’ve given our lives to Christ.

We’re preachers and elders and deacons and Sunday School teachers and choir members and youth group leaders and committee members and hard workers …

We know the hymns and we say our prayers,

We have our pew and we have our ways.

We settle in and we settle down.

We do the church thing rather well.

But have we given our lives to Christ?

Maybe when we were young.

Maybe twenty years ago.

Maybe five years ago.

But what about today!

Let’s give it a try this morning.

Right here, right now.

At Covenant on the Corner.

We all need a moment, now and then, when we can start all over again – a moment to decide, a moment of surrender … a moment to look at Christ, full in the face, the Man of Sorrows on Calvary’s Cross, the Risen Christ inviting Thomas to touch his wounds, the Great High Priest of our Faith … a long, careful look at Christ, and to choose Christ again!

Because Christ is permanent.

He’s the rock, he’s the anchor.

He’s forever; he’s permanent.

Let’s close our eyes, bow our head – let’s think of Christ … and ask ourselves, “When was the last time I gave my life to him?” [pause] …

Maybe today is a good day to do it!

If it seems right in your spirit, silently repeat after me the prayer of surrender, and give your life to Christ.

LORD Jesus Christ,

Son of the Living God,

I give myself to you,

In faith and obedience.

God bless each and all of you.

To God be the glory.

Amen and Amen!

October 18, 2009 "The Source"

Hebrews 4:14 - 5:10

Welcome Maya!

Welcome to Covenant on the Corner.

Welcome to the heart of Jesus Christ.

I like the word “welcome.”

It’s a good word.

Strong and decent.

Big and bold.

Bright and Brash.

Welcome!

With an exclamation point!

Friend to friend.

Brother to brother; sister to sister.

Father to son; mother to daughter.

Welcome!

Here’s where you belong.

This is home.

Glad to see ya’.

Come on in.

Take your shoes off.

Kick back and relax.

Here are some chips and salsa.

What do ya’ want to drink?

Wanna watch TV?

Listen to music?

Sure glad you’re here.

Welcome!

Welcome Maya.

Welcome to Covenant on the Corner.

Welcome to the heart of Jesus Christ.

Have ya’ ever been in a place where you are not welcome?

Been there and done that a few times …

Doesn’t feel very good.

Ice in the room.

Tension in the air.

You’re not wanted.

You’re not welcome!

See ya’ later.

Or never again.

Don’t call me, I’ll call you.

Thanks, but no thanks.

You’re not welcome here.

Jesus says welcome!

Welcome to everyone!

No one turned away.

No one left behind.

No one denied a place at his Table!

Not that everyone liked what Jesus did.

The rich and the powerful weren’t too sure.

Hey, you can’t do that, they said to him.

And Jesus said right back at ‘em, Oh yes, I can; just watch me!

Jesus played the game with his own set of rules:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Love God with all of your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Some didn’t like it one bit.

The Pharisees didn’t like it; Jesus played fast and loose with their rules, about who was in and who was out, and how to keep the Sabbath.

The Sadducees didn’t like it; Jesus was way too serious about God, and this resurrection-from-the-dead thing - the Sadducees thought it was just too new an idea.

The Zealots didn’t like it; Jesus refused to take up the sword and join the rebellion against Rome.

The Romans didn’t like it; Jesus preached things that stirred ancient longings for freedom and subverted the cult of emperor worship.

Pilate didn’t like it; Jesus didn’t scrape and bow in Pilate’s presence; Jesus declined to answer Pilate’s question about truth.

The thieves didn’t like it; Jesus remained on the cross, and there he died.

Satan didn’t like it; Jesus died for the sins of the world and walked through hell’s gate to quench the fires of doom and set the prisoner free.

Jesus played the game with his own set of rules!

The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus …

He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.

He made purification for sins.

He was faithful to the one who appointed him.

In the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears.

He is the source of eternal salvation.

He is our apostle and the high priest of our confession.

Jesus knows us through and through.

He is not above us or beyond us.

He is with us.

He did it right.

He did it all.

And still does, for all of us.

For the whole world.

For everyone and forever!

He is our LORD and our Savior!

And to each of us, an unqualified, Welcome!

What does it mean to be the church OF Jesus Christ?

A church shaped and sharpened by Jesus.

A church following the patterns of welcome – welcome to everyone, no questions asked.

What does that mean for us?

A church that doesn’t buy Pilate’s values.

A church that DOESN’T buy all the nonsense of capitalism - spend and spend and spend some more … toys the children play with only once; stuff we’ll have to sell in next summer’s garage sale – basements filled, closets crammed, attics bulging, storage units rented to hold even more stuff our homes can no longer hold.

The church OF Jesus Christ - devoted to God and loving toward neighbor.

A church interested in people than in budgets and programs.

Willing to take risks for the kingdom of God – to throw caution to the wind sometimes … to stand tall for those who can’t!

To lift up the glory of justice and the power of kindness – to say NO to the negative, and Yes to the postive.

A church that forgets the past, no matter how bad it was!

A church that forgets the past, no matter how good it was!

A church that strains forward to the upward calling of Jesus … because the best days are ahead of us … 

A church that prays deeply as Jesus prayed.

A church that knows the very Scriptures Jesus loved.

A church that knows how the cross feels.

A church that honors the deepest words of our faith: to follow Jesus where e’re he lead … whither thou goest, I shall go, too! Jesus my LORD!

What DOES it mean to be the church of Jesus Christ?

The church, you see, is you and me.

So the question really is this: What does it mean FOR US to be followers of Jesus?

What do you THINK?

What DOES it mean to follow Jesus?

Take a few moments right now … pause … what does it mean, FOR YOU, to follow Jesus? [pause]

By way of illustration:

What does it mean to be a Dodger fan?

What do teens do when they have a hero? An athlete they admire? A musician they’re crazy about?

A Dodger fan might wear a Dodger shirt!

A high school football player might learn everything he can about a great linebacker.

A young singer will try to sing like someone she admires.

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Maybe we can ask, What does JESUS look like?

What does Jesus look like to Zacchaeus when Jesus stood beneath the tree and invited Zacchaeus to come on down, because Jesus wants to have dinner with him? No one else in town wants to have dinner with Zacchaeus, but Jesus does.

What does Jesus look like to the woman caught in adultery – brought to Jesus by a self-righteous mob eager to stone her.  When Jesus bends down to write in the dirt, and then says to the mob, If any of you are without sin, go ahead; throw your stones. And he bends down again to write in the dust … and when the mob leaves, there’s only Jesus and the woman.

What does Jesus look like to the moneychangers and merchants in the temple courtyard when he overturns their tables and shouts at them because they turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves?

What does Jesus look like to the crowds telling the blind man to shut up and be quiet. And what does Jesus look like when he stops and turns, and asks the crowd to bring the blind man to him.

What does Jesus look like to the little children sitting on his lap, when fussbudget adults have no time for them?

What does Jesus look like to the lepers when he takes time to talk with them, touch them, heal them?

What does Jesus look like to the soldiers beating him? To the executioners nailing him to the cross? To the jeering crowd mocking him?

What DOES Jesus look like?

What do you and I look like?

If unchurched young people, ages 16-29, have any sense of it, you and I don’t look very good at all.

Unchurched young people were asked, When you hear the word ‘Christian,’ what do you think?

92% said “homophobic,” or  “anti-gay” … that’s the first thing they think about … and that saddens me, because it means those who pull away the welcome mat, those who slam the door, of course, all in Jesus’ name, have won the PR campaign for the young … so, where’s our voice? Where’s the voice of welcome.

And the statistics drive home the point:

87% said “hypocritical” …

85% said “irrelevant” …

80% said “boring” …

19% said friendly … which translated means, “we may be boring bigots, but we’re really nice about it!” [Diana Butler Bass – retreat at St. Mark PC, Newport Beach, October 2-3, 2009].

What’s even more startling – these statistics change downward for young people raised IN the church by only 5%. Young people reared in the church don’t think very highly of their parents’ church.

Yet young people tell us they like Jesus.

Jesus is okay; it’s the church that troubles them.

Sure, I know …

It’s not as simple as that.

And we can’t be pushed around by opinion polls.

But I wonder – what would happen if we looked a little more like Jesus?

Can the church OF Jesus Christ look a little more like Jesus?

Can you and I look a little more like Jesus?

I think so.

And you do, too.

Are you with me on this?

I know that you are!

Glory to God.

And to our High Priest, Jesus - praise and honor, forever and ever.

Amen and Amen!