Spiritual Buoyancy, or What is Your Density?

The title of my sermon is Spiritual Buoyancy, or What is Your Density? before I get started, let's pray together

God, thank you for making us in Your image and for creating us to not just know You but to have Your Spirit live in and through us. Help us to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and make room in our hearts for You.

In the 3^rd  chapter of Toward God by Michael Casey, there is an illustration that caught my eye. "A rubber ball under water submits.  Once released, it springs to the surface; and the deeper it is held, the more it strains to rise.  The human spirit possesses natural buoyancy.  It can be held down by enslavement to the senses, by acquisitiveness and ambition, by anger and violence, or by what the New Testament calls “cares.”  It can be held down, but its natural tendency remains dramatically oriented toward God.  It can never be satisfied until this upward impulse is allowed freedom." Daniel Rossi made a video to illustrate this point: show video http://youtu.be/11a6VQe1Yms

This illustration made me think about buoyancy. The ball floats because it is less dense than the water. If we took that same ball and deflated it, it most likely would sink or, at the very least, it would not float as well or for as long. If we deflated it by puncturing it, it would not be long before all of the air was gone and it began to take on water and then as it filled with water, it would be pulled deeper and deeper below the surface. To explore density a little more, let's look at these bowling balls:

Every bowling ball is the same size, but not every bowling ball has the same mass. So the heavier the bowling ball, the denser it is. A ball that is 12 lbs. will just be suspended in the water not really floating or sinking – heavier than that, it will sink; lighter than that it will float. To take the illustration even farther, it is the space, or air, inside the ball that forces it up towards the air above the water. show YouTube clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeKb_xfr608 from 2:22 til 2:47 without sound

I think we are often satisfied to live like the 12 lb. bowling ball. Not sinking, but not really floating. Under the surface of the water, the voices above the water are dulled or inaudible, and the pull on us is not making us feel burdened or weighed down. It feels safe. But as Casey says, the things that are holding us down are our own lusts, our drive for power and recognition, anger and resentment – the cares and worries of this world.  The things that we think we need and want and our own agenda are weighing us down and keeping us from fellowship with God and one another.

Casey talks about the things that we naturally long for – validation, intimacy, wholeness, safety, adventure – as things that can only be met fully in God, but we often find cheap substitutes.

Pascal described it this way: “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him …"

balloon illustration

Covetous or lustful fantasies, talking about others, judgmental thoughts, escaping into the world of the internet or television, isolating, worrying what others think, sarcasm - habits that are "not that bad" "could be worse" "not hurting anyone" at the very least, keep our spiritual senses dulled and at the very worse pave the way for serious departures into destructive behaviors– a slippery slope that leads us ever so slowly to places we never intended to go. Genesis 4:7 "You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

There is no neutral ground. All we have to offer God is our choice.  And each moment offers us small choices – to love or not love our neighbor, to forgive or not forgive, to bless or curse our enemy, to surrender to God or to fight against Him, to judge or judge not, to be patient & kind or to envy & keep records of wrongs. so on and so on – choices to move towards God or away from Him.

as C.S. Lewis puts it “…the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger life come flowing in. And so on, all day. We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments a new sort of life will be spreading through our system because we are now letting him work at the right part of us."

Prayer is the way to let that other life come flowing in. We ask God to show us what is getting in the way of our relationship with Him and we ask Him to fill us anew with His Holy Spirit.

Luke 9:23-24  Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it."

Prayer is really just as simple as talking and listening to God, and the more we do it, the more buoyant our spirit becomes. How can we stay in touch with God?

lakehouse story

what objects did Jesus use to compare Himself, the kingdom, man, etc. shout em out. sheep, coins, grass, lilies, city on a hill, a wayward son, treasure, fig, mustard and fruit trees, vine, seeds, farmer, fisherman, nets, wheat, weather, wind, yeast, bread, water, wine, lamps, children, doctor, bride, judge, workers, door, salt, neighbor, widow, tax collector, building houses, money, banquet, unlikely hero of the story, rocks, pearl

do you ever see a tree? or bread? or the wind? salt?, a house being built on a foundation? God wants us to find Him – Jeremiah 29:13-14 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, and as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, He will give us everything we need.

Ask God to help you stay in touch with Him throughout your day and you will be amazed at the way He breaks into your reality over and over. Then you will say with Jacob: “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” Genesis 28:16

C.S. Lewis Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. 

Once we have said yes to God, the relationship is started and our true life is hidden with God in Christ. Prayer is the way we tap into that life. As Casey says “Prayer is an attempt to realize the love that unites us with God, allow it to become more present to us, and give it greater scope to act upon us and change us. We do not produce prayer. We allow prayer to act.”

Casey goes on to say that sometimes events or temptations; pain of our own making or pain inflicted on us act as a wake-up call. Like the ball plunged underwater, our impulse is to spring towards God gasping for breath. as C.S. Lewis says “…pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Casey calls these moments “triggers of prayer” – we see this over and over again in the story of Israel as they cry out to God in times of oppression and distress.

God wants to be in a constant conversation with you and He will try to get (and keep) your attention in whatever ways He can. Look for Him –God is our refuge and strength, a help in distresses, very readily found.

When Jesus disciples asked Him how to pray He gave them what we now call “the Lord’s Prayer” this prayer is so beautiful and profound, but I am afraid that its significance can be drowned out by familiarity. So to close today, in the rev rag is the Lord’s Prayer with a space for you to write it out in your own words. As you do this, think about what Jesus trying to say about how to pray? When the disciples heard it from Jesus it was new to them. How can you hear it in a new way today?

blog at JPUSA

I had a blog post at the official JPUSA blog check it out!

Who's Writing the Story?

The 11^th and 12^th grade students and I have been storying through the Bible together this year. The curriculum, called Echo the Story, written by Michael Novelli, is taking us through the major stories of the Bible. The catch is that we are supposed to try to hear the stories as if we had never heard them before. As we read more and more of them we can reference back to ones that we have read and try to find the connections between them.

One of the techniques that is suggested for hearing the story in a new way is to imagine it as a movie. If I were watching this as a movie, what would I notice? Who are the characters? What would stand out? What story is the director trying to tell us?

As I approached this text, I tried to hear it for the first time. The movie that I saw, and this sermon, could be titled "Who's writing the story?"

Let's pray: Father God, thank you for giving us life. Jesus, thank you for showing us the way to live. Holy Spirit come and lead us into Your truth. 

We can see from the stories about Peter that he is a man of action. He is quick to give his opinion and to say what the others maybe are thinking but are too timid to say. He is daring. He challenges Jesus on several occasions – "if you say so." "If it's really you…"" that won't happen to You." he's a tough guy. He almost seems like Jesus' bodyguard. 

So here we are at the Passover. This is a religious observance the scope of which the western world can't imagine. The entire city of Jerusalem is observing these holy days. People have come from all over the region to participate. Hundreds of thousands of people. Jesus has ridden through the town with crowds of people shouting and cheering for Him. Jesus has gone into the temple and thrown the tables around. Peter is right there with him. This is IT! Bring it! 

They gather together for their marching orders. Peter is ready to hear how he can be a part of the revolution! But Jesus is taking off His clothes and dressing like a slave. He is starting to wash the feet of the others. Peter says "not me! Don't wash my feet!" Jesus responds by saying, "you can't be a part of My inner circle unless I wash your feet." "in that case, says Peter, wash my head and hands too! – count me IN!"

Jesus then tells them some more of what is about to happen. This is the big moment. The pep-talk.  The rousing battle cry. Peter is waiting for the plan. What Jesus is saying doesn't quite compute. Talk about death and suffering. This again? Come on Jesus, get to the good stuff. Then Jesus starts to talk about being betrayed and having to leave. This gets Peter's attention "where are you going?!" Jesus says, "you can't come with Me now. you'll have to wait." Peter is anxious to act "why can't I come now?! I am ready to die for you!" Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter—before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.

in another account of this same story, Jesus quotes an old testament scripture and tells the disciples that it will be fulfilled by them. Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ …Peter speaks up again, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

They all take a half mile walk together outside the city to a more rustic location. A mountainside with a garden. Jesus seems stressed out. He asks His friends to wait and pray with Him. Not exactly the type of orders Peter is looking for. So he falls asleep. He awakes to the sound of a crowd. People are coming for Jesus. suddenly Peter leaps up, draws a sword and attacks! He cuts off someone's ear! I did not see that coming! where did he get a sword? why this sudden violence? Jesus puts the guy's ear back on and asks Peter to back off. "Am I not supposed to do God's will?! put your sword away!"

They arrest Jesus. Take Him away. Peter is not daunted. He is not going to fall away. He is going to go where Jesus is going. "I'll show You how wrong You are, Jesus!" He goes in and sits with the guards and waits to see how it would all end. He's in the courtyard. Someone recognizes him. "hey you are one of that man's followers, right?" Peter wants to stay close to Jesus. He is formulating a plan. "no, not me." Can't blow his cover. Now Peter is warming himself by the fire. What to do next? How can I get Jesus out of here? "you are with that guy, aren't you?" Peter stills denies it. In one account it says that an hour passes before they notice his accent and say, "you are not from around here, you must be with that prisoner" now Peter gets mad and starts yelling and swearing that he doesn't know Him. Right then the rooster crows. In Luke's gospel it says "At that moment Jesus turns and looks at Peter. Suddenly, the words flash through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And Peter leaves the courtyard, weeping bitterly.

two things hit me when I read this story:

what if Jesus hadn't predicted the denials?

and

why is Peter crying?

If Jesus hadn't predicted Peter's denials, would he have even acknowledged them? or noticed? he seems clearly preoccupied. He has a sword which he has already used once, and he has made some bold statements. He has an agenda – his own version of the story that he is trying to bring about. When we abandon Jesus story for our own, all bets are off. "What's the big deal? If I say I am with Jesus I blow my cover and then what help will I be to Him?" He doesn't seem at all bothered by saying it. Oh, the things we justify when we think we know better than Jesus.

So now this tough guy is crying bitterly. why? Because he feels bad that he said he didn't know Jesus? That's part of it for sure. But there's a bigger story going on here. Jesus looks at him and His words come back to Peter. Who does that? Who tells you specifically what you are going to do within a certain time frame? If someone said to me "before dinner tonight, you will have 3 conversations about Abraham Lincoln" and I say "you're crazy, I never talk about Abraham Lincoln" and go about my day. When dinnertime rolls around if that had happened despite my best efforts to keep it from happening, I would freak out! "How did you know that?!!" "Did you make that happen?!"

I think that when the rooster crowed, something extraordinary happened to Peter. I think in that moment he realized that Jesus was God! A personal prophecy fulfilled on his behalf. To show Peter that He was in charge. To show Peter His power.  To show Peter that His Words are True.

In that moment, Peter knew there would be no rescue. Peter knew that Jesus had to die. He finally pieced it together. This to me seems like something a tough guy like Peter would weep about. Not being able to save Jesus. Sitting idly by as His Friend, His Master, His Commanding Officer is taken away to be killed.

Peter finally gets it. His aha moment comes as the rooster crows. He surrenders.

It's not his story to write. It's God who is writing the story. And He still is. The script is right here for us. The more difficult parts played by the most ordinary folks. 

Jesus has told us what is going to happen and how to respond. There will be trouble. Take heart. Turn the other cheek. Remain in Me. Love your enemies. Leave it all behind for my sake. Forgive. Don't worry about your life. Carry your cross.

But we, like Peter, say to Him, "Heaven forbid! that's not the way the story is supposed to go. You are supposed to take on the bad guys, save us from this oppression, and lead the rebellion." "That's more like Satan's way of doing things", Jesus reminds us. "I have to be obedient to My Father. You would be better off doing the same."

not my will, but Yours.  not my way, but Yours.  not my plan, but Yours. not my story, but Yours.

Before I wrap up, I want to show you a clip from a movie. I am sorry if you have not seen it before because it is truly outstanding. The name of the film is "Stranger than Fiction" and it is about a man named Harold Crick who is hearing voices. Not voices, a voice. A narrator, in fact, who is narrating his every move. He is being driven quite mad by this and seeks the help of a literature professor.  Eventually, this professor recognizes the voice in Harold's head as a famous writer who always kills off her main character. Harold meets his author and she gives him the finished novel. He reads it and gives it to his professor friend to read.

This is the scene after the professor finishes the book: Stranger than fiction - You have to die - YouTube

I won't tell you what Harold chooses. because it's a great film and you should go watch it if you haven't seen it. But I will tell you that we all have this same choice. So go ahead if you want to: play it safe, find a way out of difficult situations, avoid being a part of the larger story. But even if you choose to hide from your Author now, His story will prevail. What God says will happen is TRUTH. As the professor says, "even if you avoid this death, another will find you. And I guarantee that it won't be nearly as meaningful as what the Author has written. The hero dies, and the story goes on forever."

I will leave you with this quote from Frederick Buechner:

"…the life you clutch, hoard, guard, and play safe with is in the end a life worth little to anybody, including yourself; and only a life given away for love’s sake is a life worth living. To bring this point home, God shows us a Man who gave His life away to the extent of dying a national disgrace without a penny in the bank or a friend to His name. In terms of men’s wisdom, He was a perfect fool, and anybody who thinks he can follow Him without making something like the same kind of fool of himself is laboring not under a cross, but a delusion."

Let us pray:

God You say in Your Word that the one who loses his life for Your sake will find it. Help us to find our true life in You. Help us to surrender to You and let You write Your story Your way. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  In the name of Your Son Jesus, our Example and our Friend. Amen

BENEDICTION:

Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

Psalm 120 reflections on Chapter 2 of Eugene Peterson's A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

As I read this Psalm over and over in preparing for today, I kept being reminded of another “woe is me” passage in the bible. At first, the connection was tenuous at best. But as I continued to look at the 2 passages next to each other, I saw more and more parallels. So bear with me, and I will try to get to the core of their shared message.

The New Testament passage that kept coming to me as I read Psalm 120 was this one:
Romans 7:19 -25  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

I often read the stories and songs of the Israelites as my own spiritual journey -their battles and failings as my own struggles with temptation and obedience. The lying lips in the Psalm I saw as my own. And the lies are deep within my deceitful heart. These lies gnaw at me and they make me say No to God.  The big lie that the church has bought into hook, line and sinker is that the life of the godly is a life of success, happiness and safety. So when the pain of life hits – we lose someone we love, we feel betrayed, we are lonely in the midst of our marriages and families, we are sick and discouraged – we don’t believe that God is near. Or worse yet, we believe God is near but that He doesn’t care. The pain is the only reality and in our pain, we look for ways to numb.

Addiction can be defined as attempting to control rather than learn. It is more pleasurable to make the pain go away than it is to sit with it and learn from it.  We have lost the art of lament. Some addictions are destructive and life altering and some are more socially acceptable. We know people can be addicted to drugs, pornography, gambling, or alcohol. But we use other things to numb us: food, the internet, fantasizing, television, shopping, work, video games, busyness.

As a young teenager, I discovered the enticing power of sexual attraction.  The way I felt if I could get attention from someone was intoxicating. Flirting was fun. I felt powerful and beautiful. But it wouldn’t last. So I needed a better fix or a bigger risk. This desire to get attention was like a game to me until I started to realize the danger of my actions. What exactly I was playing with. Then I tried to tame it, ignore it. But, I had made a rut in my heart, in my thoughts and with my body that the wheels kept falling into: coming back to haunt me again and again in the form of fantasy or temptation.

When sin is dominating our lives, we are surrounded by lying lips. We are “dwelling in Meshek, living among the tents of Kedar” as the Psalm describes, far from home and surrounded by barbarous cravings. We find this law at work: Although we want to do good, evil is right there with us.  For in our inner beings we delight in God’s law; but we see that other law at work in us, waging war against the law of our minds and making us prisoners of the law of sin at work within us.

We know we are in trouble when we start saying things like: “What’s the big deal?” “I can quit any time” “I deserve this” “I’m not hurting anyone else” “This is just how I am” “I’m not as bad as fill-in-the-blank” “I just want a little relief” “no one will know” “just one more time”

We feel defensive if someone asks us about the behavior, we feel edgy if we cannot engage in it, we think about it when we are doing other things. It has a pull on us that is beyond our control. We call out like Paul, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” and the Psalmist answers, “I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.”

These Psalms are the Psalms of Ascent – as we learned last week – the Psalms of steps. The first step in recovery is that “We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable.” As Eugene Peterson says in this chapter of our book, “[we] have been wrong in supposing that [we] could manage [our] own life and be [our] own god…”

This realization, this shift in thinking is often called repentance. Let’s look at the Greek word that is used for repentance: metanoia – which means literally “change of mind”. It has a counterpart: paranoia “baseless or excessive suspicion” which is the state in which we find ourselves at the height of our addictive behaviors.  Metanoia is not the kind of changing of the mind brought about by will power or moral strength – Recognize here the prefix –meta: the same as in the word metamorphosis – changing from one form to another. Likewise, metanoia means changing from one mind to another. 

Treadwell Walden, a19th century theologian wrote an entire book "The Great Meaning of Metanoia" to describe the power of this word and the inadequacy of the word “repentance” as its translation. He argues that the word repentance gives a completely different meaning to the preaching of Jesus and His apostles. It is the difference between the two statements: "Repent! Feel sorry for your sins" and "Metanoia! Think a new way"! He goes on to describe metanoia as “by far the grandest miracle recorded in Scripture. No exhibition of blank power – not the arresting of the earth’s motion, not the calling back of the dead to life – can approach in grandeur to this miracle which we daily behold, namely, the inconceivable mystery of having written and sculptured upon the tablets of man’s heart a new code of moral distinctions, all modifying – many reversing – the old ones.”

How does this metanoia take place? Let’s look at the physical counterpart metamorphosis as it happens in the caterpillar. The caterpillar phase of life is the eating and growing stage. The caterpillar cannot mate or reproduce. His job is simply to get fatter and bigger. At some point, this can’t go on any longer. And so he stops. And completely encloses himself in a chrysalis. Inside of his new home, the caterpillar digests himself from the inside out, causing his body to die. Some of the caterpillar's old tissues are salvaged to form new. This remnant of cells is used to create a new body.

In Rebecca Hill’s latest post, “The Still and the Absolute” she describes this process:

“It just doesn’t work anymore, no matter hard I try.

I tell Neil again, how I try. I try so hard to stay sane. To stay sober, to stay present, to stay married, to be good.

‘Maybe you need to stop trying.’” 

We need to stop. Enclose ourselves in a chrysalis of union with the God and Father who loves us more than life itself.  As Rebecca goes on to say “Just give up, surrender, be still, because some things are absolute, and I am loved.”

When I am alone with God and genuinely still, sometimes I see myself like Queen Orual standing before God the Judge - but the book I have written is against myself and not Him. I tell him all the ways I have hurt people and walked boldfacedly into sin and thought ugly things and said ugly things and God is listening and I am looking Him in the eyes and telling Him because He already knows. And He lets me go on because He loves me to my very core and He knows how good I will feel when I get this off my chest.  I can do this because I know I am His and because I know He loves me and accepts me. exactly. like. this.

This is step 4 of the 12 steps: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Frederick Buechner reminds us in his book Telling Secrets: “It is important to tell at least from time to time the secret of who we truly and fully are—even if we tell it only to ourselves—because otherwise we run the risk of losing track of who we truly and fully are and little by little come to accept instead the highly edited version which we put forth in hope that the world will find it more acceptable than the real thing.”

And when I am done telling my secrets to God, we sit together in silence. And it is a good silence because I am known. and loved. And He says to me, “are you done, now?” and I nod and then He says, “good, because now I have something to say to you: The day is coming when you will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master.’ I will wipe the many names of Baal from your lips, and you will never mention them again. You will live unafraid in peace and safety. I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord.”

Now we see only a reflection as in a glass; then we shall see face to face. Now we know in part; then we shall know fully, even as we are fully known. We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.  Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

“Just give up, surrender, be still, because some things are absolute, and we are loved.”

Emmanuel God With Us

Genesis 28:10-18

10 And Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.

11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there overnight, because the sun was set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down there to sleep.

12 And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!

13 And behold, the Lord stood over and beside him and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father [forefather] and the God of Isaac; I will give to you and to your descendants the land on which you are lying.

14 And your offspring shall be as [countless as] the dust or sand of the ground, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south; and by you and your Offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed and bless themselves.

15 And behold, I am with you and will keep (watch over you with care, take notice of) you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done all of which I have told you.

16 And Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.

17 He was afraid and said, How to be feared and reverenced is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gateway to heaven!

18 And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had put under his head, and he set it up for a pillar (a monument to the vision in his dream), and he poured oil on its top [in dedication].

Let’s pray…

Surely you are in this place oh Lord.  Help us to recognize Your presence and to bring Your presence with us wherever we go.  Open our hearts and minds to hear from you tonight. Amen

You may be wondering why this is our scripture reading for tonight. Do you see any similarities between this story and the story of Jesus’ birth? (not a great place to sleep, lots of angels, blessings on earth or peace on earth)

Let’s look back at what happened to Jacob before this dream in the desert. Jacob had been plotting with his mother how he could get the rights as the first son even though he was second born.  In his culture, the first born son would get the larger share of the father’s wealth and also be responsible for carrying on the family name.  Jacob wanted this badly enough to deceive his father, trick his brother and basically risk his safety and well-being to get it.  So Jacob got what he wanted, but the Bible says “Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

So Jacob leaves to go to his mother’s family in Haran – leaving his home, his family and the promise with a death threat hanging over him, uncertain of what the future would hold. The first night on his journey, God gives him this amazing dream- a dream of comfort and reassurance. Reinforcing the promises that he had just received in his father’s blessing. And the central picture in his dream was a ladder.

What is a ladder? When do you use a ladder? Think about a rope ladder…when would a ladder be coming down to you? A ladder is not a place to live. A ladder is not a destination.  Who do you know that ever said, “I live on a ladder” or even that they have a ladder in their house that gets them from one floor to the next. Ladders are a way to get from one place to another and not a place to stay for long.  Once the ladder has accomplished its purpose, it is no longer needed. You are safe in the helicopter, you have successfully climbed out of the pit you fell into.  Once the rescue operation has taken place, you are safe and secure – free from danger.

and imagine the empty well Joseph found himself in. It was a deep, dark

In the Bible, we know a story where someone was trapped in a deep pit. Does anyone know who I am talking about? That’s right, Joseph! Try and imagine the empty well Joseph found himself in. It was a deep, dark hole…you could not get out unless you had a rope or a long, narrow ladder. Joseph’s physical eyes could see no way out. All he saw was darkness; all he faced was certain death. And yet, that was not the end of his story. He too had a promise from God, a dream! But only when he was forced to let go of his own way of making that come about does God intervene and save his people through this slave boy, ex-con Joseph.

Can you think of another Old Testament story with a rope? This may not be as familiar to you….there was some spies and a woman possibly not with the best reputation…. That’s right, Rahab. She let the spies down with a scarlet cord and then she left that scarlet cord in the window and when the army of Israel came, they left her house alone because it was marked with the cord.

We see stories of rescue all throughout the Old Testament. The blood of lambs, the whale, the Ark. God providing a way. God’s people in slavery, in rebellion, in need of rescue. 

This is where God enters in.

Think about the way that God enters the world. Through a young woman who is being whispered about and disbelieved. With just a handful of people having the secret revealed to them..  In the least likely of places, the Savior enters into our world, in the flesh as a real baby. Totally dependent on others to carry him into the world. Not in a palace. Not part of an influential family. Not in a prominent city. Entering into history noticed only by some nearby shepherds and an insignificant Jewish couple. Angels ascending and descending all throughout this story. This would not have escaped the notice of Mary – she closely and persistently guarded all these things in her heart.

 

If we find ourselves at the end of our own resources, at the end of ourselves in a deep pit, we find that Jesus is kneeling at the edge of our hole, leaning over, offering his hands, equipped and ready with strong ropes and a long ladder.

station 4: Jesus Meets His Mother

As we begin to look at the 4^th Station of the Cross today, Jesus meets His mother, I want us to look at a poem that I found called “The Sacrament of Letting Go” by Macrina Wiederkehr. Parenting is the long and arduous task of letting go and I think in Mary’s case she had a keen sense of this from the beginning of the journey.

Slowly

She celebrated the sacrament of Letting Go…

First she surrendered her Green     

Then the Orange, Yellow, and Red…

Finally she let go of her Brown…

Shedding her last leaf

She stood empty and silent, stripped bare

Leaning against the sky

She began her vigil of trust…

Shedding her last leaf

She watched its journey to the ground…

She stood in silence,

Wearing the color of emptiness

Her branches wondering:

How do you give shade, with so much gone?

And then, the sacrament of Waiting began

The sunrise and sunset watched with

Tenderness, clothing her with silhouettes

They kept her hope alive.

They helped her understand that

her vulnerability

her dependence and need

her emptiness

her readiness to receive

were giving her a new kind of beauty.

Every morning and every evening she stood in silence and celebrated

the sacrament of Waiting.

I have two beautiful children who love to read! We have been reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy (we are on book 2) and they have read all the Percy Jackson books and some of the Harry Potter series. Recently, we have been watching the Avatar, the Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra TV series.  All of these stories are stories of adventure and quests and heroes and magic. People with gifts and powers willing to fight evil and the powers of darkness! Exciting stuff. Inspiring.

Keep those things in the back of your mind as we look at Mary today.

From the very beginning, Mary knew what she signed up for. She knew it would not be easy. We see her willingness in her response to the angel:

Luke 1:38

NASB

“Behold, the bond slave of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word”

the Message

“Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me   

just as you say.”

Phillips

“I belong to the Lord, body and soul,” replied Mary, “let it happen as you say.”

In her song that she sings to Elizabeth, we hear echoes of a song from another mother from ages past, Hannah, a mother who gave her son to God.

When she presents Jesus at the temple, Simeon tells her “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

When Jesus is missing for three days at age 12, there was a foretaste of agony for Mary. “Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You [distressed and tormented]”

I wonder if Mary prayed “when I agreed to this, I didn’t know it would be so hard”

Did she study the Scriptures about the Messiah, pouring over any passage that mentioned His coming, His purpose, the deliverance of the Jews. Looking for some clue, some indication that she had indeed heard from God. Or did she let go of having to know? Surrendering over and over to what God was doing. “let it happen as you say.”

Did knowing that Jesus was special change the day-in day-out of the 30 years He lived in Nazareth? As year after year went by, did people start to doubt Mary’s story? Did Mary? First she surrendered her Green     

Then the Orange, Yellow, and Red…

The sacrament of Waiting.

The sacrament of Letting Go

Mostly, it seems as if Mary was able to let go of her own agenda. But we see some glimpses in scripture of her efforts to influence Jesus’ ministry. The wedding at Cana shows the relationship between mother and son in an interesting light. Mary seems to know that Jesus is capable of fixing the problem and she also seems to be giving him a little push into His calling. He tells her His time has not come; she tells the servants, “Do whatever He tells you” – she is ready to get the show on the road.

The next time we see Mary and Jesus together, she is looking for Him – and Jesus seemingly does not go to her, instead He says “Who are my mother and my brothers? … Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Separating Himself from physical bonds and reinforcing spiritual ones.

Finally she let go of her Brown…

Shedding her last leaf

She stood empty and silent, stripped bare

Leaning against the sky

She began her vigil of trust…

It is not surprising that she is in Jerusalem for the Passover – we know that it was her custom to go every year. But this year when she is there, she encounters her son in the midst of a protest rally. He is beaten, bloody, carrying the cross to the place of His public execution. Jesus meets His mother.

She stood in silence,

Wearing the color of emptiness

Her branches wondering:

How do you give shade, with so much gone?

This encounter seems to say “I don’t know what is going on, but I am all in. Where else could I go? You alone have the words of eternal life.”

All logical sense is now gone. The “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” is about to happen. The redemption of the world is about to be accomplished but it will cost Mary the life of her son. God so loved the world that He gave His son – but He asked Mary to give her son, too.

He needed a human collaborator to accomplish His purposes as He STILL DOES TODAY!

Mary didn’t have magical powers or a lightning scar. She didn’t airbend nor was she the daughter of a Greek god. She was just an ordinary person willing to be used by God.

And when God asked her, she said, “Yes!”

She said, “Yes” over and over. “Yes” to humiliation and misunderstanding.  “Yes” when Simeon said a sword would pierce her heart. She said, “Yes” when Jesus was missing for three days. “Yes” when Jesus was making trouble with the local synagogue. She said, “Yes” when He was hanging out with “sinners” Yes and Yes  and Yes!

And she said, “Yes” when He was on His way to the cross.

What are you saying to God today? When He asks you to follow Him? When He asks you to sacrifice? to suffer?

Desmond Tutu says this about suffering: “we can transform our suffering into a spirituality of transformation by understanding that we have a role in God’s transformation of the world.”

Often we are hesitant to say Yes to God because we know what it will cost us. Teresa of Avila said to God, “If this is how you treat Your friends, no wonder you have so few!” – but the fear of suffering is much more damaging than the suffering itself.

Father Jacques Philippe from the Community of the Beatitudes writes in his book Interior Freedom,

“What really hurts is not so much suffering itself as the fear of suffering. If welcomed trustingly and peacefully, suffering makes us grow. It matures and trains us, purifies us, teaches us to love unselfishly, makes us poor in heart, humble, gentle, and compassionate toward our neighbor. Fear of suffering, on the other hand, hardens us in self-protective, defensive attitudes, and often leads us to make irrational choices with disastrous consequences.”

The very thing we are trying to avoid is what we are inviting into our lives.

God designed us for adventure; we are inspired as we watch movies of superheroes and magical beings. We walk alongside Frodo on the way to Mordor and fight alongside Harry Potter against the powers of darkness. Our hearts are stirred and we long to be a part of something bigger than ourselves and our ordinary lives.

Jesus said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Jesus barges into on our cozy hobbit-hole lives and bids us to come and “follow him” - a robust call to a life of adventure.

I invite you today to look into the eyes of your Savior. Battered and bloody on the way to the cross. Look at Him through the eyes of Mary, with unspeakable suffering, with ultimate sacrifice.

Look at Him with vulnerability

Look at Him with dependence and need

Look at Him with emptiness

Look at Him with readiness to receive

Say Yes to Him today.

Following the Wise Men

Adoration of the Magi by Jocopo and Francesco Bassano

Here is my sermon from this morning Dec 30, 2012

slides for sermon available here

Following the Wise Men

[slide 1]

Preparing a sermon is a strange and wondrous journey. This one has been particularly interesting because the story is so familiar and yet I had never really studied it before. So let’s look together at the text – found in Matthew 2 (this story only appears in Matthew’s gospel) – the first 12 verses

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Let’s pray……

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are Yours.
You change times and seasons; You depose kings and raise up others.
You give wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
You reveal deep and hidden things; You know what lies in darkness,
    and light dwells with You.  I thank and praise You, God of my ancestors:
    Please give us wisdom and power and reveal Your Word to us today.

This prayer is based on the one Daniel prayed when he was up against the magi of his time – the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers that could not understand the dream of the king. As we look at the story of the Magi who visited Jesus, we see a turnabout of events. In the Daniel story, the magi were the ones excluded from the revelation and now as we look at this familiar story; we see the complete opposite phenomenon: the people of the Book – the scribes – were not the ones with the inside scoop but instead God reveals Himself to these outsiders (something He has been doing all along).  As I studied this familiar story, I found so many theories about the star – a convergence of planets, a super nova, a comet, an angel? So many descriptions of the Magi –, Indian, Arabic, Persian, descendants of Seth, there were 3, no 12, they were many in number, Zoroastrian, kings, astronomers, astrologers? It is amazing how many stories have come from these 12 verses in Matthew. If we were to explore them all we could be here a long time. And yet, no matter how deeply we search, much of it will still remain hidden. This mystery was a gift to me, because I stopped trying to figure out the details of the story and started looking at what God was trying to tell me through it. The result was 3 questions.

The first question is: What are you looking for?

[slide 2]

The Magi didn’t happen by the sign of the star by chance. They were studiers of the night sky – experts who looked at the stars probably every night – trying to interpret the signs: the movement of the planets, the shooting stars, the phases of the moon.  So, I am not an astronomer, and I don’t think that this story is telling us to look for signs in the sky – but where do we look for revelation from God? What should we be studying intently?

In the bible, we find the answer to these questions: Joshua 1:8 says, “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.” And Psalm 1 says “Blessed (happy and enviable) is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water…”
 

Astronomy magazine has a sky-studying guide for new astronomers. I found their advice could also be applied to studying God’s Word.  You will find these in your Rev Rag – and they are mostly self-explanatory but I want to explore a few with you.

[slide 3]1. Get to know the sky in a general sense – find a central point and go from there. In the Northern hemisphere, the North Star can orient you to find all the other constellations you are looking for. In the south, it is the Pole star. [slide 4] What is your orienting point in studying the scriptures? God’s love? Justice? Caring for the poor? Holiness? These can give you a starting point to study God’s Word.

[slide 5]2. Immerse yourself in the subject – not just a cursory glance but a deep and purposeful study. The Magi were able to see the star because they were experts – they observed subtle differences, convergences. This is the same with God’s word – it is living and active. You could study the same passage every day and see new things each time. Jesus describes it this way “bringing out of the storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

[slide 6]3. Pick your observing site carefully – if you want to see the moon or the North Star, you can probably just look out of your window. If you want to see the Milky Way, you need to be somewhere away from the light pollution of the city. [slide 7]When we study God’s Word, sometimes we need to get rid of the distractions before we can really see what He is trying to reveal.

[slide 8] 4. Comfort is everything

[slide 9] 5. Keep a log

[slide 10] 6. Become a social astronomer

[slide 11] 7. Observe everything! – not only does God reveal Himself to us in His word – but in nature, in others, in books, in everything – if we are looking.

[slide 12]This leads us to the second question: How far would you go?

Now, with all the theories about where they came from, it is hard to say exactly how far the Magi traveled, but it is safe to say that they covered a considerable distance on their journey – probably well over 500 miles. The Scribes, on the other hand, did not bother to go from Jerusalem to Bethlehem – it was only 5 miles. Imagine an event of amazing significance – it is hard to do in our celebrity saturated culture – but imagine that all of your favorite bands or all of your favorite speakers or great leaders of the world are all converging in Joliet, IL. A group of royalty from Saudi Arabia comes all the way over here with all of their attendants and security guards and motorcades (all of Chicago is being disturbed) and asks you “where is that big event happening? – we heard it was today!” You calmly consult your calendar and answer, “It’s over in Joliet. I’ll print you out a google map.” I think they would be amazed that you weren’t grabbing your coat, dropping your plans and coming along. [slide 13] Soren Kirekegaard says it this way, “Although the scribes could explain where the Messiah should be born, they remained quite unperturbed in Jerusalem. They did not accompany the Wise Men to seek him. //  Similarly we may know the whole of Christianity, yet make no movement. The power that moved heaven and earth leaves us completely unmoved.”

In my research for this sermon, I came across a beautiful poem written by the 13^th century Muslim mystic, Rumi. An unlikely source, but that’s where God always seems to be turning up. [slide 14]

Gamble everything for love
if you are a true human being.
If not, leave this gathering.

Half-heartedness doesn't reach into majesty.
You set out to find God,
but then you keep stopping for long periods

at mean-spirited roadhouses.

Surely we don’t know what we could have? Or we would stop at nothing to have it. Think about all the things we go out of our way to get. The things that occupy our time and our efforts. We set out to find God and stop at the roadhouse of pleasure or the comfort hotel, the looking-out-for-number-1 truck stop or the apathy rest area. God came all the way into our world – made Himself nothing to be with us.
The ultimate romance story of a king disguising himself as a pauper to win the love of the peasant girl.
[slide 15] Frederick Buechner describes it this way “The Word become flesh. Ultimate Mystery born with a skull you could crush one-handed. Incarnation. It is not tame. It is not touching. It is not beautiful. It is uninhabitable terror. It is unthinkable darkness riven with unbearable light.”
Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
 “Half-heartedness doesn't reach into majesty.” God wants our whole hearts.
[slide 16] Which leads to the third and last question: What gifts will you bring?

Another unlikely place to find inspiration was from Brendan Francis Behan, an Irish novelist and playwright. [slide 17] He has this to say about gifts: “If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don’t hoard it. Don’t dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly like a millionaire intent on going broke.”

Whenever I think of gifts I think of the song the “Little Drummer Boy”. Wherever I am when this song is playing – I cry. No matter who is singing it: David Bowie & Bing Crosby, Bob Dylan, the Glee cast, ABBA, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, well maybe not ABBA.  What is it about this song? Such a simple message and such a good reminder:

[slide 18] Our finest gifts we bring to lay before the King so to honor Him, when we come.

I am a poor boy too. I have no gift to bring that's fit to give a King. Shall I play for Him on my drum? I played my drum for Him – I played my best for Him on my drum.

This is exactly how God wants us to come to Him. He knows our need, to our weakness He is no stranger. In all our trials, born to be our Friend. Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

[slide 19]
The King of the Universe is here.

Are you looking for Him?

How far would you go ?

What gifts will you bring?

Let us pray…..

God of the Universe, guide us as we look intently for You in Your Word, in each other and in our own hearts. Help us to go farther than we think possible in our pursuit of You, in our service to others and in living lives pleasing to You. Help us to bring You gifts that honor Your majesty, worship Your presence and proclaim Your death until You come again. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen

[slide 20]

Benediction:

Since we have the word of God undeniably revealed to us  - give that word your closest attention, for it shines like a lamp amidst all the dirt and darkness of the world. And it will continue to shine until the day dawns, and the morning star rises in our hearts.