Tough Words
Luke 4:14-21
As some of you may know, I made a rushed trip to East Texas this weekend. I had received word that my grandmother was in the hospital in Linden and my mom was sick from the medications after her surgery so, I left Friday morning to go check on them. I found that everyone is doing better, still sick, but better, and I spend the night with mom. When I left Saturday morning I took a detour back through my home town and had some interesting realizations.
I drove into town remembering who had lived where and what had once been on the road where I was driving. I turned on the road where I once lived and went up the hill. The woods I played in as a child were still on the right, but the woods on the left, where I got hurt once, are gone. I continued up the street and saw the house I grew up in. The trees and bushes dad planted were still there and growing. It looked the same, yet something was different. The toys in the back yard were different. The shed in the back was falling down. The yard looked different. It was the same, but different.
From there I drove through the neighborhood and then across town to the old city park were I learned to swim. It had a new pier around the swimming area and a new boat ramp, but the swings and merri-go-rounds were the same. I drove on to one of my old fishing spots. It was the same old rocky point, but they had repaired an area that had washed out and made a walking trail next to the lake. It was the same, but different.
I left there and drove through the neighborhoods where my friends had lived. I was amazed at how little the houses had changed, even some of the cars were the same. I could tell where the Guerreros lived, The McCords still had the same VW Rabbit, and the Tilley’s still had the same old brown 1987 F-150. As I drove around I couldn’t believe that some of the same political figures from my childhood were still running for office, then as I looked closer at the political yard signs I realized – it’s not the same people, it’s their children and grandchildren running for office now. Everything was the same, but different.
I had driven to town with the expectation of progress but I left with the realization that, while things seem different, little changes unless something drastic happens.
I wonder if that isn’t what Jesus felt as he returned to his hometown to preach. I wonder if that isn’t what the people felt when they saw him. Their own home town boy, raised there in Nazareth by their home town boy Joseph, the carpenter.
Jesus has come back home. The people had heard rumors of how well he was doing. They had heard that he was a great teacher of the Scriptures and finally they could see for themselves. He came to the synagogue and took his place among the teachers. Others read, and then it was his turn. He rose from his seat, accepted the scroll that was handed to him, and then did something out of the ordinary. Rather than read what was rolled to on the scroll, he begins rolling through the scroll until he finds what he wanted to read. From the Isaiah scroll, he reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” “Ahhh, he reads so well” they think. As he sits down to begin teaching them they are spell-bound. “He is good” they think, “someone to truly be proud of, and someone that understands us. Look at the passage he read, he does understands us. God is restoring us.”
But something was different. It was the same, but different. Though he seemed the same, at least physically, he was different spiritually. Something had changed. It changed when he was born of the Spirit. It changed when the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove in the River with John. It changed when he opened his mouth and began to speak. “Is this not Joseph’s Son? Is he not the Carpenter? He spoke so well, as though he had authority.”
He was saying the words they thought they wanted to hear. We’ll get into the words that changed all that next week, but in the midst of his reading and explaining, they thought he was telling them God was setting them free, that God was healing them and their land. What they didn’t realize was that Jesus was describing the ministry that was to follow in his life – a ministry to the least, the last, the lost - A ministry of spoken words and actions that bring hope to the hopeless.
What Jesus was describing was the work of the ministry that he was beginning and would be continued by the Body of Christ. That is you and me. In the passage read and the explanation given, Jesus is describing the ministry that you and I are to be about – a ministry to the least, the last, and the lost – a ministry of spoken words and actions that bring hope to the hopeless. What does that translate into in today’s world?
Helping out in times of natural disaster – Going to or supporting those who go to offer aid to those in need. Our neighbors in the Canton, Sulphur Springs, and Athens areas are struggling to clean up after all the storms. Not to mention the devastation in Haiti that we continue to learn about. Few of us can give our presence in situations like this but we can give our prayers, gifts, and our service by creating health kits and flood buckets.
Healing the sick and visiting those who are isolated – We can go see those who are sick. We can call those who are shut in. We can offer love and grace to those who needed it in tough times. In doing this we are bringing hope to the hopeless. We are bringing grace to those who need it.
Tell others about what God has done for us – I know, you think this is where the sermon title came from. We have this misconception that it’s hard to talk about God. The truth is we talk about anything that is important to us. We get excited and tell others when HEB has a good special on their Meal Deal – like right, if you buy 2 lbs of ground meat; you get all the fixin’s for a taco meal. I know you have had conversations about the loss of the Cowboys last week. And I sure know some of you got excited about the win the week before. We get excited about these things, why can’t we get excited about what God has done for us? Why can’t we tell people about what the church has done for us? I think we can. I think, if you put your mind to it, you can get past the tough words, get past your fears, and tell others about church, about God, about what Jesus did for you some 2000 years ago and what he still does for you today as you receive the grace and mercy of God fresh and new in your life.
I want to challenge you today to do three things this week. I want you to write this down too. Take out your bulletin, get the pencil in the pew-jacket in front to you, and write on the lines in the back of your bulletin these 3 challenges.
1) Find a way to help out with Haiti or the tornado damage in North East Texas.
2) Visit someone that is lonely – a shut-in, someone recovering from illness or surgery, someone in prison or jail. Visit someone that is lonely.
3) Tell someone about what God has done for you and invite them to your church.
I expect you to do these things.
You know something else about the words that Jesus spoke to his home town crowd that day…
They were not words just for them. They are words for a world that needs to hear them. AND
These were not words just for you. They are words for a world that needs to hear them.
You’re job is to take the words out into that world and spread God’s love and grace in a world that needs to know God’s mercy. So Go, pass it on. Make a difference.
Monday, January 25, 2010
From Emmanuel to Evangelism
From Emmanuel to Evangelism
Isaiah 43:1-11
Last week we celebrated a new year and this past Wednesday we celebrated Epiphany. Since 336 AD the Western Church in Rome has celebrated December 25th as the celebration of the Incarnation – God with us, Emmanuel. Somewhere along the way though, no body really knows exactly when it started, the Eastern Church, at Constantinople, began celebrating Epiphany on January 6th as the time of the Christian Theophany, of God appearing to humanity as Jesus Christ. They celebrated with gifts and parties to remember the birth of Jesus and the appearing of the Wise Men. In Rome, the first evidence of a celebration of Epiphany and the Three Wise Men seems to appear around 361 and it was made a part of the Roman calendar in 380. Even though Rome recognized Epiphany, Christians on each side of civilization, from Turkey to Rome celebrated Christmas differently until the Second Council of Tours in 566 AD where the Roman and Byzantine Churches (that’s the Western and Eastern Churches) came together and decreed that Christmas would be celebrated from Christmas Eve to the Twelfth Night, or the Eve of Epiphany, thus Christmas would be a period of 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany – And that is how we came up with the 12 Days of Christmas.
Many of today’s Christian calendars recognize Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas, Christmastide to be the period from Christmas Eve through the Sunday after Epiphany, also known as the Baptism of our Lord. That is why we still have all our decorations up and that is how I came up with the sermon title, From Emmanuel to Evangelism. We have celebrated a time of Christ being born, of God with us – Emmanuel to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus – the Evangelism or the spreading of the Good News.
So now you say, OK preacher, that all makes sense, thank you for the history lesson, but what does that have to do with the Scripture you picked? To that I would say good job, your paying attention – today’s sermon text isn’t about the New Year, the Three Wise Men, the Baptism of Jesus, or about Jesus at all; it’s from the Old Testament, Isaiah 43:1-11 but let us see if somehow all this can tie together in the end.
Isaiah 43:1-11
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia* and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight,
and honoured, and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’,
and to the south, ‘Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.’
Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this,
and foretold to us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
and let them hear and say, ‘It is true.’
You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
I, I am the Lord,
and besides me there is no saviour.
Ahhhh, Emmanuel, God is with us. Even in this text we hear the ringing of the words, ‘Do not fear for I am with you.’ The people of Israel had fallen away from God, they had chosen to follow another way and that way led them far from God. Chapter 42 talks of the anger of God burning against the Israelites for falling away but then, Isaiah reminds them that God is with us, Isaiah reminds them that God restores, Isaiah reminds them that they are God’s witnesses. Isaiah reminds them that there is a time for a new start and that time is now.
10 days ago some of you made a new start. You proclaimed a resolution to get organized and yet you still can’t find your car keys in the morning, or resolved to get out of debt, then pulled out the credit card to pay for that burger and fries, or you declared that this would be the year you got in shape but not before I finish off that ½ gallon of Blue Bell. So many of us make our resolutions each year and there is a reason for that. A New Year is a time for a new start. It is a time to begin anew, fresh. The problem is that it’s sometimes hard to start fresh and new, sometimes it takes a little remodeling.
I don’t know about you but remodeling is hard work. Oh, I don’t mean slappin’ a few coats of paint on the wall and having carpet laid, I mean sheetrock crushin’, stud rippin’, wall buildin’ remodeling. My only personal experience with this is our house in Hillsboro. Before Renee and I and the family moved in we had some remodeling to do and this remodeling involved cutting a whole in one wall to make a door, knocking out a couple of walls, building a couple of walls, and rebuilding the floor in some places. Now, there comes a point in a remodel job like that when you walk in and look around and think, you know, it really didn’t look that bad before, what have I done? You look around at the mayhem and then realize, you can’t stop there, as much damage as you have done you’ve got to move ahead. Then when you finish you forget about the pain, you forget about the busted walls and the broken studs, and you just enjoy the beauty of the finished product. That’s the way it is with our lives sometimes.
Max Lucado writes,
God loves to decorate. God has to decorate. Let Him live long enough in a heart, and that heart will begin to change. Portraits of hurt will be replaced by landscapes of grace. Walls of anger will be demolished and shaky foundations restored. God can no more leave a life unchanged than a mother can leave her child’s tear untouched….
This might explain some of the discomfort in your life. Remodeling of the heart is not always pleasant. We don’t object when the Carpenter adds a few shelves, but He’s been known to gut the entire west wing. He has such high aspirations for you. God envisions a complete restoration. He won’t stop until He’s finished…. He wants you to be just like Jesus.
You see, God is making us new. God is remodeling us. God wants the best for us. When we set those resolutions to do better, God is with us and God wants us to follow through with them. God wants you to quit smoking because that is what is best for you. God wants you to spend more time with your family because that is what is best for you and your family. God wants you to help others more because that is a part of loving God. God wants you to learn something new because that helps you reach more people and it keeps you mind active. God cares about you enough that he came down here, put on human flesh, lived as a baby, was raised by a mommy and a daddy, was revered by Kings and loved by paupers, was baptized in the River Jordan, taught along the hills and valleys and the highways and byways. Then, Jesus, our God in the flesh cared enough for you and for me that he allowed himself to be beaten and bruised, hung on a cross, and die. Jesus cared enough for us that he rose from the dead and offers us new life.
God came here to be with us and God wants us to accept that new life, to grow and be new. But the story doesn’t end there. Yes, bad things happen and God is with us. Yes, good thing happen and God is with us. Our passage reminds us of that, but our passage also reminds us of another thing. Verse 10 reminds us that “You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen.” I realize that this passage is talking about Israel but I think that Isaiah’s words from the Lord are for us as well. We are the witnesses for God here on the earth. The Christmas season is just one way that we as the people of God witness to the life of Christ. We celebrate Advent and prepare for Christ to come. We open our church on Christmas Eve and have one of the larges interdenominational services in the community every year. We speak about Christ and sing the songs about his birth in Wal-Mart and in our car. We carry the celebration through till this week and we use it as a witness to the world but the witness can’t stop there.
God doesn’t remodel our lives for our own good alone. God is with us so that we can tell others the good news. From Emmanuel to Evangelism – or an easier way to remember is, From God with us to spreading the good news. That is what this season has been about. Today is another day that we can go forth and spread the good news of the new life Christ has given us. Go, Go tell it on the Mountain. Go, Go spread the good news of what God has done. Go, God and remind the world that Christ is with them, just as he is with you.
Isaiah 43:1-11
Last week we celebrated a new year and this past Wednesday we celebrated Epiphany. Since 336 AD the Western Church in Rome has celebrated December 25th as the celebration of the Incarnation – God with us, Emmanuel. Somewhere along the way though, no body really knows exactly when it started, the Eastern Church, at Constantinople, began celebrating Epiphany on January 6th as the time of the Christian Theophany, of God appearing to humanity as Jesus Christ. They celebrated with gifts and parties to remember the birth of Jesus and the appearing of the Wise Men. In Rome, the first evidence of a celebration of Epiphany and the Three Wise Men seems to appear around 361 and it was made a part of the Roman calendar in 380. Even though Rome recognized Epiphany, Christians on each side of civilization, from Turkey to Rome celebrated Christmas differently until the Second Council of Tours in 566 AD where the Roman and Byzantine Churches (that’s the Western and Eastern Churches) came together and decreed that Christmas would be celebrated from Christmas Eve to the Twelfth Night, or the Eve of Epiphany, thus Christmas would be a period of 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany – And that is how we came up with the 12 Days of Christmas.
Many of today’s Christian calendars recognize Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas, Christmastide to be the period from Christmas Eve through the Sunday after Epiphany, also known as the Baptism of our Lord. That is why we still have all our decorations up and that is how I came up with the sermon title, From Emmanuel to Evangelism. We have celebrated a time of Christ being born, of God with us – Emmanuel to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus – the Evangelism or the spreading of the Good News.
So now you say, OK preacher, that all makes sense, thank you for the history lesson, but what does that have to do with the Scripture you picked? To that I would say good job, your paying attention – today’s sermon text isn’t about the New Year, the Three Wise Men, the Baptism of Jesus, or about Jesus at all; it’s from the Old Testament, Isaiah 43:1-11 but let us see if somehow all this can tie together in the end.
Isaiah 43:1-11
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia* and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight,
and honoured, and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’,
and to the south, ‘Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.’
Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this,
and foretold to us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
and let them hear and say, ‘It is true.’
You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
I, I am the Lord,
and besides me there is no saviour.
Ahhhh, Emmanuel, God is with us. Even in this text we hear the ringing of the words, ‘Do not fear for I am with you.’ The people of Israel had fallen away from God, they had chosen to follow another way and that way led them far from God. Chapter 42 talks of the anger of God burning against the Israelites for falling away but then, Isaiah reminds them that God is with us, Isaiah reminds them that God restores, Isaiah reminds them that they are God’s witnesses. Isaiah reminds them that there is a time for a new start and that time is now.
10 days ago some of you made a new start. You proclaimed a resolution to get organized and yet you still can’t find your car keys in the morning, or resolved to get out of debt, then pulled out the credit card to pay for that burger and fries, or you declared that this would be the year you got in shape but not before I finish off that ½ gallon of Blue Bell. So many of us make our resolutions each year and there is a reason for that. A New Year is a time for a new start. It is a time to begin anew, fresh. The problem is that it’s sometimes hard to start fresh and new, sometimes it takes a little remodeling.
I don’t know about you but remodeling is hard work. Oh, I don’t mean slappin’ a few coats of paint on the wall and having carpet laid, I mean sheetrock crushin’, stud rippin’, wall buildin’ remodeling. My only personal experience with this is our house in Hillsboro. Before Renee and I and the family moved in we had some remodeling to do and this remodeling involved cutting a whole in one wall to make a door, knocking out a couple of walls, building a couple of walls, and rebuilding the floor in some places. Now, there comes a point in a remodel job like that when you walk in and look around and think, you know, it really didn’t look that bad before, what have I done? You look around at the mayhem and then realize, you can’t stop there, as much damage as you have done you’ve got to move ahead. Then when you finish you forget about the pain, you forget about the busted walls and the broken studs, and you just enjoy the beauty of the finished product. That’s the way it is with our lives sometimes.
Max Lucado writes,
God loves to decorate. God has to decorate. Let Him live long enough in a heart, and that heart will begin to change. Portraits of hurt will be replaced by landscapes of grace. Walls of anger will be demolished and shaky foundations restored. God can no more leave a life unchanged than a mother can leave her child’s tear untouched….
This might explain some of the discomfort in your life. Remodeling of the heart is not always pleasant. We don’t object when the Carpenter adds a few shelves, but He’s been known to gut the entire west wing. He has such high aspirations for you. God envisions a complete restoration. He won’t stop until He’s finished…. He wants you to be just like Jesus.
You see, God is making us new. God is remodeling us. God wants the best for us. When we set those resolutions to do better, God is with us and God wants us to follow through with them. God wants you to quit smoking because that is what is best for you. God wants you to spend more time with your family because that is what is best for you and your family. God wants you to help others more because that is a part of loving God. God wants you to learn something new because that helps you reach more people and it keeps you mind active. God cares about you enough that he came down here, put on human flesh, lived as a baby, was raised by a mommy and a daddy, was revered by Kings and loved by paupers, was baptized in the River Jordan, taught along the hills and valleys and the highways and byways. Then, Jesus, our God in the flesh cared enough for you and for me that he allowed himself to be beaten and bruised, hung on a cross, and die. Jesus cared enough for us that he rose from the dead and offers us new life.
God came here to be with us and God wants us to accept that new life, to grow and be new. But the story doesn’t end there. Yes, bad things happen and God is with us. Yes, good thing happen and God is with us. Our passage reminds us of that, but our passage also reminds us of another thing. Verse 10 reminds us that “You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen.” I realize that this passage is talking about Israel but I think that Isaiah’s words from the Lord are for us as well. We are the witnesses for God here on the earth. The Christmas season is just one way that we as the people of God witness to the life of Christ. We celebrate Advent and prepare for Christ to come. We open our church on Christmas Eve and have one of the larges interdenominational services in the community every year. We speak about Christ and sing the songs about his birth in Wal-Mart and in our car. We carry the celebration through till this week and we use it as a witness to the world but the witness can’t stop there.
God doesn’t remodel our lives for our own good alone. God is with us so that we can tell others the good news. From Emmanuel to Evangelism – or an easier way to remember is, From God with us to spreading the good news. That is what this season has been about. Today is another day that we can go forth and spread the good news of the new life Christ has given us. Go, Go tell it on the Mountain. Go, Go spread the good news of what God has done. Go, God and remind the world that Christ is with them, just as he is with you.
Lord I Want to See
Mk. 10:46-52
A group of blind men were wandering in the jungle. Now, don’t ask me what a bunch of blind men were doing in the jungle, just work with me here. ANYWAY, so they were wondering in the jungle and they all came upon a large object in their trail. They couldn’t move it, they couldn’t get past it, and they didn’t recognize it.
As one of the men started feeling what was in front of him he said it was about as big around as a tree trunk, was rough, and hard, yet at the same time it seemed to almost feel like a flesh.
Another man said, no, no… it is thin and soft and floppy, like a sheet of leather.
Yet another said no, it is thin like a snake only firmer and with fur on the tip.
And still another said no, it is like a root that has been broken off, on the one end it is damp and odd but then it seems to connect on the other end to a tree or a boulder.
Finally, a native came upon them and saw what they were doing and asked, “What are you guys doing to that poor elephant.”
Each of the men were describing the elephant from their own experience, from their own perspective. Pardon the pun; they were blinded by their own limited vision. How often are we that way? How often do we have trouble seeing beyond our limited experiences? How often is it that we need to back up and open our eyes to see the big picture?
Take for instance the Health Care debate going on in our nation right now. I have heard a number of arguments about what to do about the issue. On the one hand we hear the argument that the health care in the United States is about personal choice and responsibility. No one has a right to health care; our rights are to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, not entitlements. If you want health insurance then go get it.
On the other hand, I hear the argument that the cost of health care has skyrocketed recently. Doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies are charging more and more to add to their profits and offset the cost of litigation from all the malpractice lawsuits. With all the increases in health care costs people are loosing the opportunity to pursue a life of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The only agency big enough to handle this debacle is the federal government.
If your experience is of having little or no insurance for yourself or a loved one you have one view of the issue. If you have good insurance or good health care regardless of insurance then you have another perspective of the situation. If you work in the healthcare field you have yet another perspective.
Our experiences limit our vision. To truly settle the issue, we need to look beyond our limited experience of the issue. We need to open our eyes and expand our vision. The question is how do we do that? How do we see differently?
This is what happened to Bartimaus. Ol’ Bart was their minding his own business begging for alms at the gate of Jericho. Now it wasn’t uncommon to find beggars there since most of the labor was physical in nature and you couldn’t get a job if you had a disability. However, in Bart’s case he was a step down from most of the beggars. You see, according to William Barclay, the blind were looked upon as having been punished by God. So, Bart’s sitting there, a nobody among nobodies, hoping for enough of a hand-out to get him through one more day when he hears a crowd coming. I can just see him asking, “Hey, who is that, it must be a teacher because I hear lots of people but only one voice over the crowd.” Then the reply, “Oh, that’s that Jesus from Nazareth”.
Having heard all the stories of Jesus, Bartimaus knew him. Bart knew who Jesus was and what he had done, and Ol’ Bart starts to cry out a prayer that we should all be praying, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” “Jesus, the Chosen One of God, have mercy on me.” When Jesus hears him, Jesus doesn’t walk the other way because he’s a begger, because he’s blind, because he’s a sinner, because God has punished him… NO, Jesus calls Bartimaus to himself, and asks him what he wants. And Bart Said, “I want to see.”
This is the interesting point in the story. The conflict that Bartimaus brings us is our own contrast between vision and sight. Edward Sims writes, “Recognition has to do with vision; seeing has to do with sight. Bartimaus had vision to recognize Jesus. He asked for his sight to see. We have the sight to see and ask for the vision to recognize.” We can see but do we recognize Jesus?
This is even more striking if you back up and read it in context with the other blind man passage of chapter 8. When we do this we realize that the story is less about the miracle of Bartimaus and his sight and more about the vision of the disciples.
They, like we, could see. They had seen the miracles of Jesus. They had witnessed the miracles and heard the teachings. Bart had only heard the stories from others, yet he believed. He had no experience with Jesus and yet he believed.
Our experience can be a vital part of our faith but it can also limit us. I saw a perfect illustration about this once on the show Medical Miracles. There was a little boy who was born blind. The doctors had hopes of healing him and giving him his sight. After dozens of surgeries and the painful rehabilitation from each of them he still could not see. But now, because of a new surgical treatment with an Artificial Corneal Implant there was once again hope that he may be able to see. They prepped him and performed the surgery and all went well. BUT the next day, when the patch came off and it was time to open his eye, he couldn’t do it. He started to, but he was scared. His experiences of the past had been so painful that he just didn’t think he could open his eyes. I don’t know if he was afraid that he would open his eyes and see or if he was afraid that he would open his eyes and not see. In the end, he found the courage and opened his eyes and saw his family for the first time.
Fear can be a terrible hindrance. Bartimaus had nothing to fear. He was already at the bottom of the social ladder. If he believed in who Jesus was and it turned out to be right or wrong, either way, his life could only get better. For the disciples it wasn’t so. They had plenty to fear. Maybe it was fear that had kept them from looking beyond their limited sight. If they looked beyond their limited sight, then they would have to face the cost of what it meant to follow Christ. If they had the vision to recognize Christ, then they would have to change.
That is the same way with us. If we begin to align our vision with that of God, we have to change.
-We will have to see differently. We will have to see people as God sees people. We will have to see ourselves as God sees us.
-When we align our vision with God’s we will have to see our need for revival, individually and as a church. And I’m not just talking about having a few special worship events with a better preacher and some special music. I’m talking about a revival of our relationship with God and how we as a church relate to one another and God.
- When we align our vision with God’s we will have to see beyond our idea of SS and Christian Education – It’s not just for children and youth. Sunday School and Christian education is a life long process. It is one of the ways we strengthen our relationship with God. Not only that but we will have to see beyond our idea of discipleship as learning from someone else and begin to disciple and mentor others.
- When we align our vision with God’s we will have to see that we are all teachers. We are all always teaching. The question is “what are we teaching?” Seeing differently means that we will begin to recognize that we are always having an impact on others regardless of where we are and what we are doing. It is like the story I heard about a 5 year old boy at one of the churches in our Conference. This little boy, Davey, is severely autistic but he is constantly walking up to people and telling them, “Jesus loves me… and… Jesus loves you.” This boy is teaching others about Jesus love.
OR The story I heard about John, a 9 yoa boy with ADHD who had been disrupting his parents and the entire church during worship when a youth, Kris, came and asked if she could sit with him. Now John sits with Kris each week and gives his parents a break. She tries to help him focus, she gives him something to do, and she helps him learn what church is about. John is learning about Christ through the patience and kindness of Kris.
Kris has a vision and because of her vision, John is beginning to have vision, they are beginning to see beyond their own limited sight because of God’s grace.
I know this sermon seems to have bounced around a bit so I will bring it all together here. Up to this point we have been talking about seeing differently. We started out talking about how
we need to open our eyes and expand our vision, THEN we saw the contrast between vision and sight and I hope that I have made the point that we need vision more than we need sight. FINALLY while our experience can be helpful in increasing our vision, we need to be careful that we do not let it limit us.
Bartimaus had vision, and through his vision he regained his sight. Bartimaus called out to Jesus and Jesus met him where he was but Bartimaus knew what he wanted, he wanted to see and by the grace of God he received his sight.
I want to be like Bartimaus, “Lord, I want vision”, yet I am afraid I am more like the disciples than I care to admit.
Afraid to see fully,
-afraid to have vision because of the cost,
-seeking to see only a little of what God is calling me to do and be
BUT through the grace of God, even the disciples received vision as God was revealed in Christ.
Grace is afforded to each of us through Christ as well. As we seek God, we can begin to see more clearly. We can see differently. Maybe today we can see communion as an opportunity to see differently. May God open our eyes that we may see.
A group of blind men were wandering in the jungle. Now, don’t ask me what a bunch of blind men were doing in the jungle, just work with me here. ANYWAY, so they were wondering in the jungle and they all came upon a large object in their trail. They couldn’t move it, they couldn’t get past it, and they didn’t recognize it.
As one of the men started feeling what was in front of him he said it was about as big around as a tree trunk, was rough, and hard, yet at the same time it seemed to almost feel like a flesh.
Another man said, no, no… it is thin and soft and floppy, like a sheet of leather.
Yet another said no, it is thin like a snake only firmer and with fur on the tip.
And still another said no, it is like a root that has been broken off, on the one end it is damp and odd but then it seems to connect on the other end to a tree or a boulder.
Finally, a native came upon them and saw what they were doing and asked, “What are you guys doing to that poor elephant.”
Each of the men were describing the elephant from their own experience, from their own perspective. Pardon the pun; they were blinded by their own limited vision. How often are we that way? How often do we have trouble seeing beyond our limited experiences? How often is it that we need to back up and open our eyes to see the big picture?
Take for instance the Health Care debate going on in our nation right now. I have heard a number of arguments about what to do about the issue. On the one hand we hear the argument that the health care in the United States is about personal choice and responsibility. No one has a right to health care; our rights are to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, not entitlements. If you want health insurance then go get it.
On the other hand, I hear the argument that the cost of health care has skyrocketed recently. Doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies are charging more and more to add to their profits and offset the cost of litigation from all the malpractice lawsuits. With all the increases in health care costs people are loosing the opportunity to pursue a life of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The only agency big enough to handle this debacle is the federal government.
If your experience is of having little or no insurance for yourself or a loved one you have one view of the issue. If you have good insurance or good health care regardless of insurance then you have another perspective of the situation. If you work in the healthcare field you have yet another perspective.
Our experiences limit our vision. To truly settle the issue, we need to look beyond our limited experience of the issue. We need to open our eyes and expand our vision. The question is how do we do that? How do we see differently?
This is what happened to Bartimaus. Ol’ Bart was their minding his own business begging for alms at the gate of Jericho. Now it wasn’t uncommon to find beggars there since most of the labor was physical in nature and you couldn’t get a job if you had a disability. However, in Bart’s case he was a step down from most of the beggars. You see, according to William Barclay, the blind were looked upon as having been punished by God. So, Bart’s sitting there, a nobody among nobodies, hoping for enough of a hand-out to get him through one more day when he hears a crowd coming. I can just see him asking, “Hey, who is that, it must be a teacher because I hear lots of people but only one voice over the crowd.” Then the reply, “Oh, that’s that Jesus from Nazareth”.
Having heard all the stories of Jesus, Bartimaus knew him. Bart knew who Jesus was and what he had done, and Ol’ Bart starts to cry out a prayer that we should all be praying, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” “Jesus, the Chosen One of God, have mercy on me.” When Jesus hears him, Jesus doesn’t walk the other way because he’s a begger, because he’s blind, because he’s a sinner, because God has punished him… NO, Jesus calls Bartimaus to himself, and asks him what he wants. And Bart Said, “I want to see.”
This is the interesting point in the story. The conflict that Bartimaus brings us is our own contrast between vision and sight. Edward Sims writes, “Recognition has to do with vision; seeing has to do with sight. Bartimaus had vision to recognize Jesus. He asked for his sight to see. We have the sight to see and ask for the vision to recognize.” We can see but do we recognize Jesus?
This is even more striking if you back up and read it in context with the other blind man passage of chapter 8. When we do this we realize that the story is less about the miracle of Bartimaus and his sight and more about the vision of the disciples.
They, like we, could see. They had seen the miracles of Jesus. They had witnessed the miracles and heard the teachings. Bart had only heard the stories from others, yet he believed. He had no experience with Jesus and yet he believed.
Our experience can be a vital part of our faith but it can also limit us. I saw a perfect illustration about this once on the show Medical Miracles. There was a little boy who was born blind. The doctors had hopes of healing him and giving him his sight. After dozens of surgeries and the painful rehabilitation from each of them he still could not see. But now, because of a new surgical treatment with an Artificial Corneal Implant there was once again hope that he may be able to see. They prepped him and performed the surgery and all went well. BUT the next day, when the patch came off and it was time to open his eye, he couldn’t do it. He started to, but he was scared. His experiences of the past had been so painful that he just didn’t think he could open his eyes. I don’t know if he was afraid that he would open his eyes and see or if he was afraid that he would open his eyes and not see. In the end, he found the courage and opened his eyes and saw his family for the first time.
Fear can be a terrible hindrance. Bartimaus had nothing to fear. He was already at the bottom of the social ladder. If he believed in who Jesus was and it turned out to be right or wrong, either way, his life could only get better. For the disciples it wasn’t so. They had plenty to fear. Maybe it was fear that had kept them from looking beyond their limited sight. If they looked beyond their limited sight, then they would have to face the cost of what it meant to follow Christ. If they had the vision to recognize Christ, then they would have to change.
That is the same way with us. If we begin to align our vision with that of God, we have to change.
-We will have to see differently. We will have to see people as God sees people. We will have to see ourselves as God sees us.
-When we align our vision with God’s we will have to see our need for revival, individually and as a church. And I’m not just talking about having a few special worship events with a better preacher and some special music. I’m talking about a revival of our relationship with God and how we as a church relate to one another and God.
- When we align our vision with God’s we will have to see beyond our idea of SS and Christian Education – It’s not just for children and youth. Sunday School and Christian education is a life long process. It is one of the ways we strengthen our relationship with God. Not only that but we will have to see beyond our idea of discipleship as learning from someone else and begin to disciple and mentor others.
- When we align our vision with God’s we will have to see that we are all teachers. We are all always teaching. The question is “what are we teaching?” Seeing differently means that we will begin to recognize that we are always having an impact on others regardless of where we are and what we are doing. It is like the story I heard about a 5 year old boy at one of the churches in our Conference. This little boy, Davey, is severely autistic but he is constantly walking up to people and telling them, “Jesus loves me… and… Jesus loves you.” This boy is teaching others about Jesus love.
OR The story I heard about John, a 9 yoa boy with ADHD who had been disrupting his parents and the entire church during worship when a youth, Kris, came and asked if she could sit with him. Now John sits with Kris each week and gives his parents a break. She tries to help him focus, she gives him something to do, and she helps him learn what church is about. John is learning about Christ through the patience and kindness of Kris.
Kris has a vision and because of her vision, John is beginning to have vision, they are beginning to see beyond their own limited sight because of God’s grace.
I know this sermon seems to have bounced around a bit so I will bring it all together here. Up to this point we have been talking about seeing differently. We started out talking about how
we need to open our eyes and expand our vision, THEN we saw the contrast between vision and sight and I hope that I have made the point that we need vision more than we need sight. FINALLY while our experience can be helpful in increasing our vision, we need to be careful that we do not let it limit us.
Bartimaus had vision, and through his vision he regained his sight. Bartimaus called out to Jesus and Jesus met him where he was but Bartimaus knew what he wanted, he wanted to see and by the grace of God he received his sight.
I want to be like Bartimaus, “Lord, I want vision”, yet I am afraid I am more like the disciples than I care to admit.
Afraid to see fully,
-afraid to have vision because of the cost,
-seeking to see only a little of what God is calling me to do and be
BUT through the grace of God, even the disciples received vision as God was revealed in Christ.
Grace is afforded to each of us through Christ as well. As we seek God, we can begin to see more clearly. We can see differently. Maybe today we can see communion as an opportunity to see differently. May God open our eyes that we may see.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Christmas Eve 2009
A Child is Given
Luke 2:10-11
It seems this is the gift giving time of year. We work day and night to find the right gifts, wrap them in the right paper (or put them in a bag from last Christmas and try to salvage some paper for a birthday gift last month...), hide them in the right spot so no one finds them until Christmas day, and then we smile with joy as our loved ones open the gifts.
Sometimes, gifts are special too. I don't mean a package of meat from some steak company on the Internet or a gift card that puts all the pressure on the recipient to find the right gift, I mean those special gifts. I'm talking about those gift you remember for decades, not days.
Though I may have had many such gifts through the years, one stands out when I think of special gifts. It was July 1976. I remember having my birthday party in the driveway and my front yard. We had strung streamers between the posts of the carport. The actual carport had collapsed the winter before due to snow and ice but the poles were there. We had tables set up for the cake and gifts and a place in the dirt to play with trucks and Army Men. It was a six year old boys paradise. I don't remember what the cake looked like, I don't remember who was there. But I remember the gift.
Oh, I got lots of gifts, probably a model, maybe a cap gun, possibly a shirt or some pants, but after all the gifts had been unwrapped I noticed my dad was missing... then I saw him. Coming around the house with my brand new bicycle. It was a Spirit of '76 Huffy bicycle. It had red-white-and blue streamers coming out of the Ape-Hanger handlebars. It had a banana seat with a red-white-and blue pendent above it. It was my my own bicycle, not a hand-me down, not one that I shared, not one with training wheels. It was mine, a big boy bike.
It would have been the greatest memory of that day had it not been for one other thing... Smokey Joe showed up. Who is or was Smokey Joe? Well, Smokey Joe was a little Lynx Point Siamese kitten. I remember the little guy having to jump through the thick St. Augustine grass and almost disappearing every time it it landed in the grass. It was so cute and cuddly. I wanted to keep him. I wanted a cat. It would make the best gift, or so I thought. Except my sister was allergic to cats, my mom didn't like all the hair, and Dad didn't like all the damage they cause with their claws and cleaning up a litter box. So, my grandmother ended up with Smokey and I got to visit my birthday cat for the following 15 years.
You see, Smokey Joe was a great gift, the Bicycle was a great gift, and I'm sure all the other gifts were great too, but Smokey and the Bike were special, I remember them even now some 33 years later.
There are a few things we need to remember about good gifts, the best gifts, special gifts:
1.They always express the personality of the giver
2.They unfailingly meet a need or desire of the receiver
\ Let's think about those for a moment. I don't think it is any secret that I like to hunt and fish. So, I could give a gift to Renee that expressed my personality well if I gave her a new Diamond Archery Black Ice Compound Bow – Come on, it has 80% let of at 70 Lbs and shoots an arrow at 318fps. But, since Renee doesn't like hunting it would meet neither a need nor a desire of hers.
But the bike I was talking about. It expressed the personality of my parents and it met a desire of mine. It was a great gift.
3.There is something else about a really good gift too. You have to receive it. If you never accept the gift, if you never receive the gift, if you never take possession of the gift then it is never yours.
4. Finally, you have to open it. A gift, no matter how wonderfully wrapped, will never serve it's purpose if you don't unwrap it and discover it's purpose for your life.
In other words, a good gift says something about the one that gives it, means something to the one that is to receive it, has to be accepted, and must be unwrapped and made a part of the life of the recipient.
One Christmas-Eve an older gentleman was driving home after the Christmas-Eve Service at his church. It was bitterly cold and snowing but as he drove down the street he notices a young boy sitting on the curb shivering. He pulled up next to the boy and asked, “Is everything alright?, you need to get out of the cold or you're gonna freeze!” But the boy said, “I ca-ca-can't sir” the man told him he would take him anywhere he needed to go if he would just tell him where he lived. It confused the older man even more when the boy told him that he lived in the apartments behind him, some 50' away. “You don't understand,” the boy explained, “My daddy gave me $5 and this list to run across the street to the store, but it was so cold and the wind blew so hard I lost the $5. I've looked for it everywhere and can't find it.”
The gentleman smiled and said “oh, that's OK, just go tell your dad what happened and he'll give you another $5.”
“Mister, you don't know my Daddy, he's been drinkin' and he gets mean. I can't go home and tell him I lost his $5. He'll get real mad.”
So, the man took out his own wallet, gave the boy a $5 bill, walked him to the store, and helped him gather the milk, bread, and other couple of things. The total came to $4 and change. The man told the boy, “now you take that change back to your Daddy and give him what he wanted.” the boy smiled and started to run home but stopped, came back to the older man and hugged him around the leg and said, “Thank you, I wish you were my daddy.” and then ran on home.
That night that man drove around for several more blocks looking for any other little boys that might have lost $5. It seemed, if only for an instant, that he had found the perfect gift.
I know you are all smart enough to know that I'm not talking about Five Dollar Bills or the gifts that are under our trees at our homes tonight. Some of those gifts will be special and they will bring great joy for a while, others of them will be a disappointment as soon as they are opened. All of them will someday fade like the morning fog.
There is only one gift that is truly special. There is only one gift that will last forever. And that gift is not under a tree tonight. That is the gift that Isaiah spoke of some 2700 years ago when he predicted that “Unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” It is the gift of Jesus, a gift that certainly expresses the personality of the giver, it unfailingly meets a need of the receiver, it is a gift we must receive, and it is a gift that we must make a part of our life to realize the difference it can produce.
There is an Old Scottish Legend about a shepherd boy that was tending the sheep one day when he saw a beautiful flower in the field. He had never seen a flower like it so he bent over, picked it and took in its beautiful aroma. Just then the nearby mountain lifted up as if on hinges and revealed a treasure one could only dream of. There were jewels, and diamonds, and gold, and silver. The boy ran to the treasure and began picking up the most valuable items he could carry. Then a voice echoed through the caverns of the mountain, “Don't forget the best.” The boy looked around to see if there was anything better than what he had in his arms and, deciding that there wasn't he started to leave. Then the voice echoed again, “Don't forget the best”. The boy hesitated for a moment then ran from the mountain cavern with his arms loaded with treasures. As he cleared the mountain it crashed to the ground and he again heard the voice, “Don't forget the best – the flower you left inside.” At that moment the treasures in the boys arms turned to dust. He had forgotten the best, the flower, the key to the vault of treasures.
This Christmas, let us not forget the best. In the giving and receiving of gifts let us not forget that
A baby born one blessed silent night,
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives.
(Some of the stories and thoughts were inspired by Steve Halliday and Ed Young, "And He Shall Be Called... Everlasting Father... Rediscovering the First Christmas Gift."
A Child is Given
Luke 2:10-11
It seems this is the gift giving time of year. We work day and night to find the right gifts, wrap them in the right paper (or put them in a bag from last Christmas and try to salvage some paper for a birthday gift last month...), hide them in the right spot so no one finds them until Christmas day, and then we smile with joy as our loved ones open the gifts.
Sometimes, gifts are special too. I don't mean a package of meat from some steak company on the Internet or a gift card that puts all the pressure on the recipient to find the right gift, I mean those special gifts. I'm talking about those gift you remember for decades, not days.
Though I may have had many such gifts through the years, one stands out when I think of special gifts. It was July 1976. I remember having my birthday party in the driveway and my front yard. We had strung streamers between the posts of the carport. The actual carport had collapsed the winter before due to snow and ice but the poles were there. We had tables set up for the cake and gifts and a place in the dirt to play with trucks and Army Men. It was a six year old boys paradise. I don't remember what the cake looked like, I don't remember who was there. But I remember the gift.
Oh, I got lots of gifts, probably a model, maybe a cap gun, possibly a shirt or some pants, but after all the gifts had been unwrapped I noticed my dad was missing... then I saw him. Coming around the house with my brand new bicycle. It was a Spirit of '76 Huffy bicycle. It had red-white-and blue streamers coming out of the Ape-Hanger handlebars. It had a banana seat with a red-white-and blue pendent above it. It was my my own bicycle, not a hand-me down, not one that I shared, not one with training wheels. It was mine, a big boy bike.
It would have been the greatest memory of that day had it not been for one other thing... Smokey Joe showed up. Who is or was Smokey Joe? Well, Smokey Joe was a little Lynx Point Siamese kitten. I remember the little guy having to jump through the thick St. Augustine grass and almost disappearing every time it it landed in the grass. It was so cute and cuddly. I wanted to keep him. I wanted a cat. It would make the best gift, or so I thought. Except my sister was allergic to cats, my mom didn't like all the hair, and Dad didn't like all the damage they cause with their claws and cleaning up a litter box. So, my grandmother ended up with Smokey and I got to visit my birthday cat for the following 15 years.
You see, Smokey Joe was a great gift, the Bicycle was a great gift, and I'm sure all the other gifts were great too, but Smokey and the Bike were special, I remember them even now some 33 years later.
There are a few things we need to remember about good gifts, the best gifts, special gifts:
1.They always express the personality of the giver
2.They unfailingly meet a need or desire of the receiver
\ Let's think about those for a moment. I don't think it is any secret that I like to hunt and fish. So, I could give a gift to Renee that expressed my personality well if I gave her a new Diamond Archery Black Ice Compound Bow – Come on, it has 80% let of at 70 Lbs and shoots an arrow at 318fps. But, since Renee doesn't like hunting it would meet neither a need nor a desire of hers.
But the bike I was talking about. It expressed the personality of my parents and it met a desire of mine. It was a great gift.
3.There is something else about a really good gift too. You have to receive it. If you never accept the gift, if you never receive the gift, if you never take possession of the gift then it is never yours.
4. Finally, you have to open it. A gift, no matter how wonderfully wrapped, will never serve it's purpose if you don't unwrap it and discover it's purpose for your life.
In other words, a good gift says something about the one that gives it, means something to the one that is to receive it, has to be accepted, and must be unwrapped and made a part of the life of the recipient.
One Christmas-Eve an older gentleman was driving home after the Christmas-Eve Service at his church. It was bitterly cold and snowing but as he drove down the street he notices a young boy sitting on the curb shivering. He pulled up next to the boy and asked, “Is everything alright?, you need to get out of the cold or you're gonna freeze!” But the boy said, “I ca-ca-can't sir” the man told him he would take him anywhere he needed to go if he would just tell him where he lived. It confused the older man even more when the boy told him that he lived in the apartments behind him, some 50' away. “You don't understand,” the boy explained, “My daddy gave me $5 and this list to run across the street to the store, but it was so cold and the wind blew so hard I lost the $5. I've looked for it everywhere and can't find it.”
The gentleman smiled and said “oh, that's OK, just go tell your dad what happened and he'll give you another $5.”
“Mister, you don't know my Daddy, he's been drinkin' and he gets mean. I can't go home and tell him I lost his $5. He'll get real mad.”
So, the man took out his own wallet, gave the boy a $5 bill, walked him to the store, and helped him gather the milk, bread, and other couple of things. The total came to $4 and change. The man told the boy, “now you take that change back to your Daddy and give him what he wanted.” the boy smiled and started to run home but stopped, came back to the older man and hugged him around the leg and said, “Thank you, I wish you were my daddy.” and then ran on home.
That night that man drove around for several more blocks looking for any other little boys that might have lost $5. It seemed, if only for an instant, that he had found the perfect gift.
I know you are all smart enough to know that I'm not talking about Five Dollar Bills or the gifts that are under our trees at our homes tonight. Some of those gifts will be special and they will bring great joy for a while, others of them will be a disappointment as soon as they are opened. All of them will someday fade like the morning fog.
There is only one gift that is truly special. There is only one gift that will last forever. And that gift is not under a tree tonight. That is the gift that Isaiah spoke of some 2700 years ago when he predicted that “Unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” It is the gift of Jesus, a gift that certainly expresses the personality of the giver, it unfailingly meets a need of the receiver, it is a gift we must receive, and it is a gift that we must make a part of our life to realize the difference it can produce.
There is an Old Scottish Legend about a shepherd boy that was tending the sheep one day when he saw a beautiful flower in the field. He had never seen a flower like it so he bent over, picked it and took in its beautiful aroma. Just then the nearby mountain lifted up as if on hinges and revealed a treasure one could only dream of. There were jewels, and diamonds, and gold, and silver. The boy ran to the treasure and began picking up the most valuable items he could carry. Then a voice echoed through the caverns of the mountain, “Don't forget the best.” The boy looked around to see if there was anything better than what he had in his arms and, deciding that there wasn't he started to leave. Then the voice echoed again, “Don't forget the best”. The boy hesitated for a moment then ran from the mountain cavern with his arms loaded with treasures. As he cleared the mountain it crashed to the ground and he again heard the voice, “Don't forget the best – the flower you left inside.” At that moment the treasures in the boys arms turned to dust. He had forgotten the best, the flower, the key to the vault of treasures.
This Christmas, let us not forget the best. In the giving and receiving of gifts let us not forget that
A baby born one blessed silent night,
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives.
(Some of the stories and thoughts were inspired by Steve Halliday and Ed Young, "And He Shall Be Called... Everlasting Father... Rediscovering the First Christmas Gift."
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Anticipation
Luke 2:1-7
There are definite advantages to living in a small town. AND there are definite disadvantages to living in a small town. One advantage to living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone. One disadvantage to living in a small town is… everyone knows everyone.
Everyone in Marysvale knew Amy Williams. She had been born 17 years ago, crippled in body if not in spirit. No one had expected her to live, but she had. Everyone knew Amy, her hunched back and twisted spine were recognizable at a distance.
And here she sat by the Choir room door, agonizing over the audition for the communities Christmas program. “What am I doing here?” she thought, “I’ll never be chosen.”
This Christmas program was a community tradition, it had gone on so long that no one even knew when it had begun or even who had written it. Each year more people tried out for the play than there were parts and each year some had to be turned away. There were 12 choir parts, the angels, Mary, Joseph, the Angel of the Lord, the Inn Keeper, and a few Shepherds and Shepherd boys.
As Amy sat there, she through about leaving, she didn’t want to be rejected again, “I try not to care, but I do. I don’t want to be hurt anymore.” She thought to herself, “Mr. Simons will never choose me for a part. I just don’t fit. But at least I don’t have to audition in front of Mrs. Prendergast.”
Mrs. Prendergrast had been the music teacher at Marysvale High School for more than thirty years. She had cast, directed, and accompanied every pageant and production of the school and community for many of those thirty years. Three years earlier Amy had tried to audition for the Christmas program but Mrs. Prendergrast took one look at Amy’s misshapen body and said, “Child, you just don’t fit. I don’t remember anywhere in the script where it calls for crippled girl.” Without singing a note Amy had been rejected. Hurt and humiliated she vowed never to try out again. Then… Mrs. Prendergrast retired.
The new Choral teacher, Mr. Simmons was the polar opposite of Mrs. Prendergrast. Oh, don’t get me wrong, he expected perfection and taught in just that way, but he also understood when perfection was not reached. He taught with love and compassion. He coached and corrected with kindness, and he himself sang with such power.
One day after class he asked Amy to try out for the program. That is the only reason she was even there. As she sat she thought about leaving and avoiding the pain of rejection, but she didn’t want to disappoint Mr. Simmons. As she struggled with what to do the door opened and she heard the words, “Amy, your next.”
After the audition Mr. Simmons said, “Thank you, Amy. The list will be posted tomorrow.” And with that Amy walked out of the Choir room, anticipating the rejection that was to come. For brief moments she would allow herself to speculate that she may have made it into the heavenly choir of angels, then reality would hit her in the face as she tried to move her deformed back. What chance did she have? Yet still she waited.
We’ve all been there in some degree or another. We know the waiting game:
Waiting on our final grades
Waiting for the proposal
Awaiting the birth of a child
Waiting on the test results from the doctor
Waiting on the call to come after the job interview
Anticipation… It has a sense of excitement, like a child watching as the gifts collect under the tree.
It also has a sense of anxiety… that not knowing what is to come, not knowing the answer.
This weekend I felt both senses of anticipation. You see, Friday we left after the school parties were all over to go to my moms for Christmas. There was the excitement of seeing family and the giving and receiving of gifts. But there was also the anxiety of things not being as the once where. You see, my dad died in 2003, my mom has remarried, and things just aren’t the same any more. There’s different family there now. New traditions. A different home. It just isn’t the same any more. And, I anticipate every holiday we spend together because of that.
But any anticipation, any excitement, any anxiety we feel for things like this fall far short of anything Mary and Joseph felt during the 40 weeks of her pregnancy with Jesus.
Remember, they were not yet wed.
Even Joseph shunned Mary when he found out she was pregnant. He loved her so he couldn’t have her stoned. Even though….
That is what the law called for, that she be stoned.
It took a visit from an angel for Joseph to be willing to believe the story - that the child she was carrying would be the Son of God.
The community shunned her; who in their right mind would believe a story like hers, that even though she was pregnant she was still a virgin.
Then, in the final weeks of the pregnancy she had to travel by donkey, across the rough barren land of Nazareth of Galilee, through Samaria and on to Bethlehem of Judea. It was a long and dangerous trip, especially for an expectant mother near the time of birth.
Think of Joseph, of what he endured. The snide remarks made behind his back about what he had done to her.
The questions of why he stayed with her if it wasn’t his fault.
Together they anticipated surviving in a culture that considered adultery and pre-marital relations as a crime punishable by death.
They anticipated the birth of Jesus
They anticipated raising the Son of God
How could they ever live up to the standard, to be the parents of the Messiah?
There was so much to anticipate.
And there was so much for Amy Williams to anticipate as well. Amy didn’t even want to go to school the next day. She just didn’t know how she could face Mr. Simmons after being rejected again. She didn’t want to see anyone or do anything; she just wanted to be left alone.
She avoided the choir room as long as she could but then Third-period choir rolled around and she would have to walk by the list to get to class. Timidly, fearfully, she looked at the list. The heavenly choir was listed at the bottom of the page. As she suspected, her name wasn’t there. “Rejected again!” She turned to enter the class when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw her name at the top of the page. She, Amy Williams, had been chosen to sing the only solo in the entire play, she was to be the Angel of the Lord and sing to the Christ child.
After class Mr. Simmons told her he needed to talk to her about her part. He told her, “I don’t want to upset you but I need to stage your part a little differently this year.” Amy thought to herself, “Yeah, right off the stage, out of sight.”
But Mr. Simmons went on to explain that he wanted to have a pyramid build and have the 12 angels coming up and to have her at the top center of the pyramid above the Baby Jesus as she sang her part. All those years of pain welled up in her and exploded on Mr. Simmons. “You don’t want me center stage. I’ll ruin the show. I don’t fit in. Everyone will stare at me and it will ruin the show.”
But Mr. Simmons stopped her and told her that he had chosen her for the part because she deserved it, what she thought of herself was out of his control, but he wanted her to sing as the Angel of the Lord, and since the song the Angel of the Lord sings is the central meaning of the entire play, he wanted her front and center to sing it.
That night Amy made her decision, she would be in the play. The rehearsals were exhausting, her body ached each day after climbing up and down the pyramid but great joy filled her heart as well. She did fit in.
Once again, one of the advantages to living in a small town is that when there is a special event everyone comes and this Christmas program was no different. And so it was the Sunday before Christmas when the whole town of Marysvale attended the Christmas program. Amy Williams, broken in body but not in spirit, climbed to the top of the silver-white pyramid and with the true voice of an angel sang her heart out to the Christ child.
“What child is this who laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?...”
Never had the angel sung more sweetly.
No one had realized how sick Amy really was because they were so used to seeing her broken body. No one even knew she went to the hospital the next morning
So, it was a real shock to the community when she died the next Tuesday. Her mother conveyed a last request from Amy to Mr. Simmons. Would he please sing at her funeral?
And so, on Christmas Eve two of Amy’s classmates helped Mr. Simmons from his wheelchair and supported him as he sang for a daughter of God, just as she had sung for the Son of God.
You see, sometimes we can anticipate what is to come. Other times we must simply receive that which comes our way.
Today, we await the celebration of the birth of our Savior. We sing songs together. We do good deeds for others. We gather with family and friends. And we anticipate the birth of the Christ child. But we also await Christ coming again. We can anticipate all we want. We can prepare our hearts by being in relationship with God through Christ, but in the end we must simply receive that which comes our way.
I hope today you will receive Christ, not just as a child but as the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and as a Savior. I pray you will receive the Son of God into your life today and everyday from this point forward.
Let us pray…
(The Story of Amy Williams came from: James, Bob and Kelli eds, Celebrate Christmas and the Beautiful Traditions of Advent, White Stone Books, Inc, pp 144-148.)
There are definite advantages to living in a small town. AND there are definite disadvantages to living in a small town. One advantage to living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone. One disadvantage to living in a small town is… everyone knows everyone.
Everyone in Marysvale knew Amy Williams. She had been born 17 years ago, crippled in body if not in spirit. No one had expected her to live, but she had. Everyone knew Amy, her hunched back and twisted spine were recognizable at a distance.
And here she sat by the Choir room door, agonizing over the audition for the communities Christmas program. “What am I doing here?” she thought, “I’ll never be chosen.”
This Christmas program was a community tradition, it had gone on so long that no one even knew when it had begun or even who had written it. Each year more people tried out for the play than there were parts and each year some had to be turned away. There were 12 choir parts, the angels, Mary, Joseph, the Angel of the Lord, the Inn Keeper, and a few Shepherds and Shepherd boys.
As Amy sat there, she through about leaving, she didn’t want to be rejected again, “I try not to care, but I do. I don’t want to be hurt anymore.” She thought to herself, “Mr. Simons will never choose me for a part. I just don’t fit. But at least I don’t have to audition in front of Mrs. Prendergast.”
Mrs. Prendergrast had been the music teacher at Marysvale High School for more than thirty years. She had cast, directed, and accompanied every pageant and production of the school and community for many of those thirty years. Three years earlier Amy had tried to audition for the Christmas program but Mrs. Prendergrast took one look at Amy’s misshapen body and said, “Child, you just don’t fit. I don’t remember anywhere in the script where it calls for crippled girl.” Without singing a note Amy had been rejected. Hurt and humiliated she vowed never to try out again. Then… Mrs. Prendergrast retired.
The new Choral teacher, Mr. Simmons was the polar opposite of Mrs. Prendergrast. Oh, don’t get me wrong, he expected perfection and taught in just that way, but he also understood when perfection was not reached. He taught with love and compassion. He coached and corrected with kindness, and he himself sang with such power.
One day after class he asked Amy to try out for the program. That is the only reason she was even there. As she sat she thought about leaving and avoiding the pain of rejection, but she didn’t want to disappoint Mr. Simmons. As she struggled with what to do the door opened and she heard the words, “Amy, your next.”
After the audition Mr. Simmons said, “Thank you, Amy. The list will be posted tomorrow.” And with that Amy walked out of the Choir room, anticipating the rejection that was to come. For brief moments she would allow herself to speculate that she may have made it into the heavenly choir of angels, then reality would hit her in the face as she tried to move her deformed back. What chance did she have? Yet still she waited.
We’ve all been there in some degree or another. We know the waiting game:
Waiting on our final grades
Waiting for the proposal
Awaiting the birth of a child
Waiting on the test results from the doctor
Waiting on the call to come after the job interview
Anticipation… It has a sense of excitement, like a child watching as the gifts collect under the tree.
It also has a sense of anxiety… that not knowing what is to come, not knowing the answer.
This weekend I felt both senses of anticipation. You see, Friday we left after the school parties were all over to go to my moms for Christmas. There was the excitement of seeing family and the giving and receiving of gifts. But there was also the anxiety of things not being as the once where. You see, my dad died in 2003, my mom has remarried, and things just aren’t the same any more. There’s different family there now. New traditions. A different home. It just isn’t the same any more. And, I anticipate every holiday we spend together because of that.
But any anticipation, any excitement, any anxiety we feel for things like this fall far short of anything Mary and Joseph felt during the 40 weeks of her pregnancy with Jesus.
Remember, they were not yet wed.
Even Joseph shunned Mary when he found out she was pregnant. He loved her so he couldn’t have her stoned. Even though….
That is what the law called for, that she be stoned.
It took a visit from an angel for Joseph to be willing to believe the story - that the child she was carrying would be the Son of God.
The community shunned her; who in their right mind would believe a story like hers, that even though she was pregnant she was still a virgin.
Then, in the final weeks of the pregnancy she had to travel by donkey, across the rough barren land of Nazareth of Galilee, through Samaria and on to Bethlehem of Judea. It was a long and dangerous trip, especially for an expectant mother near the time of birth.
Think of Joseph, of what he endured. The snide remarks made behind his back about what he had done to her.
The questions of why he stayed with her if it wasn’t his fault.
Together they anticipated surviving in a culture that considered adultery and pre-marital relations as a crime punishable by death.
They anticipated the birth of Jesus
They anticipated raising the Son of God
How could they ever live up to the standard, to be the parents of the Messiah?
There was so much to anticipate.
And there was so much for Amy Williams to anticipate as well. Amy didn’t even want to go to school the next day. She just didn’t know how she could face Mr. Simmons after being rejected again. She didn’t want to see anyone or do anything; she just wanted to be left alone.
She avoided the choir room as long as she could but then Third-period choir rolled around and she would have to walk by the list to get to class. Timidly, fearfully, she looked at the list. The heavenly choir was listed at the bottom of the page. As she suspected, her name wasn’t there. “Rejected again!” She turned to enter the class when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw her name at the top of the page. She, Amy Williams, had been chosen to sing the only solo in the entire play, she was to be the Angel of the Lord and sing to the Christ child.
After class Mr. Simmons told her he needed to talk to her about her part. He told her, “I don’t want to upset you but I need to stage your part a little differently this year.” Amy thought to herself, “Yeah, right off the stage, out of sight.”
But Mr. Simmons went on to explain that he wanted to have a pyramid build and have the 12 angels coming up and to have her at the top center of the pyramid above the Baby Jesus as she sang her part. All those years of pain welled up in her and exploded on Mr. Simmons. “You don’t want me center stage. I’ll ruin the show. I don’t fit in. Everyone will stare at me and it will ruin the show.”
But Mr. Simmons stopped her and told her that he had chosen her for the part because she deserved it, what she thought of herself was out of his control, but he wanted her to sing as the Angel of the Lord, and since the song the Angel of the Lord sings is the central meaning of the entire play, he wanted her front and center to sing it.
That night Amy made her decision, she would be in the play. The rehearsals were exhausting, her body ached each day after climbing up and down the pyramid but great joy filled her heart as well. She did fit in.
Once again, one of the advantages to living in a small town is that when there is a special event everyone comes and this Christmas program was no different. And so it was the Sunday before Christmas when the whole town of Marysvale attended the Christmas program. Amy Williams, broken in body but not in spirit, climbed to the top of the silver-white pyramid and with the true voice of an angel sang her heart out to the Christ child.
“What child is this who laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?...”
Never had the angel sung more sweetly.
No one had realized how sick Amy really was because they were so used to seeing her broken body. No one even knew she went to the hospital the next morning
So, it was a real shock to the community when she died the next Tuesday. Her mother conveyed a last request from Amy to Mr. Simmons. Would he please sing at her funeral?
And so, on Christmas Eve two of Amy’s classmates helped Mr. Simmons from his wheelchair and supported him as he sang for a daughter of God, just as she had sung for the Son of God.
You see, sometimes we can anticipate what is to come. Other times we must simply receive that which comes our way.
Today, we await the celebration of the birth of our Savior. We sing songs together. We do good deeds for others. We gather with family and friends. And we anticipate the birth of the Christ child. But we also await Christ coming again. We can anticipate all we want. We can prepare our hearts by being in relationship with God through Christ, but in the end we must simply receive that which comes our way.
I hope today you will receive Christ, not just as a child but as the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and as a Savior. I pray you will receive the Son of God into your life today and everyday from this point forward.
Let us pray…
(The Story of Amy Williams came from: James, Bob and Kelli eds, Celebrate Christmas and the Beautiful Traditions of Advent, White Stone Books, Inc, pp 144-148.)
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Unexpected Gifts, Luke 1:26-38
Unexpected Gifts
Luke 1:26-38
Zack had served God his entire life. At this point he was what some would call an old man. He and his wife, Liz, had wanted children but it just didn't seem to be in the plans. They had prayed, they had dreamed, they had cried, but they didn't have any children. I guess at some point you finally give up. You finally accept your lot in life. You love your nieces and nephews, you love the kids in the neighborhood, you pour love into the children around.
Imagine the surprise when one day as Zack was at the altar performing his ministerial duties he heard the voice of an angel. Now that would be enough for me, I'd be passed out on the floor. Somehow Zack maintained his composure and heard the words of the angel Gabriel, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.”
They had their child. John was a gift to them, a surprise gift, an unexpected gift. But John was more than that, he was the cousin to our Savior. Sometimes the greatest gifts are more than we could ever expect.
In reading today’s Scripture, I began to think of what makes a good gift. What qualities are in a gift that make it special? What are the characteristics of a gift that make it particularly endearing to the one who receives it? Here’s what today’s Scripture taught me, and maybe it will teach you something as well.
A good gift is unconditional. There are no strings attached - nothing is expected in return.
Did you know that when a man asks a woman to marry him and gives an engagement ring, the ring is a gift? The ring is not given in exchange for actually marrying the man. If the wedding is called off the woman is under no legal obligation to give the ring back. There might be an ethical responsibility, depending on the circumstances, but there is no legal one because it is a gift with no strings attached.
The government likes to define words, and it defines “gifts” as well. When you give to the church, you can’t receive anything in return or it’s not a gift, and therefore not tax deductible. Even the law recognizes that a gift is given without strings attached.
So, a good gift is one that is given without any conditions. Once the gift is given, it is wholly that person’s—to do with as they wish.
When you look at the Scripture for this morning, you see that Gabriel gives no conditions for rearing Jesus other than what to name him. Gabriel’s announcement doesn’t come with a long list of items that must happen or God will take Jesus back. There’s nothing like, “Ok, Mary, if you are going to be the one who raises the Son of God, you will have to make sure he wears sunscreen when he goes outside, childproof your home by putting a gate around your fireplace, and be certain that he says his prayers every night.”
You would think with the salvation of the world on the line that the Son of God would come with some kind of Divine Instruction Manual like, “Dieties in Diapers,” “How to Raise a Know-it-all,” or “How to Hide Birthday Gifts from Your Omniscient Child,” or “How to Discipline the Son of God.”
God is trusting Mary and Joseph to raise Jesus in such a way as to shape him into the kind of man who will understand that God will call him to sacrifice his life for the world. What a precious gift and awesome responsibility that is!
Another characteristic of a good gift is that it is surprising. The best gifts are those where you think to yourself, “I can’t believe they got that for me” or “I had no idea they knew I wanted that” or “I didn’t even know anyone made these things!”
I remember not long after Renee and I met, she knew I wanted a new bedspread. I lived in a rat hole with 4 other guys but I wanted my room to look nice. We both worked at Wal-Mart and there was a manly comforter set on clearance at the back of the store. I had no idea that she would get it for me, that is until she asked me to put something in the trunk of her car and there it was, my birthday gift a week before she planned to give it to me. Oops! Needless to say the surprise was ruined for my birthday but it was definitely unexpected and it was a great gift. Sometime the best gift is the one that is unexpected and unpredictable.
Listen again to Mary’s response to the news that she would bear the Son of God.
“How will this be…since I am a virgin?” There could be no greater surprise than being pregnant while still being a virgin! I would imagine that she would be on the verge of shock.
Think for a minute about Mary. She is just a few years older than my daughter Reagan.
She is just at that age when her whole life seems to be before her.
She is sitting at a small desk in her room, and she is staring blankly ahead at the wall.
She is stunned. She sits in disbelief.
She is going to have a baby.
Since she was old enough to talk, she has been waiting and dreaming. She has dreamed of what her life would be like. She has waited for the right man. She prayed for God to send her the right one.
Someone kind. Maybe even someone rich! Certainly someone who had a trade, who could provide.
She had dreamed of the wedding.
She waited for this man, the one selected for her, to respond to her father’s overture…
She dreamed of her friends celebrating with her.
…dreamed of all of the joy of that wedding day.
She must confess she had even dreamed of that wedding night…
In this moment, as she sits staring at the wall, all of those dreams are gone. She cannot avoid the reality. Surprise! She is going to have a baby.
What do you do when what you have prayed for, when what you have been waiting for, isn’t what comes your way at all? But instead, what comes your way is something altogether different, something outside your plans, something that you would never has asked for, never have waited for, never have prayed for. That must be you… You have been there somehow, sometime.
You prayed that the biopsy would come back negative, but it came back positive.
You prayed that your husband would be able to save your marriage, but he seems bent on leaving.
You prayed that the job offer would come, but instead the mailbox was empty.
Surely you’ve had those moments when you just wondered if God was even listening to you.
You see, the question, “how can this be, since I am a virgin,” is not simply a biological question of the angel, but rather a social one. The angel has described a scene in which Mary is a special one, to bear a special child… God is going to use her to do something magnificent.
Mary’s question is “If I turn up pregnant, and unmarried, how can that mean I have found favor with God? How can something magnificent and good and wonderful come out of this?”
And the angel replies: Nothing is impossible with God.
Now that is the real miracle of this story, is it not? Not just that God used a virgin; God used something that seemed like a tragedy and turned it into a victory. That is the way that God works.
Sometimes, our plan for our lives doesn’t work out. What comes down the pike is not just a surprise, but a gut wrenching surprise.
We have to recognize that maybe God can take our lives and work something else out with them…. Something altogether different than we had in mind.
The last thing that makes a really good gift is its value to the giver. The more the giver values the gift, the more the giver values the one he or she is giving it to.
Gift's don't have to be expensive to be valuable. A child takes the time to make a card or a coupon book or A father passes on a special pocket knife that belonged to his dad. Sometimes they can be expensive like a special ring given for a special reason. The point is, the value is not tied to the price, the value is about what it means to the giver and the receiver.
To put that in the context of our Scripture today, God’s greatest gift to us was what? Sure! His Son, which as Christians, we believe was the incarnation of God himself. That means that God values his relationship with us so much that he gave his very self to suffer and die on a cross for us. Does that put things in perspective?
Let me tell you about another Mary and Joseph…. Their names were Patrick and Ellen. They were no longer young; in fact, they were in their forties. But one day, Ellen turned up pregnant. They already had two children at home, and had resolved not to have any others, but they decided that this would be a great gift, this third child. You see, they had hit a rough spot in their marriage and maybe a new baby was just what they needed to smooth it out.
Sometime around the fourth month of the pregnancy, the doctors informed them that the baby was to be a boy, but there was a problem. This boy’s genetic material contained an extra copy of the 21st chromosome. He would have Down’s Syndrome.
Patrick and Ellen were heartbroken. How would they survive? How could their marriage survive?
Ellen traveled a lot for work, and it was difficult enough caring for their two children. What kind of effect would it have on them? What about her career? They argued a lot with God. They cried. They shouted out in anger. They refused to talk to anyone around them, because everything those friends said seemed like shallow platitudes.
By the time Jonathan was born, they had come to the decision that “it is what it is.” They would do their very best for Jonathan.
The family dynamic changed dramatically. Ellen quit her job, so that she could provide full time care for Jonathan. Patrick scaled back his hours so he could help out more. The family began some family counseling; they figured they were going to need it. Ellen became an advocate in the church and the school for children with special needs, helping to start a Sunday school program for Jonathan. The whole family discovered a new sense of focus, a new sense of direction, a new sense of purpose.
Later Patrick would say, “Jonathan is the best thing that ever happened to us. We thank God for him every single day.”
What a gift Jonathan was. A surprising gift, an Unexpected Gift. Yes, and sometimes a heartbreaking gift. Who would have thought that such a tragedy might become such a blessing...
But then again, nothing is impossible is God.
(Parts of this sermon came from sermon curriculum for the "Given" series put out by The Loft Church - The Woodlands UMC. Tom Pace and Tom Teekell of the Texas Annual Conference are to be credited with some of the stories of this sermon.)
Luke 1:26-38
Zack had served God his entire life. At this point he was what some would call an old man. He and his wife, Liz, had wanted children but it just didn't seem to be in the plans. They had prayed, they had dreamed, they had cried, but they didn't have any children. I guess at some point you finally give up. You finally accept your lot in life. You love your nieces and nephews, you love the kids in the neighborhood, you pour love into the children around.
Imagine the surprise when one day as Zack was at the altar performing his ministerial duties he heard the voice of an angel. Now that would be enough for me, I'd be passed out on the floor. Somehow Zack maintained his composure and heard the words of the angel Gabriel, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.”
They had their child. John was a gift to them, a surprise gift, an unexpected gift. But John was more than that, he was the cousin to our Savior. Sometimes the greatest gifts are more than we could ever expect.
In reading today’s Scripture, I began to think of what makes a good gift. What qualities are in a gift that make it special? What are the characteristics of a gift that make it particularly endearing to the one who receives it? Here’s what today’s Scripture taught me, and maybe it will teach you something as well.
A good gift is unconditional. There are no strings attached - nothing is expected in return.
Did you know that when a man asks a woman to marry him and gives an engagement ring, the ring is a gift? The ring is not given in exchange for actually marrying the man. If the wedding is called off the woman is under no legal obligation to give the ring back. There might be an ethical responsibility, depending on the circumstances, but there is no legal one because it is a gift with no strings attached.
The government likes to define words, and it defines “gifts” as well. When you give to the church, you can’t receive anything in return or it’s not a gift, and therefore not tax deductible. Even the law recognizes that a gift is given without strings attached.
So, a good gift is one that is given without any conditions. Once the gift is given, it is wholly that person’s—to do with as they wish.
When you look at the Scripture for this morning, you see that Gabriel gives no conditions for rearing Jesus other than what to name him. Gabriel’s announcement doesn’t come with a long list of items that must happen or God will take Jesus back. There’s nothing like, “Ok, Mary, if you are going to be the one who raises the Son of God, you will have to make sure he wears sunscreen when he goes outside, childproof your home by putting a gate around your fireplace, and be certain that he says his prayers every night.”
You would think with the salvation of the world on the line that the Son of God would come with some kind of Divine Instruction Manual like, “Dieties in Diapers,” “How to Raise a Know-it-all,” or “How to Hide Birthday Gifts from Your Omniscient Child,” or “How to Discipline the Son of God.”
God is trusting Mary and Joseph to raise Jesus in such a way as to shape him into the kind of man who will understand that God will call him to sacrifice his life for the world. What a precious gift and awesome responsibility that is!
Another characteristic of a good gift is that it is surprising. The best gifts are those where you think to yourself, “I can’t believe they got that for me” or “I had no idea they knew I wanted that” or “I didn’t even know anyone made these things!”
I remember not long after Renee and I met, she knew I wanted a new bedspread. I lived in a rat hole with 4 other guys but I wanted my room to look nice. We both worked at Wal-Mart and there was a manly comforter set on clearance at the back of the store. I had no idea that she would get it for me, that is until she asked me to put something in the trunk of her car and there it was, my birthday gift a week before she planned to give it to me. Oops! Needless to say the surprise was ruined for my birthday but it was definitely unexpected and it was a great gift. Sometime the best gift is the one that is unexpected and unpredictable.
Listen again to Mary’s response to the news that she would bear the Son of God.
“How will this be…since I am a virgin?” There could be no greater surprise than being pregnant while still being a virgin! I would imagine that she would be on the verge of shock.
Think for a minute about Mary. She is just a few years older than my daughter Reagan.
She is just at that age when her whole life seems to be before her.
She is sitting at a small desk in her room, and she is staring blankly ahead at the wall.
She is stunned. She sits in disbelief.
She is going to have a baby.
Since she was old enough to talk, she has been waiting and dreaming. She has dreamed of what her life would be like. She has waited for the right man. She prayed for God to send her the right one.
Someone kind. Maybe even someone rich! Certainly someone who had a trade, who could provide.
She had dreamed of the wedding.
She waited for this man, the one selected for her, to respond to her father’s overture…
She dreamed of her friends celebrating with her.
…dreamed of all of the joy of that wedding day.
She must confess she had even dreamed of that wedding night…
In this moment, as she sits staring at the wall, all of those dreams are gone. She cannot avoid the reality. Surprise! She is going to have a baby.
What do you do when what you have prayed for, when what you have been waiting for, isn’t what comes your way at all? But instead, what comes your way is something altogether different, something outside your plans, something that you would never has asked for, never have waited for, never have prayed for. That must be you… You have been there somehow, sometime.
You prayed that the biopsy would come back negative, but it came back positive.
You prayed that your husband would be able to save your marriage, but he seems bent on leaving.
You prayed that the job offer would come, but instead the mailbox was empty.
Surely you’ve had those moments when you just wondered if God was even listening to you.
You see, the question, “how can this be, since I am a virgin,” is not simply a biological question of the angel, but rather a social one. The angel has described a scene in which Mary is a special one, to bear a special child… God is going to use her to do something magnificent.
Mary’s question is “If I turn up pregnant, and unmarried, how can that mean I have found favor with God? How can something magnificent and good and wonderful come out of this?”
And the angel replies: Nothing is impossible with God.
Now that is the real miracle of this story, is it not? Not just that God used a virgin; God used something that seemed like a tragedy and turned it into a victory. That is the way that God works.
Sometimes, our plan for our lives doesn’t work out. What comes down the pike is not just a surprise, but a gut wrenching surprise.
We have to recognize that maybe God can take our lives and work something else out with them…. Something altogether different than we had in mind.
The last thing that makes a really good gift is its value to the giver. The more the giver values the gift, the more the giver values the one he or she is giving it to.
Gift's don't have to be expensive to be valuable. A child takes the time to make a card or a coupon book or A father passes on a special pocket knife that belonged to his dad. Sometimes they can be expensive like a special ring given for a special reason. The point is, the value is not tied to the price, the value is about what it means to the giver and the receiver.
To put that in the context of our Scripture today, God’s greatest gift to us was what? Sure! His Son, which as Christians, we believe was the incarnation of God himself. That means that God values his relationship with us so much that he gave his very self to suffer and die on a cross for us. Does that put things in perspective?
Let me tell you about another Mary and Joseph…. Their names were Patrick and Ellen. They were no longer young; in fact, they were in their forties. But one day, Ellen turned up pregnant. They already had two children at home, and had resolved not to have any others, but they decided that this would be a great gift, this third child. You see, they had hit a rough spot in their marriage and maybe a new baby was just what they needed to smooth it out.
Sometime around the fourth month of the pregnancy, the doctors informed them that the baby was to be a boy, but there was a problem. This boy’s genetic material contained an extra copy of the 21st chromosome. He would have Down’s Syndrome.
Patrick and Ellen were heartbroken. How would they survive? How could their marriage survive?
Ellen traveled a lot for work, and it was difficult enough caring for their two children. What kind of effect would it have on them? What about her career? They argued a lot with God. They cried. They shouted out in anger. They refused to talk to anyone around them, because everything those friends said seemed like shallow platitudes.
By the time Jonathan was born, they had come to the decision that “it is what it is.” They would do their very best for Jonathan.
The family dynamic changed dramatically. Ellen quit her job, so that she could provide full time care for Jonathan. Patrick scaled back his hours so he could help out more. The family began some family counseling; they figured they were going to need it. Ellen became an advocate in the church and the school for children with special needs, helping to start a Sunday school program for Jonathan. The whole family discovered a new sense of focus, a new sense of direction, a new sense of purpose.
Later Patrick would say, “Jonathan is the best thing that ever happened to us. We thank God for him every single day.”
What a gift Jonathan was. A surprising gift, an Unexpected Gift. Yes, and sometimes a heartbreaking gift. Who would have thought that such a tragedy might become such a blessing...
But then again, nothing is impossible is God.
(Parts of this sermon came from sermon curriculum for the "Given" series put out by The Loft Church - The Woodlands UMC. Tom Pace and Tom Teekell of the Texas Annual Conference are to be credited with some of the stories of this sermon.)
Monday, September 28, 2009
What Time Is It?
Text: Ecclesiastes 3
I wonder if you noticed that there has been a method to the madness of the 3:16 series? This past Spring we looked at Stewardship and saw such texts as Leviticus 3:16 and we talked about an offering to God or Malachi 3:16 and talked about the Tithe. We looked at living in the midst of this world and saw sermons like “Warning” from 2 Peter 3:16. After that we began looking at our Spiritual Gifts and now, over the past several weeks we have been looking at Evangelism. We have jumped out of the 3:16's this month to ask “Why do you follow Christ” and what difference is it going to make in the world? We have looked at 1 Peter 3:16 and said we need to live out our faith regardless of the persecution that may follow. Be ready to tell others of the hope that is in you. Last week we saw that none are righteous but all are worthy. Christ died for us all. Today we will have the last sermon of our 3:16 series and, it too will be a sermon on evangelism.
Evangelism you may ask? Ecclesiastes 3? Isn't that the chapter that the Byrds got the lyrics to “Turn Turn” from? Well, yes it is, but there is a lot more to the chapter than just those few words and that is what we are going to look at today.
Ecclesiastes 3:16 – 22
Ecclesiastes is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted texts in our Bible. In a sense, people try to make of it what they will. For instance, one might read 2:13-14 and see that there are many advantages in this life to having wisdom OR one might read the same passage at another time in their life or from another translation and see that wisdom or foolishness doesn't matter because death comes to the foolish or the wise.
The truth is Ecclesiastes is hard for us to translate because it is so different from anything else we read. The Psalmist looks around at all that God has created and responds with a song of praise for God's great handiwork. The author of Ecclesiastes looks out at the same thing and sees the repetition of life, that the rivers flow into the sea, the wind blows where it may, the sun shines and the rain falls and then comes to the conclusion that, there is nothing new under the sun.
The prophet Isaiah may look at an unjust and corrupt society and demand justice in the name of God. The author of Ecclesiastes sees the same and says in 5:8, “It's just the system, you can't beat it.”
In some respects this is one of the most depressing books of the Old Testament. Songs like “Turn Turn Turn ” and “Dust in the Wind” were inspired by it. Songs that plea for peace or say simply that we are just dust waiting to blow in the wind when we die.
However, I think there is a lot more in this Book than depressing words about the meaningless life we live. I think it can help us to ask questions of ourselves. We can see injustice in the world around us and it can remind us that there is a time and purpose for everything under heaven.
That is the thought I want us to take a few minutes to look at. Time.
That thing that we just can't get enough of.
We always need more time don't we?
We say, “there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done.”
We have the term “waiting till the last … (what)... minute” – (time).
We are concerned that the time won't be there if we wait too long.
We worry about having time to do all our work and still spend time with our families.
We worry that time is slipping away and we can't control it.
Time, it seems, is our enemy, and for some maybe it is.
We do seem to have a limited amout of time in this life.
We do know that “This is the day and the hour of salvation”.
We know that others need to hear about and know Christ before before they die and we do not know when that “time” may come and we need to respond!
But I heard something yesterday about time. Bridget, the young lady that works at the Wash n Fold made a comment about time and then chuckled. She said my Mom always said “There's more time than life” Bridget would say, “Mom, I don't have time to do such and such, I have to finish this so and so.” and her mom would say, “There's more time than life.”
The truth is we use time as an excuse. We don't have time to go to church. We don't have time to talk to someone about the church or about God. We don't have time to care if someone is dying and going to hell.
Well, if that is the case maybe it's not about the time, maybe it's about our priorities. We somehow find the time to do the things we want to do. It's just those other things that we don't have time for.
Let me help us all out with this time thing,
Did God not create this world? Did God not design the earth to rotate around the sun setting our years and seasons? Did God not tilt the earth to the perfect 23.44° and set it spinning on it's axis to set our day's and nights? God created what we have deemed “time”.
God created just the right amount of time for what you need to do. The problem is we try to do all those things that we don't really need to do.
Time is what we make of it and that leads us to the question, “What time is it for you?”
In other words, what is God asking you to do with your time right now?
I think that issue of what God wants us to do with our time is directly related to our purpose as a church. Our church is not about this building! Our church has nothing to do with this building!
Don't get me wrong, I love this building. This building has a lot of history. There are a lot of sentimental feelings associated with this church. Sacred events have happened in this church. You and your children have been baptized in this church. Your families sweated as the bricks were laid and the repairs were conducted to this chancel and choir loft after the fire in 1927 – after much of the oil money had left the community.
All of those things are important for us as a church and as a community, but if this beautiful building were to be destroyed tomorrow we would still be a church. Because YOU are the church. In fact we as a church have somehow gotten this whole thing wrapped around backwards. And I'm not just talking about here in Wortham/Kirvin. I'm talking about the way we as Christians “do church”.
Somewhere between Christ and today we decided that church meant that we come for an hour of Sunday School, then meet together, sing a few songs, say a few prayers, put a little money in the offering plate, try to stay awake during a 20 minute speech that some call a sermon, sing a song and hope we make it to Magic China before the Baptists get there. Am I right?
That is what it means to “Do church”. Doing church involves coming to this building and doing “good things” and that's not a bad thing.
But being the church is something totally different.
Being the church means going to the McCurdy School in Espanola, NM on a mission trip.
Being the church means going to the food pantry and handing out food to those in need.
Being the church means seeing that person that you know is not in church and asking them if they would like to come to church with you Sunday.
Being the church means going to Caritas or Opening a Christian Clothes Closet, Oh, we are already doing that...
Being the church means more than simply showing up on Sunday and hoping to hear a good sermon. Being the church means you have to do something.
Now let me stop right hear and clarify something.
1) I'm not saying that you don't have to come to church. I can hear it now, “well I don't feel one bit guilty for missing church the entire 9 weeks of Deer Season because the preacher said being out doing is more important that just coming to the church.” or “I can skip church this week, it's getting to be Christmas season and I do need to do all my shopping. After all, I can't very well be with those that need to go to church on Sunday if I'm in church. I'll be able to talk to more people that need to be in church if I go on Sunday.”
No, We should never forsake the assembling together as believers.
2) I'm not saying that there is no purpose in coming together here in this beautiful building.
What I'm saying is, well, let me steal a phrase from Gerald Ray.
We need to come to church to fill our salt shaker. We should never have a full salt shaker.
What is salt? It is a purifying agent. It is a seasoning. It is what we are. We are to be out salting the earth, spreading the great seasoning of Jesus in the world. Think of your life as that salt shaker. We need to be emptying that salt shaker every week as we spread Christ to the world around us.
Then, when we come on Sunday we fellowship with other believers.
We gather and discuss how we spread our salt.
We rejoice in lives changed.
We support and repair each other when our shaker gets cracked by heartaches and mistakes.
And we refill our salt-shakers with the Word of God and the Fellowship of the Saints so we can go do it again.
Though Ecclesiastes seems to be saying that time and justice doesn't really matter because everything ends with death, we know there is more. There is more to church. There is more to life. There is more, because, as Jesus said, we are the salt of the earth.
It's time to spread a little salt.
When we see the injustice and wickedness under the sun, spread a little salt.
When we go out into our work, spread a little salt.
Go spread some salt. Share your salt with the world.
That is what time it is.
I wonder if you noticed that there has been a method to the madness of the 3:16 series? This past Spring we looked at Stewardship and saw such texts as Leviticus 3:16 and we talked about an offering to God or Malachi 3:16 and talked about the Tithe. We looked at living in the midst of this world and saw sermons like “Warning” from 2 Peter 3:16. After that we began looking at our Spiritual Gifts and now, over the past several weeks we have been looking at Evangelism. We have jumped out of the 3:16's this month to ask “Why do you follow Christ” and what difference is it going to make in the world? We have looked at 1 Peter 3:16 and said we need to live out our faith regardless of the persecution that may follow. Be ready to tell others of the hope that is in you. Last week we saw that none are righteous but all are worthy. Christ died for us all. Today we will have the last sermon of our 3:16 series and, it too will be a sermon on evangelism.
Evangelism you may ask? Ecclesiastes 3? Isn't that the chapter that the Byrds got the lyrics to “Turn Turn” from? Well, yes it is, but there is a lot more to the chapter than just those few words and that is what we are going to look at today.
Ecclesiastes 3:16 – 22
Ecclesiastes is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted texts in our Bible. In a sense, people try to make of it what they will. For instance, one might read 2:13-14 and see that there are many advantages in this life to having wisdom OR one might read the same passage at another time in their life or from another translation and see that wisdom or foolishness doesn't matter because death comes to the foolish or the wise.
The truth is Ecclesiastes is hard for us to translate because it is so different from anything else we read. The Psalmist looks around at all that God has created and responds with a song of praise for God's great handiwork. The author of Ecclesiastes looks out at the same thing and sees the repetition of life, that the rivers flow into the sea, the wind blows where it may, the sun shines and the rain falls and then comes to the conclusion that, there is nothing new under the sun.
The prophet Isaiah may look at an unjust and corrupt society and demand justice in the name of God. The author of Ecclesiastes sees the same and says in 5:8, “It's just the system, you can't beat it.”
In some respects this is one of the most depressing books of the Old Testament. Songs like “Turn Turn Turn ” and “Dust in the Wind” were inspired by it. Songs that plea for peace or say simply that we are just dust waiting to blow in the wind when we die.
However, I think there is a lot more in this Book than depressing words about the meaningless life we live. I think it can help us to ask questions of ourselves. We can see injustice in the world around us and it can remind us that there is a time and purpose for everything under heaven.
That is the thought I want us to take a few minutes to look at. Time.
That thing that we just can't get enough of.
We always need more time don't we?
We say, “there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done.”
We have the term “waiting till the last … (what)... minute” – (time).
We are concerned that the time won't be there if we wait too long.
We worry about having time to do all our work and still spend time with our families.
We worry that time is slipping away and we can't control it.
Time, it seems, is our enemy, and for some maybe it is.
We do seem to have a limited amout of time in this life.
We do know that “This is the day and the hour of salvation”.
We know that others need to hear about and know Christ before before they die and we do not know when that “time” may come and we need to respond!
But I heard something yesterday about time. Bridget, the young lady that works at the Wash n Fold made a comment about time and then chuckled. She said my Mom always said “There's more time than life” Bridget would say, “Mom, I don't have time to do such and such, I have to finish this so and so.” and her mom would say, “There's more time than life.”
The truth is we use time as an excuse. We don't have time to go to church. We don't have time to talk to someone about the church or about God. We don't have time to care if someone is dying and going to hell.
Well, if that is the case maybe it's not about the time, maybe it's about our priorities. We somehow find the time to do the things we want to do. It's just those other things that we don't have time for.
Let me help us all out with this time thing,
Did God not create this world? Did God not design the earth to rotate around the sun setting our years and seasons? Did God not tilt the earth to the perfect 23.44° and set it spinning on it's axis to set our day's and nights? God created what we have deemed “time”.
God created just the right amount of time for what you need to do. The problem is we try to do all those things that we don't really need to do.
Time is what we make of it and that leads us to the question, “What time is it for you?”
In other words, what is God asking you to do with your time right now?
I think that issue of what God wants us to do with our time is directly related to our purpose as a church. Our church is not about this building! Our church has nothing to do with this building!
Don't get me wrong, I love this building. This building has a lot of history. There are a lot of sentimental feelings associated with this church. Sacred events have happened in this church. You and your children have been baptized in this church. Your families sweated as the bricks were laid and the repairs were conducted to this chancel and choir loft after the fire in 1927 – after much of the oil money had left the community.
All of those things are important for us as a church and as a community, but if this beautiful building were to be destroyed tomorrow we would still be a church. Because YOU are the church. In fact we as a church have somehow gotten this whole thing wrapped around backwards. And I'm not just talking about here in Wortham/Kirvin. I'm talking about the way we as Christians “do church”.
Somewhere between Christ and today we decided that church meant that we come for an hour of Sunday School, then meet together, sing a few songs, say a few prayers, put a little money in the offering plate, try to stay awake during a 20 minute speech that some call a sermon, sing a song and hope we make it to Magic China before the Baptists get there. Am I right?
That is what it means to “Do church”. Doing church involves coming to this building and doing “good things” and that's not a bad thing.
But being the church is something totally different.
Being the church means going to the McCurdy School in Espanola, NM on a mission trip.
Being the church means going to the food pantry and handing out food to those in need.
Being the church means seeing that person that you know is not in church and asking them if they would like to come to church with you Sunday.
Being the church means going to Caritas or Opening a Christian Clothes Closet, Oh, we are already doing that...
Being the church means more than simply showing up on Sunday and hoping to hear a good sermon. Being the church means you have to do something.
Now let me stop right hear and clarify something.
1) I'm not saying that you don't have to come to church. I can hear it now, “well I don't feel one bit guilty for missing church the entire 9 weeks of Deer Season because the preacher said being out doing is more important that just coming to the church.” or “I can skip church this week, it's getting to be Christmas season and I do need to do all my shopping. After all, I can't very well be with those that need to go to church on Sunday if I'm in church. I'll be able to talk to more people that need to be in church if I go on Sunday.”
No, We should never forsake the assembling together as believers.
2) I'm not saying that there is no purpose in coming together here in this beautiful building.
What I'm saying is, well, let me steal a phrase from Gerald Ray.
We need to come to church to fill our salt shaker. We should never have a full salt shaker.
What is salt? It is a purifying agent. It is a seasoning. It is what we are. We are to be out salting the earth, spreading the great seasoning of Jesus in the world. Think of your life as that salt shaker. We need to be emptying that salt shaker every week as we spread Christ to the world around us.
Then, when we come on Sunday we fellowship with other believers.
We gather and discuss how we spread our salt.
We rejoice in lives changed.
We support and repair each other when our shaker gets cracked by heartaches and mistakes.
And we refill our salt-shakers with the Word of God and the Fellowship of the Saints so we can go do it again.
Though Ecclesiastes seems to be saying that time and justice doesn't really matter because everything ends with death, we know there is more. There is more to church. There is more to life. There is more, because, as Jesus said, we are the salt of the earth.
It's time to spread a little salt.
When we see the injustice and wickedness under the sun, spread a little salt.
When we go out into our work, spread a little salt.
Go spread some salt. Share your salt with the world.
That is what time it is.
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