Sermon # 1046
June 26, 2011
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Luke 10:24-37
Dr. Ed Pettus
“The Shema”
This week past week was our Camp week at Bluestone. I was a Bible leader, known as key leader at Bluestone. The Bible theme was the Shema originally from Deuteronomy and also quoted in the gospels. Shema is Hebrew for “hear”…Hear, O Israel…or as we altered it a bit at camp, Hear, O Bluestone! I had my two groups of campers learn it that way: Hear, O Bluestone, the lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Second: Love your neighbor as yourself.
We called it the Jesus Creed. Something like we do with the Apostles’ Creed, it is a belief held by Jews, still today, and one that Jesus would have been taught from the time he was a child and one that he also taught others and he knew that all Jews would have known the Great Shema. This Creed is actually two Old Testament verses joined together. One from Deuteronomy and the second from Leviticus. Love God and love your neighbor. Shema – to hear, to listen and obey. When I gave the closing worship message, I talked to the campers about hearing and really listening. You might be sitting around at home and your mom says, “Pass the cheese whiz!” If you are really “shema-ing”, if you were really listening, then you would pass the cheese whiz. Shema – to listen and obey. Of course, most of the kids had never heard of cheese whiz.
Sometimes we have what is called selective hearing. Most wives here know what I am talking about. For the campers I used the example of the counselor who says, “get up, it’s time for breakfast”, but we just lay there hoping breakfast will come to us. When the people of Israel heard the word SHEMA, they perked up their ears because they knew something important was coming. Shema, O Israel…and then the command would come. Love the Lord, love your neighbor, obey my commands, listen and obey.
Selective hearing, sometimes we only hear what we want to hear. We have to tune our ears to God’s word in order to hear God. I can tune a guitar and my ear has become better over the many decades hearing the sound of each string. I have worked to tune my ears to “Shema”, to hear God speak a word…through learning the Bible, learning as much as I can about what God has said in the scriptures and our ears can become more and more tuned to what God wants us to do and who God wants us to be. A great place to start is with the Great Shema, LOVE GOD and LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.
Jesus said that all the commands are summed up in these two! In Luke’s gospel, when Jesus approves the lawyers response to the question of eternal life, the Shema is part of the summation given, Hear, O Israel, love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the lawyer rightly adds to the command, love your neighbor as yourself. Some suggest that all we need to do is love and that will take care of all the controversies and problems in our denomination and all our relationship issues. But this statement, this command, is not a license to do dismiss all the other commands we have, but it is a summation. The whole law is summed up in love, not excluded because of love. In love, all the commands are embraced and fulfilled. Jesus said in Matthew’s gospel that he did not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them, to bring them to completion and to fullness for our life (5:17). We know that we love God by following his commands (1 John 5:2).
The more scripture, the more of the Bible we know, the better our hearing becomes, the better able to hear and obey what God says. We tune our ears by being in the Bible, reading, memorizing, studying, praying, and learning.
What are we listening for? Commands, requests, love notes from God. Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. Each day when we met for key leader time we would try to remember about the order of those words, heart, soul, mind and strength. I starting thinking about how the Hebrew language, the language of the Old Testament has no vowels. Did you know that? The Bible Hebrew had no vowels! That’s why the TV show Bible Hebrew Wheel of Fortune only lasted for one show, because no contestant could buy a vowel! Well, anyway, what we do to pronounce words that do not have vowels is put some in, so I thought about the words Heart – Soul – Mind – Strength - HSMST and I inserted some vowels and came up with HAS MOST Heart H a Soul s HAS – Mind M o Strength ST MOST …HaS MoST who has most as a believer in God? We do…has most. We have everything we could ever imagine, the most, has most. Laugh now, but you will now be able to remember Heart Soul Mind and STrength because you has most!! I know it’s kind of corny but I hope the kids will remember it a little better and longer if they can remember HaS MoST.
God commands us to hear and obey the command to love God with all we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Why? Why would God command this? For one thing it is our greatest response to a love that has been given to us. God loved us first! We are simply responding to the love we have been given in God, through Jesus. The most important decision we can ever make is in how we respond to the Great Shema. Will we listen to and obey God’s command? This is the decision that affects more than just our life right here, but for eternity. We love God because God first loved us. You are loved by God, no matter what you have done in the past, God loves you. No matter how much you might think you are not worthy to be loved, God loves you. No matter how many times you have heard and not obeyed, God still loves you. God loves you. And because God loves you, all who love God love you too! It is because of this command to love God and to love neighbor. God loves us and all God wants is love in return. Hear, O Princeton, the lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Second: Love your neighbor as yourself.
One commentator has said: "In an age when the word 'love' is greatly abused, it is important to remember that the primary component of biblical love is not affection but commitment. Warm feelings of gratitude may fill our consciousness as we consider all that God has done for us, but it is not warm feelings that Deuteronomy 6 demands of us but rather stubborn, unwavering commitment. Similarly, to love neighbor, including our enemies, does not mean that we must feel affection for them. To love the neighbor is to imitate God by taking their needs seriously." (Hare, Interpretation, 260)
Love for God is total commitment to God. In Deuteronomy, Israel was about to step into a new situation, into a land that God had promised from the time they left Egypt. They were facing many choices and Moses laid it on the line for them. "God is one, love the Lord your God with all you have. Keep the commandments in your hearts. Recite them to your children. Talk about them. Bind them on your hand, fix them on your forehead, write them on your doorposts." To love God is to keep commandment, it is commitment in covenant and loyalty to our God. I may not “feel” good about what I do sometimes or what others may do, but in order to reflect God’s love for myself and for others, I, we are committed to them, committed to one another’s well being – even our enemies.
My hope for the campers is that they would all leave the mountain in love with God, loving their neighbors, and listening for what God has for them next! It is the same message for us this morning: Hear, O Princeton, the lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Second: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Sermon
Sermon # 1045
June 19, 2011
Genesis 1:1-2:7
Dr. Ed Pettus
"The Breath of Life"
Last Sunday we celebrated Pentecost, the movement of the Spirit upon the disciples, the wind of God, the breath of God. John’s gospel, which we heard last Sunday, spoke of Jesus breathing on the disciples – an unusual description of a Pentecost event. Today we will also spend some time with the scriptures and the Spirit of God, beginning with the beginning!
In the beginning...we read about the wind of God sweeping over the waters. The Bible begins with God and the wind – the Spirit of God. This is the wind that ushers in the first word spoken, "Let there be light." Some translations, like the KJV, translate the phrase, "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The Hebrew word may also be translated breath so we might say that the breath of God was moving over the water. That is one of the more fascinating things about biblical languages, that various meanings or various English words can be used depending on the context of the story. Wind might seem more appropriate to some translators for the creation story. We all know that the wind sweeps across the ocean, across the waters. People use it all the time for sailing! Wind, Spirit, Breath, these are the possible words from the Hebrew Ruach. The word ruach can be seen in many places throughout the Old Testament.
Also in the creation story we read that Adam was created and given life, life that comes from the breath of God. Yet once again it is the Hebrew word that may be used for wind or spirit, so that God in-winded Adam or blew the Spirit into him. Any one of those words can be appropriate for the story…physically God started Adam breathing. Spiritually God gave Adam his Spirit, that unique quality of God’s presence. God gave Adam something unlike any other creature – the mysterious wind of God.
We can move ahead in the Bible to the time of Noah when God said in Gen 6:17: “For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.” Those who had been given the breath of life from God also faced the consequence of sin when God took that gift away!
At the anointing of King David the spirit of God "came upon David in power." Again it is the Hebrew word ruach. 1 Sam 16:13: “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward.” The mystery of God is perhaps most evident in the working of the Spirit. We have the breath that God gives, and yet there are also times when we receive the Holy Spirit anointing or some special manifestation of the Spirit in our lives or in our midst.
In the New Testament it is the same situation with the Greek word. Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit and Acts tells the story of the blowing of the mighty wind throughout the house where the apostles waited. Acts 2:2-4, “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” How does one describe a story like this? The only way the narrator can express such an event is to call it a violent wind.
When Nicodemus met Jesus in the night, Jesus describes the Spirit in terms of wind: John 3:8, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
In both the Old and New Testament languages, the word for Spirit can be translated wind or breath. All three English words contain elements of life.
Breath is obvious, when we stop breathing we die.
Spirit is a term we use in a variety of ways. People who are said to have spirit are full of energy, spunk, full of life. In the church we know the Holy Spirit gives life and many other blessings and gifts.
Wind even testifies to life in creation. It demonstrates to us that the world is still spinning, that God's creation still lives and "breathes."
Since these words from biblical languages can be translated and understood in a variety of ways, we have this rich vitality to our understanding of God's Spirit. We can understand the Holy Spirit as the wind that blows where it will. It is capable of powerful things even destructive things, and also can be as gentle as a summer breeze. We know the Spirit as the breath of God that gives life to his creation and his people. We also know the Spirit as it compares to the old term Holy Ghost. We do not mean here the way many understand "ghost" today, as a scary, evil spirit in movies, but ghost in terms of a person in spirit. We do not refer to the Holy Spirit as an "it" but in personal terms – the Holy Spirit as person...the Holy Spirit as real, God's Spirit living in his people. I do not know anyone who has had an experience like that of the anointing of David or the pouring out of the Spirit like a rushing wind at Pentecost! The Spirit is free to come to us as he chooses, in a mighty wind, a gentle breeze, a deep sigh, or perhaps through everyday breath. It is the mystery of God, as Jesus says, "What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:6-8).
Rauch wind, spirit, breath we have no ruach on our own; breath is given moment by moment and when it is not given, we die. When God breathes, our weakness moves to strength and God gives life. Any time God breathes we are raised to new life. No one intrinsically possesses power for life and vitality. This breath, this wind, this spirit which God has given is a gift. It is a gift with each breath you take. It is a gift you cannot hold on to because it is continuously given. We could try to hold our breath, but it is eventually relinquished and given back to us. The breath of God is the gift of life!
1. Human persons have no possessing gift of life; it is only given by God.
2. The Spirit belongs to God's God-ness; it is in God’s character to give spirit/wind/breath which makes life possible.
3. When God's wind enlivens the body, we become a living nephesh – a soul, a self, a life. Nephesh, a Hebrew word, means we are a living organism.
It is like the book of Acts states, Acts 17:24-25, “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.” The scriptures reveal that human existence is foundationally relational or covenantal. In relationship to whomever can “breathe” on us. Is there any other god who can breathe? Is there any other god who gives life through a relationship with us? No and no! There is no other like our God!
The creation story also reflects this relational aspect of God’s nature. God created them male and female, for relationship. When I counsel with couples about to marry, I often speak of this relationship in marriage being a reflection of the covenantal relationship we have with God. Adam made in God’s image, the woman made from the bone of man, the two become one flesh, related through God’s created order and marriage is, at its best, a reflection of the covenant relationship we have with God and all of this is a gift, as mysterious as the Spirit, as wondrous as the wind, as close as a breath.
We can never really be too thankful for breathing, that is, until our breathing is affected by disease or other problems. I remember when I had the breath knocked out of me, usually during a football game, and the pain and brief fear that we cannot breathe. When that breath finally returns, we are so relieved and thankful to have breath - to have life.
It is the gift of life. A collision tries to knock the breath out of us, the world tries to take the wind from our sails, sin attempts to quench the spirit, there are forces at work which are trying to convince us that this is not a gift but just mother nature or chance or whatever. But it is the gift of God. A gift that was around at the beginning of creation, and has blown through the history of God's people, into the church and we know not where it will blow next. Genesis reveals the life God gives and the life God intends for us, in creation, in relatedness, created for community in the Spirit.
The wind is impossible to predict, we are unable to contain it. It is the wind of God that blows across our lives and moves us, and cools us, and excites us, and frightens us. It is the same Spirit that teaches us and speaks to us, even today.
We may not think much about the wind, but when the wind picks up, we night think of God. From time to time when we become conscious of our breathing for whatever reason, we can remember God, and when the Spirit reminds us in small ways perhaps in a quiet voice, remember the Spirit of God.
A growing spiritual life comes to realize the extreme of the gift of life: life given in our breathing, life given in the wind and life given in the Holy Spirit. The question we may want to entertain is: "What shall we do with such a gift? What response will we make to the God who gives us the breath of life?" Amen.
June 19, 2011
Genesis 1:1-2:7
Dr. Ed Pettus
"The Breath of Life"
Last Sunday we celebrated Pentecost, the movement of the Spirit upon the disciples, the wind of God, the breath of God. John’s gospel, which we heard last Sunday, spoke of Jesus breathing on the disciples – an unusual description of a Pentecost event. Today we will also spend some time with the scriptures and the Spirit of God, beginning with the beginning!
In the beginning...we read about the wind of God sweeping over the waters. The Bible begins with God and the wind – the Spirit of God. This is the wind that ushers in the first word spoken, "Let there be light." Some translations, like the KJV, translate the phrase, "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The Hebrew word may also be translated breath so we might say that the breath of God was moving over the water. That is one of the more fascinating things about biblical languages, that various meanings or various English words can be used depending on the context of the story. Wind might seem more appropriate to some translators for the creation story. We all know that the wind sweeps across the ocean, across the waters. People use it all the time for sailing! Wind, Spirit, Breath, these are the possible words from the Hebrew Ruach. The word ruach can be seen in many places throughout the Old Testament.
Also in the creation story we read that Adam was created and given life, life that comes from the breath of God. Yet once again it is the Hebrew word that may be used for wind or spirit, so that God in-winded Adam or blew the Spirit into him. Any one of those words can be appropriate for the story…physically God started Adam breathing. Spiritually God gave Adam his Spirit, that unique quality of God’s presence. God gave Adam something unlike any other creature – the mysterious wind of God.
We can move ahead in the Bible to the time of Noah when God said in Gen 6:17: “For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.” Those who had been given the breath of life from God also faced the consequence of sin when God took that gift away!
At the anointing of King David the spirit of God "came upon David in power." Again it is the Hebrew word ruach. 1 Sam 16:13: “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward.” The mystery of God is perhaps most evident in the working of the Spirit. We have the breath that God gives, and yet there are also times when we receive the Holy Spirit anointing or some special manifestation of the Spirit in our lives or in our midst.
In the New Testament it is the same situation with the Greek word. Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit and Acts tells the story of the blowing of the mighty wind throughout the house where the apostles waited. Acts 2:2-4, “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” How does one describe a story like this? The only way the narrator can express such an event is to call it a violent wind.
When Nicodemus met Jesus in the night, Jesus describes the Spirit in terms of wind: John 3:8, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
In both the Old and New Testament languages, the word for Spirit can be translated wind or breath. All three English words contain elements of life.
Breath is obvious, when we stop breathing we die.
Spirit is a term we use in a variety of ways. People who are said to have spirit are full of energy, spunk, full of life. In the church we know the Holy Spirit gives life and many other blessings and gifts.
Wind even testifies to life in creation. It demonstrates to us that the world is still spinning, that God's creation still lives and "breathes."
Since these words from biblical languages can be translated and understood in a variety of ways, we have this rich vitality to our understanding of God's Spirit. We can understand the Holy Spirit as the wind that blows where it will. It is capable of powerful things even destructive things, and also can be as gentle as a summer breeze. We know the Spirit as the breath of God that gives life to his creation and his people. We also know the Spirit as it compares to the old term Holy Ghost. We do not mean here the way many understand "ghost" today, as a scary, evil spirit in movies, but ghost in terms of a person in spirit. We do not refer to the Holy Spirit as an "it" but in personal terms – the Holy Spirit as person...the Holy Spirit as real, God's Spirit living in his people. I do not know anyone who has had an experience like that of the anointing of David or the pouring out of the Spirit like a rushing wind at Pentecost! The Spirit is free to come to us as he chooses, in a mighty wind, a gentle breeze, a deep sigh, or perhaps through everyday breath. It is the mystery of God, as Jesus says, "What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:6-8).
Rauch wind, spirit, breath we have no ruach on our own; breath is given moment by moment and when it is not given, we die. When God breathes, our weakness moves to strength and God gives life. Any time God breathes we are raised to new life. No one intrinsically possesses power for life and vitality. This breath, this wind, this spirit which God has given is a gift. It is a gift with each breath you take. It is a gift you cannot hold on to because it is continuously given. We could try to hold our breath, but it is eventually relinquished and given back to us. The breath of God is the gift of life!
1. Human persons have no possessing gift of life; it is only given by God.
2. The Spirit belongs to God's God-ness; it is in God’s character to give spirit/wind/breath which makes life possible.
3. When God's wind enlivens the body, we become a living nephesh – a soul, a self, a life. Nephesh, a Hebrew word, means we are a living organism.
It is like the book of Acts states, Acts 17:24-25, “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.” The scriptures reveal that human existence is foundationally relational or covenantal. In relationship to whomever can “breathe” on us. Is there any other god who can breathe? Is there any other god who gives life through a relationship with us? No and no! There is no other like our God!
The creation story also reflects this relational aspect of God’s nature. God created them male and female, for relationship. When I counsel with couples about to marry, I often speak of this relationship in marriage being a reflection of the covenantal relationship we have with God. Adam made in God’s image, the woman made from the bone of man, the two become one flesh, related through God’s created order and marriage is, at its best, a reflection of the covenant relationship we have with God and all of this is a gift, as mysterious as the Spirit, as wondrous as the wind, as close as a breath.
We can never really be too thankful for breathing, that is, until our breathing is affected by disease or other problems. I remember when I had the breath knocked out of me, usually during a football game, and the pain and brief fear that we cannot breathe. When that breath finally returns, we are so relieved and thankful to have breath - to have life.
It is the gift of life. A collision tries to knock the breath out of us, the world tries to take the wind from our sails, sin attempts to quench the spirit, there are forces at work which are trying to convince us that this is not a gift but just mother nature or chance or whatever. But it is the gift of God. A gift that was around at the beginning of creation, and has blown through the history of God's people, into the church and we know not where it will blow next. Genesis reveals the life God gives and the life God intends for us, in creation, in relatedness, created for community in the Spirit.
The wind is impossible to predict, we are unable to contain it. It is the wind of God that blows across our lives and moves us, and cools us, and excites us, and frightens us. It is the same Spirit that teaches us and speaks to us, even today.
We may not think much about the wind, but when the wind picks up, we night think of God. From time to time when we become conscious of our breathing for whatever reason, we can remember God, and when the Spirit reminds us in small ways perhaps in a quiet voice, remember the Spirit of God.
A growing spiritual life comes to realize the extreme of the gift of life: life given in our breathing, life given in the wind and life given in the Holy Spirit. The question we may want to entertain is: "What shall we do with such a gift? What response will we make to the God who gives us the breath of life?" Amen.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Sermon
Sermon # 1044
June 5, 2011
Acts 1:1-14
Dr. Ed Pettus
“The Ascension”
The gospel of Luke tells the story of Jesus’ life on this earth – from the beginning, the story of his birth, until he was taken up to heaven, the ascension. Today’s reading begins the second of Luke’s writing, a continuation of the story that has certainly not ended with Jesus’ departure. After death, after resurrection, after ascension, there is more to the story. Our story continues because God’s story continues. Luke shares the story of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, a story that brings life to a new community first called “The Way” (Acts 9:2) and what we know today as the church.
Life goes on after the resurrection – this is the seventh Sunday in the Easter season. Next Sunday we celebrate Pentecost and the recognition of the Spirit working in the church just as Jesus worked among us when he was present in physical body. This is the journey, the way of God’s people – as Luke tells it, the acts of the church. Now Jesus has ascended, but before he floats up into the clouds, he gives them instruction to go to Jerusalem and wait there for the promise. The Holy Spirit will come. It is interesting how many times in this beginning of Acts that Luke mentions the Holy Spirit. The first time is in how Jesus instructed the disciples through the Holy Spirit. The second is in the reminder of how they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. A third time – when they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to become witnesses to the ends of the earth. Perhaps Luke is emphasizing a move from the physical presence of Jesus to the spiritual presence of God’s Spirit.
The disciples have been with Jesus for three years. They have been through good times and terrible times. They have been stunned by his death and even more stunned by his resurrection. And now they have seen him taken into heaven. Rick Mixon says: “The good news for those left standing on the Judean hillside is that Jesus not only comes from God, he returns to God. This is the true scope of movement for followers of the Way – we come from God, we return to God. The challenge in the meantime is to keep our lives centered on God, rooted and grounded in God, allowing God to be the one in whom we ‘live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28), here and now, on this earth.” Luke demonstrates throughout the book of Acts that one way we keep our lives centered on God is through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I suspect the disciples are still stunned by the crucifixion and resurrection and really do not know yet what to do with themselves. They still cannot see what Jesus intended for them so they ask again about the restoration of the kingdom. But Jesus has more for them than they can begin to imagine. Jesus has more for us than we can begin to imagine.
Just when they think they have Jesus back with them he ascends into heaven, into the clouds, out of sight. They are left standing there, looking up, waiting for something else. Reminds me of the air shows I have seen – you spend most of your time looking up, straining your neck. A plane flies by, does a fancy death loop, and disappears and we just keep looking up. We needed someone to appear and say, you can stop looking now.
Jesus came upon the earth, lived, taught, preached, and called disciples to follow. These were simple people, people who would stand in the sun looking up to the sky without a clue as to what was going on. Jesus did not call the richest of people, the smartest, the most famous of this time, but he called fishermen, a tax collector, those who had every day jobs and responsibilities. But, he called a people who would change the world by the power of the Holy Spirit. People like you and me. People we might least expect to bring about the continuing story of God’s love and forgiveness.
Jesus taught them enough. They may have been slow to understand, but they would eventually, they would understand, but only by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would help them, empower them, and teach them again. They need not stand there looking up toward heaven, but instead continue on the Way, following Jesus still.
As I studied this passage, I thought of those who were expecting Jesus to return back on May 21. In essence they were looking up toward heaven like the disciples who stood on the Judean hillside. But, the focus was not supposed to be toward heaven, into the clouds, even the disciples had to be reminded of that. A lot of people gave a lot of money to advertise that Jesus would return on May 21. They were looking to toward heaven instead of looking toward Jesus. What they forgot was the current presence of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, in the Word of God, in the face of brothers and sisters in Christ.
At the end of this ascension scene, the disciples return to Jerusalem as they are told to do, and they continue in prayer. This is the beginning of their life as the church – the continuing life of prayer. They did three notable things: 1) they stayed together, 2) they prayed, 3) they waited. We don’t wait well. We used to have to wait for the oven to preheat and that was just fine, now we get impatient with the microwave. We used to spend an hour typing document on a manual typewriter, now we huff at a computer for taking 45 seconds to boot up. We are an instant culture. I think the most critical error of an instant society is instant grits. That is the perfect example of a world gone mad! It is worth the wait for the real old fashioned twenty minute grits.
The disciples had to wait, but they did not really want to, so they asked Jesus: “Lord, is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” They had heard about the kingdom. Jesus preached it, said, “Repent for the kingdom has come near!” The kingdom was one of Jesus’ favorite topics. But the disciples had waited and now they had waited through a crucifixion and resurrection and an event that left them looking into the sky in awe and wonder. How much longer would they have to wait for this kingdom?
But that is not all, now they have to wait for the Spirit! Go to Jerusalem and wait there for the power to come and in that power you will be my witnesses. Waiting, praying, staying together – this was one of those times in the life of the faith community where wonder, confusion, and impatience ruled the day. It is not unlike our time, especially in the PCUSA. We have been in the awkward place of change; we wonder what will happen with change in our Book of Order. Will the ordination standards alter the nature of the church? Some say it will bring healing, others say further decline. Division marks our time and we grow impatient, confused, or perhaps fearful. This is a time to learn from our sacred text. Note three actions of the disciples: they stayed together, prayed, and waited. I am not suggesting an unlimited time to wait. The disciples did not have to wait too long for the power of God to come in the Holy Spirit. But while we wait, whatever the time frame, we are called to pray and listen and stick together as best we can.
One of the things I like about this Acts 1 passage is verse 13. “When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James”.
These are real people, people with names, specific people, not just a group of unknowns, but James, Andrew, Philip, Peter. I remember one of the Star Trek Next Generation episodes when a Klingon leader who was promised to one day return, did return and appeared to the character Worf. This klingon named Kahless told a story of a man he knew long ago who thought he could hold back the wind but was killed by the storm. Kahless was challenged to tell the name of the man. If you were really there you would know the name of the man. The name meant more to the story than just a general description. What was his name? In this Star Trek story, the name meant everything. How could this Kahless be the great warrior promised to return if he did not even know the name of the man?
The Bible often gives us the name, or names in this case, to bring more authority to the story. These are God’s people, much like us. They knew one another by name and we are a similar community of named people, named at birth, named in our baptism. We also wait and pray. We wait for the Spirit to move. We wait for Christ to return. We wait for God to speak. We wait for the coming kingdom. We wait, sometimes impatiently, we pray, sometimes confused. This is a part of the life of faith. We do not always see clearly. Our emotions get the best of us or we settle into our positions so deeply that we refuse to budge. I have been following the conversation over amendment 10-A on the internet and the division is so deeply apparent, so passionately expressed that there seems to be no hope for a unity of heart and mind. So many are advising that we stay together for a time, pray, and wait.
I imagine this was not easy for the disciples who had stood on the hillside looking at the clouds wondering if Jesus was going to reappear. Where did he go? Why did he leave us here? I wonder if the disciples said or thought: do wonders ever cease with this guy?
The scriptures are given to us to speak God’s word to our lives, to our hearts and minds. Let us let this passage speak – the message of a presence and a power in the Holy Spirit. Let this story enter our hearts and minds as a message of hope as we seek to stay together as a community of faith. Let this word from God open us to what God may have in prayer and patience. Let this testimony of life give us courage to stay together and wait and pray. That may not be enough for some because we grow impatient too easily in today’s world of instant grits. It may not sit well to entertain that God’s Spirit will soon empower us for something we did not expect. But the story is there for us. The story reveals and is revealing God’s story among us, for we are those same people on The Way, waiting together, praying together, hoping together for something better. Amen.
*Thanks to Rick Mixon’s comments on this text from Feasting on the Word.
June 5, 2011
Acts 1:1-14
Dr. Ed Pettus
“The Ascension”
The gospel of Luke tells the story of Jesus’ life on this earth – from the beginning, the story of his birth, until he was taken up to heaven, the ascension. Today’s reading begins the second of Luke’s writing, a continuation of the story that has certainly not ended with Jesus’ departure. After death, after resurrection, after ascension, there is more to the story. Our story continues because God’s story continues. Luke shares the story of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, a story that brings life to a new community first called “The Way” (Acts 9:2) and what we know today as the church.
Life goes on after the resurrection – this is the seventh Sunday in the Easter season. Next Sunday we celebrate Pentecost and the recognition of the Spirit working in the church just as Jesus worked among us when he was present in physical body. This is the journey, the way of God’s people – as Luke tells it, the acts of the church. Now Jesus has ascended, but before he floats up into the clouds, he gives them instruction to go to Jerusalem and wait there for the promise. The Holy Spirit will come. It is interesting how many times in this beginning of Acts that Luke mentions the Holy Spirit. The first time is in how Jesus instructed the disciples through the Holy Spirit. The second is in the reminder of how they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. A third time – when they would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to become witnesses to the ends of the earth. Perhaps Luke is emphasizing a move from the physical presence of Jesus to the spiritual presence of God’s Spirit.
The disciples have been with Jesus for three years. They have been through good times and terrible times. They have been stunned by his death and even more stunned by his resurrection. And now they have seen him taken into heaven. Rick Mixon says: “The good news for those left standing on the Judean hillside is that Jesus not only comes from God, he returns to God. This is the true scope of movement for followers of the Way – we come from God, we return to God. The challenge in the meantime is to keep our lives centered on God, rooted and grounded in God, allowing God to be the one in whom we ‘live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28), here and now, on this earth.” Luke demonstrates throughout the book of Acts that one way we keep our lives centered on God is through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I suspect the disciples are still stunned by the crucifixion and resurrection and really do not know yet what to do with themselves. They still cannot see what Jesus intended for them so they ask again about the restoration of the kingdom. But Jesus has more for them than they can begin to imagine. Jesus has more for us than we can begin to imagine.
Just when they think they have Jesus back with them he ascends into heaven, into the clouds, out of sight. They are left standing there, looking up, waiting for something else. Reminds me of the air shows I have seen – you spend most of your time looking up, straining your neck. A plane flies by, does a fancy death loop, and disappears and we just keep looking up. We needed someone to appear and say, you can stop looking now.
Jesus came upon the earth, lived, taught, preached, and called disciples to follow. These were simple people, people who would stand in the sun looking up to the sky without a clue as to what was going on. Jesus did not call the richest of people, the smartest, the most famous of this time, but he called fishermen, a tax collector, those who had every day jobs and responsibilities. But, he called a people who would change the world by the power of the Holy Spirit. People like you and me. People we might least expect to bring about the continuing story of God’s love and forgiveness.
Jesus taught them enough. They may have been slow to understand, but they would eventually, they would understand, but only by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would help them, empower them, and teach them again. They need not stand there looking up toward heaven, but instead continue on the Way, following Jesus still.
As I studied this passage, I thought of those who were expecting Jesus to return back on May 21. In essence they were looking up toward heaven like the disciples who stood on the Judean hillside. But, the focus was not supposed to be toward heaven, into the clouds, even the disciples had to be reminded of that. A lot of people gave a lot of money to advertise that Jesus would return on May 21. They were looking to toward heaven instead of looking toward Jesus. What they forgot was the current presence of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, in the Word of God, in the face of brothers and sisters in Christ.
At the end of this ascension scene, the disciples return to Jerusalem as they are told to do, and they continue in prayer. This is the beginning of their life as the church – the continuing life of prayer. They did three notable things: 1) they stayed together, 2) they prayed, 3) they waited. We don’t wait well. We used to have to wait for the oven to preheat and that was just fine, now we get impatient with the microwave. We used to spend an hour typing document on a manual typewriter, now we huff at a computer for taking 45 seconds to boot up. We are an instant culture. I think the most critical error of an instant society is instant grits. That is the perfect example of a world gone mad! It is worth the wait for the real old fashioned twenty minute grits.
The disciples had to wait, but they did not really want to, so they asked Jesus: “Lord, is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” They had heard about the kingdom. Jesus preached it, said, “Repent for the kingdom has come near!” The kingdom was one of Jesus’ favorite topics. But the disciples had waited and now they had waited through a crucifixion and resurrection and an event that left them looking into the sky in awe and wonder. How much longer would they have to wait for this kingdom?
But that is not all, now they have to wait for the Spirit! Go to Jerusalem and wait there for the power to come and in that power you will be my witnesses. Waiting, praying, staying together – this was one of those times in the life of the faith community where wonder, confusion, and impatience ruled the day. It is not unlike our time, especially in the PCUSA. We have been in the awkward place of change; we wonder what will happen with change in our Book of Order. Will the ordination standards alter the nature of the church? Some say it will bring healing, others say further decline. Division marks our time and we grow impatient, confused, or perhaps fearful. This is a time to learn from our sacred text. Note three actions of the disciples: they stayed together, prayed, and waited. I am not suggesting an unlimited time to wait. The disciples did not have to wait too long for the power of God to come in the Holy Spirit. But while we wait, whatever the time frame, we are called to pray and listen and stick together as best we can.
One of the things I like about this Acts 1 passage is verse 13. “When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James”.
These are real people, people with names, specific people, not just a group of unknowns, but James, Andrew, Philip, Peter. I remember one of the Star Trek Next Generation episodes when a Klingon leader who was promised to one day return, did return and appeared to the character Worf. This klingon named Kahless told a story of a man he knew long ago who thought he could hold back the wind but was killed by the storm. Kahless was challenged to tell the name of the man. If you were really there you would know the name of the man. The name meant more to the story than just a general description. What was his name? In this Star Trek story, the name meant everything. How could this Kahless be the great warrior promised to return if he did not even know the name of the man?
The Bible often gives us the name, or names in this case, to bring more authority to the story. These are God’s people, much like us. They knew one another by name and we are a similar community of named people, named at birth, named in our baptism. We also wait and pray. We wait for the Spirit to move. We wait for Christ to return. We wait for God to speak. We wait for the coming kingdom. We wait, sometimes impatiently, we pray, sometimes confused. This is a part of the life of faith. We do not always see clearly. Our emotions get the best of us or we settle into our positions so deeply that we refuse to budge. I have been following the conversation over amendment 10-A on the internet and the division is so deeply apparent, so passionately expressed that there seems to be no hope for a unity of heart and mind. So many are advising that we stay together for a time, pray, and wait.
I imagine this was not easy for the disciples who had stood on the hillside looking at the clouds wondering if Jesus was going to reappear. Where did he go? Why did he leave us here? I wonder if the disciples said or thought: do wonders ever cease with this guy?
The scriptures are given to us to speak God’s word to our lives, to our hearts and minds. Let us let this passage speak – the message of a presence and a power in the Holy Spirit. Let this story enter our hearts and minds as a message of hope as we seek to stay together as a community of faith. Let this word from God open us to what God may have in prayer and patience. Let this testimony of life give us courage to stay together and wait and pray. That may not be enough for some because we grow impatient too easily in today’s world of instant grits. It may not sit well to entertain that God’s Spirit will soon empower us for something we did not expect. But the story is there for us. The story reveals and is revealing God’s story among us, for we are those same people on The Way, waiting together, praying together, hoping together for something better. Amen.
*Thanks to Rick Mixon’s comments on this text from Feasting on the Word.
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Vintage BMW Gathering at Old Salem 2011
We had loads of fun at the vintage event. I had many more comments than last year on the '75 2fer, but no one wrote me a check on the spot to buy her! Some were interested and we will see if anyone bites. It was fun to get the car on the road for a 300 mile round trip. She ran great!
Newsletter - June/July
From the Pastor’s Desk…
A few people in the congregation have been asking me about the “headlines”. USA Today read: “Presbyterians clear way for ordaining gays, lesbians.” The PCUSA (our denomination) recently passed Amendment 10-A which changes the wording of our ordination standards. If you have been keeping up with the previous newsletters (April & May) then you know the particulars! In the April news I shared the specific change that would occur in the Book of Order. I noted the division this has caused across the country and within individual churches. This is a difficult time in our denomination. Questions remain unanswered: How will this affect the local church, our church? What does this mean for a denomination already losing members? In the May newsletters, I spoke of keeping a balance of grace and truth. If we err on issues, we often err by giving grace away without regard to God’s truth or using truth as a weapon without the grace of God. I spoke of the woman caught in adultery (John 8) and Jesus extended tremendous grace in that he did not condemn her and yet he held her accountable to the truth commanding that she go and sin no more. We are all held to the standards of God’s truth and we are all extended unmerited favor from God. For me, the issues boils down to scripture, its authority and interpretation. The complexity of this issue raises many more questions than answers. For some there is very little complexity. The session has been discussing this issue for some time (more so lately) and we have decided to begin a new time of discernment with the congregation. Beginning Wednesday, June 1, 6:30pm, we will open conversation on the issues involved. This first meeting will primarily discuss the information about Amendment 10-A. We have invited a neighbor pastor (W.D. Hasty) who voted for the amendment and I am one who voted against the amendment (WD and I are still good friends!). We will have at least one session member share thoughts and we invite others to come and share their thoughts. We have been working in our session meetings to remember that in all our discussion we need to respect one another’s opinions, love one another, and help each other to discern what God is calling us to do. I hope our congregational information meetings will also share these characteristics. We will gather around one of our favorite activities (bring a covered dish) and share in fellowship and learning! I hope you will come!
A few people in the congregation have been asking me about the “headlines”. USA Today read: “Presbyterians clear way for ordaining gays, lesbians.” The PCUSA (our denomination) recently passed Amendment 10-A which changes the wording of our ordination standards. If you have been keeping up with the previous newsletters (April & May) then you know the particulars! In the April news I shared the specific change that would occur in the Book of Order. I noted the division this has caused across the country and within individual churches. This is a difficult time in our denomination. Questions remain unanswered: How will this affect the local church, our church? What does this mean for a denomination already losing members? In the May newsletters, I spoke of keeping a balance of grace and truth. If we err on issues, we often err by giving grace away without regard to God’s truth or using truth as a weapon without the grace of God. I spoke of the woman caught in adultery (John 8) and Jesus extended tremendous grace in that he did not condemn her and yet he held her accountable to the truth commanding that she go and sin no more. We are all held to the standards of God’s truth and we are all extended unmerited favor from God. For me, the issues boils down to scripture, its authority and interpretation. The complexity of this issue raises many more questions than answers. For some there is very little complexity. The session has been discussing this issue for some time (more so lately) and we have decided to begin a new time of discernment with the congregation. Beginning Wednesday, June 1, 6:30pm, we will open conversation on the issues involved. This first meeting will primarily discuss the information about Amendment 10-A. We have invited a neighbor pastor (W.D. Hasty) who voted for the amendment and I am one who voted against the amendment (WD and I are still good friends!). We will have at least one session member share thoughts and we invite others to come and share their thoughts. We have been working in our session meetings to remember that in all our discussion we need to respect one another’s opinions, love one another, and help each other to discern what God is calling us to do. I hope our congregational information meetings will also share these characteristics. We will gather around one of our favorite activities (bring a covered dish) and share in fellowship and learning! I hope you will come!
Sermon
Sermon # 1043
May 29, 2011
Deuteronomy 8:1-20
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Remembrance and Gratitude”
This weekend our nation recognizes Memorial Day, a day to remember those who have given their lives for the sake of country, freedom, and all that serving one’s country means as well as all that serving God means. Remembering those who have given their lives is crucial to the on-going life of our country. When we forget those who have died, we also forget why we are who we are as Americans. We forget the blessings of freedom and service and hope. Memorial Day is a day to remember and to give thanks.
For Christians, Memorial Day can also be a reminder that God calls us to remember and give thanks. As the people God delivered out of Egypt were about to cross the Jordan River into the promised land, Moses reiterated the importance of keeping commandment and remembering their deliverance. Moses tells the people that they must diligently observe the commandments. The commandments are crucial to their very existence. These first ten verses of Deuteronomy eight acknowledge the providential care of God during their forty years in the wilderness. The danger is that the people might forget that God cared for them. The message is that they are to remember: “Remember the long way that the Lord your God has lead you these forty years” (8:2).
The memory is one of lessons learned: a memory of humility, testing, dependence upon God, so that they would learn “That one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that come from the mouth of God” (8:3). Ultimately Israel was to come to understand that they were dependent upon God for their daily bread, for their daily existence, and that life is not sustained just by bread and water, but by God’s very word. In this word is our life. We can eat all the bread we want everyday, but if we are not “eating” of God’s word we will be malnourished in spirit. The prophet Jeremiah said, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (15:16). It is in God’s word where we find joy and delight.
These people have wandered for forty years in the wilderness learning the lessons that will sustain them for the rest of their life as they prepare to enter into a new land. This land will not be like Egypt where they had lived as slaves. This land will not be like the wilderness where they were fed manna daily – not too much, not too little. This land is a land of abundance: A land with flowing streams, a land with springs and under ground waters, a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olive trees, honey – a land without scarcity – without the scarcity of the wilderness. This land will have more than enough water, food, and things like iron and copper. Verse ten concludes with: “You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord you God for the good land that he has given you.”
This could easily be a metaphor for our life. When we come to know Christ as Lord and Savior we are no longer subject to the wilderness of sin and bondage, but set free to a “promised land” of abundance.
We eat our fill most of the time, that is, when we are not over eating beyond full! And we are called to bless the Lord for the gifts of food and goods and home and money – for it is God who has given us the good life, just as God had given Israel the good land.
Deuteronomy 8:11-20 then takes on virtually the same themes but with more of a warning for Israel. Once Israel enters the land, eats its fill, builds its homes, multiplies its goods and livestock – then Israel will have a new temptation they had not encountered before. “When you have eaten your fill…when your herds and flocks have multiplied…then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God” (8:12-14). “Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth’” (8:17). The temptation in a land of abundance is to forget God! The temptation in a land of plenty is to forget – to forget soldiers who gave their lives, to forget God who blesses us, to forget God’s Word that brings joy and delight. The temptation is to believe that we have gotten what we have by our own means, by our own power and work and resources. Moses reminds Israel and us: “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors” (8:18). The warning to Israel is if they forget God and follow others gods they would surely perish. There are no guarantees that they will continue to be forgiven, but the covenant is conditional, dependent upon Israel’s willingness to learn from the wilderness lessons – to depend on God, to humble themselves, and to understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
We do not live by our power alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
We do not live by our material wealth alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
We do not live by our wits alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
You get the message.
Our gratitude comes from remembering that all we have is from God. In the scarce times of the wilderness or in the abundance of the promised land – we are grateful. The temptation is to believe that we did it ourselves: we acquired our wealth, our homes, our cars, our abilities and skills all by ourselves. The call to remember keeps us along the right way of commandment, of story telling, discipline, and proper perspective. Therefore, we practice a lifetime of gratitude, for gratitude reminds us of the lessons learned in the wilderness, in our own lean times of life. We are dependent on God in good times and in bad. The words “thank you” imply that someone else has done something for us. An affluent society has trouble remembering that.
I’ve worked with teens from wealthy families and teens from poor families, and those from poverty were the most receptive to hearing the gospel because they were in the wilderness. Those who had all they needed and more did not think the gospel had anything to say to them. They had no need for a savior – they had no need for anything. That is the temptation of abundance and wealth, to think you have done it all yourself and you have no need, no dependence on God, no need for God’s word.
I think that is why Jesus spoke about the difficulty of a rich person getting into the kingdom of heaven. One lesson from Deuteronomy eight is that riches often bring amnesia. You know how it is when someone becomes famous or wealthy quickly – their friends tell them: “Don’t forget where you come from.” Riches are not the problem, but when we say that we are the source of those riches, when we forget God, we forget where we have come from. That is why it is hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven, because riches tempt us to forget where the riches really came from – from God. Riches are not the problem, after all, God gave Israel great riches in the promised land: flowing stream, wheat, barely, vines, figs, and land where they would lack nothing! As long as we remember that such blessings are from God and we use those blessings in gratitude to God, God will indeed continue to bless. That’s the good news.
Israel was reminded to practice a lifetime of gratitude and remembrance.
A lifetime of gratitude is the continuing discipline of memory - overcoming our amnesia.
A lifetime of gratitude is the continuing dependence on God - overcoming autonomy as a way of life.
Gratitude is demonstrated in obedience to every word that comes from the mouth of God. Giving thanks through material means, visual, quantifiable means that show our gratitude. But even the material marks of gratitude are spiritual in nature. They are spiritual because God gives everything we have. Nothing we own is outside of God’s provision and being connected to God makes all the gifts we own and share and give and acquire, visible expressions of spirituality and gratitude.
Today we give thanks for this memory of abundance, for these words from God, and particularly on this weekend, for those who gave given their lives for the sake of liberty. So, we express our gratitude and remember! Remember. It is the message of Memorial Day; it is the message of God’s word. Remember and give thanks. Amen.
May 29, 2011
Deuteronomy 8:1-20
Dr. Ed Pettus
“Remembrance and Gratitude”
This weekend our nation recognizes Memorial Day, a day to remember those who have given their lives for the sake of country, freedom, and all that serving one’s country means as well as all that serving God means. Remembering those who have given their lives is crucial to the on-going life of our country. When we forget those who have died, we also forget why we are who we are as Americans. We forget the blessings of freedom and service and hope. Memorial Day is a day to remember and to give thanks.
For Christians, Memorial Day can also be a reminder that God calls us to remember and give thanks. As the people God delivered out of Egypt were about to cross the Jordan River into the promised land, Moses reiterated the importance of keeping commandment and remembering their deliverance. Moses tells the people that they must diligently observe the commandments. The commandments are crucial to their very existence. These first ten verses of Deuteronomy eight acknowledge the providential care of God during their forty years in the wilderness. The danger is that the people might forget that God cared for them. The message is that they are to remember: “Remember the long way that the Lord your God has lead you these forty years” (8:2).
The memory is one of lessons learned: a memory of humility, testing, dependence upon God, so that they would learn “That one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that come from the mouth of God” (8:3). Ultimately Israel was to come to understand that they were dependent upon God for their daily bread, for their daily existence, and that life is not sustained just by bread and water, but by God’s very word. In this word is our life. We can eat all the bread we want everyday, but if we are not “eating” of God’s word we will be malnourished in spirit. The prophet Jeremiah said, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (15:16). It is in God’s word where we find joy and delight.
These people have wandered for forty years in the wilderness learning the lessons that will sustain them for the rest of their life as they prepare to enter into a new land. This land will not be like Egypt where they had lived as slaves. This land will not be like the wilderness where they were fed manna daily – not too much, not too little. This land is a land of abundance: A land with flowing streams, a land with springs and under ground waters, a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olive trees, honey – a land without scarcity – without the scarcity of the wilderness. This land will have more than enough water, food, and things like iron and copper. Verse ten concludes with: “You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord you God for the good land that he has given you.”
This could easily be a metaphor for our life. When we come to know Christ as Lord and Savior we are no longer subject to the wilderness of sin and bondage, but set free to a “promised land” of abundance.
We eat our fill most of the time, that is, when we are not over eating beyond full! And we are called to bless the Lord for the gifts of food and goods and home and money – for it is God who has given us the good life, just as God had given Israel the good land.
Deuteronomy 8:11-20 then takes on virtually the same themes but with more of a warning for Israel. Once Israel enters the land, eats its fill, builds its homes, multiplies its goods and livestock – then Israel will have a new temptation they had not encountered before. “When you have eaten your fill…when your herds and flocks have multiplied…then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God” (8:12-14). “Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth’” (8:17). The temptation in a land of abundance is to forget God! The temptation in a land of plenty is to forget – to forget soldiers who gave their lives, to forget God who blesses us, to forget God’s Word that brings joy and delight. The temptation is to believe that we have gotten what we have by our own means, by our own power and work and resources. Moses reminds Israel and us: “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors” (8:18). The warning to Israel is if they forget God and follow others gods they would surely perish. There are no guarantees that they will continue to be forgiven, but the covenant is conditional, dependent upon Israel’s willingness to learn from the wilderness lessons – to depend on God, to humble themselves, and to understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
We do not live by our power alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
We do not live by our material wealth alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
We do not live by our wits alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
You get the message.
Our gratitude comes from remembering that all we have is from God. In the scarce times of the wilderness or in the abundance of the promised land – we are grateful. The temptation is to believe that we did it ourselves: we acquired our wealth, our homes, our cars, our abilities and skills all by ourselves. The call to remember keeps us along the right way of commandment, of story telling, discipline, and proper perspective. Therefore, we practice a lifetime of gratitude, for gratitude reminds us of the lessons learned in the wilderness, in our own lean times of life. We are dependent on God in good times and in bad. The words “thank you” imply that someone else has done something for us. An affluent society has trouble remembering that.
I’ve worked with teens from wealthy families and teens from poor families, and those from poverty were the most receptive to hearing the gospel because they were in the wilderness. Those who had all they needed and more did not think the gospel had anything to say to them. They had no need for a savior – they had no need for anything. That is the temptation of abundance and wealth, to think you have done it all yourself and you have no need, no dependence on God, no need for God’s word.
I think that is why Jesus spoke about the difficulty of a rich person getting into the kingdom of heaven. One lesson from Deuteronomy eight is that riches often bring amnesia. You know how it is when someone becomes famous or wealthy quickly – their friends tell them: “Don’t forget where you come from.” Riches are not the problem, but when we say that we are the source of those riches, when we forget God, we forget where we have come from. That is why it is hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven, because riches tempt us to forget where the riches really came from – from God. Riches are not the problem, after all, God gave Israel great riches in the promised land: flowing stream, wheat, barely, vines, figs, and land where they would lack nothing! As long as we remember that such blessings are from God and we use those blessings in gratitude to God, God will indeed continue to bless. That’s the good news.
Israel was reminded to practice a lifetime of gratitude and remembrance.
A lifetime of gratitude is the continuing discipline of memory - overcoming our amnesia.
A lifetime of gratitude is the continuing dependence on God - overcoming autonomy as a way of life.
Gratitude is demonstrated in obedience to every word that comes from the mouth of God. Giving thanks through material means, visual, quantifiable means that show our gratitude. But even the material marks of gratitude are spiritual in nature. They are spiritual because God gives everything we have. Nothing we own is outside of God’s provision and being connected to God makes all the gifts we own and share and give and acquire, visible expressions of spirituality and gratitude.
Today we give thanks for this memory of abundance, for these words from God, and particularly on this weekend, for those who gave given their lives for the sake of liberty. So, we express our gratitude and remember! Remember. It is the message of Memorial Day; it is the message of God’s word. Remember and give thanks. Amen.
Sermon
Sermon # 1042
May 22, 2011
John 14.1-14
Dr. Ed Pettus
"Finding Our Way"
"Do not let your hearts be troubled." Jesus has told the disciples that he will not be with them much longer and they are understandably trouble by this news. Any of us would be troubled if we heard someone we loved and cared for would be leaving. Jesus begins his farewell with the words, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Most of the time, this is a hard saying. Who is not from time to time troubled, nervous, or anxious? We become troubled when bad things happen to us or to our family or friends. We get nervous when we face things that are unfamiliar. We are anxious when there is uncertainty about our future. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” We are indeed troubled by death, loss, stress in relationships, and all that comes with being a part of the human condition. We are so inundated with troubling news every day that it becomes even more difficult to not be troubled. Even on our best days we can turn on the nightly news and get so discouraged by what we see and hear that we become troubled. Terrorism, fuel prices, politics and the list grows until we are not just troubled, but numbed by it all. Of course we can turn off the television and block some of the trouble from around the world or even in our own community, but trouble hits us personally and there is no getting away from it.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” How? How, Jesus, can we live without troubled hearts? How can we see what we see in this world and not become troubled? How can we, like the disciples, lose someone close to us and not be troubled by it? Does Jesus mean for us to just be at peace 24/7 no matter what comes our way? Does Jesus mean for us to be constantly hopeful and always looking for the best in every situation? We’ve seen things go wrong, terribly wrong. How can we not grow troubled? I am troubled by the direction of the PCUSA and people on both sides of the ordination issue are troubled by the division this has caused in the church. We are troubled that some will leave the denomination, some will seek to reverse the ordination change. Some rejoice, others weep. What might be the most troubling result is that we are a divided people.
The disciple Thomas is like many today who are searching for the way to peace and hope. We are searching for the way where our hearts are not troubled. "How can we know the way?" That is Thomas’ question, “How can we know the way?” It is perhaps more difficult to know the way in modern times. Just look at the options. We are saturated with words like diversity, pluralism, and multi-culturalism. With those words come many religions, many beliefs, even many interpretations of scripture. We are asked to be tolerant, to accept that our way is not necessarily the only way to God. We are told to respect the rights of others to believe what they want to believe. We live in a very pluralistic society. One of the ideas today is that no single truth claim has the right over any other truth claim. That is, every truth claim must be equally true and no one has the right to claim his or her truth or vision of reality is more true than anyone else's. This opens the door for all kinds of views, theologies, interpretations and a diversity that is so far apart it can seldom find any way of unity. It all makes Thomas’ question all the more pertinent for today, “How can we know the way?”
Jesus is pointing us toward a relationship that reminds us of our hope and a promise for the future. Jesus is pointing us toward a relationship that really can bring peace and hope – that really can let our hearts be trouble free.
I read an article some time ago that discussed the concern of what the writer called the "lay liberal faith." At the core of this type of faith is that one faith is as good as another, as long as you are faithful to your truth. The article spoke of the understanding that no one has a right to witness to anyone else about their faith. These types of people have a concern for their children to have moral training, but any kind will do as good as another. In this particular article, the people being interviewed happen to be Presbyterian, but they could not give any reason why they were Presbyterian. As one said, they certainly don't believe in hell and eternal punishment. That is just old fogy stuff. The conclusion of the article was that many people have an assortment of religious ideas but no central cohesive commitment that is strong enough to shape their life. It is a vague belief firmly held. It is the kind of faith that is, what I call, “just enough faith.” Just enough faith to feel good about one’s self or just enough faith to not be a non-believer. The problem is it is also just enough faith to leave one with a vague belief that also leaves the heart more troubled than not.
How can we know the way? The way is offered in a multitude of ways in our culture: through other religions, through ideologies, humanism, naturalism, through politics, economics, science, and technology. If you want a search for truth you will soon be spinning in circles because everyone will be pointing you in their direction. Now we are faced with a denomination that is also divided. This is not the first time and will probably not be the last.
To be faithful to our confession, I have to say that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, for all persons. Now, our society today tells me that I cannot say that, at least I cannot say it to anyone else because I have to tolerate and respect their beliefs or lack of beliefs or their vague beliefs. To be faithful, I have to say that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, for all persons. I think that when I say that, I mean to acknowledge that I stand in this tradition by faith and it is not something that I can use to coerce other people, nor would I want to force it upon anyone. That gives me an appropriate humility, but that it is also where we must stand as believers – that this is our truth claim, which stands against all others.
My perception is that many Christians are saying that to be Christian means that I never assert or bear witness to my truth claim over against any other truth claim. I think that is also watering down the church and the gospel. We are afraid to make our truth claim, so we do not know what to say, or even worse, we do not know the way, the truth, and the life. I do not mean that we don't know what Jesus said or what the Bible says. I mean we may not know Jesus Christ himself.
Jesus did not say, “My teachings are the truth.” But they are truthful. He did not say, “My preaching is the way.” But it leads to the way. He did not say, “My parables are the life.” But they show us life. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” “I am.” Not the words, not the doctrines of the church, not the theologies of humanity, not the dogmas or systems or laws, not our interpretation of scripture, but Jesus Christ himself. Deitrich Bonhoffer in the book The Cost of Discipleship writes, “When we are called to follow Christ, we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to his person. The grace of his call bursts all the bonds of legalism. It is a gracious call, a gracious commandment. It transcends the difference between the law and the gospel. Christ calls, the disciple follows: that is grace and commandment in one. ‘I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy commandments’ (Psalm 119:45).” [p. 63]
Being Christian, and thus a disciple, means we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to the person of Jesus Christ.
Our proclamation is the unique witness to Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus himself is the way and the reason for the journey. To be on the way to the Father's house is to know the truth and to have the life of Jesus Christ; it is to believe in God and in Jesus Christ.
Some one may ask, "well, what about the Jews and the Muslims and the Buddhists and others? Are not their beliefs just another way to God?" It is not our concern to bash others because of their beliefs. I do not know about Tao or Buddhism or the Koran, but what I do know is Jesus Christ. That means that Jesus must be proclaimed as the way to God to all willing to listen. It is our call to proclaim the truth we believe. It is our task to proclaim Jesus Christ. It is not our calling to offer various options.
Ben Johnson has said, "I think we need to think about church and kingdom. That the Spirit is at work in a kingdom way in the kingdom of God stuff that's happening in the culture, but the church needs a narrowing of its focus, a clarity of its convictions. We need this so we can live out an authentic Christian life and let it be reflected in the culture and give us some keys for interpreting the culture.”
The apostle Paul had clarity of conviction. In 1 Corinthians 2.2 he says, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Douglas John Hall says "what Paul means when he asserts that he is determined to know and to preach only the one thing, 'Jesus Christ, and him crucified,' is that for him this represents the foundation and core of the whole Christian profession of belief. That is to say, he intends to consider every subject from the perspective that one acquires upon it when it is considered from the vantage point of the cross" Douglass John Hall (p. 363-364).
Jesus Christ is the Truth - not a teaching, concept, or idea, but the person of Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the way because he is the way to God. Jesus is the truth because he is the truth of God. Jesus is the life because he is the life of God among God's people.
We do not hold firmly to a vague idea or belief - we hold to a person in Jesus Christ as the way to God. We hold firmly to an exclusive attachment to the person of Jesus Christ.
All of life then becomes focused through the person of Jesus Christ. That is not to say that we will always have clarity of vision or that we will never be troubled in our hearts, but it is to say that the unique way to God for this community of faith and for you and me is Jesus Christ. In holding to that, we have confidence that the trouble for today is not the final word for us, but that there is a future filled with hope and joy and peace, and not a bit of trouble.
Sometimes we are confused by the complexity of our surroundings and it seeps into our faith and life. But when it all comes down to the core of our faith, we are founded in the centrality of Jesus Christ who is the way to God. We are rooted in the truth of Jesus Christ as the unique revelation of God. We stand firm in the belief that Jesus is the life and all else, all else will lead us to an eternal death.
How can we know that way? Jesus said, “Believe in God, believe also in me.” Only in knowing Jesus Christ. Jesus said in this passage, “I will come again.” He did not come yesterday, as some predicted, but he will come. On that day we will know fully the One who is the way, the truth, and the life. We look forward to that day, a day when we will indeed be free of all our troubles! Amen.
May 22, 2011
John 14.1-14
Dr. Ed Pettus
"Finding Our Way"
"Do not let your hearts be troubled." Jesus has told the disciples that he will not be with them much longer and they are understandably trouble by this news. Any of us would be troubled if we heard someone we loved and cared for would be leaving. Jesus begins his farewell with the words, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Most of the time, this is a hard saying. Who is not from time to time troubled, nervous, or anxious? We become troubled when bad things happen to us or to our family or friends. We get nervous when we face things that are unfamiliar. We are anxious when there is uncertainty about our future. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” We are indeed troubled by death, loss, stress in relationships, and all that comes with being a part of the human condition. We are so inundated with troubling news every day that it becomes even more difficult to not be troubled. Even on our best days we can turn on the nightly news and get so discouraged by what we see and hear that we become troubled. Terrorism, fuel prices, politics and the list grows until we are not just troubled, but numbed by it all. Of course we can turn off the television and block some of the trouble from around the world or even in our own community, but trouble hits us personally and there is no getting away from it.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” How? How, Jesus, can we live without troubled hearts? How can we see what we see in this world and not become troubled? How can we, like the disciples, lose someone close to us and not be troubled by it? Does Jesus mean for us to just be at peace 24/7 no matter what comes our way? Does Jesus mean for us to be constantly hopeful and always looking for the best in every situation? We’ve seen things go wrong, terribly wrong. How can we not grow troubled? I am troubled by the direction of the PCUSA and people on both sides of the ordination issue are troubled by the division this has caused in the church. We are troubled that some will leave the denomination, some will seek to reverse the ordination change. Some rejoice, others weep. What might be the most troubling result is that we are a divided people.
The disciple Thomas is like many today who are searching for the way to peace and hope. We are searching for the way where our hearts are not troubled. "How can we know the way?" That is Thomas’ question, “How can we know the way?” It is perhaps more difficult to know the way in modern times. Just look at the options. We are saturated with words like diversity, pluralism, and multi-culturalism. With those words come many religions, many beliefs, even many interpretations of scripture. We are asked to be tolerant, to accept that our way is not necessarily the only way to God. We are told to respect the rights of others to believe what they want to believe. We live in a very pluralistic society. One of the ideas today is that no single truth claim has the right over any other truth claim. That is, every truth claim must be equally true and no one has the right to claim his or her truth or vision of reality is more true than anyone else's. This opens the door for all kinds of views, theologies, interpretations and a diversity that is so far apart it can seldom find any way of unity. It all makes Thomas’ question all the more pertinent for today, “How can we know the way?”
Jesus is pointing us toward a relationship that reminds us of our hope and a promise for the future. Jesus is pointing us toward a relationship that really can bring peace and hope – that really can let our hearts be trouble free.
I read an article some time ago that discussed the concern of what the writer called the "lay liberal faith." At the core of this type of faith is that one faith is as good as another, as long as you are faithful to your truth. The article spoke of the understanding that no one has a right to witness to anyone else about their faith. These types of people have a concern for their children to have moral training, but any kind will do as good as another. In this particular article, the people being interviewed happen to be Presbyterian, but they could not give any reason why they were Presbyterian. As one said, they certainly don't believe in hell and eternal punishment. That is just old fogy stuff. The conclusion of the article was that many people have an assortment of religious ideas but no central cohesive commitment that is strong enough to shape their life. It is a vague belief firmly held. It is the kind of faith that is, what I call, “just enough faith.” Just enough faith to feel good about one’s self or just enough faith to not be a non-believer. The problem is it is also just enough faith to leave one with a vague belief that also leaves the heart more troubled than not.
How can we know the way? The way is offered in a multitude of ways in our culture: through other religions, through ideologies, humanism, naturalism, through politics, economics, science, and technology. If you want a search for truth you will soon be spinning in circles because everyone will be pointing you in their direction. Now we are faced with a denomination that is also divided. This is not the first time and will probably not be the last.
To be faithful to our confession, I have to say that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, for all persons. Now, our society today tells me that I cannot say that, at least I cannot say it to anyone else because I have to tolerate and respect their beliefs or lack of beliefs or their vague beliefs. To be faithful, I have to say that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, for all persons. I think that when I say that, I mean to acknowledge that I stand in this tradition by faith and it is not something that I can use to coerce other people, nor would I want to force it upon anyone. That gives me an appropriate humility, but that it is also where we must stand as believers – that this is our truth claim, which stands against all others.
My perception is that many Christians are saying that to be Christian means that I never assert or bear witness to my truth claim over against any other truth claim. I think that is also watering down the church and the gospel. We are afraid to make our truth claim, so we do not know what to say, or even worse, we do not know the way, the truth, and the life. I do not mean that we don't know what Jesus said or what the Bible says. I mean we may not know Jesus Christ himself.
Jesus did not say, “My teachings are the truth.” But they are truthful. He did not say, “My preaching is the way.” But it leads to the way. He did not say, “My parables are the life.” But they show us life. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” “I am.” Not the words, not the doctrines of the church, not the theologies of humanity, not the dogmas or systems or laws, not our interpretation of scripture, but Jesus Christ himself. Deitrich Bonhoffer in the book The Cost of Discipleship writes, “When we are called to follow Christ, we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to his person. The grace of his call bursts all the bonds of legalism. It is a gracious call, a gracious commandment. It transcends the difference between the law and the gospel. Christ calls, the disciple follows: that is grace and commandment in one. ‘I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy commandments’ (Psalm 119:45).” [p. 63]
Being Christian, and thus a disciple, means we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to the person of Jesus Christ.
Our proclamation is the unique witness to Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus himself is the way and the reason for the journey. To be on the way to the Father's house is to know the truth and to have the life of Jesus Christ; it is to believe in God and in Jesus Christ.
Some one may ask, "well, what about the Jews and the Muslims and the Buddhists and others? Are not their beliefs just another way to God?" It is not our concern to bash others because of their beliefs. I do not know about Tao or Buddhism or the Koran, but what I do know is Jesus Christ. That means that Jesus must be proclaimed as the way to God to all willing to listen. It is our call to proclaim the truth we believe. It is our task to proclaim Jesus Christ. It is not our calling to offer various options.
Ben Johnson has said, "I think we need to think about church and kingdom. That the Spirit is at work in a kingdom way in the kingdom of God stuff that's happening in the culture, but the church needs a narrowing of its focus, a clarity of its convictions. We need this so we can live out an authentic Christian life and let it be reflected in the culture and give us some keys for interpreting the culture.”
The apostle Paul had clarity of conviction. In 1 Corinthians 2.2 he says, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." Douglas John Hall says "what Paul means when he asserts that he is determined to know and to preach only the one thing, 'Jesus Christ, and him crucified,' is that for him this represents the foundation and core of the whole Christian profession of belief. That is to say, he intends to consider every subject from the perspective that one acquires upon it when it is considered from the vantage point of the cross" Douglass John Hall (p. 363-364).
Jesus Christ is the Truth - not a teaching, concept, or idea, but the person of Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the way because he is the way to God. Jesus is the truth because he is the truth of God. Jesus is the life because he is the life of God among God's people.
We do not hold firmly to a vague idea or belief - we hold to a person in Jesus Christ as the way to God. We hold firmly to an exclusive attachment to the person of Jesus Christ.
All of life then becomes focused through the person of Jesus Christ. That is not to say that we will always have clarity of vision or that we will never be troubled in our hearts, but it is to say that the unique way to God for this community of faith and for you and me is Jesus Christ. In holding to that, we have confidence that the trouble for today is not the final word for us, but that there is a future filled with hope and joy and peace, and not a bit of trouble.
Sometimes we are confused by the complexity of our surroundings and it seeps into our faith and life. But when it all comes down to the core of our faith, we are founded in the centrality of Jesus Christ who is the way to God. We are rooted in the truth of Jesus Christ as the unique revelation of God. We stand firm in the belief that Jesus is the life and all else, all else will lead us to an eternal death.
How can we know that way? Jesus said, “Believe in God, believe also in me.” Only in knowing Jesus Christ. Jesus said in this passage, “I will come again.” He did not come yesterday, as some predicted, but he will come. On that day we will know fully the One who is the way, the truth, and the life. We look forward to that day, a day when we will indeed be free of all our troubles! Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
