Go. Tell.

Well, I'm getting closer and closer to being caught up posting sermons. Here is my sermon from Christmas Day. The end of this one looks a little incomplete. I think I left it open on purpose so I could improvise something. I don't remember what that was, so use your imagination.

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Even Me

I've been trying to record all of my sermons lately. I've missed a few, but have recorded most of them. Last week, I started actually listening to them. I've learned a few things from doing so. One thing I learned is that I can actually listen to them. I wasn't too sure, which is why it took me so long to start listening to them. 


That being said, I have been trying to figure out a way to post the audio. But I have yet to figure out a way. So I'll just do this - if you'd like to hear my sermons email me and I will email the audio file to you. In the mean time, I'll try to figure out how to post them.


This is my sermon from 12/18/2011 (3rd Sunday in Advent). Email me if you'd like the audio.

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Pointing the Way

I've really been slacking lately in posting my sermons. I apologize to those who look forward to them. This is my sermon from 12/11 (3rd Sunday of Advent). Enjoy. Comment.

Any amateur astronomers here? Anyone have a telescope? I had a friend growing up that loved the stars. I think his dad liked it as much or more than he did. They had telescopes and books to help locate different planets and stars. They even built an observatory on their back deck. This round room with a domed ceiling.

I’ve always been fascinated with the stars. I love driving in a rural, dark area at night where you can see what seems like billions of stars. And every now and then you’ll see a falling star.

I don’t know how old I was when I learned that falling stars weren’t stars at all. They are meteors. Little, or big, bits of rock or dust or other particles that hit the earth’s atmosphere and burst into flames. I have to admit that even knowing what they really are, and even at the age of 37, I still get pretty excited when I see a shooting star.

So I was pretty excited about some news I heard this week. This week marks the Geminid meteor shower. It happens annually. The earth passes through a trail of debris from an asteroid and it creates thousands or meteorites that hit the atmosphere and burn up. Meteorologists and astronomers predict that you’ll be able to see up to a shooting star every couple of minutes over the next couple of nights, and we should have clear skies, perfect for meteorite watching. But there was some bad news also. Predictions are that you will be able to see up to 6 per minute Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week. That sounds great, except that it’s supposed to get cloudy Tuesday and stay cloudy for a few days. So at the peak of the show, we won’t be able to see anything. We’ll have this beautiful, natural fireworks display overhead, but it will be hidden. We’ll miss it. Unless someone can tell us about it, or maybe get some video. We need a witness.

John was out in the wilderness baptizing. The Pharisees heard about him, he was quite popular. Whne they heard about him, they sent some of their students out to ask him some questions. “Who are you? Why are you doing this?” His answer was just what we need for the Geminid meteor shower. He said he was a witness.

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Sometimes odd things stand out to me when I read the scriptures. Sometimes they are important, sometimes they are not. Here, notice that John doesn’t have a title. Chapter 1 of Mark’s gospel introduces us to John the baptizer. In chapter 3 of his Gospel Luke introduces John, son of Zechariah. Matthew gives him a more familiar title, John the Baptist. In John’s gospel, though, we are introduced to “a man sent from God, whose name was John.” And it’s not until John speaks in verse 27 that baptism is even mentioned.

When we think of John the Baptist, John the baptizer, John, son of Zechariah; baptism is usually the first thing that comes to mind. It’s what he does, right? It’s in his name, like Bob the builder or Dora the explorer. You know what they do because of what they are called.

Here, though, John’s gospel gives us a different role for John. Witness. “A witness to testify to the light.”

The priests and Levites go out to John and ask “Who are you?” John’s response answers the question they didn’t ask, but he knows they are implying. “I’m not the messiah.” “Are you Elijah?” “No.” “Are you the prophet?” “No.”

Now they’re completely frustrated. “Then who are you? We’ve got to go back and tell our bosses something? You’ve told us who you are not. Tell us who you are!” John simply quotes the prophet Isaiah. “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”

Now I think they are starting to get it. They know this scripture. They know what it means, that it refers to the one who is predicted to come before the Messiah, to prepare the way. They ask another question. “Then why are you baptizing? If you’re not the messiah or Elijah or the prophet, what gives you the right?”

With his answer John serves his function in this Gospel. “I baptize with water. Among you is someone you don’t know, the one coming after me; he is so much better than me. I’m not worthy to take off his shoes.”

Again, this is a curious response. Is John saying that Jesus is there at that moment? Is Jesus in the crowd listening to the priests and Levites questioning John?

If we back up a few verses, we realize that in answering these questions John is serving his role. He is a witness. A witness sent by God to testify about the light.

Verses 7-8 – “He came as a witness to testify to the light. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.”

Because, the world needed a light. The world was dark, a bit gloomy.

But, isn’t it still dark, and a bit gloomy? Sometimes it takes some light to let us know just how dark the world around us has become.

When I was growing up, my dad used to take us cave crawling. About 30 minutes away from Florence is Collier Cave, or Coffee Cave. We would put on some old clothes, grab our replica Atlanta Braves batting helmets and flashlights, pile up in my dad’s truck, and head to the cave. We would spend hours and hours walking, crawling, and sliding through the tunnels of this cave. Eventually we would get to a huge cavern several hundred yards into the cave. Once we got there we always did the same thing. We would find a good firm spot to stand or sit and we would all turn off our flashlights.

Sitting in that cave, you realize what real dark is. You can hold your hand a few inches from your face with no chance of seeing it. And as you sit there for minute after minute, your eyes cannot adjust to the darkness. We think we know what dark is, but usually here, there is a little light. Our eyes can adjust to even a tiny amount of light to help us see. Even if it’s just to barely make out the outline of objects. Not in the cave. There it is truly dark. It always served as a sort of sober reminder of how important our lights were for our survival. Without them, there’s no way we could get out of that cave. We realize just how much we really need the light.

That’s what John came to do. He came into a dark world to show them just how much they needed the light that was coming.

We still live in a dark world. And we still have a light that shines into that darkness. And it is our turn to serve as a witness to testify to the light.

John makes the statement to the priests and Levites that there is “someone among you whom you do not know.” Jesus was right there, but no one saw. No one knew. They needed someone to tell them to show them to help them see.

The Lectionary stops at verse 8 and picks back up at verse 19. I want to read a few of those verse in between. I’ll start at verse 9.

9-11.

Even when Jesus was there, so many missed him. So many didn’t see him. They missed the light. Jesus lived and walked among them. Many missed it. Still today, so many miss Jesus. Our world is dark, but Jesus is the light to show us the way to salvation. Even a little light can drive out the dark, but that doesn’t mean you can’t miss it. In a dark cave, you can still close your eyes. If so, the flashlight won’t do you any good. You can look up at the sky all night long, but if the skies are cloudy, you’ll never see any shooting stars.

That’s why we need a witness. Someone to point the way. Because there are those who have “seen the light.” Look back at John.

12-18

Those of us who have experienced God’s love and grace and mercy. We’ve seen the light. Now we, like John, are called to serve as witnesses. To testify to the light. To tell the world about Jesus.

So, now we prepare. During this advent season, we prepare the way for Jesus, just as John and so many others have before us.

The world is dark, sometimes so much so that we lose sight of the light. Many times Jesus is right here with us, but we don’t recognize him.  Sometimes we need to be pointed; sometimes we are called to be the pointer.

We can do that for ourselves and for others by remembering John’s words: “Among you is one whom you do not know.”

Jesus is there, even when the clouds obscure our view. We prepare for his coming, we prepare for his return by remembering and by sharing.

Advent ponderings

Hey, look at this an actual blog entry and not just another sermon. Whoa!

I plan to do a “Life Update” sort of entry before the end of the year, or maybe just after the first. We’ll see. For now, I have to vent a little.

There are a couple of things that are really, really getting on my nerves this Christmas season. I’m not sure why they are bothering me, but they are. And now I decided I would share them.

#1 – The phrase “Jesus is the reason for the season” – I’ve never been a big fan of the phrase. It’s trite and cliché. But this year it is really bothering me. The sentiment is ok, but I think the use of it is, well, shallow.

Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season. Countless bumper stickers and t-shirts and pins and church signs tell us so. But that phrase means nothing. I see countless cars pass by with their “Jesus is the Reason” bumper stickers with their backseats loaded down with all of this year’s latest trinkets and gadgets. In other words, “Jesus is the reason for living excessively and over-spending on gifts!” We have a focus problem.

I think the phrase needs to change. Jesus is not just the reason for the season; Jesus should be the FOCUS of the season. That’s the bumper sticker I want to wear. (Not a typo, a joke. I know you don’t wear bumper stickers.) “Jesus is the focus of the season.” Of course you can’t wear your bumper sticker if you don’t actually make Jesus the focus of the season.

#2 – Nativity scenes and Christmas songs – Jesus was born in a cave meant for sheltering animals. He was given a feeding trough as his first bed. He shared his first night with poverty stricken parents and some guy’s livestock. He was born amidst the animals and all of their bodily functions. It was probably a dark, loud, smelly, bloody, terrifying (for Mary, Joseph, and maybe anyone else around), and all around pitiful situation. A far cry from a “Silent Night” or the lowing cattle and “no crying he makes” Jesus of “Away in a Manger.”

I imagine a baby’s screams, a mothers sobs, the shouts of a father desperate for help, the cries of cattle and sheep frightened by the panicked situation. I imagine the smells of dung, hay, dirty animals, body odor, and bodily fluids (birth is not pretty, especially outside of a sanitary hospital delivery room).

This is how God chose to come into the world. This is what the incarnation looked like. Wow. This is how God chose to reach down to heaven and show us how much God loves us.

That, for me, is much more powerful than seeing children and adults sitting silently in front of a homemade “stable” wearing newly laundered robes and watching a few animals mill around as cars pass quietly.

“Love Came Down at Christmas” and it wasn’t pretty. 

People Get Ready

I'm still trying to get caught up on posting sermons. Here is my sermon from 12/4 (2nd Sunday in Advent). Enjoy.

We like to get credit for good stuff that happens, don’t you agree? I think it’s just human nature to want to be known as the one who got the job done. Especially if you’re new. You know, if a new boss comes in and suddenly profits go up by 20% in the first year. Or a politician, a freshman congressman, who comes to Washington, and acts as if their arrival marks the beginning of government. And we are usually quick to give that credit. We like the new.

I spent yesterday, and pretty much every Saturday since September watching college football. Coaching is a great example of someone seeking credit or acclaim. This time of year there is always a lot of talk about National Championships. That got me thinking about the last 2 National Champions, which just happen to be from this state. In both cases the head coach was in his second year with their team. In terms of football, that means that likely more than half of the players on the team were there before that coach arrived on campus. They are players recruited by someone else, another coaching staff. But the current coach gets the credit for winning a championship. And that’s not to say that Saban & Chizik don’t deserve credit, they do. But did you hear either one of them or could you imagine either of them or any other coach saying something like, “Yeah, we did good, but the coach before me, well, he really prepared the way for me to come in here and take this team to a championship.” I’ll go out on a limb and say, you will never hear a football coach, or a politician, or a business leader, say anything like that.

And how often have you heard of someone like that, someone who comes into a struggling team or business to take over as the coach or boss, how often have you heard them referred to as “savior”? “He’ll be the savior of our team!"

Well, the true savior did arrive and the Bible makes it clear that He had some prep work. He had a messenger to prepare the way.

Mark 1: 1-8

I want to start by looking at verse 1. Our passage begins with these words: “The beginning of the good news of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It’s an interesting way for Mark to start his gospel. For one thing, there is no verb, which means, it’s not really a sentence. It’s almost like it’s a title. And that is what many scholars believe, that this opening verse is meant as a title. This brings an interesting question. Is this the title of the opening? The prologue? Or is it the title of the entire gospel? I like the idea that Mark is titling his entire account of the Gospel of Jesus, “The Beginning”. The story of Jesus life, death & resurrection is just the beginning. That’s the truth, it is just the beginning. It’s an account of the first 3 years (or 33 years) of the influence this Palestinian Jew which has lasted 2000 years so far. It is the beginning of Jesus’ Gospel.

This brings another interesting point about this opening verse. The word Gospel, or Good News as some translations interpret the word. The word used there, in the original Greek is euaggelion. It means Gospel or Good News. We get our word Evangelism from this word. It is interesting because of it’s use in the Greco-Roman world.

It was used mainly as a term of celebration. Which makes sense, good news is cause to celebrate. In 9 BC, the birthday of Caesar Augustus was hailed as euaggelion. Augustus was hailed as a god, so his birthday, it was written, “marked the beginning of good news (euaggelion) for the world.” The term was also ordinarily used in describing victory in battle. And it, again, figures into the stories of the lives of the Roman emperors, since they were the leaders of the military. Add to that Mark’s use of the phrase “Son of God,” which was used to refer to the Roman emperor since they were seen as and worshiped as gods, and this is a very provocative title. “The Beginning of the Victory of Jesus, the real Son of God.” It was a slap in the face of Rome.

And it would have been an important slap for Mark’s first readers. Many scholars believe that Mark wrote his gospel during or just after Rome’s siege and ultimate destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Imagine being a Christian in Jerusalem as it was surrounded by Roman soldiers. Food and water supplies were all but cut off. And what food was in the city was burned by Jewish zealots to try to provoke the city to fight. So you are suffering through this military siege when you pick up a scroll and read about the Victory of Jesus, the Son of God. I imagine it would serve as quite a morale boost.

Mark begins his gospel by quoting the prophets (The text mentions Isaiah, but he also throws in Malachi.) to tell of the one coming to prepare the way for Messiah. That someone, of course, is John. “John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness.”

It’s interesting to me that Mark does not begin with the story of Jesus’ birth. We begin with an adult John awaiting an adult Jesus.

We start with John in the wilderness dressed in camel hair wearing a leather belt. This description is, again, important for Mark’s first readers. It would call to their mind the prophet Elijah. 2 Kings 1:8 describes Elijah as “a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.” Mark’s description of John would immediately cause his readers to recall this scripture. Which would lead them to another scripture. Malachi 4:5 where the prophet Malachi predicts God will “send the prophet Elijah” before the coming of Messiah. Tie that with the Isaiah passage he quoted earlier and early Christians have a picture of a prophet come to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. Mark encourages his readers, including us, to look back to the promises of God throughout the scriptures.

So, we have John in the wilderness, preaching repentance. Calling on the people of Judea to confess their sins and repent. The Greek word translated as repent is metanoia, which means to change one’s mind. John’s message tells those coming to hear him that to prepare for the coming Christ, they must confess their sins and repent. And he gives them a symbol, an outward sign to demonstrate their confession and decision to turn away from their sins. He uses the Jordan River to perform a ritual washing. Baptism.

John’s message could not have been easy to hear. Actually, John’s message is not easy to hear, or to preach. In fact, it got him in trouble with most of the institutions of the day. The Temple officials saw him giving away for free something that told people they didn’t need to go to the Temple and buy animals to sacrifice. That’s how they made their living. He offends the political leaders, as well. He condemns Herod’s illegal marriage and it gets him killed. Preaching repentance, challenging people to look at their own sins, confess and repent, is not an easy thing to do, or, in many cases a popular thing.

But it is the message John preaches to us. And it is not easy to hear, either.

I mentioned last week that Advent is a season of already & not yet. Jesus came to earth, now we await, in the present, his future return. 3 phases of time, 3 phases of the Gospel. The past, the present, the future.

The prologue to Mark’s gospel echoes this. He begins by looking back to the scriptures, back to the prophets. Back to the sinfulness of Isreal, which was the focus of the prophets. Then he turns the reader’s attention to the present. The ministry of John. His message of repentance. And then a look to the future. John’s future was the coming of Jesus’ ministry and then beyond to the coming of the Holy Spirit. “I baptize with water, but one will come after me who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.”

It also gives us a pattern as we look at our own lives in light of John’s message of repentance. As we prepare ourselves for the coming Christ in this time of Advent. Past , present, future. Our sinful past, our present need for repentance, and our future eternal life with Jesus.

But there’s more to our present than just a need for confession and repentance. John’s life gives us another model. John came to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. But he’s not the only one. We are preparers as well. We are called to prepare the way for Jesus’ return. To prepare ourselves, but also to prepare the world. And we can do so with the same message of confession and repentance.

Of course, it’s a tricky message to bring to the world. Confess & repent. It’s a hard message to preach and it’s a hard message to hear. It was, Jesus’ message too. “The Kingdom is near. Repent and be saved.” Somehow Jesus softened it a little from the harshness of John. I think we can do that as Jesus did. Jesus preached repentance while teaching and demonstrating love. It’s a tough tightrope to walk, but I think we can do it.

First, we must look at ourselves. Confess & repent.

Keep Awake

This is my sermon from 11/27 (First Sunday of Advent). Enjoy.

When is the last time you were surprised? I mean really, truly surprised? The last time I was surprised came one morning several months ago when Misty asked me, “When are you going to seminary?” This was before we had even talked about the possibility, but that’s a story for another day. Other than that I don’t remember the last time I was truly surprised by something. I even looked back at old blog and journal entries. The only mention of surprise I saw was one morning I was surprised to learn that I forgot to carry my deodorant on a trip to Memphis.

Surprises seem to come less often and with more difficulty these days. Maybe if someone throws a surprise party for you, but even those are hard to pull off without letting the cat out of the bag.

I think we’re so hard to surprise because we’ve seen so much. Earthquakes, child abuse, tsunamis, planes crashing into buildings, war, people stealing from charities. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve been desensitized to shock. I’m a little scared of what it would take to really shock and surprise me. Besides forgetting my deodorant, of course.

There are even those who feel like the end of the world won’t be a surprise. For years, maybe centuries, people have tried to predict the end of the world, or the Rapture, or Jesus Second Coming or the Parousia or whatever you want to call it.

Hal Lindsey predicted that the 1980’s would mark the end of the world, and then he changed that to say that Christians shouldn’t plan on being around for the year 2000. Harold Camping predicted the Rapture would take place in May, then changed his mind and said October. A decade ago, we were worried about Y2K. Some think that December 21, 2012 will mark the end of the world. If you watch Discovery or the History channel very often you can see hour upon hour of TV dedicated to prophecies by Nostradamus or hidden in the Bible or from some ancient alien artifact, all predicting the end of the world. All of these things attempt to take the surprise out of something that will be a surprise, but not surprising. Does that sound confusing?

Let me see if our Gospel reading can clear it up a little.

Mark 13:24-37.

Maybe it makes things as clear as mud…

What if we back up a little and look at the context?

Jesus is talking to his disciples. They visit the Temple and as they are leaving one of the Disciples is admiring the building. “Wow, look at the stones. What great buildings!” Jesus responds by telling them the Temple will be destroyed. Then they ask him, when? Jesus then tells then to watch out don’t be led astray. There will be wars and rumors of war. Earthquakes, famine. He tells them to expect to be tortured and to be asked to defend their faith. Brother will betray brother, children against parents. But the one who endures will be saved. When the desolating sacrilege is set up, flee to the mountains because there will be suffering. Worse suffering than has been seen before or since. He tells them to watch out for false teachers, false prophets, and false messiahs. Mostly he tells them, Be alert!

Then comes our passage. Jesus uses imagery found in Daniel, Isaiah, Joel, and Ezekiel to describe an apocalyptic scenario that will mark Jesus’ return, of course, at this point, he hasn’t gone anywhere.

Again, he tells them, beware. Be alert. Keep awake. Because you don’t know when it’s going to happen.

It’s an odd passage for today, really. I preach from the Lectionary. That is a list of scriptures that rotate on a 3 year cycle. Today is the first Sunday in Advent. This is the Gospel reading for the first Sunday in Advent, a season that is a time of expectation and waiting for the coming celebration of Christmas. It is a season that leads us to the birth of Jesus, the incarnation. Incarnation is a big churchy word that means, God became flesh, in other words, Jesus. So this passage seems odd as we prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. But in celebrating Jesus’ birth, we also celebrate and prepare for Jesus’ return.

Advent is characterized by the paradox of “already/not yet.” Jesus has already come, but he has not yet returned. Jesus already established the means for us to enter into a relationship with God, but we do not yet live in full communion with God. Jesus already made the reign of God evident, but it is not yet fully established. So we are sort of stuck in the middle, waiting, and there is danger in the waiting.

Waiting can seem boring, passive. It’s easy to lose our alertness, to fall asleep. Which leads me back to surprise. I said earlier that Jesus talks about something that will be a surprise, but not surprising. And that is the second coming. It will be a surprise because no matter how many people or TV shows try to tell us they know when it’s going to happen, they don’t. At least not according to Jesus. He says he doesn’t even know when it will happen. If Jesus doesn’t know how can Nostradamus or Harold Camping or the Mayans know?

So the timing will be a surprise, but the fact that Jesus comes back will not be a surprise. Not to his disciples. Not to his followers. Because we are told to expect his return. We are told not only to expect it, but to be ready, to be alert, to keep awake.

As I thought about surprise and sleep vs. awake, I thought about that horrible feeling of just dosing off and someone calls your name. It scares you to death! Or falling asleep in class, or in church, and you dream you’re falling and wake up with that feeling of horror. I guess that’s the opposite of staying alert. That’s what happens to the servants in the parable Jesus tells. That’s what happens later to the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, they just can’t stay awake.

So what does it mean for us to stay awake, to keep alert?

I don’t think it means that we should watch for the sun to turn dark or for the stars to begin falling. I don’t think Jesus is speaking literally there. It’s likely that Mark used this sermon from Jesus to speak to his readers about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. This sermon is an example of apocalyptic literature. It is characterized by two ages, the present evil age and the age to come and that is the focus here. The present is broken. For Jesus, and the readers of Mark’s Gospel, it was broken because of the rule of the Roman Empire. They were harsh rulers and eventually destroyed most of Jerusalem including the Temple. For us, well, we live in a broken world filled with deadly natural disasters, murder and crime, abused children, persecution of people based on simple differences.

But Jesus tells us of the age to come. The time when this world will pass and there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

So how can we keep awake in the meantime? How can we keep alert as we wait?

As we experience Advent I think we can ask ourselves, where will we look for God? Because this time of year can be one long distraction.

Did any of you go out early Friday for Black Friday shopping? How’s that for a distraction? People fighting over sheets in Walmart. I didn’t hear of one this year, but it seems that someone has been killed the past few years getting trampled trying to buy a cheap TV. I did read of police having to use a tazer on a man in the Florence Walmart because he became so unruly. All of this in the name of Christmas. I think maybe some people have lost their focus. Maybe they’ve fallen asleep in a way. But speaking of being awake and keeping alert, people wait hours and stay up all night in the name of a bargain. Which leads me to wonder if we are being alert to the wrong things?

But even beyond the retail distractions, we can lose our focus from the sheer busyness of life. This week, my dad went into the hospital, Misty started a new job that keeps her away from home for 14 or 15 hours on the days she works, I had to work, the kids were out of school. It’s easy to lose our focus. It became very easy for me to forget to look for God.

I think that is how we can stay awake and alert this Advent season. To keep our focus on God. To look for God at every turn. To try our best to keep life from pushing our focus elsewhere. To remember that Jesus came, Jesus is here, and Jesus will come again.

Sheep, Goats, & Love

I'm still trying to get caught up on posting sermons. Here is the sermon from 11/20. For the bulk of this sermon, I told the story of "Papa Panov's Special Christmas", as written by Leo Tolstoy and as posted here: classiclit.about.com

Do you know how much God loves you? Is it something you think about very often? I remember as a little boy in Sunday School and at VBS singing “Jesus Loves Me.” “Jesus loves me this I know/ For the Bible tells me so.” I’m not sure how much those words meant to me then, but they are true. Jesus loves us, each one of us. And the Bible tells us so. This is the greatest love story ever written.

Our passage today seems like a story of judgment, but I think it is one more love story. One more example of Jesus’ love for all of humanity.

Matthew 25:31-46

Do you hear the love there? Or just judgment?

I want to do something a little bit different today. I’m going to tell you a story. Actually, I’m going to read a story. It’s a story that expresses this passage better than I ever could. Leo Tolstoy is best known for writing War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy adapted this French story in the late 19^th century.

"Papa Panov's Special Christmas" by Leo Tolstoy.

It was Christmas Eve and although it was still afternoon, lights had begun to appear in the shops and houses of the little Russian village, for the short winter day was nearly over. Excited children scurried indoors and now only muffled sounds of chatter and laughter escaped from closed shutters.

Old Papa Panov, the village shoemaker, stepped outside his shop to take one last look around. The sounds of happiness, the bright lights and the faint but delicious smells of Christmas cooking reminded him of past Christmas times when his wife had still been alive and his own children little. Now they had gone. His usually cheerful face, with the little laughter wrinkles behind the round steel spectacles, looked sad now. But he went back indoors with a firm step, put up the shutters and set a pot of coffee to heat on the charcoal stove. Then, with a sigh, he settled in his big armchair.

Papa Panov did not often read, but tonight he pulled down the big old family Bible and, slowly tracing the lines with one forefinger, he read again the Christmas story. He read how Mary and Joseph, tired by their journey to Bethlehem, found no room for them at the inn, so that Mary's little baby was born in the cowshed.

"Oh, dear, oh, dear!" exclaimed Papa Panov, "if only they had come here! I would have given them my bed and I could have covered the baby with my patchwork quilt to keep him warm."

He read on about the wise men who had come to see the baby Jesus, bringing him splendid gifts. Papa Panov's face fell. "I have no gift that I could give him," he thought sadly.

Then his face brightened. He put down the Bible, got up and stretched his long arms t the shelf high up in his little room. He took down a small, dusty box and opened it. Inside was a perfect pair of tiny leather shoes. Papa Panov smiled with satisfaction. Yes, they were as good as he had remembered- the best shoes he had ever made. "I should give him those," he decided, as he gently put them away and sat down again.

He was feeling tired now, and the further he read the sleeper he became. The print began to dance before his eyes so that he closed them, just for a minute. In no time at all Papa Panov was fast asleep.
And as he slept he dreamed. He dreamed that someone was in his room and he know at once, as one does in dreams, who the person was. It was Jesus.

"You have been wishing that you could see me, Papa Panov." he said kindly, "then look for me tomorrow. It will be Christmas Day and I will visit you. But look carefully, for I shall not tell you who I am."
When at last Papa Panov awoke, the bells were ringing out and a thin light was filtering through the shutters. "Bless my soul!" said Papa Panov. "It's Christmas Day!"

He stood up and stretched himself for he was rather stiff. Then his face filled with happiness as he remembered his dream. This would be a very special Christmas after all, for Jesus was coming to visit him. How would he look? Would he be a little baby, as at that first Christmas? Would he be a grown man, a carpenter- or the great King that he is, God's Son? He must watch carefully the whole day through so that he recognized him however he came.

Papa Panov put on a special pot of coffee for his Christmas breakfast, took down the shutters and looked out of the window. The street was deserted, no one was stirring yet. No one except the road sweeper. He looked as miserable and dirty as ever, and well he might! Whoever wanted to work on Christmas Day - and in the raw cold and bitter freezing mist of such a morning?

Papa Panov opened the shop door, letting in a thin stream of cold air. "Come in!" he shouted across the street cheerily. "Come in and have some hot coffee to keep out the cold!"

The sweeper looked up, scarcely able to believe his ears. He was only too glad to put down his broom and come into the warm room. His old clothes steamed gently in the heat of the stove and he clasped both red hands round the comforting warm mug as he drank.

Papa Panov watched him with satisfaction, but every now and them his eyes strayed to the window. It would never do to miss his special visitor.

"Expecting someone?" the sweeper asked at last. So Papa Panov told him about his dream.

"Well, I hope he comes," the sweeper said, "you've given me a bit of Christmas cheer I never expected to have. I'd say you deserve to have your dream come true." And he actually smiled.

When he had gone, Papa Panov put on cabbage soup for his dinner, then went to the door again, scanning the street. He saw no one. But he was mistaken. Someone was coming.

The girl walked so slowly and quietly, hugging the walls of shops and houses, that it was a while before he noticed her. She looked very tired and she was carrying something. As she drew nearer he could see that it was a baby, wrapped in a thin shawl. There was such sadness in her face and in the pinched little face of the baby, that Papa Panov's heart went out to them.

"Won't you come in," he called, stepping outside to meet them. "You both need a warm by the fire and a rest."

The young mother let him shepherd her indoors and to the comfort of the armchair. She gave a big sigh of relief.

"I'll warm some milk for the baby," Papa Panov said, "I've had children of my own- I can feed her for you." He took the milk from the stove and carefully fed the baby from a spoon, warming her tiny feet by the stove at the same time.

"She needs shoes," the cobbler said.

But the girl replied, "I can't afford shoes, I've got no husband to bring home money. I'm on my way to the next village to get work."

Sudden thought flashed through Papa Panov's mind. He remembered the little shoes he had looked at last night. But he had been keeping those for Jesus. He looked again at the cold little feet and made up his mind.

"Try these on her," he said, handing the baby and the shoes to the mother. The beautiful little shoes were a perfect fit. The girl smiled happily and the baby gurgled with pleasure.

"You have been so kind to us," the girl said, when she got up with her baby to go. "May all your Christmas wishes come true!"

But Papa Panov was beginning to wonder if his very special Christmas wish would come true. Perhaps he had missed his visitor? He looked anxiously up and down the street. There were plenty of people about but they were all faces that he recognized. There were neighbors going to call on their families. They nodded and smiled and wished him Happy Christmas! Or beggars- and Papa Panov hurried indoors to fetch them hot soup and a generous hunk of bread, hurrying out again in case he missed the Important Stranger.

All too soon the winter dusk fell. When Papa Panov next went to the door and strained his eyes, he could no longer make out the passers-by. most were home and indoors by now anyway. He walked slowly back into his room at last, put up the shutters, and sat down wearily in his armchair.

So it had been just a dream after all. Jesus had not come.

Then all at once he knew that he was no longer alone in the room.

This was not dream for he was wide awake. At first he seemed to see before his eyes the long stream of people who had come to him that day. He saw again the old road sweeper, the young mother and her baby and the beggars he had fed. As they passed, each whispered, "Didn't you see me, Papa Panov?"

"Who are you?" he called out, bewildered.

Then another voice answered him. It was the voice from his dream- the voice of Jesus.

"I was hungry and you fed me," he said. "I was naked and you clothed me. I was cold and you warmed me. I came to you today in everyone of those you helped and welcomed."

Then all was quiet and still. Only the sound of the big clock ticking. A great peace and happiness seemed to fill the room, overflowing Papa Panov's heart until he wanted to burst out singing and laughing and dancing with joy.

"So he did come after all!" was all that he said.

To me, this is a story, that demonstrates God’s love as shown in the parable from Matthew. The absolute joy that Papa Panov feels upon helping Jesus, he experiences God’s love in that moment.

To me, this story and the parable show us the unimaginable lengths to which God will go to show us love. To show everyone love.

And it is a story that invites us to share in that love, and to share that love, to bring others in.

Look at Papa Panov in the story. He doesn’t simply help the needy in his village. He invites them in.

In the parable, Jesus talks about the rejects, the outcasts of society. The poor, the hungry, prisoners, the sick. These were people who were looked down upon, people who were not allowed or at least not welcomed in the Temple. Jesus not only says they are welcome, he says, “They’re me.” The poor, the hungry, the prisoner, the sick; they all represent the Reign of God.

Now, we are invited, just like Papa Panov, to experience God’s love by sharing God’s love. And to share it like Jesus, with everyone.

So, who are our outcasts? Who are we called to tell, “You’re worthy.”? The poor, the hungry, the prisoner, the AIDS patient, the illegal immigrant, the gay man, the single mom who’s had 5 husbands and the man she lives with is not her husband, the woman who cheated on her husband and everyone knows it. Who are our outcasts?

And he’s the thing, we’re not just called to help. Anyone can feed the hungry or help the poor. We are called to invite them to share with us in the Reign of Christ. Jesus called them worthy, it’s our job to let them know.

In doing so, we can experience God’s love, while we share God’s love.

Risk for Gain

Here is my sermon from 11/13. I'm getting further behind. Sorry.

Chapters 24 & 25 of Matthew’s gospel are called Jesus’ Eschatological Discourse. Eschatology is the study of the end times, or the end of the present age and the coming of the age to come. In other words, in this section, Jesus is telling the disciples about his return and about how to live during the time between his death and resurrection and his return. Of course, at this point they don’t really know about his death and resurrection yet.

One of the themes of this series of teachings and parables is absence, specifically extended absence or delayed return. Last week we read a parable about a wedding party awaiting the return of the groom. His return was delayed and 5 of the bridesmaids ran out of oil while the other 5 brought extra. Today we will read a continuation of that teaching, or perhaps a commentary on that parable.

Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus continues the theme of extended absence and when we read these stories as Jesus teaching about the end times, we can look at them as instructions on how to act while Jesus is away.

This passage is commonly known as the parable of the talents. It is a story that is probably familiar to most of you. You’ve probably heard a few sermons preached on this passage. Actually, I used this passage for the first sermon I ever preached. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find that sermon, so I had to write a new one.

The problem with Bible passages that are very familiar to us and we’ve heard preached several times is that we tend to think we know the verses and know what they say to us. So we tend to tune out and when we do that, we miss things. We assume that we’ve learned what we can from that story, so we just hear the same things we’ve always heard.

I had that problem the first time I preached this parable. I was taking part in a Lay Speaking class and we had to preach a 5 minute sermon based on this scripture. I read it and as I did I read about a man giving money to 3 servants. 2 servants invested it, used it, and it grew. The other buried his, ignored it. I read about 2 servants who used their talents, their gifts, and one who didn’t. Because that’s the way I’d always read that story, or heard it preached. So I sat and tried to figure out how I could preach about these talents and the one who wasted his and was punished for it.

Then I decided to read a different interpretation of the passage. I had a copy of The Message, so I read it from that version of the Bible. As I read this familiar story in fresh words, I heard it in a way I’d not heard it before. It took on a new meaning. Let me read it from The Message.

As I read, I realized that the 3^rd servant is not punished because he didn’t grow the investment. He is not punished because he failed to use his talents or gifts. It’s a matter of risk. He played it safe.

We are called to take risks for God. We are called to step out in faith and risk failure. To risk losing.

The mission statement of the North Alabama Conference of the UMC is “Every church challenged and equipped to grow more disciples of Jesus Christ by taking risks and changing lives.” And that is our calling. We are called to make more disciples, and the truth is, we’re not going to do that by playing it safe. We’re not going to fulfill that mission by sitting back and wait for people to come to us. We’re not going to make more disciples without trying.

As I prepared for this sermon, I re-read the parable. As I read, and read a few commentaries and what some other preachers had to say about the passage, I heard this passage in a new way again. I found a new meaning, a new truth.

There are a couple of traditional teachings of this passage. One deals with money. Some have used this parable to say that if you give, you will receive. There is truth to that message, but it has been perverted over the years. It has become the backbone of the prosperity gospel. “Send me money and God will make you rich.”

It has also been taught as a call for us to use our gifts and talents. If we don’t use them, they will be taken away. If we use them for the kingdom, we will be blessed. Again, I can’t really argue with that. Even though the story actually is talking about talents as a way of measuring money. Some linguists think that our word ‘Talent’ actually got its meaning from this parable.

But here’s another take. What if we look at allegorically? Let the characters and other elements of the story represent something else.

It’s easy enough to see the Master in the story as Jesus. Then maybe we can see the servants as disciples. Either a few of the original disciples of even as ourselves. But what about the talents? What about the money he gives them?

Well, when Jesus left, what did he leave? What did Jesus give his disciples to invest? What about the Gospel. The good news of Jesus’ message. Remember before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told the disciples to go make more disciples and teach them all that I have commanded you. The gospel. The good news of the reign of God, a new way of life.

Maybe the story could go like this (by the way, I borrowed this retelling from Anna Carter Florence who is a preacher and a professor at Columbia Theological Seminary):

A man—let’s call him Jesus—was going on a journey. He called his servants—let’s call them disciples—to him, and entrusted the gospel to them. To one, he gave stories; to another, he gave compassion; to a third, he gave the bread of life and the cup of salvation. There were other disciples who got other things, but we’ll concentrate on these three. Then Jesus went away.

The disciple who got the stories went out and told them, and soon there were five other disciples telling those stories. The disciple who received compassion went out and offered to someone else, and that person became a disciple, too, and she went on to give that compassion to others as well. But the disciple who had been given the bread of life and the cup of salvation dug a hole in the ground and buried them.

After a long time Jesus came back, and he asked his disciples to come and tell him what they had done with what he had given to them. The first two disciples told him about the stories and the compassion, and they introduced the new disciples, and those disciples introduced still other disciples that they had made. Jesus was very pleased. "Well done, good and trustworthy disciples," he said to them. "You have been trustworthy in a few thing, and now I will trust you with many things. Enter into my joy!"

Then it was the third disciple’s turn. The third disciple told Jesus, "Master, I knew you were a harsh man. I knew you reaped where you didn’t sow and gathered where you didn’t scatter seed. I was afraid—of messing up, of not getting the theology right, of what you’d do to me if I did—so I went and hid the bread of life and the cup of salvation in the ground. Here, you can have it back."

But Jesus replied, "You wicked and lazy disciple! You knew, did you, that ‘I reap where I do not sow and gather where I do not scatter’? Well, if you were sure of that (where did you get that?!), you at least should have taken the bread of life and the cup of salvation to the church, and let them figure out what to do with it! Then when I came back, at least we would have some broken bread and those baskets full of leftovers!"

Jesus continued, "Take the bread and the cup away from this disciple and give it to the one of the others. For all those who have the good news, even more will be given to them. But from those who have nothing—because they have buried my gospel in the ground!—even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless disciple, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth! Then, bring him back to church next Sunday and we’ll start again."

So this is how we are to live while we wait for Jesus’ return. We are not called to bury the gospel, to hide it from the world. Or maybe we could use another image. Maybe we can think about the image of the church with closed doors. Because if we keep the gospel in this room or in this building, then we are burying it. We’re hiding it from the world instead of taking it out and sharing it. And if we hide it, we’ll never make new disciples.

Instead, we need to open our doors to the world. But just because we open the doors, doesn’t mean that people are going to come and hear the gospel. After all, there’s no risk in opening the doors and just preaching a little louder.

But if we get out of here and take the stories and the compassion and the bread and the cup to the world, that takes risk. In order to do that and do it well, we have to take risks.

What does that risk look like? That’s what we’re going to figure out together. That’s what we’ve been working toward for a few weeks. How can we step out, trusting God, and take risks so we can change lives.

Waiting

Here is my sermon from 11/6. I'm still a week behind in getting these things posted. I'll try to catch up this weekend.

Weddings are a big deal. Many of you know that. They bring out big emotions. Joy, sorrow, anger. It’s one of those moments where emotions are on edge and the least little thing can tip the scale. Which makes weddings prime real estate for disaster.

For a long time one of my favorite TV shows was America’s Funniest Home Videos. It always seemed like they had more wedding videos than any other event. It was always fun to see a groom pass out, a veil catch on fire, some one’s pants fall down, kids doing or saying inappropriate things, dancing mishaps at the reception. All fun to watch. Unless you’re the bride or the groom or the family.

Weddings are a big deal these days. They can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Flowers, dresses, tuxedos, food, music, dancing, bridesmaids, groomsmen, families. That doesn’t even account for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Between the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony, and reception it’s a two day celebration of marriage.

Imagine all of that doubled or tripled. Weddings were a big deal in Jesus’ time as well. Perhaps even a bigger deal than they are now. Just think of how many times we read about weddings in the New Testament. Jesus’ first miracle in John’s gospel takes place at a wedding in Cana. Jesus tells numerous parables about wedding banquets. Over and over the relationship between Jesus and the church is compared to that of a Bride & bridegroom.

Our reading this morning includes one of the parables Jesus tells about a wedding or preparations for a wedding anyway.

Matthew 25:1-13

The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids

25‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaidstook their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; ⁴but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. ⁶But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” ⁷Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” ⁹But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” ¹⁰And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. ¹¹Later the other bridesmaidscame also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” ¹²But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” ¹³Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Weddings in 1^st century Judea were a big deal. Let me give a quick snapshot of what a wedding of this time would look like: First, all of the guests would arrive at the home of the bride’s family. The party would start there. The bride’s family would entertain them while they waited for the groom. As the groom approached, the bride, wedding party, and all of the guests would go out to meet him and his travelling party. Then the entire group would return to the groom’s home. Once they were there, the ceremony would take place. That was followed by a banquet that lasted several days. Typically, at least a week.

They were big events with which Jesus’ audience would be familiar. He tells them the story of a group of 10 bridesmaids who go out to wait so they can greet the groom. Some translators translate those waiting as bridesmaids, some as virgins. And it’s not necessarily important to the story which is more correct. But that leads some commentators to think that these are women awaiting the return of the groom and the wedding party from the home of the bride. Or they could be a part of the wedding party; the group waiting at the bride’s home for the groom to come and lead them to the ceremony. Regardless of whether they are with the bride or the groom, they are waiting and go out to meet the groom. When he arrives, then the ceremony and the banquet can begin.

But the groom is delayed for some reason. So they wait. And I imagine that wasn’t popular news. I’m not sure anyone really likes waiting. According to the all-knowing Google the average person spends about 60 minutes a day waiting. An average of an hour every day waiting for food, waiting for an elevator, waiting in line, waiting at red lights. That’s 15 days per year, waiting. The average life span in the US is 78 years. 15 days per year calculates out to 3 ¼ years of waiting for the average lifetime. No wonder we don’t like it. But the wedding party is forced to wait. And as they are waiting, all of them fall asleep.

But it’s not the sleeping that poses a problem. All of the bridesmaids fall asleep, and all of them are awakened when the groom finally approaches. At midnight, someone shouts, “He’s here!” And now the problem arises.

When the bridesmaids left the house, they expected the groom to show up quickly. Otherwise they would’ve stayed home. But it was time for him to return, I’m sure when he left he told them when he would return. So when the time came that he should be arriving, they went out to meet him.

But there was a delay and it causes a problem for 5 of them. 5 of them weren’t ready to wait. They expected to go out with their lamps lit, meet the groom and start the party.

But after they wake up, they realize, they have no more oil for their lamps. The other 5 were prepared. They brought extra. They refill their lamps and are ready to go. The others are left searching. They ask their fellow bridesmaids for some oil, but they tell them to go buy some. So, at midnight, the bridesmaids are off to try to find a merchant who will sell them some oil for their lamps. Finally they find the oil and return. They go to the banquet, but it’s too late. They cannot get in.

I’ve always thought this parable seems a little harsh. The only thing that differentiates the wise from the foolish bridesmaids is a few flasks of oil. Other than that they all do the exact same things. They all go to wait. They all fall asleep. The only difference is that 5 of them didn’t bring extra oil. They brought enough for the wait they thought they would have, but not for the extended wait. And because of that, they are locked out of the banquet.

So, it all comes down to oil. Who was prepared and who was not.

Jesus starts his parable with some familiar words “The kingdom of heaven is like…” They are words Jesus uses often in his parables. In this case, Jesus uses them to tell his disciples to be prepared. To make sure they keep their lamps filled with oil.

Not literally, of course. But what does it mean? What is Jesus telling his disciples? What is Jesus telling us about what it means to be a part of the Kingdom of heaven? So, I guess the question we have to ask ourselves is; what is the true difference between the wise & foolish bridesmaids?

It is important to note the words of those called foolish. When they return with their lamps filled with oil, they arrive at the feast and say, “Lord, Lord.” But they weren’t ready. They had not done the work necessary to be ready for the groom’s arrival. Those words echo the teachings of Jesus from the sermon on the mount. In Matthew 7:21 Jesus tells the crowds, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” The foolish come saying Lord, Lord, but are not let in. Just as Jesus said, only those who have done God’s will, those who are prepared will be let in.

And that is the message we can take away from this parable. There is the first level of that message: Be prepared. We don’t know when Jesus’ return will be. The early Christians expected Jesus to return in their own lifetime, so this story would have a special meaning to them. The delay in the groom’s arrival would seem fresh and relevant to them. Matthew, through Jesus’ words, tells them, “Don’t worry, He’s coming. Be prepared.” From this we get the sense of urgency. And it is a necessary sense of urgency, because we don’t know the hour. In the parable, the Groom arrives at midnight, when he is least expected.

But, we also can’t just sit back and wait for Jesus’ return. We are called to action. We are called to prepare. We’ve got to fill our lamps and get our flasks filled. Jesus told the crowds gathered for the Sermon on the Mount “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” That’s our oil. We can’t sit back and wait for heaven. Our work is here and now.

This gets into a little bit of a sticky area. As Christians, we believe we are saved by our faith, not by doing good deeds. So how does that belief jive with the story Jesus tells? How can we be saved by our faith, but then not allowed in without “doing the will of the Father”?

That comes down to what true faith is. We are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ as the only means for our salvation. But true faith is evident in doing God’s will. We are saved by faith, not works, but our faith is evident in our works. A true faith is an active faith.