Hearts Laid Bare

Text: Luke 2:22-38

Focus: Jesus' Mission

Function: To help us see that following Jesus confronts and changes our principles.

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

A little over 300 years ago, Alexander Mack and 7 other people were baptized in the Eder River.

Their baptism was seen as an act of treason by the authorities since The Church Territorial Concept forced people to be baptized into whatever faith the count of the County held.

It was a compromise that took place after the reformation was in full force. It was designed to keep people from fighting over which church, or religion, was the best.

Alexander Mack and his cohorts had a heart change. It seemed to them that the only reference to baptism in the New Testament happened to adults who could choose for themselves. It seemed to them that Jesus statements about non-resistance were just as important as the rest of the creed. It seemed to them that Churches had grown into political institutions and therefore, they had become corrupted.

And so, they started studying the Bible for themselves. Which was also an illegal act and out of that the Church of the Brethren was born.

I love our history.

I do not want to imply that it is the only valid one, or that we are the only valid Church. But these people, men and women of equal standing, decided to buck the status quo of their culture in order to be faithful to what they believed in their hearts.

They were called radicals. Back then, it did not hold the negative connotation that it holds today. Today, that term has changed meaning somewhat because of radical Islam.

My next door neighbor is a beautiful elderly Jewish woman. She attended Bear Creek COB with us once, and we attended her Temple with her.

Believe it or not, a hurricane hit Southern Ohio. A Freak storm. The neighbors across the street are Brethren too. Well, it seems that half the neighborhood is Brethren. And the ones across the street invited Kathy, I, my mom, and our neighbor, Charlotte out somewhere else where the tall trees wouldn’t threaten our houses and our lives.

During that meal, our neighbor included us in a discussion of what she called “sincere Christians.”

I like that term better than “radical,” or “fanatic.” Sincere Christians.

But that is what this scripture is about. God will prove the hearts of His followers for their good.

But dealing with the Living God is not always easy:

Mary and Joseph were amazed, by Simeon's words. And so, Simeon says to this to Mary: ^34b-35“This child is chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God which many people will speak against ³⁵and so reveal their secret thoughts. And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.”

Listen to these phrases from Simeon's warning to the parents:

“Destruction and Salvation.... ...Sorrow will pierce your heart... ...people will speak against this sign from God...” and “...reveal secret thoughts.”

God's process for getting into our hearts.

I guess I can understand the Radical nature of the early Brethren.

What they saw was a dis-connect between the teachings of Jesus and the practices of the Church.

Hmmm.

It appears that they were opposed to religion, or a form of religion that they believed merely went through motions and didn't focus on actions.

In essence, we all are.

And yet, the more I meet other believers, the wider and broader the size of God's Church becomes, the less apt I am to ever criticize the sincerity of another.

So who, are the ones who will speak against Jesus as a sign from God?

Who are the ones destined for destruction?

I do not know. Neither do I understand these words of this prophet.

And never will I be the one who ever tries to make that judgment.

Instead, I think of myself: Sincere Christians.

Being sincere.

I think one of most profound Christmas Eve messages I ever heard was at the big Downtown Methodist Church in Lancaster, PA.

I got to know the preacher, because he and I performed the marriage of my daughter to her husband.

My Daughter's husband's family comes from old money.

And the Church does a good job ministering to people who come from lots of money.

Her mother in law has one of those voices that should be in the Opera.

We loved the 11:00 PM service. Her Mother in law sang, the music was beautiful, the decorations were incredibly opulent.

And I do not envy that pastor his job. We joked about it once. He had a picture, a comic picture from the New Yorker Magazine framed on his desk.

The Picture showed a couple in incredible opulence. She is wearing a full length mink coat, she has diamond studded opera glasses in her hand. The Husband is wearing a Tuxedo and a top hat. And, this is sort of “casual dress.” Well, it was their Sunday dress.

The couple is standing on the steps of a big huge Cathedral, presumably in New York City. And the caption is her speaking. She says: “It is amazing how he preaches that, without offending us.”

And this preacher was in a similar circumstance. His parishioners had to have seen that cartoon. But they loved him.

And his message was really good. The whole theme of it was this, a good Brethren bumper sticker: “God bless the whole world, no exceptions.”

It is a contrast to the circumstances that Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, Simeon and Anna were in.

Simeon prophecies how this Baby will be the savior of the world.

So, I get the Salvation of many, but I don't get the destruction of many.

I understand it unless I see it from Simeon's perspective.

Waiting, the text says, for Israel to be saved.

I suppose that inherent in this idea is understanding that for Israel to be saved, then the nation that was enslaving them had to lose its power.

And, I suppose the prophet understood that people just don't voluntarily lay down that kind of power for the good of others: Hence: “The destruction of many.”

So instead, I love the idea of that sermon in that Methodist Church: “God bless the whole world, no exceptions.”

None. Bless them all.

Perhaps Simeon is still at the level of thinking that the Messiah is going to be either a political, or a military leader who will throw off this yoke of oppression.

I wonder if that part of the prophecy is merely Simeon's hope in his understanding of what the Messiah will do.

But Look at the two other statements.

To Mary, he says: “A sword of sorrow will pierce your heart.”

And, this Baby will expose the secrets of everyone's hearts.

God knows our hearts.

God reveals to us, our own hearts.

And those who live honestly with God, those sincere believers that my neighbor mentioned, are the ones who are saved by listening and letting God change their hearts.

Perhaps the ones who are destined to destruction are those who either ignore the prompts in their hearts, or lie to themselves.

Again, God does that judging, not me.

I have enough to deal with in my own heart.

Simeon seems to have a glimpse of the mystery of who Jesus was.

Jesus came to save the world.

And it wasn't just from its sins.

Jesus came to foment the prophecy from Isaiah that “the lion and the lamb will lay down together and a little child shall lead them.”

Jesus came to bring about God's kingdom.

The whole picture was this: God was in the world reconciling the world to God and to others.”

And when I see those two phrases: “pierce my heart” and “have the secrets of my heart exposed” I realize the power and the work of the Holy Spirit to help me see myself as one whom God can use in spite of who I am and what I have done, or because of who I am and what I have done.

Sharing the Wonder, Christmas Eve Devotional

Intro: Christmas Eve Worship is one of the highlights of my entire year.

The music, the participation, the time taken to honor God and just say thanks. The fact that we have a time to gather in the midst of a very busy season to just stop and embrace the wonder of Jesus birth reminds me of the wonder of my own salvation.

Perhaps one of the most significant Christmas Eve Worship Services that I ever experienced happened outside of the Church building.

The congregation I pastored while my Children were in their younger formative years did not have a regular service.

So, we always made a fine meal. We dressed up. We got out the China and the crystal.

And after the meal was over, it was everyone's job to help clean up the kitchen.

The sooner it got done, the quicker we got to the presents.

Kathy and I just couldn't wait. So presents were opened Christmas eve.

One year, just as we were finishing the dishes, and the excitement in the kids was growing, a knock came to the back door of the house.

The parsonage was 100 yards from the off Ramp on I-69. Across the interstate was a Stuckey's Gas Station. They always closed at 6:00.

Two young men were stranded in a broken down car.

Their families lived an hour away.

I let them use the phone, they called for a ride and we waited, and waited, and waited for their ride to come.

Imagine the living room of the house with 4 children who have patiently endured the fancy dinner, cleaned the dishes without complaint, distributed the presents into groups per individual recipient and then were forced to wait for over an hour.

All four Children will tell you that this was the most meaningful Christmas to them.

The wonder of excitement to Children is in the presents.

The wonder of excitement of parents is the delight of the Children.

And I think, that the wonder of excitement for God is in hope that Christmas engenders in a broken world.

Love's Memory is Long

Text: Luke 1:26-38, 2 Samuel 7:1-11

Focus: Love (Advent 4)

Function: To help people understand the love of God for us.

Form: Storytelling/

Intro:

Sometimes in the scriptures, we read of conflicts that happened between different people.

Some of those conflicts were born out of human greed. But at other times, those conflicts were born out of competing passions about the things that are important to God.

Paul, who wrote most of the doctrine of the NT, was not unfamiliar with conflict. Sometimes, Paul was right, and sometimes he was wrong.

Paul was a Pharisee. He was raised in an extremely legalistic and conservative environment.

His first, after conversion conflict was with Peter.

Peter's upbringing was also conservative, but since he was merely a fisherman, he did not have the benefit of the education that Paul had.

Both of these men grew in their faith. Peter, was rash, quick to action and in some ways, perhaps a little bit bull-headed.

And they came to a conflict. Peter was back and forth between the importance of the letter of the law. And he vacillated. When he was with Paul, the letter of the law was not so important.

When he was with the followers of the Apostle James, men who still regarded the letter of the law as very important. Peter switched back to what I would describe as the security of black and white rules.

And Paul publicly called Peter out about his two minded approach. Peter, grew in his faith. And a conflict between the two men was averted.

That doesn't mean that Paul was perfect. He too, was a little bit bullheaded.

John Mark, the author of the gospel of Mark, was a traveling companion with Paul and Barnabas.

But he was young, and on their first trip, he got homesick and abandoned his fellows.

Barnabas was known for his ability to encourage people. Barnabas is sort of my hero in this because of the way that he always made exception for people's weaknesses.

So, when Paul and Barnabas got ready to revisit the cites they worked in, they had a disagreement over taking John Mark.

Barnabas was quick to forgive. Paul was not so quick.

And, many theologians that God used the difference to separate the men and double the work.

Other's see it as the fact that even though we are forgiven, even though the Holy Spirit is in us and that Spirit is working with our conscience to do the right thing, sometimes we ignore God's prodding and do our own thing.

They divided.

And later on, near the end of Paul's life, we read how Paul repented of his unforgiveness toward John Mark and requests his presence back with him.

Love's memory is long.

His memory of John Mark was not of the disappointment, but of his value.

I love that story because I think of the times in my own life when I have been separated from others.

And I think of the way that God continues to work inside my own heart to forgo my pride and forgive. Or, to forgo my pride and repent.

As time goes on, instead of remembering the pain, or the loss, we remember the love and the beauty of the image of God inside others.

God heals us through love. And memories remind us to love others.

God's Love, God's promise, is long.

And that is sort of the beauty of the promise made to King David from the 1^st text we read this morning.

He is promised by God that someday the Messiah will be born from his bloodline.

And if you are Jewish, the hope of being the parent to the Messiah is one of the greatest hopes they could have.

God loves everyone. Everyone. There are no exceptions. God loves the greatest and the weakest. In my spiritual journey the last few years, I have had to remind myself that God loves both the oppressed and the oppressor.

That is hard for me to handle because inside all of us is a longing for Justice and a sense of mercy toward the oppressed. Isn't that why we come to worship?

God loves everyone.

But David responded to that love.

David was not afraid to say back to God: “I love you! Thank You! Praise You!”

And God made this promise to David. God said: “David is a man whose heart is after mine!”

God rejoices when we too take up His cause of justice.

As a matter of fact, it is the job that God has left the Church on the face of the earth to accomplish.

And so, 1,000 years later, God fulfills that promise to David.

But more than that, David was born around 1,000 years after Abraham. And God made the same promise to Abraham. For Abraham, it is now 2,000 years later.

I think about that.

Both David and Abraham are dead.

In our thinking, we say to ourselves, what good is a promise, what good is a hope, what good is an inheritance, if we die before it is given?

But God is not only the God of the living, God is also God of the dead.

Jesus told the Jewish leaders that their Ancestor, their Father, Abraham still held on to the promise of Jesus' coming.

God's promise, God's love is long. God remembers to keep God's promises.

I used to always consider the incarnation of Jesus to be this miracle of God's expression that,as we sing in O Holy Night: “To our weaknesses, no stranger, He knows our need...”

I always pictured the beauty of knowing that God has firsthand knowledge of humanities sufferings. And therefore, God can heal our pains.

But that just limits God.

It is much more.

I can't relate, but I admit I am a little bit jealous that I never got to feel life building inside of me.

Jesus, God, knows the intimacy of perfect protection as He heard Mary's gentle voice and sensed her heart beating.

Jesus, God, knows the intimacy of nursing at the breast and feeling that incredible bond that a mother and a child have.

Jesus, we surmise, experienced firsthand the wonder of human creation as he worked along side of his earthly father in Joseph's wood shop.

Jesus enjoyed the childhood innocence of playing games with other children.

I remember when I was finally old enough to see over the counter top in the kitchen as my mother was baking.

Then, she always made some extra pie dough for my twin brother and I to bake cinnamon-butter-brown sugar delights in a muffin pan.

God Himself experienced human love, and suffering firsthand in the incarnation.

Christmas season reminds me just how much God loves humanity.

And, when I think of the suffering aspect. When I think of the beauty of the baby's birth, and the terror and suffering of the cross, knowing that God experienced firsthand the Yin and the Yang of it all, I go back to the first Sunday of Advent. The Sunday of Hope.

Because of Love, the 4^th Sunday, we can hope.

To me. Hope is the biggest message of Advent. I am glad we start with it.

It does not minimize peace, because that is our mission as Christians.

It does not minimize joy, because that seems to be the expression of peace.

But hope is what we count on.

And Hope is proven in God's love.

We long for the day, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when black men are no longer afraid to walk down the streets of our cities.

We long for the day when the world embraces our ideal that everyone is our neighbor and we cannot justify ourselves by excluding some because of the color of their skin, or where they were born.

With hope, we long for the day when true justice rules. With hope, we work for the day when true love binds the hearts of everyone.

And we do it because even though it took 1,000 years for David, 2,000 years for Abraham. God will not forget. God's love is long.

So, as we celebrate Christmas and enjoy the beauty of human love, connection and family, we also remember the mission and the purpose of the Incarnation.

And we too, pick up that mission.

AMEN?

Crying Peace

Text: Isaiah 40:1-11

Focus: Peace

Function: To reinforce the Christmas Spirit.

Form: GOK

Intro: You may think I am odd because I love winter.

I guess it has to do with a body memory.

The house I grew up in had one of those, what I called, “Octopus furnaces.”

Down in the basement, it looked like this big huge old octopus. It was converted to natural gas from Coal.

Maybe you remember. It was a gravity system, the supply ducts were on the inside walls, instead of under the windows and the returns were under windows.

It depended on the natural thermo-conduction of heat.

As hot air rises, cold air falls and recirculates.

The supply vent in the living room was the cherished spot in the house. It sat closest to the furnace, directly over the top of it in the basement.

It was warm and cozy and the first one there got that great feeling of warmth and security.

There is something about being inside, safe and warm when the storm is raging that gives me a sense of peace.

And that is what this passage of scripture is to me.

Comfort my people!

Oh how the world longs to hear that phrase whispered in their ears, shouted from the rooftops, preached from the pulpits, dreamed about by its poets, affirmed by its politicians.

And yet, we live in a culture of fear. We live in a culture where we are manipulated, at times, by the media who wants us to be afraid of something, so that we will keep listening to them, or so that we will be distracted from the real problems that face our culture.

What is peace? (ASK)

Is it a feeling? Is it a state of affairs? Is it comfort?

F.B. Meyer is credited with the quote: “Joy is peace dancing. Peace is joy at rest.”

The world needs peace, instead of fear.

I remember Paul Grout, the 2002 Moderator of the Church of the Brethren did a winter retreat at Camp Woodland altars in 2009.

He spoke to us about how fear is sort of like a drug that for some odd reason, we inject, just like we were shooting up heroin.

He warned us preachers to preach comfort, instead of fear of the other.

I think more than anything, prejudices and so called “righteous indignation” is born out of fear.

He was telling us that in God's family, we are secure.

My eldest son has a birth defect that causes 17 surgeries. I believe that we experienced a miracle. But we lived with a medical prognosis from the time he was 7 until he was 18 that he most certainly would lose his right leg.

My middle son was burned badly and had to fight for his life for 3 weeks in a burn unit when he was 2.

And my youngest son developed a brain tumor when he was a freshman in college.

They are all here and they are all fine in spite of that.

I was tempted to fear, but one of my elder brothers, a godly man said this to me: “what is the worse that can happen?”

I said, they could die.

My brother asked me this: “would God still be on the throne and deeply in love with you?”

I said “of course!”

My brother has the right to say that to me because his first child died and he has found comfort in God.

We are in God's family, and we are safe.

So Paul Grout prefaced his discussion with with this odd question: “according to the news outlets, what are we supposed to be afraid of this week?”

“For this week, what are we supposed to be afraid of?”

It wasn't a trick question.

I am not sure it was a good thing that I knew the answer to the question. But he gave it to us.

It was monkeys! That week, we were supposed to be afraid of monkeys.

I remembered that during that week, one media outlet did a story on the danger of pet Chimpanzees spreading disease. Another source picked it up and for a day or two, it became a hysteria.

Now, most of us listen to that and say to ourselves “Ignore that, this is merely how the media/advertising conglomerates keep people tuning into their channels so that they can sell us their product.”

And most people don't have pet monkeys, so the hysteria was very short lived.

But it isn't always that way.

I have dear people in my life who are beginning to suffer from dementia and they can't separate reality from mass hysteria very well. And for those of us who love and deal with people like that, every time, it becomes an issue that we have to cope with.

Paul Grout was reminding us that the gospel is good news.

We have a completely different message than the news outlets.

We, on the other hand, preach the good news.

This passage is a reminder to tell us that indeed, our news is good news. Our news is given by God.

I remember listening to a TV preacher, with the person who is beginning to suffer dementia.

The man prefaced his sermon with the statistic that much fewer than 10% of Muslims are radicalized.

But then, he went on to preach a sermon about how afraid we should be of radicalized Islam.

My mother, being confused, was afraid and needed to be comforted.

The contrast between messages that the Church, can or should proclaim became obvious to me, that day.

Good news.

Comfort comes to us from God.

And that, to me, is the point of this text.

Look at verse 9 from this morning's reading:

Here it is from The Message:

⁹Climb a high mountain, Zion.
    You’re the preacher of good news.
Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem.
    You’re the preacher of good news.

Jerusalem, Zion, are both metaphors for the Church.

And here is the message the Church proclaims: “You're the preacher of good news.”

I don't know about you, but for me, it is a discipline to remember this simple phrase: “the word Gospel means `Good News.'”

So, for my sake, say it with me: The Word Gospel means Good news!

And here we are in Advent season.

It is indeed a season of hope.

Good news. God sees the plight of humanity. God became a man and dwelt among us.

God came to heal us and give us hope.

God sees our need!

We all remember John 3:16. For God so loved the world that God gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes might have eternal life.

And most of us know verse 17: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

And Isaiah tells us: “Cry it out!”

I wonder what people do who don't get the four seasons. Because to us, Christmas season is also associated with the good memories of Winter.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas is another one of those songs that brings me back to that body memory of peace.

To me, when the Christmas is white from snow. It just makes it more magical.

It brings me back to that warm register, the safety of living in my families house, the peace of knowing that I am part of a family, I am loved and protected in that family and I am secure.

The Prophet says: The world changes, Grass withers, flowers die, we see around us, all the time changes that we do not want to happen. Those changes can lead to pain or fear.

God's love is eternal, it is absolute

I love the Christmas season.

It happens every year.

And it is a season where we stop, we take a breath, we remind ourselves that God came to comfort us.

So.

(ASK) What is the Christmas Spirit to you?

Amen.

It is okay for us to reconnect with that sense of peace. It comes from God.

Shout it out!

It comes from God. And it is still first heard, in all of the world, right here.