Embrace Life

 

Text: John 1:1-12 (MSG)

Focus: New years

Function: to help us embrace Christ as the source of life.

^1-2 The Word was first,
    the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one.

^3-5 Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out.

^6-8 There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

^9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.

Good morning everyone and happy New Year! It is a blessing to be back together with everyone this morning. I’ll be glad when health and healing brings us all back together. We pray for our ill and rest in God’s love for them.

Jesus, according to out text is the light of the world.

I have been intrigued by the Jewish understanding of light after I realized that the 7 days of creation are symbolic since God created light on the first day and the Sun on the third.

The Jews understood light to be the power and the Spirit of God moving.

The Bible is always fresh and new to us. I discovered something after reading the bible through approximately 53 times and preparing probably 1600 sermons that I never noticed before.

Jesus the Light, is also the life. The light is life.

Embracing the light means that we are embracing life.

I call that embracing hope. Because we are choosing to live and to thrive.

I believe that God created us to thrive and thriving through the power of the Holy Spirit manifests God’s loving kingdom here.

So, let us follow up with another scripture about how we thrive: Matthew 5:14-15: ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Because of computer issues, I am lucky that I waited to write my sermon until after my morning devotions:

Fr. Richard Rohr this morning:

“I believe the gospel itself... ...is primarily communicated by richly symbolic human lives that operate as prime attractors and exemplars: through actions visibly done in love; by a nonviolent, humble, simple, liberated lifestyle; by a happy identification with poor and excluded people; by obvious happiness itself; and by concrete and visible people who “give others reasons for spiritual joy”—as Francis said when he rubbed two sticks together to play an imaginary violin and as Pope Francis did when he washed the feet of prisoners, women, and Muslims. When such people then speak or act, their words burn, and their actions convict!  

Surely this is what Jesus meant when he told us to be “a light on a lampstand” ‘’’

This thriving means we shine our lights, our lights of love, because that is what Jesus inside of us wants to do. But it is light. And it has an effect. It transforms darkness. And that, I believe is how Jesus wants us to transform this world into a loving place.

Walking in the Spirit

 

Text: Colossians 3:12-17

Focus: Holiness

Function: to help folks learn to forgive

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. ¹³ Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Good morning beloved! Don’t you just love that word from today’s text?

We are the beloved of God, and God holds all of creation lovingly in their hand. (hold out hand) Holding us… Loving us… keeping us close to God’s own self through the relationship we have with him through the Spirit of Christ living inside of us.

At times, I describe a Christian as a person who listens to and for the Holy Spirit leading them to love each other.

That may seem like a difficult and mysterious task since we have no control over the Spirit and their moving in our own spirits.

As Jody said last week, one of the ways to listen to the Spirit of God is to pay attention and look out for their presence and affect.

This passage kind of gives us some key points to living the Spirit filled life, or walking in the Spirit.

First off, instead of being worldly and using, pride, arrogance and blustering, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.

I find that looking for the presence of Christ in another person helps me to clothe myself with these virtues and then hopefully reflect the love and peace of Christ back to the world around me.

He explains patience a little bit when he says that we should bear with each other. People are not perfect and they may mis-speak or offend another without intentionally trying to be mean.

People are not perfect and they may be going through some hard and difficult times of stress and they may react in ways that do not reflect the love of Christ. Love them anyway. Be patient with them and remember that we too have bad days and are not perfect.

I find it this way, “In other words, don’t be quick to be offended.”

I Corinthians 13, that great chapter on love says that love for others believes the best about them, not the worse. Practice believing the best about people because most people really do want to be good and caring people inside. Give them a break.

In conversations with my Uber passengers, I love trying to find that spark of Christ in them and bring it out.

Then, as he explains patience, he goes into the most important point to walking in God’s Spirit: Forgive each other.

As I mentioned, we make allowances for each other when they get off track and we do that by forgiving them.

He says, as Christ has forgiven you, forgive others.

And that forgiveness is without condition.

That is hard for us.

Real harm has come to some of us by the hands of other people. We have abandonment, abuse, neglect, selfishness and all those other sins that keep us from loving others to contend with in our lives and in the lives of the ones who may have hurt us.

Forgive anyway. God has forgiven us without shame or judgment because God is Love and embodies love to the world. Jesus, the Christ, came to show us how to love and forgive each other.

I love the fac that Jesus was criticized by the religious folks for associating with people that they called sinners. Jesus hung out with them and that means a lot.

He showed them that he loved them by welcoming them into his presence. He broke down the barriers between bitter rivals and enemies when he showed compassion to the woman at the well and the whole village became followers of the way.

In John 20:23, Jesus gives us the spiritual authority to either forgive or withhold forgiveness.

He gives us the choice to forgive and does not force us. But he does command us to forgive. It is almost like the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. They had the choice to obey or disobey, God allowed them free will. We have the free will to forgive or condemn.

Abut remember, we have the Spirit of God inside of us leading us to obey the Christ, to follow him and to forgive others.

My experience has taught me that forgiveness is a Spiritual Discipline, just like prayer, bible study, devotional reading, and gathering in community on Sunday mornings. Spiritual disciplines are spiritual exercises that help keep our spirits healthy and in communion with God. We are literally taking the time to acknowledge the presence of God in our lives and our dependence on them.

And my experience teaches me that forgiveness is something that we practice, something we take time to diligently focus on.

And I do that because when I refuse to forgive someone, I just don’t feel connected to God anymore. It is like the heavens are dried up to me.

When I pray about it in that situation, the Spirit always shows me whom I resent and leads me to forgive.

And forgiveness goes beyond releasing revenge from someone who has harmed you. It goes to the point where we provide God’s mercy to someone else. We are salt and light, called to be peacemakers in a world full of conflict.

And since forgiveness, restoration and healing have come to us, we see the possibility of what Christ’s forgiveness can do for others. So, we forgive them because we have that power.

Look at Jesus. There was a woman caught in adultery. He forgave her. There was a crooked tax collector named Zaccheaus, he forgave him and the man was restored to God and to the community. As I mentioned, he was criticized for hanging out with what they called sinners. He was called a friend of sinners. He loved them, forgave them and didn’t judge them. His willingness to associate with them and actually enjoy their company showed them that God loves them. It healed them.

They early church picked up Jesus’ tradition of love and forgiveness and welcomed people like us, the hated Gentiles ,into God’s family even though the Old Testament strictly forbade our association with them.

Forgiveness breaks down the barriers that separate us and I believe, frees up the power of the Holy Spirit to transform people into light bearers for Christ.

Unforgiveness gets in the way of love. He tells us in today’s text, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love.” Love as a priority in our lives brings more harmony with others especially when, as we started out with in the passage, we make allowances for the fact that others are as imperfect as us we are and we want people to forgive us and make allowances for us.

Maybe there is a formula here in the end of the passage that will help us focus on the positive instead of seeing the negative in someone else.

He says, Be thankful. Discipline your energy to be positive because God is there and God is with us.

We are the beloved of God, so let us enjoy that power of God’s peace in our hearts as we fulfill Christ’s destiny through us.

Waiting On Peace

Text: Micah 5:2-5a

Focus: Peace

Function: Advent 4.

² But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
    who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
    from ancient days.
³ Therefore he shall give them up until the time
    when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
    to the people of Israel.
⁴ And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth,
⁵ and he shall be the one of peace.

Good morning God’s beloved!

Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent and we are celebrating both the Candle of Peace and the Christ Candle.

And we’ll do them both this morning because this prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, listing the specific town where he is to be born doesn’t actually name him as the Christ, but instead the prophecy identifies him as “One of Peace.”

One of my favorite names for God comes from the book of Judges when Gideon was thanking God for a miracle, he built an altar his name for God, “Jehovah Shalom.” The Lord is our peace. I actually have it as my only tattoo.

I thought if there was ever a marking that could identify my passion, this would be it.

Jesus is our peace. Jesus brings us peace. Peace is two things. Peace is a general sense of well being, and peace is an absence of conflict.

The Cross of Christ was anything but a general sense of well being, but it brought us our peace. Sometimes peace means confronting the evil that destroys a general sense of well being.

When we look at peace as a feeling, or a general sense of well being I realize that peace is confidence and rest in God and God’s love for us.

The mystery surrounding the incarnation of Jesus is that Jesus is the Word made flesh. John 3:16, For God so LOVED the World that they gave… demonstrates God’s love for all of humanity. All of us. Even our enemies are loved by God.

I read this week of a mystic, Caroll Housander, who had a profound two day long vision. She lived in London a nd for two whole days, every time she looked at someone, she physically saw what she believed Jesus would look like.

She understood that God’s Spirit was working inside of her to show her how much he loves and is in and believes in every single person.

I’d love to have that same revelation. It reminded her that Christ is present in all of creation, especially at the top of creation, humanity.

It reminded her to have compassion for everyone.

Can you imagine the way that revelation would bring peace if everyone had it? We would never see another person as an enemy, it would be impossible to hate them or despise them.

I love the angels announcement in Luke 2:14: Peace on earth, Good will to men.

Actually, many translations qualify who gets the peace, by implying that it only goes to people of Good will, or kind hearted people.

But I like the translations that render it as peace and good will to all of mankind. Sister Caroll’s vision showed her that it was all of humanity that Christ’s good will goes to.

They, like us, are all created in the image of God.

So I titled the message waiting for peace because that is what Israel was doing. But for us, our peace is already here, we don’t have to wait for it.

Unless, of course, we mean “waiting on peace,” as if Peace, Jesus the one of Peace, were our master and we are the servants of peace. We peace a priority in our lives by the way we love others.

I like that idea.

That brings me back to the introduction to the message.

Christ is our peace. And in a great move of God and rest in God’s power, the Christ was born as an infant, dependent upon his parents trust in God.

(read the Christ Candle)

He fulfills a prophecy that they were hoping for: Isaiah 9:6:

⁶For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Again, the Christ comes to as both Mighty God and Prince of Peace. Christ came as both a beautiful baby and a man of sorrows. He was born born to show us how to live in faith and love others. But he also lived and ultimately died to confront the injustices of the day confronted the injustices of the day. Through that, he showed us the path to salvation through living and loving others sacrificially.

We see God’s mystery in the nativity. The mighty God exalted is by a host of angelic beings, and yet a pure baby, regarded not by nobility, but by lowly shepherds, the poor class of society to welcome him.

Christ comes to us to heal and restore us to the path of love and forgiveness.

In the nativity we have the magnificence of God and the baseness of the human condition combined into one. What a mystery to ponder this Christmas season.

A Joyful God

 

Text: Zephaniah 3:14-20

Focus: Joy

Function: Advent 3,

¹⁴Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
    shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
    O daughter Jerusalem!
¹⁵The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
    he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
    you shall fear disaster no more.
¹⁶On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not fear, O Zion;
    do not let your hands grow weak.
¹⁷The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
    a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
¹⁸     as on a day of festival.”
I will remove disaster from you,
    so that you will not bear reproach for it.
¹⁹I will deal with all your oppressors
    at that time.
And I will save the lame
    and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
    and renown in all the earth.
²⁰At that time I will bring you home,
    at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
    among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
    before your eyes, says the Lord.

Good morning beloved!

I love the Christmas season with the emphasis on hope, love, joy and peace. Today we are focusing on joy.

The scriptures say: “The Lord Loves a cheerful giver” and “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

We know that second part almost intuitively because of Christmas and our practice of giving gifts to one another as an expression of our love.

Giving gifts warms our hearts and brings us joy.

I don’t know what it is, but when we see the happiness, or gratitude on the face and in the eyes of the recipient, our hearts are strangely warmed

My translation titles this passage, a Song of Joy.

And when I was choosing scripture for today, what struck me about the passage, even though it starts our with our reaction to joy which shouting and rejoicing and exaltation, it is more about the joy of God when God gives to us.

Jesus comes to us as our redeemer. He is the one we turn to to set things right. Jesus embodies our hope for justice through the mystery of the cross.

I find his words to the thief who was crucified with him: “Today you will be with me in paradise” to be the embodiment of our hope.

In Christ, God came to earth to give us hope, build our faith and show us how to love. When Jesus says today you will be with me in paradise, he reiterates the hope that we have that there is more to this life than just living and dying, we sense inside of us that we have an eternal soul and that soul is loved and doted over by God.

In our passage today, we read how God delights in saving us. Redeeming us brings God joy. We serve a joyful God, a God of joy.

This is the hope that the Israelites have. They are looking for a redeemer who has the power to forgive them and then deliver them from their oppression.

Jesus came to redeem us and he did it through the example given to us in the way that he died and rose again. It proves to us that we can rest in the power of God to accomplish God’s will through us.

Do you remember the story of the the three men and the fiery furnace and how God used them? The King decreed that they should worship a statue of the king and they refused because they worship the true God.

The king in his anger said: “What God can rescue you?”

And the three men replied this way. “We don’t know if our God will rescue us or not, but we know he can. Regardless, we can’t bow down to the idol.”

I love their faith in God’s power and sovereignty. They trust God because they believe that God can and they also know that they belong to God and God will do with what best suits God’s purpose.

They were willing to die, but the point was their faith in God’s redemption.

In the great chapter of faith in Hebrews we read how people with faith saw great miracles happen like the resurrection of their dead loved ones, armies defeated without using a weapon and other victories. But it also speaks of those who gave their lives as martyrs for the faith or those who endured hardships in faith.

God is God in both situations. God is God during seasons of suffering and victory.

How do we rest in God when we are suffering?

We remember that according to Hebrews 5:8 Jesus learned obedience to God through the things that he suffered. Even though he was a son.

And I find in the midst of suffering that God is present with me with God’s calming presence when I take the time to stop, ponder, pray, meditate, contemplate and sit in silence and listen for that still small loving presence of God in my Spirit to comfort me.

“Comfort me, God” is a yearning of my heart and a constant prayer.

This passage shows us how God delights in doing just that.

God delighted in it so much that God left the throne of heaven, took on human form in the Christ so that he could show humanity the path to peace through love, mercy and forgiveness.

A baby born in a manger, weak and dependent is how the Christ choose to appear to us.

It shows us the potential of God inside of all of us.

Let us enjoy the love of God this Christmas season and all year long.

Love's Salvation

 

Text: Philippians 1:3-11

Focus: Love

Function: Advent 2, love brings salvation

³I thank my God for every remembrance of you, ⁴always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy ⁵for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in God’s grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight ¹⁰to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, ¹¹having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Good morning!

Well, here we are, the second Sunday in advent and we are on my favorite theme: Love. You know me and you know that I love preaching about Love.

I had a former parishioner who studied Ancient writings and as our church was going through the discernment process as to whether or not we wanted to officially be a church that welcomes people of all races, abilities, both mental and physical, and all the different ways people identify their sexual orientation, he too spoke of the importance of love. Even though he was conservative in his theology his research of ancient writings led him to what they said about John the Apostle in his later years. They said, he, I think like me, could only preach the message to his flock to love one another.

It isn’t a redundant message. Given the spiteful political speech that we all must endure these days, it is easy to fall back into the worldly system of retribution, anger, and separation.

That is contrary to the good news of Christ’s transforming power inside of us through the Holy Spirit.

In our scripture lesson today, we see the love and concern that the Apostle Paul was for the Philippian church. He believes not only in them, but in the power of God through the Spirit to keep them faithful to the end. He thanks them for their own love and support for him and they way that they partner with him in his calling.

And Paul, while thanking them and praising them and encouraging them in the introduction to his letter to them does exactly what the Apostle John did, he tells them that there really is only one important thing for them to focus on: Love for others.

He prays that they may know love more and more. The Greek word Philos, platonic love, is at the root of the name of their city. Philos love is the care and concern that we have for other people.

One of my all time favorite bible stories is Jesus with the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11.

As the accusers are arguing over her fate and trying to entrap Jesus by pronouncing a sentence against the woman that only the Romans could execute, pun intended, so that they can have him killed, he is simply doodling in the sand.

I wonder if he is writing their sins in the sand. It appears the effect is that they see him dismissing their urgent “biblical concerns” for purity. He is focusing on the plight of the woman.

“Do you see this woman?” is my favorite line from the story. When we look at her as an human instead of a sinner, when we see her as the daughter of God, instead of a reprobate, our perspective changes. Imagining the possibilities of God for them changes our attitude toward people. God is able to redeem.

Jesus tells them to look at her and her need. And if they are truly religious and caring about people, loving others as the greatest commandment, they will give up their religious indignation over their purity code and care for her.

When I have a conflict, or some distress, or a disagreement with someone it causes me to regard that other person in a negative light. So, to keep the command of Christ to love them, I remind myself that they too are created in the image of the Christ and the Spirit of the Christ is also working to show them their need for love. Loving is easier when we imagine people as a children of God.

I believe that this call to love others is a universal call to all of humanity. It comes, for me, from loving God and all that God has created.

King Solomon said: God has made everything wonderful in its time. Everything is divinely placed and if we are looking for it, we will see God’s loving and creating hand in everything. We will also see the possibility of God in everyone.

Jesus was looking at the possibility of God in the woman and he offered her mercy and love. His compassion redeems her both from the crowd and from the destruction that has hallmarked her life .

I know that the text today is from the Apostle Paul and his prayer focus for them is John’s theme of Love.

First John speaks a lot of love and it gives a description of love in chapter 4, verse 7-8: ⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

We, as believers, realize that we have the blessing of God’s love for us everywhere. I get that often when black passengers exit my car and leave me with the blessing: “Have a blessed day.” It makes me feel good to know that their expression of their faith is love and concern for others. It is a loving witness to what God does for us.

So, we are the beloved and as you know, our continuing work for Jesus is to love one another.

This love is God’s gift to us, Love is from God.

And then we get to the title of the message, “Love’s Salvation.”

Everyone who loves is born of God.

I believe this. Everyone who loves is responding to the witness and power of the Holy Spirit in their life. God is working in them and through them. They are now born of God because their actions spring out of God’s love for others through them.

Praise God! We are gifted by God with God’s power to be God’s vessel of love toward others.

This is how we know faith. Jesus said it, we will be known as his followers by the way we love others.

I used to be all up in doctrinal precision so that I could be sure that I was perfectly describing what I believed to be the faith. All I was doing was making them table as small as my own imagination.

Then God began to show me how much they, the God, love the world’s people and all of creation.

When we love, we are doing the works of salvation that Jesus said will illustrate what faith in him looks like.