SERMONS "But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to preach him? - Romans 10:14 Christ Church takes the ministry of proclamation of God's word seriously. In addition to our two clergy and seminarian, we have a cadre of lay preachers and dramatists. At 5 o'clock the proclamation of the Word of God is rarely in the form of a traditional sermon, but it is the proclamation of the Good News nonetheless. Posted here are some recent sermons delivered at Christ Church. Our Rector, Peter Stebinger, does not preach from a manuscript - we're still figuring out how to get his words represented here! Sermon 8/6/2006 - Luke 9: 28-36; II Peter 1:13-21 Sermon 9/3/2006 - Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23; Ephesians 6:10-20 Sermon 9/17/2006 - Mark 7:31-37, James 1:17-27 Sermon 10/8/2006 - Mark 10:2-9, Genesis 2:18-24 Sermon 10/22/2006 - Mark 10:35-45, Isaiah 53:4-12 Sermon 11/12/2006 - Mark 12:38-44; I Kings 17:8-16 Sermon Archive Sermon: Luke 9: 28-36; II Peter 1:13-21 - "People of Light" - Preached August 6, 2006 Let us pray: Send forth Your Word, Lord, and let there be light. The climb. The view. The time to be with Jesus away from the crowds. The dazzling white. Elijah and Moses. Talk of glory. Talk of departure. Wanting to stay. The cloud. The terror. The voice: “My chosen… Listen to him.” There is so much in this story of Jesus’ transfiguration – literally, “face-changing,” so many places to hook in. This experience these three disciples had with Jesus, like some drug trip, yet real, remained with them and shaped their understanding of later events in Jesus’ life: when he was taken from them and crucified; when they faced that empty tomb three days later – they could remember. Peter, writing near the end of his life calls up that memory to remind his readers that the good news he and the other apostles have been preaching was not some “cleverly devised myth,” but objective truth: We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. This event was so transformative, it has a thousand different angles. But where I’ve been drawn in contemplating the story this time is physics. What was revealed in Jesus on that mountain? We are told his face and clothes became dazzling white. Matthew says, His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Light is what “shining” and “dazzling” imply. When Moses came back down the mountain after receiving the ten commandments, his face was shining so brightly, the people made him put a veil over his face so they wouldn’t be blinded. There is this association of God with light that we can’t get away from. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” He told his disciples, “Don’t hide your light under a basket – let it shine to reveal what is true, so people can see it.: Even before Jesus’ time the prophet Isaiah wrote, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” James refers to God as the “Father of Lights.” Paul exhorts the Ephesians to live as children of light. The writer to the Hebrews said, “When you first received the light…” Even Peter, in the passage we heard today, reminds his readers that they have this light: You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place. Linking God with light is even embedded in the creed we say every week – “God from God, Light from Light, very God from very God…” So what is light? Light is a form of energy. Physics tells us that we – and indeed everything in creation – is made up of energy, and energy is expressed in our world in different ways, different frequencies. So light that we can see is one frequency; sound is another; ultra-violet rays are another; infra-red is another; electricity another. And all this energy has its source in the Creator whose energy generated the universe, whose life sustains all life. And we believe that Jesus was fully God – this God – and fully man. I believe that when Jesus was transfigured before his disciples, he revealed, just for a moment, his true nature: as pure energy, pure light. He covered his radiance in human flesh and skin, because people in a fallen world cannot behold his purity without being blinded…. Do you remember that movie “Cocoon,” about aliens, and in one scene the woman alien takes off the rubber skin she’s wearing to pass as human, and reveals her own body – and it’s just light. Blinding light. Well, Jesus didn’t need to take off his skin – but perhaps for a moment he let his essential nature shine through, and what the disciples saw was pure light. Could it be that Jesus as God was pure energy that could be transmitted in any number of frequencies? Is that why he could walk on water? Disappear at will? Most of the time Jesus as man obeyed the laws of physics that limit our lives and movement. But not always. Could he have been speaking literally when he said “I am the light of the world?” We have an odd bit of data in the Shroud of Turin, purported to be the burial shroud of Jesus. At one point, it was carbon dated to a year in the middle ages and everyone thought, well, that’s that. It’s a fraud. But more recently it has been discovered that it is covered with a bacteria that interferes with carbon dating. It shows the figure of a semitic man of roughly 30 years age with strong hands, who has been crucified – there are blood stains and marks in the feet and wrists where nails have pierced him. The head bears evidence of being cut as though a ring of thorns had been placed on it. But what is most amazing is that the figure of the man on front and back of the shroud is a perfect photographic negative. If it was painted in the middle ages – and it shows no signs of paint – it would have to have been by someone who understood photography centuries before it was invented. The only way that image could have been “printed” on the cloth as it appears to have been done, is by an incredibly powerful light from inside the person, shining through his skin to make a photographic negative. Is this evidence that it was Jesus’ shroud? That Jesus is light? We still don’t know. The thing can’t be dated. But it sure makes me wonder… In the beginning of John’s Gospel we read of the Word made flesh who was coming into the world: In him was life, and that life was the light of humankind. Is life light? Is light an expression of life? I had a dream once, one of the few in my life that felt like a “God dream.” In this dream I was in a car with members of my family, and we were in a strange city in which all the hotels and restaurants were in one part of town. And we’re looking for a particular hotel driveway. The only problem is, it’s completely dark, pitch black. No lights at all – no street lights, no car lights, no lights in windows, nothing. So it’s kind of scary driving, and I’m anxious about finding this driveway. And then someone says, “Did you try infra-red lights?” So I flick a switch on the dashboard, and boom! All the lights blaze – the street lights, the head lights, lights in windows, everything. They were all there all the time, but we couldn’t see them. We needed the infra-red lights. So when I woke up from this dream it felt important, but I wasn’t sure what it meant. After awhile it seemed to me that it was a dream about faith, about seeing the Kingdom of God, which is all around us, but visible only by faith. A few years after I had that dream, I learned more about infra-red technology, and then it made even more sense. Because infra-red sees heat, and it shows up as light. It sees where heat is – where life is. “In him was life, and that life was the light of the world.” Now, here’s a question: Has that light gone out of the world? Did Jesus take it with him when he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven? At one point he said, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer.” But then he added: Trust in the light while you have it so that you may become sons of light. Daughters of light. Jesus wasn’t just training his disciples during the time he was with them – He was also filling them with his power and forming them to be bearers of light. He told them they were the light of the world, not just him. He said “Let your light so shine before humankind that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.” We are called to do something with the life-energy God has given us. It has power to heal others. It also has power to destroy – It is one of the great ironies of the Christian calendar that the bombing of Hiroshima was August 6, the day we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. The greatest destructive harnessing of energy yet devised was unleashed on the day when Christians celebrate Jesus’ revelation as pure light, pure energy. So what about us, who are called to be children of light? Who have this God-life in us? Are these just metaphors? Or are we talking about real light, real energy at a high frequency that we carry and can channel into transforming power? Well, light is just energy you can see with the naked eye! My friends, I can tell you the energy is real. We carry this light, this God-energy in us. I’ve felt it. So have you, I bet. Often when people receive healing prayer with laying on of hands they have a physical experience of energy or heat – either they feel heat in the hands of the one praying, or they feel heat in the area of their own body being prayed for. Not long ago I prayed with someone and I really felt God wanting her to know his love and his life – and as we prayed her whole body began to tremble; I thought she was upset, trying to hold back tears. But after we prayed she said she shook because she felt this energy coming into her. She knew it was the Holy Spirit; she had never experienced God in that personal way before. Sometimes when people are filled with the Spirit they actually blank out for a little while – their nervous systems just get overwhelmed with the current of energy coming to them and short-circuit and they have to rest – it’s called “resting in the Spirit.” Sometimes we have to get used to being conductors for God’s power. But the power is real – and in this world, we experience it as energy. And we can direct it to others – for healing, or reviving their spirits. It’s often best if we can do it through touch, literally allowing God to send his love and power through us into another, as electricity comes through wires. But we can direct this God-given energy to people even if we’re not with them. Agnes Sanford, who was an ordinary woman, wife of an Episcopal priest, had an extraordinary gift of healing. But says simply that she had a high capacity for conducting God’s love and life into people. Her book, “The Healing Light,” published in 1947, is simple, not scholarly, full of accessible examples. It has formed many in the healing ministry. In it she talks about projecting God’s love and light into those who are suffering. She writes, “Christian love is the love of Christ, an energy so overwhelming that it led our Lord to give His life for His friends, and to give it with a joy that carried Him through untold anguish… It is a powerful, radiant and life-giving emotion, charged with healing power both to the one who learns to love and the one who is loved…” She recommends a simple method: get in touch with God and God’s love, and then direct it into others – either through touch, or simply by holding them in our mind’s eye and seeing them as surrounded, filled with God’s healing light. She uses the image of electricity as one way of understanding conducting power from the Source into an outlet. If we are a clear conductor, God will work. She tells story after story of this simple method resulting in remarkable healing. I heard a story just last night [Donald and man in white…] We can dismiss this as impossible, hocus pocus. In fact, it occurred to me as I prepared this sermon this week – and this sermon really took me over! – that it was either one of the weirdest or one of the most important sermons I had ever preached. Maybe both! But before you dismiss what I’m saying, I invite you to be a good scientist and try it out. I think God invites us to experiment with the power he’s given us. Think about someone you know whose energy is running at a low frequency – either because of illness or stress or depression. Either go and pray with him or her in person, or on your own – get comfortable, get in touch with God in prayer, and then hold that person in your mind’s eye and see them being filled with light from above, from within, all around, bathed in God’s healing light. Go further: See them as entirely well, or as the happiest, most fulfilled person they can be, the most “them” they can be. Ask God to make it so, as God desires. And keep giving thanks each time you do this. Don’t be surprised if something begins to change in that person or situation. It’s not the power of our imagining that changes the other – it’s our inviting the God of love to raise their energy frequency with His own unlimited power that heals. Before you dismiss it, try it for several weeks. If you hit a block, come talk to me about it. If we were all praying in this way for other people, for ourselves, for the wounds of the world – what a light we would shine! If someone were to take an infra-red map of Bethany, I’d want them to see this building shining so bright with all the heat and life being conducted and channeled through this congregation, that they would say, “What on earth is going on there?” What in heaven is going on here? This isn’t Connecticut Light and Power, my friends – this is God’s Light and Power! And God’s power working through us can do more than we can ask or imagine. As we learn to draw on that power source, and try these experiments of bearing God’s light, we will be so filled with it, we too will be transfigured; We too will shine like the sun. Amen. Luke 9:28-36 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and over-shadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. 2 Peter 1:13-21 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory, since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. Exodus 34:29-35 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him. Matthew 17:1-8 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. Back to top Sermon: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23; Ephesians 6:10-20 - Preached September 3, 2006 Come, Lord Jesus, and make these words Your Word, that our hearts may become Your heart. Amen. Anyone here remember the comedian Flip Wilson and his character who, whenever challenged on her misbehavior, would say, “The Devil made me do it!” That always got a laugh. And it’s basically been the human response to sin since Eve in the Garden of Eden! Thinking of Geraldine, if that was her name, led me to another TV comedy character of a few years later – also female character played by a man, come to think of it… do I hear echoes of Adam’s original whine, “The woman made me eat of it?” – anyway, I got to thinking of Dana Carvey’s “Church Lady.” Anyone remember her stock phrase, whenever she was skewering her fellow church people… “Could it be… Satan????” It always got a laugh. These characters located responsibility for their sin outside themselves, in the temptations of the devil. To an extent, St. Paul would agree: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We do believe in the Devil, we 21st century Episcopalians. Just last week in our baptismal service we renounced Satan and those dark forces that seek to corrupt and destroy the creatures of God. We believe that Satan is a personal force of evil who seeks to draw people away from the love of God, and ultimately wishes our destruction. We take the Devil seriously around here – we’ve seen too much of his handiwork to pretend he doesn’t exist. Just watch anyone in the grip of a drug addiction or cycle of abuse. But where does our own responsibility for our choices lie? What are the ways we dance with the devil, lowering our defenses, letting temptations get so close we can’t say no anymore? Where are the places we stand helplessly by, watching evil triumph as we attack flesh and blood instead of recognizing the real power of evil underneath human choices? Paul would in no way mean to take us off the hook, but warns us to open our eyes. Jesus certainly was teaching the importance of taking responsibility for your actions and sins in his discourse with the Pharisees. Now, they weren’t blaming the devil – they were so obsessed with purity and keeping minute food laws to the last jot and tittle, they didn’t even have time to look up and see the havoc the devil was wreaking all around them – and in their own hearts. Unlike Jesus, the Pharisees didn’t cast demons out of people afflicted with them – they just stepped out of the way to avoid them and their “unclean-ness.” They were, to put it mildly, missing the point, and Jesus hastens to tell them how. “It’s not what you put into your bodies that pollutes you,” he says, “It’s what comes out that pollutes your life and the lives around you.” We should certainly be able to relate to their obsession with food and purity, in our age of “food-Pharisaism” – only our fads change by the year. “Eat all the fat you want, but avoid sugar.” ‘No, eat a no-fat diet.” “And no alcohol – no wait, make that at least one glass of red wine a day.” “Lower your cholesterol.” “Go on a juice fast.” “Purge your toxins.” And all the while as a society we end up heavier, with more placque, more heart attacks, more diabetes – we’re obsessed with what we put into our bodies, but often it gets us nowhere. Maybe because we too often miss the point. What we put into our bodies matters, but if our hearts aren’t in balance, we’re still not going to be healthy. And our hearts aren’t in balance if we’re prey to every lie that Satan tells us, every trap he lays for us. See, at first I thought the messages of these two readings were contradictory – Paul is saying “Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but spiritual…” and Jesus is saying, “It is about human choices and how you live your life.” But, as I said to Casey last week when he had a question about the crucifixion – in the Christian life, the answer to choices is usually, “Both.” And of course the answer here is that these messages are not contradictory, but fit together. We do bear responsibility for what comes out of us – but one of the ways we can be sure that we bear good fruit, and not bad, is by keeping our spiritual environment healthy and clear. And that means being mindful of the ways Satan likes to trip us up. There are spiritual forces of darkness in this world, and they do like to affect us. Nothing makes the devil madder than a happy, fulfilled child of God. So one of his primary tricks is to make us doubt our status as children of God. One of the names for Satan is “the Accuser,” and he likes to drive a wedge between us and the God who loves us and always stands ready to forgive our sins. Sometimes the church helps him along, by making us mistrust God’s grace and mercy, by making us think we have to have our act together before we can stand in God’s love. But that’s not what Jesus taught, or what he lived. He taught about a Father so loving he ran down the road to meet his wayward son, and wrapped him in royal robes and prepared a feast for him. Satan wants us to forget that Love of God – so we need this armor Paul talks about, to deflect those flaming darts of lies that come our way. Another of the names for Satan in the Bible is “the Father of Lies.” Another of his “doubt-darts” whispers that we can’t be forgiven for this or that, or that we’ll never be good enough for God. All lies. Or sometimes Satan tempts us to think we are better than we are, inviting us to sit in judgment or bitter resentment against other people. It has the same effect as when we think too little of ourselves – both are flip sides of the same coin, spiritual pride. Our pride is where we are most vulnerable to temptation – so keep that helmet of salvation tight on your head, so that your thoughts stay clear. Another “doubt dart” is how our vision can get skewed, and we see only the bad. We look at the wars and famines and terror threats and bad diagnoses, and say, “Well, that’s it. Satan has won.” Well, no, my friends. As Christians we believe Christ has won, already, though we’re still living in the time before we see the fullness of that victory manifest. If we’re going to stand on Christ’s victory, we need to train our minds to focus not on all the contrary evidence, the places Satan is still prevailing, but to rejoice in all the places we see love and grace breaking through. We buckle that belt of truth on, and proclaim the Good News of God in Christ. Another way we “dance with the devil,” and make ourselves vulnerable to temptation is our busy-ness and overworking. See – these are pretty dull and mundane methods the devil uses, but they work. There aren’t a lot of people here being tempted into porn theatres or obvious sins – the powers of darkness are much more insidious than that. We participate in our own corruption. If we’re working so much that we can’t get time to think, to pray in stillness every day, to remember our sins, confess them and remind ourselves of God’s forgiveness; if we’re too busy to give much to other people, we shouldn’t be surprised if the fruit we bear is mealy or worm-eaten. The word of God is our sword – we need to know it if we’re going to use it. Are you going to let another year of Bible study or small groups go by, believing you’re too busy to participate? That’s a choice; it has consequences. Now, I could go on all day thinking of ways the devil seeks to trap us. But one of the things I keep in mind is something a wise man said: “There are two mistakes you can make concerning the devil. One is to ignore him. The other is to pay attention to him.” We need to recognize when we’re being tempted and be able to rebuke Satan – or more often the demons that do his dirty work. (Few of us rate an all-out attack!) But we don’t need to worry or obsess about it. We pray every week “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Trust that. As Paul writes, Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Putting on the armor of God is something we should do in prayer every morning, and then forget about it unless we need it during the day. Because none of this armor is our own strength. We stand on the foundation of what Jesus has already done for us. Nothing more. We don’t even fight – we just stand on the victory Christ has won for us, and don’t let Satan tempt us into doubting that Christ was effective. If you look at the passage closely, you’ll see that all of this armor is defensive. There are no fighting weapons, except the sword of the Spirit – and that is God’s. But there are a few proactive steps we need to take in this battle: One is to cultivate gratitude. If you’re not naturally grateful, know this: it can be developed as a habit. I’ve gotten much better at it, and it comes faster. When we are aware of God’s gifts to us all the time, and God’s activity in our lives, Satan has no foothold, and eventually he’ll leave us alone. One person I know literally uses the word of God as a defensive weapon – she is prone to what we call “gremlin attacks,” where she’ll go along fine, knowing God’s love, and all of the sudden find herself doubting everything, including the support of other people. So she’s taken to putting Bible verses on her computer’s screen-saver, as a constant reminder of who she is in Christ. The other thing we need to do is follow Paul’s advice: … pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Do you pray regularly for your fellow parishioners here at Christ Church? Not only those who are sick, but everyone? I believe if we were all doing that weekly, praying through the parish list, our ministry would be going through the roof. Maybe we can start a rotation. But we can go beyond praying for each other, and pray with each other more often. Now, not everybody here is comfortable praying aloud, but you don’t mind the prayer book, right? Well, a few women in the parish have begun praying Compline together on the phone each night. Compline is the service of night prayers, page 127 in the book. It’s a beautiful service, full of prayers of confession, thanksgiving – and lots of prayers for protection from evil. So the three of them pray this short service together each night on the phone. It’s been a wonderful connection for them. Look around – is there someone here you live with or know, that you might start that habit with? I think you’ll find your life more centered, and your relationship with God deepened. And out of that all kinds of good fruit can emerge. The things that come out of us when we’re centered in God’s life and love are so beautiful. I guess we’ll never have a comedian who can get a laugh with lines like, “God made me do it!” or “Could it be… Jesus?” But we can turn our faces to the light, away from the darkness, and who knows – maybe those will become our life tag-lines! Amen. READINGS: Ephesians 6:10-20 (NIV) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." Back to top Sermon: Mark 7:31-37, James 1:17-27 - Preached September 17, 2006 Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. . Who here can relate to the cry of that father: “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” Who has been that father, that mother: “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” He captures for us exactly where we live as Christians who walk by faith, and not yet by sight: Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. This event, which Mark records in greatest detail, comes just after the Transfiguration, that moment when Peter, James and John are granted the blessing of seeing with their eyes what they have been asked to believe in their hearts, that Jesus is the Son of God. That sight must have made what happened when they came down the mountain all the more stark in contrast: Down below they encounter the rest of the disciples and their utter failure to cast out a demon, something Jesus had shown them how to do. And Jesus sounds uncharacteristically ticked off! “How much longer do I have to put up with this faithless generation!” he says. I’m sure he’s got a point, just as any teacher frustrated by his students, but my sympathies are with the hapless disciples and the anguished father. They didn’t get to come up the mountain and see the grand vision, hear the voice of God thundering from the cloud. These guys were stuck at the bottom of the hill, in the thick of life, trying to live by faith, and they were failing. Does that sound familiar? It’s where most of us are, most of the time. In this “in between” time, between the time when we believe Jesus has won a decisive victory over the powers of evil, and when we see the fullness of that new reality manifest in the world. In fact, the Christian claim is that we won’t even see that fullness until this world comes to an end and the New Age is completely ushered in. Well, that’s nice! But what about now? I have a friend who badly needs a liver transplant. He’s a hemophiliac who acquired hepatitis C from a blood transfusion in his childhood, before they knew to check blood for HIV and hepatitis. He’s been HIV positive for a good 15 years now, with no symptoms, but the hepatitis is slowly killing him. He is at the point where his liver is so diseased he only has a few good, productive hours per day in which he can work or have meaningful conversations. The rest of the time the toxins unprocessed in his body put him into a kind of twilight zone. For a brilliant man and a very high achiever, this is a kind of death. He performed the wedding I attended last week, and for him to be “up” for the rehearsal and wedding required very careful scheduling and rests. But as sick as he is, his liver is not yet bad enough for him to rate a transplant. It’s a lovely catch-22 – He said, “You know, in seminary they always talked about this age as the “in- between time – well, I didn’t like the idea then and I don’t like living it now!” He is living between “almost” and “there.” Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. It’s not that we don’t get answers to prayer here and now; we do, and more often when we ask. But we can’t count on God working in just the way we want God to. Those disciples thought they were exercising faith the way Jesus had taught them. Turned out they still had something to learn. The father, honest about his faith and how much more he needed, actually had the faith that Jesus responded to. But at least they were acting on their faith. They weren’t sitting around going, “Oh well, I guess I’m not as good as Jesus, so why bother?” or “Well, my prayers obviously aren’t good enough, so why bother?” or “I’ll just talk like a pious person and leave it at that.” I guess that’s the kind of people the apostle James was encountering, and he sounds kind of ticked off too. Some people think that the author of the Epistle of James was the brother of Jesus. If so, today we can certainly hear a family resemblance of sarcasm. James does not mince words in this writing. James is the apostle of the concrete. People who love lists and clear instructions usually love the Epistle of James. James did not say, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” but I think he would have embraced that concept. James is interested in faith you can see, not what you talk about. He says, “What kind of faith do we see in those who blatantly favor the wealthy and powerful, and give lip service to the poor and needy?” Are they acting like someone who believes in Jesus Christ? No! It is the poor, he says, whom God has chosen to be rich in faith, to be heirs of the kingdom. And he puts it quite bluntly: Faith without works is dead. This statement is often quoted in contradiction to Paul’s statement that we are not saved by our works. But James is not even talking about salvation; he too talks about the “royal law of love;” James knows about God’s grace. But he does not take us off the hook of having to show our faith in visible ways. James is concerned with what’s real. He is interested in behavior, not words. He’s not interested in deep thinking and our theological questions. He’s not even interested in how many hours a week we pray or how many times we’ve read the Bible, or how much we pledge per week. He’s not interested in our showing up in church for an hour on Sunday, and then letting Madison Avenue tell us what to think and buy the rest of the week. He’s not interested in how smart or good we are. If none of that issues forth in behavior that reveals God’s love in Christ, forget it. It’s not how eloquently you talk about God – it’s how you spend your time that counts. It’s how you show it. James is the original “hoosier.” “Show me!,” he says. Let me see your faith. He’s got a point. Faith is a lot like the wind. You can’t see wind, can you? We only know it’s windy by what gets blown around. We see not wind, but trees moving, debris blowing by, air rushing. So it is with our faith. We recognize faith by the choices people make, by a certain peace they have in trying times, by the way they give sacrificially of themselves. We don’t see their faith, but how it acts upon them, how they live it out. Can people see your faith at work? Do they see your choices and know they are a result of your relationship with God? Do your children see your priorities and know they come from your faith? I know of families where the act of writing a pledge check each month is an occasion for a lot of faith talk with their kids, who don’t get why you’d give that money to the church of all places. Where in this community do you see faith at work, not just talked about? This morning we’re going to fill out Talent Offerings – this is an opportunity to put your faith into action if you’re not already doing so. It’s not a new law, won’t give you some “Good Christian” award. It’s just a chance to look over some of the ways people do ministry at Christ Church and say, “Yeah – I could try that,” or “I’ve always wanted to do that.” If every member of this community were acting out their faith – whether here at church or in the our checkbooks or in our priorities, the world would see a whole lot of wind blowing a whole lot of trees. It is not our works as a community that make us righteous in God’s eyes – Jesus already took care of that on the cross. But it is our works as a community that show faith to our neighbors. It is our works bearing fruit, good fruit, abundant fruit, that makes this church like those trees in our yard, towering above the power lines, evidence to the world that people have been bearing faith and bearing fruit in the name of Jesus in this place for over 200 years. “I by my works will show you my faith,” writes James. I pray that our faith – believing even in our unbelief – will be evidence of God’s grace here in this place and to the ends of the earth. But we can get just as hung up on the quality of our faith as we can on faking it. Some people think they can’t step out in ministry because they’re not sure they believe, or they have doubts, or questions. They let that stop them from ministry. If this is you, you have only to look at the dim faith, weak wills, bad choices, self-interested motives and all-around dysfunction of those people Jesus chose to surround himself with. And if they’re not enough, take a look at Abraham and Jacob and King David and any number of highly imperfect people whom God chose as instruments through whom to accomplish his will on earth. Or take a look at this father who brought his tormented son to Jesus’ disciples. “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” Or take a look at the disciples themselves, unable to do what he asked. Did God leave that child in bondage because the disciples were not yet up to the task? No… he covered it. Jesus came along and he healed him and set him free. And Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to stand. That boy was not the only person for whom Jesus did that that day. He also did it for the boy’s father, affirming his faith just where it was. He also did it for the disciples, who were still learning how to use this power and authority Jesus had given them in his name. He does it for us, taking our faltering steps in ministry, using the gifts God has given us, making mistakes, getting discouraged, moving forward again. Faith is like our muscles – if it’s not exercised, it loses strength. “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” Where have you thought about exercising your faith? Is there a ministry you’ve felt drawn to, that you can start on a limited basis? Sometimes people start being chalice bearers here in church, and realize they feel called to take communion to people who can’t come to church. One ministry leads to another. Or is there a situation that feels hopeless to you, like that father felt about his son? Some place where healing is needed, but you feel you lack faith to ask because the fear of disappointment is greater than your need? I believe this unnamed man in our Gospel story is the patron saint of hopeless prayers. He was willing to take it to Jesus, whatever his level of faith. Jesus doesn’t ask us to live out our faith on our own, or to do ministry on our own strength. He asks us to allow Him to work through us, nothing more, nothing less. Jesus said: All things are possible for those who believe. He’s right. All things are possible for those who believe, even with unbelief. We’re not going to have it all put together in this life. We are in an in-between time. But Jesus is right here with us, just as he promised. And he’s inviting us to step out in faith, to make it visible. He invites us to believe. He will help our unbelief. Amen. Mark 9:14-29 When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?" Someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so." He answered them, "You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me." And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "If you are able!-- All things can be done for the one who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out, "I believe; help my unbelief!" When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!" After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand. When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "This kind can come out only through prayer." James 2:1-5; 8-10, 14-18 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? …You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. …What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. Back to top Sermon: Mark 10:2-9, Genesis 2:18-24 - Preached October 8, 2006 Come, Lord Jesus – make these words to be for us Your word of life. Amen. Now here’s a set of lessons to gladden the heart of a preacher… guaranteed to threaten just about everyone except once-married straight people! The compilers of the lectionary were so chicken they left out the money verse, where Jesus says, if a man leaves his wife and marries another woman, he commits adultery. And the same with women. There you have it. He doesn’t even get into when a man leaves his wife for another man. Clearly Jesus is not living in 21st century America. So what do we do? Conclude that Jesus is hopelessly out of touch and put him on a shelf? Say, “Well, here’s proof that Jesus obviously was never married!” Or do what I’m sure is being done in many churches today – preach about something else? Yeah – I had a look at Hebrews. One of the more theologically dense lessons on Christ’s incarnation and atonement. Great stuff, but nope, we’re stuck with this one today. And we are stuck with this one. Many of us have been divorced, or are going through it, or have walked with another through it; we know how brutal it is for everyone involved. If we hear this word from Jesus as laying down the law, or finger-wagging, it’s not the word of life for us. But I believe Jesus is the Word of life for us. And how we live together in marriages and families is where we live, where we most need that word of life. I once got an email from a friend that was just two lines: “Is it adultery if you’re just thinking about someone, and emailing, but not having any physical contact?” Oh boy – that’s the kind of an email that warms a pastor’s heart! Do you know that old story about the salesman in a luxury fur store, who, when a customer asks the price of a coat, says, “Madam, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” Well – that’s kind of how I felt about that email. If you have to ask, you’re probably in the neighborhood of adultery! And Jesus certainly defined that neighborhood very broadly when he said, “If you even lust in your heart for someone other than your spouse, you’ve committed adultery.” Well, even Jimmy Carter lusted in his heart! That pretty much covers all of us. So yes, my friend’s heart had strayed into perilous territory – not because she’d “done” anything, but because this other connection was a major distraction from dealing with the very real challenges of her own marriage, and was a major distraction from her relationship with God, which should be our first priority. Her question gets right to the problem we have in this area – we want to know the technicalities. The loopholes. How much can we get away with? That’s where the Pharisees got it wrong from the start: Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" Jesus invites them to share their detailed knowledge of the law – and then he zings them: “If your hearts were faithful, the law wouldn’t have had to provide this “out” for you.” Friends, when we start asking “What’s legal,” “Where are the lines,” we’ve already gotten very far away from, “How can I love this person, for better, for worse?” “How can I forgive a hurt that big?” “How can I let my relationship with God give me the strength to be in this relationship?” By the time most couples separate, those questions either never got asked, or are long gone. They think separation will bring relief. Usually it brings more pain. Often one party has no choice in the decision to separate – someone else leaves. “Okay, we’re done.” Or one party is so abusive there is no relationship to protect. Sometimes divorce is inevitable, no matter what we do. The issue here is not about fault, or wrong, or even about sin – there’s always sin in divorce. Absolutely. Anyone who’s gone through it will tell you that. But there is sin in just about every area of our lives – that’s why we have Jesus! There’s also grace and good in every just about every area of our lives. Sin is not the issue. Divorce isn’t even the issue. Our hearts are the issue. Faithfulness to who we are, who God made us to be, is the issue. Relationships are a huge part of who we are. What it means to be human, and to be made in God’s image, is that we have a unique self-consciousness, and that we are relational beings. The stories in Genesis have a wonderful way of describing that relationality. God has a relationship with that first man, but he can see his incompleteness, His need for a helper who is also a partner in his work of tending creation. So God makes all these wonderful creatures and invites the man to name them – a poetic way of indicating relationship with them, naming them. So now man has relationships with God, and with the created order. But God sees he is still in need of one who is like him, yet not like him, to be a helper and a partner. And God creates woman. And Man says, “Ah, now we’re talking! This one I can relate to, and yet she’s other than me.” And these two Others, these two related yet distinct people, become one flesh, to be partners, helpmates, lovers, friends, all in relationship with God. And here we need the sound a record scratching to a halt. Something happens. Disobedience happens, shame enters in, a break in the harmony with God, with creation and with each other are; these the first consequences of sin in that garden. And because of that breaking, God says inequality will be a factor in marriage. Not as punishment, just as an inevitable consequence. He says to the woman, “Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.” When some people say men should rule over women, they point to that verse – forgetting that it describes the consequence of sin, not God’s original intention for his creatures. God’s original intent was partnership, balance, harmony, love. It still is God’s intention for us. And so when Jesus cites that story, and adds, “What God has joined together, let no one put asunder,” He isn’t stating the law. He is talking about the heart. When we have joined our heart to that of another person in a lifelong partnership, a sacred third entity that is born. It is precious, and it is the responsibility of everyone in the community of faith to protect and uphold it. That’s why at weddings, before the couple exchange their vows, the whole community is asked if it will do all in its power to uphold these two persons in their life together. It’s that important, that it takes a whole community to do it. When a marriage fails, it is also a failure of the people around that couple. They were too isolated, or no one wanted to say the hard things, or listen. So if you see a marriage that’s in trouble – either because the couple have stopped talking to each other; or because they’re nitpicking at each other every minute, even around other people; or you see one person’s affections straying – don’t just stand there, being polite. Butt in! “Are you guys talking to each other? Is there anything I can do to support you?” Suggest they see a marriage counselor – or a priest. By the time Peter and I see people, they’ve often just about given up. If we’re one of the first stops, we can often re-ignite their hope enough to get help. There’s a lot you can do to let a couple know they have support around them. Because beyond marriages themselves there is the community of the faithful. And I think Jesus’ words here apply to a bigger family than just the nuclear one. “Those whom God has joined together, let no one separate” could also apply to the community of believers, the church. We are reminded in that lesson from Hebrews that we are brothers and sisters of Jesus himself, because he has said so. We have been made one family – not quite as intimate as the one flesh of a married couple, but still joined to one another. And there are a lot of forces that try to sunder us from each other – forces outside the church that compete for our loyalties; and forces from within, such as being critical of other Christians, other denominations, other ways of worshipping or practicing faith. Christians are not called to be lone wolves, anymore than are husbands or wives. We are all called to be a part of one another, not apart from one another; We are called to be helping partners in tending God’s beautiful creation, to stand up for one another, to stand with one another, to challenge and love one another. The way of love that married people is called to is extremely difficult and challenging – to give and give and give again; to compromise what you want, to seek the good of the other and not your own. It’s not natural at all. Neither is the way of love that Christians are called to, to love your neighbor as yourself and God above all. That’s not natural either. In fact, these are not meant to be separate endeavors. If you are married, don’t let your marriage be separate from your church life or your community, even if your partner doesn’t participate. Christian life is meant to be lived in community. That’s not the way New Englanders often think, but it is the way Christians are taught to live. Live your marriage in community – let others be strengthened by it, and draw strength for it from others. If you are divorced or divorcing, don’t keep your pain to yourself – let others into it. It strengthens us when we learn to draw strength from people who love us. If you are single, be active in supporting the marriages of your brothers and sisters; don’t hold your life apart from theirs. We are called into community in all sorts of conditions, to love one another. If all this challenging, self-giving love sounds hard, remember we don’t do it alone. In every relationship of love we are enabled by the Love that made the heavens and the earth. Jesus didn’t just teach about love and then say, “Now go and figure it out.” He said, “I will be with you, even to the end of the ages.” And through his Holy Spirit dwelling in us, he is! When we feel our love running out, we tap into this great store of love that dwells within us as we are united with Christ. And that love is never going to run out. It binds us to God and to one another, carrying us through this training time in love, until it carries us into our life in love together in eternity. Even now we are promised that no force in heaven or on earth can separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Those whom God has joined together, let no one separate. As we live in love with our brothers and sisters in Christ – some of us in more intimate partnerships than others – may it be said of us that, “Those whom God has joined together, no one can separate.” One day it will be so. Amen. READINGS: Genesis 2:18-24 Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken." Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. Hebrews 2:1-18 …For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying, "I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you." And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Here am I and the children whom God has given me." Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested. Mark 10:2-9 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." Back to top Sermon: Mark 10:35-45, Isaiah 53:4-12 - Preached October 22, 2006 Come, Lord Jesus – make these words to be for us Your word of life. Amen. Have you ever been at a dinner table with little kids? You’re all sitting down, and suddenly someone bursts into tears. “But I wanted to sit next to Mommy!” “You sat next to her last time.” Or Daddy. Or the guest. Kids are invested in sitting next to someone important. Maybe James and John took it to seriously when Jesus said you have to be like a child to enter the Kingdom! Because Jesus has just told them again about what’s going to happen to him when they reach Jerusalem – and right away, they start to jockey for position – “Jesus, let us be the ones to sit next to you in glory!” I see a pattern in the gospels. Every time Jesus tells his disciples what’s going to happen to him when they reach Jerusalem, about his being arrested and tried and killed – and rising on the third day – they start to argue about their status. And each time he has to tell them about serving others, about the last being first. What do you usually do when someone is saying something you don’t want to hear? Change the subject? Turn away? Focus on something that gives you security? That’s what James and John are doing. And Jesus doesn’t rebuke them – he takes them on. “Alright,” he says, “Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" “Sure!” they say, because they don’t have a clue what he’s talking about. What is the cup that he must drink? What he’s going to Jerusalem for. And what does he say when that moment is upon him, in that garden? “Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me.” That is the cup he is talking about, the cup pouring out his own blood. That is his baptism. Losing his life to gain ours. Pouring himself out. “Sure!” they say. But he has more to tell them. “You will drink this cup and undergo this baptism. But I’m not going to guarantee you window seats in heaven! No seats of honor. You don’t get it: When you’ve really become my disciples, you won’t care where you sit! You’ll volunteer your good seat for someone poorer and needier than you, because that’s how much love you’ll have. You’ll want to serve.” Can we love like this, my friends? How far are we from drinking this cup? So far, we often don’t even see the heartbreak of the world. We can get so preoccupied with our concerns – our comfort, our schedules – yes, even our status – are you getting enough respect? – we don’t even look. Our culture is so unbelievably out of touch with the needs of the world. And how often are we led by our culture, not by the good news Jesus proclaimed. We had a bishop from Mozambique address our Diocesan Convention yesterday. What a beautiful witness of God’s love. In a country torn to shreds by a 12-year civil war, in a culture of violence so profound the country’s flag has a gun on it, this bishop has exercised leadership in a program called “Swords into Plowshares.” They collect weapons in exchange for instruments of production – hoes, sewing machines, tin for roofs. 600,000 guns came in. And then he had artists melt them down and make beauty out of them. One of our bishops wears a cross made from parts of AK47s – instruments of death transformed, like the cross itself. But I listened to this man tell of the thousands of land mines that still blow the limbs off of children and adults, and of the countless AIDS orphans they have, and of how many children die of preventable diseases like malaria, for lack of $5 mosquito nets – $60 million would cover the country. How much do Americans spend just on entertainment? It’s in the billions. And I think of the culture of violence we perpetuate in this country – selling toy guns of every shape and size, marketing video games of breathtaking and sadistic violence – allowing our children to play with them because, “Oh, everyone does it…” , exporting movies and television shows that contain such mindless, mind-blowing violence; we export into the world where people live it day by day. It’s not a game! – and I stop. I’m sick. I don’t know where to start. Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows… But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities… I know where to start. We start with children. We start with our own, teaching them that violence is in fact corrosive, that peace actually works, that there are better games to play. And we start with Jesus, asking him to turn our hearts outward. And we start with ourselves. We say, “Enough acquiring – I actually have enough now. What can I give?” Are you ready to drink the cup that I drink? Jesus says. Are you ready to see with my eyes and become the world’s servant? We can get so wrapped up in the stuff we surround ourselves with, we stop seeing the world with God’s eyes. We don’t see the need. Sometimes we see it and look away, because it breaks our hearts. God invites us to take a much bigger view. I heard a woman speak two weeks ago. Her name is Heidi Baker, and she and her husband Rolland have lived in Mozambique for 17 years. No connection with the bishop, but there is Mozambique again! God seems to be working powerfully in Mozambique. They went there to take over an orphanage of 80 kids. In a short while they had 350 street kids. They suffered oppression from Marxists and Muslims; they watched their compound taken over by troops and their orphan children beaten as they ran away, because they would not stop praising God at the top of their lungs. They’ve suffered without food; they’ve been stoned as they passed through hostile villages; they’ve picked up and treated girls raped and beaten and left for dead. They’ve been robbed by young warlords whom they’ve taken in – but some of these young men have experienced beautiful transformation in Christ. This woman, Heidi – I’ve never seen someone with the light of God so strong in her. She’s small but so powerful and so alive – I watched her talk and tell her stories of miracle after miracle – and I mean, healing of the blind is routine, raising of the dead rather common, reclaiming orphans and seeing them become hopeful members of the prayer teams that heal the blind and raise the dead… we’re talking miracles, signs and wonders – I watched this woman and thought, She is a rock star! How much of God’s spirit, how much passion, how much compassion – she was amazing. And it’s because she laid down this “stuff’ long ago. She gave herself over to this work, child by child, and now their ministry feeds and cares for about 1000 children per day. They’ve planted 7-8,000 churches in Mozambique. Because they let it be God’s work. Because they’ve lot God’s spirit take over in them. Because they’ve been willing to be poor and feel themselves so rich in Christ. Because they’ve been willing to be the servant of all, to serve and serve and serve. Heidi told a story I want to share with you. She had gone to Canada to a revival where the Spirit was being outpoured in a powerful way – she was badly in need to recharged batteries. She was physically sick, dangerously weak. This is a woman who will not let lice or scabies or diseases keep her from hugging an orphaned child who has forgotten – or never knew – what love is. She is Mama to all the children. And she was spent. So she went to Toronto to this revival, and she was blitzed with the Holy Spirit. She spent days just lying on the floor, receiving ministry from God. She said, One night I was groaning with intercession for the children of Mozambique. There were thousands coming toward me, and I was crying, “No!” She said “I screamed “no!” in church! That’s not good!” “No, Lord, there are too many!” Then I had a dramatic, clear vision of Jesus. I was with Him, and thousands and thousands of children surrounded us. I saw His shining face and His eyes burned, they were so intense, so full of love. I also saw His body. It was bruised and broken, and His side was pierced. He said, “Look into My eyes.” I didn’t want to look, she said, but He said, “Look into my eyes. You give them something to eat.” Then he reached into his side and tore off a piece of His broken flesh. It was horrible. He handed it to me. I didn’t want to take it, but He said, “Feed them.” “No!” I said, but I began to give it to the children, and it became bread in my hands. Each time I gave it it became bread. It multiplied in my hands. Then again the Lord said, “Look into My eyes. You give them something to drink.” He gave me a cup of blood and water, which flowed from His side. I knew it was a cup of bitterness and joy. I drank it and then began to give it to the children to drink. The cup did not go dry. By this point I was crying uncontrollably. I was completely undone by His fiery eyes of love. I realized what it had cost Him to provide such spiritual and physical food for us all. The Lord spoke to my heart and said, “There will always be enough, because I died.” “But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?” Jesus asks. “The cup that I drink, you will drink,” Jesus tells us. But the cup we drink, my beloveds, is the cup He has filled for us. The bread that we give away comes from His side, and there is always enough. What will it take for us to trust that? Because when we trust in God’s “enough,” we are released to give some away. And when we give it away, we are released to trust. Chicken and egg. Heidi Baker has given it all away over and over again, and she proclaims that she is the wealthiest woman in the world. She says, “People think I’ve lost my mind… I freely admit it. I have lost my mind! But… I have been given a new mind, the mind of Christ.” You know what? I haven’t lost my mind yet. I’m not ready to give it all away. I pour out a lot of my time and energy, but not my money, not my possessions. But guess what? God has a plan for me! He has said, “Just give me a portion. Start small. Give 10 percent to feed my children.” And I’ve got this little pledge card at home, shaped like a fruit to remind me that what I’m giving is the first fruits of what God has given me. And I give that small portion. I keep 90 percent, I give 10. $300 a week. And that little I offer each month, each week, is transformed the same way as this bread we will break becomes Christ’s flesh, the same way as Christ’s flesh becomes bread to feed the world. Are you ready to give that portion to God? You don’t have to give it at this church, though I pray that this church is one that has its eyes open and is meeting needs. But don’t sit on it, Don’t worry about your own position and fear you’ll be left with crumbs if you share what you have. Don’t worry about enough. Jesus said, There is always enough. I believe Him. But there’s a slight catch: We only find out when we start to give it away. We don’t get to see it first. God is inviting us to trust His enough, to give him that portion, to give him ourselves, to give him access to our hearts, to allow him to open our eyes to see the needs around us and to allow him to work through us to meet them. God will do that. It won’t be just our resources – it’s our resources multiplied miraculously by God’s power in us. Remember in Heidi’s vision – each time before Jesus told her to feed the children He said, “Look into my eyes.” We are drawing on His power when we give ourselves away. We gain His power as we give ourselves away. Heidi Baker is the richest woman I’ve ever seen, and she’s let herself be stolen from time and again. She has given herself over to the love of God, and it comes out of every pore. She is so filled with joy and passion, I thought, “Man, I want some of that!” I will receive it as I give myself away, as I allow myself to rely on God’s power and provision, not my own. God wants that power and abundance for me, and God wants that for you. God wants to fill us with His life, and see us pour it out and be filled again. Come to this table today, to this foretaste of the abundant feast. Feed on Jesus, as He invited us to. Receive healing by His wounds. And give Him away, piece by piece, cup by cup, every day this week, and then come back for more of Him. There is always enough. Give it away and you’ll see: There is always enough. Amen. READINGS: Mark 10:35-45 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. "And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." Isaiah 53:4-12 Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the LORD shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Hebrews 4:12-16 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account. Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Back to top Sermon: Mark 12:38-44; I Kings 17:8-16 - Preached November 12, 2006 Come, Lord Jesus – make these words to be for us Your word of life. Amen. It’s very tempting, looking at these lessons today, to just say, “Come on – if a little old lady can do it, so can you!” That’s a sermon, of a sort… don’t know how helpful it would be, but it’s a sermon… But that kind of de-personalizes these two widows we’ve heard about. We only know these vignettes from their lives, but they each had full lives. Husbands we know nothing about, a son for one, maybe children or not for the other. They both knew hunger and hardship and survival. I like to imagine their meeting in heaven. Now, Jesus often likened heaven to a wedding feast, so let’s imagine these two widows who knew such scarcity on earth, seated next to each other on a certain day in heaven, sharing stories with each other as heavy platters of delicious food are passed. We’ll call them Widow Z for Zaraphath, and Widow J for Jerusalem. Widow Z: Are you a friend of the bride or the groom? Widow J: I’m not sure who the bride is, but the groom is well known to me. I even knew him slightly on earth. Or, at least, I saw him. One day he smiled at me, in the temple. Widow Z: I lived long before his time on earth. But I knew one of the holy men who preceded Him, Elijah. Widow J: You knew Elijah? Wow! That must have been amazing. What was he like? Widow Z: Well, he’s here. Look him up one day. Go for coffee. He’s very interesting. But then he was like a crazy person. Very intense, very holy. I was gathering sticks for a fire one day, and he showed up at the town gate. Asked me for water. Well, I was happy enough to draw water for him. But then he said, “Bring me some bread too, please.” I thought to myself, ‘Well, he may be a prophet, but he doesn’t know much about my life.’ I was down to my last tiny bit of flour and a little oil, and I’d run out of people to ask for help. We hadn’t had rain for years, and lots of people were hungry. The town was tired of me. The person who used to help me out died. I had a little boy, whom I didn’t know how to feed. I was going to make a little cake out of that oil and flour and lay down and die. So I told him that. And you know what he said? Widow J: What? Widow Z: He had the gall to say, “Give me some bread first.” … Well, first he told me not to be afraid. Then he said I should go home and make that bread, but first give him some and then feed my family. Can you imagine? Widow J: I can, a little… Widow Z: He said if I did that, the flour wouldn’t run out and the oil would not run dry until rain fell. Widow J: Did you believe him? Widow Z: I thought he was crazy. Could you pass the potatoes, please? Thanks… Widow J: Try some of the gravy. It’s exquisite. They have the most amazing food here. Widow Z: I know. And you can eat all you want and not gain a pound. Widow J: Well, with these bodies, we don’t have to worry about that anyway. Widow Z: Very true. It’s all … perfect. Widow J: So, what did you do when he asked you to feed him first? Widow Z: I thought about it. I knew he was a man of God, and I didn’t think he would lie to me. I couldn’t imagine how such a thing could be – flour runs out and oil dries up, right? Always has. And yet he said, “Don’t be afraid.” I thought, “I could take the chance for myself, but is it fair to take the chance for my son?” That didn’t seem right. But then I thought, “We’re going to have one more meal, and then lie down to die. Even if it gives us temporary relief from our hunger, that bread is going to wear off soon enough. And then I’ll be in the same boat. So why not try it? Why not take the chance? I gave him the first loaf I made. And then I went to scrape together the dregs of the flour and the oil to make the loaf for us. And there was plenty. And the next day, there was still plenty. And so it was, on and on, until the rains came and we had enough the normal way. Widow J: So if you hadn’t been desperate, you wouldn’t have taken the chance? Widow Z: I’m not sure… I don’t know if I would have. I’m not a very trusting person. After my husband died suddenly, I didn’t trust anything or anybody. And things just went from bad to worse in that famine. I wanted to give up. Widow J: I can relate to that! Widow Z: It took me a long time to start trusting it. Every morning I’d think, “Maybe this is going to be the end of the flour. I should enjoy this bread.” But in the evening, the oil was plentiful and the flour jar full. He was right. Widow J: That’s kind of what happened to me. My husband had provided everything for me, but after he died, his family shut me out. I had no children, no one to look after me. I begged on the streets, and took in a little bit of sewing… but I had nowhere to turn. Except God. When I prayed, I felt God’s presence right there with me. And somehow, I knew my life was in God’s hands, not my own. So one day I was down to my last two coins. And it was the Sabbath, the day I usually go to worship. And I always put my tithes in the treasury, no matter what was going on in my life. My husband had always done that, and I kept on. But that day I realized that there were no coins small enough for a tithe of what I had left. I couldn’t sub-divide them. Widow Z: Did you think maybe you should hang on to them? Widow J: That did cross my mind. But then I thought – kind of like you did with the flour and the oil – this isn’t enough for me to live on anyway! If this is all that’s standing between me and death, it isn’t enough. Why not give it all and just trust totally in God? When I thought that, my heart started to pound, and I felt this energy flowing through me. And I thought, “Am I just going crazy, or is this the Lord?” But I felt more excited than I did scared, and I just walked up to the treasury. There were all these important religious men there, putting their large coins in, making sure everybody could see how much they were giving. And off to the side there was this man in simple clothes watching everyone. So when it was my turn, I just looked at the coins in my hand, and thought, “Okay, God, I’m trusting you. Take all I have.” And I put them in. Gone. I tell you, I felt such freedom. So much joy. I didn’t have a clue what was going to happen next, but I felt more free than I ever had in my life. Even if the result was going to be death, I trusted God. He gave me so much life. And then I turned around and saw that man looking at me. He had the most amazing eyes. And there was such love in his eyes. I knew he was a man of God. His eyes told me everything would be alright. Widow Z: And was it? Widow J: Oh yes. Amazingly, it was. Like that flour and oil of yours. I just kept getting enough sewing work, and then I found a family willing to let me work for them. They had wonderful children, and I had a great time taking care of them, making meals, cleaning. I was with that family until I died. Widow Z: Did you ever see that man again? That man in the temple? Widow J: Oh my dear – he’s here! He’s the groom. We’re his bride, all of us who believe in Him. We’re not widows here, my friend. We’re not orphans. We’re the bride, the beloved. Yes, I saw him again in Jerusalem – I saw him enter the town on a donkey, hailed and lauded by everyone. And I saw him arrested and tried and crucified. I saw him give everything he had, more than two small coins – his whole life. And I heard that three days after they buried him, he rose from the dead. And then I understood why I felt such joy when I gave the last of what I had to God. I knew God was in the business of giving me real life, and that even if I died, I would be alive. So I was free after that. Free of want. Doesn’t mean I was never hungry – there were lots of times I was hungry and in need. But I didn’t ever fear again. Life or death, I would be with God. And so I was truly rich. And I was truly free. Widow Z: I was always so afraid of running out before that day. But when I took that chance and trusted God, I was free too. Widow J: I’m so glad I sat with you today. There are so many great stories here. Widow Z: And happily, we have eternity to hear them all. We’ll never run out. THE END. We’ll never run out of widows with stories like that. They’re all over – in Africa, in Afghanistan, in New Haven. Living on nothing but trust. Can we trust like that? Trust that as we give ourselves to God, we will have enough, and more than enough? Can we lay it all down as Jesus invites us to? That widow in Jerusalem laid it all down. She had total trust. The widow in Zarapheth was more like us – she was willing to do something for God, but she was going to take care of herself and her son first. And what Elijah told her was to reverse it: Give to God’s people first, and then look and see what comes your way. He was saying, “Be a part of God’s life, not the other way around.” God says, “Lay it all down, and let me feed you.” Not just your money, though that’s a good place to start. Most of us cling to way more money and stuff than we need. Tie up some resources elsewhere. When I commit 10 percent of my income to God’s work at Christ Church, that money is out of play. It’s no longer part of my resources. And God blesses me, and God blesses you. I’ve always had enough. A few weeks ago I told you about missionaries in Mozambique, and the vision Heidi Baker had of Jesus telling her, in the midst of thousands of hungry orphans, “There is always enough, because I died.” Rolland and Heidi Baker based their ministry on that promise, and on the principle, “Feed the one.” Feed the one. Tend the one. Reclaim this one from the garbage dump where she lives. Release that one from bondage to her pimp and her hopelessness. Heal this one of blindness, that one of pneumonia. God is releasing the power of the Spirit in amazing healing and conversion there – 7,000 churches now, thousands of orphans given homes, miraculous healing – and they believe they are seeing this harvest because they laid it all down. They have nothing. God provides it all, in part through donations from people like us who have not laid it all down, who are still clinging to a lot! They are grateful for the money, but they’d rather people came and saw. Peter is going to go to Kenya for a week in December. That’s right. In Advent. He’s going because he has to meet face to face with Evalyn and her board of directors if we’re going to succeed in raising the money we need to make the Nambale Residential School a reality. There are so many government regulations and bits of red tape, he’s got to go help them set up structures of compliance. But he also needs to see orphans again, to remember and remind us why we’re doing this, because people die from “not enough” while we live in plenty. And he is going to step out of the biggest frenzy of buying and selling, of spending and glitter in the American year – and spend a week in a country with no blinking Christmas lights, where families are being ravaged by AIDS and women widowed and children orphaned at an astonishing rate. And those orphans are the reason why we’re doing this – and I hope it’s a big “we.” I believe God is saying, “Give me the bread first, and look, you’ll still have plenty.” If we give our money and time first to God, our flour and oil won’t run out. They won’t. When we feed others first, God takes care of us. That has been the Bakers’ experience over 17 years in Mozambique, over and over again. The oil has not run out. The plane has almost run out of fuel, the food pot is empty, the floods are deadly, cholera is spreading – and they lay it at God’s feet and provision comes. Over and over again. In the face of millions and millions of starving people and orphans, God keeps providing. And that’s the wacky principle. We feed others, God feeds us. So how about us, who haven’t been down to our last meal, like that widow in Zaraphath – who haven’t come close to giving all that we have, like that widow in Jerusalem? Is there room in God’s kingdom plan for us, who are groping our way forward? I will tell you this straight up: it’s easier to jump than to inch forward. It isn’t called a leap of faith for nothing. It’ll be rewarded. But I will also tell you that I’m not much of a jumper; I’m more of an inch-er. I believe there is room for me, and for you, inching forward. But we’ve got to be clear what our goal is: giving our hearts, 100 percent, to Jesus. Laying it all down for Jesus, for His kingdom, for his power, for His glory. God doesn’t want a part of your life. God wants all of your life. God doesn’t want our religious observance, our lip service. God wants us to give what we have and then lay ourselves at his feet and say, “Feed me.” Can we proud, self-sufficient Americans do that? It’s hard! It’s a lot easier to lay everything down when you’re desperate. Most of us are far from desperate in money, food or things. But maybe somewhere in you, are you desperate for God? For more of God’s life? To have more meaning in your life? To be part of God’s larger, glorious life, and not just have God as a little piece of your life? Start there. Lay yourself at God’s feet and say, “Feed my spirit.” Lay down your unfulfilled dreams. God’s dreams for us are bigger and better for us than what we can come up with. Lay your dreams in that treasury in trust. Lay down your frustrated hopes, the places where you are thwarted in life. Lay down your deepest wounds, the ones you believe can’t be healed. They can – and God’s power is available to do that. Lay down your mistrust and say, “I don’t want to fight you anymore, God. I’m yours.” Lay down your talents and your gifts and say, “I’m yours. Use me.” Will you do that today? Offer your whole self to God? I’ve always been scared to do that – but gradually I’ve learned it doesn’t mean God’s going to send me somewhere I don’t want to be. Until I want it too. It means I’m letting God gently make me who I’m truly intended to be. It means I’m letting God set me free. Will you invite God to do that for you today? If you’re ready to lay yourself down at God’s feet, pray this prayer with me. Let us pray: God, you invite us to trust you with everything, to give ourselves to you. That is hard for us, because we can do so much for ourselves. But Lord, we want to see your abundant life released in us, as we give ourselves to you. Help us make that commitment of all that you have made us. Forgive us for our self-sufficiency that hardens our hearts. Remove the obstacles that keep us from giving ourselves completely to you. Open our hearts and fill them with your love. Open our hands to give and give, and then open our spirits to receive blessing upon blessing from Your hands. Release Your Spirit in us and make us yours. Amen. Amen. READINGS: 1 Kings 17:8-16 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread." "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread--only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it--and die." Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.'" She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah. Mark 12:38-44 As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely." Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." Back to top