On Joy

Sunday, December 14th, 2003
3rd of Advent
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Isaiah 35

1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus 2 it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you."
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8 A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God's people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

“I think Christmas is a sad time.”

It was almost a passing comment. Had it not been made in the context of talking about preparations for Christmas and what the kids were getting for presents, it probably wouldn’t have stood out so starkly in contrast to the rest of the conversation.

I stopped and asked, ‘How so?’

The conversation that followed was in some ways a baptism by fire into what it REALLY means to bear one another’s burdens.

One of the most humbling things about being in ministry is the readiness with which I am taken into confidence by some people. That is something that, although I’d experienced it before I was ordained, it usually came after a period of getting to know the other person. Though there is still a getting-to-know you period it is much, sometimes MCUH shorter. There is, with most people, a predisposition TO trust. I see it almost every week in my rotation at the hospital. That is not only humbling, but it challenges me to uphold that trust, to keep that confidence, and to entrust a lot more, a WHOLE lot more, to the care and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

What became evident in the conversation was that there was very little reason for the person I was speaking to to feel or see much if any reason to rejoice – not just going into the Christmas season, but anytime of year.

Isaiah is addressing a similar condition with the people of Israel. As we’ve noted over the last two Sundays, the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah were writing to and for a people who are in turmoil or in exile, far from home, across one of the most barren deserts in the world, with no immediate hope of returning to their home.

What have the prophets told them? They’ve told them to make the best of where they are - that there is Hope in that. They have drawn for them a picture of peace where the wolf will live with the lamb, the Lion and the calf shall lie next to each other, and children will play around snake’s dens … a promise that though what they are going through may seem to be nothing but hopeless and anything but peaceful, they are still going to see the fulfillment of both their hopes AND their yearning for peace.

In today’s text, we find the writer continuing in the same vein. He is intent on encouraging the people of Israel during a time when they could very easily have become despondent. Their King has been taken into exile and has died there. Their temple, the core of their identity as the people of Israel, has been destroyed. They are hundreds of miles from home. Where can they go? To whom can they turn?

The songs we sing at Christmas and the stories we tell DO seemingly emphasize the joy and happiness that accompanies the coming of the Christ child, for the most part. There are a precious few that nod their heads to the grief that is patently clear in the birth story we read in Matthew, chapter 2:

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more."

There is no outside evidence of the massacre of the boys of Bethlehem. There were probably no more than a dozen babies and toddlers who suffered at Herod’s order. Bethlehem wasn’t much more than a hamlet. The historical record would hardly have made note of such an event in such a violent period.

That is perhaps why ‘It Came Upon a Midnight Clear’ is so dear to me. Verse 3 –
And ye, beneath life’s crushing load
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! For glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing;
O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing!

It is not all garlands and lights, laughter and making merry, this season we are in. There is most definitely a shadowside to this celebration.

We turn to the text:

1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus 2 it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing … 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

What is the writer trying to tell us? What does this mean for Jerusalem Church? How do we approach Christmas? What can we, as a congregation, say and do in the face of a world that has made the observance of the most momentous event in human history a commercial wasteland, devoid for the most part of any true recognition of what it is exactly that made us call it Christ’s mass to begin with … One of the writers has given us directions full of hope, while the other has given us what would otherwise be called a fanciful, to not say rose-colored vision of what a truly peaceable world might be like one day.

Christ quoted this passage at the beginning of his public ministry, when his cousin John sent some of HIS disciples to ask him if he was the true Messiah. We find it in Luke chapter 7, beginning with verse 22. If we look at what he did over the next three years, it would seem that he meant the part about the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf and the lame leaping like deer and the tongue of the speechless singing for joy literally and physically.
Not to chase a rabbit, but I cannot, in good faith, state that miraculous healings no longer occur. There is too much that is unknown and unexplainable, too much that happens for no apparent reason that turns out to have an indelible impact on the lives of the people involved for GOOD – and towards God.

But back to the question of application: how does this relate to Jerusalem Church?

Like this:

We celebrate, and we rejoice, and we have parties and share gifts and meals and give toys and bake cakes and cookies, and send cards, but we never lose sight of the fact that we are surrounded by ‘this world of sin’, by that shadowside that is inconsolably weeping for her children – “for they are no more.”

We bear each other’s burdens, we lend a sympathetic ear, or a shoulder to cry on, we visit, and together we reach for the joy that is found in the knowledge that God so loved the world that God himself came to us in human form, in the person of Jesus Christ, to live among us, to share our pain and sorrow, and our celebrations as well.

This afternoon, at 2:30, we will be hosting a bereavement service here in the sanctuary. This is an opportunity to recognize the pain that can be caused by a mindless pursuit of enjoyment … a denial of the fullness of our emotions that can make for more heartache and tears than for laughter.

It is a chance to be in a community and in a place where together we can struggle to come to grips with a world that WE KNOW is broken, but which has, for reasons individual to each of us, come to be MORE broken through loss. It may be through the most evident form of loss, the death of a loved one. It may be at less-obvious losses, though no less painful – the loss of a job, the loss of a relationship, the loss of a sense of peace, or belonging, that may have been there before. It could be the loss of health, where the accompanying awareness of mortality can be overwhelming. Grief can come in many forms, through many doors, and it can last for a long time. There’s no time limit to the event that might have caused your grief, it might have been last week, or it might have been a decade ago. We would welcome you regardless.

Let’s pray.

Pictures of Peace

Sunday, December 7, 2003
Second of Advent (Peace)
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Isaiah 11:1-10

1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

It was one of those images that remains burned in my mind’s eye.

It was, if memory serves, the fall of 1985. The news story on Spanish Television was on unrest in the Philippines, specifically, Manila. President Ferdinand Marcos was attempting to maintain control of a population that was finally, finally ready and willing to do what was necessary to make him leave. There had been widespread calls for his resignation, and massive street demonstrations had been going on for several weeks.

Marcos had, in response, called out the military to break up the demonstrations and consolidate his power. The problem was, not all the military commanders were in agreement that Marcos SHOULD remain in power, not at the top levels of command, and much less at the rank and file level.

The video footage was of a soldier, brandishing his automatic rifle, walking towards a small group of anti-Marcos demonstrators. Though some in the group did start to break off and walk away, one of them, an older man, did not. He turned and, spreading out his hands, he began walking towards the soldier, who could not have been past his early 20’s, if that. As he drew nearer to the soldier, you could tell that the man was talking to him, imploring.

The soldier once began to raise the weapon, but then, as the man kept talking to him, the point of the rifle faltered, then dropped to level, then dropped down altogether, and as the man spread his arms and walked up to the soldier, the soldier broke down, and he ended up with his arms around the older man, crying.

There was no audio of the conversation that took place, since the camera that was recording it was a block or more distant from the event, but I can just imagine what the man might have been saying to the soldier.

Israel was, in a way, dealing with similar national dynamics.

Let’s review for a moment the history of Israel. The very term “Israel” can be confusing because it applies both to the one united kingdom and to the northern kingdom. Only David and Solomon ruled over the united kingdom. After Solomon’s reign the kingdom split into two.

Solomon, for all his wisdom, had created dissent through strenuous taxation and enforced labor among the tribes. When his son Rehoboam succeeded him, the northern tribes rebelled, leaving only Judah and Benjamin, which had already been absorbed by Judah. The northern kingdom became known as Israel and the southern kingdom as Judah. The two kingdoms never reunited. Israel lasted a little over two hundred years before being conquered by Assyria in 722 BC and, through mass deportations, ceased to exist as a nation. Judah continued for about another 150 years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, when much of the population was exiled to Babylon.

David’s lineage, then, continued only on the throne of Judah. Israel’s history is of one king after another being overthrown. But though these two kingdoms went their own ways, and the house of David never again ruled the northern kingdom of Israel, there was always the understanding that both were under God, and that someday they would reunite under God’s anointed king who would be from David. Out of the remnant remaining from the two kingdoms, he would resurrect the one kingdom of Israel, establishing it as God’s great kingdom forever.

In our passage Isaiah foresees the destruction of both kingdoms. Israel has been deported and Judah conquered, the last king from David’s line taken to exile to Babylon where he dies. Only a remnant of the people remains. A stump is all that is left of Jesse’s tree of kings.

But wait. A shoot appears out of the stump of Jesse. There is still life in that lineage; a king from the same stock will arise. Note that the stump is described as being of Jesse. That is actually an unusual description of the royal line. Only here and in verse 10 is the royal line referred to in the context of Jesse. Jeremiah’s prophecy of the Messiah addresses him in terms of being of David. "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch (23:5)." The royal line is always in connection with David. David is the first king, and all other kings derive their authority through him. But this shoot rises out of Jesse. Isaiah seems to be teaching that, though the Messiah is a descendant of David, he should be seen as another David himself. All the kings descended from David were measured by the standard he set. Far from having to live up to David’s standard for a king, he will set a whole new standard.

The images beginning in verse 6 in the text are familiar. “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them”. We’re familiar with them if we’ve spent any time listening to messages about peace, and biblical images of what that peace might look like.

We can imagine that, but is that all that we’re supposed to do?

I was picking Hannah and Caleb up from school on Friday, and was looking around the gym at Richmond County Elementary as I was waiting for them to get out of class. There were several banners hanging up on the wall above the doors that lead into the gym from the hallway to the school – one stood out. I’d seen it before, and you’ll probably recognize it – it said

“If your mind can imagine it, you can achieve it.”

I’ve always thought of that as a basic, self-help, pump-you-up kind of bumper sticker phrase. In its best sense, it encourages you to work towards goals – hopefully realistic goals- that will then give you a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment that you can’t find anywhere but in yourself.

What does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church in Emmerton, VA?

Being a people of faith, we have the added benefit, no, the DISTINCT advantage, of not being solely dependent on ourselves for the outcome of our efforts. We can count on among others, the support and encouragement of our brothers and sisters in the faith – not only here at Jerusalem, but across our Rappahannock Association. We can count on support and guidance and encouragement from the staff and resources of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. We can also count on the support of friends and family in our community who are fellow Christians who happen to belong to other traditions, but share our goals.

Oh, and we also have the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, telling us that our responsibility is to help usher in the Kingdom that Isaiah is describing. Guess it would be good to not let that one go by without mentioning.

Wolves and lambs, lions and calves, toddlers playing around a snake’s den, those are all good images, but let’s look for some images that are a little more immediate.

What is a picture of peace for you?

Here’s one: a committee meeting that is remembered not for the disagreements that were expressed, but for the fact that, in spite of those disagreements, the overriding memory was that the members in attendance cared deeply for each other, and didn’t let disagreements stop that care and love from being expressed.

Here’s another: after years of silence, and if not silence, tension, a long-estranged friend is warmly and kindly welcomed on a return visit to a sister congregation. Whatever issue had initially separated the two, though still ‘there’, stopped getting in the way of sharing Christ’s love and peace in the utterance of a kind word of appreciation and welcome.

Today we celebrate the second Sunday of Advent – the Sunday of Peace.

We’ve moved from the Hope of the coming of a Savior to the expression of the fulfillment of that hope – in the form of peace. I read somewhere that in the last 2,500 years of recorded history, as a whole the planet has enjoyed a total of 286 years of peace. That is, if you put the periods of time when there haven’t been wars of one sort or another raging or simmering end to end, that amount of time adds up to 286 years. Something tells me that those numbers may be off – that it has been longer than 2500 years, and that there have been LESS than 286 years of peace.

Where does peace begin? Outside us? Does peace come about because of the absence of weapons? I think I can safely say that humankind is inventive enough to be able to make a weapon out of just about anything. After all, we already use something as … harmless … as words, tone, and inflection to tear gaping wounds in each others’ souls, what more can we come up with?

Peace begins at home – and I don’t ONLY mean in your dwelling place – but I mean your dwelling place the one that goes everywhere YOU go – peace begins inside your own skin, your own head, your own heart – and we are getting closer and closer to welcoming the Prince of PEACE – that very peace we all long for, strive for, crave, and can every so often, get a taste of.

May we, in our reaching for and drawing in the Kingdom of God, become purveyors of that same peace – that peace that passes all understanding, that calms all fears, that stills all dissatisfaction, and draws us - in one sweeping motion – into the presence of the Loving, living God, who calls us and challenges us to be HIS peacemakers.

Let’s pray.

Meditation on Hope

Sunday, November 30, 2003
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
First Sunday of Advent (Hope)
Jeremiah 29:5-14

5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord. 10 For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon's seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. 13 When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

The scene is just a two or three years after the beginning of the Babylonian exile. Around 3,000 Jews have been forcibly removed from Jerusalem, among them, priests, prophets, and, significantly here, false prophets.

These false prophets were predicting an early fall of Babylon, and a speedy return of the Jews to Jerusalem. What they were offering was false HOPE to the exiled community. Jeremiah is telling them to not be taken in by those who are telling them what they want to hear.

The exiles had not, apparently, even considered building their own houses in Babylon, but they DID enjoy freedoms that would not normally be associated with a group exiled into slavery. The deported included a specifically targeted group: craftsmen and artisans. Nebuchadnezzar had shipped them off to Babylon to help beautify it. These were the people that Jeremiah was writing to.

Jeremiah knew that there was a reason for the exile. God was disciplining God’s Children. The false prophets, in creating a sense of impending release from their …punishment, as it were, were nullifying the effect of that discipline.

In his letter, Jeremiah is saying that the Lord’s ultimate purpose for his people is blessing.

Let’s reread verse 11:

11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Those last words are literally “an end and a hope”. Another way to say: A Hopeful Future.

Today we are celebrating the Sunday of Hope. We are looking forward to, eagerly awaiting, the coming of the Christ Child. In the Gospel of Luke, we have a beautiful scene where the young pregnant Mary visits her older cousin, Elizabeth. When she entered Elizabeth’s house and greeted her, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped, and Elizabeth was filled with God’s Spirit.

Do you remember the first time you felt your child move in your womb? Or the first time your hand on your wife’s belly felt your child move? A holy time.

This is such a time. We are not here because of a false hope, we are here because of the REAL hope we find in the coming of Christ, that miraculous, incredible, indescribable moment when God chose to take on Human form and join us – God with us – Emmanuel.

Jeremiah’s encouragement is to live life as unto God. Do not dwell on the dark side of our circumstances, do not build your hopes on unrealistic expectations of … winning the lottery, or waking up one morning and everything being ‘just the way you imagined it would be’, but on the fact that our hope is NOT based on our circumstances, but on the certainty of God’s love and care for us. And that love and care has nowhere been more clearly defined than through the person of Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray.

(hymn # 65) Joy to the World

Benediction:

“And now may God, Creator of light, and trees, and flowers, Grant us peace. As we have decorated this place of worship, may we also live lives of worship, decorated with God’s forever things: forever love, forever life, forever living, forever growing, forever green! In the name of God’s love and light. Amen!”

Reaping Bounty

Wednesday, November 26th, 2003
Community Thanksgiving Service
Totuskey Baptist Church, Haynesville VA
2 Corinthians 9:6-15

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9 As it is written,
"He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."
10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12 for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13 Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Why are we here?

It’s Wednesday evening and normally, some of us would be in prayer meeting or Bible Study at our respective churches, but we find ourselves, gathered with friends and neighbors mostly, but perhaps some strangers here and there, for a community thanksgiving service of worship.

The last meeting of the Richmond County Ministerial Association was 18 days ago, and it was the very first meeting I’d had a chance to attend. As it worked out, we ended up meeting at Jerusalem Baptist in Emmerton, the church where I serve. I was informed that ‘the new kid on the block’ usually gets to preach, so here I am, something of a stranger among you, but welcoming of the opportunity to be here.

We moved here from Virginia Beach in June, and there, too, our church, Thalia Lynn Baptist Church, each year participated in a Community Thanksgiving Service, with the neighboring United Methodist and a Presbyterian churches.

The key word there as well as here tonight is ‘Community’. Though it is understood that there are congregations represented here that ‘do church’ differently, we are all here with a single purpose: this is a service of Thanksgiving, and we unite our voices and our hearts in thanks to the one we all call “Lord”. There may be differences in the structure of our respective church hierarchies; there may be differences in how the individual bodies govern themselves. There are differences in how we view scripture, or how we apply it to our lives, or how we sing on Sunday morning, or how we pray, but we can rest in the unity of the one who calls us to service, and obedience, and to love.

October and November are, in most churches, the time during which we focus on stewardship. It is budget setting time at Jerusalem, and we are in the (hopefully) finals steps of completing that process. As a first-time Pastor, Please understand this in the spirit in which it is said: I’m REALLY glad Jerusalem isn’t any bigger than it is. I absolutely cannot imagine dealing with the budget of a church that is any larger than we are.

In our text, Paul is dealing with giving issues as well. He’s just finished telling the folks in Corinth about the folks in Macedonia, and how generously THEY have been in their collection of offerings to send to the church in Jerusalem. Here’s the catch: the giving of the Macedonian churches was triggered by the reports of the Corinthian Church’s willingness and enthusiasm for giving, not their actual giving. He is now coming back to the Corinthians and saying “here are some of the PEOPLE who GAVE the money based on what I told them about YOU, now it’s YOUR turn. The commentary I glanced through regarding this passage says
The Corinthian enthusiasm for participating in the collection (cf. 8:10-11) served as an example worthy of emulation by the Macedonians for their own contribution (9:2). Now, however, because the Macedonians had now successfully completed what they had enthusiastically begun under the stimulus of the Corinthian example (8:1-5), their exemplary action formed a basis for Paul's appeal to the Corinthians to complete their contribution (8:6, 10-11). (Zondervan NIV Commentary on Corinthians)

Any way you look at it, Paul is playing the two churches against each other. Paul was not above using creative persuasion to elicit a desired response. Read Philemon sometime.

What is Paul saying? “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind. Not reluctantly or under compulsion.” Let’s put that into context for being here tonight.

Each of you must be here because you CHOSE to be here, hopefully not reluctantly or under compulsion. Each of you hopefully came with a thankful heart because you truly ARE thankful, not JUST because you ALWAYS come to the service, or because you “wanted to see what this new preacher has to say”.

As chapter 9 begins, Paul summarizes: ‘the point is this, you reap what you sow’. We live surrounded by farms. I don’t have to go into any further details about what that means. It is self-evident. Besides, being a city boy for the most part, I’d be afraid I’d call a ‘driller’ a ‘combine’ or something equally silly if I went too far into the illustration. Just as an aside, up until this past Sunday, I couldn’t have told you the difference between the two to save my life, though now, if I look long and hard, I THINK I could point out one or two differences, thanks to Cliff Mullin, the deacon chair at Jerusalem, for gently pointing that out to me.

The collections that were taken up in Macedonia and Corinth were to assist the church in Jerusalem continue its ministry and witness. As a church universal, we have always been about helping the poor, the needy, widows and orphans.

This past September 18th, I was introduced to what community means here on the Northern Neck. I have never experienced it as I did then, and since. I have occasionally caught glimpses of it elsewhere, and clung to those times when I HAD seen it, but the way Richmond County pulled together over the weeks following Isabel’s visit, simply overwhelmed me, in the BEST sense of the word.

Let’s go back to my original question: Why are we here? Where does our sense of community come from? Is it ONLY geography? Why were men and women willing to get out and clear trees and cut and haul and clear yards and roads? Why are we willing to donate food and clothing, why are we willing to give of our time and energy to volunteer, to help others, to serve meals, to visit?

What is each of those activities an example of? They are each a way of expressing to another person our love for them.

Love must be at the heart of everything we do. In his earlier letter to the Corinthians, Paul has something to say about that – read chapter 13 when you have a chance, but basically what Paul is saying is this: you can do all the good in the world, or even OUT of it, but if it is not fueled by love, it’s nothing.

So the question is answered: Why are we here: to give thanks to God for God’s love for US. Why do we carry on this ministry? We love, because God first loved us.

We are reaping the bounty of God’s love every day. Each breath we take, each morning we wake, each time we rest, each hug we get or give, each friend we make, each moment we are allowed to share in the breaking in of the Kingdom of God, we are celebrating the good and perfect harvest in which God has engaged us.

The offering tonight is to replenish the RCMA’s Emergency Relief Fund, please give generously.

In All Things

Sunday, November 23rd, 2003
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Psalm 69:30-36

30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. 31 This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. 32 Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. 33 For the Lord hears the needy, and does not despise his own that are in bonds. 34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. 35 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; and his servants shall live there and possess it; 36 the children of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall live in it.

Philippians 4:4-9

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

When Leslie and I first started taking classes at the Leland Center last year, our tuition the first semester was covered through a scholarship provided by the school. As the end of the semester approached, we began to wonder how we would be able to return, since there was no mention of the scholarship carrying through to the spring semester. At the end of November, Leslie received a call from Ken Palmer, a member of our church who is in charge of directing the fundraising efforts for the Leland Center’s Hampton Roads Campus. He was excited because he wanted to share with us that someone, a person who chose to remain anonymous, had donated funds specifically to cover our tuition for the Spring Semester, and beyond, as long as we were in school. To this day, that person remains unknown to us. Though we’ve speculated about who that person MIGHT be, we have no idea who he or she actually is.

We almost met in the late spring, if memory serves, at the dinner Thalia Lynn hosted for the Leland Center on the Southside of Hampton Roads, but it never actually happened, or at least we were not introduced to the person as “the one who helped us in that way.” It has been, to be honest, one of the more frustrating experiences I’ve been through.

There’s not so much a sense of obligation to express our gratitude to the person, though that emotion is definitely there, but it is more an as-yet unfulfilled desire to sit and share with them what their generosity has made in our lives – what it did to us as people seeking how to follow God’s direction in our lives. That giving was a catalyst for everything we’re doing today. We are, of course, profoundly grateful, to whoever it is. But it is intensely frustrating to not be able to look someone face to face and tell them how much what they’ve done has meant to you.

It would seem an easy topic to write on; thankfulness. But as I sat at my desk over the last couple of days, the trouble was how to narrow the focus of the issue to bring it into a manageable form.

Sitting there last night, I realized, there’s no need to narrow it down. In fact, we would probably do well to EXPAND the scope of the word!

We’re engaged this week in the observation of the Thanksgiving Holiday. A couple of years ago, I watched the various thanksgiving episodes a few TV shows, and they necessarily diluted … no, maybe that’s not the right word, they reduced the theme of the day to the lowest common denominator: it’s not about the object of our thankfulness as much as it is about the simple attitude of being thankful.

While I do object to that absence, I also believe we need to give credit where credit is due. Being thankful is a virtue, and a hallmark of a moral society. In other words, being thankful sets us apart culturally. It reflects thoughtfulness, an intentional response to a kindness that has been given, or shared. It should be encouraged in any setting; it is of value in its own right.

We send notes to say thank you. Just in the last week, we’ve received 4 or 5 thank you cards for different things we as a church have done. It says as much about the person receiving the gift as it does about the person doing the giving.

Where we, as followers of Christ, differ from the generic thankfulness espoused by the general culture, is that there is an object to our attitude.

The Psalmist is not being thankful in general for having been delivered from his enemies. Paul is not encouraging the members of the church at Philippi to express a general attitude of thanksgiving as a way of filling a silence they may encounter during a meal.

In each case, there is someone to whom each is or should be grateful TO.

The Old Testament practice was, as you know, to offer sacrifices to God as a way of saying thanks. The sacrifices ranged anywhere from a dove, as we read mentioned in the New Testament, to an Ox or a Bull, as the passage mentions.

We need to remember the most famous almost-sacrifice mentioned in the Old Testament – Abraham sacrificing Isaac. The Psalmist is keying in on the same lesson that Abraham learned – a thankful, obedient heart is more valuable to God than any physical sacrifice made.

The passage from Paul’s letter to the Philippians echoes that same thought - rejoice in the Lord … one of the most natural expressions of rejoicing is in song. When we lift our voices in songs of thanksgiving, Paul is pointing out that the Lord is near. God inhabits our praise, our Thanksgiving.

What is the lesson of the Gospel for Jerusalem Church in all this?

It is this: through Christ’s sacrifice, we can now approach the throne of God Almighty – Jehova Jireh, as Soozin mentioned earlier in the service – “God who sees to it” – God who provides. In the act of thanksgiving there is communion. We are not giving thanks in a diffused, undirected way. We are giving thanks to ‘The Author and finisher of our faith’ – to the alpha and omega – to the one who has healed us.

There’s a miracle that always stands out in my mind – Jesus’ healing of the 10 lepers. The story goes something like this: Jesus is walking along the road, and a group of ten lepers call to him – they call because they cannot approach him – they had to maintain a prescribed distance from everyone who was not infected with the disease. Jesus heals them all, and they run off to tell everyone they know about it. Can anyone tell me what is unique about that healing? How many of the men return to say thanks? One.

Are we as diligent? Are we thanking God for 10 percent of our lives? Do we only thank God for the good we experience?

Paul says ‘in everything, with prayer and thanksgiving …’ we read elsewhere in his letters what that meant for Paul. Prison, torture, being shipwrecked, stoned, beaten, chased out of cities and synagogues all across the known world.

People ask me how things are going here for me. They want to know about both the pastorate and the Hispanic ministry.

I tell them, truthfully, that it is going really, really well.

It’s not easy. There are challenges, and there have been some difficult events and situations, but I am no less thankful for them than I am for the others. I know that through ALL my experiences here, with you, I am learning more and more about who God wants me to be.

I’d like to open this time up to congregational sharing. Helen did this in the Sunday school assembly time, but I won’t call on anyone. If you have something you’d like to share for which you are thankful for, please share it with us.

--

Let’s pray.

Foundations

Sunday, November 16th, 2003
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Mark 13:1-8

1 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" 2 Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down." 3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?"5 Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name and say, "I am he!' and they will lead many astray. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

“Kenny, can you hear me?”

My brother, Jimmy, was on the other end of the line. I had just flown down the day before to Ft. Worth, TX, to accompany a former Journeyman friend, Phil Brown, and his youth group on a mission trip to the Rio Grande Valley. I’d flown in a few days early and was visiting another friend, Eloise Parks, before heading out on that trip, and Jimmy had called the afternoon after I arrived.

The connection was not very clear, and I didn’t understand what he said when he first told me why he’d called. I asked him again,

“Eric is dead”

Eric was Aunt Lala’s youngest son. He fell right between Jimmy and me in age. He’d been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, and had been fighting the ravages of the disease for over a year.

He was engaged to be married. He was learning to fly, and wanted to become a pilot. He was planning on moving to Australia. His whole life was ahead of him, and that June day in 1991, it all stopped.

I flew out the following day for a two-day turnaround trip to attend the funeral. My cousin Kim met me as I walked into their house. All we could do was hug and cry. The next two days were a blur. The church was packed with about 500 people. Afterwards, I flew back to Ft. Worth and went on the mission trip with the youth of Rheta Baptist Church.

But it simply didn’t make sense.

This past Tuesday morning, when I got to Riverside Tappahannock Hospital for my chaplaincy rotation, the morning had progressed fairly quietly. Though I’ve been called in on a couple of emergencies, for the most part I’ve not seen the hospital in anything other than a ‘normal’ mode. I stopped in to see Charlotte right around 11, and she greeted me with her usual smile, but her energy wasn’t there. She still reached up to return my hug, but once that was done she settled back into a quietness that I’d noticed the day before as well. After visiting with her for a few minutes, I went on about the day’s duties, driving up to the History Land Nursery worksite on Rt. 17 for a lunchtime visit, and then coming back through Warsaw and stopping in at the Health Care Center to visit Miss Annie and George Schools.

When I got home, it was probably about 3PM. About a half hour to 45 minutes later I was paged by the hospital. I wasn’t able to call immediately, and got another page about 2 or 3 minutes later. When I got through to the switchboard, the receptionist told me that they wanted me in the ICU, and put me through.

“There’s a family here that wants you to come. They have a family member that has expired, the family of Charlotte Lewis.”

I didn’t think I’d heard her correctly, and after taking in a breath, I asked if she had said that Charlotte Lewis had expired. When she said yes, I told her “she’s a member at Jerusalem, I’m her Pastor, I’ll be right there.”

Though the initial shock at the news of both of these deaths was similar, the dynamics surrounding the event were different in most ways, except one critical way.

Eric was as active as his illness would allow him to be at Hermitage Hills Baptist Church. He’d made a profession of faith several years earlier, and to know Eric was to know that he was a follower of Christ.

Charlotte was as active here as she could be. The last few years had seen her abilities diminish, but her zeal for being here and singing with us and joining in worship was untouched. Her life has been an example of living and being the presence of Christ to so SO many throughout the Northern Neck through the years, not just family.

In Eric’s case, if I had been aware of the severity of his illness I may not have been caught so off-guard at the news of his death. I may have been more aware of the risks involved, and how his treatment was going. As it was, though I knew he was not in good health, I had no idea how life-threatening his disease was.

Though on some level I’ve come to accept the fact that he is gone, there is still, an element of tragedy, of something having happened that should not have happened surrounding his death.

With Charlotte, the tide turns the other way for a couple of reasons. First, it is somewhat easier to accept death when the loved one is advanced in years. Especially in the case of someone who has lived such a life as to have our response be sorrow, of course, but a deeper sense of … appropriateness in the passing. Though there is grief, there is an appreciation in spite of the pain for what she has gone on TO.

Still, with both, there is a sense of unsettledness. I remember when I first met Leslie’s cousin John was at Kenneth Maccubbin’s funeral – Leslie’s paternal grandfather. One of the first things he said to me was that “death is the most unnatural thing in the world”. That comment has stuck with me ever since. Both events – the death of a young man and an elderly woman, expected to differing degrees, but still unpredictable in their abruptness.

In our text, Mark has just told the story of the widow’s mite, and Jesus has made the point that it is what you give from your heart that makes the difference in what you put in the plate. The very next scene, Jesus and the disciples are leaving the temple, and one of them turns to him and says ‘Look, Rabbi, at this glorious Temple! Look what we have for worship.” He was taking pride in what Jerusalem had to offer by way of glorifying God. Jesus didn’t take long to cut him down to size. “Not one of these stones will be left standing.”

The disciples spent most of their time with Jesus in a state of confusion, and this time it was no different. What was Jesus talking about? They walked all the way to the Mount of Olives before someone asked the question: What is the sign? How will we know?

Like all of us, they wanted a sign; they wanted to know ahead of time so they could be prepared for the end of the world. The Temple had stood for hundreds of years; they could SEE the symbol of their faith. So what sign that the end time had come would they see?

Jesus wanted the disciples to see his truth, so he warned them about false prophets who would seek to lead them away from his true path. Beware of those who tell you with absolute assurance that they have the final, exact truth about God’s plan. There will always be gurus setting themselves up as saviors who would rescue us from our fears about what’s going on in our world. The problem with gurus is that you don’t have to have any faith of your own. All you do is what they tell you.

Then Jesus described what is known as the end-time happenings. There will be wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines. Those are supposed to be the signs of the end of the world as we know it.

The only catch to this list of apocalyptic signs is that they have always been happening. There is not an age in the history of the world in which there were not wars, earthquakes, and famines. So it is really hard to see one particular sequence of events as the true sign of the end of the world. Many have tried and predicted, but so far they have all been wrong. We just can’t know when the end time will be because we don’t control the magma boiling under shifting tectonic plates and erupting earthquakes. We don’t control old historical grudges when they erupt into war. We don’t control weather conditions that create drought and famine in Africa. Personally, I just don’t think any of us are going to get out o the responsibility of continuing to live our witness for the whole of our lives.

That means we are always living in the meantime. We are living in the meantime between the birth of Jesus as Messiah and the return of Christ in glory. And we want signs, too. We want certainty, and leaders who will tell us exactly what is going to happen so we can feel secure. We want somebody to be in charge, so life won’t feel so unsettled.

Hebrews 10:22 says, “let us approach (God) with a true heart” What is a true heart? It means we are supposed to be honest with God. We’ve all heard prayers of people who are speaking to those around them rather than to God. It is a temptation I have to struggle with every time I as a Pastor am asked to pray. A true heart takes us to God with all the mess-ups and mistakes we have made. Our hearts are cleansed by confession. Our bodies are washed in baptism. So we can be honest with God because we know we have been forgiven. We have the assurance of faith that we won’t be condemned by God, because through Christ’s sacrifice, we have been forgiven. Our hearts are pure before God. This is the foundation of our faith.

We heard earlier, in our responsive reading, the verse from Luke:

If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. (Luke 6:48, The Message)


So what are these words Jesus mentions?

“Come, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest”

“Come, take up your cross and follow me”

Jesus points to himself.

There is no assurance in anything else. Not in Buildings, the Temple at Jerusalem was utterly destroyed less than 40 years after Jesus told his disciples no stone would be left atop another.

There’s no assurance in status or wealth, in the parable of the rich young ruler, after accumulating all that wealth, the man dies in his sleep.

There’s no assurance in health or youth. Eric was an athletic young man when his disease caught him.

There is no assurance anywhere but in our faith in Jesus.

What does this mean for Jerusalem?

We’re in the process of setting a budget for next year. The realities are a little daunting, with projected expenditures outpacing projected giving.

We know that the foundation for this church is not in the fact that the cornerstones were well-laid, though that does play a part. We know that the foundation of this church is more than that – it comes from legacies of faith lived out by those who’ve gone before. The cloud of witnesses I spoke of last Sunday has been increased in the last week. It is from their witness that we draw strength. It is by their example that our faith is upheld. It is through their reliance on the providence of God that we can approach the throne of the almighty with pure hearts.

Let’s pray.

Such A Cloud

Sunday, November 9th, 2003
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Hebrews 11, 12:1-2

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last walked through the cemetery. I’ve wandered the headstones several times since I’ve been here, sometimes alone, sometimes with one of the boys or Hannah, sometimes early in the morning and other times in the middle of the afternoon or early in the evening.

Each time, I’m struck to a point of reverence. The lives that were lived, sometimes long and full, sometimes all too brief, call me into a reflection on what I would want to leave as a legacy.

Last Sunday was the day after all saint’s day. I neglected to mention it then, but I think it worked out well, since tomorrow we will be observing Veteran’s Day. How can we speak of the two together?
You need to know up front that I am not in favor of the pulpit being used to promote what has come to be known as “American Civil Religion”, that is, the pulpit and the church become an extension of and an echo to what is said or decreed in Washington, just up the road a ways. That is not what we as Christians, or as Baptists, for that matter, are called to do. Much the opposite, in fact, is the case. We are to stand for “Christ, savior of the world”, and work towards that. In fact, work towards Christ, Savior of (your name here), Jerusalem Baptist Church, Warsaw, and Richmond County as our immediate response to “Christ, Savior of the world”. That is what our role is: to “think globally, act locally.” More often than not, that will mean standing in opposition. Generally to what the world would have us believe, but occasionally, in opposition to what we would see coming out of our Government. There is, in truth, a correlation to us in our government’s approach.

What we will most often find coming out of our nation’s capital is ‘Washington, the savior of the United States’. I don’t mean that as a criticism, that is what the role of the Government is: to guard, promote, and sustain the United States of America. The guiding principle is and should be ‘Our National Interest’. It is safe to say that there are a multiplicity of opinions in the room right now as to what those interests are, or should be, or should go back to being. That is what living in a democracy is all about.

While we may live in a nation that has been heavily influenced, to put it mildly, by the Judeo-Christian tradition, it would be just as accurate to say that it has also been influenced by forces of materialism, hedonism, and, to use a biblical term: idolatry. I would not say that we live in a Christian Nation. Christianity is a personal, intimate, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, it is not an attribute acquired simply by virtue of having been born here. You can say you’re a citizen of the United States, you can say you’re a Virginian, you can say you’re a ‘from-here’, ‘come-here’, or in my case, ‘called-here’, but neither you nor I are Christian by birth.

What we dedicated ourselves to last Sunday was to nurture Mary Alyce and Mac Bronner in such a way that they will someday come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, we didn’t ‘make them’ Christians. That will be something they will be working out, in the words of Paul, ‘with fear and trembling’ on their own one day. In a very meaningful way, we committed ourselves to making an impact on their lives for Christ.
Any time we reflect on those who’ve had an impact on us, we inevitably begin to speak of the generations that came before. In the 11th chapter of Hebrews, the writer is doing just that.
The Book of Hebrews was written in a time of great uncertainty for the church. The Christians of that day had lived through a time of terrible persecution. But with the reign of a more tolerant emperor, they enjoyed a time of relative peace and prosperity.

However a new emperor had come to power, an emperor who was hostile to the faith. Some of the members of the church were questioning their faith in God. They weren’t certain that they could hold on. So the writer of Hebrews wrote a sermon to help these fearful Christians maintain their strength as they faced a difficult and uncertain future.
This writer could have taken the direct approach, chastising the community for their unfaithfulness and browbeating them into spiritual shape. Instead, he reminded them of their history. He called the people to faith by reminding them of the stories of the fathers (and mothers) of faith, the ancestors that had kept faith in God alive throughout the ages. He told them the stories of Noah, and Abraham, and Sarah, and Joseph, and Moses, and Rahab, and many “little people,” whose names were unknown but whose perseverance ranked them among the great forbears of faith.

What we find ourselves doing when we review chapter 11 is that we begin to remember those who dedicated themselves to OUR formation.

Emma Key, my maternal grandmother, who made such an incredible impact on our lives by traveling to Chile to visit with us on the field, to try to understand what it meant for us to call Chile ‘home’.
Roscoe and Nell Park, my paternal grandparents, who exemplified for me what it meant to be a ‘rope holder’. In mountain climbing, or maybe it’s rappelling, (hunter?) there are rope-holders and risk-takers, and while my parents made the commitment and took the risk of traveling 8,000 miles from home, my grandparents made the commitment and became the rope-holders, securing and anchoring us all through times of uncertainty and sometimes danger.

Uncle Bill Carter, who took pride in keeping the seminary running smoothly, even with 40-odd MKs running amuck for two weeks during Mission Meetings.
Aunt Mary Jo Geiger, who exemplified the gentle spiritedness that gets so much more done with honey than with vinegar.

Gordon Turner, Leslie’s grandfather, ‘Grandy’. He never failed to have a sound word of advice, or a clever joke, or a story to tell. To this day, over 4 years after his death, there are still days when Leslie and I will look at each other and say ‘I wish Grandy were here’.
I draw up these memories of loved ones who’ve gone before with a similar sense of reverence as that with which I approached the names on the stones a few dozen yards northwest of here. Though I did not know them, I know they hold the same place in many people’s hearts today, as do the people whose names I just read through.
How are we to take this litany of faith? How do we respond to the richness of our heritage? Do we pass them by? Do we simply shrug and think, “those were other, simpler times, different situations, it wouldn’t apply here?” I think not.

“Don’t you remember?” the writer of Hebrews is asking? “Don’t you remember how God has worked in the past, how God has been faithful throughout the ages?” Don’t you remember when God changed YOUR life?

What does this mean for Jerusalem?

Chapter 11 is all past tense. It is a recounting of history:

4 By faith Abel offered
5 By faith Enoch was taken
7 By faith Noah … respected the warning and built an ark
8 By faith Abraham obeyed
20 By faith Isaac invoked
22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention
24 By faith Moses … refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter
31 By faith Rahab … did not perish

Then the tense changes:

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

When Leslie and I got married, we had an announced elopement. We called people up and asked them what they were doing on the 18th of July, and if they’d like to come to our wedding. The service was informal, immediately after the Sunday morning worship service. We were supposed to limit it to immediate family and a few close friends. Leslie had … maybe 10 people there. Altogether, there were 47 people at the ceremony.

We drew on this image – the cloud of witnesses, and asked everyone to gather around us – on all sides. It was, to put it mildly, a moving experience.

But that is what is happening here. The cloud of witnesses not only precedes us, but surrounds us as well. This cloud is alive and VERY present.

I won’t go on, except to say this: look around you. Who surrounds you? There are people in our lives who deserve our gratitude above all else, who have shown the way, blazed a trail for us to follow. Reverence is defined in the first instance as ‘A Feeling of Deep Respect, Love, and Awe.”

A verse from one of our hymns:

“O Beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life”

Which country do you love more than self? Is it temporal, or eternal?

I approach the cloud with reverence. They have given of themselves, sometimes to the final measure, and they are our heroes.

Let’s pray.

Who Are You Becoming?

Sunday, November 2nd, 2003
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Ephesians 4:25-5:2, 1 Cor 11:1

25So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not make room for the devil. 28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Yesterday morning, as I was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes, Caleb and Judson got a hold of two balloons they’d gotten the night before and decided they were going to draw and write on them. While Caleb was working on his in the living room, I think, Judson chose to work on his right there in the kitchen. After a few minutes of intense, concentrated effort, he held up his balloon and declared “there! My PERFECT name!” (show balloon) (for text only readers: the balloon was yellow and had a couple of unrecognizable streaks on it ... one COULD have been a 'J'...)



We won’t be drawing on balloons today, at least not up here, but we will, hopefully, learn what it means to have a ‘perfect name’.

“Belonging precedes Believing precedes Becoming”

A brief review: two weeks ago, we discussed what it means to belong. Reading back over last week’s summary of the previous week, I think the quickest thing to do is to reread a couple of sentences from one of the paragraphs. For those of you who might not have been here, this is the message before last in a nutshell:

As we invite and welcome people into this fellowship, this family, this small part of the body of Christ, we are initiating the dialogue of faith between that person and God. We are making introductions between that person and Jesus. In that introduction, we are carrying out a dual role: we are both doing the introducing, and being introduced. Because we are Christ’s presence, and in that, we are carrying out the incarnational witness of the Gospel, in other words, through the living of our lives, through our words and actions, we, like Christ, are helping to break in the Kingdom of God.

To summarize last week: the title of the message was “What do you believe?” We didn’t go down a laundry list of items we believed. We are not a creedal people, though if we were to recite or read the Apostle’s Creed today, there would be very little if anything that we WOULD disagree with, I THINK. The question in the title is necessarily rhetorical. One of the central tenets of Baptist Theology, the single item that, as a Christian denomination, Baptists brought to the table, is the concept of Soul Competency. That is, each of us, as individuals, can receive, interpret, and respond to the movement of God in our lives, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That includes what we each believe. While we can all agree on most things, I KNOW we don’t all agree on everything. That is why I didn’t pull out a laundry list. I thought briefly about changing the title to ‘When do you believe’ because I compared and contrasted Saul’s Damascus Road conversion experience to what may have been Timothy’s gradual, growing-up-in-the-church experience of faith, coming from his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.

So here we are, at the end of the quote.

“Belonging precedes Believing precedes Becoming”

Today we get to ask ourselves the question: Who are YOU becoming? Who are we, each of us as individuals, becoming? And by implication, who are we, Jerusalem Baptist Church, becoming as a congregation?

It’s appropriate to ask this question in light of what took place earlier in the service with Chris and Cindy and Mary Alyce and Mac. As a congregation, we just promised that, “With God’s help, we will so seek to follow Christ ourselves, that Chris and Cindy will be strengthened and confirmed in their resolve and that Mary Alyce and Mac, surrounded by steadfast love, may be nurtured in the faith and strengthened in the way that leads to life.”

Put another way, whom are you allowing to shape you? Whether we like it or not, as parents and as members of the body of Christ, our children, and like them, folks who look to us as an example of Christ followers, whether from inside these walls or outside, are going to be following our example, or deciding if they want to bother with the Gospel based on the example we set.

That is a huge responsibility. In 1st Corinthians, chapter 11, Paul, in light of what was going on with the Corinthian Church, probably with some exasperation, puts it into just a few words:

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”

Who do you see when you look in the mirror? Who has marked you with a seal? Do the eyes of Christ look back at you, or the eyes of the world? Who guides your thoughts? Who controls your actions? Who has made the biggest difference in your life? I confess that the person I see varies from day to day, sometimes from hour to hour.

There’s a song that came out several years ago, by a contemporary Christian trio of singers, Phillips, Craig and Dean, entitled “I Want To Be Just Like You” the refrain (chorus?) goes like this:

Lord I want to be just like You
‘Cause he wants to be just like me
I want to be a holy example
For his innocent eyes to see
Help me be a living Bible, Lord
That my little boy can read
I want to be just like You
‘Cause he wants to be like me

I never get through a hearing of the song without pretty much dissolving into a puddle.

The reason we celebrated with Chris and Cindy and their extended family as well as their own, young, nuclear family, is this: we are in community together. That means we share with each other. Through the living of our lives, through our words and actions, we, like Christ, are helping to break in the Kingdom of God.

As many of you know or have heard us tell, when Lucio and Domingo Perez, who work down at White Stone, back from Mexico and joined us here at Jerusalem for the first time since we first met them in March when we hosted the gathering back in September, Domingo opened his knapsack and pulled out a beautiful blanket. The colors on it are vibrant. It is a thick blanket. It is designed to protect and to warm. We have another piece of fabric that I would have brought with me if it weren’t, like, 14 feet long and a little wrinkled. We used it as a window treatment in Virginia Beach. It is almost gauzelike. If you hold it up to the light, you can practically see right through it. the image might be a little fuzzy, but it is there. Picture if you will, sheers covering a window on a sunny day.

Wynn Lewis, the former rector at Old Donation Episcopal church, in Virginia Beach, the dayschool where Hannah, Caleb and Judson went, loves to talk about ‘thin places’ in the fabric of this world, where we can catch a glimpse of what it will be like in the next world. When we speak of helping break in the Kingdom of God, that is what we mean: we are creating a thin place, where the kingdom of God is not only future, but present as well. The colors of the blanket we are surrounded by today, though beautiful in their fall splendor, pale in comparison to the colors we will someday see, but if we look closely, just like those sheers, the colors of the Kingdom come through.

Let me read again the first two verses of the 5th chapter of Ephesians:

5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

“Belonging precedes Believing precedes Becoming”

The question stands: who are you becoming? Maybe we should now ask who do you WANT to become?

Judson proudly declared, “my perfect name!” yesterday morning.

What is your perfect name? I’d suggest this: your perfect name is the name God gave Christ at his baptism, and has given us all, and the name by which Christ called us and Paul, in imitation of him, called the so many of the people he wrote to over the years:

We have, through belonging and believing, become a part of the body of Christ. As such, we become imitators of Christ, imitators in fact of God, who calls us to live in love, to love the unlovely, to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus until he comes again.

If you are here and are not yet named beloved, your invitation is to take on the name of Christ by making him Lord of your life.

If you are here and are already called by his name, but are looking for a local community of faith with which to join to grow to know him better, we would welcome you.

If you are here and are already a member, and are still wondering what your name is, know that it is this: “you are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter.”
“beloved.”


Let’s pray.

What Do You Believe?

Sunday, October 26th, 2003
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Acts 9:1-9, 2 Timothy 3:3-7 (Matthew 5:33-37, Romans 12:9-18)

Acts 9:1

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 5 He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

2Ti 1:3

I am grateful to God--whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did--when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7 for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

“Belonging precedes Believing precedes Becoming”

Just to review, last week we began to look at the components of this statement. Our question last week was “Where do you Belong?” Hopefully, the answer to that question for most of you here today is ‘Here’. But if not here, the answer, regardless of where you find your family of faith, is definitely with and to Christ. Our scripture passage last week was from the fourth chapter of Gospel of Matthew, the scene was on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the event, Jesus’ calling his first disciples; Peter, Andrew, James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

What we found last week is that, before they grew to believe, the disciples were welcomed into fellowship with Jesus through his invitation to join him. It is that same invitation that Christ continues to extend to us and to everyone today. Insofar as we invite and welcome people into this fellowship, this family, this small part of the body of Christ, we are initiating the dialogue of faith between that person and God. We are making introductions between that person and Jesus, but in that introduction, we are carrying out a dual role: we are both doing the introducing, and being introduced. We are Christ’s presence to them, and in that presence, we are carrying out the incarnational witness of the Gospel, in other words, through the living of our lives, through our words and actions, we, like Christ, are helping to break in the Kingdom of God.

Belonging precedes Believing precedes Becoming.

The first ‘step’ in the series, so to speak, is to experience a sense of belonging. As the saying goes, you only have one chance to make a first impression. The same is true – especially true – for church. I know of no other place where the perception of a group as a whole can hinge on the actions or words of a single individual – and not necessarily the Preacher - to the degree that it does in a church setting. That is why it is SO critical to be nothing we are NOT in church. That is, don’t say or do anything IN church that you wouldn’t say or do OUT of church. To turn it around: Don’t say or do anything anywhere else that you wouldn’t say or do here, between these walls. What is the most common accusation launched at the church? What is the most common reason given for someone NOT being involved or becoming active in a church? That it is full of hypocrites. Let’s work at nipping that in the bud. Biblically, Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 5:33 and following (part of the sermon on the mount):

33"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, "You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' 34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be "Yes, Yes' or "No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Paul puts it beautifully in the 12th chapter of Romans (for those of you who were here for the Associational Brotherhood meeting, forgive me for reading this passage again, but it is one that doesn’t seem to lose any of it’s power through repetition):

9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

It could be said in a simpler way: Be Real; being a part of a family of faith is an ongoing act of trust. Not only are we trusting God to guide and direct us as a congregation, as well as individually, but we are trusting each other with each other’s lives, cares, worries, fears, and in some cases, secrets and children. It’s usually a point of pride to be able to say ‘what you see is what you get’. Let that be true of us here at Jerusalem. Let’s be that transparent, that open, that welcoming. But it doesn’t stop there, because there is more to it, more to this being church to each other, than that. Belonging is the beginning place, but we come to the heart place.

We come then, to believing.

Our opening scripture presents us with two images of coming to faith, coming to the point of believing in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The first is probably the most famous. It is Saul’s conversion experience on the road to Damascus. It is so famous, so well-known, that the phrase ‘a Damascus road experience’ can be found outside of faith communities, and still carry the same connotation. It means having an experience so dramatic, so radical, that it marks you for life. Perhaps some of us here today in this room can claim to have come to faith through a similar experience. In those cases, it is easy to pinpoint the day, date, and time when we ‘got saved’.

Probably for others, the reference to Timothy is more appropriate: “a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.” Paul doesn’t mention Timothy’s wild days as a teenager, or how he used to chase around town in a chariot, throwing empty wine jugs out the back. What we have is progression. The faith of your grandmother and your mother, that is now yours.

I wonder if there was a time when Timothy didn’t remember being surrounded by faith? Please correct me (later ) if I’m wrong on this, but I don’t believe we have a direct reference in Scripture to how old Timothy was or if he was even born when Lois and Eunice first became followers of ‘The Way’, which is what the early Christ followers were called.

If he was a toddler, or a very young child, his experience may have been very similar in that respect to that of many of us here today. It’s not that you ever didn’t believe, it’s more an issue of … waking up one day and realizing ‘I really DO believe’. You may not be able to get any closer to the day or date than maybe give a general idea of how old you were at the time, but the truth remains the same. Sometime before that, you didn’t believe, but after a certain time, you DID, you stepped forward on this road, this pilgrimage of faith, and in the words of Robert Frost, “took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

For the disciples, that coming to faith had a specific turning point, similar in many ways to Paul’s meeting with Christ on the road to Damascus. It came after the resurrection. In the Gospel of Matthew, we read a short passage, verses 16 & 17 in chapter 28, just before the much better known great commission:

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

There is another passage, not so short, which I will summarize; Mark 9, verses 14 and following. The story is of Jesus coming upon the disciples surrounded by a crowd and arguing with some scribes. When he walks up to them he finds out that the disciples had attempted an exorcism. When questioned, Jesus answers “All things can be done for the one who believes”. The father of the boy then cries out, with a cry that echoes with all of us here:
"I believe; help my unbelief!"

What do we do with doubt? Is there a way to escape it? Hebrews 11:1 says

“faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”.

That doesn’t seem to leave room for doubt. In truth, it doesn’t. But what we need to remember, what we need to accept and incorporate into our self-understanding, is that we are inconstant beings. Not a single one of us, as close as we may come, are one hundred percent all the time. Speaking for myself, I can reel off several areas in my life where it would be wonderful if I were constant. Granted, self-perception is not always the most objective view, but it is what we work from by nature, and that is what comes through to me in the cry of this helpless father, who’s spent most of his son’s life looking for help, someone to rid him of the demon that had been plaguing him since childhood. He is saying, in fact, “Lord, I believe, but I know myself and I know that I won’t ALWAYS believe. I rely on your Grace to get me through those times.”

Jerusalem can be all of them, the Damascus Road and the ‘cloud of witnesses’, such as Lois and Eunice for the people who come through that door and don’t know Christ, who haven’t had an encounter with the living Lord through the lives of his followers. Jerusalem can also be the place that welcomes the person who is wrestling with doubt in the midst of faith. Here’s the thing: we don’t know which it will be for any given individual. We do know this: we are called to obedience, we are called to love, and we are called to share.

It is just that sharing that we will explore next week.

For now, for some, we are at the turning point.

C S Lewis was an avowed atheist well into his early adulthood. The only description he gives of his conversion experience is this: one day he went out for a walk, and between the time he left and the time he returned he knew that God was real. Somewhere along that walk, he came to faith. He specifically says, there was no dramatic event; it just happened that he began the walk as an atheist and ended it as a believer. If you are here today and woke up not sure, but now, somehow, someway, something has turned that uncertainty to certainty, your invitation is to consider this time and place as the opportunity to make that certainty – that step of faith - public.

If you are here today and have been surrounded by that ‘cloud if witnesses’ all your life, and know that today is the day you can say ‘I really DO believe’, we would welcome you.

If you are here today and have BEEN a part of that cloud of witnesses, or have already been ON that road to Damascus, your invitation is to continue in the faith that was first in Lois, then in Eunice, then Timothy, and uncounted others between then and now, and to strengthen the bonds of love and trust in this small but vital part of the body of Christ.

The special invitation today is for those who struggle with doubt. The struggle is part of our humanity; it is not a reflection on the strength or weakness of your faith. That you are in struggle with it is a sign that your faith is active, alive, and growing.

Let’s Pray.

Where Do You Belong?

Sunday, October 19th, 2003
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 4:18-22 (cf Mk 1:16-20, Lk 5:1-11, Jn 1:35-51)

18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea--for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

There’s a quote I heard the 2nd week of class, that has stuck with me ever since, and which I would like to explore today and over the next two weeks. It is this:

“Belonging precedes Believing precedes Becoming”

I’d like to expand that, looking at the lives of the Disciples. Today we’ll be looking at what it means to belong.

‘Making your way in the world today
takes everything you’ve got
taking a break from all your worries
sure would help a lot
wouldn’t you like to get away?
sometimes you want to go
where everybody knows your name
and they’re always glad you came
you want to be where you can see
our troubles are all the same
you want to be where everybody knows your name.’

Though I’d really rather not compare a Church to a TV version of a Boston Bar, the lyrics to the theme song from ‘Cheers’ touch on a very basic human trait.

In his Republic, the Greek philosopher Plato stated that ‘man is a social animal’, and that in order to thrive, man must live in community with others. In other words, humans are wired to be in association with other humans.

On some level, there is an element of Imago Dei, the image of God, in that trait. In that God created us to be in fellowship with God, as well as with each other, that is an aspect of the divine nature that we can share in when we are in worship, fellowship, or any other type of communion with each other. That is why, any time we are together, if you look closely, you can catch a glimpse of the Kingdom.

Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville was a place that welcomed me with open arms. With everything that was going on in my life at the time, the people in that congregation first and foremost welcomed me into their midst, did not shy away from my questions, did not shun me for my sporadic attendance, and were genuinely always glad I came.

When was the first time you consciously realized that you ‘belonged’ somewhere, or TO something or someone?

In some instances, that realization that you belong comes gradually.

I remember about 4 years ago walking down the hall at Thalia Lynn. We’d been members there for about 5 years at the time, and as I went down the hall, I began to greet the people I passed. I was walking from the Preschool wing to the Sanctuary, and on my way back to the Preschool wing, it dawned on me that I had greeted almost everyone I met by name. More significantly for me, I had been greeted by name. I realized that day that I belonged at Thalia Lynn.

In other instances, the realization is a little faster in coming.

My friend Stacey tells the story of meeting his wife for the first time. He had joined the Summer Missions Drama team for Kentucky Baptist Student Unions, called Son Share. Kim had joined the Music Team, and on the first evening, all the teams were together for a debriefing/devotion time after having spent the day working on their different programs. As Kim walked out of the room at the end of the evening, she walked past Stacey and ruffled his hair, and said something innocuous, like, “Good night, Stacey”. “Right then I realized I was going to marry her,” he told us. On some level, he realized at that moment that they ‘belonged’ together.

This immediateness, the turning from a lifetime of one thing towards a lifetime of something else, seems to have been the hallmark of the way in which people responded to Jesus’ invitations. It was no different with the disciples. In calling them to follow him, Jesus was telling them ‘you belong with me’.

Have you ever known someone with so compelling a presence that you hang on his or her every word? Or perhaps you have found yourself in the position of being that someone?

It is at he root of the human spirit, this wanting to belong. In developmental terms, beginning around the age of 4 or 5, we go through a stage where this belonging becomes all-important, so important, in fact, that it is at this point that we develop the ‘us and them’ distinctive. In order to belong, in order to belong to something, there must, by definition, be those who do NOT belong to that same thing. It is beginning at this age that we see clubs forming, usually formed down gender lines.

As adults, the shadowside of this longing for belonging is that, in order for there to be a sense of belonging, there must be a distinction between those who belong and those who do NOT belong. We can witness this disassociation throughout history; sadly, it is most in evidence in church history, see it displayed in graphic terms in the countries of the former Yugoslavia, in the ethnic cleansing campaigns in Serbia and Croatia, in the massacres that have occurred in central African nations, and, lest we think ourselves above all that, in our own history we see it in the racism and the resulting civil rights conflicts of the 50’s and 60’s, and even in continued attitudes we find but do not speak of so readily today.

We’ve seen it rise in our own denomination. ‘Theological diversity, functional unity’, once a hallmark of Southern Baptists, the understanding that ‘you and I may disagree on some areas of faith and practice, but that is not going to keep us from doing church together’, has been replaced by current leadership demands of “Theological Unity being the ONLY way to functional Unity”, a shift to a view where the understanding is now ‘if you don’t agree with me on every single issue, be it spiritual, moral, or political, you are an infidel’, seemingly ignoring decades of historical evidence to the contrary. It is the darkest shadowside of belonging … to want to be ‘in’ so badly that you separate yourself from the richness and beauty of the wonderfully diverse ways in which different traditions and different ideas can come together and give us a fuller and clearer and more detailed picture of who God is.

What does this mean, then, for Jerusalem? How does the disciples’ response to Jesus invitation to join him affect us today?

It affects us like this: last Sunday I stated that when we are doing the work of the church, when we act as Christ’s body in the world, we are active participants in the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. Does it need repeating that when Christ was on earth, during his public ministry, he was breaking in the Kingdom of God? When we invite – and more importantly, when we WELCOME into our midst – strangers, and estranged friends, and families, and folks who do not have a church home, or folks who’ve never been invited TO church in their lives, we are in fact extending Christ’s invitation to his disciples.

Belonging precedes Believing precedes Becoming.

The Disciples first were welcomed into fellowship with Christ. As was the custom of the day, if a teacher took on disciples, it was a 24/7 classroom. The disciples lived with the teacher. The disciples spent the next 3 or so years with Jesus. For us here that means that those whom we invite will be able to see us BE Jesus at any given moment. It is called incarnational witnessing. We live our lives as Jesus would have lived his.

It is, of course, a tall order. But it is the first step in the process – this welcoming – this giving a sense of belonging to one who has for whatever reason NOT found a place to belong. Earlier in our worship service, in fact, at the very beginning, after we sang “We’re marching to Zion”, we had an opportunity to express that welcome, to tell someone ‘you belong with me’ – it is listed in the bulletin as “Hand of Fellowship & Greetings”. We cannot minimize the importance of that event as a part of worship. In churches that observe a more liturgical form of worship it takes the form of the ‘passing of the peace’. It can also be expressed communally in a call and response – “The Lord be with you” – “and also with you” - “lift up your hearts” – “we lift them up to the Lord”.

There is a comforting quality in knowing that that part of the service is coming. It is not just a formality; it is a statement of belonging. Recognition that we are all part of one body, following, with Christ as our head.

Our challenge today as a church is to maintain, no, more, to increase that welcoming spirit.

We read in the New Testament of Jesus having 12 disciples. Consider us the equivalent of the 12. Our responsibility here is to learn from the master. At the end of his public ministry, our role will change. We will see that next Sunday.

If you are here today looking for that place to belong, where you can bring yourself just as you are, with no pretense, with no mask, stepping out on faith and into a family of faith, we would welcome you. We know someone we’d like you to meet. His name is Jesus.

If you are here today and have already met Jesus, but are looking for a place in which you can get to know him better, then we would also welcome you.

If you are here today as a member of this congregation, your challenge is to be as welcoming and as the Holy Spirit prompts. We say Christ meets everyone where they are. That means WE meet everyone where they are, with open arms, with tender hearts, with listening ears.

Lets pray.

Our hymn of invitation is ‘Jesus is tenderly calling’. Perhaps we can look up from the nets of our daily lives long enough to hear his voice.

Come To The Table

Sunday, October 12, 2003 (World Hunger Day)
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
1 Corinthians 11:23-26

23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Empanadas de Pino, Queso, y Ensalada Chilena.

That was our Lunch last Monday. My brother Jimmy was visiting us on a break from School up in Pennsylvania, and Leslie decided to make a Chilean meal while he was here.

Empanadas are a kind of Chilean pocket sandwich. Pino empanadas are a meat pie. The meat mixture is made up of browned ground beef and onions, seasoned with cumin, thyme, oregano, salt, pepper, and paprika. After most of the cooking is done, you add raisins to the mixture and let them plump up with the juices from the meat. Then you take a couple of spoonfuls of it and wrap it in dough and either bake or fry it. The baked kind can be as big as half of a large dinner plate, and constitute a meal in themselves. Empanadas de queso are made with cheese, usually a white cheese similar to Monterrey. Those you definitely deep-fry.

Ensalada Chilena – literally, Chilean Salad, is simple: thinly sliced tomatoes and onions, tossed with a little olive oil, lemon juice, and liberally seasoned with chopped cilantro and salt and pepper.

We gathered around the table, gave thanks, and Jimmy and I just soaked in the smells of home. A bite into the salad transported me back to those Asados - open-pit barbeques – we were lucky enough to enjoy at mission meetings in Temuco, in southern Chile. There was usually a side of beef, a
sheep, and a pig that ended up suspended on spits over a 15 x 15 foot pit,
and the salad was a required side dish. Empanadas are one of the national dishes of Chile, along with Cazuela de Ave, a chicken stew, with potatoes, carrots, and a kind of pumpkin in the broth.

To my family, my brother, sisters, parents and I, those are all comfort foods.

Comfort food that I’ve come to add to that list since I’ve gotten married: Pineapple cheese casserole, the first time I heard it described, my reaction was ‘no, thanks!’ but after tasting it, it became a standard at any holiday meal or special occasion. Tomato sandwiches in the middle of summer, when the tomatoes are perfectly ripe, and the bread is fresh, and there’s enough mayonnaise to make it a challenge to keep the tomato between the bread. Squash casserole, made with sour cream, it usually doesn’t last beyond two days in the refrigerator. Or Creamed Hamburger and rice, one of the simplest meals to prepare, but the emotional comfort it brings goes so far beyond the simplicity of the tastes that there is simply no comparison.

Aunt Lala, my mother’s middle sister, and Uncle Ray, lived in Nashville Tennessee for years, and always had the biggest table I can remember. Stan, Kim, Brad and Eric, our cousins, and for several years, 4 additional Park kids would join her either around Christmas or Thanksgiving, or really, whenever we could fit in a weekend trip to Hermitage.

“Y’all come!” was all we needed to hear to run down the hall or up the stairs from the den, to sit and eat and joke and laugh and try to follow fifteen conversations at once.

“Y’all come!” meant it was time to feast, to quench our thirst, to satisfy our hunger.

Out from all this, Jesus is calling us to his table.

“Y’all come!”

But what does he call us to?

He promises to quench our hunger and thirst, as he promised the Samaritan woman at the well, but hunger and thirst for what?

He offers himself, the bread of life, and the water of life. But which life? The life I’ve just described? We live in a country and an area within that country that can at times and to many of us, feel like just this side of heaven. If we were to scratch just a little beneath the surface, though, we would probably find otherwise.

One of the surprising benefits of parenthood has been rediscovering children’s books. We’ve introduced Hannah, Caleb and Judson to ‘Green Eggs and Ham’, as well as to other classics, like ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, or ‘Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’ and Shel Silverstein’s ‘The Giving Tree’. One of the joys of parenting has been to discover new children’s books, like ‘Bedhead’ or ‘I Love You, Stinkyface’, or to find books that, though designed for children, have something to say to adults as well … I think, in retrospect, that is the genius of Children’s Literature anyway, that the books and stories have something to say to those being read TO as well as to those doing the reading.

We have one book, a simple little paperback that has action prayers, songs, and prayers for mealtime. Flipping through it, Leslie came across a prayer from Nicaragua that caught her off guard. We pray it occasionally around the table at home:

O God,
Bless this food we are about to receive.
Give bread to those who hunger,
And give hunger for justice
To those of us who have bread.

Today we observe World Hunger Day.

We live in a world of harsh, sometimes horrible realities.

Enough grain is produced in the world to provide every living person with two loaves of bread a day, and yet, nearly one in six of us goes hungry.
• More than 840 million people in the world are malnourished—799 million of them are from the developing world. More than 153 million of them are under the age of 5.
• Six million children under the age of five die every year as a result of hunger.
• Of the 6.2 billion people in today’s world, 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day.
• The amount of money that the richest one percent of the world’s people make each year equals what the poorest 57 percent make.
• Virtually every country in the world has the potential of growing sufficient food on a sustainable basis. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has set the minimum requirement for caloric intake per person per day at 2,350. Worldwide, there are 2,805 calories available per person per day. Fifty-four countries fall below that requirement; they do not produce enough food to feed their populations, nor can they afford to import the necessary commodities to make up the gap. Most of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa.
And finally: The death toll from hunger is horrendous. Each day, 32,000 children die from hunger. That is not counting men and women, only children.

We distributed rice bowl piggy banks this summer during vacation bible school. The money that is collected in them will go to world hunger. It doesn’t depend on massive donations from a few select multimillionaires or corporations. The genius is, with enough participation, small gifts from a large number of churches and people accomplish the same goal. It may not seem like a lot, but it can make all the difference.
Paul is addressing the brokenness of the world, made apparent in the church at Corinth, when he reminds them of what the Lord’s supper was supposed to be: a proclamation. ‘For as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.’

We are, in observing the Lord’s Supper, communing, that is an action verb. As a body, as a community of faith, we are proclaiming the central truth of the Gospel. Christ’s death for the world. Christ’s death in our place. The second part of that last sentence is critical: “Until he comes”. That is saying a couple of things. First: Christ is no longer dead. So, the proclamation is not only of his death, but also of his resurrection. Second: Christ will come again. And this is critical: we are a part of his return. When we do this, when we act as Christ’s body in the world, we are active participants in the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God.

Let’s Pray.

(Communion)

26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." (Matthew 26)

This is our time of invitation. Christ invites each of us to the table. Whatever we bring to it, we are welcomed. It is what we take from it that will change the world.

Benediction:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
May God give you Grace never to sell yourself short,
Grace to risk something big for something good,
Grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love.
So, may God take your minds and think through them,
May God take your lips and speak through them,
May God take your hearts and set them on fire
Through Christ our Lord.

Closing hymn:
Blest be the tie that binds (1st verse)