None Dared Ask

Sunday, April 22nd, 2007
Third of Easter
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
John 21:1-19

1 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. 9When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. 15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

There’s a Far Side cartoon that stuck in my head several years ago, two men are in a fishing boat on a lake. There are mountains in the background, and looming over the mountains is the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion. The caption is what one of the men is saying to the other man: “What does this mean? I’ll tell you what this means, Bob! It means no limits and no license requirement!’

There’s a part of us that longs for normalcy – especially when we’ve been through some event that is so totally ABNORMAL that it just completely throws us out of whack. Knocks us off our routine, unsettles us. That’s been our experience this week, hasn’t it? Even though we are hundreds of miles away, and thankfully have suffered no immediate loss in the wake of the shootings at Virginia Tech, we are still overwhelmed by the tragedy. Our world has been shaken. And our hearts go out to the families of ALL those who died on Monday.

The disciples’ world has been turned upside down for the last three years, what with hanging out with Jesus and all, slowly oh so slowly, beginning to learn what Jesus meant when he told them that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, or that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, and just in the last couple of WEEKS, they’ve gone from sharing in a triumphal entry into Jerusalem to denying that they even KNOW Jesus in order to save their own skins.

And here they are, contemplating what their lives have been and what they are to become. Jesus had sent word to them through Mary Magdalene at the tomb that they were to return to Galilee, and he would meet them there. And here they are. It’s not exactly spelled out how long it’s been. But it’s been long enough for the reality to sink in that Jesus IS no longer dead. That he REALLY IS resurrected.

So the disciples are faced with figuring out what that means for the rest of THEIR lives. They would have been familiar with the concept of resurrection, but only in a specific context – the one that goes with life after death – the heavenly resurrection, if you will.

Jesus is confronting them with what it means to be resurrected to new life while there is life all around them.

And isn’t that what we are faced with every day? Isn’t it the same dilemma we have to figure out as we continue to live out our earthly existence after our rebirth into life in Christ?

What do we do? We go back to the ordinary, to what we know best. We go back to what it is that gets us from morning to evening throughout the day. For Simon Peter and six other disciples, that was fishing.

On one level, it seems that they were retreating, doesn’t it? Running home to the routine, away from the crowds and the Roman forces, and the high-powered leaders in Jerusalem, back to their backwater lakeside town in Galilee. But on another level, maybe it wasn’t so much that they were running away as it was that they were running TO what Jesus had called them to to begin with. What Christ called them to was to realize the holy in the daily. It might not have been a conscious, intentional move on their part, but more of a gut reaction to what they had been through.

For all the jump we can get from an especially powerful retreat, or from a mountaintop experience, or from … even from a good set of messages from former pastors during a spring revival, we don’t live out the dailyness of our faith by what nourishment we receive from those interspersed events, but rather, from what we do on a daily basis.

The meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that morning was nothing special in and of itself; broiled fish and bread. Eugene Petersen has Jesus calling them to the table like any self-respecting cook would – “breakfast is ready!!” Aside from the fact that Jesus, who by the way, had only recently been scourged and beaten, crucified and killed, was serving the meal, the meal was just that – a meal. It was the first meal of the day. After a hard night’s labor on the boats, the men would have been pretty hungry. I know on the few occasions we’ve gone out fishing or just riding in a boat, something about being out on the water does make you hungry. I can only imagine how loud the disciples’ stomachs would have been growling after spending the whole NIGHT out on the water trying to catch some fish.

The miracle catch foreshadows what the disciples would soon begin to experience as they began to share the gospel message of the risen Christ – and began to gather more and more followers.

Isn’t it interesting that John remembers exactly how many large fish they caught that morning: one hundred and fifty-three? The distance the boats were from shore – no more than a hundred yards. Again, it’s that sort of detail that makes the Gospels believable – the little details that don’t have anything necessarily to do with the main point of each story, but which are thrown in anyway.

Why is it that the disciples at first didn’t recognize the Lord in his resurrection appearances? Why is it that they still did what he told them to do? The text says ‘because they knew it was the Lord’. And I’m sure they DID know … but I wonder if part of them was wondering if it really TRULY was the Lord – yes, he LOOKED like him, and he TALKED like him, but … am I REALLY HERE WITH JESUS, or am I dreaming? Will I wake up and find that he is still in the tomb?

I think they were still adjusting to the new reality – the resurrection reality – that they were going to be living in for the rest of their lives, and the question of ‘who are you?’ just seemed unnecessary to them. And yet, John uses the word ‘dared’ ask … as if they were afraid to know who Jesus REALLY was… they knew him to be their teacher for the last three years, but they were seeing and experiencing a Jesus they had only seen a PART of, now in his fullness.

What does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

What does it mean to say that it is important to find the Holy in the daily? What does it mean to say that it was around meals that Jesus made so many of his points to his disciples?

It means that for whatever we endeavor to accomplish in the name of Christ in the broader stage of our world, whether we end up going on a mission trip to the gulf coast or even beyond, whether we touch the life of a whole community in Chile, or Spain, or Mexico – and as a family of faith we are called to DO that – to reach beyond our local community and somehow touch the world for Christ – we are still and always called to do what can SOMETIMES be the much harder thing to do – to witness to the very people who know us best, who’ve seen us at our worst, who’ve seen us in moments of weakness and disregard, who knew us before we knew Christ, perhaps, who have the stories to tell that we would rather not have known. It is into that dialyness of existence that we are called to live our NEW life.

It’s easy to live as someone without a past when you are surrounded by people who don’t KNOW your past. It’s entirely something else to try to live a resurrection life among people who knew you before you died to yourself and began to live for Christ.

Let’s pray.

Weeping Outside the Tomb

Sunday, April 8th, 2007
Easter
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
John 20:1-18

1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

For some strange reason, there is a rule written somewhere in the performance guidelines for early and middle childhood that requires children between the ages of about 4 and 10 to be all over the map on how easily they get up on any given morning except for Saturdays. Saturdays is the ONE day in which they have absolutely NO problem jumping out of bed wide awake the moment they first open their eyes.

I used to think there had to be some correlation with what Saturday morning cartoon was on. I remember waking up and being all excited about loony tunes – bug bunny, the roadrunner, those characters. But I’m not so sure any more.

Hannah, for better or worse, takes after me in this regard – she LIKES to sleep. Enough said.

Judson can be quick to wake or not. He goes back and forth.

Caleb is the one that holds to the rule. Weekdays, he seems to be a little difficult to get out of bed, but, come Saturday, he’s Johnny on the spot and ready to go at 6:30 in the morning.

Yesterday was no different in THAT regard. We heard him come to the top of the stairs from the basement, walk down the hall, slip into Judson’s room to make his first attempt to wake HIM up, and then pad over to the bathroom.

The shades in Judson’s room were drawn down. The shade in the bathroom was up. There was a momentary pause, and then we could hear Caleb’s voice, with rising excitement “OH MY GOODNESS!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!

Of course, he ran into our bedroom to let us know that there were 3 inches of snow on the ground, that the trees were loaded down with snow, and could he go out to play in it?

Snow is one thing that ALL the kids get excited about. We do too, usually. It’s a nice thing to happen. In WINTER.

Not that it’s a BAD thing, don’t get me wrong. But it is what you expect some of in December, then some in January and February, MAYBE a little bit in March, but by the time the season changes, you pretty much EXPECT things to gradually but more or less consistently, start to warm up.

As we looked out the window in wonder at the mounds of snow that had fallen, our thoughts were not only on the beauty of the scene, but also on the events scheduled for the day. Leslie was officiating a wedding for some friends. The CATCH was, it was going to be at Belle Isle State Park, on the grounds of the Mansion there, on the banks of the Rappahannock river; OUTDOORS.

The prospect of slogging through snow and sitting or standing in what would certainly be a blowing wind off the river was a little daunting … but it was something that, oddly enough, we were prepared to get through to see the couple married.

As the day warmed up, we could tell that a lot of the snow was going to be gone by the time the wedding ceremony was to take place. And it was, at least, the area where we were going to be sitting and standing. The trickier part was trying to dodge the falling snow that was being blown off the trees that were up closer to the house, where the dance floor and the music and the food was being served.

So the wind would gust, and you might here an occasional scream as some snow found its way down someone’s neck, and occasionally the dining tent would sound like it was being pelted with a truckload of pebbles.

The day was memorable not only for the importance of the vows that were exchanged, and the setting, but for the simple fact that the weather played a trick on us. Yesterday the kids were flying kites in the backyard and playing in the dirt, today they were having snowball fights with the sisters of the bride. Go figure.

There was a moment before the wedding, when the DJ was playing the music pretty loudly, and we could hear the friends of the couple already getting into “party mode”, chatting – and chattering – and carrying on, trying to have a good time in spite of the cold, when we were commenting on the fact that it was Holy Saturday. We had learned earlier this year that our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters do not hold weddings during the season of Lent, and as we have become more observant of the church calendar, AND the season of Lent and what it entails – the reflection, the sobriety, the introspection leading up to the passion week – and yes, Today – Easter – it is a jarring incongruity to hold such a celebration of LIFE as a wedding IS in the midst of a time of … solemnity, of self-denial, of remembering the suffering and death of Christ, of self-abnegation – practicing delayed gratification, so to speak, until today’s sun rises.

While I was watching the afternoon progress, I realized that this was probably not terribly different from what was going on in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago. The Sabbath was over by sunset on Saturday, so people went about their business once the sun came up on Sunday. There was work to be done, business to be conducted, forms to fill out, places to be, people to talk to … in short, the whole range of activities that are entailed in normal daily living. There might’ve been some conversation around the weekend’s events – that triple crucifixion that wrapped up before sunset on Friday was sad, of course, but it was a necessary evil. It certainly wasn’t going to affect how the rest of the week went. If we let THAT happen, we’d spend all our days wailing and gnashing our teeth for those who may have been unjustly executed. It’s a tough world. Get used to it.

And then the rumors began to circulate. One of the men, who’d been dead and buried by Friday evening wasn’t where they’d left him this morning. Odd, yes, but not really … unHEARD of … people were robbing tombs all the time. Especially if you were dead and wealthy … what? You say this man was only buried with the burial shroud and nothing else? Why would anyone want to break into his tomb and steal him away then?

Then we get the rest of the story. The women who had come to prepare his body – to wrap it better, surround it with fragrant herbs to offset the smell of decaying flesh while they waited for the body to get to the point where the bones could be buried … Mary Magdalene was her name … she’s telling the story that she was sitting outside the tomb crying and leaned down to look inside, and to her amazement there were two angels sitting in the tomb, where the man, Jesus was his name, where his head and feet were. And they supposedly told her he was not there. Asked her why she was crying. When she tried to answer that they where they were SITTING was the reason she was crying, she turned to find someone behind her.

You know how it is when you run into someone you know in an unexpected place? Well, that seems to be what happened to Mary Magdalene.

You see, it was Jesus behind her. I imagine she just cut a quick glance at him at first, what with two angels sitting in the tomb in front of her, I imagine her mind was trying to adjust to THAT idea before jumping on to the next reality-defying concept.

But she recognized him when he called her name.

She was crying outside the tomb. She was still in shock from the events on Thursday and Friday. Still reeling from seeing Jesus hanging on the cross, bleeding and beaten, crying out to God in heaven asking why had he been forsaken. Still adjusting to the idea that Jesus was gone from her life forever.

And God surprised her like an April snowfall.

Jesus was there. Alive. Talking. Breathing. Calling her by name.

Jerusalem was carrying on just around the bend as though nothing had happened … well, maybe not quite NOTHING … but nothing to get all worked up about …

Or should we?

The tomb was empty. Nobody came up with the body. Nobody except the women who went to the tomb – and THAT wasn’t the DEAD body, but the risen Lord.

We live today in the knowledge that Christ rose from the dead and lives even today – James Cameron notwithstanding.

We live today in the victory that Jesus held over the grave.

Or do we?

Do we live as though there really IS something beyond the grave, or do we live weeping outside the tomb, seeing in it the end of all that we strive for, the cessation of existence, the ultimate end of all our earthly struggles?

How empowered would we be to stop weeping outside the tomb and move THROUGH the tomb WITH Christ, and jump into new ways of doing church, new ways of BEING church, of reaching out and welcoming the otherwise unwelcome, those who live on the edges of society, those outcasts who Christ welcomed as he did Zaccheus, the woman caught in adultery, or the woman at the well?

We have before us a table set with bread and juice, reminders of the body and blood of Christ… reminders of the sacrifice HE offered in our place. His standing invitation is to take the bread and eat it, take the juice and drink it – but to remember that in so doing, we are proclaiming HIS death until he comes – BACK. That’s not a small thing we do. Because in sharing the bread and the cup we are proclaiming that we DO, in fact, live BEYOND the grave.

(Communion)

Let’s pray.

This Mind in You


Sunday, April 1st, 2007
Sixth Sunday of Lent,
Brief devotional after Choral Musical Performance

following the Baptism of Karen Parr and Caleb Park
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Philippians 2:1-11

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.

4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

9Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

We have heard the words of the central story of our faith related in song, and now through scripture. As we move through this next week, this week of remembrance, and reflection, this week during which we remember the events of the last week of Jesus’ life – his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his cleansing of the Temple, the Last Supper with his disciples, his arrest, trial, beating, crucifixion, death and burial, let’s please also try to remember the perspective from which we are viewing history.

Our Gospel is not an easy Gospel. It comes with a price. You’ve seen that price reflected in this service in the observance of the ordinance of baptism, which reminds us that WE are to die to ourselves and be born again into a new life in Christ, just as he died and was buried and rose from the grave on the third day to the life he lives now Glorified and through us – because you see, in simply calling ourselves ‘Christian’ we are claiming – and PROclaiming – something about the person of Jesus Christ – that he is Lord over us – our lives, our thoughts, our actions. That is to be understood as a daily endeavor, not a completed action. We know too well from our own individual experience that claiming Jesus to be Lord and LIVING the REALITY of the Lordship of Christ can be two VERY different things.

But our Gospel IS a free Gospel. Free in the sense that it is intended FOR everyone – no matter what their background, no matter what their baggage, no matter where they are on this road that we travel together – it is not for US to decide who ‘gets in’ – it IS for us to obediently and diligently proclaim the good news that God so loved the world that God came to us in the person of Jesus, so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. It’s that simple. It’s that hard, and it’s that easy.

Paul tells us to have the same attitude in US that was in Christ, realizing and understanding that we ARE a little lower than the angels, do not take that and exploit it, but HUMBLE ourselves … become slaves … and obediently follow God throughout our lives, in every aspect … to the point of death … we do THAT today by identifying that part of our lives, our makeup, our personality, if you will, that we consider to be inviolable – that is, that we let NOTHING touch … and surrender it to the Lordship of Christ.

It can be anything, really. Our sense of accomplishment in some particular area of expertise. Our pride in being completely self-reliant. Our dedication to our work – WHATEVER THAT WORK MAY BE – and I include myself in that – as well as anyone who fills their week with church activities. Those of us who are so engrossed in church activities can very easily drift into the mindset that of COURSE what we are doing is the will of God because it is FOR THE CHURCH, when in reality that devotion that may have started out pure has now replaced in our hearts our relationship with Christ. And it is weighing our spirits down just as any other idol would.
We need to always remember just exactly who IS Lord – WHO it was that God exalted and gave the name that is above all names – that at the name of Jesus every knee will bend, no matter WHERE that knee is – above, on, or beneath the earth – did you catch that? Every single one of our knees will bend – arthritic, replacement or otherwise.

And not only will we find ourselves bowing, we will find ourselves speaking, shouting, yelling, whispering, singing, sobbing the words we heard earlier – all of us, together: JESUS CHRIST IS LORD.

But we DO need to get through Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday before we get to Sunday.

Let’s pray.

Everything As Loss

Sunday, March 25th, 2007
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Text: Philippians 3:4-14

4even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

We love it here.

We really DO love it here.

Not just in the sense of loving the scenery, or the relative peace of living in the country, the friendliness, the neighborliness. We love it here on a far deeper level than I think we are aware of on a day-in and day-out basis.

I don’t want this to sound sappy, but I hope you realize that we love YOU as well. That loving YOU is a huge part of why we love being HERE. We love spending time with you, talking to you, knowing you, knowing your families, and what’s going on with them, laughing and sometimes crying together, eating and meeting together, studying the Bible together, wrestling with the truths of scripture and those parts of scripture that are sometimes confusing. I treasure being able to be with you when you have to be at or in the hospital, or when you go through the loss of a loved one. Being able to BE present with you in those times is not in any way a burden. It is in the fullest sense of the word, a blessing. Yes, it can be hard, but blessings come in many forms.

We love it that you all are interested in how the kids are doing, how our parents and brothers and sisters are doing, and what is going on in THOSE relationships as well. There is a wonderful sense of family that comes from being asked about your relatives, their health, and just the regular daily-ness of life. We love that we are walking beside you on this pilgrim journey, working out our salvation “with fear and trembling”.

During our prayer and share times on Wednesday evenings, and especially here, on Sunday mornings, during the Pastoral prayer, to be able to voice concerns and praises, thanksgiving and worship is easily a highlight of the week for me. For those of you who haven’t been to a Wednesday evening service in a while, we’d love to see you, if you can make it. The time together can really fly by. During our sharing time before prayer, we go through new additions to our prayer list, and also bring up concerns or updates to the list – it is an open time of sharing, not very structured, because I believe that the praying is actually already taking place before the formal prayer is voiced. This past Wednesday we concluded our winter Bible Study just a single day over the mark – the first day of spring. This coming Wednesday as well as Wednesday of Holy Week we will be doing just a couple of more reflective Lenten-oriented devotionals. After Easter we will be digging a little into the Old Testament, probably looking at the Minor Prophets – most likely Habakkuk to begin with.

There’s this thing, though, that I have to deal with. Call it insecurity, call it trouble with self-esteem, whatever; I don’t always know if I’m doing things right or not. I HOPE I am, I THINK I am, some of the time, maybe a slight majority of the time, but not always. And I’m not saying this looking for affirmation, but simply as a point of information. Having said that, I need to let you know that when you DO say something in that way; encouraging, affirming, even constructively criticizing, it gives me a boost like you wouldn’t BELIEVE!

… What’s that, you say?

When is he going to get to the text? When is he going to get into the passage? Oh, that.

Well, in a way, I have been. You see, Paul was going over in his mind what it was he had to look back on and treasure, and appreciate, and hold in high esteem in his life. He had his Pharisaic heritage, that is, his faithfulness as a member of that Hebrew group that was intent on seeking and fulfilling all that it meant to be HOLY before God, as they understood it.

He had a lot to be thankful for, a lot to hold close, a lot to inform him of who he was.

So I’ve been working up to somehow telling you that, as dear as you ALL are to me, and as MUCH as I hold you ALL close to my heart, by the light of the gospel I have to be able to let this all go for the sake of the Gospel.

I’m not saying that that is in the process of happening. Thankfully, I don’t have any sense that I’m supposed to be anywhere else doing anything else than what I am doing. But it’s the attitude that I think we ALL need to cultivate.

It’s unsettling to think about. And it feels especially odd for me, having come from a life of observing my parents and other key figures in my life GET that … sense of call, to move from what they know to what they DON’T know … I would’ve expected my sense to be … more willing?

I think back to my late teens and early and mid twenties, when I was wrestling with what God’s call on my life was going to look like, having thought all along that I’d end up somewhere overseas, living a life similar to that that I’d grown up around. And I remember hardly giving a thought to serving a local church, much less a rural congregation, as their Pastor.

And now, it seems like it is what I was born to do, insecurity and all. I’ve learned in the last ten years to trust God in all things. Like Paul says, “not that I have already obtained this”, but it is at work in me.

So I’m working on learning to count all this as loss. As beautiful as it is, as wonderful as it is, as good a life as it is, if this were all ripped away from me tomorrow, would I find my faith intact? Would I find my trust still there? Would my center be Christ? Can I even phrase that question “Would my center STILL be Christ having not actually gone through that?

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

Do you know someone who has gone through the ‘loss of all things’ that Paul talks about? Are YOU someone who has experienced that? I think it is safe to say that, above a certain age, we have all to varying degrees, experienced SOME loss in our lives, and as far as that goes, we have an IDEA of what it would be like to suffer the loss of all things … but we’re just not able to completely wrap our minds around that experience short of living it.

Paul’s point wasn’t to boast about what he’d gone through. His point was what was at his center.

10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,

So the question for us this morning is that: what … or rather … WHO is at OUR center? Would we be able to write down a similar statement if we were to have given up what in essence was our ENTIRE identity in order to follow Christ?

How compelling is Christ’s call on our lives? Is it so compelling as to cause us to want to change even our very NAMES in order to signify how radical and complete the change has been? How much we are breaking from who we were prior to knowing Jesus, to who we are now that we DO know him?

Living in the area of the country we live in, especially living in the shadow cast by those who’ve gone before and who have been faithful in THEIR obedience to teach us and guide us in the way that leads to life, we are recipients of an incredibly rich blessing in the way of … an atmosphere of faith – not all, but most of us here today don’t remember a time when going to church wasn’t a part of our lives, we can’t remember a time when we didn’t consider ourselves ‘Christian’ in some way, even in a nominal way. We can easily recall things we’ve DONE that weren’t exactly … exemplary of what a Christian would say and do, but on balance, we have to ask ourselves the question: did becoming a Christian change my life all that much?

If your answer is yes, then there is much to be grateful for.

If your answer is no, we can study that from a couple of perspectives. There’s the perspective that we were so steeped in what it was to live the life of a Christian that the official ‘mark’ at which you made the decision to accept Christ was more a … confirmation of what you’d been growing to believe all your life.

The other perspective is that both the life you lived prior to professing Christ as Lord and the life you live now are neither very reflective of the Lordship of Christ. Simply put, in a moment of passion you promised, but you have yet to truly engage the life of a follower of Christ.

So the question is out there: Who is at our center? I ask it both on an individual level and at a congregational level. Is what you’ve done all your life, and what you continue to DO at your center, or is Christ? Is a hundred and seventy-five years of history and what we continue to DO BECAUSE OF THAT HISTORY at the center of Jerusalem or is Christ? In asking those questions, I don’t want to create a false dichotomy – an unnecessary division – in our perception of ourselves and our family of faith. I DO want us to examine – and reexamine – continually, if need be, the ongoing relationship we have with Christ. Not to be examining our belly-buttons, but to keep tabs on who we are as individuals and as a faith family. We must be willing to give an honest and humble assessment of ourselves at any time, to speak frankly about how we are going about this journey, especially now, in the season of Lent.

As we approach Holy Week, we are made more and more aware of our complicity in an event that took place nearly two thousand years ago. That on a spiritual level, Christ died for the sins that we’ve committed today and will commit tomorrow and the next day.

So we engage in a sometimes painful round of self-examination. It may feel like we are beating ourselves up at times. There can be an unrelenting quality to the exercise – in truth, I think we are all VERY aware of the ways in which we fall short of the mark; the words, the actions, the inactions that do nothing more than pound the nails into the tree at every turn. And as humans, we have this amazing ability to deny what is right in front of us, that blinds us to what we are doing. But with a little prodding, with a little coaxing, we CAN uncover our true selves, our fallenness, and our weaknesses.

In the darkening shadows, hear the good news of the Gospel: God’s grace in the blood of Christ covers it all.

Let’s pray.

What it’s like to be a Christian

by Hannah Park

Being a Christian is more than just being baptized and asking Jesus to be lord of your life. It means to change your actions of a sinner to a better person. To make better choices than some bad ones you’ve made before. But it can be hard sometimes. As a kid you could get tempted to do the wrong thing or make a bad choice, or to hate some other person’s action and just want to do something to them. But you have to stop and think for a moment what would God have done? How does God see this person? How can I handle this person nicely?

I remember only a couple of months ago when my class went to gym at school. Our teacher broke us up into teams of four. You know the one kid that will do anything to get attention by being annoying? Well that kid happened to be on my team. And he made me so mad by being so annoying, I wanted to scream and yell at him. I couldn’t take being on his team much longer so I asked the teacher if I could go to the restroom. While I was in there I prayed. I prayed for the Lord to help me see him the way He sees him, to help me be a better person to him. And you know what? I felt better. I went back in the gym and I was nicer to that kid even if he did annoy me sometimes. I tried to handle the situation as God would have handled it.

For me being a Christian can have its ups and downs; trying to be like Jesus is hard for me. I know it’s hard for everybody. Before I asked Jesus to be my savior I had to think am I willing to except him as my Lord? Am I going to be ready to have all my sins washed away? Will I be ready to go wherever God leads me? And I was. I wanted to become one of God’s children and I was ready to go where God would lead me. I was ready to become a Christian.

READ I Timothy 4:6-12

6If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in godliness, 8for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. 10For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. 11These are the things you must insist on and teach. 12Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Some people might think at my age that would be too much for an eleven year old kid to handle. But I just answer them nothing is too much for me to handle while Jesus is leading me all the way.

Being a Christian
by Caleb Park

I have always gone to church. Except the times when I have been sick, I have been in church all my life. Of all of the activities that have taken place at church, my favorites are the Easter Egg Hunt in the spring and Vacation Bible School in the summer.

Even though I have always gone to church, I knew that it was important for me to ask Jesus to be my Savior. I would think about this every time I was in church: when Daddy preached and when I was in Sunday school with Ms. Janie and Ms. Jane. The stories that we read in our Sunday school books have changed my life. A couple of weeks ago, at Mr. Frank’s and Ms. Joyce’s anniversary party, I was in the youth room and I prayed and asked Jesus to be my Savior. After I prayed, I called Mommy in and I told her and she cried. Then Mommy got Daddy and when I told him, he cried. I am going to be baptized in two weeks on Palm Sunday.

My mom and dad are helping me to realize that becoming a Christian is not one decision that you make on one day, it is a thousand decisions that you make everyday for the rest of your life. That means that I try to live my life for Jesus everyday. I have been trying to put that in my life. To be honest with you, that is not an easy thing to do.

For example, last Sunday I broke a window at the church where we had an Encuentro. I told my mom and she helped me tell Pastor Lee about the window. It was an accident and they understood that. I offered to pay for the window, but Pastor Lee said that it was an accident and I didn’t have to worry about it. What I did not tell my mom or Pastor Lee was that I had been throwing the ball against the side of the church building when the ball hit the window.

I’m not sure why I didn’t tell them right away. I guess I was afraid that they would get really mad. But the truth sat with me all week long. I finally told my mom the whole truth day before yesterday. I was still afraid but I felt like I needed to tell my mom the truth. It was hard, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Being a Christian didn’t make it easier, but being Christian helped me know the right thing to do. I have a feeling that there will be more times like that in the future, but I will always try to tell the truth.

What Being a Christian Means to Me

by Brandon Harcum

Good morning. I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today for Youth Sunday. I've already had a great time teaching the Men's Class with Caleb.

I will be reading scripture from John 3: 16 - 17. You can follow along in your Bible or just listen as I read.

16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

I chose this scripture because it's one of my favorites and I believe it teaches a good lesson.

Before I was baptized, I gave a lot of thought to what it meant to be baptized. Would I be happy after I was baptized? Would I be different after I was baptized? How would I feel after I got baptized?

How many of you have heard of the ABCs of becoming a Christian? Some of you are probably thinking what the world is he talking about!

A stands for admit - you admit that Jesus is your Savior.

B stands for believe - you believe that Jesus is your Savior.

C stands for confess - you confess your sins and confess Jesus is you r Savior.

Pastor Kenny and my parents have influenced me greatly about becoming a Christian. They told me about their experiences being a Christian. My Vacation Bible School teachers Miss Frannie and Miss Linda also helped me learn about being a Christian.

During Cub Scouts, I wanted to earn a religious badge called God and Family. Pastor Kenny helped me with this. Pastor Kenny and I worked on a pizza. The crust and bottom of the pizza was the foundation which is our church. The sauce and the cheese are the people you love. Even though I was working on a badge for scouts, Pastor Kenny taught me even more about becoming a Christian.

My mom and my dad have taught me right from wrong and to make good choices. Mom and Dad have taught me not to give up (which believe me, they know I am very persistent).

An example of my persistence is the day we were all out in the boat and saw something in the water. I kept after Daddy to go closer to it. Then we realized that something was flapping in the water. I told Daddy lets go help it. Come to find out, a fish hawk was drowning. The fish hawk was in the water trying to get up to fly but could not. It wasn't caught in anything. So Daddy got an oar and stuck it underneath the fish hawk. The fish hawk grabbed on and we got him on the back of the boat. When Mom saw its claws, she would not let me pet him. Next thing you know, the fish hawk was in the water again. He had slipped off the back of the boat. So we had to do the oar thing allover again. This time he went in the bottom of the boat which was good. Both Mom and Dad were really worried that the fish hawk might attack and claw us. So my Dad drove the boat very slowly to the shore and put the fish hawk on top of a crab trap. Well, all these other fish hawks started messing with this fish hawk and I got upset all over again. So we had to go get it again and this time, we carried it to an old duck blind. The fish hawk was safe here because the duck blind had a top on it. Later that afternoon, I convinced Mom and Dad to go back out in the boat to check on the fish hawk. The duck blind was empty and the fish hawk was back on its nest. Every time we went in the boat for the rest of the summer, the fish hawk would follow us. My Mom and Dad said my persistence had saved the fish hawk and that God was with us that day. And God helped save the fish hawk. I gotta tell ya - Mom was NOT happy with the fish hawk in the boat when she saw its claws.

When I see Mom and Dad do something like this, I know they care. They didn't have to help the fish hawk but they did. I also know God loved us and the fish hawk.

Miss Frannie and Miss Linda in Bible School talked about team work and how we all need to work together. We had fun in their class.

I like going to church. I like Sunday School, VBS, Family night and I like helping with the suppers for other people.

Passport Kids Camp was an awesome experience for me. Miss Leslie got me signed up for Passport Kids Camp. Meeting lots of new people and making new friends was exciting. I really liked a guy named Patrick who was from Africa. I met Patrick the first time I went to Passport Kids back in 2005. Talking with him was interesting and fun because he talked about his life in Africa. I began to realize that living in Africa is much different than living here in America.

I know I am closer to God now and I have Mom and Dad, Pastor Kenny, Miss Leslie, Miss Frannie and Miss Linda to thank for it. I also have all of you who are my church family.

Knowing that God loves me is a great feeling. It's awesome to know God loves me and sent his Son to die for me. And to know that God did the same thing for all of us. I know God is with me every day. God is with me all the time where ever I am.

Please join me in prayer.

Dear God:

Thank you for loving the world and all who inhabit it. Thank you for sending your Son to die for our sins. Thank you for giving me the chance to teach the Men's Class today. Thank you for our church and all the people in it. Please take care of everyone. Thank you for loving us. Amen.

Common to Everyone

Sunday, March 11th, 2007
Third Sunday of Lent
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:12-17

12So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. 13No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. 14Therefore, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.
15I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Over the last few Wednesday evenings, we’ve been studying what it is that sets Baptists apart, and in doing that we’ve been more or less following the book “The Baptist Identity; Four Fragile Freedoms”. What we’ve been seeing through the study is that, overarching everything else … or perhaps underlying everything else, is a single concept that is reflected in the four chapter titles – and indeed in the subtitle itself – FREEDOM.

We’ve seen that the foundational concept that drove John Smyth and Thomas Helwys to establish that first small group of believers and constitute themselves into a church in Holland in 1609 was a desire to be able to FREELY practice their faith as they understood it, as they studied it, and as they lived it.

Over the last nearly four centuries, our Baptist predecessors proclaimed, defended, fought and died because of this understanding of what it meant to be a people of faith – freely choosing to become followers of Christ, freely choosing to read and interpret scripture for themselves, being guided by the Holy Spirit, freely choosing to associate as an individual with a body of believers and freely choosing as a body of believers to in turn associate with OTHER bodies of believers in their local area or across the world. At the heart of the Baptist understanding of what it means to be a Christ follower is the idea that Christ offers us a freedom that goes so deep and is so strong and so permeates our being that it suffuses – it spreads into – every aspect of our lives, and while it is a wonderful, liberating thing to experience this freedom we HAVE in Christ, it can make for some pretty unruly experiences … of which Baptist History is full.

So when we come to the letter Paul writes to his brothers and sisters in the church at Corinth, it is especially important for us to understand the fundamental issue that was at the root of the situations that Paul was asked to address by the folks there.

The Corinthians lost sight of what that freedom they found in Christ meant for them.

They were surrounded by every conceivable iteration of religious, social and physical practice that their first century society could come up with, and when Paul stepped into that mix and said “Christ sets you free FROM ALL THIS” they stopped listening at the word “free” and from there, took off on their individual wild goose chases, largely depending on what experience they were coming out of.

Paul’s stay in Corinth is estimated by scholars to have lasted about a year and a half … which would seem to be plenty of time to get some grounding established within the church, especially considering he wasn’t working by himself – Timothy and Silvanus and Priscilla and Aquila were with him, and Phoebe came from nearby Cenchreae; and after he left, Apollos, a Missionary from Alexandria in Egypt came to continue the instruction of the newly formed church.

Even with all that, the folks in the Corinthian church still ended up having to ask Paul about a number of issues:

1. What to do about some concepts that had been held onto by some people who were formerly devoted to the mystery religions, what later came to be known as Gnosticism in the early church;

2. How to deal with the sexual immorality of a particular couple in the congregation;

3. How to handle disputes and disagreements within the membership;

4. How their faith in Christ translated into how they lived together in marriage;

5. What their faith in Christ meant in the face of being offered food to eat that had first been sacrificed to idols in one of the multiple temples that filled the city and surrounded them;

6. How they were to practice their spiritual gifts;

7. How they were to observe the celebration of the Lord’s Supper;

8. Questions about the resurrection of the dead;

9. And finally, questions about a special offering that Paul was gathering to send back to the followers of Christ who were gathering in Jerusalem.

Paul had his work cut out for him when he began to dictate the reply from Ephesus to send back to them.

The passage this morning comes from that part of his reply that is dealing with the problems surrounding the questions about eating food sacrificed to idols, which is actually a pretty lengthy section, beginning in chapter 8 and going through the first verse in chapter eleven.

The situation is this: the idea that idols are no more than the material they are made of – bronze, gold, wood, stone, whatever – and don’t pose any sort of threat by way of supernatural or divine retribution if one does not appease or obey these supposed (lower case g) ‘gods’ is a concept that those who first received the gospel of Jesus Christ from Paul ‘GOT’. They understood that, whatever following may have developed over the centuries around Aphrodite or Hermes or Zeus or whatever other gods might be around, when it came to ultimate significance – what mattered in the end – none of THEM made a difference – only Christ did. So there was no real issue when it came to dealing with the ‘apparent’ spiritual significance of dealing with them. Since they were not real, there were no consequences to, for example, eating the meat of an animal that had been sacrificed to one of the pagan gods just down the street, and the priest or priestess turned around and sold it to make some money to support the temple staff. I imagine the sign at the stand said “Fresh roasted bull; 100% organic, purified in the fires of the great and mighty Zeus; provides 100% of the daily recommended dose of ‘Zeus Juice’ for those who worship him! It keeps you going when you have to ride herd on all those other, lesser gods!”

The problem arose when people who still BELIEVED to some degree in the strength OF those other gods, who had begun to express interest in the new Jesus faith and began to come around to their meetings and were attracted by what they saw … then saw one of their new friends stop at that stall and buy a quarter pound Hermesburger with extra onions. Although they were moving away from what they had taken for granted as being fact all their lives, there was still a part of them that had yet to overcome all that baggage, and in fact, was still so entrenched in the belief that eating that meat infused the person with the essence of the god to whom it was sacrificed that it didn’t make sense … it seemed that these Christ followers who were eating this food were wanting it both ways – covering all their bases, as it were.

It’s hard for us to really get into their skin, I think, because of the specifics involved. I looked through the phone book, and nowhere in the Northern Neck is there a listing for a temple to Zeus, and I haven’t seen any ads in the Northern Neck News for fresh-sacrificed Zeusburgers, on buy one get one free special at Food Lion.

So let’s see if we can put these same temptations into our context:

What I HAVE seen are ads on Television for “chat lines”, where you are invited to talk with local singles and really have “fun” – usually by beautiful young women who are breathing the commercial at you more than speaking it. I’ve seen movies on the top shelf at the movie rental store that are MOSTLY covered, but there is just enough of the title showing to give you an idea of what might be on that video tape or DVD … I’ve seen magazine covers that present the physically beautiful body in situations that turn it into so much meat on the sacrificial altar of lust and base desires, with total disregard for the worth of the individuals pictured. I’ve heard talk shows on the radio as well as on television that celebrate the depravity of the human mind – that give equal standing and weight to voices that espouse hatred and bloodlust and encourage the dehumanization of our fellow human beings so as to make it easier to allow atrocities to become more and more and more acceptable. I’ve heard interviews with proponents of ideas that center on a man being the ultimate determinant of his fate. I’ve seen shelves and shelves of bestsellers that propose to their readers that we are, in a word, divine in our own right. I’ve seen books that claim to explain all the mysteries of the Bible – which would, of course, provide the person who reads them with the ultimate knowledge – what’s going to happen when, and where, so having that answer, that special knowledge, that BIG SECRET will give you the POWER to be in the KNOW, and ready when the time comes.

Most references to this passage focus on the words of verse 13:

13No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

It's a nice thought. You may have heard it rephrased as the saying "if God led you to it, God will lead you through it."

I would invite us to read the two statements that straddle these two sentences … for just this time skipping over the two sentences of verse 13.

12So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. … 14Therefore, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.

So what does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

Let’s read on:

15I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.

Paul is saying “THINK FOR YOURSELVES!” In this context, he’s saying “Don’t be taken in by the prevailing … MOOD … the accepted NORM …” THAT accepted norm tends to be WAY off base, when it comes to discerning what is TRULY meaningful and what TRULY matters in this life!”

He goes on:

16The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Paul began the argument against eating food sacrificed to idols in chapter 8, way back, by saying that in fact, yes, as Christ followers, freed from the lies of idolatry, we are free to confront and ignore and in so ignoring tear down the presuppositions that surround the acceptance of those idols. We are free to basically say out loud that the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes. We can call a spade a spade.

What his argument comes around to, though, is the reality that we each are at a different place in our pilgrimage … in our faith walk with Christ. Some are sprinting ahead, taking in and assimilating what it means to be a Christ-follower as fast as we can run. Others of us are coming along at a steady pace, taking in and digesting each bite, realizing the full implications only after careful deliberation and much study and prayer. Others of us are straggling along behind, sometimes gaining momentum and coming even with the rest of those who are walking along the way and sometimes stumbling and falling back … seemingly struggling with what sometimes seems like insignificant issues that nevertheless occupy the lion’s share of our devotional time.

Paul highlights the fact that – no matter where we are on the road – that we eat the same bread – that we share the same cup, that we share the same Christ. We who are many are one body.

That means that we cannot expect all of us to be at the same place in our spiritual journeys. That we are to bear with each other, encourage each other, help each other along, hold each other accountable, live alongside each other in this freedom that Christ gives – the freedom to BE so much more than the world expects us to be. To surprise our neighbor with an unexpected – and maybe even undeserved word or act of friendship and kindness, to confound the person who has just had a horrible day with a totally random act of selfless giving that will renew their faith and show them that there truly ARE people who SAY they are Christ followers and LIVE like it as well. And give that honor to Christ’s presence in their life – in other words – that will unpretentiously give the credit where credit is due – humbly acknowledging that were it not for the transformative power of Jesus being Lord that that … whatever… would most likely not have taken place. Claiming Christ as Lord carries not only enormous freedom, but enormous responsibility as well.

Let’s pray.

My Beloved

Sunday, March 4th, 2007
Second Sunday of Lent
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Text: Philippians 3:14-4:1

14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
15Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. 16Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. 17Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. 18For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. 19Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
4Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

The music is almost not there at the beginning, just a high steady note on the strings … then the voice over begins; “These are the voyages …” the confident voice of command, enunciating the mission:

“…to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before!”

The music swells, and the last word is almost shouted, and the Spaceship Enterprise flashes by the screen moving at some multiple of the speed of light.

It was a regular Saturday evening ritual in the dorm room or in Claude’s den, to have supper ready and be sitting in front of the television come 7 PM, such was the draw for me of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. You’ve heard me speak of it before; of the different characters, the conflicts that they were confronted with in dealing with either newly-discovered species or with some internal problem … watching those same episodes when they come on now, they seem pretty cheesy, but at the time, the special effects and production values were state of the art.

I’m a fan of science fiction. I enjoy a good thick book with lots of technological wonders and preferably lots of strange looking aliens. Now it is mostly for pure escapist enjoyment that I pick one of the books or movies, but I am still stirred by the possibilities that are presented … what IF … we COULD zap ourselves from one side of the planet to the other in a couple of seconds, what if we could speak to a computer and have a cup of 'earl grey, hot,' materialize in front of us? I suppose it speaks to the basic hope that I hold inside. But what has always been missing has been the in-between stage – the part where it explains how we get from HERE to THERE.

Usually, with the science fiction that I’ve read or watched, the in-between involves the near-destruction of the world as we know it – if not the ACTUAL destruction of the world as we know it – and what is left is a remnant of humanity that goes on … after the vast majority of the population has died or been killed off. Not a very hopeful view of the near future of humanity, is it? To base the advancement of the human species on the premise that, first, we get rid of all but those who are the smartest and strongest, or who in some way are away from the ‘great unwashed masses’ of humanity.

It reminds me of a Far Side cartoon where a scientist has filled a blackboard with equations and scientific notations – covered the left side of the board with all this stuff that seems to be leading somewhere, and on the RIGHT side of the board there is an amazing result – and square in the middle, the critical piece of the formula, was the outline of a cloud with the words ‘and then a miracle happens’ in the middle of it.

The critical piece was not there.

Paul’s tone in our passage this morning is almost imploring. His letter to the church at Philippi has always been one that has been highlighted by the way he expresses his love for the people there. Scholars believe that Paul was writing near the end of his life, when he was in something of a contemplative mood – looking back over his lifetime of mission work for the Gospel. It is apparent on reading the letter that the Philippians had a special place in Paul’s heart. There is, in this passage, an expression of a nearly overwhelming need to communicate the critical piece between now and then to the people of the church at Philippi.

And it is not a piece of concrete, hands-on, insert tab A in slot B kind of information. It is simply a reminder: ‘our citizenship is in heaven’.

An interesting thing, citizenship; you don’t lose it unless you renounce it. It stays with you, no matter where you are, or where you go. And it is, for the most part, recognized by whoever it is that you are around, whether they care to or not. It is a part of your person. It is not determined by something you wear or carry, by how you dress, or don’t, but by who you ARE.

In our case, as members of the body of Christ, it is a matter of WHOSE we are as much as WHO we are. Because you see, as followers of Jesus, we have given ourselves to the life of the Kingdom, to the work that will bring forth the presence and work of the Holy Spirit on the earth until the Lord returns.

Paul’s plea to the Philippians to ‘stand firm’ is phrased as a reminder, a theory in the face of the fact that they were currently living in the reality, albeit temporary, of an empire that held the ruling Caesar as divine, more often than not, allowed and in fact encouraged the worship of a whole pantheon of gods, and could be brutal in shutting down anyone who spoke against the governing outlook from Rome.

Paul’s concern was ultimately with the eternal, as is ours, but it was expressed in very real life-on-earth terms. The competition from false teachers, and pagan doctrine, and any number of other distractions to the pursuit to which God has called us is serious and real. There are an overwhelming number of distractions to the task at hand on any given day – and when we actually turn TO that task, the distractions only seem to increase.

So what does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

It means that, very simply, we need to focus on what it is that God has for us to do, and while doing it, never lose sight of the hope that we have in Christ, who has granted us citizenship in heaven. Our task, if you will, is no small endeavor.

We are to change the world, to help break in the Kingdom of Heaven, to take part, in some way, in the reconciliation of humanity to God. To follow Christ in the most faithful way we can, with our whole heart, soul, mind and body. Jerusalem has a history, and it is one that includes both the doing of that and the falling short of that. That is part of what happens in a fallen world. We don’t have an unbroken record on either side. What we DO have is a legacy of faith that continually calls us back to Christ, back to the Bible, back to the good news and to the reality of the Grace of God available to all humanity through Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray.

With Unveiled Faces (Manuscript)

Sunday, February 18th, 2007
Epiphany 7
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Text: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
We are being transformed

12Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, 13not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. 14But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. 15Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

4Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

Paul lived in the reality of an ongoing, vibrant, interactive, transformative relationship with the living Lord. Do we?

Paul compared his faith background; zealous, yes, dedicated, yes, given, yes, to what he had now, AFTER meeting the risen Lord, and in his mind it was like comparing apples and oranges. The two were so far apart for him experientially that he could hardly even put them in the same category.

We live in a society that among its strengths counts religious pluralism – freedom of religion – to be a cornerstone. As members of that society, or at least as a people who live surrounded by that society, that CULTURE, and particularly as Baptists who have historically defended that freedom, in order to practice and follow what we understand to be the command of Christ to persuade and convince, not force anyone to espouse a faith in order to arrive at a genuine faith, it is part and parcel of defending that freedom that leads us to respect each individual’s right to practice his or her understanding of faith – or lack of faith, in the hope that IN and FROM that freedom that person WILL be persuaded, whether by their own study or by the humble persuasion of our lives if not our words, into a relationship with Jesus Christ. One of the side effects OF that understanding is that we tend to sometimes blur the distinctions between faiths. It’s an easy thing to do. After all, there are, among the three main world religions, different as they are, a few core principles that are shared.

One of those is respect for life. The ‘rule’ to not commit murder that we find in the Hebrew passage of scriptures that WE call the ten commandments is also found in the theology of both the Christian Church and the Muslim faith, terrorist attacks notwithstanding. There are others. A high view of scripture, given that for each of our faiths those scriptures differ, a belief in a sovereign God who is to one degree or another involved or interested in what is going on in the world. And the need to ‘get the word out’ as it were, about just how God is doing that, or expects that to be done, depending on who you talk to.

Obviously, that last point is where we spend a lot of time crashing into each other. So our respective societies have chosen different ways of dealing with that particular issue. While it is not illegal to BE a Christian in a particular Muslim country, or in Israel, it IS illegal to CONVERT to, or CAUSE someone to convert to, faith in Christ if you are a citizen of that country, if you belong to the majority faith. What would seem to us a strange contradiction is in fact a reflection of the view of what it means to belong to the faith community as a member of a Muslim or Jewish Society. What we take for granted, what we have no memory of being without – freedom to believe as we want, to practice our faith as we feel led, and to speak of our faith to others SEEKING faith, is a foreign concept in many many countries around the world.

Paul’s presentation of the Gospel to the people of Corinth struck a chord in their hearts that they immediately grasped – especially with regards to the freedom that we find in Christ. We are free – and through the Holy Spirit empowered – to live a life DIFFERENT from those who came before us, those who live next to us, those who are above us who may or may not attempt to impose one or another precept on us. Our freedom is a spiritual freedom that transcends the boundaries established by human minds – and cultures, and religions.

That is what Paul is talking about when he speaks of living in the glory of God in Christ with unveiled faces.

The opening words of today’s passage are the continuation of the argument he presents from the beginning of chapter 3 – he is speaking of what it means to live in the faith and sure hope that we have in Christ – not based on our own worth or merit, but based on the worth and merit of Jesus Christ, who stands in our place before God. It is THAT hope that he is talking about when he says

‘Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,’

There is no place in Paul’s understanding for the uncertainty of wondering if you are or are not ‘right with God’ at any given moment. It’s actually pretty simple. You either are or you are not, based on whether or not you show evidence of the Holy Spirit acting in your life – through the way you treat others, through the way you act, through your words, through your lifestyle. The two go hand in hand – IF the Spirit is there, it’ll be obvious. If the Spirit is NOT there, THAT will be obvious.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

I guess the question is this: HOW are our faces veiled? What veil do we choose to wear, when we don’t necessarily want anyone to know that we are Christ followers? Or do we not do that?

As many of you know, some Mexican friends of ours were involved in a car accident on Wednesday morning. Thankfully, nobody was killed, but to look at the car is to look at twisted metal and shattered glass and see what a miracle looks like. Wednesday evening as one of the women was being tended to by her nurse, the television was on in the room, so I decided to check and see if there was a Spanish language station included in the selection available. I came across the travel channel. The program was of somebody who was touring around what appeared to be a medieval city somewhere in southern Europe, it seemed to be Italy. The scenery was nice, the buildings were old and obviously historic, so I left it there (there wasn’t a Spanish language option available). Just a few minutes after I left the television tuned to that station, that program ended, and the next one to come on was the World Poker Tour. Apparently this contest travels around the country and hosts playoffs, with several dozen tables playing at the same time, and as the winners of each table get sorted out, the remaining winners eventually get to play at the championship table, and that is the one that makes the program. You’ve heard the term ‘poker face, or game face?’ These people have it down to a science. They divulge NOTHING. The table is set up with cameras that allow us to see what each player has in their hand, but you couldn’t tell it from looking at their faces.

There have been a few occasions when Leslie or I have been asked to speak at different places, and it turns out to be a ‘dead room’ it can sometimes feel like a poker game is going on standing in front of a crowd like that. It is immeasurably encouraging to be able to look out at your faces and see responses – smiles, nods, frowns sometimes, cocked heads, or to hear your responses – sometimes a quiet or not-so-quiet ‘amen’, or a vigorous nod of the head, or a big smile, a laugh, listening is an active thing – yes, it can be a passive thing as well, we all know that, but to engage in active listening is to be communicating back and forth – acknowledging what is being said, or responding in such a way as to communicate your own perception of something – it is in a sense an unveiling of our faces to be engaged in this dialogue, because the ministry of proclamation really IS an ongoing dialogue. Sometimes the other side of the conversation is verbalized after the service, in a phone call, in a conversation that picks up later in the week or on a Wednesday night, but most consistently it is a dialogue that takes place even now, as we are here together in this room.

That boldness that we find through Christ allows us to take those veils that can so easily go up between us, keep us apart, keep us separate, keep us at a distance from each other, not allowing us to really be able to look into each other’s eyes and see what is in our lives – the hurt, the struggle, the pain, yes, but also the joys and laughter, the humor and gentleness that reminds us how alike we really are, and even when we find we ARE different, we are still sons and daughters of God, beloved of the begotten.

Let’s pray.

With Unveiled Faces (Actual)

Sunday, February 18th, 2007
Epiphany 7
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Text: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

12Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, 13not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. 14But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. 15Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
4Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

Paul lived in the reality of an ongoing, vibrant, interactive, transformative relationship with the living Lord. Do we?

Paul compared his faith background; zealous, yes, dedicated, yes, given, yes, to what he had now, AFTER meeting the risen Lord, and in his mind it was like comparing apples and oranges. The two were so far apart for him experientially that he could hardly even put them in the same category.

We live in a society that among its strengths counts religious pluralism – freedom of religion – to be a cornerstone. As members of that society, or at least as a people who live surrounded by that society, that CULTURE, and particularly as Baptists who have historically defended that freedom, in order to practice and follow what we understand to be the command of Christ to persuade and convince, not force anyone to espouse a faith in order to arrive at a genuine faith, it is part and parcel of defending that freedom that leads us to respect each individual’s right to practice his or her understanding of faith – or lack of faith, in the hope that IN and FROM that freedom that person WILL be persuaded, whether by their own study or by the humble persuasion of our lives if not our words, into a relationship with Jesus Christ. One of the side effects OF that understanding is that we tend to sometimes blur the distinctions between faiths. It’s an easy thing to do. After all, there are, among the three main world religions, different as they are, a few core principles that are shared.

One of those is respect for life. The ‘rule’ to not commit murder that we find in the Hebrew passage of scriptures that WE call the ten commandments is also found in the theology of both the Christian Church and the Muslim faith, terrorist attacks notwithstanding. There are others. A high view of scripture, given that for each of our faiths those scriptures differ, a belief in a sovereign God who is to one degree or another involved or interested in what is going on in the world. And the need to ‘get the word out’ as it were, about just how God is doing that, or expects that to be done, depending on who you talk to.

Obviously, that last point is where we spend a lot of time crashing into each other. So our respective societies have chosen different ways of dealing with that particular issue. While it is not illegal to BE a Christian in a particular Muslim country, or in Israel, it IS illegal to CONVERT to, or CAUSE someone to convert to, faith in Christ if you are a citizen of that country, if you belong to the majority faith. What would seem to us a strange contradiction is in fact a reflection of the view of what it means to belong to the faith community as a member of a Muslim or Jewish Society. What we take for granted, what we have no memory of being without – freedom to believe as we want, to practice our faith as we feel led, and to speak of our faith to others SEEKING faith, is a foreign concept in many many countries around the world.

Paul’s presentation of the Gospel to the people of Corinth struck a chord in their hearts that they immediately grasped – especially with regards to the freedom that we find in Christ. We are free – and through the Holy Spirit empowered – to live a life DIFFERENT from those who came before us, those who live next to us, those who are above us who may or may not attempt to impose one or another precept on us. Our freedom is a spiritual freedom that transcends the boundaries established by human minds – and cultures, and religions.

That is what Paul is talking about when he speaks of living in the glory of God in Christ with unveiled faces.

The opening words of today’s passage are the continuation of the argument he presents from the beginning of chapter 3 – he is speaking of what it means to live in the faith and sure hope that we have in Christ – not based on our own worth or merit, but based on the worth and merit of Jesus Christ, who stands in our place before God. It is THAT hope that he is talking about when he says,

‘Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,’

There is no place in Paul’s understanding for the uncertainty of wondering if you are or are not ‘right with God’ at any given moment. It’s actually pretty simple. You either are or you are not, based on whether or not you show evidence of the Holy Spirit acting in your life – through the way you treat others, through the way you act, through your words, through your lifestyle. The two go hand in hand – IF the Spirit is there, it’ll be obvious. If the Spirit is NOT there, THAT will be obvious.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

I guess the question is this: HOW do WE veil our faces? What veil do we choose to wear, when we don’t necessarily want anyone to know that we are Christ followers? Or do we not do that?

When we are asked, “How are you doing?” do we answer “Fine, fine!” when inside we are crumbling? One of the most significant events in my spiritual journey was walking into a sanctuary where, when people asked how I was feeling, I could tell them honestly and it would engage in conversation. They would respond, they would actually expect me to tell them how I really WAS feeling, whether I was happy or sad, whether I was despondent or angry. The place of honesty is critical within the freedom that we have in Christ.

As many of you know, some Mexican friends of ours were involved in a car accident on Wednesday morning. Thankfully, nobody was killed, but to look at the car is to look at twisted metal and shattered glass and see what a miracle looks like. Wednesday evening as one of the women was being tended to by her nurse, the television was on in the room, so I decided to check and see if there was a Spanish language station included in the selection available. I came across the travel channel. The program was of somebody who was touring around what appeared to be a medieval city somewhere in southern Europe, it seemed to be Italy. The scenery was nice, the buildings were old and obviously historic, so I left it there (there wasn’t a Spanish language option available). Just a few minutes after I left the television tuned to that station, that program ended, and the next one to come on was the World Poker Tour. Apparently this contest travels around the country and hosts playoffs, with several dozen tables playing at the same time, and as the winners of each table get sorted out, the remaining winners eventually get to play at the championship table, and that is the one that makes the program. You’ve heard the term ‘poker face, or game face?’ The table is set up with cameras that allow us to see what each player has in their hand, and if you were looking at their face, with somebody who has a pair of fours … not that I know that much about poker … I don’t know if a pair of fours are any better than a pair of eights, except that the number is higher or lower, whatever, you wouldn’t be able to tell from looking at their faces what is going on … of course, that’s part of the game – you bluff – but it reminded me of how we can do that so easily. In some ways we’re encouraged by our society to hide our true feelings, to distance ourselves. Those veils we put up, cheerful, everything’s fine, people don’t want to necessarily – at least we’re given the impression – people don’t necessarily want to know how you are doing.

What an opportunity to be different, HERE, isn’t it? That when we approach each other and greet each other during the Jerusalem Hand of Welcome – although that’s a good starting place, because the service progresses, wouldn’t that be wonderful if that lead to a conversation after the service, where you can share together and pray together, cry if need be, lean on each other. It is an opportunity to strengthen and form the bond that Christ charged us with: to BE the body of Christ, to be there with and for each other, to share in the joys, to share in the sorrows and the pain, to share in the laughter. When we respond in the freedom that we understand Christ gives us, then we become … frankly, we become vulnerable. A lot of us are uncomfortable with that concept, no matter who we are talking to.

But in becoming vulnerable, you share your frailties; you share, perhaps with someone who has the same need of being encouraged, of being built up, to be strengthened. There is a small miracle that happens when hearts and minds are joined, whether in prayer or in laughter, where both were separately weak, they are together strengthened, and that is a sure reflection of the Kingdom breaking into the world.

Let’s pray.

Credo

Sunday, February 4th, 2007
Epiphany 5
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. 3For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Why are we here?

I don’t mean that in the rhetorical, theoretical sense, I mean literally here, today, sitting and standing in this sanctuary? What compels us, if anything, to come together on Sunday mornings and sing and pray and give and read and listen, and then come back week after week?

Is there something in our genetic makeup as humans that calls us out in search of something greater than ourselves, some greater consciousness that we can call ‘God’ and feel safer for being in his good graces? Is that the thing that Saint Augustine called the ‘God Shaped hole’ in us?

I remember watching documentaries about Stone Age tribes on islands in the south pacific, or in the interior of the Amazon jungle, and almost invariably at some point in the commentary, the religious practices are explained. There’s usually a priest or a shaman or some designated person who serves as an intermediary between the tribe and their respective god or gods … this person tells people what they are to do or not do, and how they are to please that god.

I ask myself are we that different? Is our version of god and our intermediary just a little more cleaned up and less inclined to expect a ring through our noses in order to be happy with us?

What is still an oral tradition for those tribes – not yet having their language in writing – is what we have had for almost two thousand years – Holy Scriptures. And there is a finality to seeing something in writing that somehow seems to lend it more weight than simply the spoken word.

I wonder if there are members of those tribes who are just going along because that is WHERE THEY LIVE, because it’s their family, because if they didn’t go along it would be noticed and frowned on. Is it our ability to disassociate our minds and hearts from what is coming out of our mouths that makes us … better than them? More advanced? Other words come to mind, and they are not necessarily expressions of admiration.

If their expressions of religiosity are on some level parallel to our own, then we are not that far apart in terms of a sense of need, of longing, of reconnection (re-ligion – re-tieing) to our creator. The difference is, of course, notable in the direction of our efforts. It was this difference in direction that Paul was addressing with the Church in Corinth as well. There is human endeavor and there is divine intervention.

In today’s passage, we find Paul beginning to deal with what is at the heart of his letter to the church in Corinth, that is, the fact of the resurrection of Christ and it’s implications for their lives – and ours as well – he was going to the heart of the Gospel. What the Gospel actually turns on. Another way of putting it: this event, this resurrection that we will begin to move towards in a specific, intentional way as we approach and move through the season of Lent, leading up to the celebration of Easter, this event is what turns the story of Jesus from an insignificant historical footnote to a cosmically transformative cataclysm.

Paul is dealing with the specifics of the situation in Corinth, but it is difficult to tell from the way he writes to whom he is directing his arguments. The words, and the way he uses the words, are rare in the rest of Paul’s writings, so there is no solid point of reference in terms of comparing it to what he says in other letters to get an understanding of what he means with them here.

He is, in a sense, putting his faith on the line – he is saying ‘this is what I received, this is what I believe, and this is what I taught – delivered is the word actually used – to you when I was with you.’ All in the face of reports that what he had taught – that core of the Gospel – had been cast aside for ideas that fell more in line with what the citizens of Corinth were used to hearing and believing all their lives. For example, that there was no resurrection of the body, that it was only the soul that was immortal, that Christ had risen in spirit only, and that we should not expect anything different. That our resurrection in some sense had already occurred when we became a follower of Christ. It disassociated the belief from the living, and the result was that it gave them permission to do just about anything they wanted.

These contradicted what were central beliefs to the early church – those that were most clearly and most quickly identified as fundamental to the faith. Scholars believe that the latter portion of verse three through the end of verse five actually are a quote of those beliefs:

That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas …

The Latin word ‘Credo’ means ‘I Believe.’ It is, you may have guessed, the same word from which we get the word ‘Creed’ – usually used to refer to one’s belief system or worldview. Most of us have heard of the Apostle’s Creed, or the Nicene Creed, but as good Baptists, we have not committed them to memory, since we, historically have stood on the principle of ‘no creed but the Bible’ when it comes to such things. And yet, it is important to periodically, if not continually, delve into what it is that makes us DO what we DO, especially on Sunday mornings, if for no other reason than to make sure that we are still engaged in exercising our faith through exercising our minds and hearts, not simply going through repetitive motions each week.

So what do we believe as individuals, as members of this family of faith, as members of the universal church, as followers of Christ? Do we really, truly believe that Jesus was beaten, crucified, died, and buried? Do we truly believe that God raised him from the dead on the third day?

If we do believe those things, what implications does that have for our lives? How is that going to play out in how we carry on, on a daily basis?

What does saying that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

Let’s look at just those two things – that Jesus died, and that Jesus arose from the dead.

The first is a statement that is more related to life as we know it from an earthly standpoint. We have, almost to a person, been faced with the death of someone we know or love, we know what it is like for someone to be there, talking, laughing, and singing alongside, hugging, whatever … and a short while later to NOT be there, seemingly irretrievably gone.

There is nothing we can do or say that will bring them back to us. As time passes, we move on as best we can, sometimes with a gaping wound in our lives, and sometimes with a not quite so painful … space … where before we shared a meal on a certain night of the week, or a phone call at a particular time of day, now there is silence. That is what the first statement resonates with inside of us when we hear it.

The second statement is different. “Jesus arose from the dead.” How crazy is that? How contrary can you get? There is nothing we know that is as final as death. And yet, here, at the core of the Gospel is this statement that is basically saying that it ain’t necessarily so. That death is not the end, but in a proportional way, it is more of a beginning. To say that Jesus arose from the dead is to turn OUR reality, OUR limited, fragile, shortsighted, self-absorbed, provincial, anthropocentric world view on its ear and say “maybe there really IS more to life than I’ve assumed there was ‘til now.”

Saying and believing it means opening ourselves up to possibilities that we can’t even imagine, which could end up putting us in places we’d never expect to be – whether that be HERE, standing in this pulpit on Sunday mornings, or talking to a stranger at the post office, or in the hardware store, striking up a conversation for no good reason other than because you just felt like you HAD TO speak to them in a friendly, compassionate way. And in the course of the conversation to make a connection, to make a difference in the way that person’s day was going, and give them a sense that they truly are not alone, just as we realize we are not alone by coming and being a part of this community.

The audacity of the Gospel is to proclaim a reality that we can only see dimly, if at all. To proclaim in faith that this is not the final reality, where we are right now, but that it is a temporary one, a passing moment – the writer of James calls this life ‘a mist that appears for a little while, and then vanishes’.

To believe the Gospel is to believe that what we do here matters, yes, but that what is to be is the truth of our existence. That the Kingdom of God is higher and deeper and broader and stronger and MORE than we can even imagine, but that it IS THERE.

The invitation today is to live in THAT reality, and in THAT living, bring IT into THIS fragile one.

Let’s pray.