Saturday, April 25, 2009

Extreme makeover- forgiving love- sermon 4/26/09

Forgiving love

RUMC

April 26th, 2009

 

You have all seen it:

“3 steps in 30 days: a new you.”

“Miraculous makeover tricks that will make you a new person.”

“Clothes make the man”

TV shows like

“Extreme makeover”

“While you were out”

And something called “How to look good naked”

It is called turning over a new leaf, wiping the slate clean, or starting over.

There are 45,000 books on Google book search that include the words “starting over” in the title.

 

Today we get to make a fresh start, with a new series of sermons on the book of First John.  I’ll cover one chapter each week for 5 weeks.  And this first chapter, appropriately enough is about getting a fresh start. 

John knows about fresh starts.  We believe the John who wrote this book is probably the disciple John, the fisherman who got a fresh start when Jesus called him and his brother James away from their father’s fishing boat to fish for men.

You can imagine how rough a fisherman’s life was.  How they looked, and smelled and talked and the kinds of jokes they told. . .   Jesus took those rough, smelly fishermen and made them into disciples.  This was extreme makeover: fisherman style.

 

. . .  So John knew what he was talking about when he said “There are some who claim to have had a makeover and you can’t see any difference.”  Well actually he said “If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in the darkness we lie.” (1:6)  In  the preceding verse John has declared that “God is light and in him is no darkness at all”  Yet there are people who claim to have experienced the Christian makeover whose lives are just as dark as they were before they met Jesus. Do you know people who look no different as Christians than they did before?  I do!

None of you would be fooled into believing that I had an expensive makeover this week.  After all I look just like I did last week with a couple more grey hairs.   Frankly if I had received a makeover and still looked like this I’d demand my money back.   Now, neither John nor I are really talking about the outward appearance.  God works on the inner person. 

Not the skin, but the sin. 

Not the hair, but how we care. 

Not the makeup, but whether we take up the cross in our lives.

Not the clothes, but how you wear your faith.  

If we claim to be Christian- (claim to walk in him) But still live in the darkness no one believes us – because we are lying.

If we claim to be Christian- But hang out mostly with friends to whom we would be embarrassed to introduce Jesus- we are lying.

If we claim to be Christian- But still act in ways that do not reflect God's love – in ways that are not loving toward others- we are lying.

 If we claim to be Christian but don’t leave enough evidence that we could ever be convicted of attempted believing – let alone first degree faith- we are lying.

John knows from personal experience that people look different after a makeover- If we claim to be Christian, but no one can see any difference we are lying-- and everyone knows it.

 

Second, John- has learned that we all need that makeover, but none of us likes to admit it.  He says “if we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  If we claim we don’t need a makeover we are just lying to ourselves.

I think this is really interesting that in the preceding paragraph John says that we can’t really fool others.   In this if statement he says, when we can’t fool others, we sometimes try to fool ourselves.   We often can’t convince others we are without sin because they see through our thin veneer pretty easily.  But sometimes we succeed in fooling is ourselves.  If you claim that you do not sin, the only person you are fooling is yourself.   I know better.  Your neighbors know better.  Your spouses and children certainly know better. 

You are the only one you might be fooling, and to be honest even you probably suspect somewhere deep down inside that you might not be perfect.

1. If you claim to be a Christian without an extreme makeover in your life, you are lying to others.

2. If you claim that you are without sin, you are only fooling yourself.

 

But it gets worse! Finally, in verse 10 John says, “If we claim we have not sinned we make him out to be a liar.”  Who is him?  God.  I don’t think any of us are in a position to be calling God a liar. I am pretty sure that God holds all the trump cards, and knows the cards that are in our hands.   I’m pretty sure that the God who created you, who knit you together in your mother’s womb; the God who gives you every breath you breathe and is nearer than every beat of your  heart;  the God who is light in the dark corners of your life that you think no one else knows about; the God who is big enough to hold the entire created universe on the end of his finger, and small enough to live in every cell and every atom in your heart knows the truth about you.  And the truth isn’t good.

“We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. “

If you deny that, you lie to God.  And if you lie to God I think you automatically lose the argument that you have not sinned.

 

That makes a pretty sad story. God created us for good and we sinned, we failed we blew it, we screwed up.  God knows it. We know it. And everyone else knows it. THE END.

The good news is that is not the end. The good news is that our sin is not the end of the story. 

 Looking back through this first chapter of First John, We have dealt with three “if” statements.  There is one I skipped.    “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

That might sound kind of catholic to you, but maybe that’s because our Roman Catholic friends have the upper hand when it comes to understanding our need for confession.  But don’t get nervous, I am not saying you have to come to me with your sins.  (Frankly I have my hands full with my own.—I’m just kidding you’re welcome to come to me. But) you can also confess in the pitch darkness of your room at night, in the bright sunlight as you drive away after having cussed out another driver.  One of my favorite places is the soft light of this sanctuary late at night when the room is lit only by the cross and the lights behind these panels here.   You can confess by yourself or with a friend, at any time, in any place, in any way that seems right between you and God.

The important thing is that you stop lying to God, yourself and everyone else and come to grips with the sin that lives in you.

Then and only then can God show you that “He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Then and only then can you experience the extreme makeover of the Christian life.

You know in the show “extreme makeover, home edition.”  They pull the bus up in front of the house so the family can’t see their new house.  What do they say?

(Bus driver, move that bus!)  Then they all cry.

Maybe we need to take a lesson.  Is the big ugly bus of sin blocking your view of the beautiful makeover God has wrought in your life through Jesus Christ?  Is your sin sitting right smack between you and the joy of salvation.   In order to experience the extreme makeover of forgiveness, salvation and joy in the Lord;  maybe you need to kneel down in prayerful confession to God and with sorrow in your heart, and tears in your eyes, say-  “Lord Jesus  remove my sin.”

“Lord Jesus, Remove my sin.”

 

PRAYER--We are liar’s lord.  We are cheats and fools for trying to pretend that all is well when it isn’t.  We are blocked from your forgiveness by our pride- by our stubbornness- by our unwillingness to confess to you.  Hear now the sorrowful pleas of our hearts . . .

Lord Jesus, remove my sin

Say it with me please---

Lord Jesus remove my sin.

AMEN

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter as a verb

“He is not there. . . He is here”
RUMC Easter 2009 10:15 worship
The women get to the tomb and discover the stone rolled away.
They peek in and there is a young man in a white robe.
The Bible says “they were alarmed.”
I think that’s a pretty safe bet.
The Bible says “terror and amazement had seized them”
I think that is putting it mildly.
The last sentence in the story says “They told no one.”
Wait . . . they told no one! What did they do? They had come to do a job. A rather unpleasant
job actually; to clean the blood off of their friend, pay their last respects and give him a proper burial.
What they get instead is breathtaking announcement that God has raised their friend from the dead and
that he has gone ahead of them to Galilee where they will see him. And they say nothing?
That’s not right! Why wouldn’t they tell everyone? Why wouldn’t they tell the whole world?
Why wouldn’t they get on CNN and proclaim to the whole world that Christ is risen! Why wouldn’t they
email their whole contact list? Why wouldn’t they put up billboards and print t-shirts and make bumperstickers!
Because, Mark tells us, they were afraid. Mark says, “They went out and fled the tomb, for
terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
It doesn’t say that they didn’t believe. It doesn’t say had any doubt in what they young man said
or any doubt that God had done just as he had said. But they didn’t say anything because they thought the
story was over.
They went home to eat their Easter dinner- they were all done- the leftovers were being put in the
fridge and that’s when it happened. They were Eastered.
You see they walked away thinking it was all over and they would go back to their lives. Just
like the disciples thought discipleship was an event that happened and now was over. They headed back
to their boats and families. And that’s when it happened to them. They were Eastered!
Now, it might sound weird to you when I use Easter as a verb instead of a noun, but what I want
you to hear today, is that Easter is not just a noun. Easter is not just a holiday, a holy day or any other
kind of day. Easter is not just something that happened 2000 years ago over there, to someone else.
Easter is certainly not just plastic grass or eggs filled with candy. And Ester certainly is not just the
Easter bunny.
In fact I don’t want us to think of Easter as a noun at all. I want us to think about Easter as a
verb; as in the women didn’t say anything because they were afraid. But on the way home they were
eastered! After lunch they got eastered!
The 19th century English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins penned the words, “Let him Easter in us.” In this
phrase, he uses the noun Easter as a verb.
It is a beautiful prayer really, “Let him Easter in us.” In fact, I think this is a great way to look at
the real truth, the transforming reality of Easter. Let Easter get into us. Let Easter come and live where we
live. Let Easter permeate our souls. “Let him Easter in us.” Isn’t that really what we all desire most? Not
Easter as a noun, not a long ago, far away Easter that happened to someone else. But, rather, Easter as a
verb, as something that transforms our present lives, as something that gives us new life now, as
something that gives us hope and meaning and courage. Isn’t that what every human heart longs for? Let
him Easter in us!
Easter Sunday is a day when we get people in the church who haven’t been here for a long time.
If that’s you, welcome! Maybe that is in part because it is tradition. Perhaps some do that because it
makes Grandma or mom happy. But Grandma and mom would be happy if you showed up any Sunday.
It isn’t because of the church we are here 52 Sundays a year. What is it about Easter that makes it one of
the two most attended days of the Christian Year?
I submit to you that it is because whether we come to church 52 times a year, 12 times a year or
just during Easter and Christmas, we have an Easter shaped hole in our lives and instinctively know that
the only way to fill that hole is to let Jesus “Easter” us. So we bring our cold dark hearts full of rotting
hopes and dried up dreams to Jesus hoping to be eastered.
• We look for ways to fill the emptiness when our spouse dies way too young and part of
us dies with them. We want to be eastered!
• We look for ways to light the empty darkness when we struggle with depression which
can be as bone chillingly damp as a stone tomb. We want to be eastered!
• We hope for someone to touch us speak to us, or just smile at us when we are lonely. We
want to be eastered!
• We pray for someone to put their arm around us to support us when we can’t seem to take
another step on our own power. We want desperately to be eastered!
• We cry for someone to show us light in the darkness, hope in the despair, and the
possibility of tomorrow when we aren’t yet sure we will make it through today. More
than anything in the world, we need desperately to be eastered.
Our necrotic souls ache for life but we know that without the one who gave his life that we might
live; death may not be imminent, but it is certain. So we come on this Easter day not celebrate Easter;
but to be eastered. Or as Mr. Hopkins would say to ask Jesus to Easter in us!
But we are playing with fire, because once we are eastered, we want to, need to indeed we are
nearly compelled to Easter others.
Our other gospels and tradition tell us that the women eventually did experience Easter as a verb,
because they did eventually go and tell the other disciples that Christ had been raised from the dead. He
Eastered in them and they were transformed from a group of frightened and fearful loners, to apostles;
people who boldly went forth from the tomb and proclaimed the good news that because Christ is risen.
Life is stronger than death, love is stronger than hate, and God’s peace is more powerful than human
violence.
What would happen if we as individuals and we as the Reinbeck United Methodist church
stopped having Easter--- and started doing Easter? What would it look like?
Do you remember “Be the church Sunday?” It would be- be the church Sunday every day!
Do you remember how excited the youth were when they came back from Colorado last summer?
People would be that excited every Sunday when they came in to tell us about the ministry they had done
that week.
Do you remember the Sunday we were doing baptism Renewal and Jacob Lawton asked if he
could be baptized. Do you remember how the spirit moved that day? It would be like that every day.
Every day would be habitat day. Every day would be invite your friend day. Every day would be
Bible day. Every day would be a prayer vigil. Every day would be a little Easter.
If we were to do Easter every day of our lives we would have to rethink what it means to do faith
and we would have to rethink what it means to do church!
But would that be so bad?
The denomination is embarking on the next phase of the open hearts, open minds, open doors
campaign and that is the slogan… rethink church. When we rethink the Easter church we have to throw
out all of our old thinking habits like thinking that Easter is a noun. When we rethink the Easter church
we have to throw out our old assumptions- like thinking that the way we have always done it is the way
we will always do it. When we rethink the Easter church we have to throw out our old assumptions --
like there is only one way to do this. When we rethink the Easter church we have to throw out our old
models -- like field of dreams thinking-- if we do it they will come. When we rethink the Easter church
we have to throw out our old expectations like the one I heard last week that church is supposed to be a
Sunday and Wednesday thing.
When God planned to send Jesus for our salvation, he forced people to rethink what they thought
they knew about God.
When God came as a baby- he forced us to rethink what we thought we knew about God’s plan.
When Jesus taught it is not what is on the outside that makes a man unclean, but what is on the
inside- he forced people to rethink what the laws were about.
When Jesus asked which one of the men in the story of the Good Samaritan was a neighbor, he
forced [people to rethink what it means to love your neighbor.
When Jesus ate with sinners, he forced people to rethink what it meant to show hospitality to
strangers.
When Jesus was captured and tried and tortured and whipped and beaten and abused he forced the
world to rethink our concept of God’s love.
When he died he forced us to rethink our understanding of God’s will.
When God Eastered Jesus from the grave on the Sunday morning so long ago he began a
rethinking of what death and life are really about.
And we have been rethinking, reimagining, recommitting and renewing every day since.
Today I want to challenge you to rethink a lot of things.
Rethink Easter.
Rethink your faith.
Rethink church.

Why I stay. . .

A young seminary student and future leader of our church named Jenny Smith has started what I hope to be something of a movement here in Reinbeck.  On March 9 she blogged  "We can't ignore the numbers. The United Methodist Church is in decline. Many ask, "Why do you stay? Denominations are useless these days."  (You can see her whole blog here.)  

She created the following list:
1. Our faith is active. We get our hands and hearts dirty in service & relationships.

2. Every United Methodist church is connected through a network of gatherings, prayer, service, money, agencies and leadership. I would never want to serve in building God's kingdom by myself.

3. I see God changing hearts and lives every. single. day.

4. I am fascinated by our founder who's only intention was to create a renewal movement inside the Church of England, not a new denomination. So our founding elements were refreshingly innovative.

5. We do our very best to love the person who's words we disagree with.

6. Our singular goal is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

7. Our focus right now is leadership development, starting new churches, ending global poverty and global health issues.

8. Every time I meet a young United Methodist candidate or clergy, I'moverwhelmed with the potential and hope of our new leaders. Yes, there are pieces of our church that are broken, but given the space & responsibility, God will use these new leaders to move forward in new ways.

9. The way we view the world is perfect for the times we're in. We hold things in tension. God is big enough for our questions. We are a middle ground between polarizing issues. Our hearts beat for grace and mission.

10. We're real people. Serving a real God. In a real world in need of real love.
She opened up a conversation with other United Methodists asking us why we stay in the UM Church.

I would like to focus the conversation just a little bit.  Asking you "Why do you stay in the Reinbeck United Methodist Church"  There are many things to love about our congregation,  I hear many of them, but I wish you could hear them from each other first person.

I would like to invite you to join in by sharing the things you love about our church.  Use this blog, email, facebook,a text message or an old fashioned note.  Just let me know what you love about our church so I can share it with everyone else.  Here are a couple more I want to add to get things started and then get to work on yours.

  • I stay at RUMC because i am surrounded by people who love me and share God's love with me.
  • I stay at RUMC because no matter how hard your faith questions might be, they are honest.
  • I stay at RUMC because there is plenty of room for my opinion along beside yours.  (We are indeed pluralistic!)
I could go on bu I want to hear it in your words.  Let me hear from you!

Terry

Saturday, April 11, 2009

The Iowa Supreme Court Decision

 

 

 "We do our very best to love persons whose words we disagree with."

 With these words Bishop Julius Calvin Trimble ended his statement on the historic decision by the Iowa Supreme Court declaring unconstitutional the state law that prohibits homosexual marriage.

 How shall we respond?  I think these words by a seminary student in Ohio are instructive of the attitude we must have.  There will be many words spoken about this decision.  Some will be helpful, others will be divisive.  Even when the words are hurtful and difficult, we must try our very best to love each other.

 I would like to frame my statement around another sentence.  "For God so loved the world. . .  that he gave his only son." (Jn. 3;16)  There are no exceptions to God's love.  There are no footnotes about sexual orientation.  

 If God loves us and our brothers and sisters that much, it is not up to us to draw lines around who we will love and who we will not love.  God loves all people and so do we.

 The Book of Discipline teaches that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.  The Bible and the Discipline both list other things that are incompatible with Christian teaching, including, lying, stealing, adultery, wastefulness, greed, hatred, gabling, substance abuse, killing, judging and causing divisions in the body of Christ.  Even if we are guilty of one or more of these things listed as "incompatible" God loves us.

 The book of discipline also says, “Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches”. (Paragraph 341.6)   While I am pastor here, we will not conduct homosexual marriages or unions.  That is our right under the principle of the separation of church and state and it is my obligation as a United Methodist pastor.

 You should know that while I agree it is wrong to discriminate against homosexuals, I believe marriage was instituted by God as a sacred covenant between one man, one woman and God. I, therefore, could not perform weddings for homosexual couples even if I had that opportunity.   The difficult issue of legal protection for this group needs to be solved without compromising God's sacred gift of marriage. 

 I pray that this statement becomes a getting on place for further dialogue about this sensitive subject.  Let's engage in loving and honest conversation that will help us to become even more loving as we struggle through this together.  I also pray taht you will take responsibility for your own faith and action.  Regardless of your personal position on this issue, speak to or write your legistators and pray for them as they sturggle with this issue on our behalf.

 

Terry

 

 

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Problem with Palms

The problem with Palms
RUMC April 5, 2009
Palm Sunday

THE DISCIPLES
The Disciples must have thought “Finally Jesus was getting what he deserves!” After three years of traveling and teaching and crowds pressing him for help, and Pharisees trying to trick him, he was finally being treated like a king.
They had seen him rejected in this town and that. They had seen him dusty and hot and dirty from traveling all the back roads. It must have been exhausting to heal and teach. Teach and heal. It must have been exhausting to explain the same thing over, and over, and over, to those who seemed unable or unwilling to understand.
He deserved better than that! He gave them everything he had. He never turned anyone away. He healed the lame and the blind, and the possessed. He raised the dead and counseled sinners. He accepted tax collectors and lepers, rich and poor, Jews and foreigners. He gave everything he had, but he received no recognition. No appreciation. His opponents never even gave him a break on the Sabbath. They were always looking for a way to trap him.
He never wanted any of this kind of royal treatment before. He was never willing to accept any special attention for himself. He was never interested in being treated special in any way.
But now. Now his time had come. The time was ripe. It wasn’t hard to stir up a crowd. Many people were in Jerusalem for the Passover and they were ready for a new king. All the disciples had to do was get it started. A few friends, a few palm branches, dress that donkey up a little by covering it with their robes so it looks more kingly and voila! A king.
THE DONKEY
As far as we know Jesus hadn’t ridden a donkey in the three years of his ministry. He walked everywhere he went. He walked with the disciples. He walked with the sinners. He walked along the dusty dirty dangerous roads of Israel. He never wanted any special treatment. This day, however, he sent for a donkey.
It wasn’t the great white stallion on which they would have liked to see the king. They would have rather it was a fearsome warhorse, maybe with some gleaming armor and a beautiful chariot behind. They would have liked to see him gallop in to save the day.
But he came on a simple donkey. Well, it raised him up above the crowd. It gave him special attention. It was at least a little more fitting for his status and role as King.
He wasn’t the first king to ride a donkey. After his inauguration , the great King Solomon rode his father, David’s, favorite mule into Jerusalem.
And there was something else. Jesus specified that this be a young donkey that had never before been ridden. This was remarkable because the young donkey was willing to be ridden but even more important because only animals that had never been used as a beast of burden could be used for sacred purposes like carrying the messiah.
Zechariah (9:9) had prophesied something very much like this:Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you; righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
This was more than a political parade. This was a sacred event.
THE CROWDS
The people in the crowd must have been thrilled. They had come to Jerusalem for the Passover. They came to celebrate God’s liberation of the Israelite slaves from Egyptian taskmasters. You know the plagues, the blood on the lintel, the crossing of the red sea, the army of Pharaoh washed away as they pursued.
But now they thought they had an opportunity to see another exodus. An exodus of the Israelites from the hands of the Roman Empire. I don’t think most of the crowd had any idea that this was God’s son. I don’t think most of them had any indication that this was what it was. Most of them thought this was a Jewish king come to claim authority in Jerusalem. I’m sure many expected a battle to follow. In fact the massive Roman military presence was almost certain to quell this excitement any time now.
But until then it was a festive occasion. The road was jammed with pilgrims. The parade moved slowly as people made way for the donkey carrying Jesus.
The excitement grew with every step. Hosanna- which means “help” or ‘save us” began to be heard in the crowd. Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna. This verse from Psalm 118 was commonly used as a greeting between pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem. But here, coupled with hosanna, it becomes a proclamation of Royalty. An affirmation that their king had finally come.
THE PALMS
And they cut palm branches. Palm branches were probably abundant and convenient. But it was more than that.
The last time Israel was free with her own king was almost 200 years ago when “the Hammer” Judas Maccabeus overthrew the seluciad empire to claim Israelite independence. That’s what the feast of Hanukkah is about. The reclaiming and rededication of the temple after the Mcabean revolt. He had a symbol for his victory. The palm branch. He printed it on coins and used them as the symbol of his victory. Now those same branches are being waved as Jesus goes by on a donkey.

The problem with palm branches is as soon as they are cut, they begin to die. When they are cut from the tree they don’t last long. And neither will the shouts of the crowd. In a few days they will be shouting not Hosanna, but what <<<>>>
Like the short lived palm branches the crowd’s excitement will be short lived. In a few days they will be waving not palm branches, but what? <<
>>
Like the short lived palms the cloaks spread before him won’t last long, soon instead of a royal cloak, Jesus will be covered with what? < <<>>>
Like the short lived palm branches donkey ride won’t last long. His next ride will not be on a white stallion or even a donkey, but on what? <<
>>
Like the palm branches the disciples will not last long either. One by one they will all fall away; Judas, Peter, all the rest, until it is just John standing alone with Jesus mother, Mary, at the foot of the cross watching him die.

How about us? How long will we last?
The story is horrible. The events of the coming week are unthinkable:
The footwashing,
the haunting words “This is my body and this is my blood”,
The betrayal “Go do what you must”
The garden “Can’t you stay awake and pray with me just a little while?”
The trial “Are you the king of the Jews”
The sentencing “Crucify him!”
The mocking “here’s a crown- O king- a crown of thorns”
The beating . . . the blood
The carrying of the cross
The nails . . . more blood
The disrespect “if you’re so great, come down off that cross”
The despair “My God my God why have you forsaken me”
The last “it is finished”


The problem with palm branches is they don’t last very long.
How about you?
Even when you know it isn’t finished- even knowing that good Friday is not the end of the story how long will you last?
How far will you follow?
Will you leave your sins there and follow beyond to the empty grave?
Will you pick up your own cross and follow him with your own life?
Will you lay down your old self and follow him to glory?
Will you go all the way up the hill to the place of the skull but stop just short of the place of death?
Will you take a few steps to the cross?
Will you run away before the trial?
Will you stay on the road with the palm branches and die?

The problem with palms is they are an awful lot like us.