PEAKLAND BAPTIST CHURCH, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
Sermon Outline
May 11, 2008
Revived by the Breath of God (5/11/08)
Ezekiel 37:1-6, Acts 2:1-4
1. When life knocks the wind out of you, take a deep breath of God’s Spirit. Life can do that, you know – knock the wind out of you. You have been working hard on a project for months. You complete the project but you are physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. Take a deep breath of God’s Spirit. Your parents seem to fight all the time, and you wonder if they are going to get a divorce. You think about it when you should be listening to your math teacher demonstrate how to work a new formula. Remember to take a deep breath of God’s Spirit. You have been living with a situation for years, giving your best to work for some improvement, but you feel exhausted and hopeless. Take a deep breath of God’s Spirit. You are caring for someone with a debilitating illness, and you are worn out with care-giving and fearful of what comes next. Take a deep breath of God’s Spirit. You don’t like to talk about it, but you are disappointed in the decisions your adult children are making. Your worry wears you out but doesn’t do them any good at all. Take a deep breath of God’s Spirit. You are still working to adjust to the loss of someone you love with all your heart, trying your best to accept what you still don’t want to accept. Take a deep breath of God’s Spirit. You have been sowing seeds of faith for years and it seems that none of them are sprouting and bearing fruit. Take a deep breath of God’s Spirit. You are distraught with the direction our nation is following but feel helpless to make any difference in the judgment that awaits us down the road of history. Whether or not these examples touch the place where life has knocked the wind out of you, I pray that you will identify your place and take a deep breath of God’s Spirit so that you will know revival through the presence, power, and purpose of God’s indwelling Spirit. One of the reasons we come to worship each Sunday is so that we can take a deep breath of God’s Spirit when life has knocked the wind out of us or when we need a fresh vision for the week that lies ahead. One of the reasons that I encouraged you to sing today is because in the breathing in and breathing out of song, we often receive a breath of God’s Spirit.
2. We turn first to Ezekiel’s vision of a spiritual wasteland to see how dead bones can be revived by the Spirit/Breath/Wind of God. When we deal with God, we discover that the words breath/wind/spirit are all connected. Long before T. S. Eliot wrote his famous poem, Ezekiel lived in a wasteland, a time of exile when defeat and deportation had knocked the wind out of God’s people. Captives in a strange land, they had lost the breath of hope. When Ezekiel looks out at his congregation one day, he has a vision of a battlefield where dead bodies have been abandoned on the hill-sides, left to become bleached, lifeless bones. His people are like those lifeless bones. They have lost the breath of hope. They stumble through life as the living dead, with their bones sticking out. When he takes a breath, he smells only dust and decay. If you have never before met a discouraged preacher, meet Ezekiel.
a) In the midst of this hopeless vision, God asks Ezekiel a question: “Can these bones lives?” Can these people find hope again and become a living, vibrant community? Ezekiel’s heart groans, “No, Lord. They have been dead too long. It is impossible for them to be revived and live again.” But he speaks not from the fear that is in his heart. Rather he speaks from the faith that is revived when he listens to the voice of God – “Lord God, you know.” He takes a deep breath of God’s Spirit, confessing that he does not see any way but he trusts that God opens ways and breaths hope when no hope seems possible. When life asks you the question - “Can you deal with it? Is there any hope? Can you face it another day” – a person of faith takes the question to God and confesses, “Lord God, you know a way. You know. Help me to know.”
b) Of course, Ezekiel’s faith is sound. God does know a way, and Ezekiel is now listening. Have you ever tried to tell someone something when they weren’t listening? Frustrating, isn’t it. If there is a God who made more than I can imagine and who had a purpose for me even before I was born, then God does know more than I know, when I am willing seriously to ask God for direction, and listen. Guess what God’s answer is? “Preach to these bones, Ezekiel. Declare my word to dead bones, and they shall live.” How do you think Ezekiel responds? Maybe something like, “Lord, I’ve already tried that. I’ve been preaching to these people for several years and it seems like I’m talking to dead people with their eyes glazed over. That doesn’t work.” God responds, “When you heard my word today did it not give you the breath of hope? When you speak my word to them, they also will know the revival of hope just as you have. Don’t speak to the surface of their lives, Ezekiel, speak to their spirits. Don’t speak so they will say that you are a good preacher, Ezekiel, speak so they will know ‘I am the Lord.’ Tell them that the One who breathed life into the lungs of the first human beings will also breathe life into their dead bones . . . if they will listen to my word and take a deep breath of my Spirit.” As Ezekiel preaches, the wind/ breath/spirit of God moves across the wasteland of dead bones, and they come together. Flesh and muscle grow, and the people are revived to stand together in hope and walk together into God’s future. If you have ever administered artificial respiration, you can connect with what happened that day. The wind of God did not just blow on the outside of these dead souls. They took a deep breath of the Spirit that was breathed upon them, and they lived again!
c) This is a vision, a valley of metaphor, but the wasteland was as real as the worst nightmare that you have ever lived through. When we look across our congregation, what do we see? When God looks at our congregation, what does God see – people alive in God or a spiritual wasteland with our bones sticking out? Those who hear the Word of the Lord and take a deep breath of God’s Spirit are revived, again and again.
3. Now we fast forward the clock to join 120 disciples in the Upper Room 50 days after Easter. There are two good things to say: (1) “They were all together in one place.” Some say that was the last time this statement could be made about Jesus’ Church. Ever since then we have been divided into competing groups, judging one another. How important that we keep working on being together as Jesus’ Church. (2) They had been praying for 10 days, praying about their needs, seeking a Word from God to give them hope. Have you? In the last newsletter and my column in the newspaper, I asked you to pray during the days leading to Pentecost.
a) They took their situation to God, because it felt hopeless, and they did not know where to turn. Life had knocked the breath out of them. First, Jesus was executed in the most brutal way, like a violent revolutionary. And they failed him. Then he rose from the dead on the third day, and they were not expecting him. After 40 days they were just beginning to adjust to the reality of the resurrection, and Jesus left them for good. He ascended to the One whom he called “My Father in Heaven,” and left them to continue his work. What if they fail him again? How can they continue his work without him to inspire, guide, correct, and forgive them? They are still dealing with grief, their own inadequacy, confusion about what comes next, and fear of what the authorities may do to them. Yes, the wind had been knocked out of them, so they gathered together and prayed to God.
b) There are many ways of understanding and claiming what happened on Pentecost; that is why the longest season of the Christian year is Pentecost, for it takes months to live into the indwelling presence, power, and purpose of God’s Spirit. Today I want to focus on one of the outcomes of Pentecost: God’s people with the wind knocked out of them were revived as they took a deep breath of God’s Spirit. Lord, may it happen again! The wind is the breath is the Spirit, and it filled the place where the 120 disciples were worshipping, as each took a deep breath of God! What happened on Pentecost Day is an illustration of spiritual artificial respiration. They breathed and became alive, as the Spirit of God in their lungs and arteries gave them hope to overcome their grief, fear, confusion, and self-doubt. They were revived by the breath of God, no longer a disheartened club huddled around the relics of the past but a living expression of the presence, power, and purpose of God. As they lived into this experience, they would learn that Jesus had not left them, for the same God who had become a human being in Jesus now lives within those who breathe deeply of God’s Spirit. Pentecost brought a new way of knowing and relating to God: God is as real as my own breath. The same God who lived and breathed in Jesus now breathes in them! Revive us again!
c) How do I know that they inhaled the breath of God? Because they exhale it! As their lungs and lives are filled with the breath of God, they use this breath to declare the living hope that they have in Jesus Christ. As God formerly spoke hope through the solitary voice of Ezekiel, now God speaks hope through the voices of an entire community! They speak, and God completes the communication process, so that 3,000 other people begin to breathe hope that day, because 120 used the breath of God they received to share the Good News with others. Sometimes people avoid and argue about Pentecost because of the “miracle of tongues.” Come to Bible Study sometime, and we can go into depth about this, but the main point of “tongues” is that when God’s people speak words of hope to others, we can trust God to complete the communication process. When we express the hope that is in us, we are not alone with the process, for the breath that speaks is an expression of the Spirit of God who works to complete the process. When people talk about “saving souls” they are self-deceived on several points, not the least being that God is the only one who “save souls.” We just live and breathe what we have experienced, telling others of the hope that is in us, trusting that God will do in them what God is doing in us.
d) The proof that we have received the breath of God’s Spirit is that we are able to say it, to write it, to live it. The proof that we have inhaled a breath of God is that we can exhale that same breath and use it to sound words that express our hope and experience. Some of you know what I am about to say – we do not know what we think we know until we can say it. We know that we have been revived by the breath of God when we can express our hope in words. The rest of my sermon insert is blank, for I want you to take a few minutes to write down the hope that you have found in Christ. If you were to explain to another person why you are a Christian – what you have found in Christ that is worth living and sharing - what would you write? Here’s your chance – breathe out what has been breathed into you! (If you don’t have enough room, use the back of your Week-at-a-Glance.)
Last Updated: 05/08/2008
www.peaklandbaptistchurch.org
It’s wonderful to be here with you in Lynchburg, Virginia, in a church that has a 53-year-old history of mission and outreach to its neighborhood, through your own initiatives and through involvement with the Interfaith Outreach Association. Just Last Saturday some of you participated in the Rebuilding Together project. And earlier this same weekend I see that some of your youth have been learning about and experiencing hunger through the 30 Hour Famine. All these things show your commitment to being a vital part of your community, which eventually involves questions of politics.
I want to talk today about the politics of Jesus. I do so because right at the start of today’s gospel reading Jesus is given a two-pronged question. ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Think about that question for a moment. We like to imagine ourselves as enlightened people who don’t play the blame game when it comes to misfortunes. But think about the way big disasters are reported on the news media. Day One, we get news of a big explosion or shoot-out or accident. People are interviewed as they wait to hear terrible news. Then we get tired of seeing people being frightened or in pain. So on Day Two we’re told that questions are already being asked about how it was that the boat sank or the crazy man got hold of a gun or the security curtain was breached. And on Day Three the inquisition is in full swing and somebody’s already under pressure to resign. ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, this man or the government, this man or the multinational corporations, that this man was born blind?’ Somebody must be to blame. Stuff doesn’t just happen.
The two answers that the disciples offer Jesus represent the two conventional ways of doing politics. The first answer is, this man sinned himself, and became blind as a result. This is the theory of personal responsibility. Now we’re told in the very first sentence of this story that the man had been blind from birth. So it’s not clear what kind of sin the man could have committed in the womb to deserve being made blind. Nonetheless the first option the disciples offer is the option of personal responsibility. This has been a live political option from the beginning of time. It’s obviously a limited theory, but that has never affected its popularity. If people are in trouble, tell them it’s because they’re lazy, tell them it’s because they’re racially inferior, tell them to go figure, tell them it’s because they made bad choices. Personal responsibility is what the politics of the right has always been essentially about.
But the disciples offer a second option to Jesus. The second option is, the man’s parents sinned. It wasn’t his fault at all, it was someone else’s. He was an innocent victim of other people’s misdeeds. This is the conventional politics of the left. It’s wrapped up in the jargon of structural evil, and the hissing noises that say the problem is the “syssstem”. Just as the right seems to evacuate the stage of all other characters (the disciples, the parents, the neighbors and the Pharisees disappear out of the story leaving just the man and God), so the left crowds the stage with all these characters and more, meticulously and suspiciously plotting the economic dependence of one group on another, the vested interests of a third, the damaging effects of the Jerusalem sewage system that leads to infant blindness and the culpable neglect of the beggar’s needs for dignity, opportunity, and decent health care.
It’s important for Christians to recognize that behind each of these two conventional political arguments is a rival theology, expressed in a rival view of sin. The first view tends to say the problem is humanity’s fall. We were created free and in that freedom we always freely chose what was good. But when humanity fell we lost that ability. We retained the gift of freedom, the ability to choose, but we lost the gift of goodness, the ability to choose well. The solution is to ask Christ to direct one’s life and the Holy Spirit to empower one’s will, so in St Paul’s words, it’s no longer I who live, it’s Christ who lives in me. Baptism marks the focal point of that transition from freedom to responsibility. Since the eighteenth century and economists like Adam Smith there’s been a secular line on personal responsibility that says the best thing for everyone is if each acts in their own interests because then the diverse interests of all will even themselves out. Thus the rhetoric of the right, whether theological or not, tends to assume that anything that gets in the way of individual choices is interfering with the true energy and essence of humankind.
The second view by contrast is not so much interested in the fall. It tends to see humanity less as a sinner than as a child. For the left there isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with the world, it’s just that we need to do more research, offer more love, work out a better system, and agree on better rules to make sure everyone’s innate goodness comes to the surface. We’re all on a slow journey from ignorance to wisdom, and Jesus offers not so much a syringe to suck out our poison as a key to unlock our prison. Whereas the soft-focus movies of the right are about gang leaders turning to Jesus and becoming champions of troubled youth, or orphans pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and becoming global entrepreneurs, the poster children of the left are the teacher who loved a delinquent boy enough to see him go to college or the attorney who challenged the law that discriminated against the immigrant girl.
The irony is that the left believes, sometimes despite overwhelming evidence, in innate human goodness, but is associated with meddling taxation and legislation; meanwhile the right believes, just as surely, in sheer human sin, but is associated with leaving people alone in their wealth or poverty.
And that’s why I find this story such a helpful one to read with you, in this church that is committed to being a vital part of the life of the city of Lynchburg. Because it shows not only that our conventional political answers are elaborate responses to the problem of human suffering, but that it has always been so. Politics has always been theology. Behind every church policy, behind every relief program, behind every educational outreach ministry, behind every budget discussion, behind every search for a new pastor, lies this same set of questions and possible answers: why are things wrong, and how do we make them better?
And this is the point where Jesus responds to his disciples’ question. He starts with the unforgettable words: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” Human suffering and disadvantage are fundamentally opportunities to discover the glory of God. We begin not with blame or with strategy but with worship. This is the first lesson of the politics of Jesus: there can be no justice and no righteousness unless there is right worship. Every time we go into a place of hardship or distress, whether our own or someone else’s, we go expecting to be overcome with wonder at the glory of God.
I want now to look at the three kinds of people Jesus hangs out with in this story. It’s sometimes said that politics shouldn’t be about people, it should be about issues. But issues are simply generalizations about people. At the beginning of the story Jesus is with his disciples. They aren’t mentioned again so we may assume they were there or thereabouts throughout the story. The politics of Jesus is about accountable communities of people who keep close to Jesus and seek to imitate his pattern of life. They stay close to his incarnation, so they know the divine is revealed through the very human and the truly human is known only through the divine. They stay close to his ministry, so they know who he spends time with and who is closest to his heart. They stay close to his cross, or at least they should do, so they know the cost of his witness is terrifying. And they stay close to his resurrection, so they know that forgiveness is the way he unlocks the treasure store of the past and eternal life is the way he unlocks the limitless promise of the future.
Then most obviously Jesus is with the man born blind. The first sentence of the story doesn’t include the word “a”. It just says, Jesus saw “man, blind from birth”. In other words, Jesus saw humanity, humankind, the human condition. Jesus sees us but we can’t see Jesus. That’s the way the story begins. And Jesus mixes clay, just the way God formed Adam from the dust of the earth. God recreates humanity through Jesus. That’s what this miracle is telling us. And Jesus puts the clay on the blind man’s eyes. In Jesus, God touches our lives. That’s what the story is saying. And Jesus tells the man to wash, or we may say be baptized, in the pool called Sent. Jesus turns this man from a beggar into a missionary. That’s what we see in this story. And then suddenly there’s a commotion and everyone wants to know who and what and how and why. And the man simply says two words, “I am” – in Greek, ego eimi. The first words of all Jesus’ famous sayings, and the very words God uses in Exodus 3 when Moses asks “What is your name?” I am. In other words, at the start of the story I was called humanity, but the only word for what has happened since is… God.
So the politics of Jesus is with humanity, with the human condition, with the poor, with the beggar, with the person whose disability dominates his life, and the politics of Jesus is about new creation, touching the outcast and empowering for ministry, letting loose the energy pent up by despair, disadvantage and derision.
And then thirdly Jesus seems to find himself in the company of the Pharisees. And sometimes you know when you’re getting something right, because the people that run things locally want to meet you and find out more about you and see if you can be domesticated into their way of seeing and doing things. And if you can’t or won’t they’ll doubtless make life difficult for you. So the politics of Jesus in this story is making people uncomfortable, people who believe God and society and health and propriety are theirs to judge and order and dictate.
And the irony of this story is that the person we thought we were going to pity and to patronize, the man born blind, turns out to be a better disciple than the disciples and a disarmingly disingenuous witness in the face of the powers. Don’t miss the humor when the man says to the Pharisees, “Do you want to be his disciples, too?” He’s making the disciples face up to their own timidity and the Pharisees face up to their own refusal to see. This isn’t a hierarchical story in which the disciples come out best, the poor next, and the self-righteous nowhere. The disciples are embarrassed like the Pharisees. We’re not supposed to see ourselves as the perceptive ones in this story. We’re supposed to identify with “humanity”, collectively personified in the man born blind. And the way to make sure we’re not blind at the end of the story is to admit that we were blind at the beginning.
So, Peakland Baptist Church: your mission statement declares that you are “called by God, bound by faith, united in fellowship, dedicated to freedom, and engaged in God's work of mission and outreach.” May your faithful work of mission and outreach be that of accountable community, friendship with the poor, and rattling the cage of the mighty. Because that’s the politics of Jesus. It’s not identical with either of the conventional political solutions, because it doesn’t see suffering as primarily a problem to be solved. Instead it sees suffering as an opportunity to encounter the glory of God. And I have two challenges for you, as in your words you “build on the best of your past and embrace God’s plans for your future.” The first is this. Will you judge all the decisions in front of you through lens of conventional politics, the politics of blame and legislation, or will you see the politics of Jesus, of accountable community, friendship with the poor, and keeping the powerful hopping? And the second challenge is like unto it, thus. Will you continue to see human suffering not as a problem simply to be solved piously by repentance or bureaucratic resources, but as an opportunity to discover the glory of God, and will your prayer and worship reflect this transformation? In other words, how are you going to make sure you continue to be the man in this story, and don’t end up becoming the Pharisees?
Peakland Baptist, Jesus has come a long way to see you. He’s got a present for you. It’s called the kingdom of God.
April 20
God in All Ways, God Always
(Acts 17:22-31) [4/20/08]
1. Once a man set out on a quest to find air. He looked high – breathing in and breathing out. He looked low – breathing in and out. He looked all around – breathing in and out. But he did not find air anywhere, so he declared, “I have discovered that air does not exist. I do not believe in air!” – breathing in and breathing out. We may think this man foolish, for we all know that we live in air as a fish lives in water. Take air away, and we flop around like a desperate fish out of water. However, I do not call him foolish. He is merely blind to the very reality that sustains his breathing. One who is blind may always come to see and acknowledge what makes life possible. God is like the air, around us always. We live in God as we live in air. God is the reality that makes life and consciousness possible. As Paul said in Athens, agreeing with an ancient Greek poet, “In God we live and move and have our being.”(Acts 17:29) Today may we open our eyes to see the reality of God in all ways. May we confirm our commitment to trust and walk with God, always.
2. When Paul arrives in Athens he discovers that religion is big business. In a city known for its intelli-gentsia, renowned for its philosophers, he is surprised to find a temple on every corner. In his speech, he acknowledges “how extremely religious” they are. The business of naming gods is a lucrative growth industry in Athens. There is the temple of Mars, the god of war, where you make an offering to get Mars on your side if you are a soldier. There is the temple of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, where you go to find an answer to a perplexing problem. There is Aphrodite’s temple, the goddess of love; you can imagine several reasons to make an offering at her temple. There is the temple of Dionysius, the god of wine. The tickets to his banquets are pricey, for he throws the best parties in town. And that is just the beginning, for there is a franchise for any god you can imagine in this religious metropolis. Some people prefer Burger King; others prefer Wendy’s – whatever works for you. If one franchise disappoints, you can try a different one across town. Paul also comments on the fact that they even have an altar to “the unknown god” – the one whose name has not yet won a franchise. Maybe this is a sign of respect – “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio;” or a sign of fear - they don’t want to anger a god by failing to provide a franchise where the priests can turn a good profit; or an announcement for an unclaimed business opportunity – name the god whose name we do not know and open a franchise in his/her name.
3. Paul claims this altar to the unknown god as an opportunity to talk about the God who names us, in stark contrast to the gods whom we name and seek to persuade to bless our self-interest. “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.” He speaks about the God in whom they “live and move and have their being,” as surely as they breath the air.
a) First he announces that this God is not just a part of creation but the One who stands behind all that is. This is the God of all creation, Lord of Heaven and Earth, who created all things and gave to humanity the power to name what has been made. God gave us the power to name aspects of the created order, for in naming we understand and enter into relationship with things. Just as one names a pet to enter into relationship with it, so we name the creation in order to relate to it as God’s appointed managers. Idolatry reverses what the Creator planned, for people name aspects of the creation as gods and worship them as though they hold power over human beings. When we open our eyes to see truly, the world is not filled with gods but signs of the God who is God. When we look at the earth below and the heavens above, we can see the fingerprints of the One who is the source of it all. Instead of dividing creation into powers and principalities that we worship, creation is the arena in which the unknown god becomes known as the Creator and Sustainer of All. “O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made; then sings my soul, how great thou art!” When we open our eyes to look with wonder at the cosmos in which we live, we may come to know the One who made all that is, in whom we live and move and have our being. Once a man was walking down a road. He whispered, “God speak to me,” and a meadowlark sang. But the man did not hear. As the man walked along, storm clouds were gathering. This time he yelled, “God speak to me!” and thunder and lightning rolled across the sky. But the man did not listen. Later that night the man looked up into the sky. He said, “God let me see you,” and a star shone brightly. But the man did not see. Then the man shouted, “God show me a miracle!” Down the road a baby was born. But the man did not notice. Walking outside in despair, he blurted out, “Touch me, God, and let me know you are here!” And a butterfly lit on his shoulder, but he brushed it away. The God of All Creation is as near as our breath – breathing in, breathing out – how can we miss God? May we open our eyes to see . . . and not brush God aside.
b) Next Paul cautions that we cannot make a deal with God, for God needs nothing from us. Paul thinks this idolatry is silly. People build a house for a god they name. Then they give an offering to the god, expecting that the god will give them something in return, for this god is now in their debt. It sounds like a religious protection racket – you pay what the god wants every month, and he will protect you and those whom you love. How can the One in whom we live and breathe need us? How can the God who is God be in debt to us? The idea is ludicrous. God does not need us. You cannot bargain with God and make a deal with God. Though God does not need us, God wills to have a relationship with us. Conversation about the will of God can be so confusing. Some say that the deaths at Virginia Tech last year were God’s will. Some say illness, hunger, and tornadoes are God’s will. Some-times we feel betrayed when life is harsh and God does not hold up his end of the bargain. God has created a universe where freedom is possible; therefore, random events happen regularly. People misuse their freedom regularly. These events and choices are not God’s will but part of the fabric of reality. Even though God’s will is not all that people say it is, God’s will has been made known. Remember our 2008 theme verse, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” This is God’s will revealed. Paul affirms that God wills to relate to us, not in a business arrangement, but in a relationship of knowing as we are known. He says that the God whom they do not know wants to know them!
c) Paul affirms that the God whom we cannot name is the very One who has named us. And God has named us as “offspring.”(v. 28) This phrase opened eyes, for many Greeks believed that the gods had offspring, extraordinary people like Hercules and Augustus, but to think that every human being is an offspring of the God who is God is an astounding claim! Among all creation, we are the beings who are “in the image of God,” that is, we reflect something of God’s nature and being. God has named us as image bearers/children of God! Sure we are creatures, shaped by the forces of nature just as an amoeba or a dolphin, but we are created with the unique potential of knowing and relating to God. Since we are the image of God, we are not complete until we know the Original whom we image. As Augustine affirms, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O God.” Believing in God never lessens human beings, but bargaining with the gods at some religious franchise demeans us every time. Knowing and trusting in the One who made us for relationship is the way to know ourselves most truly and to find the depth of who and whose we truly are. As those who image God, we do have an essential purpose in nature – to be the managers of all that is, not fulfilling our own desires and dominion, but expressing the purpose of the One who made creation as an unfolding story, not a finished product, but an evolving, diversifying, amazing, agonizing story of life. And God has chosen human beings to be the key players in this unfolding! Note that Paul says God has made ALL people (not just Jews or Christians) as God’s offspring. ALL people move and live in God and are intended to have their identity and destiny fulfilled in God. But what does God think about how we are doing with the plan? Maybe you have read “An Interview with God?” It goes something like this: I dreamed I had an interview with God. “So, you would like to interview me?” God asked. “If you have time,” I said. God smiled, “My time is eternity. What questions do you have?” “What surprises you most about humankind?” God answered, “That they get bored with childhood; they rush to grow up; and then long to be children again. That they lose their health to make money, and then lose their money to restore their health. That they think so anxiously about the future that they forget the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future. That they live as if they will never die, and die as though they had never lived.” At the end of the interview, the man asks, “is there anything else you would like your children to know?” God smiled and said, “Just know that I am here . . . always.” God has named you. God is here always, waiting for you to open your eyes and see who and whose you are.
4. But it doesn’t work if God is everywhere. Every-where is like nowhere. God must be somewhere before I can know the one who is an necessary as the air, and often just as invisible. So Paul next talks about how God came somewhere – in the man, Jesus of Nazareth – so that we can know the One who knows and names us. The whole point of the incarnation is that the God who is everywhere became a human being, so that other human beings can come to know and trust in the Unknown God through this human being. Though Jesus we find out who we are and whose we are. This story has an ancient origin but it is a contemporary, unfolding narrative. When people who know God represent God to others, others also come to know God. It happens all the time. When people who know God give food to those who are hungry, give hope to those who are hopeless, give work to those who are unemployed, give acceptance to those who despise themselves, give mercy to those who feel like a failure, give support to those who are grieving, give attention to those who are sick, share their story with those whose lives seem pointless – when God’s children who know they are God’s children represent God to others, these others also come to know and claim who and whose they are. It is the work of incarnation, which is also the work of evangelism. Evangelism is NOT making other people think as you think. True evangelism is introducing other people to the God who named them, even before they knew God’s name or their own name. Evangelism is introducing people to “the God in whom we live and move and have our being.” Lest you think this is all religious stuff that happens primarily in one of the religious franchises set up in our name for God, let me close by telling you one of the most powerful stories of evangelism I know, the story of Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. Jean Valjean is an ex-convict who has just been released from a 19 year sentence in a soul-destroying, body-breaking penal colony. His crime was stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family, who have all died during his long imprisonment. Homeless and hungry, Jean is taken in by a kindly bishop, given a hot dinner and a bed for the night. He returns the favor with an act of larceny. In the middle of the night, he stuffs the bishop’s silver into his bag and slips out of town. The police catch him and drag him back to the bishop’s house to confirm the theft. In one of the great scenes of French literature, three gendarmes surround Jean Valjean, head bowed in shame, and present him and the bag of stolen silver to the bishop. Before they can ask their questions, the bishop speaks to Jean, “Ah, there you are! I’m glad to see you. But I gave you the candlesticks also. Why did you not take them along with your plates?” Jean is released, but more – he is changed, true repentance. The compassion of the bishop introduces him to God – not in mere rhetoric but in reality. And Jean changes. He is haunted by this act of grace until his own life becomes a life of grace. He becomes a child of God, reflecting the mercy and integrity of God in a time that was as brutal and indifferent as any time you can imagine, even our time. How do I know that? Because he frequents the doors of one of the many religious franchises in Paris? No, because his life becomes a light which shines in the darkness of his day to reveal the character and purpose of the God who is as real a part of his life as his own breath.
I do not know where you find yourself in the plot of your life. But I hold out the hope that the God who became a human being in Jesus of Nazareth, so that we may know and trust this God, comes to all people in all ways so that we can discover who and whose we are, so that we can revise the script of our lives, so that we can find hope and light, so that we can be hope and light to others. The real proof that our eyes are open to see and to know the God who is as necessary, and invisible, as the air we breathe is when we become reflectors of the grace, glory, and purpose of our Maker. May God open our eyes to know and to walk with the One who knows us and made us for such a divine relationship!
April 13, 2008
Exploring Unexpected Ways (4/13/08)
Exodus 3:1-6, John 1:43-49
1. Last week we spoke about staying on the Way; today we speak about exploring unexpected ways. When we hear the Good News of the Risen Lord and decide to follow the One who declares, “I am the Way,” it becomes important to focus on how we stay on the Way, throughout the long walk of faith. When I observe worship as one measure of staying on the Way, I notice that there are far fewer people here today than on Easter Sunday. I never told you that staying on the Way was easy or even the most popular choice. But staying on the Way is the best trip I know and the only sure path leading to our final destination. If you have stayed on the Way for long, you know that surprise is part of the trip. Life often surprises us, doesn’t it? For example, when Joe arrived at work he noticed his co-worker was wearing an earring. Since he knew this guy was very conservative, he was curious about his change of fashion. So Joe asked, “I didn’t know you were into earrings.” “Don’t make a big deal; it’s only an earring,” he replied. Consumed with curiosity, Joe pressed on, “How long have you been wearing an earring?” His co-worker confessed, “Since my wife found it in my truck.” Life brings all kinds of surprises. When we follow the Risen Christ on his Way, we often find surprises. We find ourselves going places and doing things we would never have thought part of our identity or itinerary. Maybe you are remembering some unexpected ways you have explored since deciding to follow Jesus. Today let us explore some of the surprising experiences and unexpected outcomes for those who stay on the Way of Jesus. Let us see how the Risen Lord works within and between us to make something beautiful of our lives.
2. Sometimes we discover God in unexpected places. Moses is out in the wilderness taking care of business, one more boring day caring for stinking sheep. Those who have never kept sheep can romanticize it, but shepherding is not one of the noble callings. Sheep look cute and cuddly at a distance, but draw near and hold your nose. Live with them in the wilderness for long, and you become their aroma. Keeping sheep in the wasteland of Midian is the last place you expect God to show up. Unless you know places in your own experience that seem equally desolate and demeaning. Moses is surprised when he sees a bush blazing, as though afire, yet not consumed. Intrigued by this sight, Moses says, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight.” He leaves the established path of shepherding and goes on an unexplored pathway to discover what this sign means. This is when God speaks to him out of the bush. In fact, the text says, “When the Lord saw that he turned aside,” God called to him. Any place can become a divine meeting place, if we turn and look.
a) What if Moses had kept his eyes down and trudged on, not turning aside to explore this strange sight? Would the rest of the story have happened? Would he have become the most famous leader of the Old Testament, if he had trudged on down the proven path? I cannot say, for I can only report what happened. Moses turns aside to explore an unexpected sight, and that is when God changes the direction and destiny of his life. Time and again, people break through to new levels of spiritual reality and find refreshing for their souls when their vision or imagination is claimed by something that most people do not yet see, when they step off the proven path to explore unexpected places. The old maps warned that when one steps beyond the proven pathways, “There be dragons.” Often, when one walks in unexplored places, “There be God.”
b)God calls Moses from the bush, and Moses responds, “I am here.” Notice who finds whom. Often we speak of people trying to find God, but when you read the stories of the Bible we see that it is God finding people. By and large, people are not trying to find God. They are pressing on in the proven ways of life and success, trying to hold it together, trying to survive the current crisis, trying to save for tomorrow and secure their lives. When you read the stories of the Bible, they are like most of the stories in our world – very few people are looking for God. However, God is looking for people! From Adam and Eve through Abraham and Sarah, David, Esther, Jonah, Peter, Paul and on, God is looking for people, sometimes using the strangest experiences to claim their attention so that they will hear his call. Francis Thompson in “The Hound of Heaven,” says that most people spend more time avoiding God than seeking God. God is in the people finding business; not just in Jesus, but from the beginning of the story. So God finds Moses; Moses doesn’t find God. There will be times in the story to come when Moses will wish that God had not found him. But his regret does not change God’s plan, nor does it, in the end, change Moses’ destiny. Whether or not you are trying to find God or playing hide-and-seek, God is trying to find you. When you turn aside to explore something that seems secular, don’t be surprised when God finds you in the experience.
c) Moses says, “I am here;” and God responds, “I AM here also.” Adding, “I AM the God of your ancestors – the God of Abraham/Sarah, Isaac/Rebekah, and Jacob/ Leah/Rachel.” Moses may have protested, “But you can’t be here in Midian. Your home is in the promised land of Canaan.” God, you can’t be here, for you are supposed to be in some holy place – a holy book, a church, or museum or some such religious place. But God lets Moses know that God is where God chooses to be. There is no place where God cannot be. Later in the story we will see that Jesus even showed up in hell to preach to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19). So never limit where God can be! The “I AM” is looking for you and can show up anywhere you turn aside and give the Holy One your attention. I still remember how surprised my English professor at Ole Miss was when I found God’s presence and call in a novel by D. H. Lawrence. God found Moses off the beaten path and called him to become someone whom he though he could never be – the Voice of God and the Liberator of his enslaved people. Have you ever thought, “I could never see myself doing that.” That was Moses’ response to God’s call to be God’s spokesman. Despite his own misgivings, Moses became what he never imagined himself capable of becoming. For God calls people in unexpected ways to discover unexpected potential and to full an unbelievable destiny. God sees in us what we do not yet see. God meets us in unexpected places to make something beautiful out of our lives: yes, my life . . .yes, your life!
3.Sometimes we discover God in unexpected people. It is safer not to get to know people, because then they can fulfill all your opinions and judgments about them. But as soon as you get to know someone, I mean know them beneath the surface of their lives, you discover that they are not at all as you judged them to be. That is why the fearful and foolish people are always the bigots – safely judging others from behind the armor of their pre-judgments. I remember the first AIDS patient I visited in Maryland during the 1980’s. He was one of the most caring and gentle people I have ever met, a “wounded healer,” showing compassion on those who had only disdain for him. And he was a Christian; go figure! One of the places that God most regularly meets people is through the least likely people. Of course, it all started with Jesus, for Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter’s son with two fathers, was the human being in whom the presence of God dwelt completely. I love the way John’s Gospel expresses the message – “God’s Word became flesh-and-blood and moved into our neighborhood!”(1:14) But not everyone was prepared to receive him, for the silliest reasons. For example, where he came from. How stupid is it to reject someone because of where they come from? Or their accent? Or their age? Or the pigment of their skin? Or their gender? I have lived too long within the marvelous movement of God’s story. I just cannot “get” how some people summarily and superficially dismiss people they have not even met. Take Nathanael, for example. His friend Philip begins to tell him the amazing good news about Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah. Philip’s bubble of enthusiasm seems to pop when Nathanael hears that Jesus is from Nazareth and responds (with curled lip of disdain), “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Hear the bigotry? If I had been Philip I am afraid that I would have made some intemperate remark, ending the conversation. Thank God that Philip was calmer and wiser than I. Philip simply said, “Come and see.” Don’t judge this Jesus until you come and see for yourself, then you may find that God has appeared in an expected person from an unexpected place. Nathanael accepts the invitation and meets God in Jesus! God finds Nathanael through Jesus! (If anyone wants to say, “Hallelujah,” that’s o.k.!) Nathanael sees for himself, concluding, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the Shepherd of Israel”
a) Sometimes we discover God in unexpected people, if we will have the humility and curiosity to leave established paths and “come and see.” I have a friend who is a life-long Baptist from Texas. She was not spiritually fed in the Baptist churches she visited in Houston, so she had the boldness to visit an Episcopal church. As one reared life-long in the Texas Baptist way, the logical response is “What good thing can come from an Episcopal church?” Guess what? She found God there! She found a community of faith that is helping her to become more the daughter of God that she had in her heart to desire. God is making some-thing beautiful in her life as an Episcopalian. (Hallelujah!) I know some people who were life-long Episcopalians. For various reasons they visited a Baptist church. For many reared within the Episcopal tradition, the logical response, is “What good thing can come from a Baptist Church?” Guess what? Some of these folk have become more of the sons and daughters of God that they had in their hearts to desire. God is making something beautiful of their lives as Baptists. (Hallelujah!) I do not understand the ways of God, why one tradition opens doors to God for some, while another opens doors for other people. But I do know that we discover God in unexpected places and people, if we are bold enough to come and see for ourselves. God wants to make something beautiful of our life, whether it is a burning bush, an Episcopal church or a Baptist church that becomes the place where God catches our attention to lead us in a new direction.
b) God regularly uses people to find people. Philip found something valuable in Jesus, so he invited his friend Nathanael to “Come and see” for himself. If Philip knew Nathanael well, he also knew about his prejudices and opinions, but he was not intimidated by how he anticipated Nathanael might respond to his invitation. He invited him anyway, “Come and see for yourself.” God wants people who have found God to introduce other people to God. God is most real in the faces and lives of the people who know God. And one of our most important privileges and responsibilities is to invite other people to “come and see for yourself.” We are often the burning bush that God uses to catch the attention of someone who walks by our door on a regular basis. Next week we have planned on one day what should be the lifestyle for all who have come to know God through Jesus Christ, “Invite-a-Friend Day.” Think of someone you know who is not an active part of a church and invite them to “Come and see for themselves” who God is and how God wishes to fulfill the direction and destiny of their life. I know that Nathanael was deeply grateful that Philip asked him to “Come and see for himself!” If Phillip had not invited him, would anyone else have? Would you? Will you?
April 6, 2008
Staying on the Way
(Luke 24:44-49; Philippians 3:10-16) [4/6/08]
1. Have you ever witnessed a “cannonball baptism?” Neither have I, but by the good graces of YouTube, I witnessed the video. The innocent minister stood in the baptismal pool awaiting the next candidate for this holy moment of grace. Then you see the blur of a teen with his arms clutched around his knees, drawn tightly against his chest – a classic “cannonball” dive. The young boy bobbed to the top of the water with a grin of joy. I swear it did not look at all devilish! The dripping minister kept his cool, testifying this was the first “dive in” baptism he had experienced, and it would definitely be the last! I wonder how many disciples found the Way and dove into the Christian movement with such abandon? I wonder if your life as a disciple began with such boldness and vitality. I hope so. I remember my beginning when I was baptized in a lake with fish and snakes, both of which I had caught while fishing with my great-uncle. I wonder what you remember about your beginning on the Way of Jesus? Even if your behavior were more proper, I hope that you have some exuberant memories of diving into this thing called Christian faith! Because there are other disappointing, daunting, and even shameful moments as we continue on the Way of Jesus Christ. Last week I spoke about “Finding Our Way” as I remembered with you that Jesus is our Leader who calls us to walk in his Way, and that the Way is always ahead of us, for the Risen Lord goes “ahead of you to Galilee.” Once we have found the Way, we focus on “Staying on the Way.” Before I pursue this topic, let me give another picture – the enduring testimony of a stately sequoia tree in the Yosemite Park. One of the most extraordinary of these trees is the Telescope Tree. It is completely hollow, so visitors enter the tree, look straight up and see nothing but sky. Yet the tree survives because the thin ring near the bark is green and alive. This thin green ring of life is more important than the bulk of the trunk or the hollow core. It demonstrates an amazing hardiness, even when outer appearances say it should be dead. However our experiences impact the trunk of our lives, as long as the thin green ring of our life in Christ is nurtured, the sap still rises, our life still endures, and our witness still prevails. As you abide in Christ, may the thin green ring of life in him sustain you always!
2. Whether you are nearer the exuberant beginning or the enduring ending of your life in Christ, I hope that you will stay on the Way, every step, every dive, every stumble, every slide – all the way. When you stay on the Way, you can look back over your shoulder and see the big picture of how it all fits together. It is rather like driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I enjoy the “in my face” view as I twist and turn around the curves, up and down with my ears popping. But then I reach a pullout, I can look back at the breath-taking vista of where I have been. I see the twists and turns, the peaks and plummets, and I gain a larger picture of my journey. I look ahead and see the grand design of what I will next experience, twists and turns that from a near view can be boring in their sameness but from a far view are breath-taking. The Christian Way is like that. When we stay on the Way – even when the twists and turns make our stomachs queasy, when it seems the downside will never reach bottom and climb again – when we stay on the Way, we find those times when we look back and see the “Big Picture.” We can see Purpose at work in our trip and renew trust that this Purpose still has a plan for the unfolding of the next leg of the trip, if we will but stay on the Way. Maybe even now some of you are reflecting on your life – how far you have come, how you came to this place today, how graced you have been, how you sense Purpose in the Big Picture that you do not always glimpse in the details. Staying on the way is not always easy, but when we do, more and more comes together and makes sense. For example, not everyone had stayed on the Way with Jesus. Not everyone present on Palm Sunday was around Sunday when Jesus appeared to his disciples(Luke 24:44-49). But those who stayed on the Way, from the plummet of crucifixion to the peak of resurrection, received some amazing words from Jesus:
(a) He explained that everything written about him in the scriptures had been fulfilled. For example, they had not understood Isaiah’s words about the suffering servant until they traveled to Golgotha with Jesus. Having traveled this Way, they looked back to see how the plummet to death was the breathtaking pinnacle of God’s unconquerable love. There are parts of the Bible we will not understand until our own experience opens our minds to see how God was at work in the text and how God is at work in our lives. When we stay on the Way we understand more and more of the Bible.
(b) Then “Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” The Bible cannot be captured solely by our human efforts. The Bible never promises to be an encyclopedia of absolute truth. It promises to be trust-worthy, God-breathed words that allow us to hear the voice of God, words “profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.”(2 Timothy 4;16) When we do not understand what we read, let us pray that the Risen Lord will open our minds to understand the deeper meaning of the scripture. Jesus answers such prayers, opening our minds to understand the Bible, which serves as a “Tour Book” for his Way.
(c) Next Jesus offered to those who stay on the Way that he will send the “promise of the Father” – the Holy Spirit, the Encourager, the spiritual presence of the same God who became flesh-and-blood in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus will no longer walk beside them on the Way; however, the Holy Spirit will abide with and within them as they walk on! As Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to be their Companion, he also told his disciples that he will send them into the world so that others may also find the Way. The Way of Jesus is a breath-taking parkway that stretches into the future, and we can see more and more people joining us on this Way. Do you see it? Take a deep breath of the Spirit and press on! Better, ask someone to walk the way with you; the company will be good for both!
3. Let us listen to the good counsel of Paul, as he “presses on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul entered the Christian Way like a man who was dropped on his head. Dazed and confused, it took him a while to figure out what was happening. Having sorting it out, now he is driven by a passionate desire “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.” He wants to grow his relationship with the Risen Lord. He knows that the Christian life is a journey, not just an arrival. He admits he has not yet reached the mark of spiritual growth that God has destined for him; therefore, he will stay on the Way to this goal. He encourages all of us to press on with him:
(a) Keep moving forward; keep working on it; never quit! Take one more step in the right direction. Every day, one more step. You won’t arrive in a day, but in a lifetime you will be able to look over your shoulder at the daunting and delightful way you have come, and you will see surprising signs of God’s Purpose. It takes a four letter word to stay on the Way: W-O-R-K. Yes, you have to work on it. There are no free rides. Practicing the Way must be our priority. We cannot travel roads of our own choosing seven days a week and take a mental road trip on Sunday morning and expect that we will progress very far along the Way. Take worship, for example. Worship is supposed to be work - “the work of the people.” Worship is the time when we give our best talents and energy to expressing and developing our relationship with God. When you love someone, you devote time to work on the relationship don’t you? What is true for human relationships is also true for our divine relationship. Sometimes people ask, “What is the point of worship?” Wrong question. It’s not “what” but “WHO is the point of worship?” God is! Worship is not about me and what I get out of it. Worship is about expressing publicly and personally the worth that I find in God and my desire to integrate this worth into my inner and outer life. Worship is not about what I get out of it but what I give to God as an expression of my desire to know and serve God, better and better. The test of a successful worship service is not whether the worshippers go away smiling, impressed with the good entertainment, but if people have a sense of encounter with the living God who speaks to their minds, hearts, and wills. Worship is work or it is not worship at all. One of the reasons that people do not stay on the Way is because it requires work and people either (1) do not want to work that hard; or (2) are working so hard on other life tasks that they have no energy left for divine work. I’m sorry if life is that challenging, but you are the only one who can decide your priorities, and if you are not working at being a Christian, then I don’t think you are making much progress. What do you think?
(b) Staying on the Way is also energizing and fun. One of the most energizing experiences of life is to be in relationship with someone who loves you. Paul knows that Jesus loves him. Paul says, “I press on to make it my own, because Jesus Christ has made me his own.” Paul has a love-relationship with God through Christ that is changing his life. Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, is the one who now guides his life. To know Jesus is energizing and fun. It is a kind of dance. An email explains that dance is the key to the word GUIdance: “‘God’ ‘u’ and ‘i’ dance . . . May you abide in God, as God abides in you. Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and guide you through each season of your life.” Whether or not your Mamma dances (as the TV show questions), the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ dances with all who will yield to GUIdance.
(c) Staying on the Way involves “forgetting what lies behind.” What lies behind has great power to pull us back or down. Paul struggled with guilt about his life B.C. (Before Christ engaged him in divine GUIdance). He was ashamed of how he had treated other people, even hurting them in God’s name. He had dishonored himself and God, so he struggled to forget what was behind. If Paul had such a struggle, don’t be surprised if you also struggle with “forgetting what lies behind.” Paul pressed on, and I hope you will also. When you feel regret, chained to a past that still haunts you, follow Paul’s example and press forward anyway. If you keep walking forward toward the calling of Christ, eventually the past will no longer hold power over you. Fill the present with new attitudes and habits, and soon you will have a better past to remember!
(d) Staying on the Way involves “holding fast to what we have attained.” I testify that it is easy to change. Look at me, for example: I bet I have lost 300 pounds in my lifetime. It is easy to make a short-term change in my diet or exercise and lose weight. What is difficult is to “hold fast” the change and make it a habit. If I could just “hold fast,” I would only have lost 30 pounds, not 300. We defeat ourselves when we make a change and do not “hold fast,” so Paul encourages us to tie a knot in the rope of our lives and hold fast to what we have accomplished. Instead of defeating ourselves by attempting an instant extreme spiritual makeover, we best stay on the Way by making one change at a time and tying a knot in it, “Hold fast to what we have attained.” Please note that Paul says “we,” because our friends are often the making or breaking of us. The right friends can help us to stay on the Way. If you want to stay on the Way, find a Way-Walker to go with you, so that you can influence each other in the right direction, so that you can “hold fast.” As we “press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,” I invite you to join me at the Lord’s Table where friends in Christ meet to find divine and human companion-ship as we walk together in the Way of Christ.