Sermon for July 23 -- the 8th Sunday after Pentecost -- "Parables of Truth"

This morning’s Gospel passage consists of five parables, all on the topic of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God can be thought of as God’s progressive encroachment of the fulfillment on earth of God’s Will. The Kingdom comes into the world one human heart at the time. One day everyone will see it, and bow down to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Phil 2:10-11). For right now, it is directly confronting the influence of the Evil One in human affairs and events.When we present the Gospel, we are on the front lines of the advancing Kingdom of God.

Just a few moments ago I read all five parables in this section, but for the purposes of this message, I want to focus on the first two parables. We begin with a certain man who planted a mustard seed. Many scholars believe that Jesus was referring to the Black mustard plant, which was common in the area and can grow as high as 9 feet tall. The mustard plant in the parable, however, grew to enormous dimensions; it became a tree, big enough that even birds could find shelter in it. This is nothing other than miraculous, Obviously, something amazing and startling is going on here.

In the case of the leaven, a certain woman kneaded a bit into a huge amount of dough. We should notice that the woman hid the leaven in three measures of wheat flour, which by our system of measurement is about fifty pounds of flour.  That is enough dough to make bread for over 100 people!  Again, we have a truly miraculous outcome (that is, a small amount of yeast, or leaven, causes a huge amount of dough to rise), and again, God is in charge and His Kingdom is on the move. Jesus teaches us that the Kingdom of God will come to full fruition in the future, when Christ returns. But until then, the Kingdom is active in the world, miraculously so, but oftentimes unseen.

These parables speak of growth, but a special kind of growth.  Both parables proclaim God’s action in the world; it can be seemingly imperceptible (like a mustard seed) or seemingly hidden (as leaven in dough) but is nonetheless real and will in God’s own time come to full fruition.  Jesus assures His audience that the Kingdom will grow from small beginnings, filling the whole world. God is involved with things that happen, even the miniscule details of our lives, shaping them, and bringing good ends out of tough situations, no matter how distant God might seem to be at the time. He is hidden, like a small amount of leaven in a huge pile of dough, but still miraculously in control.

These parables reinforce the unstoppability of God's reign in the face of any opposition. Interestingly, the Kingdom's hidden nature is intentional, just as the woman intentionally hid the yeast in the flour. Thus, the surprising nature of the Kingdom is not by accident but by divine design. Even though the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven may be hidden to Jesus' opponents and to all those who practice evil, things will still work out in God’s way and in God’s time.

The point of all this is profound. In the face of an act of overt evil, we might wonder where God is. In the face of death and tragedy, we may cry out to God and yet still hear nothing. In the moments when faith grows weak and doubt grows strong, during the times when we are mad at God, or just plain scared, it’s nice to know that God is still there, that He knows our needs before we ask them, and that He can take bring good out of a very real tragedy.

In the parables we read this morning, as well as the other parables of Matthew 13 Jesus tells us that the reign of God, the loving and life-changing activity of God in Heaven, has broken into our world and is available now to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Kingdom is to be discovered and embraced. Yet, the Kingdom of Heaven is oftentimes found in unassuming places and encountered in unlikely ways.

So the big question then is this: In what unlikely places do we find God's power and presence? These parables tell us that God’s presence and love is going to be found in surprising places and surprising ways, even when times are dark. These parables tell us that God never gives up on us, and never gives in to evil, and so we shouldn’t either. These parables challenge us to look for God’s presence in our current situation. We may seem to be trapped in the consequences of bad decisions, or even in the consequences of events we had no control over at all, but over time we realize that God is working behind and beneath the bad times to bring forth a good result, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. Jesus' ultimate point in these parables is that He is the means by which the Kingdom has come to Earth. Through faith in Christ we find relationship with God. Seeking Him helps us see God’s beautiful plan for our lives.

Found within the tragedies of life are the seeds of the Kingdom of God, because God can take trials and tribulations and somehow by grace bring forth good. After all, this is the core message of the Crucifixion, an ultimate Evil transformed into a profound good at the Resurrection. The Kingdom advances one human heart at a time. God is in charge, and ultimately, the Lord is going to win over Evil, and the Kingdom shall come in power. In the meantime, let us remember that in the midst of tragedy, God is still there. AMEN.

Sermon for July 16 -- the 7th Sunday after Pentecost -- "Seeing Ghosts"

I once saw a story on the internet about a pastor who was making a home visit to one of the families in his parish. He knocked on the door, and a five-year-old boy answered, let him in, and told the pastor that his mother would be out shortly. To make conversation, the pastor asked the little guy what he would like to be when he grows up. The boy thought a moment, and answered, "I'd like to be possible." "What do you mean by that?" the puzzled clergyman inquired. The boy replied, "My mom tells me all the time that I'm just impossible, so when I grow up I would like to be possible!"

I have known an awful lot of people over the years who are afraid that God might think they are impossible. Or, to put the matter more clearly, a lot of people are afraid that what they’ve done in the past or what they’ve said or been in the past might make God want to give up on them. Certainly those first disciples, threatened with drowning from the raging waters, might have thought Jesus didn’t care about them. Listen again to verse 48: “Jesus saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. At about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea, and He meant to pass them by.” Have we ever thought that God was passing us by?

Our story is set immediately after Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000. Among other things, this miracle tells us that nothing is impossible for God! But the disciples didn’t seem to pick up on that point! Verse 52 says, “They had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” In other words, their wrong-headed attitudes kept getting in the way of really seeing the love of God through Jesus Christ. After the miraculous feeding of the multitudes, Jesus dismissed the crowd and immediately sent His disciples across the Sea of Galilee, while He stayed behind. Jesus desired to seek quiet prayer and fellowship with His Father. For Jesus, prayer was rocket fuel for His public ministry.

Now, notice two things. When Mark says that the disciples’ “hearts were hardened,” we should first of all notice that this is the same phrase we find in the Book of Exodus to describe Pharaoh’s resistance to God’s demonstrations of power through the plagues. Whenever this phrase is used in the Bible, it is always God who is doing the hardening! But why would God seem to make things more difficult for the disciples to understand?

The second thing to notice is that Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go across the Lake. He knew what was going to happen to them. He knew their very lives would be threatened by the tumultuous sea. From the disciples’ perspective, God seems to be working against His own people! Now this is a perspective I can understand. There have been times in my life, and perhaps in yours too, when circumstances seem to speak not of a good and loving God, but of a God who is blind to my situation at best, and downright antagonistic to my interests at worst!

But that’s simply a wrong attitude when it comes to God’s relationship with those disciples. The Lord was getting them ready for their ministry to evangelize the world after His Resurrection, Ascension, and gift of the Holy Spirit. This meant He had to strengthen their faith in a God who would be with them even in the face of trial and tribulation. And to do this, they had to face hardship.

Jesus knew He was sending His disciples into a dangerous situation that would test their faith. Now they obviously didn’t get a very good grade on this test. But God doesn’t ever give up on us. God helps us all grow by faith into the image of Christ. It takes a lifetime to do this, but God never gives up on us.

Mark tells us that Jesus saw their plight and headed across the surface of the Lake. Shockingly, Mark tells us that Jesus “intended to pass them by!” The disciples thought He was a ghost and cried out in panic. Jesus heard their cry, stepped into the boat, and immediately the storm ceased its fury. It is obvious that the disciples didn’t believe Jesus knew of their dire situation, even though He had been watching it from the shore. He didn’t pass them by. He saved them from the ravages of the waves.

I wonder how often is this story our story? Sometimes it seems that God allows the storms of life to crash over the bow of our own ship of life and threaten us with annihilation. God has to get our attention, and then He can help us begin to grow in faith. The disciples never knew that Jesus had planned everything to unfold as it did. They never knew that a Jesus that wasn’t physically present with them when the storm broke out still watched with compassion and was ready to get involved. In the midst of danger, God was still large and in charge!!

Friends, we might catch ourselves saying, “I can’t”, or “God won’t”, a lot. But the thing we should glean from this passage is that even though those first disciples just didn’t seem to get it, even though their faith was at times very weak, God through Christ was not going to let them go. Jesus sees and knows our troubles and can and will intervene in our lives. God might come along in unexpected or even surprising ways.

Am I saying that God will take away the difficult times in life? Of course not! Remember, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat, knowing that the storm would come. They had learned much wisdom from the Master. Now He had to place them in a situation where their faith would be stretched. In like manner, God doesn’t cause difficult life situations, but God doesn’t insulate us from them either. Through these times God shows us that we can ground our faith in Him, and not be disappointed. God never lets us down, nor does He ever let us go. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sermon for July 9 -- the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost -- "Sowing Seeds and Sowing Souls"

There on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the crowds had gathered around the Master.  Jesus was just off shore, sitting in a boat and teaching the eager throngs about God and His Ways.  He spoke in parables, agricultural images that seemed so simple at first glance but which all of a sudden spung up and overtook the listener with God’s Truth!  Odd way to talk about God’s Kingdom, one might think. How can the Kingdom of God be compared to sowing seeds?  But then again, a growing seed can shatter even concrete and pavement.  Maybe it’s a good image of transformation after all.

As the sower sowed seeds, some seeds fell along the path and were eaten by birds. Some seeds fell on rocky soil, sprouted quickly, grew wildly, but wilted and died for they had found no depth.  Some seeds fell among thorns and were choked.  But then some fell on good soil, and it produced amazingly well!  The Kingdom of God is like a sower, a sower who keeps sowing for the sake of what might be.  Why isn’t the sower more careful, throwing seed everywhere the way He does.  Maybe because He has a Compulsion of Grace.  There is something in this Sower’s heart that keeps Him going in spite of the birds and rocks and thorns, something that keeps Him sowing the seeds of the Gospel.

In Norfolk, VA, there is a wonderful restaurant called “The Freemason Abbey,”  named because of its location on Freemason Street.  The food is wonderful, and the décor is unique.  That is because the building is a church — or rather it used to be a church.  The current owners have done a lot of work to preserve the original structure, while still maintaining a comfortable dining establishment.  The last time I was there, I thought about the people who used to worship there. What were the leaders like, back in the day?  Who were the church’s critics, and who were its heroes?  What were the people like?  But I do know this much about the old church:  folks used to gather there, to sing together, to pray together, to hear a preacher preach and to hear teachers teach — to learn more about the Bible and the Will of God, to learn how be a little more like Jesus.  A century and a half ago, the Kingdom of God came to that spot, got planted like a seed alongside the road, and a church grew up.  Lives were changed, some earth was shattered.  Some hard hearts were broken by God’s grace, like packed earth giving way to the onslaught of a seedling.

But sometime long ago, something happened.  Most likely, a demographically changing neighborhood and an increasing crime problem caused a flight of the church’s membership into the suburbs.  As the membership declined and the neighborhood changed, perhaps the church didn’t adapt.  Expenses rose and the church building was finally sold.  Perhaps that particular congregation relocated and is growing still. Or perhaps the congregation ceased to exist.

Jesus’ Parable of the Sower is not just about soil conditions, that is, circumstances around us that can impede the spread of the Gospel message; it is also about the condition of the heart.  You see, worry, worldly cares, the lure of wealth, and the presence or lack of inner wisdom, all these are conditions of the human heart.  When our heart is right before God, the Word sticks to us like glue, grows, and tears open the hard concrete of sin with the gentle but persistent grace of God.

The constant, random sowing of the seed of the Master Sower may seem to be inefficient, and I suppose from an earthly perspective it is.  But this is God’s Kingdom, and God’s Kingdom doesn’t operate by the same rules as man’s feeble kingdoms.  God casts the seed of the Word outwards, ever outwards, never-ceasing, because God loves us enough to never stop trying to involve us in His Kingdom building activities.  He loves us so much, He never stops trying to reach our hearts with His Grace, even if the soil of our hearts is full of thorns, weeds, and shallow, poor soil.  Who knows, maybe when the Word that falls on Good Soil and springs up into a Church that helps spread the Kingdom even further reaches us, it might just reach us at a time when the soil of our hearts is more receptive and not so rocky, softened by the Grace of human circumstances.  God never gives up and He never gives in.

We haven’t said much about the believers whose hearts are full of good soil, receptive to the Word of God.   They make up churches that recognize and embrace the fact that they are on the cutting edge of the Kingdom of God.  Churches that know they can multiply their grain 100-fold, 60-fold, or 30-fold are congregations that know that the word “church” is a verb, ever growing and changing, ever doing — worshipping, learning, eating together, praying for one another, reaching out and giving comfort to all within its reach, ministering in all the ways it can.  A church is a glimpse of the future, a voucher of God’s continuing work, a harbinger of God’s will, a place where brothers and sisters of faith accept a challenge beyond comfort.  “Church” is a verb, evidence of the very presence of Christ.

When the seed falls on good soil, when it grows, then there is a church bearing fruit. You can tell the seed has fallen on good soil when people are praying for one another and singing together and learning and listening together for the Word of God. The seed is growing because the Sower keeps sowing.  He keeps sowing faith, though some might refuse to believe. He keeps sowing hope, though cynicism might at times be very strong. He continues sowing love, though some are content with less. In spite of the birds, in spite of the rocks, in spite of the thorns, He keeps sowing.  And we help spread the Good News.  Praise God!

Sermon for July 2 -- the 5th Sunday after Pentecost -- "Law and Grace"

Sometimes we mistake the invitations of Jesus with the demands of Jesus. Let that sink in for a moment, and then I’ll show you how this morning’s Gospel passage makes this very point.

When John the Baptist called the people to repent and be baptized, He was offering an invitation for them to accept the grace of God into their lives. And yet John the Baptist was perceived by many of the Pharisees as a demon-possessed lunatic, according to this morning’s Gospel passage. Even Jesus Himself -- who ended up offering up His life so that we might know eternal life, inviting us to taste the grace of God -- was seen as being a glutton and drunkard who just hung around with the wrong crowd. The Pharisees missed the boat; they didn’t understand John or his godly mission, and they certainly didn’t understand Jesus and what He did to open up Heaven to the sinner. Jesus invited people to turn their hearts Godward: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” He went to where the people lived, where the joys and sorrows of the human condition played out in families, towns and cities. We have to view Jesus’ Words and Actions through God’s Love and through the human condition and our need for God. Taking Jesus seriously requires people to change their lives, which was impossible for the Pharisees to do, and sometimes is just as hard for us to do.

The fact of the matter is that in this morning’s passage of Scripture, Jesus is contrasting Man’s Law with God’s Law. God gave the Ten Commandments – God’s Law -- to the Jewish people to guide them through life; however, the religious leaders, over many years, added extraneous rules and regulations to the Law. Eventually, the Law became so convoluted that even religious professionals couldn’t avoid breaking it. All of these rules and regulations were a huge burden.

Jesus came along and in effect said to the Pharisees, “Look, guys, you don’t need all of these rules and regulations. You don’t need rules stating how far a person can walk on the Sabbath, or how clean they have to be in order to be part of society, or what type of work people can do on the Sabbath. That is not the intention of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are rules for how people are to live their lives and treat their fellow man. They are not meant to be a spiritual straitjacket. You have forgotten about their Spirit.” The Master wasn’t dismissing the need for some rules. He simply wanted the Spirit of the Law to shine through these Commandments so mercy and love can prevail.

Jesus went a step further and replaced all of these laws with the two Great Commandments: love God and love people. The Great Commandments didn’t nullify the Ten Commandments, but it helped clarify their true intention. They are a common-sense approach to living the life God wants us to live. If people obey these two commandments, they will get along just fine.

When Jesus tells us to take his yoke, he is inviting us to submit to his authority. It is an invitation, not a demand. It is an opportunity to experience life, not a command attached to a punishment. In Jesus’ day, yokes used to enable the oxen to do their job were custom fitted. Considerable time would be spent measuring the team: their height, their width, and the size of the animals’ shoulders. After spending much time fashioning the yoke, the team would be brought back and the new yoke would be carefully put in position, watching for rough places, smoothing out the edges and adjusting the yoke perfectly.

If we submit to Christ, he will give us rest by sharing our burdens. His yoke is easy because it is a perfect fit for each one of us. It helps us restore our strength. Jesus is asking us to let him be in control of our lives. He is our burden-bearer. Jesus lifts us up and infuses our hearts with fresh hope and wisdom. Some situations are just too difficult for us to handle, but nothing is too hard for God. He will bring strength out of brokenness. He releases us from the bondage of having to prove our worth. He will never give us more than we can bear.

Most of us go through life with burdens that weigh heavily on us. We know the meaning of stress. It is easy for us to get caught up doing too much and juggling too many things. It all seems important at the moment, but later we realize that much was done at the expense of cultivating deeper and more meaningful relationships with those we love the most. Being held hostage by the tyranny of the urgent is not how we were meant to live.  Regardless of what our burdens are, Jesus wants to come alongside us and heal us. Jesus’ easy yoke is intended to be deliverance from the man-made burdens of life. These burdens are the guilt of sin and its side effects such as depression, anxiety, fear and doubt.

There is a story about a little boy who was out helping dad with the yard work. Dad asked him to pick up the rocks in a certain area of the yard. Dad looked over and saw him struggling to pull up a huge rock buried in the dirt. The little boy struggled and struggled while Dad watched. Finally, the boy gave up and said, "I can't do it." Dad asked, "Did you use all of your strength?" The little boy looked hurt and said, "Dad, I used every ounce of strength I have." The father smiled and said, "No you didn't. You didn't ask me to help." The father walked over and then the two of them pulled that big rock out of the dirt.

God knows our emptiness and feeds us the choicest food, the flesh and blood of the one who invites us today to take his yoke upon us and learn from Him. We can let go of the heavy yokes of this world and take up the blessed yoke that is no burden, the yoke of acceptance of our own beloved self in Christ, the yoke of acceptance of the beloved nature of other weary, heavy-laden ones still striving all around us. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Amen.

Sermon for June 25 -- the 4th Sunday after Pentecost -- "Weeds and Wheat"

There was once a church that wanted to be in ministry to the residents of a nearby trailor park. But different folks had different ideas on how to do this. Some thought it would be best to root out all the sources of evil in that place -- to work with the police to eliminate the drug dealers, the meth houses, and the child abusers. But another idea prevailed. Instead of pulling weeds, to use Jesus’ analogy, they decided to try hard to be wheat. They put up a basketball goal and had supervised tournaments. They told Bible stories. They gave hugs to small children when they needed it. In short, they did the things that they knew how to do. One Sunday, after going out to the trailer park Saturday after Saturday, the pastor got a note in his mailbox at church with five words on it: "Adrian wants to be baptized." Somehow Adrian saw what these Christians were doing and wanted that lifestyle for himself. After he was baptized, there was a little more wheat in that field near the church.

In this morning’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells us that the "wheat" are the “Sons of the Kingdom” and the "weeds" are the "Sons of the Evil One." In short, there are two realities -- one is the world, those who don’t know God and are in bondage to sin, and the other one are the folks who have been transformed by the Grace of God through faith. Fortunately, Jesus describes this field -- which is the "world" -- as a field of wheat, not as a field of weeds. The difference is pivotal. When Jesus sees the world, He looks out across not a field of weeds in which there is wheat growing, but a field of wheat in which there are weeds growing. The practical implication of seeing the world as being a field of wheat and not a field of weeds is the difference between total destruction and gentle pruning. THINK OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH. GOD WOULD SAVE IT IF EVEN 10 RIGHTEOUS!! From our perspective, it's easy to believe that evil is about to overwhelm us, and that all hope is lost. But when Jesus sees the world as being a field of wheat, He demonstrates that He loves all people, and He is in control.

This story is a parable. Parables are stories that begin with the world and everyday life, but end by confronting the hearers with a very different vision of their everyday world. This parable illustrates that God is at work in the entire world. And just as God is at work in the world, so also is the enemy. Thus, the parable suggests the coexistence of kingdom people with people of the Evil One. Similarly, the parable points to the hiddenness of the kingdom in the present; both types of people coexist until the Final Judgment at the end of time. Just as the master allowed the weeds for a time because he was unwilling to harm the wheat, so God tolerates the wicked in the present until the time of judgment. Matthew leaves no doubt as to whom the world belongs. Evil will be cast into a furnace of fire and the righteous will be vindicated.

Now, here’s the thing. The wheat is all the believers who have accepted salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. In this way, the “wheat” looks in some ways, very much the same. But by contrast, the weeds looks very different from each other. And it is often easy to see the "weeds" today. They are the killers who maim and destroy the innocent, the greedy who grab and dash with the savings and retirement plans of those who worked so hard for so many years, and the wicked who prey upon children by gaining their trust and then mis-using it. But some weeds are harder to detect. They look "religious," but their actions range from misguided to despicable. Left to themselves, weeds can choke the life out of the wheat crop by depriving it of the spiritual nutrients of the Holy Spirit. We can see that the more we look like the weeds of the world, the more diluted and ineffective our witness is. Adopting worldly standards can choke out the vitality of the Church and the individual believer. We begin to look like the world when we trust in our own priorities, rely on our own strenghth, and fail to keep our eyes on Jesus.

So, what can be done? Well, remarkably, Jesus doesn't offer a grand plan for getting rid of the weeds that plague the field of wheat, prior to the Final Judgment. I think, just like the parish in the opening example, Jesus wants His Church to remain the church, delivering the Good News so God might bless their efforts. God has graciously allowed us to be used as instruments in Kingdom expansion. Obviously, He brings the power, but the Church cannot stand idlely by and do nothing. After all, Jesus told His disciples, upon His Ascension, to “Go into all the world, teaching and baptizing.” Jesus sent out His followers to nearby towns to spread the Good News, to teach and to heal. The Church is not called into inaction. God is still in charge.

In summary, our job is to be wheat, with the help of the Holy Spirit. We should grow in the row in which we are planted, that is, to do the ministry God has given us to do in our own wheat field. We should grow tall and strong. We should let our influence, namely, the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, go forth by both word and deed, . And we shouldn’t try to be a stalk of wheat in a field by ourselves. Rather, we must grow with others in a community of wheat.

God has a plan. We can trust the plan. Despite our best efforts, sometimes it seems we are spinning our wheels. But God is still in control. God goes ahead of us to till the soil in which we are growing. God’s grace is sufficient for our lives, as well as our ministry. Amen.

Sermon for June 18 -- the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost -- "Setting Priorities"

A man came home from work and saw a neighbor out in the back yard playing ball with his daughter. He knew the man had a hard job – long hours and brutal labor – and he wasn’t a spring chicken. The man called to his friend and said, "Jim you ought not to be doing that. You are going to get a backache." To which the neighbor responded, "Yeh, maybe, but I'd rather have a backache now than a heartache later." The love that Dads (and Moms, of course) show to kids early on in life help them feel loved and special and helps them understand how much our Heavenly Father loves us. We should be participants in our child's life and not spectators. And so, Happy Father’s Day to all the good dads (and granddads) out there! The choices we make in life just might be critical to the lives of both us and our loved ones!

The Bible makes clear that we all have to make choices in life concerning our life’s priorities. The man in my illustration made the choice that quality time with his daughter was more important than anything else at that moment, and I think we all agree that this was a good choice. Reflecting upon and acting on our life’s priorities is a topic that Jesus spoke about often. But what He says in this morning’s Gospel passage might come as a shock!! Jesus asks us to love Him more than our own parents and children, our own flesh and blood. This is not an easy word to hear!! There can be only one primary relationship in our lives and Jesus says it is to be Him. Jesus is in effect saying, “Whoever loves one’s friends more than Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever loves work more than Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever loves power, reputation, or wealth more than Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever loves anyone or anything more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

We need to be very clear about what the Master is calling us to do. Does He mean we must reject our parents, our children, our spouses, and anything else of any personal value at all? Of course not! Jesus is not demanding exclusivity in relationship, but he is demanding priority. And making Him a priority helps us to love others in the way they should be loved.

Let me explain. When you get right down to it, Jesus’ demand for priority is for our own good. When the Lord is our most important relationship. He becomes the lens through which we see the world, each other, and ourselves. He becomes the foundation on which we build our lives. He guides the choices we make, the words we say, and the ways in which we act and relate. The fact of the matter is that we are better at loving our spouse, our children, our vocation, and all the other loves in our life when we love Jesus first.

There are some other things the Lord tells us about making Him the priority in our lives. First of all, when Christ becomes our life’s priority, Life itself is not guaranteed to be easy. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth,” Jesus said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Our allegiance to Jesus will be divisive at times. Some might not understand Him, others might not buy into the message of the Gospel, still others might list other belief systems as their life's priority. I remember years ago being told by the then-current Board of Supervisors chairperson, in response to our church’s application to relocate to a larger site: “I wish all you church's would build one big high rise and leave the rest of us the **** alone!” You see, establishing a huge tax base was her priority, a priority that was threatened by dozens of growing churches in populous Northern Virginia. The life of discipleship is not easy. But the Holy Spirit is with us, and God can work within and through circumstances to bring forth reconciliation and hope. It may take time and energy, but God is in charge!

Secondly, There will be no room for fear in our lives. Jesus said, “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known,…Do not be afraid.”

In short, God is in charge, and that is that! We can be free to live the life of discipleship with boldness because God is in charge. Things around us might seem out of control, and the forces of darkness might even seem to be winning, but there is no need to fear, because God is in charge. And as St. John said in his first letter “perfect love casts out fear.” We are called to be genuine in the way we live our lives.

Lastly, There will be purpose and meaning in life. “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” In other words, if Christ is central in life, we will find life.

Recently I read the account of an NFL football coach who divorced his wife of 26 years when he left his coaching job for a college team to become head coach in the National Football League. He said he needed a wife while coaching on the college level for social functions and to show families that he would be looking out for their sons. In pro football, however, she was a distraction to winning. He said winning football was his number one priority and his two sons second. The joyless existence illustrated in the article highlighted in my mind the tragedy of his choices!  In contrast to this, Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas Cowboys, once said, "The thrill of knowing Jesus is the greatest thing that ever happened to me ... I think God has put me in a very special place, and He expects me to use it to His glory in everything I do ... whether coaching football or talking to the press, I'm always a Christian ... Christ is first, family second and football third."

That’s what Jesus was trying to tell us. Life’s priorities can either give abundant life, joy, and satisfaction, or take it away. The Lord wants us to live abundantly. Amen

Sermon for June 11 -- the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost -- "Laughing at the Promise"

The Lord appeared to Abraham in the hot part of the day, and with that visitation began a new chapter in his life, a life that had seen a lot of upheavals already. But Abraham had changed a lot since he left his home and moved to the promised land. How do we know that? Well, notice that it was Abraham who greeted the strangers, not Abram, as he was called in chapter 12. This is important. You see, in the Old Testament, when a person’s name changes, the person’s character also changes. Abram means “exalted father.”  Abraham means “father of many.” One is a title of honor, centered on the person bearing the name. The other is centered on others, those here, and those yet to come. By changing his name, God set Abraham apart as his special servant with a special destiny—to be the father of a great nation, through whom God would bless the earth. But how would God do that?! In the twenty-four years since God first promised to give these two childless senior citizens a son, the wait had been as purifying and shaping as it had been long. Abraham’s faith and character had been forged in delay.

 And so at the beginning of the passage, we find him sitting drowsily at the entrance to his tent. Out of the corner of his eye he saw three men standing nearby. Where had they come from?! Abraham rose immediately, shaking off the drowsiness, and he rushed over to where they stood. In the ancient near east, hospitality was a sacred duty, so Abraham bowed low before them and spoke to the one who seemed to be their leader: “Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way.” The strangers accepted his hospitality, so he ran out to his herd, picked out one of his best, most tender calves and ordered a servant to slaughter it and cook it. He then brought some curds and milk for his guests to enjoy as they waited for the bread and meat to cook.

The three men ate silently for a while. Then one of them spoke, asking Abraham where his wife, Sarah, was. Abraham said, “There, in the tent.” Then the leader spoke, and Abraham suddenly knew that this guy was no mere man, nor was He a stranger! This is the One who promised him and Sarah a son. This is the Lord! ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Sarah heard what was said. As the men ate, Sarah, stood near the entrance of the tent eavesdropping on the conversation. She heard the man say, “Sarah your wife will have a son.” She had heard that story before; for the last twenty-four years, to be exact. But now she was in her nineties, and Abraham was nearly one hundred years old. She had long since given up on having a son. When she heard the promise again, after all this time of walling her feelings off from the joy it contained, the statement struck her as . . . well, funny, in a strange sort of way! The Lord continued: “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” He has heard her thoughts! This is no ordinary man! Terrified at what was happening, she shouts from inside the tent, “I did not laugh.” Without even turning in her direction, the stranger says, “No, but you did laugh”.

But who can blame her?! In the last few years, we have heard the phrase repeated over and over again, “Follow the Science,” whatever that means! But science tells us that a post-menopausal woman cannot have a baby by natural means. Sarah knew that! Who wouldn’t laugh at the idea of Sarah having one foot in the grave and the other in a maternity ward. It’s laughter without humor, laughter tinged with recognition of past disappointment and pain, laughter without faith. Sarah expected no surprises from God, no novelty, no violations of the world she has grown accustomed to living in. Her laughter had no room for the God who says, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” When Sarah laughs, she is laughing the laugh of a despair that will not see anything but the humorlessness of her life. Unlike her husband, time had witnessed the decay of her faith. That is why God’s response to Sarah has such force. When He says to her, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” he is inviting her to have a really good laugh and let surprise back into her life.

He invites us to do the same. Now you and I don’t expect a 90-year old woman to have a baby, and with good reason. Imagine having the energy to deal with a toddler at that age! But that’s not the point of what God was saying to her. Sarah had forgotten that God is in control. If he wants someone to have a baby, they will, and He did, and she did. But if someone that age doesn’t have a baby, it doesn’t mean that God is asleep, or on vacation, or deaf to our prayers. He’s still in charge. Faith is still be alive. God was challenging Sarah to believe in the power of God, who is equally alive and in charge whether or not prayers are met the way we think they should be. When we say God is in control, we mean that He is free to answer our prayers in the best way possible, at just the right time and in just the right way, not necessarily in the way we think He must answer them. When we realize that God is in charge, then faith flourishes, because we know that however God answers our prayers, it is for the best for all involved. And then we can laugh, really laugh, and joy forms in the space left by the unexpected and gracious surprises of God in our lives!

“Is anything too hard for God?” That is an overwhelming and shattering question. Answer yes and the world is shut down, the universe is clossed to grace and divinely-created possibilities. Answer “No, there is nothing that is too hard for God,” and we are in His hands and the possibilities are endless. He is free to keep his promises, despite the odds against it. In Sarah’s case, having Isaac was part of God’s plan for the salvation of all people. But even if she hadn’t had Isaac, God’s purpose would nonetheless, still be accomplished, somehow, in the best way possible. God is in charge, and He loves us, and He’s not going to leave us. He loves us even when our own faith decays with time and we don’t love Him. But beware. When we really believe that God is in charge, we had better be ready for some pretty unexpected things to happen. And with the challenges, He brings joy and real laughter. Amen.

Sermon for June 4 -- "The 1st Sunday After Pentecost -- "A Challenge for the Church"

There was once a certain man who was just sick and tired of being out of shape. So in order to get back into shape, he decided to take up tennis. And being a competitive guy, he wanted to become the very best tennis player he could be! He began by reading every book he could on the subject. He took lessons from a pro. Months later, when asked how his efforts at learning tennis were going, he said, "When my opponent hits the ball to me, my brain immediately barks out a command to my body: “Race up to the net.” But my body says, ‘Who, me?'"

I wonder, after those first disciples heard Jesus say to them, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you,” I wonder if they stared at each other for a moment and thought, “Who, me?!” I’m teasing, of course, but I think you get my drift. Jesus’ command does seem like a tall order, especially for a ragtag group of ex-fishermen and ex-tax collectors! Notice that way back in vs. 17, when the disciples met Jesus once again in the flesh, “they worshiped him; but some doubted.” How might one both worship and doubt? Well, I suspect that some saw the Risen Lord with clearer spiritual vision than others. Some saw the Lord Who is with us always, to the close of the age. Some saw the Commission the Lord was giving as being something that they might have to be persecuted for. Ultimately, both were correct.

But the Master had already sent them out on a mission of their own. Remember when they went in pairs around Galilee, where they took no extra supplies with them, where they performed miracles, told the Good News, and in response to those who didn’t receive their presence, shook the dust off their feet. Now, Jesus was sending them out even further: to "all nations". They would go to places far and not-so-far, places familiar and places not-so-familiar, where they would baptize and teach a new people the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God become man. And now, we modern-day disciples are also called "to obey everything" that Jesus commanded. And from that day to this, disciples have always been called to Go and Do.

We should remember that Jesus never tells us to go and do anything He Himself didn’t go and do. Indeed, Jesus was in places that few other "proper" people of His day would ever have imagined themselves being. For starters, he was born in a livestock shed! He grew up in a backwater town where he got tossed out of the synagogue one day because His neighbors thought He was nuts. He attended countless dinner parties where he spent time with people who lived in unacceptable ways -- prostitutes, tax collectors and a host of other sinners. He touched lepers. He flipped over the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple. He would find himself in Herod's palace and Pilate's fortress. And He ended up viewing the world from a Roman cross -- a place where no one wanted to ever go. It’s not easy to be a disciple of someone like this.

But we are the Body of Christ, and we have been gifted with unique and special abilities and experiences. God places us exactly where He wants us to be, and gives us exactly the right talents, to be able to be in ministry where He tells us to go! He doesn’t set up us to fail. He sets us up to succeed!

I was pastor at my first church when I was almost 26 and was as green as green could be, despite my four years of college and my three years of seminary. Fortunately, I was surrounded with lay people who knew quite a bit, because they were schooled in the institution of hard knocks! Within the first month of my arrival at this church, I did my first wedding. It was not ideal. The church building was a lovely old structure, complete with tin roof and no insulation. Now Hell is only slightly hotter than a hot summer day in Southern VA. It was 95 in the shade, and much hotter in the sanctuary. The place was packed, and paper fans from the funeral home were waving like mad! To make a long story short, the bride almost passed out from the heat, the candles almost melted and burnt the place down, and a quick note to a soloist to cut her song short was the only way I could get us out of the building before half the congregation fell over in their pews from heat exhausion!

But one man took the whole event in stride. The reception was located in the cool of the church basement, and while there, he approached me with a proposal. “Rev” (that’s what he liked to call me), “we’ll never grow this church with no air conditioning.” I knew I was being set up, but at that moment I didn’t care. I asked him how he proposed to do that. He smiled and said, “Give me a minute to talk to the people tomorrow during service.” Sunday, just before the Benediction, he gave a well delivered speech: “We almost lost two of our young people yesterday, and we can’t afford to do that, you know.” He proceeded to take his hat off and invite folks to contribute to the effort. At one time, he raised $1500! Within two weeks, the unit was funded and installed. James was the leader the people needed to help focus attention on a specific project, which although concrete in form, was missional in scope. Two weeks later, James then proceeded to invite all the men he had approached about money to join what he called a “Men’s Club.” This ended up becoming a Bible study and fellowship opportunity for the men of the parish. Later on they adopted a missional goal of raising money to fund the area volunteer EMT services, helping them to purchase new equipment designed to better serve the needs of Virginia’s largest but sparsely populated county.

Now James was no pastor. He was a retired police officer; he drove a van for a nearby private high school. But He loved the Lord, and he believed that God had called him to do what he could accomplish in that place and at that time. The fact that when he heard the Lord say, “Go into all the world…” he saw the ends of the world as being the boundaries of Pittsylvania County doesn’t matter. God often calls us to mission in bite-size pieces.

The early disciples went as Jesus commanded them and we are their spiritual descendants. The call of Jesus for us to "go" is still given to us in a world that has plenty of dark corners as well as shiny spaces. No matter where we're called to go, Jesus has given us this promise: "I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The only way forward for the church is to go, taking nothing with us but love, and leaving nothing behind but footprints.

The crucifixion and resurrection of His physical presence demonstrate that God desires relationship with us. And the Ascended Christ has not left us alone, because He has sent us His Living Presence as Spirit, to be with us always. We are special and precious in His eyes. And He sends us to be His missionaries in everyday life, with the assurance that we go with His power and His eternal presence. Amen.

Sermon for May 28 -- Pentecost Sunday -- "Moments of Transformation"

There are certain events that are so unexpected, so dramatic, and so important that we never forget where we were and what we were doing when they happen. Powerful personal events have a way of burning themselves permanently into our memory. One very happy occasion that I will never forget was my ordination as a priest. But they don’t always have to be happy; indeed, a lot of them are tragic. I will never forget the day my aunt called and through the sound of sobbing, told me that my mother, her sister, had unexpectedly died.

I think the coming of the Holy Spirit upon those first disciples was such a powerful event. There is no question that it is permanently seared into the collective memory of the Church. It was lifechanged and dramatic. The Risen Jesus had met with His disciples many times after His Resurrection. However, on the Day of Ascension, Jesus went to be with the Father, commanding His disciples to go into Jerusalem to simply wait.

The rest of the story is found in Acts chapter 2: “Suddenly from Heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house…Divided tongues as of fire appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each one of them.” The presence of a mighty wind demonstrates the power of the Holy Spirit to move over everyone in the Upper Room. And when tongues as of fire settled upon each disciple, the fire started to burn away the things in their lives that did not suit God’s plan. Those first disciples demonstrated the presence of the Spirit by speaking in other languages. So dramatic was that first Pentedost that everyone remembered the events of that fateful day.

The bottom line is that the gift of the Spirit transforms a person. It turned those disciples from scared individuals, hiding behind closed doors for fear of discovery and execution, into bold communicators of the Gospel. The Gospel began to spread from Jerusalem outwards across the globe, aided by persecution of the new Christians, sending them to the far corners of the region. Peter, one of the leaders of the first apostles, the one who had denied his Lord three times, preached a sermon and 3,000 were converted. God will work miracles if we simply get out of the way and give ourselves to the power of God!

The Spirit empowers believers for mission and ministry. You can have a Church without the presence of the Spirit, but it is more like a social club than a Church. God’s power through the Spirit can work in two ways, either dramatically or subtly. Obviously, the divine fireworks that were seen on that first Pentecost prove that the power of the Spirit is real and active. But the power of the Spirit can also work in quieter ways. Think of the energy contained in ten gallons of gasoline. That energy can be released all at once, explosively, or it can be channeled through the engine of a car in a controlled burn and used to transport people many miles. The Holy Spirit works in both ways.

We should be careful to avoid mistaking the subtle workings of God with God not being present at all. There is no mistaking that God was present at that first Pentecost. And today, when we see divine healings and other miracles we have little doubt that God is present with us. But what about those times when the hand of the Lord is less obvious? Do we wonder if He is with us at all? God is equally present whether He is working in front of the camara of our lives or behind it, where the only way we can be sure that God is present is through the vision of 20/20 hindsight. These subtle workings of God's Spirit behind the scenes, I have found, is by far the most common way God interacts with us. Notice that in John’s version of the first Pentecost, emphasis is not placed on the dramatic movements of the Spirit, as it is in Acts. Rather, it is based on the fact that the Spirit is of Jesus, the Living Lord in the midst of His people, leading them, molding them, and using them.

Years ago, I served as an associate pastor at a church in Arlington, VA. The Spanish speaking community was growing rapidly around the church and the Church wanted to speak the Gospel to this large group of people. But we had no idea how to go about doing that. One Sunday morning, I was chatting it up with the head usher at the front door of the sanctuary. While we were talking, a young Hispanic fellow walked up the front steps of the sanctuary and addressed us. Neither one of us spoke Spanish, so we made little progress in communication. At that moment, another member of the congregation co-incidentally (or should I say "God-incidentally") walked up to us from the other side of the sanctuary. She listened to the young Hispanic man, and then responded in perfect Spanish. He smiled, thanked us, and left. My usher friend asked her what the fellow wanted. “Oh, he was looking for a Spanish-speaking Church service, so I sent him to the Mormon Church up the street. That’s the only church I know that has a Spanish service.” Well, that prompted my usher friend to go back to his Sunday school class, tell them what had happened. They took a collection and showed up at my office door the next day to ask me to use the money to do something to reach out to the immigrant community. We did our homework, talked to a lot of experts from all over the country, and ended up starting an English as a Second Language Program, which now, under some very talented leadership, is held in some 30+ churches and reaches thousands of people each year.

It’s not always clear when and how God is at work, but it’s always obvious when we look back, and see how events and decisions have been gradually nudged in the right direction by the finger of God. And God oftentimes picks the unlikeliest people to do His work. Who would expect a ragtag bunch of uneducated fishermen and other common folk to change the world; but when they submitted to the Spirit, that is exactly what happened. The bottom line is that God calls us to be Church, to receive the anointing of the Spirit so we can do what God wants us to do. God doesn’t want us to sit on the sidelines once we get our marching orders to proceed. And God will transform us by the power of the Spirit, from what we are to what we need to be to respond to what we are called to do. My friends, God isn’t done with any of us. God will transform us over time and equip each of us for unique ministries in the Kingdom. And God will bring joy and purpose into our lives, by empowered us to reach out to others in our own way and in God’s own time. Amen.

Sermon for May 21 -- the Sunday after the Ascension -- "Follow the Cross"

Some years ago, I was in a group of about thirty preachers who flew to Seoul, South Korea, as guests of the members and staff of the megachurch, Kwang Lim Methodist Church. We were housed and fed on this massive church campus. If you have traveled overseas, then you know how out of place one can feel being in a different country, especially when one does not speak the native languiage. Very few of the Koreans, other than the church stafff, spoke English, and of course, we didn’t speak Korean.

One Friday evening two or three of us decided to take a side trip -- we attended the Yoido Full Gospel Church, at that time the world’s largest Christian congregation. That Friday evening the sanctuary (with a seating capacity of 25,000) was packed. We sat in the English section so we could get an instant translation over earplugs. After three hours and with the service still going strong, we had to leave. The bus and subway systems in Seoul stopped at 11 pm, so we rode the subway as far as we could and then decided to catch a taxi the rest of the way. As we piled into the car, our driver asked us where we wanted to go; I guess that’s what he asked us, because he spoke no English. Thinking fast, I then remembered that one of the staff at the church where we stayed had given me his business card. The address was on the card, in Korean. The driver nodded and off we sped.

We rode for about 20 minutes before the driver stopped. This wasn’t our destination! The driver had stopped to check his map. One of our company looked out the window, and saw the enormous and brightly lit neon blue cross that topped the church. He pointed to it and said to the driver, “Follow that Cross.” Which is exactly what we did, and soon we were back!

My friends, this morning’s passage of Scripture makes it clear that we are all strangers in a strange land. As Jesus might put it, we are in the world, but not of the world. That is why Jesus, in chapter 17 of the Gospel of John, prays specifically for believers. He is basically saying, "Okay, you're living in a secular land, a hostile culture. I am going to ask the Holy Father to protect you." So how do we best operate in this strange land, a land where the Devil prowls around like a hungry lion, and where temptations to stray from following Jesus abound? Well, first of all, we can, and indeed, must embrace our stranger-ness, that is, our Christian faith. No matter how far we’ve strayed from the straight and narrow, no matter how many times we’ve succumbed to temptation, no matter how many mistakes we’ve made, no matter how guilt-ridden and ashamed we are, we must hold fast to the truth that we are God’s children, and He loves us enough to die for us! We experience great power when we claim our identity as children of God.

You know, its easy to spot someone who doesn’t fit it. People who are different look different, talk different, and have a different accent. One might even be hated because one is not like the natives. This is what Jesus feared when He prayed, “Holy Father, keep them in Your Name.” On a trip to the Holy Land I was walking past a Jerusalem neighborhood of Palestinian shopkeepers. As our group walked, the shopkeepers spat on the ground after we had passed. They didn’t like us because we were Americans, and what they did was a sign of contempt. The question for believers then is this: Can people tell that we belong to God's world, rather than to this world, by the way we behave? Our values are and must be different from secular values. Jesus teaches us that we should embrace our status as a stranger, because we are a sermon illustration of what a transformed life is all about!

Second, we survive as strangers by seeking God's protection. Living in this foreign land invites persecution, just for being a disciple of Christ. Jesus feared for His disciples’ physical safety. He certainly was aware of his own fate at this point, and elsewhere he alludes to Peter's manner of death. He also feared the attraction of the world itself with all its temptations for the believer. The apostle John in his first Epistle wrote to young Christians, "Do not love the world or anything in the world….the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride in riches." John adds that these things do not come "from the Father but from the world.” So how do we utilize the protection God has offered? Well, we must be students of the Word, we must stay away from temptation, and we can survive by hanging out with a community of other strangers, that is, other believers. Just as those from other lands seek out people of their own culture, so we, too, as belivers, should seek the protection of a community of other Jesus people.

Thirdly, and lastly, we can survive as strangers by remembering that God has put us in this place for a reason. Jesus prayed, "I am not asking you to take them out of the world.” We're here, in this place and time, because Jesus put us here. We have a mission, a reason for being. We have surrendered our passport to this world and have imigrated to God's world. But we haven't physically left this world yet. And until we are called home, we must embrace our status, we must seek God's protection, we must align ourselves with a community of fellow citizens, remembering that God has put us here for a reason. Our task is to prayerfully discern what God is doing with us, what path He is leading us down. Like those of us who were lost in Seoul, we had to follow the Cross to find our way home. God will show us what He wants us to do.

Some years ago, vacationers in a certain seacoast town could watch the local blacksmith carefully and scrupulously fashion every link of a great chain he had been hired to forge. Behind his back they scoffed at such care being taken on such an ordinary thing as a chain. But the old craftsman worked on, ignoring them as if he had not heard them at all. Eventually the chain was attached to a great anchor on the deck of an ocean vessel. For months it was never put to use. But one day the vessel was disabled while nearing the coast in a storm. Only a secure anchor could prevent the ship from being driven onto the rocks. The fate of the ship and hundreds of passengers depended on the strength of that chain. No one knew of the care and skill that had been lavished on each link of that chain by an obscure blacksmith who was only doing his best. The chain held, and the ship, its crew, and its passengers were saved. The blacksmith had saved the day, but few realized it.

God gives us all talents and gifts that He calls us to use for the sake of the Kingdom. The holy life is not always easy to follow, but God gives of His Holy Spirit, who will lead us along the Way. Amen.