What are your gifts? What are you good at? What do you love doing? What comes easy for you? If you had all the money in the world and all the time in the world, what would you do? If you could do anything for the church—anything in the name of Jesus—what would it be? If you knew that you didn’t have to do anything, what would you do? What your gifts? Both the gifts that God has given you naturally as well as the spiritual gifts God has blessed you with. What are your gifts?
Apart from Jesus Christ, you don’t have gifts, you have abilities. Strengths, based on your genetics or upbringing, to help you out on your personal journey of self-exploration and self-improvement. And these powers of yours will seem to be the most natural of things proving your own sense of self-worth; strengthening your independence. You can be the best basketball player this world has ever seen. You can be the most perceptive leader this world has ever known. You can be the hardest worker in your town. With your abilities, you can be all that you can be all by yourself!
But Jesus says, “Apart from me YOU can do nothing.” All those amazing strengths of yours, those supernatural abilities, those astounding powers . . . God says those are gifts. Gifts given to you from God. Gifts given to you for the sake of the world, not just for your own pleasure. You have been given gifts not primarily for your own enjoyment but in order to bear fruit—fruit for the kingdom of God. This is not something you would have come up with on your own. Like I said, your abilities, your talents, your interests no doubt feel quite innate. Only the Holy Spirit can make you believe something different.
In your bulletins, you each received a note card. First, write your name on the top of the card. In your pews, there are extra cards as well as pens and pencils. Now we are going to pray that God might help you discern some of your gifts, then you will write two of them down. You might write down natural gifts like the gift of song or the gift of mechanical inclination or the gift of organization or the gift of athleticism. These also might be spiritual gifts, like the gift of prayer or the gift of hospitality or the gift of administration or the gift of evangelism.
Remember, the first step to help you realize your gifts is to ask yourself: What are you good at? What do you love doing? And if you knew that you didn’t have to do anything at Saint Peters, what would you CHOOSE to do. What would you like to start at church? After we pray, I want you to write down what you think two of your gifts might be. Let us pray . . . Start now.
You each received a picture in your bulletin. It looks like this. A wagon, full of circular wheels, being pulled on four square wheels. This picture represents how churches function most of the time. It’s looks like pretty hard work? The thing is that it doesn’t have to be, does it? Those round wheels that are just being carried along, they represent you, people with gifts. God has given each one of you talents, abilities and desires to do wonderful things in this world and in this church. And if you knew your gifts and were willing to utilize them, if you realized that you were a round wheel in that wagon and were tired of being unused, through the power of God you might do some amazing things. And some amazing things might happen here in this church and in this community.
Imagine what might happen here at Saint Peters if you used your gifts on behalf of Jesus Christ. One of the best side effects of using your gifts is the fact that you usually enjoy using them. When you are doing something you love to do it doesn’t even seem like work. Do some of you remember Michael Jordan? When he slam dunked a basketball, I think he actually liked it; in fact, he loved it. Did you ever have a grandmother who seemed to actually enjoy cooking huge complicated meals for you? I have two.
Do you enjoy what you do here at Saint Peters? If not, you are probably one of those square wheels in the picture—that must not be much fun. Do you have any ministry tasks at church? If not, then you are like one of those round wheels just sitting there unused. When you are using your gifts, you are all round wheels that make work more fun and noticeably more effective for the sake of the kingdom of God.
But when you are forced to do something that you aren’t gifted at, there is nothing worse. Imagine what might happen here at Saint Peters, if you ONLY used your gifts. Not because you weren’t willing to be challenged. Not because you didn’t care. Not because you were too busy and stressed out, but because if the task was something that God intended on getting done then there MUST (there MUST!) be someone in the community gifted in that area. If we all want to start a drum band and no one here plays the drums and no one wants to learn . . . maybe God doesn’t intend there to be a drum band here after all. God has placed you here for a reason. And he has given you gifts. Once you start realizing those gifts, you might also realize what God has in store for you as an individual and for the people this church serves.
Eventually, once you’ve discovered the gifts you love to do and the gifts that others see in you, it will be time to see what gifts you can better develop, the gifts that stretch your faith and challenge you to grow. Just because you don’t WANT to do something, just because you aren’t PERFECT at doing something, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it. The FIRST step in realizing your gifts is to do what you are good at, but don’t just stop there. As Paul says again in Corinthians, “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. . . . But strive for the greater gifts.” Once you’ve discovered what you love to do, strive to find the gifts that you will LEARN to love to do.
Moses complained that he was slow of speech and couldn’t lead the Israelites, but God called him to be their leader. Isaiah complained that he was a man of unclean lips living among an unclean people, but God forgave him and blotted out his sins. Jeremiah complained that he was only a boy, too young to be useful to God, but God used him as his great prophet.
What has God called you to do? What are your gifts? During today’s offering, I would like you each to place into the offering plate the note card with your name and gifts written on it. The money that is offered each week is used to serve our church community and the wider world. That should give you a clue why God gave you your other gifts as well. Imagine what might happen if you got out of the wagon and started using your gifts at church? What would you do? What would you start? Don’t just think about it, tell someone so we can make it happen. Imagine what might happen if we trusted God to provide people with the gifts to do the ministries he has called us to fulfill?
What has God called you to do? What are your gifts? If you are hoping to use your own strengths and abilities to accomplish all that God demands of you, you will never succeed. For, as Martin Luther put it, God says, “Do this!” and it is never done. I pray that God will give you the imagination, the hope, the power and the motivation to use the GIFTS that God has GIVEN you. Believe in Jesus Christ and the power of God to work through your gifts and everything is done already. Amen.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Sermon for July 19th
When you read through the gospels, especially the gospel of Mark, have you ever noticed how busy Jesus is? Why was Jesus so popular? Have you ever wondered that? He certainly wasn’t popular among the religious leaders of his time, but whenever he went out into the countryside or entered into a village, it seems like all kinds of people were after him. Why?
The end of today’s gospel reading tells us why, “Wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Jesus that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” That’s why. Jesus healed. He cured their sick. He cured their diseases. He brought salvation, not just with words, but with deeds. You all know people who are sick. You all have some physical, spiritual or emotional issue that you want healed. If you knew that Jesus could heal you, wouldn’t you go after him too? Know this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you.
Jesus did many things during his ministry besides simply healing. He fed five thousand people. He calmed a storm. He turned water into wine. He even cast out demons. But, most notoriously, he forgave sins.
Remember the scene where Jesus was teaching and a crippled man lying on a mat was lowered down from a rooftop by some friends? When Jesus saw their faith he said to the crippled man, “Your sins are forgiven.” But the scribes and the Pharisees questioned him saying, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus replied, “Which is easier, to say, your sins are forgiven or Stand up and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he said to the one who was paralyzed—I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home. And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.”
Now, when someone is healed of a sickness in the Bible, we need to be aware that, eventually, they become sick again. When a demon is cast out of a person it is quite possible, Jesus says, that seven more demons might come to take its place. Even when Lazarus was raised from the dead we can be assured that, heartbreakingly enough, he had to die again. True glory and complete healing for us, only come after death.
God’s true glory is found in the last place we want to look, in a crucified Jesus. Nobody wants to look at the cross, not now and not then. Jesus was very popular when he was healing, but when he forgave sins dying on the cross, everyone abandoned him. We want glory! We want to see Jesus come down! We want him to be healed! We want to be healed! But God’s glory in healing us on Earth will always be secondary to what God has done for us on the cross.
In other words, I would encourage you all to trust in the cross of Jesus Christ rather than in seeing God’s glory in some other place, I would encourage you all to trust in the forgiveness of sins rather than in the temporary healing of even your greatest suffering. Knowing that you will live eternally in God’s sight, that you are pleasing in the eyes of the Lord of heaven in earth, is a greater comfort than anything else.
But—thankfully!—God does not demand that you choose one or the other. Believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually do it. Healing and forgiveness do not negate one another, they complement each other, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—Jesus said to the one who was paralyzed—I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home. And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.”
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have come to Earth to forgive sins and stopped there. When the sick came to him asking for healing he could have compassionately told them, “Though you suffer now, one day, you will suffer no more” and left it at that. When the demoniac came to Jesus beating upon himself and clanking his chains, Jesus could have said, “God loves you.” When people came to touch Jesus’ cloak believing that they would be healed, Jesus could have simply turned and said, “My fringe is not magical! Your leprosy, your cancer, your epilepsy, even your death cannot separate you from God. Go in peace.”
Jesus could have said these things, since the forgiveness of sins is obviously of more lasting importance than temporal physical healing or exorcism, but Jesus preached salvation and healing by actually healing and freeing people from evil, “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion or them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” So Jesus taught them, proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, AND cured every sickness and disease. That’s what a loving God does. That’s what your loving God STILL does. Believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you.
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have come to Earth to forgive sins and heal and cast out demons and then, stopped the healing ministry at his death. But he did not do this, “He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent (and they didn’t stop there). They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have let the healing ministry go no farther than these apostles, but he did not stop there. Instead, “the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said, cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
And, if God had wanted to, he could have let the healing ministry, these acts of glory, go no farther than the twelve apostles and then these seventy, but God did not stop there. Instead, as the book of James points out, “Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” You see, the forgiveness of sins is, indeed, the most important gift God could give you, but, because God loves you and cares for you in this life as well as the next, he has promised to hear your prayers for healing.
But a final word of caution. The forgiveness of sins leads you to look at the cross. Prayers for healing lead you to look for glory. I tell you this because there will be times when you feel like your prayers for healing aren’t doing any good. That your prayers are pointless. You will be tempted to blame your lack of faith or blame God’s cruelty because you are seeing no healing, no glory. This is where you must trust the heal-ER more than the healing.
Jesus’ love for you is shown primarily through HIS suffering and the cross. The healing you experience in this life is temporal, it’s temporary, and, therefore, when all is said and done, it will last only as long as you do. But Jesus’ love for you has no bounds. He died to give you freedom from sickness and injuries and disease on this earth—YES!—but, more importantly, freedom from sin, death and the devil forever.
God gives you food and water. He gives you medicines invented by great research scientists as well as the gifts of doctors, nurses, psychologists and physical therapists. These are all good gifts of God to be used and appreciated by all of you as Christians. You wouldn’t feel guilty or “unspiritual” by going to a doctor to heal your health problems so don’t forsake the wonderful gifts of prayer and healing that God has ALSO blessed you with. You wouldn’t stop seeing a psychologist just because you didn’t feel “cured” after the first treatment, so don’t stop coming for prayer even if the healing you want doesn’t take place immediately.
Each week, here at Saint Peters, we pray for the sick. Maybe you will even come up for prayer after this service. But sometimes I think we pray without expecting anything to really, truly happen. But the next time you pray, or you are prayed for, believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you. Amen.
The end of today’s gospel reading tells us why, “Wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Jesus that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” That’s why. Jesus healed. He cured their sick. He cured their diseases. He brought salvation, not just with words, but with deeds. You all know people who are sick. You all have some physical, spiritual or emotional issue that you want healed. If you knew that Jesus could heal you, wouldn’t you go after him too? Know this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you.
Jesus did many things during his ministry besides simply healing. He fed five thousand people. He calmed a storm. He turned water into wine. He even cast out demons. But, most notoriously, he forgave sins.
Remember the scene where Jesus was teaching and a crippled man lying on a mat was lowered down from a rooftop by some friends? When Jesus saw their faith he said to the crippled man, “Your sins are forgiven.” But the scribes and the Pharisees questioned him saying, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus replied, “Which is easier, to say, your sins are forgiven or Stand up and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he said to the one who was paralyzed—I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home. And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.”
Now, when someone is healed of a sickness in the Bible, we need to be aware that, eventually, they become sick again. When a demon is cast out of a person it is quite possible, Jesus says, that seven more demons might come to take its place. Even when Lazarus was raised from the dead we can be assured that, heartbreakingly enough, he had to die again. True glory and complete healing for us, only come after death.
God’s true glory is found in the last place we want to look, in a crucified Jesus. Nobody wants to look at the cross, not now and not then. Jesus was very popular when he was healing, but when he forgave sins dying on the cross, everyone abandoned him. We want glory! We want to see Jesus come down! We want him to be healed! We want to be healed! But God’s glory in healing us on Earth will always be secondary to what God has done for us on the cross.
In other words, I would encourage you all to trust in the cross of Jesus Christ rather than in seeing God’s glory in some other place, I would encourage you all to trust in the forgiveness of sins rather than in the temporary healing of even your greatest suffering. Knowing that you will live eternally in God’s sight, that you are pleasing in the eyes of the Lord of heaven in earth, is a greater comfort than anything else.
But—thankfully!—God does not demand that you choose one or the other. Believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually do it. Healing and forgiveness do not negate one another, they complement each other, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—Jesus said to the one who was paralyzed—I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home. And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God.”
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have come to Earth to forgive sins and stopped there. When the sick came to him asking for healing he could have compassionately told them, “Though you suffer now, one day, you will suffer no more” and left it at that. When the demoniac came to Jesus beating upon himself and clanking his chains, Jesus could have said, “God loves you.” When people came to touch Jesus’ cloak believing that they would be healed, Jesus could have simply turned and said, “My fringe is not magical! Your leprosy, your cancer, your epilepsy, even your death cannot separate you from God. Go in peace.”
Jesus could have said these things, since the forgiveness of sins is obviously of more lasting importance than temporal physical healing or exorcism, but Jesus preached salvation and healing by actually healing and freeing people from evil, “When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion or them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” So Jesus taught them, proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, AND cured every sickness and disease. That’s what a loving God does. That’s what your loving God STILL does. Believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you.
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have come to Earth to forgive sins and heal and cast out demons and then, stopped the healing ministry at his death. But he did not do this, “He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent (and they didn’t stop there). They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
If Jesus had wanted to, he could have let the healing ministry go no farther than these apostles, but he did not stop there. Instead, “the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said, cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
And, if God had wanted to, he could have let the healing ministry, these acts of glory, go no farther than the twelve apostles and then these seventy, but God did not stop there. Instead, as the book of James points out, “Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” You see, the forgiveness of sins is, indeed, the most important gift God could give you, but, because God loves you and cares for you in this life as well as the next, he has promised to hear your prayers for healing.
But a final word of caution. The forgiveness of sins leads you to look at the cross. Prayers for healing lead you to look for glory. I tell you this because there will be times when you feel like your prayers for healing aren’t doing any good. That your prayers are pointless. You will be tempted to blame your lack of faith or blame God’s cruelty because you are seeing no healing, no glory. This is where you must trust the heal-ER more than the healing.
Jesus’ love for you is shown primarily through HIS suffering and the cross. The healing you experience in this life is temporal, it’s temporary, and, therefore, when all is said and done, it will last only as long as you do. But Jesus’ love for you has no bounds. He died to give you freedom from sickness and injuries and disease on this earth—YES!—but, more importantly, freedom from sin, death and the devil forever.
God gives you food and water. He gives you medicines invented by great research scientists as well as the gifts of doctors, nurses, psychologists and physical therapists. These are all good gifts of God to be used and appreciated by all of you as Christians. You wouldn’t feel guilty or “unspiritual” by going to a doctor to heal your health problems so don’t forsake the wonderful gifts of prayer and healing that God has ALSO blessed you with. You wouldn’t stop seeing a psychologist just because you didn’t feel “cured” after the first treatment, so don’t stop coming for prayer even if the healing you want doesn’t take place immediately.
Each week, here at Saint Peters, we pray for the sick. Maybe you will even come up for prayer after this service. But sometimes I think we pray without expecting anything to really, truly happen. But the next time you pray, or you are prayed for, believe this: God not only hears your prayers for healing, but he loves you enough to actually heal you. Amen.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Sermon for July 12th
Peace. Peace. It’s a fickle thing to hold onto, isn’t it? We’re all for peace, but we seldom find it. Sometimes, we don’t even want it, for the moment at least, but, even if we are fighting, we’re often doing it for peace, right? Doing it for a good cause. For our peace of mind. Fight for peace! How many times have I heard that said, or read it on a sign somewhere within a peaceful demonstration—against fighting. Peace is truly hard to come by. In our world. In our community. Even, and especially, within our hearts.
We need peace right now. Especially right now at Saint Peters. Our peaceful lives were interrupted by tragedy just a little over a week ago. And now we are trying to find our way again. A good friend of ours is at peace with the Lord, but, for the rest of us, well, it is a little harder to come by. Even those of you who are our honored guests this morning know what I’m talking about even though you may not know the exact details of our tragedy. You’ve had your own along the way, maybe you are having one right now. Peace is a fleeting wish so often in our lives. We want peace, but how to get it is another thing entirely.
The writer of psalm 85 was also in the midst of a crisis when he wrote the words we read today. The Psalm, this prayer, begins by telling about what God has done, those marvelous things done in he past when their community was under stress. Let me read for you what was said since it’s not typed out for us in the insert, “Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.”
You see, this community had also seen its share of devastation and wrath. Both this community so long ago as well as ours. The question is, “Was God faithful?” Through those times of trial and tribulation? You’ve all had your times of burden and despair. What happened next? What did God do with that despair? What did God do with those burdens? On the back of our church’s card, it is written that Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” What did he do with yours? With your heaviest of burdens. Why do you continue looking to God for peace? Because he has given you peace before.
Today’s Psalm continues by explaining that tragedy has struck the community again and the writer cries out to God for help, “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.”
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard in the past week, “Cornwall has had enough!” I think that there is both frustration and fear behind these words. We’ve had a lot of sadness in the past several weeks, too much for us to take. And we are scared because we know that at some point in all of our lives, we’ll each be going through tough times like this again. Not just here, not just with friends, not just with death, but with finances, and with our children, or with our cars, or with our nation. It’s just a matter of time—and that’s kinda scary. We want peace now and we want it to stay. Peace for our hearts. Peace for our world.
Peace is more than just the absence of war or the absence of fighting. The Hebrew word for peace is Shalom and it refers to one’s whole well-being. There are times in my life when the world seems at one and peaceful yet within myself, my own heart, the world is shattering all around me. The sun is out, the breeze is calm, but there is a gray cloud over my spirit. Shalom seeks to speak of that time when the fullness of God’s presence fills your heart, your mind, your household and the world. All of it. As you can see, we may seek peace ourselves, our country may seek peace, even the world may become peaceful, but “Shalom,” true peace, only finally comes from God.
And that’s I guess why we are all finally here this morning. Because peace is so fleeting, so fickle, so far from us at times. We come here to seek peace from its only source and pray that God creates this peace, promotes peace and does peace even through us, using our hands, our feet, our hearts and our voices. It is why we come together and continuing grieving ones we love while at the same time promising life and salvation to the little children in our midst.
In baptism, God gives life, peace and salvation. We can trust that little Charlie here this morning has peace with God not based on how much or how loudly he cries, but because his sins have been washed clean away in God’s sight. We find peace through trusting God’s promises. Remember when you heard the promises spoken and watched water poured over him? Charlie’s baptism today is an example of how God “does” peace to us. We can all fight for peace or pray for peace, but true “Shalom” only comes from God. He’s got to GIVE us peace and DO peace to us.
The last part of Psalm 85 expresses this: What is God doing to create peace, “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.” Sometimes I think that we all have the tendency, myself included, to believe that, somehow, being faithful and having peace are contradictory. Perhaps we get that false impression from stories about Martin Luther and the Reformation. We believe that in order to reform ourselves and the church, to be faithful to God’s Word, we must also be at odds with others and not at peace. The same is true of tolerance which also gets a bad rap so often. But tolerance means to be at peace with others, no matter how different from you they are or how different your opinions are than theirs'. Tolerance doesn't mean "compromise" but being at peace with others--loving others-- even when fighting might be easier. To be faithful to God’s Word means to desire and move toward peace with others always and in all ways.
God’s righteousness and his faithfulness are notsimply adjectives describing God they are so much more than that! God’s faithfulness DOES something. It’s an action word. God is always creating peace; He is always desiring peace. God’s faithfulness creates peace in your heart by never abandoning you even when the earth is falling apart around you. Finally, God promises to create peace in this community and in this world by staying faithful to it despite our social injustices, our wars and our hatred. He will not abandon our world to fall in upon itself; instead, he comes deep down into your life and is faithful to you and your struggles.
What is the result of all this talk and promising of peace, love and righteousness? The Psalm says that “Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.” And smack, when the two meet, when they kiss, the world won’t collapse on itself, it will become whole. The place between my hands isn’t the world, the whole world is all around them.
What might this faithfulness look like, springing up from the ground? For those of you at the funeral yesterday, it might look like God creating a celebration out of a tragedy. We came in sadness and perhaps, even for a moment, you found peace. What might faithfulness look like, springing up from the ground? Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, that little children of every color, race and creed would not just hold hands but maybe even change the world, their institutions and the content of their character. We're called to continue that dream and work for tolerance that is a part of peace. What might this faithfulness look like, springing up from the ground? When a sinner comes to hear God’s promise, gets water splashed on him and finds himself at peace with God forever. This happens both at baptism and when you hear that your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus Christ alone. Peace, Shalom is difficult to find. Peace, it's hard to find because it doesn’t happen just through your efforts, but because God is faithful to you. He has been before. And he will be again. Amen.
We need peace right now. Especially right now at Saint Peters. Our peaceful lives were interrupted by tragedy just a little over a week ago. And now we are trying to find our way again. A good friend of ours is at peace with the Lord, but, for the rest of us, well, it is a little harder to come by. Even those of you who are our honored guests this morning know what I’m talking about even though you may not know the exact details of our tragedy. You’ve had your own along the way, maybe you are having one right now. Peace is a fleeting wish so often in our lives. We want peace, but how to get it is another thing entirely.
The writer of psalm 85 was also in the midst of a crisis when he wrote the words we read today. The Psalm, this prayer, begins by telling about what God has done, those marvelous things done in he past when their community was under stress. Let me read for you what was said since it’s not typed out for us in the insert, “Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.”
You see, this community had also seen its share of devastation and wrath. Both this community so long ago as well as ours. The question is, “Was God faithful?” Through those times of trial and tribulation? You’ve all had your times of burden and despair. What happened next? What did God do with that despair? What did God do with those burdens? On the back of our church’s card, it is written that Jesus said, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” What did he do with yours? With your heaviest of burdens. Why do you continue looking to God for peace? Because he has given you peace before.
Today’s Psalm continues by explaining that tragedy has struck the community again and the writer cries out to God for help, “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.”
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard in the past week, “Cornwall has had enough!” I think that there is both frustration and fear behind these words. We’ve had a lot of sadness in the past several weeks, too much for us to take. And we are scared because we know that at some point in all of our lives, we’ll each be going through tough times like this again. Not just here, not just with friends, not just with death, but with finances, and with our children, or with our cars, or with our nation. It’s just a matter of time—and that’s kinda scary. We want peace now and we want it to stay. Peace for our hearts. Peace for our world.
Peace is more than just the absence of war or the absence of fighting. The Hebrew word for peace is Shalom and it refers to one’s whole well-being. There are times in my life when the world seems at one and peaceful yet within myself, my own heart, the world is shattering all around me. The sun is out, the breeze is calm, but there is a gray cloud over my spirit. Shalom seeks to speak of that time when the fullness of God’s presence fills your heart, your mind, your household and the world. All of it. As you can see, we may seek peace ourselves, our country may seek peace, even the world may become peaceful, but “Shalom,” true peace, only finally comes from God.
And that’s I guess why we are all finally here this morning. Because peace is so fleeting, so fickle, so far from us at times. We come here to seek peace from its only source and pray that God creates this peace, promotes peace and does peace even through us, using our hands, our feet, our hearts and our voices. It is why we come together and continuing grieving ones we love while at the same time promising life and salvation to the little children in our midst.
In baptism, God gives life, peace and salvation. We can trust that little Charlie here this morning has peace with God not based on how much or how loudly he cries, but because his sins have been washed clean away in God’s sight. We find peace through trusting God’s promises. Remember when you heard the promises spoken and watched water poured over him? Charlie’s baptism today is an example of how God “does” peace to us. We can all fight for peace or pray for peace, but true “Shalom” only comes from God. He’s got to GIVE us peace and DO peace to us.
The last part of Psalm 85 expresses this: What is God doing to create peace, “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.” Sometimes I think that we all have the tendency, myself included, to believe that, somehow, being faithful and having peace are contradictory. Perhaps we get that false impression from stories about Martin Luther and the Reformation. We believe that in order to reform ourselves and the church, to be faithful to God’s Word, we must also be at odds with others and not at peace. The same is true of tolerance which also gets a bad rap so often. But tolerance means to be at peace with others, no matter how different from you they are or how different your opinions are than theirs'. Tolerance doesn't mean "compromise" but being at peace with others--loving others-- even when fighting might be easier. To be faithful to God’s Word means to desire and move toward peace with others always and in all ways.
God’s righteousness and his faithfulness are notsimply adjectives describing God they are so much more than that! God’s faithfulness DOES something. It’s an action word. God is always creating peace; He is always desiring peace. God’s faithfulness creates peace in your heart by never abandoning you even when the earth is falling apart around you. Finally, God promises to create peace in this community and in this world by staying faithful to it despite our social injustices, our wars and our hatred. He will not abandon our world to fall in upon itself; instead, he comes deep down into your life and is faithful to you and your struggles.
What is the result of all this talk and promising of peace, love and righteousness? The Psalm says that “Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.” And smack, when the two meet, when they kiss, the world won’t collapse on itself, it will become whole. The place between my hands isn’t the world, the whole world is all around them.
What might this faithfulness look like, springing up from the ground? For those of you at the funeral yesterday, it might look like God creating a celebration out of a tragedy. We came in sadness and perhaps, even for a moment, you found peace. What might faithfulness look like, springing up from the ground? Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, that little children of every color, race and creed would not just hold hands but maybe even change the world, their institutions and the content of their character. We're called to continue that dream and work for tolerance that is a part of peace. What might this faithfulness look like, springing up from the ground? When a sinner comes to hear God’s promise, gets water splashed on him and finds himself at peace with God forever. This happens both at baptism and when you hear that your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus Christ alone. Peace, Shalom is difficult to find. Peace, it's hard to find because it doesn’t happen just through your efforts, but because God is faithful to you. He has been before. And he will be again. Amen.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Sermon for July 5th
“Whenever I am weak, then I am strong”, Paul says. Paul prayed, appealed, pleaded to God for help. Paul prayed that God in all his immense power would take away Paul’s weaknesses. The Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In weakness, even in suffering, in death—there, right there, is where God abides, when he stays, where he makes him home. Right there in your suffering and in your weakness, this is where you will find God for you, in all his power and in all his majesty. Not in glory, but in the cross. Not in your strength, but in your weakness.
Power, miracles, strength, prosperity, perfection. These are what we want, what we have been taught that God is all about. Ask around and people will tell you that God must be omnipotent, omnipresent, unchanging, untouchable, unimaginable. But these fancy words, these images and symbols of glory are a mirage leading to a God far from us reigning up in heaven somewhere. A God of ideas and myths—a God of glory. So God, the Father of Jesus Christ, gave you a different path to life, a road he struggled down himself first, a way to the cross. You have a God who died, a God cursed, a God who bleeds, a God who cries, a God who cries out, a God wounded, a God spit on, a God abandoned. A God of flesh and blood just like you—a God of the cross.
Paul was struggling with what he called a “thorn in his flesh”. A “messenger of Satan” he called it. Was it a temptation? A disease? A limitation of some kind? The Lord only says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect is weakness.” In North Dakota, in the middle of winter, four farmers stared into a freshly dug grave looking for the frostline, looking for signs of Spring—the end of Winter and the promise of a new hope. Paul had been looking for God to manifest his power in glory, but he is pointed, instead, to the cross. Where the promise of new life, of strength, of hope is found in death and an empty tomb.
One moment, Paul is pleading for God to deliver him, the next moment he finds true deliverance in a God who does not just save him from pain and death, but who enters into that pain and death and settles in. But not simply in solidarity. Jesus has come not to merely ease the pain, to take away your weaknesses, so that you might continue on the glory road. He has come for you. He has come, finally, to take you away from pain and death once and for all. To bring you into a new life where there is no suffering.
Why does Paul say that he is content? Why does he say that he is content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ? It is counter cultural both in his time and in ours. We are a society that thrives on becoming better and better, at easing suffering, at improving our weaknesses ourselves, at evading as many hardships as possible. When people are being persecuted in foreign lands, we are not content, are we? No, we are enraged! When calamities happen, tragedies occur and we buckle underneath the sadness, we may be depressed, shocked or paralyzed, but not content.
But Paul says he is even more than simply “at ease” with these things, the word “content” could just as easily be translated as “to delight in, to approve of”. Paul delights in his weaknesses and the insults he receives. He approves of these hardships, persecutions and calamities he is going through. How? Why? I encourage you NOT to assume that you should also approve of the sadness in your life. Suffering cannot be denied. This is much more than just some psychological attempt to “put on a happy face”. Paul is not supporting self-denial.
In fact, just the opposite. Paul is not denying the weakness he has to put up with. Paul does not pretend that the insults do not hurt. Paul admits that he is being persecuted, he is experiencing hardship, he is in the midst of tragedy BUT HE IS NOT ALONE there! Paul finds himself in the pit of despair and lo and behold there is Christ already at his side! And Jesus does not stay silent, but gives strength. Gives power. Give all of himself to one who is both powerless and weak and hopeless apart from this one and only Savior.
And so Paul is content to trust God’s power, God’s presence, God’s salvation rather than to simply trust in his own abilities. He delights in this fact. He even boasts of how weak he is! Laughing, taunting the forces of sin, death and the devil to take their best shot at him, or have they already done their worst?! “Death, where is thy victory! O Hell, where is thy sting!” This “thorn” in my flesh is not mine alone, Paul says, but is imbedded into my Savior as well. And not a cross, not a nail, not a tomb and not even death has ever held Him down.
“O Lord, Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night.” Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
You will struggle and suffer and cry out for help to God. But you need only whisper the words to a God who is right here with you. Holding you in your weakness. Listening to your every need. God has come down in the flesh for you, on a cross, in a grave, and even so far as into hell, so that you will never be as strong as when you are at your weakest. For in your darkest hour, there is where you will find the light of the world. There is where you will find your faith. There is where you will find the hope of the hopeless. There is where you will find your Savior, Jesus Christ. His grace is sufficient for you. In your weakness, you may cling to Jesus for your strength. Amen.
Power, miracles, strength, prosperity, perfection. These are what we want, what we have been taught that God is all about. Ask around and people will tell you that God must be omnipotent, omnipresent, unchanging, untouchable, unimaginable. But these fancy words, these images and symbols of glory are a mirage leading to a God far from us reigning up in heaven somewhere. A God of ideas and myths—a God of glory. So God, the Father of Jesus Christ, gave you a different path to life, a road he struggled down himself first, a way to the cross. You have a God who died, a God cursed, a God who bleeds, a God who cries, a God who cries out, a God wounded, a God spit on, a God abandoned. A God of flesh and blood just like you—a God of the cross.
Paul was struggling with what he called a “thorn in his flesh”. A “messenger of Satan” he called it. Was it a temptation? A disease? A limitation of some kind? The Lord only says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect is weakness.” In North Dakota, in the middle of winter, four farmers stared into a freshly dug grave looking for the frostline, looking for signs of Spring—the end of Winter and the promise of a new hope. Paul had been looking for God to manifest his power in glory, but he is pointed, instead, to the cross. Where the promise of new life, of strength, of hope is found in death and an empty tomb.
One moment, Paul is pleading for God to deliver him, the next moment he finds true deliverance in a God who does not just save him from pain and death, but who enters into that pain and death and settles in. But not simply in solidarity. Jesus has come not to merely ease the pain, to take away your weaknesses, so that you might continue on the glory road. He has come for you. He has come, finally, to take you away from pain and death once and for all. To bring you into a new life where there is no suffering.
Why does Paul say that he is content? Why does he say that he is content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ? It is counter cultural both in his time and in ours. We are a society that thrives on becoming better and better, at easing suffering, at improving our weaknesses ourselves, at evading as many hardships as possible. When people are being persecuted in foreign lands, we are not content, are we? No, we are enraged! When calamities happen, tragedies occur and we buckle underneath the sadness, we may be depressed, shocked or paralyzed, but not content.
But Paul says he is even more than simply “at ease” with these things, the word “content” could just as easily be translated as “to delight in, to approve of”. Paul delights in his weaknesses and the insults he receives. He approves of these hardships, persecutions and calamities he is going through. How? Why? I encourage you NOT to assume that you should also approve of the sadness in your life. Suffering cannot be denied. This is much more than just some psychological attempt to “put on a happy face”. Paul is not supporting self-denial.
In fact, just the opposite. Paul is not denying the weakness he has to put up with. Paul does not pretend that the insults do not hurt. Paul admits that he is being persecuted, he is experiencing hardship, he is in the midst of tragedy BUT HE IS NOT ALONE there! Paul finds himself in the pit of despair and lo and behold there is Christ already at his side! And Jesus does not stay silent, but gives strength. Gives power. Give all of himself to one who is both powerless and weak and hopeless apart from this one and only Savior.
And so Paul is content to trust God’s power, God’s presence, God’s salvation rather than to simply trust in his own abilities. He delights in this fact. He even boasts of how weak he is! Laughing, taunting the forces of sin, death and the devil to take their best shot at him, or have they already done their worst?! “Death, where is thy victory! O Hell, where is thy sting!” This “thorn” in my flesh is not mine alone, Paul says, but is imbedded into my Savior as well. And not a cross, not a nail, not a tomb and not even death has ever held Him down.
“O Lord, Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night.” Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
You will struggle and suffer and cry out for help to God. But you need only whisper the words to a God who is right here with you. Holding you in your weakness. Listening to your every need. God has come down in the flesh for you, on a cross, in a grave, and even so far as into hell, so that you will never be as strong as when you are at your weakest. For in your darkest hour, there is where you will find the light of the world. There is where you will find your faith. There is where you will find the hope of the hopeless. There is where you will find your Savior, Jesus Christ. His grace is sufficient for you. In your weakness, you may cling to Jesus for your strength. Amen.
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