“Share It!”
Did I ever tell you I met Jerry Seinfeld?
True story. I even got his autograph. It was at a bookstore in Beverly Hills almost 30 years ago. My friends and I saw him walking in and we followed. I think mostly out of curiosity, we wanted to know if it was REALLY him and not just someone who looked like him from a distance. When I got close enough to see that it was really Jerry Seinfeld, I grabbed a copy of his book SeinLanguage off the shelves, brought it over to him, and asked him if he would sign it for me and he DID! Weird celebrity sightings, right? Anyway, I was thinking about him this week because of something he wrote in that book. It said, “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number TWO is death. DEATH is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off IN the casket than doing the eulogy.”[1] It sounds ridiculous, but at the time it was true. People are deathly afraid of public speaking. Whether it’s to a group of ten or ten thousand, something about standing in front of a crowd makes our heart race and gives us the shivers. It’s an unnerving feeling opening yourself up for public scrutiny, giving people the opportunity to be critical of you or worse becoming embarrassed or humiliated in front of others. Nobody likes that. Nobody likes being attacked, nobody likes feeling awful. And I think that’s one of the big reasons we are also hesitant to share our faith – we are afraid.
But there’s a passage in the Bible that might help us overcome this fear.
It’s a passage that makes me realize how important it is to share the Gospel, despite our fears. We already know from the Great Commission that our duty as Christians is to make disciples for Christ. Jesus himself tells us so. We even incorporated that into the mission statement for The United Methodist Church. “Make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Our passage today reflects the consequences of not doing that. If you have your Bibles with you, would you please open them up to Luke 13 beginning with verse 23. Luke 13:23. Now the crowds Jesus is talking to keep growing bigger. By this time, he is talking to literally THOUSANDS of people. Since they didn’t have speaker systems or digital amplification, it must have been hard to hear and that’s probably why in Luke 12, the Bible says they are trampling over each other. Jesus gives this amazing sermon full of wisdom and people felt blessed just to be there. And as he is making his way through various town and villages, one person asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? (Luke 13:22-23)” And that’s where we pick up in our Scripture reading today.
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” – Luke 13:23-30
We are a number-driven society.
Have you noticed that? We have a drivers’ license number, a social security number, if you go to school, you have a school ID number. Some of you have badges at work that are encoded with a special identification just for you. We have numbers for everything. Quarterly earnings, budgets, weight loss. Even in entertainment we use numbers. Just turn on ESPN any evening and you’ll see what I mean. It’s like a parade of numbers across the screen. Game scores, batter statistics, three-point shot percentages. Numbers rule our lives. But maybe the numbers we SHOULD be thinking about are different from the ones we focus on. I shared this story with you before, but among Kevin Costner’s many roles, he once played a Coast Guard rescue swimmer name Ben Randall who was instructing an upstart know-it-all named Jake Fischer. Throughout the movie Jake keeps asking Ben about “his number.” Most rescue personnel keep track of the number of people they’ve saved, and Ben is a legend in the Coast Guard so Jake keeps wanting to know “What’s your number?” figuring it must be pretty high. But Ben won’t tell him. Near the end of the movie, Ben and Jake have this conversation (the volume is really low on this clip for some reason):
“22 is the number of people I lost. The only number I kept track of.”
Ben didn’t care about recognition or setting records. He ACHIEVED his recognition because he was so singularly focused on the goal – saving lives. The numbers that mattered to him weren’t the numbers that mattered to everybody else. What he cared about were the people he COULDN’T save, not the people he could. As Christians, that should be our motivating factor, too. Ben kept the number 22 in his mind to act as a constant reminder of what the stakes were, of those who he couldn’t save, of those who were lost. So here are a few numbers that might help us remember OUR mission. 65 – the percentage of people within 2.5 miles of THIS CHURCH who have no faith involvement at all. 67,464 – the actual number of people that percentage represents.[2] 5.02 – the number in billions of people in the world who have not accepted Christ in their hearts.[3] Those are the numbers we should remember. Because Jesus is very clear, his words are very clear that not everyone will make it to Heaven. And if you believe his words to be true then those numbers have real meaning. Five BILLION people around the world don’t know Christ. 67,000 near our church don’t either. And that’s just those living right now. If Jesus’ words are even the slightest bit true, isn’t it our responsibility to do something about it? As people who are blessed to know Christ shouldn’t we share that love with others? The door is narrow and many will not make it. What are YOU doing to help people through the door?
When I die, I don’t want to be one of those people that Jesus says, “I don’t know you.”
But I also don’t want to see people I know and love having to hear those words either. And even if it causes us some embarrassment, even if it makes us uncomfortable, isn’t it worth it? How awful would it feel to know that you could’ve helped someone who needed to feel the love of Christ in their lives? Not only are there nearly 5 billion non-Christians out there, but there are many Christians out there too who will be on the other side of that door because they never bothered to practice their faith. Their lips professed faith in Christ, but their LIVES professed faith in something else.
Now so far, each week we’ve had a key “P” word.
Two weeks ago, it was the word persistence. Persistence. We said persistence was often the difference between those who knew Christ and those who didn’t. And last week we talked about practice. We shared that putting Christ’s words into practice, to live out the words of Christ, deepened our relationship with him and helped us to build a foundation that will sustain us no matter what happens in our lives. This week’s “P” word is present. We need to BE present and OFFER the present (the gift) of the Word of God to those around us. I’m not saying go walking around town with one of those sandwich boards proclaiming the end of the world. I am saying to keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities you have to share your faith in the ways God gifted you. Whether it’s as simple as saying grace in a restaurant or offering to pray for a friend when they are having troubles. Whatever choices you make, make them with these thoughts in your head – YOU could be the one who makes the difference. And what you choose in that moment – to make that little gesture or not – could make ALL the difference in the world. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] An excerpt from the book SeinLanguage by Jerry Seinfeld, p.120 – emphasis mine.
[2] Based on the link2lead.com census data for the Dinuba 1st and Palm UMC area within a 5-mile radius multiplied by the percentage of unchurched people (36%)
[3] Based on number of people in the world (7.3 billion) multiplied by the percentage of estimated non-Christians (68.8%) according to GotQuestions.org
“Live It!”
You are a preacher.[1]
A preacher is someone who proclaims the Word of God, and you do that more often than you probably realize. In fact, most people are inadvertent preachers, even some atheists. What we know about God has become so interwoven into our culture we spout out sayings from the Bible without even realizing it. Some are pretty obvious. “Man cannot live on bread alone.” That one comes from Matthew 4 where Jesus is being tempted by the devil. Having “a thorn in my flesh” is how Paul describes his weaknesses in 2 Corinthians 12. And Jesus proclaims a new way to look at “an eye for an eye” in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5. But there are others that are less obvious. For example, if you’ve ever said, “A little bird told me” you’re paraphrasing a quote from Ecclesiastes 10:20 – “Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird of the air may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.” If you’ve ever said someone was “nothing but skin and bones?” or that you “escaped by the skin of your teeth” you’d be quoting from Job 19:19-20 – “All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me. I am nothing but skin and bones. I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.” And if you ever “saw the writing on the wall” you would be paraphrasing from Daniel 5:5-6 – “Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.” The Bible is such an ingrained part of our culture and our language that it seeps into our lives in bunches of different ways. These little grains of wisdom that guide us and give us direction are part of God’s Word, but the most important quote from the Bible that we should constantly ask ourselves is do we practice what we preach? Matthew 23:2-3 – “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.”
This has LONG been a problem for Jesus and continues to be problem for us today.
One of the reasons non-Christians and former Christians say they don’t want anything to do with organized religion today is because they think we are hypocritical.[2] Too often we DON’T practice what we preach. And while it creates problems for our church and for Christianity in general, Christ worries about what it does for US. Because when we fail to practice what we preach, when we fail to live up to the standards we say we believe in, it affects our faith. It creates a separation between us and God that puts our relationship with him at risk. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today, the strained relationship between us and God when we don’t practice what we preach. In the passage below, another large group has gathered in hopes of being healed and to hear what Jesus has to say. He shares with them many lessons about how to live life. He told them to love their enemies, to turn the other cheek, and not to judge others. He talked about bearing fruit and then he told them how important it is to follow what he is saying, to put his words to use. And this is where we pick up the Gospel message this morning.
46“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” – Luke 6:46-49
Living in California makes it easy to relate to this parable.
With all the earthquakes, mudslides and homes falling off mountains, we can appreciate the need for a good foundation. When I was at UCLA, I lived in the dorms and I loved it. It was close to campus and close to Westwood where they had tons of first-rate movie theaters, pizza places, and even a Tommy’s Hamburger. The only bad part was the dorms were all built on a GREAT BIG hill, so going to and from campus everyday was like hiking a mountain. In my third year, I was living on the 7th floor of Hedrick Hall, literally the highest place on campus. And that’s where I was when the Malibu Earthquake hit back in 1989 – at the top of a seven-story building at the top of a big hill at the top of the UCLA campus. The whole building rocked and swayed a LOT! That was because it was built on rollers to absorb the impact of a major quake, so it moved back and forth like a carnival ride. But I wasn’t worried. Being from California, even a quake this big wasn’t that unusual. My roommate and I walked calmly to the doorway and just hung out waiting for it to finish. My friend Amy, however, BOLTED out of her room shouting, “Oh my God! What do we do?! What do we DO?!” She was from Michigan and this was her first earthquake. No wonder she was panicking! She didn’t know what we knew that the foundation was solid even if it didn’t seem like it. We could trust in it.
And that’s the message Jesus is trying to tell us.
When you build a firm foundation for your relationship with God, you don’t have to worry about the storms or the earthquakes or the disasters that happen in your life because you TRUST God is there – even in the trauma. But when you don’t have that foundation, when you don’t know if you can trust it, you end up being like my friend Amy – worried, panicked, and unsure. The good news is you don’t have to live life that way. You CAN know the peace that comes with knowing Christ. And if you haven’t built it already, it’s never too late. You can begin building that foundation even now. All you need to do is learn about God’s Word and put it into practice. And that’s the key, to “put it into practice.” Our passage today highlights that as Jesus himself tells us the difference between a solid foundation and no foundation at all is putting what you hear and what you read into practice in your everyday lives. The man who does that can weather the storm because his foundation is so solid that it cannot shake the house loose. But if you notice the other guy whose house was destroyed, he came and heard the Word, too, but he never put it into practice. And that was the difference. It gives a new spin on the saying, “Practice makes perfect.”
Listen, it’s great if you come to church and listen to the sermon.
It’s great if you listen to Christian music. It’s great if you pop open a Bible now and then. But if you don’t put what you hear into practice it’ll be for nothing. You’re simply building a straw house without a foundation. You probably know what I’m about to say because I think I say it at least once a year. Being in church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than being in a garage makes you a car. You need to act. You need to do something with what you hear and with what you read. Because if you don’t, your faith will come crumbling down when you need it the most. So, remember these words, “Action creates traction.” When you act on what you hear, when you take what you know about Christ and apply it to your life, you will create traction for your faith. You will get it moving and slowly but surely, you’ll build that foundation that will last an eternity. Layer by layer, you’ll keep increasing the strength of your beliefs so that when the hard times come as they most certainly will, you’ll be able to weather the storm.
About 10 years ago, I heard one of the most amazing stories of faith.
I had just started the process to become a minister when someone told me about a phenomenal lady at our church named Pat Monzo. I knew Pat but not well. I had seen her and maybe talked to her once or twice. She was one of the office volunteers and everyone loved her dearly. Thing is she found out she had terminal cancer. They did all the normal work you do when you discover you have cancer, but I guess she had a particularly aggressive form of it and the doctors told her there was little they could do. She only had about 6 months to live. I think most of us would have been sad, mad, frustrated, hurt, or fearful, but not her. She still came in to volunteer at the church like normal, still with a smile on her face. When someone asked how she was able to keep in such good spirits all the time, Pat said, “What do I have to be sad about? Soon I’ll be with the Lord, and I’ll get to be with my daughter again.” Her daughter had died some years before. I don’t know from what, but I think it was also from cancer. For her, death wasn’t something to be afraid of or bitter about. It was a new opportunity. She wasn’t afraid because her faith was so strong she KNEW what would follow even though she hadn’t ever seen it. But she was the kind of person who lived out her faith everyday and because she did that, when she got the news that would have made most of us react differently, she approached it with the peace that only Christ can give. That’s what it means to live your faith. As you live it, your faith becomes stronger and stronger, and it doesn’t just change how you look at life, but it becomes a stunning reminder to the people around you of the strength we have because of Christ. It did for me. Pat’s story is an inspiration for me, and I hope my faith is as strong as hers. Take what you hear from week to week and apply it in your everyday life. Find ways to incorporate God’s Word into everything you do and if you don’t already, you’ll find you have that peace that God promises us. The peace that only he can bring.
[1] http://www.squidoo.com/everyday-sayings-that-come-from-the-bible ; http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bible-phrases-sayings.html/fly-in-the-ointment.html
[2] David Kinnaman, unChristian, p.27. 85% of non-Christians say this is their perception of Christians.
“Get It!”
How many of you USED to “get it?”
There was a time, and it wasn’t so long ago, that I used to “get it.” But today, more often than not, I find myself saying, “I don’t get it.” Pants so baggy that you look like a human-sized penguin? I don’t get it. Reality TV shows that are more depressing than the news? I don’t get it. And the one thing I don’t get the most? Kids who text one another in the SAME ROOM! But the thing is, there was a time when I DID get it. You remember those times, don’t you? Back in the 80’s when I was in high school, I wore my sweater over my shoulders and tied it in front because being preppy was cool. Then, I wore bright orange neon clothes because wearing things that glowed was cool. And I when I found out I needed glasses I got aviators like Tom Cruise in Top Gun because Tom Cruise was cool. I used to even practice my Tom Cruise smile in the mirror. Don’t worry, it didn’t work then either. Hard to imagine, right? Anyhow somewhere between then and now, I lost it. I don’t know how and I don’t know when, but I lost it. The transition from having it to not having it happens without us even realizing it. You wake up and one day you realize that you don’t have it anymore.
Has that happened to you?
Have you ever gone from having it to not having it and didn’t even notice? Have you lost something you wish you hadn’t? Or lost touch with someone who just kind of drifted away? The thing is, it happens all the time. Our talent. Our friends. Our loved ones. All of them from time to time are suddenly no longer there. Maybe you were great at juggling or skateboarding or doing the Rubik’s cube. You look back when you were younger and think, “Boy, I used to be able to do that.” Maybe you had a friend who meant the world to you and somehow you lost touch and you don’t even know them anymore. Worse you wake up one morning and realize that the person sleeping next to you isn’t the one you fell in love with all those years ago. You had your job; they had theirs; you were shuffling the kids around and one day you realized there was a gap between the two of you and you say to yourself, “When did that happen?” None of us wants to wake up one day and find the people we love the most are suddenly strangers to us. None of us wants to lose our closest friends. And none of us wants to look back at the good old days when we used to be able to do something we can no longer do. Many times, we can’t even conceive of it happening. But it so often does – with our gifts, with the people we love, and sometimes, even with God.
Jesus talks about that in our Scripture passage this morning.
Growing apart from God isn’t something new. It’s been happening since human beings were created. Just read through your Bible. Over and over, the people of God would turn away and then something tragic would happen and they would come running back. But in this passage Jesus shares with us the key to KEEPING up your relationship with God so in a crisis you know God is with you instead of feeling like God abandoned you. During this time in Jesus’ ministry, he is building quite a following. Large crowds gather wherever he goes and people come from all around to hear what this man has to say. There’s something about Jesus people realize is more than simply a man close to God. They call him a prophet, they know he’s a healer, and some have even seen him raise a boy to life who was dead. But Jesus knows that even with so many who are following him, they are not all coming for the same reasons. Some are coming because they believe, some are coming because they are hopeful, some are coming because they are skeptical, and some are coming because they think he’s dangerous to Jewish thinking and want to get rid of him. We catch up to Jesus as he is moving from place to place, sharing the Word with the people, and in this particular passage, he shares with them a parable as he often does. If you would please rise as we read together from the Word of God, let’s hear from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8, verses 4-15.
4While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
9His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
” ‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’
11“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. – Luke 8:4-15
“Hear the word, retain it, and by PERSEVERING produce a crop.”
What kind of soil are you? Most of us think we ARE the good soil. At least we hope we are. But today I want you to be honest with yourself. I want you to really think hard about this question, “What kind of soil are you?” Jesus tells us there are four types: those along the path, those among the rocks, those among the thorns, and those in the good soil. The path, the rocks, the thorns, and the good soil. He says some of us have never experienced Christ at all or if we have it was such a negative experience that we don’t have any relationship with God. Those are the seeds along the path. The people whose seed falls in the rocks are the ones who have a very surface faith. They say they love God but have never really thought very much about their faith. Maybe they go to church, maybe not. But we know they haven’t spent a lot of time getting to know God, either in prayer, Bible study, or talking about faith with other people so their “faith” remains largely unexplored. If something bad happens to them, they are more likely to blame God or believe he doesn’t exist because their faith has no roots. The seeds in the thorns are people who probably grew up in church. They learned their Bible verses, they really believed in God, but as they got older, the world started taking priority over God. They started worrying about their car, their wealth, their status, their position in the company. They started worrying more about making a name for themselves instead of making a name for God. Those are the thorns that come in to choke off a person’s faith. But the good soil is the one that will always stay close to God and Jesus describes it this way, “15But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” They HEAR the Word, retain it, and persevere. The key word there is persevere. Persevere. Now, the seeds that fall on the path don’t have any of those qualities. The seeds on the rocks and thorns at least hear the Word, and the seeds on the thorns even retain it for a while. But it’s only the good soil that perseveres. God is telling us that it’s not enough to hear we must also persevere.
Perseverance is the key in our relationship with God.
Like in any relationship, if we don’t work to maintain it, it fades from our lives and that’s our fault, not God’s. God is constantly working in our lives. Through our friends, through our families, through the church, God is everywhere, but we have to work on our end, too. It’s sort of like what happens when you’re swimming in the ocean. When I was younger, I used to love swimming in the ocean. I’d go out as far as I could and just let the waves carry me back in. I used to love using a boogie board and just trying to see how far the waves would take me. I remember one instance when I was out there for a pretty long time. I hadn’t really been watching the shore because I was so busy concentrating on the waves and by the time I was ready to come in, I couldn’t find my towel. I walked in a straight line from the water to where all the people were and my towel was gone. In fact, all my friends’ towels were gone, too! And some girl in a bikini was sunbathing right where all our stuff should be. I was thinking, “I would’ve remembered her.” I couldn’t figure it out until I looked at the skyline and noticed the buildings were further down than I remembered them. Without realizing it, I had drifted about a quarter mile down the beach away from our stuff. Our relationship with God is like that. If we don’t work at maintaining it, if we don’t check-in once in a while with God, we forget how to find him and we drift away.
This week I want you to think about your relationship with God.
Are you persevering? Are you regularly finding ways to connect with God either through prayer or Bible study or volunteering in service? Because those are key ways to connect with God. Read. Pray. Share. As we explore God’s vision for our lives, be encouraged to do one of these things regularly and see if it helps you grow roots in God’s garden. Take the time to be connected to God and see for yourself how your relationship with God grows!
Be Curious, Not Judgmental
Haters gonna hate.
But do they have to do it so publicly? I’m not convinced social media is a good thing. I love how I can connect with friends and family across the country and even across the world instantaneously. Sharing pics, telling stories, sending links to things I find interesting is so convenient. But along with it came cyber bullying, data leaks, and the widespread misinformation and disinformation that floods our feeds. And if you happen to be unlucky enough to become a target? It can make your life a living disaster. When I was on staff at Roswell UMC, we sponsored an event with Kate Gosselin from Jon & Kate Plus 8. At the time, they were using their celebrity to share their love of Christ with the world, which I thought was pretty cool. But even then, Kate was a polarizing figure. People loved her or hated her. And since I was in charge of the event, I received hate mail from all over the country, telling me I was a horrible person and how could I call myself a pastor? Some threatened to get me removed as a clergyperson and claimed I was supporting child abuse. One person went so far as to accuse me of being a horrible parent and how could I live with myself? I must be an abusive parent, too. And that was it for me. You can say a lot of things about me that I will ignore, but you cannot attack my family and especially my children. It was the one email I responded to, and even though the person was rude and hateful, I tempered my response. Still, that person cut my email up, misquoted me and took my words out of context, and then blasted it to her Kate Gosselin hate group. I got even more hate emails after that. It was awful. I did learn something valuable from the experience. Haters gonna hate, but you don’t have to play the game.
What bothered me so much was being judged by people who didn’t know me at all.
They were willing to slander me, to threaten my job, to try and get me removed as a pastor without knowing anything at all about who I was, what I stood for, or what I believed. Ironically, I wasn’t even the person who booked the event or decided on it. I just inherited it from the last pastor, but that didn’t matter. These attackers lived in their own little world and just made stuff up about me to suit their own narrow point of view and didn’t care about the consequences on my life or how it might affect me. I had never received hate mail in my life and I’ll tell you, it was a horrible experience. But how easy is it for us to sit on high and make judgements about other people behind the safety of our phones and computers? Without ever getting to know the people we are critical about or find out their motivations, we pretend to be God and pass judgment on them. Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of people who deserve scrutiny and who do things that are wrong or abhorrent and when those things come to light, we should know about it. Public figures who put themselves out there at least know this kind of scrutiny comes with the job. But we all need to take a deep breath before hitting return on our keyboard because once it’s out there, it’s impossible to take back.
Ted Lasso has some thoughts on the subject.
So does the Bible which we will read in a bit. In the scene below, Ted is competing with Rupert at a local pub in a game of darts. Rupert, who has already called him a hillbilly to his face, obviously thinks Ted is some hick from America who is gullible and stupid. As they play the final round, Ted is down by 160 points, a near impossible score to beat, and Rupert is sure he has the game in the bag when Ted tells him this story:
“Be curious, not judgmental.”
I love Ted’s quote. Or more accurately, Ted’s quote of Walt Whitman. It’s a great reminder to us all not to jump to conclusions and to seek out the truth. God asks us to do the same thing. If you would please rise as you are able, we will read from Proverbs this morning to listen to what God has to say. Hear now the Word of the Lord.
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. (Proverbs 18:8)
To answer before listening—that is folly and shame. (Proverbs 18:13)
The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out. (Proverbs 18:15)
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God. – Proverbs 2:1-5
Such beautiful poetry with deep words of wisdom.
King Solomon may be writing this to his literal son, Rehoboam but as with all of the books in the Bible, we can hear for ourselves God’s wisdom being passed down to us. Reading these words, “…turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,” is God’s way of imploring us to turn away from gossip and click bait and being discerning about what we hear. With a loving heart, we should apply Stephen Covey’s fifth habit of highly effective people, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”[1] I love the next part, “indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” Here, God is calling us to be as earnest and as diligent in searching for truth as we do for treasure because to God the truth IS our greatest treasure. The truth is what brings us closer to God. When we do that, we avoid the sensationalism of the moment and instead come to a deeper understanding of what is actually going on. We avoid getting caught up in our emotions and instead can act with wisdom and compassion.
We need to be a lot more curious and a lot less judgmental.
Our polarized society needs cooler heads to prevail and if we just followed God’s prescription for the answer (or even Ted’s) we would be a lot better off. When we make assumptions without knowledge, we make faulty decisions that can hurt and harm others. Maybe we should take the advice of one more sage philosopher who also happens to be an actor, Will Rogers. Will was incredibly famous in his time, making 71 films, writing more than 4000 columns in national newspapers, and performed in the famous Ziegfeld Follies.[2] In the musical based on his life and words, he shared these thoughts, “I guess I met a whole lotta people in my lifetime. I always try to approach ’em the same way my …ancestors would. … you must never judge a man when you’re facing him. You’ve got to go around behind him, …and look at what he’s looking at and then go back and face him and you’ll have a totally different idea of who he is. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to get along with everybody.”[3] When you hear something bad or something too good to be true, don’t accept it blindly. Instead take John’s advice as he wrote to the church in his first letter: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)” In the past, they may have spoken from the temple or in the streets or in community gathering places. Today, they speak to you from Instagram and YouTube and Facebook. That doesn’t mean everyone is lying, but rather we need to be discerning before accepting things as the truth. Especially things that are sensational and attention grabbing. Try to be kind. Try to be forgiving. And seek the truth.
[1] https://www.franklincovey.com/courses/the-7-habits/habit-5/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rogers
[3] https://agoodreedreview.com/2019/08/12/the-will-rogers-follies-has-staying-power/
Be A Goldfish
Sometimes the worst prisons are the ones we make for ourselves.
Have you ever been stuck? Just completely stuck. Unable to get past something or someone in your life. Maybe you flunked that test you studied so hard for. Or had someone completely stab you in the back at your job. Or fell in love with someone only to have them break up with you. Happened to me. All three of them. One time I was studying for a chemistry exam, stayed up late to make sure I understood the material, only to find out when I sat down for the test that nothing I studied was on the exam. Nothing. Needless to say, I failed. Another time, I was working at SunTrust banks in Georgia and had a completely incompetent boss. His friend was the head of the department, and he needed a job, so they let him be my boss. It was like the blind leading the blind. They let me go after two years saying they didn’t think it was a good fit. On my very last day, one of my co-workers came up to me and said she thought I should know that at every meeting, my boss would throw me under the bus and blame me for everything he didn’t do right. Made me feel both better and worse. And one time I was so over the moon over this girl who was equally over the moon for me. First time that ever happened. I knew she was the one. Even though her mom did not like me. I was her first serious boyfriend, and her mom did not like how much time she was spending with me – for what reasons, I don’t know. But it got so bad she had to decide between me and her family. I couldn’t really fault her, but it devastated me. I was walking around in a haze for three months. But fortunately, I was able to shake off those tough moments in my life. Not everyone is able to. I was in a good place emotionally and mentally when those things happened and I have always had good friends and family who were there to help me out. Again, so fortunate.
It’s okay to get stuck.
We all do from time to time. And hopefully, you surround yourself with good people who can help get you out of it. Because it’s always easier when someone’s got your back. The only real danger is when those bad moments turn into prisons of the mind. It’s a process called rumination which is a cycle of negative thinking. According to the American Psychiatric Association, “[r]umination involves repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings and distress… The repetitive, negative aspect of rumination can contribute to the development of depression or anxiety and can worsen existing conditions.”[1] And again, we all do it from time to time. Most of us worry or ruminate daily or at least three to four times a week.[2] But it becomes bad for us when we can’t let it go; when it begins to rewrite the script of who we are and who we are meant to be. Dr. Elizabeth Scott says rumination can lead to stress, a negative frame of mind, a downward spiral of negativity, self-sabotage, and hypertension.[3]
Interestingly, it matters less why you are ruminating, and more on being able to stop.
And for this we turn to our friend, Ted Lasso, who offers a young up and coming star some advice. We’re also going to read a story this morning about Paul, the disciple who was determined to bring Jesus followers to justice until he became one himself. And we’re going to read his story from his letter to the church in Philippi, so if you would please turn to Philippians 3 beginning with verses 5 to 7 and then we’re going to skip down to verses 10-14. Again, that’s Philippians 3 beginning with verse 5. In Ted’s case, he just started his tenure as AFC Richmond’s head coach, and he notices one of his players down in the dumps after messing up a play. Ted asks around and finds out that Sam’s been struggling since leaving home and isn’t the player they know he can be so Ted takes him aside and gives him a piece of advice. He asks him, “You know what the happiest animal on earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why? It’s got a 10-second memory. Be a goldfish, Sam.” Be a goldfish. It’s good for us to learn from our mistakes, but we’ve got to do a better job of forgiving ourselves to give us the space to move forward. Often ruminating on our mistakes, on the things we’ve done wrong, or the ways we’ve been wronged, can hold us back. And that’s what Paul talks about in our passage. Normally, I read from the New International Version or NIV, but today we’re going to read from the New Living Translation. It just felt clearer and easier to understand.
5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. 7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,[d] but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. – Philippians 3:5-7, 10-14
If anybody deserved to ruminate, it would be Paul.
Or Saul as he was known before God anointed him with a new name. Because when Paul was Saul, he was one of the meanest and nastiest hunters of Jesus followers around. He was there when they stoned Stephen to death and did nothing to stop them. In fact, the Bible tells us he “approved of their killing him (Acts 8:1).” He admits to the people of Jerusalem that he hunted down the followers of the Way, which is what they called Christians in Paul’s time, to purposely “imprison and beat (Acts 22:19)” those who believed in Jesus. So, it must have come as a shock when Jesus came to him and made him a disciple. Imagine realizing that your life work was hollow and meaningless! That you were on the wrong side of history the whole time. But Paul realizes there is a better life and a better way awaiting him and instead of dwelling on the past, he says “I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” That’s what God wants for you. He doesn’t want you to ignore your past or continue to make the same mistakes. God always wants us to grow and learn to be better people. But he doesn’t want you to dwell on it either.
At the end of the day, you never know where life is going to take you.
But if you are trapped in a prison of your own making, you might miss the opportunities that walk right by you. Which is what God was trying to say to us in Isaiah 43. He says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” When we dwell too much on the past, we might be missing opportunities that could make a difference in our lives. Fortunately, these prisons are not inescapable. And you can do something about it. Part of the answer is right there in Ted’s little quote. The 10-second memory. Dr. Avigail Lev suggests we set a time limit on our ruminating (she actually recommends 3 minutes).[4] Give ourselves some grace and spend time in reflection but then do something to either leave it in the past or take action to correct whatever is bothering you. Neither action is wrong, but both help you to put it behind you. Because you never know what God has in store for you. It could be something amazing. As for those moments that got me stuck, I barely passed that Chemistry class, but it helped me to realize that being a doctor wasn’t my calling after all. And losing that job turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It set me on a path that would take me here today. And as for that mom who didn’t like me, I probably should thank her. If not for her, I might never have met Cassie, and then I really would have missed out on something special. It’s okay to ruminate once in a while, but don’t wait too long. God has more in store for you. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] The APA provided this definition and warned that “The preoccupation with problems also makes it difficult to move beyond to allow for a focus on problem solving.”
[2] According to the National Institute of Health, 64.7% of people worry or ruminate daily or “more than half the days of the week.” Usually, it’s for less than 30 minutes at a time (60.9%) but 11% of respondents were caught for more than 2 hours.
[3] Dr. Scott’s article can be found on the verywellmind website.
[4] Dr. Avigail Lev is from the Bay Area and practices up here. She also had more to say about solutions to rumination. I encourage you to read about it.
Believe
Ted Lasso.
The mustached coach of the fictional football club, AFC Richmond is beloved by fans worldwide. It’s not because of his knowledge of the sport. And it’s not because his team goes from bottom dweller to Premier League champion (although they come close). It’s because people love Ted. Ted is a good guy. He believes in forgiveness. He believes in second chances. He believes in the best inside each and every person. And we all need to be reminded from time to time that we have this capacity within us; to behave in kind and loving ways to one another that inspires instead of degrades; that uplifts instead of tears down. When the show came out in the height of the pandemic, it was a salve everybody needed. Things seemed so bleak. On top of the millions of people dying, the worst in people seemed to come out. The guy in Tennessee who bought over 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer and sold them for up to $70 a piece while people were scrambling to find ways to protect themselves.[1] The attacks on people of color including Asian hate crimes in the Bay Area (the Bay Area of all places!) and who could forget the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police which sparked protests all across America.[2] Jason Sudekis, who plays Ted Lasso on the Apple+ show and created the character, says it was because of all of these divisions between people that inspired him to give Ted the outlook on life that he has.[3] And it seems we need those “Lasso-isms” once again.
For the next few weeks, we are going to dive into the world of Ted Lasso.
We’re going to revisit some of his famous lines and speeches. And we’re going to talk about what they mean for us today. One of the reasons people are so drawn to Ted is because the things he talks about are universal truths that resonate with who we are. They also happen to be the same things Christ taught centuries ago. Kindness, humility, and respect for one another are the same things we need now as we did then, and as we always have needed. It’s good to be reminded of them; in fact, it’s necessary. I think that’s why many of us come to church, because when the world gets tough, we need to be reminded of a better way. The Lasso Way. But really, it’s about the life God wants for all of us to have.
Our Ted quote for the week is from Season 3, Episode 5 – Signs.
The club is stuck in a losing streak. They’re once hopeful season is mired in failure despite their talent and best effort, and then they hear the news – through social media of all things – that their best player has chosen to leave the team and retire. On the wall of the locker room is a hand drawn yellow poster Ted made that has one word – “believe.” It’s been a reminder to them through his three years of coaching the team to believe that anything is possible. Suddenly, the poster splits in two and falls off the wall. The players are shocked. They think it’s a sign they are destined to fail, and they start losing their heads over it. And that’s when Ted steps in. He tells them it is a sign. But it’s JUST a sign. And it’s not what will dictate the team’s success. He says, “Belief doesn’t just happen ‘cause you hang somethin’ up on a wall. It comes from in here (points to his heart). And up here (points to his head). And down here (points to his gut). The only problem is we all got so much junk flooding through us, a lot of times we end up getting in our own way. You know, [stuff] like envy or fear or shame. I don’t want to mess around with that [stuff] anymore. Do you?… You know what I want to mess around with? The belief that I matter, regardless of what I do or don’t achieve. Or the belief that we all deserve to be loved whether we’ve been hurt or maybe we’ve hurt somebody else. Or what about the belief of hope? Yeah? That’s what I want to mess with. Believing that things can get better. That I can get better. That WE will get better…To believe in yourself. To believe in one another. That’s fundamental to being alive. If you can do that, if you can truly do that, can’t nobody rip that apart.”
Let’s break it down with some God speak.
When Ted says, “Belief doesn’t just happen ‘cause you hang somethin’ up on a wall,” he’s driving home the idea that faith comes from within. Whether it’s on the pitch or in a church. THINGS do not define our faith. They might remind us of it. They might inspire us. But they are not the heart of it. The cross that hangs from our ceiling does not define our faith either. It represents what we believe but it is not the foundation of our belief. Jesus is the foundation of our belief, and sometimes we forget that. We start investing hope in things instead of Christ within us and Christ amongst us. Remember the story I shared with you about the church that split up over a couch? If Christ were there amongst them, do you think a simple couch could split them apart? Of course not. But we let so much stuff get in the way of Jesus and Ted talks about that next. He says, “The only problem is we all got so much junk flooding through us a lot of times we end up getting in our own way. You know, [stuff] like envy or fear or shame.” All those things come from our insecurities about life. And they stop us from being the people God wants us to be. They stop us from being our very best. They trigger something nasty within us that deep down we must know is wrong. But we give in to it don’t we? Here’s another example. People love their seats at church. I can tell almost instantly who is and who isn’t here based on which seats are empty. I had a pastor friend who was telling me about a church member who was so attached to her seat that it stopped her from being a Christian. A newcomer had entered the sanctuary and not knowing anyone or where they liked to sit, found a place with her kids and sat down. This church member came up to her and said, “You’re in my seat.” Imagine being that visitor. I’m guessing you’d think twice before coming back to that church…and maybe ANY church after that. Sometimes we just need to get out of our own way and let our faith guide us.
But what is it we need to focus on?
Ted says, “You know what I want to mess around with? The belief that I matter, regardless of what I do or don’t achieve. Or the belief that we all deserve to be loved whether we’ve been hurt or maybe we’ve hurt somebody else. Or what about the belief of hope?” What about hope? When things get tough it’s hard not to lose hope or to have faith in ourselves. When we make mistakes or we’ve been hurt, sometimes it’s hard to believe we deserve good things in our lives. But you matter. God didn’t send his son into the world because he doubted you. Christ came because God believes you are worth it. Do you remember the story about the prophet Samuel? He’s looking for someone worthy because God has rejected Saul the King, so he goes over to Jesse’s house and asks him to bring his sons forward. First comes his eldest Eliab and Samuel thinks, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord (1 Samuel 16:6).” And God says, “Nope.” Actually, God tells Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1Samuel 16:7)” We get so caught up in things that are ultimately unimportant and we lose focus on what counts. We need to hold onto our faith because we know there is a God who loves us and values us for who we are.
Ted closes with a simple message.
And it’s what leads into our reading today. Ted says to the team, “To believe in yourself. To believe in one another. That’s fundamental to being alive. If you can do that, if you can truly do that, can’t nobody rip that apart.” When I heard that, it had echoes for me of our reading this morning.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:31-39
Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
When we believe in the God who loves us and who gave his Son for us, there is nothing that can take away his love for us. We can face the day ahead unafraid because God is there for us. That’s the power of belief. I know it’s easy for me to say all of this to you and another thing to really believe it for yourself. But that’s why we need one another. To hold each other up when doubt creeps in. To be there for each other when times are tough. That’s what Ted Lasso did for so many of us both during the pandemic and afterward. He reminded us of a truth God has been sharing with us for centuries – that belief in ourselves, in who God created us to be, can be powerful. And because our belief can be rocked by doubt creeping in, we need to be reminded of it every once in a while so our faith remains strong. You matter. You are loved.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52861726
[3] https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/15/entertainment/jason-sudeikis-ted-lasso/index.html
Transubstantiation – What?
I feel like a liar when we do communion.
When I read aloud the part of our liturgy that says, “Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine,” I cringe inside because I know it’s not wine. The first time I came to worship at a Methodist church, I heard these words and was quite surprised when I dipped my bread and it tasted like grape juice. Because it was. Up until then, the only communion I had ever received was at a Catholic church (which I found out later I wasn’t supposed to do) and they always had wine. Honestly, it tasted better with the bread. Every Methodist church I’ve been to in America uses grape juice – the “unfermented juice of the grape.” So why do we say “bread and wine?” At first, I thought it was because it sounded cooler than “bread and grape juice.” Which it does. But there is actually a very rich history about using grape juice that is particularly thoughtful AND particularly Methodist. In the late 19th century, a Methodist dentist who took communion didn’t think using wine was such a good idea in worship. Methodists have always been temperance-minded and he wanted to uphold this idea even in Holy Communion. He found a way to pasteurize grape juice and began using it at his church where he was a communion steward. His name? Thomas Bramwell Welch – yes, that Welch. His son, Charles, also a dentist, eventually decided to bottle this new juice and market it to other temperance-minded churches – Methodist and otherwise – and it caught on.[1] He brought it to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and Welch’s Grape Juice was officially born. Today, Welch’s serves over 400 different products in 35 different countries including their famous grape jelly.[2] Our Book of Worship states that the use of grape juice “expresses pastoral concern for recovering alcoholics, enables the participation of children and youth, and supports the church’s witness of abstinence.”[3] But it’s also nice to support a family of Methodists who in their efforts to honor God created something that became world famous.
Holy Communion is one of only two sacraments we recognize in our church.
And as we shared last week, a sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. The other one of course is baptism. We celebrate those two because they were the two rites Jesus himself took part in. Another word for communion is “Eucharist” and it comes from the Greek meaning “to thank” or “thankfulness.” And for us, the heart of communion is about this thankfulness. We come to the table to offer our thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and to remember how significant that sacrifice was. When we take the elements, the bread and the juice, we remember, we give thanks, and we experience Christ within us. Through the elements, we believe in the “real presence” of Jesus. And because we believe Christ is truly present communion for us is more than simply a remembrance. It’s where we encounter Christ. How this is done is a mystery, but we have faith that Christ is there. Our understanding of Holy Communion is different from our Catholic friends who believe the bread and wine ACTUALLY become the body and blood of Christ when it is consumed. They literally ingest God. The process is called “transubstantiation.” “Transubstantiation” – the transformation of the bread and wine into the real body and blood of Christ. For us it’s more than a remembrance, but not quite a literal encounter with God in the physical sense. Instead, we simply refer to it as a mystery. We know we encounter God in the elements and in the sacrament of Holy Communion, but we can’t define exactly how that happens. We just know that it happens and for us it is enough to know that God is here. After all, isn’t that what faith is all about? Believing in what we cannot see? It makes sense that faith is an element of communion.
But the most important part of communion is what we are going to share from Scripture.
In our reading Paul talks specifically about communion and he gives us an interesting perspective on our attitude as we approach the table. In this letter to the church at Corinth, Paul is really worried about the spiritual health of the congregation.[4] The people in Corinth are becoming divided. There are factions within the church, conflict over spiritual gifts, elitism of some of the members, immoral behavior and so on. And Paul writes this letter to help straighten them out. So today we’re going to read from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians beginning with verse 17 and ending with verse 34.
17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. 34 Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. – 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
The most important part of communion is not the bread and the juice.
And it’s not the words we use in worship. The most important part is our attitude as we approach the table. We should come to the table in joy, love, and thanksgiving. We should come with the full understanding that this table God sets for us is given because of what Jesus did on the cross. In the church at Corinth, some of the worshippers were turning Holy Communion into a potluck of Biblical proportions. I love potlucks, but the intent of the folks Paul was writing about was far short of holy remembrance. Some people were coming to gorge themselves on food. Some were coming in drunk. They were not coming to worship God or to remember what Christ had done for them on the cross. And Paul was saying this was a sure way to stay separated from God. When Paul says in verse 28 that “everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup,” he’s saying they need to remind themselves before they take the elements how much in need they are of God’s grace and forgiveness. This is what it means to “do this in remembrance of me.” Paul follows up in verse 29, “For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.” What does it say about us as followers of Christ if we have no respect for Christ and the great sacrifice he made on our behalf? How can we draw closer to God when we behave like God doesn’t matter?
One of the greatest honors for me is to serve communion.
To me, it’s definitely one of the perks of being a pastor. When I was attending my home church in Alpharetta, GA, my pastor asked me one day if I would like to be one of the communion stewards and I quickly agreed. As the time came for us to offer communion, we were standing up in the front and we each received the elements to share. I was in charge of the bread in my section and this little boy came up to me. And as I offered him the bread, he GRABBED it with all his might and took out a chunk that clearly could not fit inside his mouth and he turned toward his father with joy on his face and said in a loud voice in the middle of worship, “Look what I got, Dad!” Everyone laughed, but we can all learn something from this little boy’s enthusiasm. Is this the kind of hunger you have? Do you have the joy of a child when you come to the table? The next time you come to communion, I hope you take it and enjoy it with all the enthusiasm of that little boy and embrace the love God has for you.
[1] http://www.gbod.org/lead-your-church/holy-communion/resource/changing-wine-into-grape-juice-thomas-and-charles-welch-and-the-transition-
[2] Welch’s no longer posts this story on their webpage, but that’s initially where I got the information. Today they use a more interactive website but it doesn’t go into this kind of detail. However the UMC does have a version of this story from the Methodist POV.
[3] http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1339
[4] Information about the state of Corinth comes from the Archaelogical Study Bible (NIV), p.1863.
Dunking Donuts
How do you like to eat your donuts?
Are you a dunker? Do you like it with milk or coffee? Me, I’m an “as is” kind of guy. I like to experience my donuts without other flavors impacting the “donut experience.” I know some people like to dunk their donuts especially if they’re a few days old, but I can’t bring myself to do that. Personally, I’m a donut purist and even though I love milk, I wouldn’t want to blend the tastes together. It’s the same reason I eat cereal the way I do. I’m on a timer as soon as the milk hits the bowl. It just makes me cringe to think about eating soggy cereal and I feel the same way about donuts. Who wants a soggy donut? It would be like putting sugar on grits, butter on rice, ketchup on eggs! Wait, I do that. The point is we each have our own way of doing things that WE think is RIGHT and we can’t IMAGINE doing it differently. Ironically, the same is true for some of the things we do in our Christian faith. Different denominations and even different churches have different ways of observing certain rituals that are central to what we believe. Baptism is one of those rituals. The people of God have very different viewpoints on what constitutes a “proper” baptism. To dunk or not to dunk? That is the question. And the attempt to answer it has driven right thinking people in different directions. How you dunk your donut doesn’t seem to upset anybody, but for some reason, how you dunk people does.
There are basically four methods of baptism – aspersion, affusion, immersion, and submersion.
Say it with me. Aspersion, affusion, immersion, submersion. Aspersion, affusion, immersion, submersion.[1] It’s a tongue twister. Sounds like that Gene Kelly song from Singing in the Rain. “Moses supposes his toes-es are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously.” Anyway, aspersion is a fancy way of saying sprinkling with water, that’s what we do most commonly. You take a palm full of water and just run it gently over the person’s head. Affusion is the pouring of water over the head, usually from a jug or pitcher of water with a bowl underneath to catch it as it drips off. The advantage of these two types is you stay dry. Immersion is literally standing or kneeling in a body of water and using a jug or bowl or something where you can scoop up a lot of water, and having it poured on top of you. Sort of like the Gatorade soak at the end of a football game. And then there is complete immersion or submersion, which is the mother of ALL baptisms. It’s the one we most commonly think of when we think of someone being “dunked.” In our church, ALL of these are acceptable forms of baptism, but not every church sees it that way.
In fact, some are very rigid in their beliefs.
I had a friend named Susan who belonged to the International Church of Christ. I remember talking to her one day after I had moved to Atlanta. We had lost touch for a couple of years, and I decided to reconnect with her, see how she was doing, and she told me about this church she joined. It seemed strange right from the beginning. She was telling me about this intense discipleship training they had to go through before they were allowed to be baptized. ALLOWED! They had very strict ideas about baptism and the saddest one to me was that she believed only those baptized in this particular way were going to be saved. It literally made me sad. Incidentally, only her church baptized people in this particular way – which she never gave me the details. She said there was only one true baptism and if you didn’t take part in it, you couldn’t be saved. I wish I had known then what I know now. This was the passage I wish I had read to her. Luke 23:33-43. Because this one passage would prove that belief wrong. It shows all you need to receive salvation in Christ. This is the reading from Luke of the crucifixion of Christ. We begin the reading with Christ at the top of Golgotha along with the two criminals and this part of Scripture describes what happens next. But pay attention not only to what happens but to what DOESN’T happen.
33When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 35The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” 36The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” 38There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
40But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” – Luke 23:33-43
Nowhere in the Bible does it say you HAVE to be dunked.
I’ve looked and I’ve looked, and it just doesn’t say that anywhere. People who believe that dunking is the only way will argue, “That’s how Jesus did it.” Again, though, if you read the Bible, it doesn’t say anything about HOW Jesus got baptized, just that he did. Even Jesus himself never says anything about it except to say we should do it, too. Dunkers will argue the word “baptism” MEANS to “dip” or “immerse,” but they conveniently ignore its other definitions, to “wash” or to “pour water over.”[2] Dunkers even ignore the historical and archaeological evidence that even in the early church people often had water poured over them instead of being dunked. Instead, what we see in our reading this morning is the only thing essential for a person to receive salvation – faith in Jesus Christ.
The people watching ridiculed and mocked Jesus.
Even one of the criminals as he is hanging there in pain insulted him and shouts at him “Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal scolds the first one, admits to his crimes, and proclaims that Jesus has done nothing wrong. Then he says to Jesus, “…remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus says these words, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Today you will be with me in paradise. The man repented, moments before his death with a sincere and honest heart, and Jesus forgave him. It’s as simple as that. And that thief? He never got baptized. His sins were never washed away in a river. He never went underwater. There isn’t some hidden gospel account that shows the thief being taken down to receive the ritual cleansing. Instead, with a love of God and repentance in his heart, the criminal asks for forgiveness and Christ forgives.
But that doesn’t mean baptism isn’t important.
In fact, for anyone who knows Christ it is essential. Jesus commanded us to baptize all nations in his name. And if salvation is based on our faith in Christ, what does it say about us if we refuse to be baptized? As one of only two sacraments in our faith, we believe baptism like communion is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. When we are baptized we are acknowledging our faith in Christ and we do it in the community of believers because baptism is about joining the family of God; becoming a true child of Christ. There are no secret baptisms. And in the Methodist tradition, we accept the baptisms of any Christ-centered church. I know in some traditions, it’s customary to be “rebaptized.” But we have a different perspective.
I had a friend who asked our pastor to be rebaptized.
She had been baptized as a child and at the time it didn’t have the meaning it did for her now. She had been away from the church for a long while and when she came back, she really felt that her life had been transformed. She wasn’t the same person she was before, and she felt like she needed to rededicate her life to God. And our pastor told her we didn’t do rebaptisms and the reason she gave has always stuck with me. She told her, “We believe God got it right the first time.” We believe God got it right the first time. That’s why we don’t rebaptize people from other denominations or rebaptize adults who left and came back. Because baptism, isn’t like a video game where you start over if you don’t get it right. Baptism is a covenant between you and God. And just like your parents will always be your parents, once you become a child of God, you are ALWAYS a child of God and God loves you whether you love him back or not.
Baptism is the first MILESTONE in our faith journey, but it’s not the first STEP.
The difference is that a milestone is a reference point. It’s a marker along a road that already exists to show us where we’ve been and how far there is to go. In the Christian faith, our life is filled with these milestones and from the moment we are born to the moment we die, we are continually walking along that road. If we say it’s the first STEP, then we’re saying that our faith, our journey only begins HERE – at this point, when we’re baptized. But the truth is God is constantly working in and through our lives. It just takes us awhile to recognize that sometimes. But God is always active. If you’ve never been baptized or know someone who hasn’t been baptized, encourage them to come join the family. It’s never too late. Just remember whether we are baptized by sprinkling, pouring, or dunking doesn’t matter to God. What matters are your faith and your heart. That’s always been enough for him. Now I need to go and eat a donut. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Not By Bread Alone…
Why do we preach?
Why is there a message every Sunday? From the earliest days of worship, God gathered his people for the purpose of receiving his Word and God used ordinary, everyday people to deliver it. In the passage we just read in Deuteronomy we were reminded that it was God who gathered his people before Mt. Horeb[1] and in that gathering delivered to them the Word, literally. He gave Moses the Ten Commandments and appointed Moses to teach them to the people. It was also God who appointed Solomon, David, the prophets, and of course, Jesus. All great leaders, but also great teachers who shared the lessons of God. When Jesus left to return to God, he appointed the disciples to continue his work and imbued them with the Holy Spirit so they could go forth and proclaim God’s Word. In the passage we’ll be reading from this morning, Paul explains the importance of this task to Timothy. If you have a Bible or a Bible app on your phone, please go to 2 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 4:1. These are Paul’s final instructions to Timothy. He says in verse 6 of that passage that he knows he is soon about to die, but he wants to leave these words as encouragement. He doesn’t start out in the best way. He tells him to expect hardship. He tells him to expect persecution. That having the protection of the Lord is a promise of salvation, but not freedom from the troubles of THIS place. And he tells Timothy something very important. He says to him in this letter that all he needs is imbedded in Scripture. That all Scripture is God-breathed, and that will be enough to teach, rebuke, correct, and train God’s people. Then he gives him these following words.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. – 2 Timothy 4: 1-5
We hear from Paul the vital role sharing God’s Word plays in the life of his people.
It is used to correct, rebuke, and encourage – but I really like and appreciate what he adds right there at the end of verse 2. After a pause, he writes, “with great patience and careful instruction.” With great patience and careful instruction – as if to heighten the importance of those words. Preaching isn’t something you do at the last minute – although there are times when I feel like I’m reworking and refining up to the last minute. Preaching isn’t something you do extemporaneously. Preaching is a craft done with great patience and care because it’s that important. On average a good sermon takes about an hour to prepare for each minute preached. From experience that seems about right. It should take time to pray over the sermon, discern what God wants to be said, research to make sure what you’re sharing is accurate, and then writing it out. So much goes into a sermon because of what might become of those words. It can be the difference between turning people away from God or helping them hold fast to his Word in difficult and challenging circumstances. Paul writes there will come a time when people turn away from the truth and instead turn to myths. Today, that might mean other religions, or it might mean relying on money, wealth, or power. It might mean turning to false beliefs. What we share and how we share it can influence the power of these “myths” over people’s lives.
But this isn’t just for preachers.
It’s a lesson for all of us. All of us have the capacity and the duty to share God’s Word. Whether you’re standing in the pulpit or sharing what the Bible says with a friend. God wants us to find our own ways of sharing God’s Word, so it’s important we share what God wants us to say instead of injecting our own words into it. It’s a danger we always have when using the Bible to tell people what God wants. Are we saying what God wants us to say or are we saying what we want the Bible to say? This is what scholars call exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis is deriving meaning FROM God’s Word as opposed to eisegesis, which is reading meaning INTO God’s Word. Now eisegesis is probably easiest to see when you hear people quoting Scripture to justify outrageous or horrible things done in the name of God – bombing abortion clinics or killing members of the LGBTQ+ community. But those are extremes. It’s the subtle ways we misinterpret the Bible that are sometimes the most dangerous of all. One that is always troubling is when people say, “It’s all part of God’s plan.” When people say it, they are trying to offer hope, but when you pull on that string it all starts to unravel. Pretty soon, we start to wonder if all the horrible things of the world are also “part of God’s plan.” Was the Holocaust “part of God’s plan?” Was my divorce and everything that led up to it “part of God’s plan?” Was getting a disease “part of God’s plan?” Of course not. And that’s why it’s so important to be careful how we talk about God and it’s why Paul encourages us to be patient and careful.
But the most amazing thing about preaching is that it has very little to do with us.
Like everything else in worship, preaching is about God. Before I became a pastor, Cassie and I were attending Alpharetta First United Methodist Church near our home in Georgia. We had decided we wanted to attend a Methodist church and a friend of Cassie invited us and said she thought we would like it. So Cassie convinced me to go with her, and we attended the contemporary worship service her friend went to. It was led by a female pastor named Jane and Jane was around our age. She wore normal clothes, didn’t wear a robe or a stole, and seemed like someone you might bump into in the grocery store. But we both really liked her sermons. They were relevant, they told interesting stories we could connect to, and her messages always revealed something new about the Bible. After going for about a couple of months, I went up to her one day and said “thank you” for the wonderful message and I’ll never forget her response. She said, “It wasn’t me. It was God.” Here I am relatively new to church and I’m thinking, “What was THAT about? Doesn’t she know how to take a compliment?” It wasn’t me; it was God? To me it sounded a bit disingenuous. I mean did she expect me to believe God wrote the sermon and God spoke the words as if she were possessed? Was it false humility? I mean I know it was her speaking. But that statement always stuck with me, and I remembered it especially one day when I was preaching in my first appointment. I had written about 35 sermons in a row, and I was really struggling with number 36. Just absolutely NOTHING was coming to me. After a lot of prayer and…well a LOT more prayer, I finally finished the sermon, but it was FAR from my best. I was thinking in my head, “Okay, just get through this week and you’ll do better next Sunday.” But after worship, I had two different people come up to me and tell me it was exactly what they needed to hear. I was shocked and amazed. What did they hear? Because I heard a lot of drivel. And then another person came up and said the same thing and then proceeded to tell me what it was she heard me saying that touched her heart so much and I just stood there with the most loving smile I could possibly muster on my face because what she was saying was NOTHING like what I had written down. It was like I gave a sermon on loving your dog and she heard me say you should go buy a cat. And at that moment, my pastor’s words rang so true in my head. It wasn’t me. It was God.
We share a message from God in worship every week because it’s important.
It’s important to hear what God wants from us. It’s important to be reminded who we belong to and why we are here. But sharing his Word isn’t reserved for only worship. It’s about living out God’s Word in the world today. And you never know just how God might use you. We need the Word of God in our lives. As Jesus said in the desert, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” Presenting God’s Word is a humbling and honoring experience, but as in all things the Holy Spirit is at work in this place so that we can hear what God needs us to hear. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Most scholars believe Mt. Horeb is another name for Mt. Sinai.
Who Invited Whom?
Going to a Japanese wedding sounds a lot like being on Oprah.
Remember those episodes of Oprah when she would just giveaway stuff to everyone? When I was in high school, we watched this video about wedding traditions in Japan, and they do something very different than we do in America. It’s the guests who go home with the gifts![1] In the video we watched, the couple gave every attendee a new color television. YOU get a TV! And YOU get a TV! Everyone gets a TV! Apparently, I need to get invited to some Japanese weddings. Most of the time, the gifts are not that extravagant, but it is a different mindset. When we come together to celebrate in my family, it’s often the guests who bring the gifts and not the other way around. It’s enough that you’re hosting it. But we all have something in common when it comes to celebrations. We gather to bask in the moment. We gather to spend time with one another. We gather to give thanks and praise for those being celebrated. And doesn’t that sound a lot like worship? Worship is God’s party. God calls and we respond.
Every Sunday is a mini-Easter.
It is a time to celebrate God for all that he has done for us; to recognize he is the source for the blessings of life, to be reminded of how great our God truly is. When we come to worship it is about our response to what God is doing in our life and our passage today reflects that thought. There is so much to be thankful for. For life, for love, for community. God has stood by us through so many trials and tribulations. In the Bible we read about some of those stories. In the beginning God created us. God gave us life. God spared us time and time again despite our many failures and misgivings. And most of all, God sent his Son on our behalf to atone for our sins. Worship is not about what we do FOR God, but rather our RESPONSE to God’s love for us.
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. – 1 John 4:7-12
When we gather together for worship, it is a response to God’s invitation.
God has invited us into his house, and we gather by his grace. Throughout this passage, we witness God’s initiative, God’s first movement on our behalf. Verse 7, “Everyone who loves has been born of God.” He is the creator. He is the one who made us. We didn’t make God. It was the other way around. Verse 9, “He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” Sending Jesus was God’s idea, not ours. We asked God for a King, but God sent us a Savior. And then in verse 10, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God loved us FIRST! And in response we gather together as his people to praise and worship him.
We call it “the gathering” because it’s the time when we come together.
That might seem pretty obvious, but we don’t come together just in the physical sense but in the spiritual as well. Each part of the gathering is designed to prepare us for receiving and responding to God. The prelude, opening song, welcome and announcements set the stage for what’s to come. It’s like the opening band at a concert or the comedian who comes out to warm up the audience before the headliner appears on stage. The gathering helps us to see God more clearly and to place our head and hearts in the right frame of mind so we can concentrate on what God is saying to us. As one writer put it, “God does not simply invite us to a party of friends, or a lecture on religion, or a concert of sacred music – he invites us into the presence of the King of the Universe…”[2] When you put it like that it gives worship a completely different framework.
We kick off worship with music and singing.
But why do we sing? Especially for those of us who sing best in the shower. We sing because it is a gift from God; this ability to lift up praise through music, but we also sing because it is an expression of joy and gratitude. And sometimes it’s an expression of sadness and longing. But we also sing because it connects us more closely to God. In both the Old and the New Testament there are MANY verses about singing. Psalm 95 says in the very first verse, “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” And it’s not just in the Old Testament either. In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus he encourages them, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:18-21).” We’re don’t need to get drunk or filled up on liquor. Instead, Paul encourages us to get intoxicated with the Spirit through song! We are encouraged to let go and sing loudly and boldly. When we release our inhibitions in worship this way, it fills us with the Spirit and prepares our heart for God. God doesn’t care if we sing on key or have perfect pitch because that’s not what makes it beautiful to God. It’s the very act of singing and lifting up praise that makes God happy. Psalm 100 says, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! (ESV)” A joyful noise. Thank God we don’t have to be perfect. It is in the singing itself God is invited into our lives to fill us with the Spirit.
Prayer is another key component to prepare us for God.
It’s why we do the Unison Prayer. Our prayer always points to God as creator and redeemer whether we pray to the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. The Unison prayer reminds us of who we belong to. We do prayers of the people to lay down our burdens before God, so we are free to hear him more clearly. We get rid of the distractions, and we lift up our concerns. We empty ourselves to prepare our hearts for what God wants to pour into us. When we are filled with all the distractions and worries of life, there isn’t room for God. Our minds are too preoccupied with all of this STUFF. And we pray out loud and we pray together because prayer is also an act of worship. Just the very nature of prayer – bowing before God, kneeling before God, praying in unison to God – these acts point us to the one who calls us to worship. They create an attitude of submission, a realization that we are not in control. When we pray together, we are reminded that none of us can do it alone. We are reminded that Christ died for ALL of us. Prayer reminds us we are all equally sinners before God. And when we come before him with that kind of humility, we are ready to hear his Word for us. Prayer prepares us to receive what God is about to offer us through his message.
The time of gathering all leads us to this point where we are prepared for God’s Word.
Through the call to worship we acknowledge that God is the one who calls us. We are reminded that our presence isn’t something we did on our own initiative, but rather that we are responding to God’s will. And as we go deeper into this gathering time, we continue on this journey of recognizing and relying on God. We confess our beliefs. We confess our sins. We sing praise for the one who created us. And ultimately, we lay down and empty ourselves before God. So as we journey together through worship, let us remember that we didn’t invite God. He invited us. How will you respond?
[1] Guests usually give cash gifts to the couple instead of physical gifts and the couple gives physical gifts to the guests
[2] Bryan Chapell, “Called to Worship: Giving God the First Word,” from Worship Notes Vol 3, 3, March 2008.
Craig's Corner 