First Sunday after Christmas

First Sunday of Christmastide

December 30, 2012


1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 (NIV)

(18) But Samuel was ministering before the Lord - a boy wearing a linen ephod.
(19) Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
(20) Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home.
(26) And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men.

Colossians 3:12-17 (NIV)

(12) Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
(13) Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
(14) And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
(15) Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
(16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
(17) And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Luke 2:41-52 (NIV)

(41) Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.
(42) When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.
(43) After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.
(44) Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.
(45) When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
(46) After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
(47) Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
(48) When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
(49) “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
(50) But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
(51) Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
(52) And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

One of the great things about the holidays is spending time with family. As the holidays pass, we realize another wonderful tradition about the holidays, our families go home. So, in that respect, A bible group was discussing the unforeseen possibility of sudden death. “We will all die some day, the leader of the discussion said, “and none of us really knows when, but if we did, we would all do a better job of preparing ourselves for that day.” Everybody nodded their heads in agreement with this comment.

“What would you do if you knew you only had four weeks of life left before your great judgment day?” the leader asked the group.
“For those four weeks, I would go out into my community and witness to those that have not yet accepted Jesus into their lives,” one person said.
“A very wise thing to do,” said the group leader. And all the group members agreed that would be a very good thing to do.
“For those four weeks, I would dedicate all of my remaining time to being of more service to others, “ said another woman.
“That’s wonderful!” the group leader commented, and all the group members agreed.
One gentleman in the back finally spoke up loudly. “For those four weeks, I would travel throughout the United States with my mother-in-law in an economy car, and stay in a cheap motel every night.”
Everyone was puzzled by his answer. “Why would you do that?” the group leader asked curiously.
“Because,” the man smiled sarcastically, “it would be the longest four weeks of my life.”

I have to admit, that as a kid growing up, this particular piece of scripture made total sense. By that, I mean, it fit into the view of the world I had. Think about it, what self-respecting teenager honestly thinks his parents know what is best? How many of you, at that age, sat in church and thought, why can’t my parents be at least half as cool as Joseph and Mary? Jesus pulls a stunt like this and the pie ends up in the face of Mary and Joseph.

However, looking at this scripture through the eyes of a parent gives me a whole new understanding. This is one of those pieces of scripture that, in all reality, is totally unbelievable. Am I wrong? Put yourself in the story, how different would it turn out?
Here is an example, putting myself and my parents into the story. My parents have realized that I have wandered off. The idea that they left me behind is not even brought up, I was the one who had to have wandered off. They turn around and walk back to Jerusalem, finding me at the temple. The first reaction of my mother, may very well have been close to what Mary said. But that is where the similarities end. At this point, my father would get involved. I think it is curious that Joseph is silent throughout this story. My father would come over, grab me by the ear, with no intention of being gentle. God’s son or not, this just isn’t acceptable behavior. My father would pull me over to the side and slap me right upside the head, again with no intention of being gentle. Then he would say something close to, “Are you out of your mind?” Although his words would be slightly different, just not repeatable in this particular location. Do you know what you put your mother and I through? What could have possibly led you to believe this was ok to do?
Then, let’s assume I respond in the same way Jesus did. “But you should have known I would be here.” “Why would you think any different?” This, in turn, would ensure another slap upside the head as he would say, “This, my boy, is not your mother’s and my fault! You better give up the attitude and answer my questions with a little more respect, or your are gonna have one heck of a headache by the time we get back home. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Dad. I am sorry.” I would have to say, as that is the only acceptable response. And he would reply, now get your butt moving, we are already gonna get home late and you will still get your chores done before you even think about going to bed, understand?”
Now, raise your hand if this story is more in line with what you would have experienced? Don’t lie!
Yet, the story in scripture is so totally different. Why is it, that the story is so unbelieveable? Why do Mary and Joseph react so differently to how most parents react? Is it due to a different time? I don’t think so, if anything parents have gotten less strict rather than more. I believe that a father in ancient Israel would at the least respond as my own father would, likely more strict. Is it because they were at fault? I doubt that too. Jesus knew the rules of the household. He knew that he should let his parents know where he is. So why do we get a story that in so many ways is unbelieveable?
The truth is that there may simply not be an answer to this question. Maybe part of being a Christian is believing in the unbelievable? We have just celebrated Christmas, which when you get down to the cold hard facts, is pretty unbelievable. Christmas is about believing that God himself came to earth as a flesh and blood human. God came to us as one of us. This is unbelievable too. Prior to Christianity, most religions had a God or Gods that were elsewhere. They may interact with humanity through the weather, through disasters or through blessings. They may have helped win battles, punish enemies, or hear prayers, but they were not human in any way, shape, or form. Even in Judaism, Christianities forbear, God was separate from the human experience. He was present in prayer, in battle, in blessing, but he was not human. Not only this, but according to Jewish tradition, the Messiah that was to come was not God incarnate. The Jews believed that the messiah that was foretold by the prophets, would be a soldier, a leader, someone who would help overthrow the shackles of Rome or any other foreign power that held the Jews captive. The messiah was not understood to be God in the flesh.
Yet, it turns out, that is exactly what the messiah was. Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation, the moment when God decided that he was to intervene in humanity by becoming fully human. The Word became flesh, as John reminds us. But what does it mean to become fully human? And what purpose would God have for intervening in humanity in this way?
These are questions I ask, knowing very well that I don’t have the answers to them. In fact, I don’t believe anyone has the answers to these questions; except God, of course. Yet, here we are, the last sunday of the calendar year, asking these questions and wondering what it all means. We are hoping that we can gain a better understanding. We are hoping that as we make the progression from one year to another, that God is still present, that God is still guiding us, protecting us, and most importantly loving us, because if this last year taught us nothing else, it taught us that we simply can’t do it alone.

During this year we have tried to deal with changes, we have tried to be open and honest in our discussions with each other. We have tried to be helpful to those in need. We have tried to be of service to those we encounter. We have tried to be open-minded when our day to day realities get shattered or when the change comes slowly, tapping at our stained-glass windows, reminding us that what has been is no more and that whether or not we like it, the change has come and is ready to engulf us in its uncertainty, its strangeness, its darkness.

This week has been one of discomfort for me. I have been battling this cold or whatever it

is. I have been coughing, I have lost my voice on a number of occassions. I have felt feverish, yet with no fever. On top of that, my kids are with their grandmother, so the house is eerily quiet. So quiet, that I can actually hear myself think. I had forgotten what that was even like. Yet, it has served to give me a space. A space to help me sort out all that I have been experiencing this year. Sometimes it is important to just take a time and reflect, collect, and invigorate. This past week has served very well for this. This idea of incarnation was one thing I spent some time reflecting about this week. And it is here, in this idea of incarnation, that my thoughts found some structure.
The other night, Eimy and I went to the movies to see Les Miserables. Now, it has long been one of my favorite stories. I learned the music when I was in high school, I saw the play twice on broadway, I have seen a number of the film adaptations, and when I lived abroad the first time, I took with me, and read, the entire novel, which, if you have never seen it, is quite bulky. My copy had over a thousand pages, but it was a book that I couldn’t but down.
So, Eimy and I went to see the movie and I have to admit it is one of the best movie adaptations I have seen in a long time. I am going to assume that you all have some idea of what the story is about, and it is far too complicated to get into it here. However, if you have never read it or seen it, I encourage you to do so.
As I watched this movie, I noticed something that I had never noticed before. The story, like many others, involves a number of different characters, and each one is essential to the story. Yet, most stories present us with characters that are either good or evil, either positive or negative, either saint or sinner. Yet, Hugo’s characters don’t fall under any of these categories. They are each very human and they each suffer from different character flaws and tendencies. No one in the story is truly good and no one is truly bad. Even the character who most people associate as the “evil” character, Inspector Javert, is not evil at his core. As you get to know him, you understand that his understanding of the world is based on laws. For him, good means following the laws and bad means breaking them. In his mindset, he is Good, regardless of how he portrayed.
The main character also, is no saint. He has done a lot of good in his life, but he has erred in the past. It goes on like this. No character is without some flaws, some imperfections. They are, for lack of a better term, truly human in every way. Because we all are this way too. Each and every one of us is not truly good or truly bad. If we look at ourselves, we see our flaws. When we look at others, we see their flaws as well. Regardless of how we try to define our world and its inhabitants, at the end of the day, we are all just human and our understanding of the world comes from that collective identity as member of humanity.
So, if God were to intercede in our lives, doesn’t it make sense that he would have to do it as a human, because doing it in any other way would make it impossible for us to grasp the message he gives us.
As the characters in the movie change over time and circumstance, they too slowly begin to see their common humanity. Without trying to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, the last scene is one in which the lead character finally sees the connections that have woven together his reality throughout his life.
Much the same way, the incarnation is essentially, God’s attempt to help us see the connections that weave all of us together, a tapestry that begins and ends with God himself. Jesus being born a flesh and bone human being allows us to view the connections that unite us with each other and the connections that unite us with God.
This Christmas, we celebrate connection. We celebrate that God wants us to connect to each other and to him. We are invited to participate in the weaving together of all of our uniqueness with the glory and brightness that is God incarnate.
Towards the end of the movie, there is a song, and one of the lines says, “to love another person is to see the face of God.” We know that God is love, but this re-words that truth in a way that makes us stop to think. To love is to see. To love another is to see God. God has entered into our reality to show us just how world-changing love can be.
As you go today, as you prepare for the beginning of a new year, a new life, a new time, a new motivation, may you also prepare for a new love. May this year and may this day give you the opportunity to see God’s face in the love you have for your spouse, for your children, for your family and for your friends. And may others see God’s face in the love they have for you. That is the incarnation, seeing God in all his glory in the flesh and bone of those you encounter.

Sunday of the Epiphany

January 6, 2013

Sunday of the Epiphany


Isaiah 60:1-6 (NIV)
(1) Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
(2) See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
(3) Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
(4) Lift up your eyes and look about you; all assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm.
(5) Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.
(6) Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.

Ephesians 3:1-12 (NIV)
(1) For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles -
(2) Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
(3) that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.
(4) In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
(5) which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.
(6) This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
(7) I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.
(8) Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
(9) and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
(10) His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.
(11) according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(12) In him and through faith in him may we approach God with freedom and confidence.

Matthew 2:1-12 (NIV)
(1) After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
(2) and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
(3) When king Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
(4) When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
(5) In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written:
(6) But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.”
(7) Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
(8) He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
(9) After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
(10) When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
(11) On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
(12) And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Now, Now the best comes. Did you ever read a book, or watch a movie and you get emotionally involved in the story. Then, at the very end, you hear that line. What now? someone will ask. Now the best comes.

You have been emotionally invested in the story, living the experience along with the characters, and finally at the end, that line comes along and you know it is the end of the story, but there is more and it is even better than what you just experienced.

It is a nice thought, it is a good way to end a story, but it can also be extremely aggravating.

That happened to me this week. I was still struggling with this cold that keeps toying with me, like I’m one of those block puzzles that kids sometimes get for christmas. With a little bit of time and forethought, the puzzle almost gets completed. Maybe its one of those 3d eiffel towers or empire state buildings. You finally get to the last piece and then the dog gets loose and knocks it all down. That kind of cold. just feeling better and along it comes again and knocks you down again. So, I was working a lot at home, planning out services over the next couple of months and doing a little pleasure reading. I picked up a book called Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young that I had heard good things about and got into it and couldn’t put it down.

The story, like many others, dealt with a young man who was rich and powerful, but in his quest to be rich and powerful had burnt a lot of bridges and had ostracized himself from friends and family to the point that he was alone. He was alone and paranoid and unwilling to trust or love because in this quest, he had realized that those who got close to him, were there not out of an honest sense of friendship but rather because they hoped to gain, or at least he feared that they hoped to gain advantage by being near him.
The character had lost a lot in his life. He lost his parents at a very young age. He lost his brother shortly thereafter. He lost his son to an illness no one could have predicted. He lost his wife because the loss of his son had hit him so hard and he lost his daughter in that process. He lost everything and everyone that had mattered to him. And, most importantly, he lost his ability to trust. And with this, he lost his ability to see the hurt he caused, and the destruction he left in his path.
The character, at least for me, was easy to connect with. Now, the actions that made up his life may be extreme, but yet, to some extent we all can understand his anger and frustration. We all hurt people we love. We all destroy things, whether by intention or not. The destruction that we cause is real, especially for those who try to pick up the pieces.
Yet, when we get to the point when we begin to realize what we have done, the struggle becomes even harder. Destruction is one thing. It is entirely another to come to terms with it and begin to rebuild what you have destroyed. Apology and forgiveness fall into a category that many of us find unbearable at best and impossible at worst. It is so much easier, we tell ourselves, to cut our losses, to live with the shame and the regret than to try to make amends for what we have done.
I realized that myself this week. One afternoon, Eimy and I were talking and I began to realize some things that I had done that had seriously hurt her. Yet, acknowledging the wrong I had done, but I had never really apologized for it. Until that afternoon, as I stood there and tried to find the words that I needed to say and she needed to hear. Eventually, I muddled through what I was trying to say. I hoped that I had fixed it. Yet, even when we apologize, forgiveness is not a given. Even when we get the forgiveness we seek, it doesn’t come as soon as we hope it would.
It is a difficult thing to admit our faults, seek forgiveness for them, and pray that the forgiveness, the true forgiveness we seek, will come. Many times it does, and I am thankful that for me it did, at least it did this week. But there are other people I have hurt in my life whose forgiveness I still wait for. I imagine that many of you can relate to this. We all struggle with these issues and we struggle with them throughout our lifetimes.
When you think about it, it does make sense, kind of. You see, it is all interconnected. Our lives, our loves, our sins, and our fears. The tapestry that is life can not be separated from the strands of fabric that compose it. And in each of these strands, we find our realities. We find our lives, our loves, our sins, and our fears. Trying to rid our everyday from these fabrics, weakens the fabric as a whole.
The book that I read talks about this. The greatest fear of all is, of course, death itself. In the story, the character is in a conversation with Jesus. In this conversation, Jesus is trying to help the character understand what death really is. Jesus explanation goes like this:
“It’s a conversation with many layers, much of it not for today. For now, understand that a significant reason why you fear death is because of your atrophied and miniscule perception of life. The immensity and grandeur of life continually absorb and eradicate death’s power and presence. You believe death is the end, an event causing a cessation of things that truly matter; and therefore it becomes the great wall, the inevitable inhibitor of joy, love, and relationship. You see death as the last word, the final separation. The truth is death has only been a shadow of those things. What you call death is indeed a separation of sorts, but not anything like you imagine it. You have focused yourself and defined your existence with reference to the fear of that singular last-breath event rather than recognizing death’s ubiquitous presence all around you - in your words, your touch, your choices, your sorrows, your unbelief, your lies, your judgment, your unforgiveness, your prejudices, your power-seeking, your betrayals, your hiding. The ‘event’ of death is only one small expression of that presence, but you have made that expression everything, not realizing that you swim in death’s ocean every single day.” (Young, p. 67)
And then, it get’s really interesting. Jesus continues, “You were not designed for death, but neither was death intended for this universe. Inherent in the event of death is a promise, a baptism in this ocean that rescues, not drowns. Human beings uncreated life and brought that un-life into your experience, so out of respect for you, we wove it from the beginning into the larger tapestry. You now experience this underlying tension between life and death every day until you are released through the event of death, but you were designed to deal with its encroachment in community, inside relationship, not in self-centered isolation like your little place here.” (Young, p. 67)
You see, our fear is only powerful if we confront it alone, and we may very well know that. However, the other fabrics that come together in our tapestry of life work the same way. Our sin is only powerful if we confront it alone. In the case of our lives and our love, the work the same way, but in the opposite direction. Our lives only have power if we live with others. Our loves only have power when that love is shared.
Everything about us is overflowing with the underlying necessity for community. But this is the sunday of the Epiphany. So, you may be wondering where exactly I am going with this. Well, what is an epiphany? Well, in the sense that we are celebrating today, Epiphany refers to commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the magi. Yet, the meaning of the word goes deeper than that. Epiphany refers to a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.
An epiphany is an “aha” moment. It is important to note that the only thing that changes in an epiphany is our own understanding of it. The event, the realization is about something that has already been, but we are just realizing it.
The fabric of our lives, the one that is woven together in community, has always been woven together in the same way. The importance of the community in the formation of the tapestry has always been there, yet we don’t see it that way. We tend to think of community coming next. Man and woman were created and then the community was formed. Yet, I ask this morning, if maybe, just maybe, the community was there from the beginning and the existence of the community was necessary for the weaving together of the fabric of our lives.
If so, then we need to start living in that realization, in that recognition, in that epiphany. God created the world and everything in it. The recognition among the gentiles that Jesus has come for all mankind is an epiphany because God always intended creation to be for everyone. The love of God existed before history itself, and certainly before the physical birth of Jesus Christ. Our epiphany is that Christ is the fulfillment of the promise God made to all of creation. Our epiphany is that we not only all share in the gift but that we were all made from the fabric of that relationship. The relationship with God and the relationship with each other.
I want to mention here, that next week we will be celebrating a service that many of you may have never done and I am certain that I never have. This service will focus on the idea of covenant, and more specifically on the covenant we share with God and with one another. Part of the idea of covenant is that we are, by nature of being human and created by God, in covenant with God. Over this next week, I ask you to reflect on what it means to be in covenant with God and what it means to be in covenant with each other as a body of Christ, as a community of faith. Next week, when we join together for worship, bring those reflections with you so that as we pray together, we pray as a community, we pray in the hopes of weaving together a tapestry that will give new life to our church, to ourselves and to the mission of Christ on earth.
As we think and reflect this week, let us also realize how important we each are for the entire covenant. While we each make our own, each individual who enters makes the whole stronger. Coming to terms with this takes a lot of trust. It is not really in our nature to trust in that way, but for that we are here, for that we are created, for that we live in this time and in this place.
A covenant isn’t a magical promise that will ensure easy going. It will not guarantee that there are no more arguments among us nor will it guarantee that forgiveness will be easy. It is a promise we make to each other and to God. A promise that is made as we have each had our epiphanies. We promise to journey on, wherever God may lead us. It is about looking back, recognizing hurt, but also recognizing the healing that comes. It comes from the only place it truly can, from Christ.
Towards the end of the book I read there is a poem. I want to close this morning with that poem, and as a starting off point in our reflections throughout this week.

I met you at the crossing

Where one road finds another

I did not even ask your name

I would not even bother

I looked at only what I saw

And did not see you fall

And even though I said I loved

I hardly loved at all.

I didn’t mean to leave you there

It wasn’t my intent

I simply looked the other way

And said nothing I meant.

I didn’t choose to cross this road

Although it’s what I wanted

Instead pretended you weren’t there

Believed you never counted

Oh, see I have this golden chain

Tied round my throat and heart

A bond more real to me than you

Is keeping us apart

I need a Voice to answer me

I need Someone who’s true

I need new eyes that let me see

That in my me is You

O, Someone please now guide me cross

This road betwixt between

And join my broken bits of soul

To real that is unseen. (Young, p.268-269)

We have each been someone’s voice, and we have each failed to be someone’s voice. Our covenant brings us together to be the Voice to answer those who seek. Let this epiphany be our epiphany, the epiphany where we realize the truth God has set before us, the truth that until today, we could not see. And let this epiphany be the epiphany where our broken bits of soul are joined together to make real what we now can see together. Amen.




Young, Wm. Paul. Cross Roads. 1st ed. New York: Faith Words, 2012. Print.

Beyond the Walls: The Wall of Judgment

This sermon was delivered on October 9, 2011 and is the next installment in the series "Beyond the Walls." We are looking at the walls that we build around ourselves and around our churches that inhibit our ability to to fulfill our mission and the Great Commission.

The Wall of Judgment

October 9, 2011

Romans 14:13-23 (NAB)

(13) Then let us no longer judge one another, but rather resolve never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

(14) I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; still, it is unclean for someone who thinks it is unclean.

(15) If your brother is being hurt by what you eat, your conduct is no longer in accord with love. Do not because of your food destroy him for whom Christ died.

(16) So do not let your good be reviled.

(17) For the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Spirit;

(18) whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by others.

(19) Let us then pursue what leads to peace and to building up one another.

(20) For the sake of food, do not destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to become a stumbling block by eating;

(21) it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

(22) Keep the faith [that] you have to yourself in the presence of God; blessed is the one who does not condemn himself for what he approves.

(23) But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because this is not from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

Mark 1:40-45 (NIV)

(40) A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

(41) Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

(42) Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

(43) Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning:

(44) “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

(45) Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

The Wall of Judgment

I have to admit, I am lucky. I am lucky because as I start my career in ministry, I have had the opportunity to work alongside ministers like Pastor Judy and Pastor Skip who have a lot of experience that they have been able to share with me in many ways. One of those ways is evident today.

Over the past couple of weeks we have been looking at the walls we build around ourselves and our churches. This morning we look at the wall of Judgment. Now, there are lots of verses of scripture that talk about judgment, it is a recurring theme in many parts of the bible. So when Pastor Skip told me that Judgment is this week’s topic, I got excited because, unlike some other weeks, there is ample time taken throughout scripture on this topic. But then, he gave me the scripture we are going to be using, the short story of the leper from the beginning of the Gospel of Mark. I read over it a couple of times and while I could see a number of themes present, judgment was not one of them. This brings me back to being lucky. If it hadn’t been for the experience Pastor Skip has shared with me, I might never have seen the connection between our topic this week and the scripture I just read.

Judgment, you see, is an interesting topic for a number of reasons. So let’s start off by defining what judgment can mean. There are various definitions of this word. Here are just a few.

1.       The faculty of being able to make critical distinctions and achieve a balanced viewpoint.

2.       The decision or verdict pronounced by a court of law.

3.       A particular decision or opinion formed in a case in dispute or doubt.

4.       An estimation

5.       An opinion formed.

There are also a few definitions of judgment that deal with God.

1.       The estimate by God of the ultimate worthiness or unworthiness of the individual or of all mankind.

2.       God’s subsequent decision determining the final destinies of all individuals.

None of these definitions fit clearly into our scripture from Mark this morning. So how is it that we proceed with no clear link.

Well, let’s step back for a moment and not concentrate on the idea of judgment itself. You see our topic isn’t judgment itself, but rather the Wall of Judgment. We are looking at the walls we build around us that interfere with our ability to fulfill our calling as individuals and as the body of Christ on earth. So let us look at what we can mean by a Wall of Judgment. And let us look at how that wall can keep us separated from Christ and from each other.

The reading from Mark talks about a situation that existed in Jesus’ day. That situation was the division of people based on a perceived, and sometimes real, threat.

Leprosy itself was not a specific condition, but rather a variety of illnesses that in one way or another affected the skin. Leprosy could be anything from a rash to a flesh eating bacteria. People were scared to death of leprosy. People lived in absolute fear of leprosy and all those who had leprosy. Therefore, if you had a skin disease, you were made into an instant outsider.

In those days, the law that governed society came from the books of Moses. Specifically that which we today call Leviticus. Leviticus was very clear: “The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ And he shall live alone, his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” (Lev. 13:45-46)

If you had leprosy you lost everything – job, family, place in the community – everything.  Just as with many other things, when someone loses everything, they get desperate. The leper in Mark who approaches Jesus shows his desperation by breaking the law, by coming into the city, and getting close enough to Jesus that he could talk to him. He is lucky that he wasn’t stoned. But Jesus has pity on this poor desperate leper and heals him.

This is where it gets interesting. You see, diseases were not understood then as they are today. Therefore, anyone who touched a leper was considered unclean. It was a kind of guilt by association. Jesus would have known this, yet he reached out and touched this man. Under normal circumstances both this man and Jesus would have had to go to the chief priest to prove their cleanliness and make the appropriate sacrifices before they could legally be welcomed back into the fold.

Of course, Jesus didn’t go to the chief priest, he didn’t become a leper, and he wasn’t perceived by those around him to have been contaminated.

If you remember a little earlier I talked of a division of people based on a perceived threat. That perception lies at the heart of the wall of Judgment that I want to talk about this morning. We all know that we are not supposed to judge others. This is not news. This is not a recent development. It is something that we have heard over and over our entire lives. This is especially true for those who have been active in church their whole lives. The Bible is very clear on this point. God is the only one who has the power and authority to judge. We do not.

Yet, as with many other things, our reality doesn’t work that way. We know we shouldn’t judge, but we do. In fact, it is very possible that of all our sins, this act of judging others is perhaps the most pervasive in our culture. Judgment is a necessity we tell ourselves. Besides most times we are not trying to play God or to usurp His power. Rather, we are trying to maintain the best influences in our lives. We are trying to make sure that we associate with those we should. We have a society that has rules and we have to make sure, to the best of our ability, that those rules are followed.

We live in a society where rules are important, and this is not a bad thing. If there were no rules, chaos would ensue. So it is important that we follow those rules and it is important that others follow those rules. However, it is very easy to go from a place where rules are important to a place where rules are and end in and of themselves. It is easy to forget that the rules are there for a different reason. The rules exist to keep peace, to provide stability, to enhance the lives of everyone. Yet, sometimes, many times we put such importance on the rules that we convert a helpful tool into something that actually counteracts its own purpose. When we put too much importance on those rules, we actually create a world in which there is less stability, there is less trust. This is what we call the wall of judgment.

Have I lost any of you yet? Well, let me give you an example. We read some scripture this morning from Romans. At first glance the reading is pretty straightforward in regards to judgment. However, the more you read the more you begin to wonder what is going on. For those who know a little about the early church it makes some sense. Yet, for those who are not acquainted with some of the problems of the early church, this reading begins to get confusing.

It begins with the simple statement, “Then let us no longer Judge one another, but rather resolve never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.”  This is pretty straightforward, but then it gets into a whole bunch of stuff about food. Why food? For those who know about the early church, you will remember that the early church was full of both Jews and Gentiles. Those of Jewish background had grown up living under pretty strict dietary standards that were laid out in the books of Moses. Those who were Gentiles didn’t come from a background with the same requirements. Therefore, the traditions surrounding what foods could and could not be eaten and the rules that regulated how food was to be eaten and prepared were different and this caused quite a bit of arguing in the early church. It was a pretty big debate. There was a lot of divisiveness over this topic. Some said these old traditions should be upheld in the new church. Others said that the fact that Jesus came and died for our sins created a new covenant and therefore, those old rules no longer applied.

This is a common problem in a lot of the early churches and you can see evidence of that in a number of the Epistles. The reading in Romans tries to deal with this ongoing argument. Basically, what is said is that if you want to keep with the old rules, fine. There is no harm in that. However, don’t judge someone else based on what they eat. Tradition is fine, however there is a new covenant here. There is a new church, and that new church doesn’t center itself upon the old covenant made with Moses. It centers itself based on the new covenant through Jesus Christ. So if you want to follow old rules, go right ahead, but if you are doing that and it causes one of your new brothers in Christ to misunderstand the new covenant, well, that is not OK. The word of God is paramount and any arguing over details that detract from the message is harmful to the whole church, and therefore is not in accordance with the message of love that is given to us through Christ.

So we have the divisions of a society that are reflected with how it treats those who suffer from leprosy or who are otherwise unclean. We have the early church struggling to come to terms with how their own understanding of their relationship with God has changed in the new reality of the message of Jesus Christ. And now, we are here, on this Sunday morning, wondering what we can learn.

So, I ask you, in order to define this wall of Judgment, who do we consider today as lepers? Who do we consider today to be serving God in a way we don’t think is right?

The answers to those questions are endless. I could come up with a list, but the list would be way to long to recount in a few minutes. But, let’s name a few.

1.       Immigrants

2.       Those whose skin is not our color.

3.       Those whose music we don’t like.

4.       Addicts – either of drugs, or alcohol, or some other destructive force.

5.       Criminals

6.       Those who profess other faiths.

7.       Those who love someone of their own gender.

8.       Those who are poor.

9.       Those who are rich.

10.   Those who speak a language different from our own.

The list can go on and on.  We live among lepers. Sometimes we might even be the leper and at other times we treat others like they are lepers. We judge based on things that we feel are legitimate concerns. We use this basis of judgment for one purpose, to separate. Yet, whether or not we intend on it, this separation is perceived as condemnation.

This judgment, this condemnation of others is based on fear, mistrust, misunderstanding, anger, loneliness, the inability to communicate, and so on and so forth. In so many ways, like the leper in our reading this morning, we move through life shrouded in desperation. Either we feel like a leper to the world, untouchable and unclean – or we have chosen others to be treated like lepers.

These divisions are our modern day examples of the food problem in the early church. The details have changed in 2000 years, but the situation is still the same. We build up walls, many of them, especially this wall of judgment, based on perceived threats, based on stereotypes. But in reality, this serves only to keep people apart. It is a form of leprosy that we willingly take on because it offers us a safe haven from having to interact with the other and the other unknown. It is just easier to adopt this form of leprosy than it is to risk reaching out and touching or being touched. It is not until human beings are able to see one another as children of God that we will be able to sit down and begin to try and understand one another. This is true not just for Muslims and Christians, or Muslims and Jews, it is also true for grown-ups and teenagers, for blacks and whites, for gay and straight, for liberals and conservatives, for old hymn lovers and new music lovers.

Jesus, reached out and touched the leper. In that act, he tore down that wall. He healed, he loved, he acted. You see, it is not just a matter of being willing to reach out and touch. We can control that. We can control when we reach out and we touch. No, it is also, perhaps more importantly, a matter of being willing to risk being touched, touched by God and changed, transformed, made whole.

This week, Steve Jobs passed away. I was listening to the news that day and heard a speech he made at Stanford University in 2005. Towards the end of that speech he mentioned something that I think fits in nicely with this message. He said,

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

This morning, these words ring true. As we gather to worship Jesus Christ and his message of love, of renewal, and of hope, let us remember that we have limited time to get it right. During our time, it is essential that we learn to tear down these walls that we spend so much time building up. It is only by tearing down these walls, by bearing our souls to our friends and neighbors, that we truly come to know not only the words of Christ, but we come to trust in him in our nakedness and we come to feel the message of Christ as it warms our hearts and souls.

May God bless us this morning, may he warm our hearts and souls, and may he give us the strength to trust in his message and the courage to live his message even when that means doing something we don’t want to, even when that means talking to someone we don’t want to talk to, and especially when that means loving someone we find hard to love. Amen!

 

The Wall of Caution

This sermon was delivered on September 25, 2011 and is the second that I gave in our series of "Beyond the walls."

Esther 4:3-17 (NIV)

(1)    In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

(2)    When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

(3)    Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

(4)    So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate.

(5)    Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.

(6)    He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the King’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

(7)    Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said.

(8)    Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai,

(9)    “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

(10)When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai,

(11)He sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.

(12)For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

(13)Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:

(14)“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

(15)So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

Over the past couple of weeks we have been looking at the various walls that we construct around ourselves and our church that impede our ability to fulfill the commission that we have been given in Christ. We first looked at the wall of Insecurity and last week we looked at the wall of self-interest. This week we are going to look at the wall of caution.

I had trouble with this message. Esther is an interesting book. As I was preparing, I looked to see when Esther appears in the lectionary. Guess what, there is only one Sunday in the three year lectionary cycle that Esther appears. That is it.

I had read Esther as a kid, but this was the first time I read through the entire book in a long time. Esther is a unique book. It is one of a few books in the old testament that are basically a historical story. It is one of only a few books in the entire Bible that carries the name of a woman. It is also, I think, the only book in the Bible that does not specifically deal with God acting in humanity. That might be a slight exaggeration, God’s hand can be implied in a number of passages in Esther, but it is never explicitly mentioned.

In addition to that, I had a real difficulty finding a way to talk about Esther’s story in a way that would suggest we should tear down this wall of caution. So, I guess the first place to start is what we mean by caution.

The dictionary defines caution as an alertness and prudence in a hazardous situation; care; wariness. Another definition can be a warning against danger or evil; anything serving as a warning.

None of this sounds bad, in fact, it sounds pretty good. Caution serves a valid purpose in our world. There are a lot of dangers around us. There are lots of people who would do us harm. There are plenty of situations that can lead us astray. This is a dangerous world. Caution serves a valuable purpose. If we weren’t cautious, so much evil could befall us.

So, why are we talking today about tearing down a wall that keeps us safe in this troubled world? Surely, God doesn’t want us to put ourselves needlessly in harm’s way. What could we or God gain from that?

This was the problem I was having this week. I did a lot of reading. I talked to Pastor Skip; I talked to Pastor JP Bohanan at Bethany. But, finally, thanks to this help, I saw this story in a different light.

So, let’s look at Esther again. What is going on in Esther’s head? She has been chosen to be queen. Depending on what Bible translation you are reading, the name of the King changes. However, in all likelihood, the King in this case is the famous King Xerxes of Persia, modern day Iran. The Jews are living in a land not their own, a world foreign to them in many ways. But, due to a twist of fate, Esther, a Jew, ends up being Queen. However, her true identity is not known by the King or anyone else in the kingdom other than her close family. In fact, she was instructed to keep her true identity a secret. Esther has grown accustomed in life to following commands. That ability has gotten her far in life. But now, events she has no control over are going to change her reality very fast.

Mordecai lets her know that her people are being put in danger. In addition, she is being asked to not only help her people, but in doing so she is being asked to make her identity known to the King. Even more than that, she has to speak to the King and doing that without being summoned puts her in at a real risk of being executed. She is scared. She is unsure of what she should do. What is the right thing to do?

She tells Mordecai these worries and his response is not really what she might have been hoping for. He doesn’t say I understand your fear. He doesn’t say we’ll figure out something else. No, Mordecai says, Esther, grow up. Wake up, you have to do something. I know it’s dangerous. Yes, you could even lose your life, but if you don’t there are consequences for that too.

In the end, things work out for Esther and the Jewish people throughout the kingdom. Haman, their adversary is hung on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai. His ten sons are also hung and everyone in the kingdom who attempts to hurt the Jewish people is killed, all by the king’s edict that Mordecai was asked to write with the King’s seal.

But in the moment, Esther didn’t know how the story was going to end. She was afraid, the wall of caution she had built around herself was doing its job and keeping her safe from what was a likely danger. Esther realized that God was calling her in that moment to go over that wall, to put herself out there, relying solely on her God to see her through. Indeed, had she resisted and stayed behind her wall, the story likely would have turned out quite differently.

There are times in all our lives when we are asked to do something, or put into a situation that requires we scale over that wall. Making the decision to do that is extremely difficult and frustrating and riddled with doubt.

When I was in high school and had the opportunity to go abroad for a year, I had lots of doubt. I had my life planned, in one way or another. I was going to graduate high school, go to college, then medical school, then become a doctor. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that that is what I wanted to do. But then, God put this opportunity in my life that I hadn’t planned on. Granted, it wasn’t a decision like that of Esther. There was danger, sure, but more than that, there was the fear of failure and the worry that taking that opportunity would change my plans.

But, I went for it. And guess what, it did change my life, my plan, my view of my own existence. It gave me the opportunity to see the world in a different way. It gave me the opportunity to see and know God in a totally different way. I stand here this morning certain that had I not taken that opportunity, my life would have turned out very different and I likely would not be here. I would not have met my wife, I would not have Ian and Mia, and I would have missed out on an opportunity that God had put in my path so that I could come to know him the way He wanted me to.

As I was talking to Pastor Bohanan this week, he told me of another story that fits into this theme even better. I had been reading about Wesley’s “Aldersgate Experience.” This is how Wesley himself talked about how he came to know Christ in a new and different way than he had known him as an Anglican priest. He had the opportunity to spend some time with Moravians. He learned a lot about his own faith through them, sometimes in good ways and sometimes in not so good ways. JP and I were talking about this. I knew of the Moravian church but I really didn’t understand what Wesley was talking about in detail. As JP was explaining part of it to me, he mentioned how the Moravians took the Great Commission to a whole new level. They believe in mission work and have taken some steps toward that goal that even today we would question. One story in particular stunned me.

The Moravians went throughout the world spreading the message of the Gospel to everyone they encountered. At one point, they wanted to go to the West Indies, the Caribbean. For a number of different reasons, they were unable to go there. Part of the reason was church politics of the day made it very hard for them, not being the Anglican Church, to go to British territories to spread their understanding of the gospel there. They looked and looked for a way to make that happen, but couldn’t find one. Finally, they came upon one way that they could get there. A number of them actually sold themselves into slavery so they could be sent to the West Indies to preach the gospel among their fellow slaves, most of who had just arrived from Africa. Wow! Now that is a story of not just scaling over the wall of caution, but dismantling it stone by stone.

Now, we don’t have to sell ourselves into slavery. But, Christianity is full of stories like this. Let me ask you another question. Have you ever faced a decisive moment and crossed your fingers? We have seen it happen on thousands of occasions: a team in the final minutes of a game is down to one final shot that will determine the victor, many supporters in the crowd cross their fingers. A person who is hoping to receive good news in an upcoming announcement secretly crosses his fingers. A crossed finger in these instances is a form of body language that expresses hope and faith.

When a person is expressing a false hope or is attempting to disguise a true feeling, he or she often crosses his fingers, but does so behind his back. It indicates that the words being spoken are not really a true expression of how one feels; they are a lie. Crossed fingers give insight into depth of our desires and emotions.

Nearly everyone has experienced an occasion in which they have crossed their fingers. Most however, did not know that the crossed finger first originated with Christians. When it was first used, it had nothing at all to do with luck. It was a secret code. In the early days of the Church it was dangerous to be a Christian. Our faith was unpopular and illegal. Many who believed were tortured and fed to lions for sport. There were times when Christians were hated so badly that even a casual association with followers of the cross could mean death. When those who were Christians, met another Christian they would use “body language” or crossed fingers to indicate that they too were believers. If someone approached that they were unsure about, they would quickly hide their crossed fingers behind their back to disguise their identity. Crossed fingers represented the Cross of Christ. It indicated that a situation had been placed in the hands of God. It suggested that the believer was hoping and praying for victory in Christ. The blessing associated with crossed fingers for many was, “May Christ be victorious in my hour of need!”

That is significant, especially in the light of the words of the text from Psalm 23. We read the words “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” There are two words that leap from this passage “though” and “through.” The only difference between the two words is the letter “r”. In American Sign Language, the letter “r” is made by crossing the middle finger over the index finger. It’s the sign of the cross.

The difference between our “though” situations and our “through” situations is the “r” the presence of Christ victorious in our hour of need. Without the cross, there is no “through” only a “though.”

Though we may walk in the darkness of a moment, our hope is that Christ is victorious in our hour of need so we walk through the dark moment fearing nothing, our hope and trust has been placed in God’s hand.

As Christians, we may not cross our fingers as much as early believers, but we do maintain hope and faith that in any given situation, Christ will be the victor. We don’t hide that hope or faith behind our backs, but only declare to the world, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

From Esther we learn that God leads us to know his will. While we don’t need to take needless risks, sometimes the road God sets before us is littered with many dangers. Yet, we must continue on through the dangers.

The wall of caution is a tricky one. Sometimes caution can help us. But caution is risk-averse. God is not. God doesn’t work in terms of risk, or odds, or probabilities. God is there, calling us to him, sometimes on soft sand, and sometimes over minefields. So, let us learn from Esther. We can’t know the outcome, but if we follow where God leads, we end up closer to Him, and if we perish, so be it. We perish in the work of God, for the people of God, and there is nothing to fear in that.