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Stirred, not Shaken!
Basic Bond coat of arms with motto translated as The World is Not Enough (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“Stirred but not Shaken”
Acts 2: 14a ,22-36
† Father, Son, and Holy Spirit †
May you realize the grace of of knowing the Triune God desires and works to know you, and make you perfect, perfect for a relationship
Anybody get the number of that creed?
Even though I dearly love the Athanasian Creed, even though I love how it lays out the relationship of the Trinity, even though I love spending a couple of hours with it, and highly recommend that to you, there is a certain feeling I get, reading it in a worship service.
Two ways to describe it…
The first is, I feel like Wiley E Coyote at the end of every scene in the old Roadrunner cartoons….
The other, I wonder if anyone got the license plate number of the theological 18 wheeler than just hit me. I almost wonder if Anthony of the Desert, who is credited with writing it, and Athanasius, a deacon who presented the creed to a gathering of pastors and bishops – comprehended the depth of the creed’s teaching….
Maybe it overwhelmed them a bit two… as if as they read it, they wondered who was driving the chariot that ran over them….
Even as I love this incredible Creed, as I love how it teaches us about the mystery of the Trinity – the Tri-une God, the Three yet One, I realize it has one shortcoming. It was written to challenge all the false teachings about the Trinity, and about the nature of Christ…it seeks to teach us to know about how the Trinity is, and how Jesus is both fully God and fully man…
But it assumes one thing…. That we know this Trinity, this Triune God.
It does a wonderful job stripping away many, if not most of the false teachings about Jesus… yet leaves us there… needing to get to know Him…
May this day, we rejoice, in not just knowing who God is not, but may we rejoice in knowing our Triune God…..
And as we grow in knowing the Trinity, this God of ours, may we be just the opposite of James Bond’s famous drink – may we be stirred, and know we cannot be shaken.
Stirred
Still a little overwhelmed by the theological semi that ran over my brain, I’m going to do the sermon backward today – and give you the gospel, before the law…
Hear King David’s words again, really hear them….
‘I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. 26 No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope. 27 For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave. 28 You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’
The very God we proclaimed that we trusted a moment ago, David said is right before his eyes. As God is here, right in our midst. Here to protect, here to be our shepherd, here to be all that we need as our Father, as our Lord, as our God.
He is here…The Triune God who has been at work in our lives since we were created, is with us. He has called us together, He has brought us here, in order that we can know His love, that we can remember His mercy. The Holy Spirit drew us that we can literally taste and see that the Lord is good.
Walking with Him, on this way, which He has revealed, is what our lives are to be, and are, because of that presence of His. To know He is here, To realize that love which causes Him to cleanse us, to assure us that our souls will not fade into nothingness, even as Christ’s body was not meant to tor in the grave.
Paul explain this, in this way,
12 For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. 13 You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; 14 he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:12-14 (TEV)
That is what the presence of God in our lives means… it’s the time to rejoice in everything that has opened up to us. It is time for a party, for the feast – for the incredible life that God has given us…. And would live with us.
No wonder David says that His heart dances, it rejoices, (forget this line “glad” GRR) and his tongue SHOUTS his praises – the special shout reserved for the jubilee – that one time in life, everything you are shout!
He is here – He has given us life – He has given us the joy of His presence….
He is right beside me… and I shall not, will not, cannot be shaken…
Not Shaken
That is where the Law comes in, this idea of being “shaken”. Being shaken is like being out in the middle of Lake Galilee with 80 mph winds raising waves much bigger than our fishing boats, or a spiritual earthquake. Those are the words that are used for those traumas, when life is so in turmoil that you cannot determine which way is which – not just east and west or north and south, but forward and back and upside down.
The Trinity’s presence in our lives takes care of that – for it completely changes our point of orientation. It is no longer us that is spinning out of control, even as the world is spinning – and in such a way that people have to realize God is with us.
As we do, as our lives, as our desires, as our dreams ocme into line with His, as we see that our redemption, our deliverance has been the Father’s goal all along, things change.
The law – which is the way in which God orders the universe, which we struggle with, is revealed to be what drives us to Him, looking for hope, looking for something which will cause the storm…
And when we are with God, Triune, majestic, beyond our ability to comprehend, at least during this life, we do find ourselves able to rest in hope, our heart finds that gladness, and we shout His praise, as we realize His desire is to be here – with us, His people.
It’s His plan…no, we are His plan..
It’s His plan, the reading calls it His pre-arranged plan…
Even to the point where Jesus was betrayed, and fixed to a cross, and murdered. As Peter preaches to the very ones who killed him,
That He could, for the people the Father created, pay the price of redemption, and pour out His Holy Spirit, that we would become His Holy and Righteous people…
Yeah – no wonder our hearts are glad…joyous – know His presence, having been shown the way of life – through the death of Christ.
May we indeed know His peace, as we wait, resting in the hope that comes from knowing He is beside us. May such knowledge stir us to love and good deeds, even as we trust, as we know we’ll never be shaken…
AMEN?
The End Game…Death? Not even…
Devotional thought of the day:
In a biography I am reading, there are a number of quotes of the man of God talking about what he believed was his imminent death. (By the dates of the events – he isn’t far off, but I haven’t gotten that far..yet.) This year, a number of close friends have died again, and even today I am missing one friend’s memorial service because I am officiating at a service of another sister in Christ.
Scripture tells us that because of the death and resurrection of Christ, death has lost its victory, it has lost its poisonous sting. While I believe that, while I know that, it is hard to look on faces that damp with flowing tears, with hearts that appeared crush. Too often, I struggle to see them because my eyes too are blocked by the same liquid. The pain is often unbearable, and some have asked what I know to say in those moments.
To be honest, there is only one thing to say…. to look at the person’s life, to see the connection that God made with them, to look at God’s faithfulness expressed in their life, and note the connection. Note the love of God seen in their life, love that is impossible to have at work, unless God is present. To then assure them of God’s care for their loved one, and His promise to bring us comfort, even as He has brought them into His joyous glory. To share with them one perfect promise:
2:9 but it is as scripture says: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualise; all that God has prepared for those who love him;
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NJB)
all that.
All THAT..
Death will sting those who have yet to endure it – of that there is no doubt. But for Fr. Josemarie, for JoAnn and Chuck, for Rev. McLeod, and Warren and Shirley and… and.. and..there is not sting..there is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – fully revealed…
There is ALL THAT… there is dwelling in His glory, in His peace, seeing Him face to face…knowing as we are known,,, and far more than we can ever see, hear, or imagine in this life.
We say they “rest in peace” yet, as we look at God’s promise, we know that we dwell in that same peace…even if our hearts struggle to rest in it.
Godspeed to all those who “survive”, and may His peace so overwhelm our hearts and minds…AMEN
POSTSCRIPT:
After writing this blog, I had the honor of officiating at a memorial service. I wrote this on my FB post, which serves to make the point of this blog:
As I sit down to complete my sermon for tomorrow, I can’t help but think of the man who just celebrated God’s love for his wife. Though he anticipated less than 10 people a crowd showed up to comfort him and thank God for her life, and how it touched them,
During the lunch that followed, he never sat down – but constantly circulated, showing pictures of them together, talking to them about God’s love, hearing their stories.
It is to witness God’s handiwork in such lives, that has come to mean more to me as a pastor than anything else. To see the effect of God’s word, as it brings comfort and peace, and yes – even joy in the midst of trauma…. leaves on in awe in God’s presence.
—-
Truly, there is one blessing, said at every service, every Bible study of this church. It is this: “The Lord is with you!” – and I am blessed to see evidence of it, everyday.
The Breakfast Club Sermon
If a Man’s Home is His castle
God’s People are His Temple!
Eph 2:11-22
† In Jesus Name †
May we realize that God has brought the gospel of peace to those who were far off, and to those who have been near, and in so doing, has made us into the place where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwell!
Looking in from the outside
The most powerful memory from my high school back east was of a morning in a hallway, where I first realized how much I lived my life on the edge.
We all arrived early, some on the bus, some dropped off, some just because. There was my best friend John, a gymnast he was heading to the weight rooms. Bill – the star athlete, president of the class, and he was heading to Mrs. Johnson’s Algebra II class. Mike, well, Mike had interactions with various pharmacology, and was heading for an area we called the “hash block.” Another friend was heading to band practice, and another to autoshop – which was his second home. I think that of the 15 kids that hung out for 20 minutes, that of them every major clique in the school had representation. We hung out there…
every morning, for nearly two years…
It was one cold February morning, whenI realized I lived on the edge. As I was watching my friends, talking to some, I came to the conclusion that I lived on the edge.
Not the edge of danger, life filled with danger type edge.
But the edge of all their cliques, not really one of the brains, though we were in the same classes, not one of the jocks, though I ran and played with them, though I was a musician, the band geeks were a marching band – and you can’t carry your baby grand down main street. I knew the druggies and gearheads through my brother. I knew them all, yet, wasn’t part of their groups.
I was on the edge. Maybe some of you know what I mean, or maybe you wanted to be in one group – but found yourself in another – shut out from where you wanted to be – an outsider, and maybe you tried to force your way in. Maybe you still are trying to find that group to which you belong.
Paul’s description – painful but accurate?
In Paul’s epistle this morning, he is writing to those God has gathered together and made one in the city of Ephesus. In verse 11, he brings up the pains of their pasts – he reminds them that they were once on the edge, outside, not part of the group.
He reminds them that they were call names by those who thought they were cool. The phrases Paul writes, one after another, pounded in reminders of the feelings of being excluded, of the pain of realizing that life seemed somehow empty, and there were not part of the group that had it made. Basically, because you weren’t part of the family, because you didn’t know God, you were without hope.
By the way, there is a subtle reminder to humble those who think they are in the right group. Paul says, “who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts” I would realize much later, that those who made a big deal about being in this clique or that one, were the ones most insecure in those connections, who weren’t sure they belonged. Same thing in regards to our faith – those who compare themselves as far better than those outside of the faith, are the ones who need to find confidence in God’s work, rather than their own, to take it from being just an outwardly projected image, to seeing the image of Christ in them.
Returning to those of us former outsiders to whom Paul writes. It still seems strange to me, that there are those of us, who are comfortable in living on the edge. It is as if we desire to be part of the group, yet can’t bring ourselves to risk the rejection, as we may have, once or twice in life.
Will they accept me, both the good and the bad? If this is true with the cliques of our youth, it may be true of our adulthood. I hate to say it – but sometimes those fears have been proven, as people become part of a church, and struggle with the fact that sometimes we are more comfortable with each other, than the stranger who just walked in. How many in this world, are just looking for a group to belong to, a place where they are no longer the outsiders, living on the edge.
We’ve been re-created – a new people.
There are reason behind Paul bringing up these memories. First, we need to remember how incredible our Lord is, and how mind-blowing what He has done for us is.
You see the hard memory of the past is to be compared to where we are now, in the present. I want to re-read these words with you.
13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. 14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us.
You’ve been united with Christ! You aren’t going to get anymore “in” than that. The one whom all exists for and you are close, He has brought you near to the Father – close and loved. Hear some more
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20
You belong! Not just as the newbee, the one on probation – you are members of the family! You have been brought with Christ – and God is the One who called you and I into this incredible relationship, – one more – verse 21!
22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
In comparing where we were – on the edge, on the outside looking in, without hope, to being an integral part of the people of God, a active and needed part of the body, we have been given hope, as the prophet Jeremiah tells a broken people who found themselves outside and on the edge. He said,
“This is God’s word on the subject…., “29:11 I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. “
Jeremiah 29:10- 11 (MSG)
And in Christ, that hope is not some far off and barely possible thing, but as the word used to mean – that which we have 100% confidence in, it is our expectation, because God has given us His Holy Spirit as a guarantee of this.
Look whose here…
I said that there were a number of reasons Paul would bring up our painful pasts, the feelings of not even having been abandoned, the feelings of not belonging in the first place.
It is to keep us humble, to help us from becoming, now that we are the people of God, like those who were proud of a circumcision that was only physical, that wasn’t the cutting away of the crap around our hearts, the sin and effcts of sin that can change us, and make us cold.
A number of times Paul helps us with this as well, as he explains that God is pulling all people into Christ, and therefore into His presence. Hear His words
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.
15b He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
Together, we are the people of Christ – He has brought us all into Him, and joined us to Himself, that He can bring us into the presence of the Father. The second reason to cause us to remember we were outside, is to explain how much we have all become one.
The sermon has a long title. If a Man’s Home is His castle God’s People are His Temple! God’s home isn’t created out of wood and stone, His temple isn’t one built of human hands. It is a house, a lineage, a people, that He Himself as called together, united, together, joined together,
Made one.
20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
One of the things I realized as I grew older, was that as one who lived on the edge, I was part of those groups – all of them. They weren’t so different than I am, and that each of us, is being called to be part of a bigger group, a real family, where burdens are shared together as we give them to God. For what defines us, what makes us who we are, is not our personas that we show to the public, not our gifts and abilities and differences and things we have in common, It is Christ, who has made us His.
We see a glimpse of it here, at this altar, as we will feast together, with our Lord, with our Savior, the One who made us His people, the one who calls us together in a life that knows peace.
AMEN?
