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He is Home – The Miracle of John 1:14
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. John 1:14 (NLT)
Home!
John 1:1-14
May you realize the blessing of Christ making His home with you…the love and mercy and promise of eternity!
My friend Chris ( our Minister of Worship ) and I were talking last night between services, of the ride we and our friends have had over the last sixteen or seventeen months. There has been so much trauma, so many tragedies, so much going on physically, emotionally, spiritually, that it hasn’t seemed like we were singing and playing and leading worship n Christmas Eve.
There seemed to be a disconnection, a hard to believe gap between the calendar and our minds. It just didn’t seem like Christmas yet…..
It’s like being away from home to long, there is a sense you belong there… but it takes a while to get acclimated. I felt this even more going back to New England this year, taking William and Kay to see where I grew up, to walk where my family lived and played and grew up.
Yet home is here, especially here at this altar. Home is here, with the people of God. It is odd to have two homes, especially two so radically different.
In the gospel this morning There is an amazing line.
The theologians will talk about the importance of the first three verses, where I focus on the last two.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
Some older translations will phrase this – and dwelt among us. But the words in Greek talk about setting up camp, your base, where you and your family dwell. It talks of setting up the place you call home.
Jesus came and established His home with us.
He whose first home was with the Father and Holy Spirit, makes His home with us, in our midst. He who is used to hearing the angels singing praises, whose home is a place we can’t even picture, we can’t even imagine the sound, our hearts cannot even conceive of the glory there…..
He leaves that home, and He just walks into our lives, uninvited, and makes Himself at home. He belongs here, with us.
Amazing.
Miraculous,
Wonderful.
27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. Colossians 1:27 (NLT)
Jesus made His home with us.
Normally a Lutheran sermon would include the law, a look at how we’ve broken our relationship with Him.
No need to do that here – we realize how odd it seems that a pure, holy, sinless God would tolerate our presence.
Much less make His home with us….
But that is why He has come……
To make His home with us….
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. John 1:14 (NLT)
That we would realize we have another home, one far different that this home….
For our home is with the Father in heaven…
And may we walk all the way home, at the side of Christ…
Salvation is More Than Forgiveness of Sins
Devotional Thought of the Day:
14 Their minds, indeed, were closed; and to this very day their minds are covered with the same veil as they read the books of the old covenant. The veil is removed only when a person is joined to Christ. 15 Even today, whenever they read the Law of Moses, the veil still covers their minds. 16 But it can be removed, as the scripture says about Moses: “His veil was removed when he turned to the Lord.” 17 Now, “the Lord” in this passage is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. 18 All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory. 2 Corinthians 3:14-18 (TEV)
10 We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life. Ephesians 2:10 (NJB)
298 My Lord Jesus has a Heart more tender than the hearts of all good men put together. If a good man (of average goodness) knew that a certain person loved him, without seeking personal satisfaction or reward of any kind (he loves for love’s sake); and if he also knew that all this person wanted from him was that he should not object to being loved, even from afar… then it would not be long before he responded to such a disinterested love. If the Loved One is so powerful that he can do all things, I am sure that, as well as surrendering in the end to the faithful love of a creature (in spite of the wretchedness of that poor soul) he will give this lover the supernatural beauty, knowledge and power he needs so that the eyes of Jesus are not sullied when he gazes upon the poor heart that is adoring him. Love, my child; love and hope. (1)
As i came across the quote from St. Josemaria this evening (above in blue), I had to think through it several times. It’s not that I don’t know this, but it seemed so different from the conversations among Christians and pastors on-line recently.
So often are conversation is about justification, whether it is evangelicals trying to be missional and covert people, or whether it is Lutheran theologians attempting to focus on our ineptitude to obey Christ (and applying that to the redeemed as well as the unregenerate). In either situation, salvation is reduced to the forgiveness of sins. There might be a mention of eternity in heaven as opposed to hell. Even that seems to be diminished these days, in light of glory of being righteous in the eyes of God.
But we can’t describe heaven well, apart from what isn’t there, and a vague idea of God seated on the throne, and the activity around Him, like the praise songs being sung.
But what makes our lives the work of art that Paul tells the church in Ephesus about?
What did theologians talk about, when they mentioned the life of the baptized?
What is this transformation that the Corinthians hear is happening to them, this work of the Holy Spirit that happens as we reflect the glory of God.
That means something is going on now, this transformation in our lives, this work of art, this being created (re-created) in Christ Jesus to do that which God ordained us to do. Not to sit and argue about, not to dismiss because it makes us uncomfortable. The idea of being close enough to Christ to experience His glory, to reflect that glory to a world, broken and comfortable in darkness is a challenge.
I like how Pope Francis put it,
“”We feel safer in our sins, in our limitations, but feel at home; leaving our home to answer God’s invitation, go to God’s house, with others? No. I’m afraid. And all of us Christians have this fear hidden deep inside … but not too hidden.” (from a quote from “Divine Office” on facebook)
We want to hide in the comfort of our sins, as Israel did. We want a veil that keeps us at a distance….
God will remove that veil, enabling us to walk in a relationship trusting Him. He will make our lives that masterpiece, He will transform us into the very image of Christ. He will walk with us, and we will be so amazed by that, we may not even notice the rest of what He is doing…..
That is His love for us.
That is the baptised life….
That is salvation.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1211-1218). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Dang it Jim, I am a pastor/shepherd, not a teleport tech.
Devotional Thought of the Day:
36 When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. 37 “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! 38 On your knees and pray for harvest hands!” Matthew 9:36-38 (MSG)
277 Practise the virtue of hope and, with God as your motive, even when you find it hard, persevere at your work and try to finish it well, convinced that those efforts of yours are not useless in the Lord’s sight. (1)
I learned last week that another one of my students in my lay ministry classes has been accepted into a seminary program. It is a humbling thought, to realize how many guys I have taught over the years are now preparing to be ordained, or are in seminary. Three of them will be ordained in the next 6 months, another went home before he made it. These men all have left careers and embarked on a journey that is harrowing, that will result in being set apart for a life that will demand great sacrifice and large time investments.
Somehow, I was involved in helping them to make such a huge division. ( Of course it might just be, hey if he can do it… we can as well!)
Not only will this vocation demand sacrifices, it will also demand patience, and the wisdom it takes to not only be patient, but to envision the benefit of patient endurance. I put as the title of this blog, a geeky Star Trek reference. But it is one I think both young pastors (and seminarians) and the churches they work with need to understand.
For the churches, a pastor isn’t the transporter tech, as if we can push a button and we can send you to a place where everything is perfect, and you will find happiness and health. For the pastor to help you, you have to let him do more than press a button, or say a prayer during church. Our work is by your side, helping bring Christ’s healing to your lives. Helping give you hope, assuring you of God’s mercy and love. You need not fear us, for unlike the transporter tech we aren’t going to hand you a red shirt and then push the button. (That’s a geek reference – the guys in the original Star Trek who wore red – they never came back, except for Scotty)
For the pastors, you can’t shepherd at a distance, you have to be there with the sheep. You will get dirty, your time won’t be your own, you will worry about these people. You’re time will not be your own, you will spend many hours in study for the joy of seeing people amazed by God’s grace. You will be in the mud of politics, you will see the human spirit broken and crushed, you will deal with self-righteousness, and people who will set themselves over God. You will witness them determining what is good and right in their eyes, despite God calling it sin. You will wish for that transporter/time travel button at least once a week, and phasers set to stun (and sometimes kill!) You want to help, but you have to realize, that we call it spiritual growth, spiritual development for a reason.
We have to be there, shepherds called and set in place by God. Given this responsibility, and the work to do will demand more than we are capable of, save that God is the one empowering us, and guarding our hearts and mind, even as He does with out people.
There is a reward though, when we see them baptized, when we nourish them with Christ’s body and blood, when we see them rejoice as the incredible measure of God’s love is seen, even in part, by His people. For our efforts aren’t useless in the Lord’s sight, for He assures the work of His word.
It is an awesome thing to see men answer the call, to see their hearts’ break, as the they go to work in the harvest and care of souls. May many many more come…
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1129-1131). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
A Radical. Ordinary,Practical Faith….Woven Into Our Very Lives
Devotional Thought of the Day:
25 And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message, 26 which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to his people. 27 God’s plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. Colossians 1:25-28 (TEV)
Recognizing time as a reality made holy by a loving God, the Celtic saints valued the daily, the routine, the ordinary. They believed God is found, not so much at the end of time when the reign of God finally comes, but now,where the reign ous already being lived by God’s faithful people. Theirs was a spirituality characterized by gratitude, and in our stories,we find them worshipping God in their daily work and very ordinary chores. (1)
140 Live your Christian life with naturalness! Let me stress this: make Christ known through your behaviour, just as an ordinary mirror reproduces an image without distorting it or turning it into a caricature. If, like the mirror, you are normal, you will reflect Christ’s life, and show it to others.
It is rare, but every once in a while people ask me why this blog quotes a Catholic saint by the name of Josemaria Escriva so often. After all he is the founder of what seem to think is a radical catholic movement called Opus Dei. I am a Lutheran pastor, a spiritual descendant of one who didn’t quite get along with the Catholic hierarchy of his day.
So what are you thinking pastor? ( Some might even think I am some kind of radical infiltrator, a sheep in wolves clothing, or a wolf in sheep’s clothing! ( I guess mot only would Lutherans be suspicious, maybe some Catholics might be as well?)
An explanation is in order, and my thoughts this morning, looking on the lake near where I grew up got me thinking about this.
I want, no, I need a practical faith. Like the quote in green above, like the Celts had. A relationship with God who is Immanuel, that is God with us! A daily relationship with jesus – whose names is literally Yhwh (the name of God in Hebrew) and saves,
I don’t want a God who is locked in libraries, or only found in the sanctuaries where He does gather His people. I need one who bakes bread with bakers (I highly suggest Brother Lawrence’s Practicing the Presence of Christ) , and is with kids and collegians in classrooms, and with maudlin 50 year old pastors, going back to where they grew up.
I need, no, we need, a God who is closer to our hearts than our skin. Who brings peace where there was anxiety, where broken hearts find healing. A God who ensures we are not, whether in Los Angeles or a small New England town, or a city of 15 million in China. that we are never, never alone.
A God who not only shares our lives, but His own, Not just His death, but His glory.
A God who I am grateful to know.
All of my favorite Christian writers talk of such, find rest and sanctuary in this God. St Escriva and Martin Luther perhaps more than any, but also Gene Edwards, or Martyn Lloyd Jones, Brother Lawrence, or Robert Webber and William Willimon. In Escriva’s books, it is boiled down simply, naturally, Christ is here… we just need to realize it.
We need a God whom we can worship, because He is here…
And praise and glorify Him, for He is here…. we don’t have to find Him, He found us, even at great cost… and is bringing us home!
(1) From Celtic Daily Prayer, for October 18: Original from EC Sellner, Wisdom of Celtic Saints. .
(2) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 690-693). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Editi
Waiting to See God’s Glory in Them… Can’t it Come Sooner?
Devotional and Discussion Thought of the day:
23 “At that time I earnestly prayed, 24 ‘Sovereign LORD, I know that you have shown me only the beginning of the great and wonderful things you are going to do. There is no god in heaven or on earth who can do the mighty things that you have done! 25 Let me cross the Jordan River, LORD, and see the fertile land on the other side, the beautiful hill country and the Lebanon Mountains.’ Deuteronomy 3:23-25 (TEV)
783 It is good that your soul should be eaten up by that impatience. But don’t be in a hurry. God wants you to prepare yourself seriously, taking all the months or years necessary, and is counting on your decision to do so. With good reason did that king say: “Time and I against any two.” (1)
I tend to think of the future a lot, In my management courses, I was identified as a catalyst, the idea man, to some extent a visionary. (btw Never confuse such people with great managers/administrators! ) I love to consider the potential in people and try to help that come to fruition. This is especially true when it comes to deacons, vicars and young pastors, anyone involved in ministry.
This doesn’t always work out the way it should, sometimes because of a failure to buy into a vision they’ve developed, sometimes simply because it takes time, sometimes because the vision has to be defined more closely, or the original vision was only the first step.
As I read Moses words to God, I felt the desire in them, God can we see your glory now? Can we see Your people realize the fullness of Your plan for their lives? Can we see them mature? Can we just skip through the times in the wilderness, the times where we rebel, the times where we can’t see you, where we doubt? I want to see your glory revealed in their lives, and I want to see it soon! After all – this is what you called them for, isn’t it? When will we see the wonderful things we know You are capable of, as you do them through Your people?
As St. Josemaria talks – the impatience can be good, but not if it forces us to hurry. Preparation is necessary, sometimes it takes years for God to form them, (sometimes that is because He is using us to do it!) Sometimes it is because the relationship and the trust they need in God needs to develop to the point they can do what God has called and prepared them to do – the amazing works talked of in Ephesians 2:10 and 4;12-14. They’ll get there, maybe we will see them there, or maybe like Moses, or Paul, we can only guide them most of the way, then others ( Joshua, Timothy, Titus) will take them the rest of the way.
We don’t know, but God is their shepherd, we just help for a time, a time He has determined.
And we have to realize, the ultimate glory, the perfect promise land is not just them mature in their trust, in their love, in their devotion to God. The ultimate glory is when they are, with us revealed in Christ’s 2nd coming.
1 You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God. 2 Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you too will appear with him and share his glory! Colossians 3:1-4 (TEV)
May we long to see them there, complete, whole, healed, and may our desire to see them in God’s glory spur on our ministry to them, in the time we have! For this is what we work for, according to Paul,
28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ. 29 To get this done I toil and struggle, using the mighty strength which Christ supplies and which is at work in me. Colossians 1:28-29 (TEV)
Lord Have Mercy!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3251-3254). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
What Child is This? The One Who Causes Blind to See, And to Reveal Others are Blind
Sermon from Concordia Lutheran Church
march 30, 2014
What Child is This?
The One Who Causes Blind to See, And to Reveal Others are Blind
John 9:1-41
May you rejoice as the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ opens your eyes to His presence and the restoration of brokenness!
So much talk about sin and its effects!
The gospel reading this morning is one of the longest we have all year, more than half the length of an average sermon.
it reminds me of the Old Testament Book of Job, but not because of the length, it shares the same quality that the Book of Job does, as we look at the discussions that take place. Discussions that are fascinating, discussions that touch on different theological and philosophical questions. Discussions that offer little comfort, peace, that are pretty much blind.
But discussions, at the end of it, are blind to the presence of God in the flesh, and blind to the work that Jesus would do. They don’t lead them to the truth, they don’t change their actions, they simply to seek to look back,
It would be like wondering what was responsible for an earthquake, and not bothering to get under a desk, or in a doorway!
Seriously, they while the discussions were going on, incredible things were going on, right there in front of them…..
God, revealed among them, and as we pray in the Kyrie he was helping, saving, comforting, and defending them… even as He does us.
So let’s look at the discussions, and what they missed….. (click)
Question 1 – who’s responsible for this brokenness
The passage opens up, with a discussion of his committed followers, which they bring to him to answer.
2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”
We are well into the gospels at this point, they had heard Jesus’s testimony that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise that the Messiah would bring healing to the blind and to the broken hearted, and their question is about what is the root cause of the blindness?
They could have asked Jesus if he would have healed him. Or perhaps asked Jesus to heal him. They could have asked how they could have helped.
But instead they treat him like a …. Object? A Thing to be discussed and a lesson in theology and philosophy.
They don’t see the man, and they certainly don’t see the reason that Jesus will lay out before them,
Answer: Jesus heals the brokenness
3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.
There isn’t a day when I wish such work of God could be done here, that people who have devastating physical issues, couldn’t all be healed, that they couldn’t all be restored. It would be dangerous to take from this passage the idea that God is only glorified in the physical healing of a person. We’ll see why in the second discussion.
What I want us to see in this, is not the miracle of a healing, for something greater is about to happen. Something that will affect the man more deeply, more powerfully.
We need to see though, that Jesus saw the man, the man in great need, and responded.
The disciples didn’t, they hadn’t learned that lesson yet, but Peter would, when Jesus tells him three times to feed my sheep, and when he and John take time to heal the man begging at the Temple’s gates.
CLICK Discussion lesson number one, Jesus saw the man, not the sin that hinders him.
When we are dealing with people who are broken, as we were, it doesn’t matter how they were broken, whose sin has broken them, or even what the sin was.
It matters that the person was one whom God desired to minister to, to bring them into the kind of transformation where sin could not hinder him from living. To bring him to the realization that He was God’s child, and NOTHING could separate him from God’s love, revealed in Christ.
Which brings us to the second part of the conversation….the meeting of the Pharisees…
Discussion 2 – how can Jesus do anything about this?
The progress of the discussion went something like this.
A major disagreement about whether Jesus could do such a miracle. Some say it’s impossible, because Jesus healed on the Sabbath, others are in shock, and can’t explain it… because how does a ordinary man do such things.
The mind works in odd ways, and rather than finding themselves in God’s presence, they decide they don’t have the right information…..so they call in the Blind man…
“We don’t believe you are the blind man.” “Yes, I am,” He responds.
Drats – they were hoping that maybe it was a temporary condition, and reversed itself. So they call in the parents….
“We don’t believe your son was born blind….”
“Yes, he was, but we don’t know what happened to him,” they say in timid, anxious voices, knowing what the Pharisees don’t want to hear….
ARRGGGHHH – get the young man back in….
And they ask his opinion, as if the opinion of a man who never looked at a night sky, at seen trees and looked into the eyes of those he loved, would say something to detract from the miracle that happened to him…. “Simple, He is from God!” And so they boot him out of the community.
While the first discussion didn’t see the man, the second didn’t see the God who would claim the man as his own, as one of His people. They couldn’t see God’s love for this man, this one they discounted as the sinner. CLICK
Discussion lesson #2 – Don’t miss that God wants to do something in every person’s life. To make himself known to them as real, as loving, as merciful, as their Lord, Savior, Father, Friend, Advocate….
You see, the goal of the interaction wasn’t just to heal the man of His physical ailments. Remember Jesus’ earlier answer?
3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.
For to see a man healed of being blind is amazing, miraculous, just as many of Jesus miracles left people stunned, Yet, something more miraculous happens. Jesus doesn’t just leave the man with his physical sight….
He establishes a relationship! The man hears something, that talked of eternity, about the restoration of the people of God. For in revealing that He is the Son of Man, Jesus reveals that the people of God will be made whole, not some time in the future, but soon, and that Jesus is the long awaited one who will fulfilled the promises revealed in Ezekiel.
Jesus reveals He is the Son of Man the one who knows God’s heart, so clearly revealed in Ezekiel, (CLICK)
21 Suppose wicked people stop sinning and start obeying my laws and doing right. They won’t be put to death. 22 All their sins will be forgiven, and they will live because they did right. 23 I, the LORD God, don’t like to see wicked people die. I enjoy seeing them turn from their sins and live. Ezekiel 18:21-24 (CEV)
Jesus is revealing that it is time for God to make His people, His again, for them to realize that He will be their God, forever. He will raise them, even as the prophesy at the Valley of Dry Bones, or the chapter before, where God promises to wash us, to replace our hearts of stones, with hearts of flesh, to send His Spirit to live inside of us…
Such a revelation, to this man who simply realized that Jesus was from God. That is what is glorious, God coming to this man, God revealing Himself to Him.
When others couldn’t see the simple truth, the truth that they claimed expertise, but overlooked the heart of God who would come to the broken and restore them.
Glorious – that God would come to man, that He would assure them of His love, His faithfulness. It’s not about who was the sinner, or whether man can heal on Sunday, its’ about the love of God for His people, revealed in Christ. That is why we ask what child is this? And why we know and trust in Him…..
That would bring His people, broken and abandoned, that would bring us into His peace. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, the peace of God that you are brought into and kept, by Jesus the Christ.
Is There a Time to Be Numb?
The church seems to be always threatened and challenged by storms…yet… He is here.. and He is its Fortress and rest
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 4 (NLT)
9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NLT)
829 The thought of what has happened to you burns within you. Christ came to you when you were only a miserable leper! Until then, you had developed only one good quality, a generous concern for others. After that encounter you were given the grace to see Jesus in them, you fell in love with him, and now you love him in them… (1)
I sit here in my office, wondering how I will finish my sermon tomorrow.
It doesn’t help that the above passage from Ecclesiastes ran through my heart over and over in the early hours of this day.
It doesn’t help that yesterday I ended up grieving three different times, as I interacted with two friends who are suffering, and then wasn’t really able to interact with another close friend, whose husband, a pastor who has sacrificed much, passed away suddenly.
There is time, a season for everything, and it seems I’ve been in the midst of a season of trauma since September.
It’s to the point where I wonder if there are any more tears, even as they flow. It’s where I hesitate with phone calls, relaxing when I see it’s my pharmacy that is telling me my refills are ready.
I wonder to myself, if there is a time to simply be numb……to be so drained that there is nothing left, just a soul that seems empty….
Then I look at the clock and realize, I’ve a sermon for which I have to compose the final manuscript, a congregational meeting to prepare for, a son who waits for me to take him to see Hobbit II in 3d in just 5 and a half hours…Time to kick into high gear…. even as the engine seems to cough and sputter.
Keith Green’s “my Eyes are Dry” comes on my rhapsody player… perfect song for a day like this….
What can be done for old heart like mine…. soften it up with oil and wine, the oil is You! Your Spirit of Love, please wash me anew, in the wine of your Blood.
It’s what I need to hear, this song will get a lot of play today. For there is nothing I can do, to find the strength I need today. It’s going to have to be Him, if it is to be anything at all, if there is to be letter on the screen, if there are going to be words to hear tomorrow… He will have to be the strength I don’t have, for the trauma isn’t being removed. The pain I’ve witnesses will be in places tomorrow, even distant places. How to speak to it? How to show them the journey of History, of Abraham, of Jesus, is about God being here, in these times of numbness, or trauma.
For if I am numb, then He can minister to me, a sort of enforced rest, a time to just let God be God. To slowly arise out of it in awe. To realize the depth of His love, His care for these friends of mine is far more than I can have – but He shall surely show it. And Jesus shall indeed comfort my friends, my dear friends. As He will me. Whether Keith realizes it or not, that last line, the wine of His Blood will have so much to do with it. As we receive His Body and Blood, as we realize once again that we are united with His death, and His resurrection, as we remember the height of His love, and its breadth and width, and that its depth can reach us.
And once again, I realize I don’t have to play God… that He dwells in these friends of mine, and that God will be there for them. Even as He ministers through all of us, in our weakness….
The odd thing is that as I realize this, the numbness begins to recede… it’s time to work….
But may I never forget He is God… and I am not…and that its His work…not mine.
(oh and here is Keith Green’s song – if you aren’t familiar with him, He passed away when I was in high school – but his music still nails me to the cross…. which is good!)
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3408-3412). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Rejocing During Lent? Inconcievable? Not at All!
Devotional THought of the Day:
25 Then David and the elders of Israel and the generals of the army went to the house of Obed-edom to bring the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant up to Jerusalem with a great celebration. 26 And because God was clearly helping the Levites as they carried the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. 27 David was dressed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who carried the Ark, and also the singers, and Kenaniah the choir leader. David was also wearing a priestly garment. 28 So all Israel brought up the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant with shouts of joy, the blowing of rams’ horns and trumpets, the crashing of cymbals, and loud playing on harps and lyres. 29 But as the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David skipping about and laughing with joy, she was filled with contempt for him. 1 Chronicles 15:25-29 (NLT)
16 “To what can I compare this generation? It is like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends, 17 ‘We played wedding songs, and you didn’t dance, so we played funeral songs, and you didn’t mourn.’ Matthew 11:16-17 (NLT)
1 Don’t let your life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith and of your love. With your apostolic life wipe out the slimy and filthy mark left by the impure sowers of hatred. And light up all the ways of the earth with the fire of Christ that you carry in your heart. (1)
Tonight my church will gather to celebrate the love of God. Perhaps it is more accurate to say God will gather them, for that too is part of the celebration.
We are in the beginning days of Lent, just a week ago we celebrated Ash Wednesday, with a service that…could only be called a celebration. It wasn’t just that we had a much larger group than is our pattern. It was the idea that people gathered, and with reverent smiles they were marked with ashes, knowing that this reminder of their sin, which grieves them, would be accompanied by another trip forward, to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, proof that God wouldn’t leave them in ashes, that they would not be left in the dust.
That’s something to rejoice in, that’s something to celebrate, and even…like King David, dance over.
Yes, like Isiah, we are people who sturggle with sin, (and sometmies struggle is a strong word) , who live in a world that more and more rejoices in sin. This is indeed something we should grieve over, it is something that we should never be callous about either. Christ grieved and wept as He looked over Jeruslaem, the prophets wept as they reminded Isarel of what would be the consequences of their sin, especially their abandoning their relationship with God in order to choose idols of their own making. Even so, Jesus went on to the cross, to do something about that grief, just as the prophets would foretell not just of doom and judgment, but of the glory of Christ incarnation, death and resurrection, and what it means.
So to, our journey of Lent, the remorse and grief we find as we review our lives, is tempered by the glory of God. The shear joy of realizing that we will soon be in Holy Week, Good Friday, Easter Sunday! The joy of knowing that our grief has been dealt with, our expectation of God’s promises have been fulfilled. This is also a season of expectation, a season of hope that is guaranteed by the presence of the Holy Spirit! How can we not be excited y the promise, and knowing it is fulfilled in Christ.
And so each service is a mini-lent to easter celebration, from the death of sin, to the resurrection to life in Christ, celebrated as we feast together at the altar (and on Wednesday nights, at the table)
Rejioce? How can I not, when the glory of God is present, when His people are gathered together, when He gives us life and shares with us His mercy, His peace, His love?
As we walk through lent, even as the priests and David walked with God toward the Holy CIty, let us rejoice in His glory. As well, may the light of His glory draw all to Him.
AMEN.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 171-173). Scepter Publishe(1rs. Kindle Edition.
The Mission: To Reveal Jesus Lifted Up
English: Lord Jesus at St Joseph Oratory, Montreal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Mission: To Reveal Jesus Lifted Up
John 12:20-33
† In Jesus Name †
May you realize the gifts of God that are yours, the mercy, the peace, the love of the Father, which is yours because Jesus was glorified on the Cross.
Why didn’t they recognize the Father’s voice?
That’s His mission and ours…
When I sit down to study a Bible passage to preach on it, I usually read the passage a few times – and wait for questions to develop before I start looking at the original languages, or at what people have said in the nearly 2000 years since the Bible was completed.
The questions are usually simple observations, the odd things I notice that make me wonder about our relationships. First our relationship with each other, then our relationship with God.
Some of those questions stick with me a while, and so it was this week. The question this week that bugged me.. that creates the basis for this sermon is this,
“Why didn’t the crowd recognize the Voice speaking through the clouds?” Why didn’t they recognize the voice of our Heavenly Father?
After all, how many times have voices spoken from the heavens? Who else could it be?
On this day, as we dedicate our preschool staff, as we start a series looking at God’s mission in this world, the answer to that question is critical. For His mission becomes our mission.
“Why didn’t the crowd recognize the Voice speaking through the clouds” Why didn’t they recognize God’s voice?”
When we realize the answer – we will realize what we are asking our staff to do. Really what we are asking all that are part of this community of faith to do….
Simply put – God’s mission, our mission is to reveal Christ lifted up, entering His glory… that He can draw all to Him.
The Greeks and the Jews… same problem?
Which Jesus would they see?
Today’s gospel reading starts out with the Greeks, the non-Jewish people looking for Jesus. They had come up for the Passover feast, and whether they were simply curious about Judaism or they were in the process of conversion, we do not know. It would be an uncomfortable place to be, for many Jews resented their presence. Which is why they looked for one of the apostles, to ask permission to see Jesus.
Compare that to the Jewish leaders and people themselves who saw Jesus, but did not really see Him. They could grasp that He was, and is the Son of God. It seems ironic – those who desired to see Jesus could not but those that could didn’t really see Him either.
I think we have the same problem today, when we “look” for Jesus, and especially when we want to see Jesus in all of His glory.
Some of us look for the cute Jesus, like in a movie where the star prays to the “sweet 6 pound 8oz baby Lord Jesus”. A Jesus who is not threatening, one we can’t see judging our actions as sinful and self-destructive, but is precious, cute, and cuddly. Like the Greek pilgrims, this is a romanticized version of Jesus to look at, to wonder about, to ooh and ahh about, to expect blessings from when we adore Him.
Others look for the risen and reigning Jesus, the One who will return in all glory, and then everything will be put into its place! Everything will be perfect! Like the Pharisees, we expect God to fulfil that promise – now and here, and according to our plan. When we do not see that happening, we look other places. When we expect God to do things our way and He doesn’t – we give up. When we expect Him to applaud our pride, our self-righteousness, our sin. Instead, He calls us on it and as we ignore Him we cannot recognize His voice, His authority, or His glory.
Like those in the days when Jesus walked and taught in Galilee – too often in our time people want to Jesus on their terms, or they are incapable of seeing Him at all.
What we need to do is see Jesus in all of His glory, when He was glorified.
Then the virgin birth and the 2nd coming can be seen properly… but when was He seen in all His glory?
When was He glorified?
That is the key. It is the reality behind Jesus statement about loving life means losing it – and caring nothing for it in this life…means everything for eternity. He demonstrated that truth on the cross.
You see, when Jesus spoke of it being time for Him to enter into His glory, it is the same as when he talked about being lifted up from the earth… for He is glorified, He is to be praised and honored and exalted, for what happened on the cross.
For like the serpent on Moses’ pole it is when we look to Jesus on the cross, that we know we will be okay. God is here! God is aware of what we are going through! We realize that He will deal with all that burdens us, and all that challenges us, all that sin that would poison our lives and quench the life He gives us.
You see, the greatest thing, the most praiseworthy thing Christ does, was on that cross. When we look there, it is not about the sin that we have committed, it is not about whether we were a Pharisee or a prostitute, a pastor or a tax collector.
It is about realizing that it was because God loves us that he was there, that is was the away God deals with our rebellion, our pride, our sin, with love that only we can only see when we look to Christ. That is why we worship Him, which is why we praise Him, which is why, according to Paul; our Father in heaven glorified His name above every other name. We do not have to do anything to deserve His love – He poured it all out on the cross, when He was lifted up.
That is what our church and our preschool are about – that is what we are all called to do. Simply to reveal the love of Jesus, that love that drove Him to the cross. One of my favorite verses is found in the book of Hebrews – which talks about the joy that was set before Him, the reason He went and did that for which we praise Him.
For the joy that was before Him, Christ endures the cross.
The joy of knowing that we would be drawn to Him, that we would be able to hear the see Jesus, that we would be able to hear the Father. We do not need to lift him up on the cross again, but our praises need to remind us of the love He showed, of the work He has done, of the very claim He has on our life, because of that cross.
For it is there the difference is made, He was lifted up, and we are drawn to Him and praise His name for what He has done in love for us. This is why we will be in heaven. This is why we can forgive others and live free of resentment and guilt, why we don’t have to hate,
Then we know why he was born, and why He will come back again….
For we see Him in all of His glory…in all of His love.
And knowing we are loved, we live in the Father’s peace, a peace that passes all understanding, and guards our hearts and minds which are secure in Jesus. AMEN!
The Eucharist: the Strength to Reveal Christ to Others…
English: The Lord’s Supper. Christ standing at an Orthodox altar, giving the Eucharist to the Twelve Apostles. Frescoes in the upper church of Spaso-Preobrazhenski cathedral. Valaam Monastery Русский: Алтарная апсида верхнего храма Спасо-Преображенского собора Валаамского монастыря. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
This can only mean that whenever you eat this bread or drink of this cup, you are proclaiming that the Lord has died for you, and you will do that until he comes again. So that, whoever eats the bread or drinks the wine without due thought is making himself like one of those who allowed the Lord to be put to death without discerning who he was. 1 Corinthians 11:26 (Phillips NT)
If you don’t keep in touch with Christ in prayer and in the bread, how can you make him known to others? (1)
Though I have been in churches of many denominations and brotherhoods, the three I have spent the most time in, have had something in Common. The weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper, also known as Communion, or my preference, the Eucharist.
To be honest, it is something that I took for granted far too often. The Eucharist was something that when I was younger I thought was a spiritual “fill-up”, an opportunity to refocus, a chance to be reminded of God’s promises, a chance to remember His grace covering my sin, as surely as His blood was poured out on the ground.
You might be saying, well Pastor Dt, that’ what it is all about – isn’t it? That moment of refreshing, a weekly “mountain top” experience, a break and rest from the norm, and a break from the sin which haunts them. A chance to really realize what holiness is about…
As we think about what the Eucharist results in, we slowly lose sight about it is… the Body of Christ, given for us; the Blood of Christ, shed for us…
It is not just about knowing God’s love – it is time with Him. A time for His to comfort and cleanse and help us explore with Him the height and depth, breadth and width of His love, and the Father’s love. A time not just where we are reminded of His covenant and its promises, but where He, Himself, reminds us of that promise – most specifically His loving presence. That we are His family, called to dinner with Him as the Host…
That is why Paul can say we proclaim His death – it is ours, we who are untied to Him in His death and resurrection (our re-birth) It is time with Him in that moment beyond time, that foretaste of the feast that will be thrown when we all have come home. We proclaim it – not just for our benefit – but that others would join us at this incredible moment, in this incredible time with Him…celebrating out union…our being the beloved. It is from there, from that depth of intimacy with Christ, that knowing Him and being known by Him, that the kerygma – the desire to introduce others to Him springs forth.
Not from duty…
But from the passion He has for us, the unbelievable love He has for us….
And we know who we are introducing people to, not just a way to “be saved”, but the God, the incredible, majestic, glorious God who loves them, Who gives them life… and brings them into His glory.
It is where we find the answer to our plea… Lord have mercy…. and know He does that in a way beyond expression… and it is He, even more than us, the is joyous in the reunion.
Godspeed us all to this realization.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 396-397). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition
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