Genesis 18: 1-15
GOD appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them. He said, "Master, if it please you, stop for a while with your servant. I'll get some water so you can wash your feet. Rest under this tree. I'll get some food to refresh you on your way, since your travels have brought you across my path." They said, "Certainly. Go ahead."
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. He said, "Hurry. Get three cups of our best flour; knead it and make bread." Then Abraham ran to the cattle pen and picked out a nice plump calf and gave it to the servant who lost no time getting it ready. Then he got curds and milk, brought them with the calf that had been roasted, set the meal before the men, and stood there under the tree while they ate. The men said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" He said, "In the tent."
One of them said, "I'm coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man. Abraham and Sarah were old by this time, very old. Sarah was far past the age for having babies. Sarah laughed within herself, "An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?" GOD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh saying, 'Me? Have a baby? An old woman like me?' Is anything too hard for GOD? I'll be back about this time next year and Sarah will have a baby." Sarah lied. She said, "I didn't laugh," because she was afraid. But he said, "Yes you did; you laughed."
SECOND READING—Matthew 25: 34-40
“Then the [Ruler] will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by God! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'
"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, “What are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the [Ruler] will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'
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God, you created us and you rejoice in us! Teach us all that we need to know for today and keep us open to learning more tomorrow. Thank you for reaching out and touching our hearts, expanding our minds, and healing our souls. Thank you for calling us your children. Amen
God’s wide and wonderful welcome reaches out to all of us, young and old, rich and poor, member and newcomer. There’s a special place I like to go. It’s in St. Augustine at the Spanish Mission, Nombre de Dios. It’s one of my sacred places—places I go when I need to feel especially close to God. Now look at the front of your bulletin. This is a photograph of a statue of Jesus that is a relatively new addition to the gardens, cemetery, outside altar, and bayfront sanctuary. There is also one of the largest crosses you will ever see, but this new statue caught my eye the last time I was there just a few weeks ago. See the way his hands are held wide—all the way open to receive anyone who passes by. It just seemed a good way to picture God’s wide and wonderful welcome. Arms outstretched—waiting, watching, working with us to spread the good news of radical and complete acceptance.
We have spoken often in the last few weeks about entering and being in a place of God’s exceeding abundance. I understand and appreciate that this is a concept that is foreign to most of us—that we are more comfortable with zero sum economics—that notion that there is only so much to go around and that if you have it, then, more than likely, I don’t. Or a social economy where someone has to win and someone has to lose. These are the rules that we grew up with; they make sense—regardless of whether we are at the top or the bottom, we can use these ‘rules’ of life to explain where we are. But these arms wide open don’t suggest this at all. These arms wide open convey no sense of limits on God’s abundance and Jesus’ welcome into a community of faith. And so we are left with a quandary. Where do we fit in these arms wide open? And, are there those who don’t fit at all? Surely there are some boundaries, rules, guidelines, and ways to be sure.
Seems so easy to pronounce—that all are God’s children! What about us? Are we all God’s children? Are there times when we don’t feel like God’s children at all? Are there those who feel or seem pretty darn far away from those arms open wide? God’s exceeding abundance calls to us—are we ready to step up and step in? Are we ready to make room in our church, our hearts, and our minds for all those who long to step in with us? This week, it seems that I have more questions than answers. More quandary than certitude. More challenge than assurance…is it so hard to say ‘welcome’? Is it so hard to feel welcome?
Each week you look on as the invitation to the table is extended to all—no rules to obey, no hoops to jump through, no barriers—just come. All are welcome at this table. Come, taste and see how good God is. So, we say it—but…What does welcome truly mean? Who needs it? Whose job is it to offer it? What risks become ours when we say “welcome”? What is this “hospitality” of which both our scriptures speak?
Though I don’t often consult the dictionary for biblical concepts, in this case it proved interesting. The American Heritage Dictionary defines hospitality as "welcoming guests with warmth and generosity, having an open and charitable mind, receptive." I found it fascinating that the two aspects are combined in the definition—welcome, warmth, generosity AND having an open mind, receptive to those you are welcoming.
For a more specifically Christian take on the notion of hospitality, I took a look at the Rule of St. Benedict. Though written more than 1500 years ago, it was here that I found the most direct correlation to our Gospel lesson. Written as guidelines for the community of monks founded by Benedict of Nursia, the Rule says this about hospitality: "All who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for the Lord himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me…You must honor everyone." Is it possible that a rule for monks written so long ago is still valuable today as we celebrate the community we call Open Circle? Indeed it is. But the Benedictine Rule doesn’t end there. In a modern version, the Benedictine "Rule for a New Brother," we are told: "The community is the first place where you will make God’s kingdom incarnate…accept with gratitude the companions God gives you to go with you on the way…your task is to build up one another as members of one body…the way of Jesus leads to communion with all people."
In this community—this first place we make God’s kingdom incarnate, we are called to accept with gratitude all those that God gives us with which to make the journey. I struggle with that sometimes. If we accept with gratitude all those who travel with us, we must be willing to change, to grow, to become more than we are before we said “welcome”! Do you remember the words of our Rite of Membership? They are oh so important here. Of the new members we ask, “Will you challenge this community to be the best version of itself and to live up to the things we say we believe?” And, “Will you allow yourself to be changed, shaped and transformed by this community, living into your called identity as a beloved child of God? And, then, to those of us already members, we ask, “Will you challenge these new members to be the best versions of themselves, and to help them live up to the things they say they believe?” And, finally, “ Will you allow yourself to be changed, shaped and transformed by these new members, living into our called identity as a beloved community of God?” We say “I will” and I suspect barely think of the impact of the words. Nevertheless, this is the answer to the question of what hospitality looks like here in our community. This is true hospitality—that we both challenge each other to be the best we can be and allow ourselves to be changed by the touch of another—new friend, old friend, even the stranger who tarries with us a while.
Today is Pride Sunday for us, mostly determined by the fact that 27 of us went to St. Petersburg yesterday and walked in an anything but homogenous conglomeration of MCC’ers from 7 different churches. It got me to thinking, how is it that this rather interesting mix of folks from so many different places, ages, cultures, and backgrounds can all be transformed into a noisy, celebrating bunch who had one thing in common—the belief that God loves us just as we are and welcomes us into this wild and wonderful place of radical acceptance. Just like that, no matter what. Now some of you know that Rev. Troy Perry, founder of MCC worldwide, was the Grand Marshall of yesterday’s parade. And I want to tell you this: he has not missed the wonderful community quietly and not so quietly growing up here in this three-county area. And while I had to tell him where The Villages are, that did not diminish his special words of welcome that he quietly whispered to me prior to the parade. He said something along these lines, Nancy (meaning Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson) tells me you are raising the roof up there!” And we hugged and grinned at each other in instant recognition that the hospitality that we extend here in this place each week is born of the blessing of knowing just one thing: that we are all God’s children and we are all welcome at the table… just as Troy Perry said over 40 years ago! Come taste and see, indeed!
And, so here we are—just at the beginning of exploring what this welcome looks like in the flesh, in the gathering of folks we call ‘Open Circle”. And we will not stop here—we will wrestle with this task until we develop for ourselves a kind of welcome that will call us to be more than we currently are and encourage all those who walk through these doors to join us in the journey. Hospitality, then becomes much more than smiles and spoken word—it is the essence of worship and communion. Growing out of worship as we celebrate God’s grace and generosity, hospitality is our response to the wild and wonderful welcome we have received from God in our lives. My friends, indeed, welcome to Open Circle! Amen and Amen.
Welcome!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The Power of Three--Trinity Sunday--June 19, 2011
The Readings--(The Message)
The Scripture:
II Corinthians 2: 11-14
And that's about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure. Greet one another with a holy embrace. All the brothers and sisters here say hello. The amazing grace of the Savior, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.
The Gospel:
Matthew 28: 16-20
Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Power of Three 6-19-11
God, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, fill our hearts with a desire to walk in your ways. Grant us your perfect peace and set our feet to dancing in the knowledge of your everlasting love. Amen
I don’t know which is worse—trying to preach about the Trinity or having to listen to yet another preacher trying to explain it in yet another attempt to make it “make sense”. So, I feel a little between a rock and hard place, knowing that, yes, it is Trinity Sunday—the only Sunday in the Christian year where we are called upon to preach not about the teachings of Jesus, or the prophets of the Old Testament, or the historical narratives of the Jewish and Christian people, but rather about a doctrine that didn’t even come into being until 350 years after Jesus walked on this earth. And what is the question that caused the early Church to ponder and try to resolve the mystery of the trinity—it is this, if God is one God, why do we talk about the God-head as three persons?—we just sang about it—“God in three persons, blessed Trinity”—however, that question has never truly been answered in a way that it universally understood or accepted. The Church Fathers (and, yes, sadly it seems they were all men) met and pronounced simply that we would believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We find these declarations in creeds—you may have heard of them: the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed being the two most widely used. But saying it does not necessarily mean believing it and so the discussion continues to today.
Almost two thousand years later, along came feminist theory and theology, and one of the first things these women said was this: it just can’t be—we cannot have a God who is represented by an old man, a young man, and a bird (meaning the dove representing the Holy Spirit). What these brave women did, most of all, is allow us to challenge the traditional ways we have looked at God, to see beyond mere “names” for God and begin to talk about who God is and what God does in this world. We began to see that calling God “father” doesn’t work for some of us—that we need to work hard to expand our notions of the Eternal to include ‘acting’ and ‘being’ words. For some, God is a verb—a force of motion and action. For myself, I use a trinity of being words to describe God: creator, redeemer, sustainer.
Still we do not altogether understand. How is it possible that God places us squarely in the middle of this mystery and, seemingly, fails to give us the answers we seek. Perhaps it is because it is just that, a mystery. And while we have no need to completely understand the “how” of the mystery, we do need to develop language to convey to the world the “what” of the mystery. What is this God doing among us? How does walking with the Divine affect us? Why would anyone else want to do the same?
Many have tried to come up with explanations. Rev. Richard Fairchild, of the United Church of Canada, compares the doctrine of the Trinity to atomic theory. He says, “We all learned in school that everything in the universe is made up of atoms, which are themselves made up of tiny particles called protons, neutrons and electrons. That protons and neutrons together make up a nucleus, and that the electrons orbit around this nucleus sort of like the planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. But there is no scientist who really believes that this simple model fully explains the substance of matter. Nuclear physics is much more complex…. The most educated physicist will tell you we will probably never know everything about atoms and subatomic particles. The atomic theory is just a model that explains something about how atoms work. It doesn't tell everything about what they are.” He goes on to suggest: “So it is with the Trinity. The idea of the Trinity tells us something about how God is revealed to us, how God works in human events. But it doesn't fully tell us WHO or WHAT God is. And I guess that is the secret of this experience we have of God - this understanding we have of God as a trinity - it doesn't tell us fully - but it tells us some important stuff none-the-less.”
And so, this week, I have pondered anew, all of the ways that I have tried to understand the Trinity over the years. Probably the most common attempt to describe the Trinity is the one using the three forms of H2O (water)—ice, liquid, and steam—to illustrate the three forms of God in the Trinity. Strangely enough, that is one of the least satisfying for me because it completely fails to say anything about what God is doing in our midst. Some of you may have memories of other explanations that you have heard—if you want to share those with me, I’d be grateful for next year!
Many of you know that I treasure butterflies. Truth be told, it is because, as an adolescent, when I was the most miserable kid in all of Apopka, Florida, I secretly believed that I would one day hatch into a beautiful butterfly. This thought sustained me more than once when I found myself throughout my life in places where life and, sometimes, God, failed to make sense. This week, I got to thinking about the life cycle of the butterfly as a way to understand what God is doing in our lives, in our church, and in our world, as three distinct, yet unified, processes.
In the first place, the butterfly, which starts as an egg, hatches into a larva or caterpillar. Creation occurs! Catepillars do little other than crawl around and eat leaves and flowers. They eat almost constantly, as the creative process continues as the caterpillar grows and develops. The caterpillar molts or loses its old skin many, many times as it grows and creation continues to get the caterpillar ready for the next step.
After some time, the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis. At this point, to the outside world, it appears that nothing much is happening. We know, however, that many, many things are happening. The caterpillar is being redeemed—transformed. Just as we are transformed by learning and following the teachings of Jesus, we are being transformed from within. We heard it last week: Paul calling us to be transformed from within by following all that we know about the reign of God’s justice as proclaimed by Jesus. As for our butterfly, although many scientists do, it is incorrect to call this stage in the life cycle, the resting stage—transformation is hard work whether in the cocoon of a butterfly or in the quiet spaces of your soul as you allow God to work in your heart through the teachings of Jesus.
I am reading right now, a book called “Wrestling with Grace”, by Robert Corrin Morris. This book was the source of our Centering Meditation today. It is a book about growing in faith in the midst of challenges. I would imagine that our chrysalis is quite challenged in its work of transformation deep in the cocoon it has spun for itself. This is what Morris says about growing up in God through challenges: “Challenge by challenge, we can let the image of God within us be provoked into a growing-up process…What will the next challenge be? Trying to serve God rather than [others]? Learning to say no when we need to and yes when that response is called for? …Taking time to go “into thy closet” to pray in secret? Developing a gift we’ve been given? Forgiving someone from our heart? Reaching out beyond our own comfortable group? Taking up our cross—for example, being willing to speak up against oppression in a situation where we can make a difference even though it may be risky?...More and more we become “partners of Christ”… Only in learning how to live this way do the deepest yearnings and powers of our own nature unfold in health, vigor, and grace.”
And we return to our butterfly process: finally, when the work is done, a beautiful, flying adult creature emerges. Flying in the spirit to places only dreamed of, the butterfly’s energy is sustained, just as is ours, by the Wind of the Spirit. And God, the Sustainer, as the Holy Spirit, infuses our very being, our every thought, our love for ourselves and each other. And the joy of this stage results in the planting of eggs, reproducing the species and the process time and time again. Likewise, as we fly free in the Spirit, as beautifully winged creatures, we reproduce the process in the lives of others whom God allows and leads us to touch along the way.
I do not know where each of you are in your three-fold process today. But I believe that you are all in a process much like the one I have described. Your presence here today is evidence of that seeking for something more or of your need to celebrate such great gifting by this God who creates, redeems and sustains us even as we are loved and treasured into being. Let this be a place where people can stretch their wings of grace and fly. Amen and amen!
The Scripture:
II Corinthians 2: 11-14
And that's about it, friends. Be cheerful. Keep things in good repair. Keep your spirits up. Think in harmony. Be agreeable. Do all that, and the God of love and peace will be with you for sure. Greet one another with a holy embrace. All the brothers and sisters here say hello. The amazing grace of the Savior, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.
The Gospel:
Matthew 28: 16-20
Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Power of Three 6-19-11
God, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, fill our hearts with a desire to walk in your ways. Grant us your perfect peace and set our feet to dancing in the knowledge of your everlasting love. Amen
I don’t know which is worse—trying to preach about the Trinity or having to listen to yet another preacher trying to explain it in yet another attempt to make it “make sense”. So, I feel a little between a rock and hard place, knowing that, yes, it is Trinity Sunday—the only Sunday in the Christian year where we are called upon to preach not about the teachings of Jesus, or the prophets of the Old Testament, or the historical narratives of the Jewish and Christian people, but rather about a doctrine that didn’t even come into being until 350 years after Jesus walked on this earth. And what is the question that caused the early Church to ponder and try to resolve the mystery of the trinity—it is this, if God is one God, why do we talk about the God-head as three persons?—we just sang about it—“God in three persons, blessed Trinity”—however, that question has never truly been answered in a way that it universally understood or accepted. The Church Fathers (and, yes, sadly it seems they were all men) met and pronounced simply that we would believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We find these declarations in creeds—you may have heard of them: the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed being the two most widely used. But saying it does not necessarily mean believing it and so the discussion continues to today.
Almost two thousand years later, along came feminist theory and theology, and one of the first things these women said was this: it just can’t be—we cannot have a God who is represented by an old man, a young man, and a bird (meaning the dove representing the Holy Spirit). What these brave women did, most of all, is allow us to challenge the traditional ways we have looked at God, to see beyond mere “names” for God and begin to talk about who God is and what God does in this world. We began to see that calling God “father” doesn’t work for some of us—that we need to work hard to expand our notions of the Eternal to include ‘acting’ and ‘being’ words. For some, God is a verb—a force of motion and action. For myself, I use a trinity of being words to describe God: creator, redeemer, sustainer.
Still we do not altogether understand. How is it possible that God places us squarely in the middle of this mystery and, seemingly, fails to give us the answers we seek. Perhaps it is because it is just that, a mystery. And while we have no need to completely understand the “how” of the mystery, we do need to develop language to convey to the world the “what” of the mystery. What is this God doing among us? How does walking with the Divine affect us? Why would anyone else want to do the same?
Many have tried to come up with explanations. Rev. Richard Fairchild, of the United Church of Canada, compares the doctrine of the Trinity to atomic theory. He says, “We all learned in school that everything in the universe is made up of atoms, which are themselves made up of tiny particles called protons, neutrons and electrons. That protons and neutrons together make up a nucleus, and that the electrons orbit around this nucleus sort of like the planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. But there is no scientist who really believes that this simple model fully explains the substance of matter. Nuclear physics is much more complex…. The most educated physicist will tell you we will probably never know everything about atoms and subatomic particles. The atomic theory is just a model that explains something about how atoms work. It doesn't tell everything about what they are.” He goes on to suggest: “So it is with the Trinity. The idea of the Trinity tells us something about how God is revealed to us, how God works in human events. But it doesn't fully tell us WHO or WHAT God is. And I guess that is the secret of this experience we have of God - this understanding we have of God as a trinity - it doesn't tell us fully - but it tells us some important stuff none-the-less.”
And so, this week, I have pondered anew, all of the ways that I have tried to understand the Trinity over the years. Probably the most common attempt to describe the Trinity is the one using the three forms of H2O (water)—ice, liquid, and steam—to illustrate the three forms of God in the Trinity. Strangely enough, that is one of the least satisfying for me because it completely fails to say anything about what God is doing in our midst. Some of you may have memories of other explanations that you have heard—if you want to share those with me, I’d be grateful for next year!
Many of you know that I treasure butterflies. Truth be told, it is because, as an adolescent, when I was the most miserable kid in all of Apopka, Florida, I secretly believed that I would one day hatch into a beautiful butterfly. This thought sustained me more than once when I found myself throughout my life in places where life and, sometimes, God, failed to make sense. This week, I got to thinking about the life cycle of the butterfly as a way to understand what God is doing in our lives, in our church, and in our world, as three distinct, yet unified, processes.
In the first place, the butterfly, which starts as an egg, hatches into a larva or caterpillar. Creation occurs! Catepillars do little other than crawl around and eat leaves and flowers. They eat almost constantly, as the creative process continues as the caterpillar grows and develops. The caterpillar molts or loses its old skin many, many times as it grows and creation continues to get the caterpillar ready for the next step.
After some time, the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis. At this point, to the outside world, it appears that nothing much is happening. We know, however, that many, many things are happening. The caterpillar is being redeemed—transformed. Just as we are transformed by learning and following the teachings of Jesus, we are being transformed from within. We heard it last week: Paul calling us to be transformed from within by following all that we know about the reign of God’s justice as proclaimed by Jesus. As for our butterfly, although many scientists do, it is incorrect to call this stage in the life cycle, the resting stage—transformation is hard work whether in the cocoon of a butterfly or in the quiet spaces of your soul as you allow God to work in your heart through the teachings of Jesus.
I am reading right now, a book called “Wrestling with Grace”, by Robert Corrin Morris. This book was the source of our Centering Meditation today. It is a book about growing in faith in the midst of challenges. I would imagine that our chrysalis is quite challenged in its work of transformation deep in the cocoon it has spun for itself. This is what Morris says about growing up in God through challenges: “Challenge by challenge, we can let the image of God within us be provoked into a growing-up process…What will the next challenge be? Trying to serve God rather than [others]? Learning to say no when we need to and yes when that response is called for? …Taking time to go “into thy closet” to pray in secret? Developing a gift we’ve been given? Forgiving someone from our heart? Reaching out beyond our own comfortable group? Taking up our cross—for example, being willing to speak up against oppression in a situation where we can make a difference even though it may be risky?...More and more we become “partners of Christ”… Only in learning how to live this way do the deepest yearnings and powers of our own nature unfold in health, vigor, and grace.”
And we return to our butterfly process: finally, when the work is done, a beautiful, flying adult creature emerges. Flying in the spirit to places only dreamed of, the butterfly’s energy is sustained, just as is ours, by the Wind of the Spirit. And God, the Sustainer, as the Holy Spirit, infuses our very being, our every thought, our love for ourselves and each other. And the joy of this stage results in the planting of eggs, reproducing the species and the process time and time again. Likewise, as we fly free in the Spirit, as beautifully winged creatures, we reproduce the process in the lives of others whom God allows and leads us to touch along the way.
I do not know where each of you are in your three-fold process today. But I believe that you are all in a process much like the one I have described. Your presence here today is evidence of that seeking for something more or of your need to celebrate such great gifting by this God who creates, redeems and sustains us even as we are loved and treasured into being. Let this be a place where people can stretch their wings of grace and fly. Amen and amen!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Pentecost of the Heart 6-12-11
Reading: Acts 2:1-21 (The Message)
1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. 5-11There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn't for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them talk in our various mother tongues? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; even Cretans and Arabs!
"They're speaking our languages, describing God's mighty works!" 12Their heads were spinning; they couldn't make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: "What's going on here?" 13Others joked, "They're drunk on cheap wine."
14-21That's when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: "Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren't drunk as some of you suspect. They haven't had time to get drunk—it's only nine o'clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:
"In the Last Days," God says, "I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes, I'll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both, and they'll prophesy.
I'll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke, the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives, the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help to me, God, will be saved."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God of rushing winds and quiet whispers, speak to us in ways that we can hear. Nudge us, show us your path. Wake us up and get us moving, speaking and talking, sharing the good news of your reign of justice and peace. Amen
Rushing winds, wildfire, people speaking in different languages—this is quite a scene—this event we now call Pentecost. And the whole affair is finished off with Peter preaching and quoting the Old Testament prophet Joel—making some pretty wild predictions. You’ve got to figure that the folks, these devout Jews from many lands, who witnessed these events were pretty blown away, confused, perplexed. Why they thought that all the believers were drunk even so early in the morning. This was crazy behavior, behavior that inspired awe and fear and chaos. And so, in the midst of this wild scene, enters the Holy Spirit.
Jesus came quietly, as a tiny baby…was born like one of us, grew up like one of us, worked like one of us for the first 30 years of his life. And then spent the rest of his life teaching us about God, and life, and loving each other. He turned the world upside down with his teaching about justice and love; he conquered death in his resurrection and at his Ascension, just last week, Jesus promised “power from on high” to those who follow him. This power came anything but quietly, and it filled the followers with such grace and might that they went out from there and changed the world. The coming of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus promised, changed a miraculous story about a man who lived and died and lived again into the story of how the in-breaking of God’s rule of justice would change the world—when followers, of all ages, cultures and stations in life, went out from that place to spread the Good News.
And, then, we come along. God has been working all this time in the world, in the church, and in our lives. So Pentecost, for us, is not so much about gaining new power, but in recognizing the power already at work in our lives and, most of all, in our hearts. And while I am not limiting God—it is possible that God could send the Holy Spirit to us this day in tongues of fire and rushing winds, I do think that if we spend too much time looking at the ceiling we will miss the Truth—capital T—of the day.
Think of it like going to a movie. If you come late to a movie, the usher (in those places where they still have ushers) does not walk you in and then announce to everyone that you have arrived and, therefore, they are going to start the movie over. And, the usher certainly does not rush you to the projection booth (in those places where they still have those) and tell you that the whole crowd has been waiting for you to arrive so that you could run the projector and show the movie to everyone. No, you go in quietly and find your seat. And you “catch up” with where the movie is and all that has come before. I believe that “catching on” to what God, through the Holy Spirit, has been doing in our lives is a little bit like that.
We would be foolish to believe that today is the day that God starts working in our lives or in our church or in our world. For, in fact, God has been working in our lives and hearts since the beginning of time. We just need to catch up, catch on, take fire, and take flight. It is easy to get caught up in the outer plot of today’s story—it’s got all the visual effects of a great epic film. It is harder to tune in to the inner plot, but that is what God calls us to do. And the inner plot is the story of a journey, a journey of a heart turned to God. It’s the story of our coming to understand all that God has for us, and wills for us to be. It’s the story of our coming into God’s exceeding abundance in a real and tangible way. It’s the story of a people, a church, already at work with God’s help, becoming all that God would have the people of God to become. And we enter along the way on God’s timeline in this journey.
But, that’s not all. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about the power of the Holy Spirit removing any barriers between us and God. He compares us to Moses and the Israelites. You remember Moses. When he spoke to God, he put a veil over his face so that he could be in God’s presence without fear. And because the Israelites did not know that the story would end with Jesus, they had no real understanding of what God was saying to them. Paul insists that only through the power of Christ is that understanding made clear. In verses 16-18, Paul reveals the truth as he sees it: that when one turns to God, listens to the teachings of Jesus, accepts the Holy Spirit, there is freedom. And all of us, who live in this freedom, contemplating and living in God’s glory, are being transformed into all that God calls us to be.
And so, today, on this day called Pentecost, I invite all of us to enter into the journey, the inner plot that God is writing on each of our hearts every day that we are alive—whether or not we are aware of it. God’s grace is not dependent on our awareness in order to be present in our lives. God’s grace just is. Richard Heitzenrader, a Wesleyan scholar from Duke Divinity School defines this process through grace like this: “Grace is what God, by the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit, is doing in your inner life.”
We spend so much time planning our journeys—telling God and anyone who will listen where we are going to go and how we will get there. We buy maps, travel insurance, and hatch complicated analyses of the best and proper way to go about doing things. And all of this is well and good, when we are, first of all, in touch with the inner plot already going on in our hearts and spirits. Most of us, I fear, really like running the projector—determining which movie will play next, what time it will start, whether or not it needs an intermission, and when it will end.
But the story is already unfolding and Pentecost invites us to catch up, catch on, take fire, and take flight. Paul, in Romans 12:2, calls us to this journey in no uncertain terms: He says: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” And so God invites us into a story of saving grace, a journey that will end us in a much better place than we would end if we write our own scripts with no reference to the Spirit of God who has been filling our lives with grace and salvation, long before we came to understand. It also tells the story of God’s gradual transformation of our lives, our hearts, and our minds as we get in sync with what God is doing in our lives and in our world.
This leads us squarely back to our place in the midst of God’s exceeding abundance. I hope, by now, you have begun to take a serious look at what that means for your life and for the life of this church. This is a great relief to me as your pastor. I did not have to come to this pulpit this morning and make anything happen. The fact is, God started that long before I even began to listen to the still small voice that would eventually land me here. It is not up to me to bring down the tongues of fire, or initiate the rushing wind. God walks before me, around me and within me, and sends the light of understanding into all our hearts so that we can find where we are in this journey of transformation through the love and power of the Holy Spirit.
And so, here we are today listening to the still small voice and the rushing wind that both speak of God’s will for our lives. Here is where we catch up, catch on, take fire, and take flight—moving with the ease of a loved one invited to join God on a marvelous, miraculous journey of change, and growth, of grace and peace. Here is where we stop and listen, remind ourselves and each other that God is already at work in our hearts and our lives. Here is the Pentecost of the Heart—the move from old to new, from fear to love, from limits to possibility. Here is where the Spirit says “come!” and here is where we say “yes!” Amen and Amen.
1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. 5-11There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn't for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, "Aren't these all Galileans? How come we're hearing them talk in our various mother tongues? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; Visitors from Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene; Immigrants from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; even Cretans and Arabs!
"They're speaking our languages, describing God's mighty works!" 12Their heads were spinning; they couldn't make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: "What's going on here?" 13Others joked, "They're drunk on cheap wine."
14-21That's when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: "Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren't drunk as some of you suspect. They haven't had time to get drunk—it's only nine o'clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen:
"In the Last Days," God says, "I will pour out my Spirit
on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters;
Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams.
When the time comes, I'll pour out my Spirit
On those who serve me, men and women both, and they'll prophesy.
I'll set wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below,
Blood and fire and billowing smoke, the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Day of the Lord arrives, the Day tremendous and marvelous;
And whoever calls out for help to me, God, will be saved."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God of rushing winds and quiet whispers, speak to us in ways that we can hear. Nudge us, show us your path. Wake us up and get us moving, speaking and talking, sharing the good news of your reign of justice and peace. Amen
Rushing winds, wildfire, people speaking in different languages—this is quite a scene—this event we now call Pentecost. And the whole affair is finished off with Peter preaching and quoting the Old Testament prophet Joel—making some pretty wild predictions. You’ve got to figure that the folks, these devout Jews from many lands, who witnessed these events were pretty blown away, confused, perplexed. Why they thought that all the believers were drunk even so early in the morning. This was crazy behavior, behavior that inspired awe and fear and chaos. And so, in the midst of this wild scene, enters the Holy Spirit.
Jesus came quietly, as a tiny baby…was born like one of us, grew up like one of us, worked like one of us for the first 30 years of his life. And then spent the rest of his life teaching us about God, and life, and loving each other. He turned the world upside down with his teaching about justice and love; he conquered death in his resurrection and at his Ascension, just last week, Jesus promised “power from on high” to those who follow him. This power came anything but quietly, and it filled the followers with such grace and might that they went out from there and changed the world. The coming of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus promised, changed a miraculous story about a man who lived and died and lived again into the story of how the in-breaking of God’s rule of justice would change the world—when followers, of all ages, cultures and stations in life, went out from that place to spread the Good News.
And, then, we come along. God has been working all this time in the world, in the church, and in our lives. So Pentecost, for us, is not so much about gaining new power, but in recognizing the power already at work in our lives and, most of all, in our hearts. And while I am not limiting God—it is possible that God could send the Holy Spirit to us this day in tongues of fire and rushing winds, I do think that if we spend too much time looking at the ceiling we will miss the Truth—capital T—of the day.
Think of it like going to a movie. If you come late to a movie, the usher (in those places where they still have ushers) does not walk you in and then announce to everyone that you have arrived and, therefore, they are going to start the movie over. And, the usher certainly does not rush you to the projection booth (in those places where they still have those) and tell you that the whole crowd has been waiting for you to arrive so that you could run the projector and show the movie to everyone. No, you go in quietly and find your seat. And you “catch up” with where the movie is and all that has come before. I believe that “catching on” to what God, through the Holy Spirit, has been doing in our lives is a little bit like that.
We would be foolish to believe that today is the day that God starts working in our lives or in our church or in our world. For, in fact, God has been working in our lives and hearts since the beginning of time. We just need to catch up, catch on, take fire, and take flight. It is easy to get caught up in the outer plot of today’s story—it’s got all the visual effects of a great epic film. It is harder to tune in to the inner plot, but that is what God calls us to do. And the inner plot is the story of a journey, a journey of a heart turned to God. It’s the story of our coming to understand all that God has for us, and wills for us to be. It’s the story of our coming into God’s exceeding abundance in a real and tangible way. It’s the story of a people, a church, already at work with God’s help, becoming all that God would have the people of God to become. And we enter along the way on God’s timeline in this journey.
But, that’s not all. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about the power of the Holy Spirit removing any barriers between us and God. He compares us to Moses and the Israelites. You remember Moses. When he spoke to God, he put a veil over his face so that he could be in God’s presence without fear. And because the Israelites did not know that the story would end with Jesus, they had no real understanding of what God was saying to them. Paul insists that only through the power of Christ is that understanding made clear. In verses 16-18, Paul reveals the truth as he sees it: that when one turns to God, listens to the teachings of Jesus, accepts the Holy Spirit, there is freedom. And all of us, who live in this freedom, contemplating and living in God’s glory, are being transformed into all that God calls us to be.
And so, today, on this day called Pentecost, I invite all of us to enter into the journey, the inner plot that God is writing on each of our hearts every day that we are alive—whether or not we are aware of it. God’s grace is not dependent on our awareness in order to be present in our lives. God’s grace just is. Richard Heitzenrader, a Wesleyan scholar from Duke Divinity School defines this process through grace like this: “Grace is what God, by the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit, is doing in your inner life.”
We spend so much time planning our journeys—telling God and anyone who will listen where we are going to go and how we will get there. We buy maps, travel insurance, and hatch complicated analyses of the best and proper way to go about doing things. And all of this is well and good, when we are, first of all, in touch with the inner plot already going on in our hearts and spirits. Most of us, I fear, really like running the projector—determining which movie will play next, what time it will start, whether or not it needs an intermission, and when it will end.
But the story is already unfolding and Pentecost invites us to catch up, catch on, take fire, and take flight. Paul, in Romans 12:2, calls us to this journey in no uncertain terms: He says: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” And so God invites us into a story of saving grace, a journey that will end us in a much better place than we would end if we write our own scripts with no reference to the Spirit of God who has been filling our lives with grace and salvation, long before we came to understand. It also tells the story of God’s gradual transformation of our lives, our hearts, and our minds as we get in sync with what God is doing in our lives and in our world.
This leads us squarely back to our place in the midst of God’s exceeding abundance. I hope, by now, you have begun to take a serious look at what that means for your life and for the life of this church. This is a great relief to me as your pastor. I did not have to come to this pulpit this morning and make anything happen. The fact is, God started that long before I even began to listen to the still small voice that would eventually land me here. It is not up to me to bring down the tongues of fire, or initiate the rushing wind. God walks before me, around me and within me, and sends the light of understanding into all our hearts so that we can find where we are in this journey of transformation through the love and power of the Holy Spirit.
And so, here we are today listening to the still small voice and the rushing wind that both speak of God’s will for our lives. Here is where we catch up, catch on, take fire, and take flight—moving with the ease of a loved one invited to join God on a marvelous, miraculous journey of change, and growth, of grace and peace. Here is where we stop and listen, remind ourselves and each other that God is already at work in our hearts and our lives. Here is the Pentecost of the Heart—the move from old to new, from fear to love, from limits to possibility. Here is where the Spirit says “come!” and here is where we say “yes!” Amen and Amen.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
One Last Thing: Remember... 6-5-11
First Reading: Ephesians 1: 15-19
From the time I first heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of the holy ones, I have never stopped thanking God for you and remembering you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Savior Jesus Christ, the God of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to bring you to a rich knowledge of the Creator. I pray that God will enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope this call holds for you—the promised glories that God’s holy ones will inherit, and the infinitely great power that is exercised for us who believe. You can tell this from the strength of God’s power at work in Jesus.
Second Reading—The Gospel: Luke 44-53
Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke with I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled.” Then Jesus opened their minds to the understanding o f the scriptures, saying, “That is why the scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In the Messiah’s name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witness of all this.
Take note: I am sending forth what Abba God has promised to you. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high.” They Jesus took them to the outskirts of Bethany, and with upraised hands blessed the disciples. While blessing them, the savior left then and was carried up to heaven. The disciples worshiped the risen Christ and returned to Jerusalem full of joy. They were found in the Temple constantly, speaking the praises of God.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God, show us this day your will for us in all situations. Let us remember all that we know about You and your son, Jesus. And show us how to live and walk in the way of love and compassion and mercy. Amen
I am happy to announce that by the end of our story today, at long last, the disciples ‘get it’. And it’s a good thing because these disciples, who have not been the sharpest knives in the drawer throughout the last three years, are the very people to whom Jesus is entrusting the continuation of His earthly ministry. Indeed, Jesus speaks his last words to these disciples, words that would need to carry them through the planting of churches, spreading the word, and, ultimately great persecution.
So, let’s look first at the words. Most of us believe that last words are important words. We carefully craft goodbye speeches. Some of your favorite last words may have taken the form of that artfully crafted resignation letter from a job that you hated that may have sounded like this: I quit. And while I have your attention, here are a few things you should learn about running a business—dot, dot, dot…etc, etc, etc. In our personal lives, the last words that people say to us before they leave us either by distance or by death take on great significance. We all know of someone or perhaps ourselves who have lived with regret for last words spoken in anger. Terri and I try to end every single email or phone call with the words “I love you”, not just because we do love each other, but because we have a kind of unspoken agreement that should those be the last words one of us speaks to the other one, we want those words to be the right words.
When you are preparing for a leave-taking, you may spend several days crafting exactly what we want to say. I have to imagine that Jesus did the same—that last sermon had to have impact for the ages—enough spiritual meat to last for all time.
Last words are important words. Sometimes we do not know that those words are the last we will ever hear. It is unlikely that the disciples knew what was coming. But we must imagine that after Jesus ascended from their sight, they must have longed for a way to remember every syllable, every inflection of the words of this man who had taught them about life, and death, and living again.
Interestingly, if you ask people what were the last words of Jesus, they will often respond with “Father, forgive them” or “into thy hands I commend my spirit.” We know that Jesus spoke many words between Easter and this day of Ascension. But today, we look only at his last words. For this we re-visit our Gospel passage. In the version of the story we read today, Jesus says these words: “Remember the words I spoke when I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled. That is why the scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In the Messiah’s name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witness of all this. Take note: I am sending forth what Abba God has promised to you. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high.”
They walked out into the countryside and our writer tells us that in the midst of pronouncing a blessing upon them, Jesus is gone.
Let’s look at the words themselves: First Jesus calls them and us to remember all that He shared with them while He was still with them. He reminded them to remember how the words of Moses and the prophets were lived out through the events of His life—that is was prophesied that he would suffer and die and rise again. He reminded them that while it didn’t make sense to them at the time, it did make sense when they remembered His teaching.
He goes on to tell them that forgiveness of sins will be preached to everyone in His name. And he says: “you are witness of all this”. In some versions, the verb is active: “you are TO witness to all this”. And then he gives them his final directions: “Take note, or don’t fail to notice, that I am sending you what God has already promised. Stay here until you receive this gift of power from on high.” It is important for us to hear this story today, because it is the first half of the story that ends at Pentecost. Jesus leaves them on this day, ascending into the clouds; but they must still wait for the descending of the power from on high—the Holy Spirit—to come a week later. Is this one final test—to see if they will stay where he tells them to stay waiting for the gift? If it was, they passed.
What does all this have to do with us? I believe that God calls us all to be witnesses of these things and to witness of these things by our words, actions, and very lives. If we believe the same about Jesus, that we believe about ourselves and the people in our lives, last words are important. I am glad and somewhat relieved to discover that, at long last, the disciples truly understand. And that with power from on high waiting in the wings stayed put and followed the commands of their teacher and friend. The disciples, prior to the resurrection and just after, would have reached up and tried to grab Jesus’ robe as he ascended into the clouds. “Wait, wait, wait—we don’t get it—what are you trying to say? Don’t leave us—we need you, here with us.” I can almost see them throwing a little disciple temper tantrum—trying to control Jesus again.
But something happened to those disciples in the midst of Jesus’ final words. Jesus opened their eyes. And they allowed their eyes to be opened. In one of the great mysteries of the faith, these not-so-insightful disciples were finally ready for their eyes to be opened. I would suggest to you, that what happened to get them to the place where their eyes could be opened, was the pain, confusion, and despair that followed the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. The pain was real, it hurt to be confused and it felt awful to not know what happened. Even in the 40 days after the resurrection, their confusion surfaces time and time again. But they stick with it; they “sit with their feelings” as my AA friends say. They didn’t run away, they stayed through the hard part, and they out-lived the pain. And in the outliving of the pain comes the ability to see the glory. We see the story from the other side of the pain and it makes sense. And thus this mystery is not such a mystery after all—and their story is our story—the story of our lives—and we give witness to this to all who come after.
And as a church and as a people, we will face pain. We will see people we love go on to be with God. We will see relationships that we treasured fall apart. We will stand beside our own as they battle diseases large and small. We will hurt each other. But, we will come through it all to great victory, because that is the treasure that God in store for us. In the power of the Holy Spirit we will love each other through whatever we face as a people and as individuals and families. Today as we gather to sing our final prayer, take a look at that circle of friends whom God has placed in your life. The same disciples who slept through Jesus’ hour of agony in the garden were allowed to see the glory of His ascension into the clouds when His earthly story had come to an end. The same disciples—because they did what they had to do, through their confusion and despair and they become us—and we become them.
Before you think that I am ending this sermon today in the midst of despair and confusion, let me assure you that I am not. I am calling us to understand that our vision of who we are and will be are intimately tied up with and informed by all that we bring with us to the table. And we are all victorious, when we walk through the hard stuff to the other side—that the hard work is worth it—that growth and development of a church takes work—work that we are all prepared for through the working of the Holy Spirit. My prayer for you today is Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians: “I pray that the God of our Savior Jesus Christ, the God of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to bring you to a rich knowledge of the Creator. I pray that God will enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope this call holds for you—the promised glories that God’s holy ones will inherit, and the infinitely great power that is exercised for us who believe.” Exceeding abundance, indeed! Amen and amen!
From the time I first heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of the holy ones, I have never stopped thanking God for you and remembering you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Savior Jesus Christ, the God of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to bring you to a rich knowledge of the Creator. I pray that God will enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope this call holds for you—the promised glories that God’s holy ones will inherit, and the infinitely great power that is exercised for us who believe. You can tell this from the strength of God’s power at work in Jesus.
Second Reading—The Gospel: Luke 44-53
Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke with I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled.” Then Jesus opened their minds to the understanding o f the scriptures, saying, “That is why the scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In the Messiah’s name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witness of all this.
Take note: I am sending forth what Abba God has promised to you. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high.” They Jesus took them to the outskirts of Bethany, and with upraised hands blessed the disciples. While blessing them, the savior left then and was carried up to heaven. The disciples worshiped the risen Christ and returned to Jerusalem full of joy. They were found in the Temple constantly, speaking the praises of God.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God, show us this day your will for us in all situations. Let us remember all that we know about You and your son, Jesus. And show us how to live and walk in the way of love and compassion and mercy. Amen
I am happy to announce that by the end of our story today, at long last, the disciples ‘get it’. And it’s a good thing because these disciples, who have not been the sharpest knives in the drawer throughout the last three years, are the very people to whom Jesus is entrusting the continuation of His earthly ministry. Indeed, Jesus speaks his last words to these disciples, words that would need to carry them through the planting of churches, spreading the word, and, ultimately great persecution.
So, let’s look first at the words. Most of us believe that last words are important words. We carefully craft goodbye speeches. Some of your favorite last words may have taken the form of that artfully crafted resignation letter from a job that you hated that may have sounded like this: I quit. And while I have your attention, here are a few things you should learn about running a business—dot, dot, dot…etc, etc, etc. In our personal lives, the last words that people say to us before they leave us either by distance or by death take on great significance. We all know of someone or perhaps ourselves who have lived with regret for last words spoken in anger. Terri and I try to end every single email or phone call with the words “I love you”, not just because we do love each other, but because we have a kind of unspoken agreement that should those be the last words one of us speaks to the other one, we want those words to be the right words.
When you are preparing for a leave-taking, you may spend several days crafting exactly what we want to say. I have to imagine that Jesus did the same—that last sermon had to have impact for the ages—enough spiritual meat to last for all time.
Last words are important words. Sometimes we do not know that those words are the last we will ever hear. It is unlikely that the disciples knew what was coming. But we must imagine that after Jesus ascended from their sight, they must have longed for a way to remember every syllable, every inflection of the words of this man who had taught them about life, and death, and living again.
Interestingly, if you ask people what were the last words of Jesus, they will often respond with “Father, forgive them” or “into thy hands I commend my spirit.” We know that Jesus spoke many words between Easter and this day of Ascension. But today, we look only at his last words. For this we re-visit our Gospel passage. In the version of the story we read today, Jesus says these words: “Remember the words I spoke when I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled. That is why the scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In the Messiah’s name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witness of all this. Take note: I am sending forth what Abba God has promised to you. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high.”
They walked out into the countryside and our writer tells us that in the midst of pronouncing a blessing upon them, Jesus is gone.
Let’s look at the words themselves: First Jesus calls them and us to remember all that He shared with them while He was still with them. He reminded them to remember how the words of Moses and the prophets were lived out through the events of His life—that is was prophesied that he would suffer and die and rise again. He reminded them that while it didn’t make sense to them at the time, it did make sense when they remembered His teaching.
He goes on to tell them that forgiveness of sins will be preached to everyone in His name. And he says: “you are witness of all this”. In some versions, the verb is active: “you are TO witness to all this”. And then he gives them his final directions: “Take note, or don’t fail to notice, that I am sending you what God has already promised. Stay here until you receive this gift of power from on high.” It is important for us to hear this story today, because it is the first half of the story that ends at Pentecost. Jesus leaves them on this day, ascending into the clouds; but they must still wait for the descending of the power from on high—the Holy Spirit—to come a week later. Is this one final test—to see if they will stay where he tells them to stay waiting for the gift? If it was, they passed.
What does all this have to do with us? I believe that God calls us all to be witnesses of these things and to witness of these things by our words, actions, and very lives. If we believe the same about Jesus, that we believe about ourselves and the people in our lives, last words are important. I am glad and somewhat relieved to discover that, at long last, the disciples truly understand. And that with power from on high waiting in the wings stayed put and followed the commands of their teacher and friend. The disciples, prior to the resurrection and just after, would have reached up and tried to grab Jesus’ robe as he ascended into the clouds. “Wait, wait, wait—we don’t get it—what are you trying to say? Don’t leave us—we need you, here with us.” I can almost see them throwing a little disciple temper tantrum—trying to control Jesus again.
But something happened to those disciples in the midst of Jesus’ final words. Jesus opened their eyes. And they allowed their eyes to be opened. In one of the great mysteries of the faith, these not-so-insightful disciples were finally ready for their eyes to be opened. I would suggest to you, that what happened to get them to the place where their eyes could be opened, was the pain, confusion, and despair that followed the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. The pain was real, it hurt to be confused and it felt awful to not know what happened. Even in the 40 days after the resurrection, their confusion surfaces time and time again. But they stick with it; they “sit with their feelings” as my AA friends say. They didn’t run away, they stayed through the hard part, and they out-lived the pain. And in the outliving of the pain comes the ability to see the glory. We see the story from the other side of the pain and it makes sense. And thus this mystery is not such a mystery after all—and their story is our story—the story of our lives—and we give witness to this to all who come after.
And as a church and as a people, we will face pain. We will see people we love go on to be with God. We will see relationships that we treasured fall apart. We will stand beside our own as they battle diseases large and small. We will hurt each other. But, we will come through it all to great victory, because that is the treasure that God in store for us. In the power of the Holy Spirit we will love each other through whatever we face as a people and as individuals and families. Today as we gather to sing our final prayer, take a look at that circle of friends whom God has placed in your life. The same disciples who slept through Jesus’ hour of agony in the garden were allowed to see the glory of His ascension into the clouds when His earthly story had come to an end. The same disciples—because they did what they had to do, through their confusion and despair and they become us—and we become them.
Before you think that I am ending this sermon today in the midst of despair and confusion, let me assure you that I am not. I am calling us to understand that our vision of who we are and will be are intimately tied up with and informed by all that we bring with us to the table. And we are all victorious, when we walk through the hard stuff to the other side—that the hard work is worth it—that growth and development of a church takes work—work that we are all prepared for through the working of the Holy Spirit. My prayer for you today is Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians: “I pray that the God of our Savior Jesus Christ, the God of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to bring you to a rich knowledge of the Creator. I pray that God will enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope this call holds for you—the promised glories that God’s holy ones will inherit, and the infinitely great power that is exercised for us who believe.” Exceeding abundance, indeed! Amen and amen!
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