Welcoming Grace
Every year we gather here for our annual service in the park—the Sunday before the 4th of July. It’s the start of the community celebrations for the day where we as a country celebrate our independence and freedom. And as part of that celebration, the Community Club has organized many activities next weekend—craft fair, the parade, fireworks and many other ways that the community can gather together to celebrate…And any way that the community can get together to celebrate is a good thing and important for the life of the community. It is important work that the community club is doing, but it’s not only the community club’s job to celebrate the life of the community…
And here we are in the park as part of the celebration for the 4th of July. The theme this year for the festivities is “Freedom, the greatest gift.” Now clearly, the 4th of July is meant to celebrate national freedom and remember all those who have helped to ensure that we as American citizens have the freedoms that we so appreciate and celebrate. As an American citizen myself, I join in that celebrate and appreciation of the freedoms that I appreciate because of others’ sacrifices. And the theme for the 4th is meant to imply that national freedom that we celebrate…But, if I tell you a secret, will you promise to tell everyone? The freedom that we receive through Jesus Christ is much greater than anything else...
Paul writes about this freedom in his letter to the Romans. Now many evangelists will quote from this passage of Scripture to help convict people of their sins. Paul does write in this passage, “the wages of sin is death.” Which is true...the wages of sin is death. Sin causes death…And I don’t necessarily mean in a physical sense either…And first it would be important to define what sin is…Sin is anything that separates us from God…Whatever it is that separates you from God is sin…Now to be sure, the Bible does list some specifics about what is sin and what are some things that will separate us from God. God has laid out many laws and rules for God’s people to follow but not because God wants to be a dictator, but because God wants to be close to us. Now, to say that the wages of sin is death leaves us a place that really isn’t that pleasant…Because I mean really, let’s be honest…we all sin…we all fall short…Probably by the time you had your morning cup of coffee you committed some kind of sin…Sin is something that we all do…So, if we all sin and sin separates us from God…That’s kind of a bleak ending there…And fortunately, that’s not where Paul leaves us.
Because the message of the passage here is not that sin separates us from God, suck it up and deal with it…you’re going to be separated from God…Nor is that the message of the Gospel…That God sees our sins and turns God’s back on us…Actually it’s quite the contrary…The message of the Gospel is the way that God reached out to us again…
Throughout history, God was constantly trying to restore the relationship between God and God’s people…The relationship that was hurt because of sin…Throughout Scripture we have stories of God reaching out to God’s people…through appointing kings and judges…through calling prophets and priests…through leading God’s people to the promised land…through providing manna in the wilderness…The Bible contains many stories of God trying to reach out to God’s people and repair that relationship between God & God’s people…And every time that God tried and it seemed as though that would be the time that took…Well…then along would come sin again and once again separate us from God…
When I had moved to Ohio, my best friend and I talked about once a week, and that trickled to maybe once a month and then slowly to nothing at all…After awhile, I tried to call and left messages for her, but didn’t get any response…So, I stopped calling…Our friendship seemed to be over…I have to say that I am so glad that God doesn’t act like I do…That God doesn’t give up on me…That God doesn’t give up on us, all God’s people…
Here’s the truth…Now, most people know John 3:16—“For God so loved the world that God sent God’s only son, so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It’s one that’s often quoted and one that you may have memorized as a child…And here’s the good news in that…That God loves the whole world so much that God was willing to put on human flesh and live among God’s people…God was willing to go as far as possible to restore this relationship that God put on flesh and dwelt among us in the form of Jesus…Jesus, being the only perfect human being, being that Jesus was fully human and fully divine meant that it was only Jesus who could restore the relationship between God & God’s people…Jesus took on the sins of the world—all those things that separate us from God…Jesus took them all…So that we might be able to have that right relationship with God…
That’s the freedom that we have through Jesus…Jesus died and rose from the dead 3 days later…Death couldn’t hold Jesus—Jesus defeated death…Through Jesus Christ we are no longer slaves to sin and death…That’s Good News! That’s the message of the Gospel…That’s true freedom!
Now, some of you may be thinking…Okay Melissa, that’s true, but Paul also says in his letter that we’re free from sin, but enslaved to God…So, how is that really free? Well, that’s true—we are free from sin, but enslaved to God…Being free from sin doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want and run around willy nilly! It doesn’t mean that we are perfect people either, that if we accept this freedom through Jesus that makes it impossible to sin…We are enslaved to God…By being freed from sin & death, we are offered a new way of living…One that keeps us in communion with God, the people of God, and all the saints on earth and heaven…So, it’s not a freedom that casts us into chaos, but one that places us in the order that God intended…
Grace is talked about much in the United Methodist faith…John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement talked about grace in 3 different ways or forms…Prevenient, Justifying, and Sanctifying…Grace is offered to us free, without a price…it is the unmerited favor of God…the unmerited love of God.
We are surrounded by prevenient grace from the time we are conceived. In Jeremiah 1:5, God tells Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” This prevenient grace means that we are constantly provided with support from God to choose to draw near and cast off our sin. This grace does not guarantee salvation, but rather offers the gift of salvation to all. This means that there is an opportunity to turn away from grace; because we have been given free will, there is opportunity to “walk away” from God and from the grace provided. Prevenient grace is what God does to lead us into an awakening of the image of God and causes us to repent. For me, my awakening came gradually. I was raised in the church and can’t remember a time that we didn’t participate in worship or Sunday school. When I was in first grade, the Sunday school teacher told us that we needed to pray and ask forgiveness and that was the first time that I remember asking God for forgiveness. When we repent of our sins, we enter into justification.
Justification happens through God. Justification is what God does for us, what we could not do for ourselves, to purify ourselves or to be made “right” or “just” before God. We accept the grace that God gives us and recognize the authority and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Justifying grace is the work of the Holy Spirit, when we say “yes” to the call of prevenient grace. After a mission trip, I can recall waiting at the railing for communion and feeling overwhelmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. In that moment, I felt God’s grace and forgiveness wash over me and I was called into a renewal of my commitment to God. As we grow into grace and move on towards perfection, we begin sanctification with God.
Sanctification is what God does with us as we continue to move toward on to perfection. Going on to perfection is that constant journey to achieve holiness with God’s help. Perfection is something that we can strive to achieve in our physical life and something that we should constantly be working towards. This perfection can be achieved through the means of grace, but it can also be hindered in our own backsliding, in our own sin. As I continue to grow in grace, I have been convicted of sins of injustice and oppression. As I continue to seek ways of working for justice, I recognize where in my life, I have participated in oppression without my knowledge. Through God’s grace I have become aware and through God’s grace, I join in the work of God to share God’s message of grace and love to all people.
Through the grace of God we are offered true freedom…it’s an amazing gift…What will you choose to do with this gift? Will you accept it? Will you welcome this grace? It’s there for you to accept—no questions asked…Join in this true freedom…Listen to the call from God…As we come to the table this morning to taste the grace of God through communion, listen to the cry from God…the cry from God to be in relationship with us, because God loves us that much…Let us welcome the grace together….
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
United Methodists Declare Victory for Farm Workers
United Methodists Declare Victory for Farm Workers
United Methodists declare victory for farm workers
Burger King to pay more for tomatoes in Florida
(UMNS) — United Methodists are celebrating a victory for farm workers following an agreement last month by Burger King Corp. to pay more for tomatoes picked by workers in Florida.
The second largest fast-food chain in the United States agreed to pay an extra 1.5 cents per pound for tomatoes picked in Florida. One penny of the increase will go for wages, and a half cent will fund incremental payroll taxes and administrative costs to encourage grower participation in the pact.
The May 23 agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers roughly doubles the earnings of the Florida workers. It also offers protection to farm workers who have been subjected to abuse from growers, according to Brigitte Gynther, Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida.
United Methodists in Florida have worked to bring about change for farm workers laboring in harsh conditions.
United Methodists in Florida have worked with both the coalition and Interfaith Action to bring about change for farm workers laboring in harsh conditions for as little as $50 a day.
The coalition already has similar agreements with McDonald's Corp. and Taco Bell owner Yum Brands Inc. The United Methodist Church supported a boycott against Taco Bell that ended in March 2005 when the fast-food chain agreed to the one-cent increase.
’Huge victory'
United Methodist leaders lauded the pact with Burger King.
Bishop Timothy Whitaker, episcopal leader of the church's Florida Area, commended Burger King for its pledge to be a leader in improving the working conditions of farm laborers. "Many United Methodists have been praying for this outcome, and we shall share with others our appreciation for the leadership Burger King is demonstrating," he said.
Melinda Trotti, director of justice and spirituality ministries for the church's Florida Conference, called the agreement a huge victory. "I started crying when I heard the news," she said. "You work hard and you don't always get good news, but this is really good, big news."
You work hard and you don't always get good news, but this is really good, big news.
John Hill, an executive with the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society, said the agreement marks another step in the march to justice for all workers. "Today, we celebrate the great work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in securing better working conditions and wages for the workers of Immokalee, Fla., and recommit our efforts to live into The United Methodist Church’s vision of a living wage in every industry," he said.
The denomination's social action agency signed a letter sent to Burger King's corporate office in Miami calling for the penny increase, a code of conduct and a voice for farm workers in uncovering farm labor abuses.
Investigation into conditions
A congressional hearing held in April called for an investigation into farm worker conditions in Florida.
Gynther said there have been reports that workers have been locked in trucks and even chained at times. "Instead of paychecks, their bosses would deduct for rent, food and $5 for showers with a garden hose," she said. One case is under federal investigation using anti-slavery laws dating back to the Civil War.
In November 2007, thousands of people of faith brought more than 85,000 petitions to the Burger King headquarters. The march started with a prayer breakfast hosted by First United Methodist Church, Miami.
Trotti said many advocates for the farm workers are young people. "These are really amazing young people who are working alongside the workers," she said. "They believe this is what you should do as a Christian. You should really take seriously Jesus' call to take care of those who don't have their own voices. “They are doing it and they are being successful."
Editor’s note: This article was written by Kathy Gilbert, a United Methodist News Service writer based in Nashville.
United Methodists declare victory for farm workers
Burger King to pay more for tomatoes in Florida
(UMNS) — United Methodists are celebrating a victory for farm workers following an agreement last month by Burger King Corp. to pay more for tomatoes picked by workers in Florida.
The second largest fast-food chain in the United States agreed to pay an extra 1.5 cents per pound for tomatoes picked in Florida. One penny of the increase will go for wages, and a half cent will fund incremental payroll taxes and administrative costs to encourage grower participation in the pact.
The May 23 agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers roughly doubles the earnings of the Florida workers. It also offers protection to farm workers who have been subjected to abuse from growers, according to Brigitte Gynther, Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida.
United Methodists in Florida have worked to bring about change for farm workers laboring in harsh conditions.
United Methodists in Florida have worked with both the coalition and Interfaith Action to bring about change for farm workers laboring in harsh conditions for as little as $50 a day.
The coalition already has similar agreements with McDonald's Corp. and Taco Bell owner Yum Brands Inc. The United Methodist Church supported a boycott against Taco Bell that ended in March 2005 when the fast-food chain agreed to the one-cent increase.
’Huge victory'
United Methodist leaders lauded the pact with Burger King.
Bishop Timothy Whitaker, episcopal leader of the church's Florida Area, commended Burger King for its pledge to be a leader in improving the working conditions of farm laborers. "Many United Methodists have been praying for this outcome, and we shall share with others our appreciation for the leadership Burger King is demonstrating," he said.
Melinda Trotti, director of justice and spirituality ministries for the church's Florida Conference, called the agreement a huge victory. "I started crying when I heard the news," she said. "You work hard and you don't always get good news, but this is really good, big news."
You work hard and you don't always get good news, but this is really good, big news.
John Hill, an executive with the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society, said the agreement marks another step in the march to justice for all workers. "Today, we celebrate the great work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in securing better working conditions and wages for the workers of Immokalee, Fla., and recommit our efforts to live into The United Methodist Church’s vision of a living wage in every industry," he said.
The denomination's social action agency signed a letter sent to Burger King's corporate office in Miami calling for the penny increase, a code of conduct and a voice for farm workers in uncovering farm labor abuses.
Investigation into conditions
A congressional hearing held in April called for an investigation into farm worker conditions in Florida.
Gynther said there have been reports that workers have been locked in trucks and even chained at times. "Instead of paychecks, their bosses would deduct for rent, food and $5 for showers with a garden hose," she said. One case is under federal investigation using anti-slavery laws dating back to the Civil War.
In November 2007, thousands of people of faith brought more than 85,000 petitions to the Burger King headquarters. The march started with a prayer breakfast hosted by First United Methodist Church, Miami.
Trotti said many advocates for the farm workers are young people. "These are really amazing young people who are working alongside the workers," she said. "They believe this is what you should do as a Christian. You should really take seriously Jesus' call to take care of those who don't have their own voices. “They are doing it and they are being successful."
Editor’s note: This article was written by Kathy Gilbert, a United Methodist News Service writer based in Nashville.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
In the Secret
In the Secret
I have something to tell you…There are some stories in the Bible that are messy…They don’t have a clear cut moral lesson or if they do, it might be one that we don’t like…Sometimes there are stories that seem to go against what we believe God’s character to be…Sometimes there are stories that make us uncomfortable…Sometimes there are stories that are disturbing…These stories aren’t limited to one book or section, but there are some of them scattered all throughout Scripture…
So, what do we do with these stories? Well, we can ignore them and pretend like they don’t exist and skip over them when we read Scripture…We can explain them away as something that was cultural of the time, but holds no relevance for us today…Both of which are things that people do with these messy stories…But neither of those options are very helpful…That could mean that we avoid quite a few stories in the Bible and it also means that we think that much of the Bible doesn’t apply to our lives or how we understand God…So, what do we do with them? Well, we try and wrestle with them the best we can to better understand God…Sometimes the wrestling is uncomfortable, but in the end it makes our faith stronger.
We have just one such story this morning…The story of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Hagar, & Ishmael…This is a very messy story…Let’s see if we can wrestle with some of it…
Abraham was chosen by God to be the founder of what would become the Jewish people…He and his wife Sarah were called out of their home to go a place where God had chosen and it was promised that a great nation would come from Abraham…His descendants would outnumber the stars. So, he and Sarah picked up their lives and moved and they tried to follow everything that God called and said…And it took them in places and doing things that they had never thought possible! Well, along their journey together, the promise of descendants to Abraham was something that truly stuck and became more troublesome as Abraham and Sarah tried to have children and Sarah was not able to get pregnant…Their struggle to deal with all of the emotions and pain of not being able to conceive a child was not an easy journey and it brought Sarah in particular a lot of pain…She wanted to have children, but she also wanted Abraham to have children…So, she offered Abraham her maidservant Hagar for Abraham & Hagar to have children together…Now clearly this was before our modern technology of surrogacy or in vitro to get pregnant…Instead, Abraham & Hagar had an affair with Sarah’s blessing…Now, there are certainly cultural implications here…In that time polygamy was certainly practiced as men would have numerous wives and then concubines on top of that number…but this was a different situation…Sarah provided Hagar to Abraham for the soul purpose to have children because she could not…
Now one could certainly argue the selflessness of Sarah to do this…That she put aside all of her own emotions to make sure that Abraham had children…Which is true…But as our story continues, Sarah becomes less selfless…
Well, Abraham & Hagar do in fact conceive a child…a son and Ishmael is born. Ishmael is born to be Abraham’s first son…Now this also has a lot of implications because being the first son meant that Ishmael was entitled to the largest portion of inheritance from Abraham…money, land, homes, servants, livestock, you name it—Ishmael would get pretty much all of it! Which didn’t seem to be much of a problem…Until a miracle happened and Sarah conceived a child and Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah…Truly a miracle and a gift from God and Sarah and Abraham celebrated! Our passage for this morning picks up after the celebration of Isaac’s birth…
After the festival, Sarah sees Ishmael playing with Isaac…What was happening between them wasn’t completely clear…were they just playing? In one translation verse 9 is translated that Ishmael was mocking Isaac…Whatever was happening between Ishmael & Isaac made Sarah uncomfortable and angry…She didn’t want Ishmael to inherit anything above her son…She even spoke derogatory of Hagar as she told Abraham to cast out the slave woman because the child of that slave woman would not get anything above her son…Now there are many problems with that, but one of the problems being that Ishmael was also Abraham’s child…And Sarah’s request put Abraham in a very difficult position…He was being asked to throw his first born son out and pretend like he never existed…this son who was a miracle born because he and Sarah couldn’t have children…Sarah was now asking him to pretend like he never existed and send him away…
Maybe we can understand Sarah’s feelings…Ishmael was a reminder to her of Abraham & Hagar’s affair—although Sarah had given them her blessing…Ishmael was the reminder to Sarah that her son Isaac was not the first born son of Abraham…To see Ishmael & Hagar no doubt brought much pain to Sarah…But…Sarah’s selflessness seems to have faded when she asks Abraham to throw out Hagar and her child Ishmael…Ishmael wasn’t grown himself…he was just a child…
So, conflicted Abraham doesn’t know what to do…he loves Sarah and wants to do what she has asked, but it means throwing out his child…So, he goes in prayer to talk with God…And what does God say? God says to do what Sarah has asked…As if it weren’t messy enough…God tells Abraham to through out Hagar & Ishmael…Now, to try and understand why God would do that might be impossible…Clearly we are not God and can’t see things in the same way that God does…and that might be what makes us uncomfortable…because we can’t see the whole picture…God does assure Abraham that nothing will happen to this child—in fact God promises that God will make a great nation out of Ishmael…Maybe with that promise and assurance from God is what gives Abraham the strength to do what he does…Well, Abraham follows what God has said and he prepares water & food for Hagar and Ishmael and then sends them out in the wilderness…
Hagar & Ishmael wander for quite some time…long enough that the water and food run out…When the water runs out, Hagar knows what that means…they’re in the middle of the wilderness of the desert…when you run out of water it’s virtually a death sentence…She knows that she and Ishmael are facing their certain death, so she places Ishmael under the bushes so that he can die there…Then she goes far enough away that she can see where he is, but not close enough to care for him…She prays to God that she doesn’t see the death of her child…She would rather die first than watch her child die…I can’t possibly imagine what Hagar must have been thinking and feeling in that moment…The pain that she must have felt at knowing what was going to happen, the betrayal that she felt at the hands of the father of her child…Is the story messy enough yet?
In Hagar’s cries of pain and in Ishmael’s cries for water and for life…God hears them…God hears Ishmael’s cries…and then God repeats to Hagar the same promise that he made to Abraham…God will make a great nation out of Ishmael…He won’t die and to make that even clearer, God leads Ishmael & Hagar to a well with water where they both drink…
God cares for the outcasts, Ishmael & Hagar…the passage tells us that Ishmael did grow up to be very skilled with a bow and that he married an Egyptian woman…In other passages Ishmael & Isaac come back together to bury their father…But we don’t know much about Ishmael after this…
What we do know is that God is with him and that God will keep God’s promise to Ishmael…He will be made a great nation…Even in the messy situations, God is there…The desperate cries of Hagar in the middle of the wilderness were heard and they were given a response…God was with them…The reasons behind them being in the desert seem to be less important than the explanation that God was with and that God kept God’s promises…
The messy stories of Scripture are important because our life is messy too…In our lives there are stories of pain and heartbreak…There are stories of death, divorce, accidents, affairs, abuse, pain…In January 2004, Frank created a phenomenon as he handed out postcards to people and told them to write their secrets…Now, 4 years and 4 books later…hundreds of thousands of people flock to the postsecret website to see the new secrets posted every Sunday morning…There are funny secrets like someone confessing that they sing loud in the car…There are secrets of faith as people both share their affirmations of faith and there doubts…There are sad secrets as sometimes people recount that they wish they would have forgiven someone before they died…There are painful confessions as people confess having been raped or abused…There are real secrets…Now in these postcards—both the website and book, I should be clear to say that they’re not kid friendly…There are some very disturbing secrets shared with the world and in language that is not always acceptable…All of these secrets that are shared are messy…Because life is messy …And I would think that if Scripture was full of people with perfect lives and lives that held no conflict, I would think it would be very hard to relate to them and understand how our stories and our messy lives interact with God…
But God does hear all of our cries and keeps God’s covenant with us…That God will be with us in the middle of the wilderness…That God is with us in our secrets…That God is with us in the middle of the mess…
I have something to tell you…There are some stories in the Bible that are messy…They don’t have a clear cut moral lesson or if they do, it might be one that we don’t like…Sometimes there are stories that seem to go against what we believe God’s character to be…Sometimes there are stories that make us uncomfortable…Sometimes there are stories that are disturbing…These stories aren’t limited to one book or section, but there are some of them scattered all throughout Scripture…
So, what do we do with these stories? Well, we can ignore them and pretend like they don’t exist and skip over them when we read Scripture…We can explain them away as something that was cultural of the time, but holds no relevance for us today…Both of which are things that people do with these messy stories…But neither of those options are very helpful…That could mean that we avoid quite a few stories in the Bible and it also means that we think that much of the Bible doesn’t apply to our lives or how we understand God…So, what do we do with them? Well, we try and wrestle with them the best we can to better understand God…Sometimes the wrestling is uncomfortable, but in the end it makes our faith stronger.
We have just one such story this morning…The story of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Hagar, & Ishmael…This is a very messy story…Let’s see if we can wrestle with some of it…
Abraham was chosen by God to be the founder of what would become the Jewish people…He and his wife Sarah were called out of their home to go a place where God had chosen and it was promised that a great nation would come from Abraham…His descendants would outnumber the stars. So, he and Sarah picked up their lives and moved and they tried to follow everything that God called and said…And it took them in places and doing things that they had never thought possible! Well, along their journey together, the promise of descendants to Abraham was something that truly stuck and became more troublesome as Abraham and Sarah tried to have children and Sarah was not able to get pregnant…Their struggle to deal with all of the emotions and pain of not being able to conceive a child was not an easy journey and it brought Sarah in particular a lot of pain…She wanted to have children, but she also wanted Abraham to have children…So, she offered Abraham her maidservant Hagar for Abraham & Hagar to have children together…Now clearly this was before our modern technology of surrogacy or in vitro to get pregnant…Instead, Abraham & Hagar had an affair with Sarah’s blessing…Now, there are certainly cultural implications here…In that time polygamy was certainly practiced as men would have numerous wives and then concubines on top of that number…but this was a different situation…Sarah provided Hagar to Abraham for the soul purpose to have children because she could not…
Now one could certainly argue the selflessness of Sarah to do this…That she put aside all of her own emotions to make sure that Abraham had children…Which is true…But as our story continues, Sarah becomes less selfless…
Well, Abraham & Hagar do in fact conceive a child…a son and Ishmael is born. Ishmael is born to be Abraham’s first son…Now this also has a lot of implications because being the first son meant that Ishmael was entitled to the largest portion of inheritance from Abraham…money, land, homes, servants, livestock, you name it—Ishmael would get pretty much all of it! Which didn’t seem to be much of a problem…Until a miracle happened and Sarah conceived a child and Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah…Truly a miracle and a gift from God and Sarah and Abraham celebrated! Our passage for this morning picks up after the celebration of Isaac’s birth…
After the festival, Sarah sees Ishmael playing with Isaac…What was happening between them wasn’t completely clear…were they just playing? In one translation verse 9 is translated that Ishmael was mocking Isaac…Whatever was happening between Ishmael & Isaac made Sarah uncomfortable and angry…She didn’t want Ishmael to inherit anything above her son…She even spoke derogatory of Hagar as she told Abraham to cast out the slave woman because the child of that slave woman would not get anything above her son…Now there are many problems with that, but one of the problems being that Ishmael was also Abraham’s child…And Sarah’s request put Abraham in a very difficult position…He was being asked to throw his first born son out and pretend like he never existed…this son who was a miracle born because he and Sarah couldn’t have children…Sarah was now asking him to pretend like he never existed and send him away…
Maybe we can understand Sarah’s feelings…Ishmael was a reminder to her of Abraham & Hagar’s affair—although Sarah had given them her blessing…Ishmael was the reminder to Sarah that her son Isaac was not the first born son of Abraham…To see Ishmael & Hagar no doubt brought much pain to Sarah…But…Sarah’s selflessness seems to have faded when she asks Abraham to throw out Hagar and her child Ishmael…Ishmael wasn’t grown himself…he was just a child…
So, conflicted Abraham doesn’t know what to do…he loves Sarah and wants to do what she has asked, but it means throwing out his child…So, he goes in prayer to talk with God…And what does God say? God says to do what Sarah has asked…As if it weren’t messy enough…God tells Abraham to through out Hagar & Ishmael…Now, to try and understand why God would do that might be impossible…Clearly we are not God and can’t see things in the same way that God does…and that might be what makes us uncomfortable…because we can’t see the whole picture…God does assure Abraham that nothing will happen to this child—in fact God promises that God will make a great nation out of Ishmael…Maybe with that promise and assurance from God is what gives Abraham the strength to do what he does…Well, Abraham follows what God has said and he prepares water & food for Hagar and Ishmael and then sends them out in the wilderness…
Hagar & Ishmael wander for quite some time…long enough that the water and food run out…When the water runs out, Hagar knows what that means…they’re in the middle of the wilderness of the desert…when you run out of water it’s virtually a death sentence…She knows that she and Ishmael are facing their certain death, so she places Ishmael under the bushes so that he can die there…Then she goes far enough away that she can see where he is, but not close enough to care for him…She prays to God that she doesn’t see the death of her child…She would rather die first than watch her child die…I can’t possibly imagine what Hagar must have been thinking and feeling in that moment…The pain that she must have felt at knowing what was going to happen, the betrayal that she felt at the hands of the father of her child…Is the story messy enough yet?
In Hagar’s cries of pain and in Ishmael’s cries for water and for life…God hears them…God hears Ishmael’s cries…and then God repeats to Hagar the same promise that he made to Abraham…God will make a great nation out of Ishmael…He won’t die and to make that even clearer, God leads Ishmael & Hagar to a well with water where they both drink…
God cares for the outcasts, Ishmael & Hagar…the passage tells us that Ishmael did grow up to be very skilled with a bow and that he married an Egyptian woman…In other passages Ishmael & Isaac come back together to bury their father…But we don’t know much about Ishmael after this…
What we do know is that God is with him and that God will keep God’s promise to Ishmael…He will be made a great nation…Even in the messy situations, God is there…The desperate cries of Hagar in the middle of the wilderness were heard and they were given a response…God was with them…The reasons behind them being in the desert seem to be less important than the explanation that God was with and that God kept God’s promises…
The messy stories of Scripture are important because our life is messy too…In our lives there are stories of pain and heartbreak…There are stories of death, divorce, accidents, affairs, abuse, pain…In January 2004, Frank created a phenomenon as he handed out postcards to people and told them to write their secrets…Now, 4 years and 4 books later…hundreds of thousands of people flock to the postsecret website to see the new secrets posted every Sunday morning…There are funny secrets like someone confessing that they sing loud in the car…There are secrets of faith as people both share their affirmations of faith and there doubts…There are sad secrets as sometimes people recount that they wish they would have forgiven someone before they died…There are painful confessions as people confess having been raped or abused…There are real secrets…Now in these postcards—both the website and book, I should be clear to say that they’re not kid friendly…There are some very disturbing secrets shared with the world and in language that is not always acceptable…All of these secrets that are shared are messy…Because life is messy …And I would think that if Scripture was full of people with perfect lives and lives that held no conflict, I would think it would be very hard to relate to them and understand how our stories and our messy lives interact with God…
But God does hear all of our cries and keeps God’s covenant with us…That God will be with us in the middle of the wilderness…That God is with us in our secrets…That God is with us in the middle of the mess…
Monday, June 16, 2008
Radical Hospitality
Radical Hospitality
Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s been an awful long time since we’ve been together last…and it’s really only been a week, but in that time much has happened! There have been meetings to finish planning summer activities, looking toward the future, prayer, tears, laughter, pain shared, and hopes expressed…And yes, that really has been all in a week! As I sat down to quiet my busy mind and wrestle with these passages for this morning, the Spirit had much to say.
We start with the passage from Genesis…Genesis is the first book in the Bible…Many people know the stories from Genesis…Creation, Adam & Eve, Noah, Jacob & Esau…And of course Abraham. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all called the Abrahamic faiths because we all trace our roots back to Abraham…from Abraham is where it gets a little sticky, but we all can trace our roots back to Abraham.
This story is important to the Judeo-Christian story…or the Jewish & Christian story because this is the story where Sarah learns that she will have a baby—that baby is named Isaac…But before she has the baby, we have this story…
The beginning of our passage says that the Lord passed by Abraham’s tent, now that is an editorial comment that the author is making about what happened…Abraham didn’t know that God was passing by his tent, instead, Abraham looked up and saw 3 men standing near to him. Abraham is interrupted in the middle of the day by 3 strangers…Now think about yourself for a minute…if you were in the middle of something—work or something else…and 3 strangers approached your house, what would you do? Would you be skeptical—what are these people selling? Would you be annoyed—what are these people doing here? Would you be frustrated—these people are interrupting my good stride! Well, Abraham could have had all of those thoughts…but do you know what he did instead of being skeptical, annoyed, or frustrated? He got up and ran to the entrance of the tent and dropped to his knees and he said, “do not pass me by…here’s some water, wash your feet, and rest under the tree, and I’ll bring you some bread.”
Instead of asking what these men were doing there or giving them the 3rd degree, he drops everything that he’s doing to take care of all of their needs…He makes sure that they have water, that they can wash their feet, that they have a place to rest, and that they have something to eat…He drops everything that he was doing to take care of these visitors…these guests…And really not just him, but he makes everyone in his house drop everything that they were doing to take care of these visitors…these guests…
Have you experienced hospitality like that? That radical hospitality? That’s an amazing gift that Abraham has to provide that kind of hospitality, but it’s not a gift that only Abraham has! I have friends who own a Bed & Breakfast in West Virginia and that’s what they view as their whole ministry…the ministry of hospitality. Whenever I visit, I am continually humbled by their hospitality…be it a fresh pot of coffee, gourmet cooking, mints on your pillow, bubble bath, candles, maps, driving services, fires in the fireplace, temperature control…My goodness…The way that they care fore others is truly amazing and something that I have learned from watching them. Maybe you know people like that…people who practice that radical hospitality…
Abraham practiced that radical hospitality and he had no reservations…He did it because these were guests. Now, in those times, taking care of guests had a little bit more emphasis than it does in our culture. There are many stories in the Bible about hospitality and literally how people put their own lives on the line because they were interested in caring for their guests…Much of it had to do with never knowing who you were caring for…Much like last week in asking the question, “What if God was one of us?” These people treated every guest as though it were an angel or God in disguise…because you just never know…
Well, because we know the whole story we do know that the visitors to Abraham weren’t just any guests…they were special…As the guests are leaving, full and satisfied, they asked about Abraham’s wife, Sarah. Then, they told Abraham that Sarah was going to have a baby…
Why was this such a big deal? Well, Abraham & Sarah had been wanting to have a child for a long time…Both had given up hope because they were both in their old age…This just didn’t seem possible! Sarah sure didn’t think so either…As she listened to these men share this news, laughed…Sarah laughed at what was being promised…She didn’t believe that it could be possible and so she laughed. Now it’s a beautiful thing that Sarah laughed because there aren’t many people in the Bible that are recorded as having laughed…But Sarah laughed at this news that she would have a son in her old age…Abraham didn’t laugh…Abraham took this blessing from his guests seriously and he prepared for the birth of his & Sarah’s son.
Later God asked Abraham—why did Sarah laugh? Why didn’t she believe? Doesn’t she know that anything is possible through God? That if I promise that she will have a son, then she will have a son! And Sarah’s response… “I didn’t laugh!” And God’s response to her? “Oh yes, you did.”
That’s such a beautiful response…and I can think of how many times a child is trying to get out of being in trouble and they deny what they know that they have done wrong… and Sarah says, “I didn’t laugh!” I mean seriously…do you really think that was going to go over with God? That God would say, “Oh, I must have been mistaken! You’re right, you didn’t laugh!”? But instead of fury with Sarah, all God says is “Oh yes you did.” Nothing else is needed…Just a simple, I know…
Now it’s important to remember that Sarah laughed for many reasons! But, one of the reasons is the name of the son that will be born to her…Isaac…In Hebrew the name is Yitzhakah…which kind of sounds like a little laugh in the first place…But, it also means… “She who laughs.” Isaac is named after Sarah’s laughter…
And this whole story started off with Abraham treating his guests as though they were the most important people in the world…Now, again, we know that it was God, but Abraham didn’t…He didn’t know who was visiting him, but he dropped everything to care for these guests…Then, he took their blessing seriously…
What lessons we can learn from Abraham…We can certainly learn the lesson of hospitality and that is clear…As is written in the letter to the Hebrews 13:2—what does it mean to entertain angels unaware? And what if we all took that a step farther?
And it’s really not a step farther, but just emphasizing that every person is a guest…And we treated all people as guests…Because you just never know…Jesus was a guest…He was in the world just a short time…John tells us the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…The Word pitched it’s tent and dwelt among us…Jesus pitched his tent and dwelt among us…What if we treated each and every person as though they were a guest? Because honestly, don’t we treat guests just a little bit better? We get them water, wash their feet, get them a place to sit, something to eat…we care for them.
Treating everyone as a guest is something that we can do in our daily lives and in our own homes, in our cars, in the stores…and something that we can do in the church…treating each and every person as what they are…a precious child of God…an honored guest…Because you just never know who we might be entertaining…
Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s been an awful long time since we’ve been together last…and it’s really only been a week, but in that time much has happened! There have been meetings to finish planning summer activities, looking toward the future, prayer, tears, laughter, pain shared, and hopes expressed…And yes, that really has been all in a week! As I sat down to quiet my busy mind and wrestle with these passages for this morning, the Spirit had much to say.
We start with the passage from Genesis…Genesis is the first book in the Bible…Many people know the stories from Genesis…Creation, Adam & Eve, Noah, Jacob & Esau…And of course Abraham. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all called the Abrahamic faiths because we all trace our roots back to Abraham…from Abraham is where it gets a little sticky, but we all can trace our roots back to Abraham.
This story is important to the Judeo-Christian story…or the Jewish & Christian story because this is the story where Sarah learns that she will have a baby—that baby is named Isaac…But before she has the baby, we have this story…
The beginning of our passage says that the Lord passed by Abraham’s tent, now that is an editorial comment that the author is making about what happened…Abraham didn’t know that God was passing by his tent, instead, Abraham looked up and saw 3 men standing near to him. Abraham is interrupted in the middle of the day by 3 strangers…Now think about yourself for a minute…if you were in the middle of something—work or something else…and 3 strangers approached your house, what would you do? Would you be skeptical—what are these people selling? Would you be annoyed—what are these people doing here? Would you be frustrated—these people are interrupting my good stride! Well, Abraham could have had all of those thoughts…but do you know what he did instead of being skeptical, annoyed, or frustrated? He got up and ran to the entrance of the tent and dropped to his knees and he said, “do not pass me by…here’s some water, wash your feet, and rest under the tree, and I’ll bring you some bread.”
Instead of asking what these men were doing there or giving them the 3rd degree, he drops everything that he’s doing to take care of all of their needs…He makes sure that they have water, that they can wash their feet, that they have a place to rest, and that they have something to eat…He drops everything that he was doing to take care of these visitors…these guests…And really not just him, but he makes everyone in his house drop everything that they were doing to take care of these visitors…these guests…
Have you experienced hospitality like that? That radical hospitality? That’s an amazing gift that Abraham has to provide that kind of hospitality, but it’s not a gift that only Abraham has! I have friends who own a Bed & Breakfast in West Virginia and that’s what they view as their whole ministry…the ministry of hospitality. Whenever I visit, I am continually humbled by their hospitality…be it a fresh pot of coffee, gourmet cooking, mints on your pillow, bubble bath, candles, maps, driving services, fires in the fireplace, temperature control…My goodness…The way that they care fore others is truly amazing and something that I have learned from watching them. Maybe you know people like that…people who practice that radical hospitality…
Abraham practiced that radical hospitality and he had no reservations…He did it because these were guests. Now, in those times, taking care of guests had a little bit more emphasis than it does in our culture. There are many stories in the Bible about hospitality and literally how people put their own lives on the line because they were interested in caring for their guests…Much of it had to do with never knowing who you were caring for…Much like last week in asking the question, “What if God was one of us?” These people treated every guest as though it were an angel or God in disguise…because you just never know…
Well, because we know the whole story we do know that the visitors to Abraham weren’t just any guests…they were special…As the guests are leaving, full and satisfied, they asked about Abraham’s wife, Sarah. Then, they told Abraham that Sarah was going to have a baby…
Why was this such a big deal? Well, Abraham & Sarah had been wanting to have a child for a long time…Both had given up hope because they were both in their old age…This just didn’t seem possible! Sarah sure didn’t think so either…As she listened to these men share this news, laughed…Sarah laughed at what was being promised…She didn’t believe that it could be possible and so she laughed. Now it’s a beautiful thing that Sarah laughed because there aren’t many people in the Bible that are recorded as having laughed…But Sarah laughed at this news that she would have a son in her old age…Abraham didn’t laugh…Abraham took this blessing from his guests seriously and he prepared for the birth of his & Sarah’s son.
Later God asked Abraham—why did Sarah laugh? Why didn’t she believe? Doesn’t she know that anything is possible through God? That if I promise that she will have a son, then she will have a son! And Sarah’s response… “I didn’t laugh!” And God’s response to her? “Oh yes, you did.”
That’s such a beautiful response…and I can think of how many times a child is trying to get out of being in trouble and they deny what they know that they have done wrong… and Sarah says, “I didn’t laugh!” I mean seriously…do you really think that was going to go over with God? That God would say, “Oh, I must have been mistaken! You’re right, you didn’t laugh!”? But instead of fury with Sarah, all God says is “Oh yes you did.” Nothing else is needed…Just a simple, I know…
Now it’s important to remember that Sarah laughed for many reasons! But, one of the reasons is the name of the son that will be born to her…Isaac…In Hebrew the name is Yitzhakah…which kind of sounds like a little laugh in the first place…But, it also means… “She who laughs.” Isaac is named after Sarah’s laughter…
And this whole story started off with Abraham treating his guests as though they were the most important people in the world…Now, again, we know that it was God, but Abraham didn’t…He didn’t know who was visiting him, but he dropped everything to care for these guests…Then, he took their blessing seriously…
What lessons we can learn from Abraham…We can certainly learn the lesson of hospitality and that is clear…As is written in the letter to the Hebrews 13:2—what does it mean to entertain angels unaware? And what if we all took that a step farther?
And it’s really not a step farther, but just emphasizing that every person is a guest…And we treated all people as guests…Because you just never know…Jesus was a guest…He was in the world just a short time…John tells us the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…The Word pitched it’s tent and dwelt among us…Jesus pitched his tent and dwelt among us…What if we treated each and every person as though they were a guest? Because honestly, don’t we treat guests just a little bit better? We get them water, wash their feet, get them a place to sit, something to eat…we care for them.
Treating everyone as a guest is something that we can do in our daily lives and in our own homes, in our cars, in the stores…and something that we can do in the church…treating each and every person as what they are…a precious child of God…an honored guest…Because you just never know who we might be entertaining…
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Laying the Foundation
Laying the Foundation
Beginning the Sunday after Pentecost, we start the season in the church known as “ordinary time.” That means nothing more than there really isn’t a major holiday coming soon…we’ve been in the season of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and now ordinary time…Now, there would be some who would say, “ordinary time? Sounds boring…Good time to miss church for awhile…” But ordinary time is also a good time to reconnect, refresh, and rejuvenate…To find ways to get “on the right track” or lay the foundation…The foundation of faith…
Our passage from Matthew comes toward the end of the teaching section of Matthew known as the Sermon on the Mount…Matthew puts together all of the teachings of Jesus into this one section, where other Gospels like Luke & Mark have them spread out throughout Jesus’ ministry and travels…Matthew’s intent may have been to show how Jesus’ teachings layer upon themselves or how they are so important that they need their own section…Another reason could be that Matthew saw Jesus as the “new Moses”…the one who would lead God’s people to freedom…the one who had seen God face-to-face…And just as Moses stood on Mount Siani and shared the commandments from God…Now Jesus stands on a mount and shares teachings…Part of the reason that this is so important for Matthew is because Matthew is writing for a Jewish audience—and to help the audience understand who Jesus is, he likens him to a person that they would know, trust, and revere…Moses…Now, there are many ways that Jesus is not like Moses and goes beyond where Moses could…Matthew explores that throughout his Gospel in order to explain who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for all the children of God.
The Sermon on the Mount has many important teachings—the beatitudes, the Lord’s prayer, the greatest commandments, many of the teachings of Jesus that we know…and toward the end of the section of teaching, Jesus is wrapping up and he tells the parable of building the house.
There was a person who built their house on rock and the floods came, the wind blew, and the rain came and the house didn’t fall because the house had been built on the rock…but there was also a person who built their house on sand and the floods came, the wind blew, and the rain came and the house fell and it’s fall was great…
Jesus explains in this section that he’s likening the parable of building the house to listening to his teachings…Those who listen to his teachings and follow them are like the one who built their house on the rock…those who don’t listen and don’t follow his teachings are like the one who built their house on the sand. When you build a building, it’s always important to have a good foundation…the taller the building, the more important the foundation becomes…
Just like our lives…we need to build a strong foundation in Jesus’ teachings…Otherwise the floods will come, the wind will blow, the rain will fall…and what will happen?
So, how do we build this foundation? Well, there are many ways to build the foundation, but most importantly the foundation must be laid…it can begin to be laid in worship…by worshiping God and celebrating where God has present in our lives, where our joys and pains have been…But even more than worship, which is very clearly important…but being involved in daily prayer, reading the Bible, being in a small group, getting involved in Bible study…there are many ways to have the foundation of faith strengthened by simply being involved in faith everyday…beginning the day with prayer, and keeping that dialogue with God open throughout the day…
In Jesus’ parable, he doesn’t say that the one who built the house on the rock didn’t see the floods come or the wind blow…those came just the same…but with the foundation, it was easier to weather the storm…Just like our faith…Because we have faith doesn’t mean that we don’t experience the struggles and pains of life or that bad things don’t happen because we follow the teachings of Jesus…They certainly do…but, because we have a stronger foundation, it will be easier to weather the storms…either because of what we know to be true from Jesus or the addition support that we receive from other believers.
The foundation of faith is so important…it’s what everything is built upon…
Beginning the Sunday after Pentecost, we start the season in the church known as “ordinary time.” That means nothing more than there really isn’t a major holiday coming soon…we’ve been in the season of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and now ordinary time…Now, there would be some who would say, “ordinary time? Sounds boring…Good time to miss church for awhile…” But ordinary time is also a good time to reconnect, refresh, and rejuvenate…To find ways to get “on the right track” or lay the foundation…The foundation of faith…
Our passage from Matthew comes toward the end of the teaching section of Matthew known as the Sermon on the Mount…Matthew puts together all of the teachings of Jesus into this one section, where other Gospels like Luke & Mark have them spread out throughout Jesus’ ministry and travels…Matthew’s intent may have been to show how Jesus’ teachings layer upon themselves or how they are so important that they need their own section…Another reason could be that Matthew saw Jesus as the “new Moses”…the one who would lead God’s people to freedom…the one who had seen God face-to-face…And just as Moses stood on Mount Siani and shared the commandments from God…Now Jesus stands on a mount and shares teachings…Part of the reason that this is so important for Matthew is because Matthew is writing for a Jewish audience—and to help the audience understand who Jesus is, he likens him to a person that they would know, trust, and revere…Moses…Now, there are many ways that Jesus is not like Moses and goes beyond where Moses could…Matthew explores that throughout his Gospel in order to explain who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for all the children of God.
The Sermon on the Mount has many important teachings—the beatitudes, the Lord’s prayer, the greatest commandments, many of the teachings of Jesus that we know…and toward the end of the section of teaching, Jesus is wrapping up and he tells the parable of building the house.
There was a person who built their house on rock and the floods came, the wind blew, and the rain came and the house didn’t fall because the house had been built on the rock…but there was also a person who built their house on sand and the floods came, the wind blew, and the rain came and the house fell and it’s fall was great…
Jesus explains in this section that he’s likening the parable of building the house to listening to his teachings…Those who listen to his teachings and follow them are like the one who built their house on the rock…those who don’t listen and don’t follow his teachings are like the one who built their house on the sand. When you build a building, it’s always important to have a good foundation…the taller the building, the more important the foundation becomes…
Just like our lives…we need to build a strong foundation in Jesus’ teachings…Otherwise the floods will come, the wind will blow, the rain will fall…and what will happen?
So, how do we build this foundation? Well, there are many ways to build the foundation, but most importantly the foundation must be laid…it can begin to be laid in worship…by worshiping God and celebrating where God has present in our lives, where our joys and pains have been…But even more than worship, which is very clearly important…but being involved in daily prayer, reading the Bible, being in a small group, getting involved in Bible study…there are many ways to have the foundation of faith strengthened by simply being involved in faith everyday…beginning the day with prayer, and keeping that dialogue with God open throughout the day…
In Jesus’ parable, he doesn’t say that the one who built the house on the rock didn’t see the floods come or the wind blow…those came just the same…but with the foundation, it was easier to weather the storm…Just like our faith…Because we have faith doesn’t mean that we don’t experience the struggles and pains of life or that bad things don’t happen because we follow the teachings of Jesus…They certainly do…but, because we have a stronger foundation, it will be easier to weather the storms…either because of what we know to be true from Jesus or the addition support that we receive from other believers.
The foundation of faith is so important…it’s what everything is built upon…
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