Watt Readers!
There is an exciting announcement between the Robert W. Rowe Library & Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Churches. We have developed a book club, one that will focus on contemporary popular fiction and non-fiction titles. The next book discussion will take place on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 from 7 to 8pm here at the library. This new book club is open to all adults who enjoy engaging in stimulating conversations about books and exchange perspectives about characters, plots and authors.
We will be reading & discussing John Irving’s book A Prayer for Owen Meany. This book inspired the movie Simon Birch. Join us on Tuesday, February 16 at 7pm and hear what your fellow readers have to say about this book. Copies will be available for checkout at the Robert W. Rowe library. For more information call the library at 815-496-2031 or the church office at 815-496-2021
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sunday, April 19, 2009
A Complaint Free World: Jubilee
Jubilee
Well, it’s our second Sunday of Easter…Just like Christmas, our celebration of Easter lasts longer than just one day…We celebrate the 50 days of Easter…The time between Easter Sunday and Pentecost…After Jesus rose from the dead, he spent time with the disciples before he ascended to heaven…During this time, Jesus ate, spoke, taught, and shared with his disciples and many of his followers. This Sunday also begins our Easter series—A Complaint Free World. And some have asked what in the world this is all about!
Well, if Lent is a time of trimming away all of those things in our lives that keep us from fully experiencing the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then Easter is a time of celebrating and fully experiencing the resurrection! And if Lent is a time when we give something up, then Easter is a time when we should start something new or take something on. So for the next 50 days, we are invited into the challenge to live in a complaint free world. Did you know that the average person complains 15-30 times a day? Have you ever counted how many times a day that you complain? So, during these 50 days of Easter, we are going to work at being complaint free…So, what does this have to do with Easter or the Gospel message? Well…
As happy as people were to hear that Jesus was indeed alive, there were just as many who weren’t sure what to make of everything. Last week, we heard about Mary Magdalene who didn’t recognize who Jesus was until he spoke her name…There were the other disciples too, who just looked in the tomb and saw Jesus was gone and they went back home…This week our story of Jesus takes us to his appearance to the disciples…
The disciples had gathered together in a home after Jesus’ death…They were probably together mourning the loss of their teacher and friend. As Mary Magdalene was at the tomb of Jesus, the disciples were gathered together—perhaps they were sharing stories of Jesus’ life with them, recalling his teachings, laughing together, crying together…When Mary Magdalene came and told them that Jesus’ body was gone Peter and another disciple ran to the tomb…As they returned to the house where the rest of the disciples were, Mary was having a conversation with Jesus…He told her that he was going to the rest of disciples and that she should tell them what she had seen and heard…
Jesus made due on his promises, like always and came into the house where the disciples were…John, the Gospel writer makes sure to point out that the doors to this house were locked when Jesus appeared to them…There was something different about this Jesus…He wasn’t quite the man that they had spent time with—something was different about him. Jesus’ resurrected body was different, but it was still a body…But we have these stories here to remind us that something is different—Mary didn’t recognize him until he spoke her name, but at that point she knew exactly who he was…and this resurrected Jesus can come into locked rooms… But lest they think that Jesus wasn’t really there and this was just some kind of spirit or something, Jesus showed them his wounds in his hands and his side. He showed him his physical body…
This was such an amazing experience for the disciples and as amazing as it would be to see their teacher and friend standing in front of them again—Jesus breathed on them and told them that they were to go out…Just as Jesus had been sent into the world, the disciples were sent into the world in the power of the Holy Spirit…They saw their Lord and Jesus sent them out into the world to continue the work that he had been doing.
As the disciples went out and started to do what Jesus had told them to do…There was one who was missing—Thomas…Many of us are familiar with Thomas—Doubting Thomas is how he’s usually known… The disciple who needed proof…The disciple who was invited to put his finger in Jesus’ wounds…We’re familiar with the story of Thomas…
Now just like many of the stories of the disciples, this is one of a disciple who takes just a little bit longer to understand what Jesus is doing or talking about…Jesus had been telling his disciples over and over what was going to happen—that he was going to die and rise again, but it just never made sense to the disciples because no one expected the Messiah to suffer and die, that just wasn’t something that they expected of the Messiah and as much as they didn’t expect that, they didn’t expect the Messiah or anyone to be resurrected in the middle of history! The Jewish people believed in resurrection and they expected resurrection to happen, but it was going to happen to everybody at the same time and not to one person in the middle of history…But that’s exactly what happened! And Thomas wasn’t with the disciples when they saw Jesus for the first time after he was raised…And he had a few questions…Wouldn’t you? Don’t you?
The disciples get a bad rap sometimes for just not getting it…But, how many times can you identify with the disciples? Confused about what Jesus is saying…Not wanting it to be real…Not wanting it to have to apply to us…We’re a lot more like the disciples than we want to believe…
Have you ever felt like Thomas? Have you ever doubted? Usually when something traumatic happens in our life, we start to question a lot of things…Sometimes that questioning leads to a questioning of our faith, a questioning of God, wanting to put our finger in the wounds…Have you ever doubted? Have you ever questioned? Thomas was out in the open about his doubts and questions—he was adamant about what he needed and wanted to see in order to believe…Have you ever been in a situation like Thomas? Thomas had just lost his friend and his teacher to a brutal killing…His leader Jesus had been whipped and crucified…He had to be devastated…In his devastation, he doubted and questioned…
I was a freshman in high school when I first met Jeremy, he was a junior…The very first time I had a conversation with him, he was babbling incoherently and wafted in and out of consciousness as he passed out on a friend’s shoulder as he mumbled about what drugs he had taken that morning…Over that year, we saw Jeremy spiral downward as he was kicked off the musical cast on opening night because he came to the show high…Over the summer, Jeremy was sent to a rehab by his family where he battled his addictions to drugs and when I was a senior in high school, he came back to school to complete his junior & senior years. There was such a change in him and he and I became pretty good friends that year as he dated one of my friends. In his recovery, Jeremy had grown in faith and he and I had many conversations about God & our faith. After my graduation, I started college and it just became harder to keep in touch…It wasn’t until I got an unexpected phone call that I realized that it had been almost a year since I had talked with him…A friend called to tell me that Jeremy had been killed in a car accident…He took a sharp curve too fast on a dark night and lost control…When I heard the news, I was angry and sad…As everything started to set in, I turned my anger to God…I was wrestling with my call to ministry when Jeremy died and when I got the news, the last thing that I wanted to think about was God…I pushed Jesus out and I questioned everything about my faith, about my call, about God, about what had happened…I doubted…At Jeremy’s funeral, there gathered a group of friends, some that hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in 3 years…As we left the funeral home and went to Denny’s for dinner, we laughed and we shared…We cried…It was in that community that put my finger in the wounds…It was in that community that I experienced a God who was a healer…A God who was close…In my doubts and my questions, Jesus made his presence very clear to me…I put my hand in his hands and side and I believed…
Thomas wasn’t with the other disciples when they saw Jesus…He must have felt so alone…So out of the loop…Everyone else is rejoicing and happy to share that Jesus is risen, but he didn’t know what to do with what they were saying…He couldn’t fathom how it could be true…All he knew of death was that it was permanent…And here were the other disciples celebrating that Jesus is risen…It had to be a very lonely place for him to be in…Full of these questions and doubts and no one seemed to understand…
Have you ever doubted? Have you ever had questions? It’s okay to doubt…It’s okay to question…But even in the midst of those questions, Jesus is there…Ready for us to touch his wounds…Ready to show to us how much he loves us…
It’s what we do with our questions and doubts that’s important…Because just like Thomas, we’re not left in the doubting and in the questioning…Because Jesus is there…Offering comfort and healing…Offering love and grace…
There’s a video that has made its way through the internet and even most of the news programs…It’s a video from the show Britain’s Got Talent—have you seen it? Britain’s Got Talent is the original version of the American show with the same name, but contestants come on the show to share their talent and they’re judged by three judges and given critique or compliments and either invited to continue in the competition or sent away home. Well, Susan Boyle came to the show to become a professional singer…Here’s a picture of Susan (picture)…and a couple things about this clip—Susan tells the judges that she wants to be like Elaine Page—well, Elaine Page is a very popular British singer and she is a very petite , blonde woman—so that may help to explain some of the reaction in the video…But watch Susan Boyle’s audition for Britain’s Got Talent…(Clip)…Talk about a bunch of doubters! How many the first time you saw that were you expecting that voice to come from that woman? And as much as Simon Cowell wants to say that he knew what was going to happen, you saw the surprise on his face just as much as the other judges and as the audience. What wasn’t on this clip was as they continue with the show, they spent about 5 more minutes reacting to what had just happened…Everyone had doubted Susan’s ability to sing and they judged her based on her appearance and her cheeky attitude…She wasn’t what they expected at all…And when she opened her mouth…My Lord and my God!
Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord, my God.” He believed…He knew who Jesus is…He knew that Jesus is the Lord…Jesus is God…He came to the other end of his doubts and he believed…
The author of the Gospel said that there were other signs that were given to the disciples so that they may believe…Maybe they needed more to understand what it was that had happened…What Jesus had truly done through his resurrection…
Although there were more signs, John only recorded these…There were the ones that John saw as most important…John saw that it was important to show that Jesus is alive to offer love and grace…To love us through our questions…To love us through our doubts…To offer us grace when we cry out, “My Lord, my God!”
I think that some of Thomas’ doubts were really complaints…I think that he did have questions about what was going on as all of the disciples and the whole world had questions! But, I think Thomas was complaining about some things…That he hadn’t been with the disciples when they saw Jesus for the first time, that he didn’t know what to make of what they were telling him…that he was hurt that he wasn’t a part of this new thing that the disciples experienced…and he was complaining about it. So, if the average person complains 15-30 times a day…how many times to do you complain? Have you ever counted? Well, you’re going to get the chance to…A Complaint Free World is a non-profit organization started by Rev. Will Bowen to invite people to think more positively…the challenge that we are invited to participate in is to take the purple bracelets…And put it on your left wrist to start…and every time you catch yourself complaining, switch your bracelet to the other wrist. The goal is to go 21 days without complaining…We’ve got 50 days to work on this together. Now, I know that there are some of you who are thinking right now that there is no way that you’re going to participate—maybe because you think that this is too hard, which I’m not going to lie it is very challenging! Or maybe because you think that you’re just not ever going to change so why try now? Well, let me tell you that it is not a requirement for you to join this challenge—you are free to make your choice on that. But, I would ask you to prayerfully consider joining…This is the way that we as Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Church are going to work at experiencing the resurrection of Jesus because we have indeed been called out from our tombs…The tombs of complaints, of hurts, of pain…And we have been called out as Jesus reaches for us to show us the wounds in his hands and his side…And we have the choice of how to cry out…We can request to stay in our tombs or we can see what God has for us and cry out, “My Lord and my God.” So, take a bracelet with you this morning and let’s work together on making this world that we live in, this world that Jesus redeemed…this world that we live in as Easter people, a complaint free world…
Well, it’s our second Sunday of Easter…Just like Christmas, our celebration of Easter lasts longer than just one day…We celebrate the 50 days of Easter…The time between Easter Sunday and Pentecost…After Jesus rose from the dead, he spent time with the disciples before he ascended to heaven…During this time, Jesus ate, spoke, taught, and shared with his disciples and many of his followers. This Sunday also begins our Easter series—A Complaint Free World. And some have asked what in the world this is all about!
Well, if Lent is a time of trimming away all of those things in our lives that keep us from fully experiencing the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then Easter is a time of celebrating and fully experiencing the resurrection! And if Lent is a time when we give something up, then Easter is a time when we should start something new or take something on. So for the next 50 days, we are invited into the challenge to live in a complaint free world. Did you know that the average person complains 15-30 times a day? Have you ever counted how many times a day that you complain? So, during these 50 days of Easter, we are going to work at being complaint free…So, what does this have to do with Easter or the Gospel message? Well…
As happy as people were to hear that Jesus was indeed alive, there were just as many who weren’t sure what to make of everything. Last week, we heard about Mary Magdalene who didn’t recognize who Jesus was until he spoke her name…There were the other disciples too, who just looked in the tomb and saw Jesus was gone and they went back home…This week our story of Jesus takes us to his appearance to the disciples…
The disciples had gathered together in a home after Jesus’ death…They were probably together mourning the loss of their teacher and friend. As Mary Magdalene was at the tomb of Jesus, the disciples were gathered together—perhaps they were sharing stories of Jesus’ life with them, recalling his teachings, laughing together, crying together…When Mary Magdalene came and told them that Jesus’ body was gone Peter and another disciple ran to the tomb…As they returned to the house where the rest of the disciples were, Mary was having a conversation with Jesus…He told her that he was going to the rest of disciples and that she should tell them what she had seen and heard…
Jesus made due on his promises, like always and came into the house where the disciples were…John, the Gospel writer makes sure to point out that the doors to this house were locked when Jesus appeared to them…There was something different about this Jesus…He wasn’t quite the man that they had spent time with—something was different about him. Jesus’ resurrected body was different, but it was still a body…But we have these stories here to remind us that something is different—Mary didn’t recognize him until he spoke her name, but at that point she knew exactly who he was…and this resurrected Jesus can come into locked rooms… But lest they think that Jesus wasn’t really there and this was just some kind of spirit or something, Jesus showed them his wounds in his hands and his side. He showed him his physical body…
This was such an amazing experience for the disciples and as amazing as it would be to see their teacher and friend standing in front of them again—Jesus breathed on them and told them that they were to go out…Just as Jesus had been sent into the world, the disciples were sent into the world in the power of the Holy Spirit…They saw their Lord and Jesus sent them out into the world to continue the work that he had been doing.
As the disciples went out and started to do what Jesus had told them to do…There was one who was missing—Thomas…Many of us are familiar with Thomas—Doubting Thomas is how he’s usually known… The disciple who needed proof…The disciple who was invited to put his finger in Jesus’ wounds…We’re familiar with the story of Thomas…
Now just like many of the stories of the disciples, this is one of a disciple who takes just a little bit longer to understand what Jesus is doing or talking about…Jesus had been telling his disciples over and over what was going to happen—that he was going to die and rise again, but it just never made sense to the disciples because no one expected the Messiah to suffer and die, that just wasn’t something that they expected of the Messiah and as much as they didn’t expect that, they didn’t expect the Messiah or anyone to be resurrected in the middle of history! The Jewish people believed in resurrection and they expected resurrection to happen, but it was going to happen to everybody at the same time and not to one person in the middle of history…But that’s exactly what happened! And Thomas wasn’t with the disciples when they saw Jesus for the first time after he was raised…And he had a few questions…Wouldn’t you? Don’t you?
The disciples get a bad rap sometimes for just not getting it…But, how many times can you identify with the disciples? Confused about what Jesus is saying…Not wanting it to be real…Not wanting it to have to apply to us…We’re a lot more like the disciples than we want to believe…
Have you ever felt like Thomas? Have you ever doubted? Usually when something traumatic happens in our life, we start to question a lot of things…Sometimes that questioning leads to a questioning of our faith, a questioning of God, wanting to put our finger in the wounds…Have you ever doubted? Have you ever questioned? Thomas was out in the open about his doubts and questions—he was adamant about what he needed and wanted to see in order to believe…Have you ever been in a situation like Thomas? Thomas had just lost his friend and his teacher to a brutal killing…His leader Jesus had been whipped and crucified…He had to be devastated…In his devastation, he doubted and questioned…
I was a freshman in high school when I first met Jeremy, he was a junior…The very first time I had a conversation with him, he was babbling incoherently and wafted in and out of consciousness as he passed out on a friend’s shoulder as he mumbled about what drugs he had taken that morning…Over that year, we saw Jeremy spiral downward as he was kicked off the musical cast on opening night because he came to the show high…Over the summer, Jeremy was sent to a rehab by his family where he battled his addictions to drugs and when I was a senior in high school, he came back to school to complete his junior & senior years. There was such a change in him and he and I became pretty good friends that year as he dated one of my friends. In his recovery, Jeremy had grown in faith and he and I had many conversations about God & our faith. After my graduation, I started college and it just became harder to keep in touch…It wasn’t until I got an unexpected phone call that I realized that it had been almost a year since I had talked with him…A friend called to tell me that Jeremy had been killed in a car accident…He took a sharp curve too fast on a dark night and lost control…When I heard the news, I was angry and sad…As everything started to set in, I turned my anger to God…I was wrestling with my call to ministry when Jeremy died and when I got the news, the last thing that I wanted to think about was God…I pushed Jesus out and I questioned everything about my faith, about my call, about God, about what had happened…I doubted…At Jeremy’s funeral, there gathered a group of friends, some that hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in 3 years…As we left the funeral home and went to Denny’s for dinner, we laughed and we shared…We cried…It was in that community that put my finger in the wounds…It was in that community that I experienced a God who was a healer…A God who was close…In my doubts and my questions, Jesus made his presence very clear to me…I put my hand in his hands and side and I believed…
Thomas wasn’t with the other disciples when they saw Jesus…He must have felt so alone…So out of the loop…Everyone else is rejoicing and happy to share that Jesus is risen, but he didn’t know what to do with what they were saying…He couldn’t fathom how it could be true…All he knew of death was that it was permanent…And here were the other disciples celebrating that Jesus is risen…It had to be a very lonely place for him to be in…Full of these questions and doubts and no one seemed to understand…
Have you ever doubted? Have you ever had questions? It’s okay to doubt…It’s okay to question…But even in the midst of those questions, Jesus is there…Ready for us to touch his wounds…Ready to show to us how much he loves us…
It’s what we do with our questions and doubts that’s important…Because just like Thomas, we’re not left in the doubting and in the questioning…Because Jesus is there…Offering comfort and healing…Offering love and grace…
There’s a video that has made its way through the internet and even most of the news programs…It’s a video from the show Britain’s Got Talent—have you seen it? Britain’s Got Talent is the original version of the American show with the same name, but contestants come on the show to share their talent and they’re judged by three judges and given critique or compliments and either invited to continue in the competition or sent away home. Well, Susan Boyle came to the show to become a professional singer…Here’s a picture of Susan (picture)…and a couple things about this clip—Susan tells the judges that she wants to be like Elaine Page—well, Elaine Page is a very popular British singer and she is a very petite , blonde woman—so that may help to explain some of the reaction in the video…But watch Susan Boyle’s audition for Britain’s Got Talent…(Clip)…Talk about a bunch of doubters! How many the first time you saw that were you expecting that voice to come from that woman? And as much as Simon Cowell wants to say that he knew what was going to happen, you saw the surprise on his face just as much as the other judges and as the audience. What wasn’t on this clip was as they continue with the show, they spent about 5 more minutes reacting to what had just happened…Everyone had doubted Susan’s ability to sing and they judged her based on her appearance and her cheeky attitude…She wasn’t what they expected at all…And when she opened her mouth…My Lord and my God!
Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord, my God.” He believed…He knew who Jesus is…He knew that Jesus is the Lord…Jesus is God…He came to the other end of his doubts and he believed…
The author of the Gospel said that there were other signs that were given to the disciples so that they may believe…Maybe they needed more to understand what it was that had happened…What Jesus had truly done through his resurrection…
Although there were more signs, John only recorded these…There were the ones that John saw as most important…John saw that it was important to show that Jesus is alive to offer love and grace…To love us through our questions…To love us through our doubts…To offer us grace when we cry out, “My Lord, my God!”
I think that some of Thomas’ doubts were really complaints…I think that he did have questions about what was going on as all of the disciples and the whole world had questions! But, I think Thomas was complaining about some things…That he hadn’t been with the disciples when they saw Jesus for the first time, that he didn’t know what to make of what they were telling him…that he was hurt that he wasn’t a part of this new thing that the disciples experienced…and he was complaining about it. So, if the average person complains 15-30 times a day…how many times to do you complain? Have you ever counted? Well, you’re going to get the chance to…A Complaint Free World is a non-profit organization started by Rev. Will Bowen to invite people to think more positively…the challenge that we are invited to participate in is to take the purple bracelets…And put it on your left wrist to start…and every time you catch yourself complaining, switch your bracelet to the other wrist. The goal is to go 21 days without complaining…We’ve got 50 days to work on this together. Now, I know that there are some of you who are thinking right now that there is no way that you’re going to participate—maybe because you think that this is too hard, which I’m not going to lie it is very challenging! Or maybe because you think that you’re just not ever going to change so why try now? Well, let me tell you that it is not a requirement for you to join this challenge—you are free to make your choice on that. But, I would ask you to prayerfully consider joining…This is the way that we as Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Church are going to work at experiencing the resurrection of Jesus because we have indeed been called out from our tombs…The tombs of complaints, of hurts, of pain…And we have been called out as Jesus reaches for us to show us the wounds in his hands and his side…And we have the choice of how to cry out…We can request to stay in our tombs or we can see what God has for us and cry out, “My Lord and my God.” So, take a bracelet with you this morning and let’s work together on making this world that we live in, this world that Jesus redeemed…this world that we live in as Easter people, a complaint free world…
Sunday, April 12, 2009
When the Sabbath Was Over
When the Sabbath Was Over
When the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body for burial…When the Sabbath was over, the women went to say goodbye to their teacher one last time…When the Sabbath was over, everything was different…
The Gospel according to Mark starts out with just the simple phrase, “When the Sabbath was over…” But there is so much packed into there. The Sabbath was the law from God for the Jewish people to rest. It was a commandment that there be one day that there was no work done that there was nothing that interfered with spending time in communion with God. When the Sabbath was over…There were very strict laws about how to practice Sabbath—what you could do and what you could not. You could take so many steps, but you couldn’t exceed that…You spent the day in worship and communion with God not focusing on all of the distractions of life…Many people today don’t really observe the Sabbath. Life has gotten too busy, too fast, too hard, too competitive that when it comes to spending time with God, well that can just wait, can’t it? Or for those who do want to practice Sabbath, they’re told that they’re lazy or maybe even crazy…When the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb.
After everything that had transpired in the last few days…The women, Jesus’ followers still observed the Sabbath. They had watched their beloved teacher riding into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey and palm branches waving as the people heralded Jesus as a king with shouts of Hosanna! Glory to God in the Highest! But soon the mood of the week would change as Jesus didn’t cater to the demands of the world around…He didn’t cater to the unjust systems that were enforced by the money changers in the temple…He didn’t cater to the Roman authorities and claim Caesar as Lord…He didn’t stop preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand because it made people uncomfortable…He didn’t stop doing or being who he was…And that was a problem for most people.
What Jesus said and did was extremely radical and threatening. He was threatening everyone’s way of life and way of thinking about who God is and what God does and people didn’t like it…As Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples in the upper room for what would be his last supper, Jesus knows what is to come and sends Judas out to do what he needs to do as he and his disciples go to the garden to pray…But the disciples couldn’t stay awake for even an hour to pray with Jesus and he struggled with what was going to happen alone…without his friends beside him…And as he was arrested and put to trial, his disciples deserted him…And as he took his last breath, he even cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”…And when the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb…
When the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with burial spices. They had watched as Jesus’ body was laid in the tomb and then left with their grief to spend time in worship and prayer with God. When the Sabbath was over, they went to the tomb…and nothing would ever be the same.
It wasn’t just the lives of the women or the lives of the disciples that had been changed…The whole fabric of humanity…the whole fabric of creation was forever changed. What was once thought impossible or improbable became reality and became truth. No one ever expected that the Messiah would die…The Messiah was supposed to be the one who overthrew the government and raised God’s people up in power again…The Messiah was supposed to be a grand king, not a suffering servant…And when the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb…
And when they arrived at the tomb they discovered that the stone had been rolled away…What they thought they knew was changed…everything had changed…Not only was the Messiah the suffering servant and the Messiah had died, but something even more impossible had happened. The Jewish people believed in resurrection and hoped for the day when that would happen. The day of resurrection would come all at once for everyone and then judgment would happen in order to spend eternity with or without God…It wasn’t revolutionary to believe in resurrection and it wasn’t uncommon…As a matter of fact when Jesus met Mary & Martha at Lazarus’ grave, they said they believed in the resurrection and knew that the day would come when they would see him again…But what was not expected was for one person to be resurrected in the middle of history…For one person to be resurrected before everything else…And that is what changed history…The fabric of creation was changed…The kingdom of God is at hand and we can see glimpses of what this future kingdom will look like here and now…And when the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb to find the world completely different…
The Gospels according to Mark & John record what happened at the tomb differently…According to Mark, the women left and were didn’t tell anyone what they saw…According to John, the women told the disciples and the story spread…It’s the same choice that we have when we come to the tomb…
We come to the tomb this morning, when the Sabbath was over and see it empty and we have a choice…do we tell others what we have seen and what we have experienced or do we remain silent out of fear? The fabric of creation has been forever changed because of what Jesus has done and we are invited to join with Jesus to build the kingdom of God here on earth.
When the Sabbath was over the women came to the tomb and saw the stone rolled away… “Do not be alarmed…He is not here…He had been raised.” Christ the Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
When the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body for burial…When the Sabbath was over, the women went to say goodbye to their teacher one last time…When the Sabbath was over, everything was different…
The Gospel according to Mark starts out with just the simple phrase, “When the Sabbath was over…” But there is so much packed into there. The Sabbath was the law from God for the Jewish people to rest. It was a commandment that there be one day that there was no work done that there was nothing that interfered with spending time in communion with God. When the Sabbath was over…There were very strict laws about how to practice Sabbath—what you could do and what you could not. You could take so many steps, but you couldn’t exceed that…You spent the day in worship and communion with God not focusing on all of the distractions of life…Many people today don’t really observe the Sabbath. Life has gotten too busy, too fast, too hard, too competitive that when it comes to spending time with God, well that can just wait, can’t it? Or for those who do want to practice Sabbath, they’re told that they’re lazy or maybe even crazy…When the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb.
After everything that had transpired in the last few days…The women, Jesus’ followers still observed the Sabbath. They had watched their beloved teacher riding into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey and palm branches waving as the people heralded Jesus as a king with shouts of Hosanna! Glory to God in the Highest! But soon the mood of the week would change as Jesus didn’t cater to the demands of the world around…He didn’t cater to the unjust systems that were enforced by the money changers in the temple…He didn’t cater to the Roman authorities and claim Caesar as Lord…He didn’t stop preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand because it made people uncomfortable…He didn’t stop doing or being who he was…And that was a problem for most people.
What Jesus said and did was extremely radical and threatening. He was threatening everyone’s way of life and way of thinking about who God is and what God does and people didn’t like it…As Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples in the upper room for what would be his last supper, Jesus knows what is to come and sends Judas out to do what he needs to do as he and his disciples go to the garden to pray…But the disciples couldn’t stay awake for even an hour to pray with Jesus and he struggled with what was going to happen alone…without his friends beside him…And as he was arrested and put to trial, his disciples deserted him…And as he took his last breath, he even cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”…And when the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb…
When the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with burial spices. They had watched as Jesus’ body was laid in the tomb and then left with their grief to spend time in worship and prayer with God. When the Sabbath was over, they went to the tomb…and nothing would ever be the same.
It wasn’t just the lives of the women or the lives of the disciples that had been changed…The whole fabric of humanity…the whole fabric of creation was forever changed. What was once thought impossible or improbable became reality and became truth. No one ever expected that the Messiah would die…The Messiah was supposed to be the one who overthrew the government and raised God’s people up in power again…The Messiah was supposed to be a grand king, not a suffering servant…And when the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb…
And when they arrived at the tomb they discovered that the stone had been rolled away…What they thought they knew was changed…everything had changed…Not only was the Messiah the suffering servant and the Messiah had died, but something even more impossible had happened. The Jewish people believed in resurrection and hoped for the day when that would happen. The day of resurrection would come all at once for everyone and then judgment would happen in order to spend eternity with or without God…It wasn’t revolutionary to believe in resurrection and it wasn’t uncommon…As a matter of fact when Jesus met Mary & Martha at Lazarus’ grave, they said they believed in the resurrection and knew that the day would come when they would see him again…But what was not expected was for one person to be resurrected in the middle of history…For one person to be resurrected before everything else…And that is what changed history…The fabric of creation was changed…The kingdom of God is at hand and we can see glimpses of what this future kingdom will look like here and now…And when the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb to find the world completely different…
The Gospels according to Mark & John record what happened at the tomb differently…According to Mark, the women left and were didn’t tell anyone what they saw…According to John, the women told the disciples and the story spread…It’s the same choice that we have when we come to the tomb…
We come to the tomb this morning, when the Sabbath was over and see it empty and we have a choice…do we tell others what we have seen and what we have experienced or do we remain silent out of fear? The fabric of creation has been forever changed because of what Jesus has done and we are invited to join with Jesus to build the kingdom of God here on earth.
When the Sabbath was over the women came to the tomb and saw the stone rolled away… “Do not be alarmed…He is not here…He had been raised.” Christ the Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The Stone Was Rolled Away
The Stone Was Rolled Away
Christ the Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia! What a journey this Lent has been as we have made this journey with Jesus to the resurrection. Our Lenten journey for these past 6 weeks—40 days has been from hurt to healing as we have acknowledged the places in our lives where we have been hurt and where we have hurt others. This journey has taken us through a variety of emotions and themes as we work ultimately towards healing. I have no grandiose notions that we all fully experience healing and have become healed of the wounds that have been a part of us for so very long. But I do hope that this series has been a beginning to feel the healing that God has for each and every one of us. I also hope that through this series you have been able to see where Jesus experienced each of the emotions and themes that we have explored during Lent.
Shame—the emotion that those who are sinned against feel when they have been wronged and it has been against their control…Jesus felt this as he was slapped across the face and beaten before his trial. Jesus’ crucifixion itself was a shameful act as Jesus was the victim of the unjust systems that put him to death…And as each of his disciples abandoned him and left him alone at the cross…Jesus felt shame.
Guilt—what those who are sinners feel when they realize that they have done something wrong and feel bad about it. This one is a little tricky because Jesus himself was not a sinner, but Jesus took guilt upon himself…He who knew no sin put on sin…
Anger—Anger in and of itself is not a problem, but how we react to our anger or let our anger fester is the problem. What we are angry about is also key…Are we angry about injustice or are we angry that our pride has been hurt…Jesus’ anger was always righteous anger…He was angry and tossed the tables in the temple because of the injustice of the money changers…He yelled at Peter because Peter questioned everything about what God was doing…Jesus got angry, but he got angry about injustice…
Resistance—how we claim ourselves as individuals of sacred worth and refuse to allow others to treat us as less than individuals of sacred worth…Jesus taught to turn the other cheek which doesn’t mean to be a doormat, but rather to stand up for yourself with non-violent actions. When Jesus was slapped in the temple courts during his trial, he said to the guard, “If I have done something wrong, accuse me of it…but if you have no accusation, stop.”
Repentance—when we treat others as less than individuals of sacred worth and we feel bad about it, we repent or turn completely around and go the opposite direction. Because Jesus did not sin, he really had no reason to repent…he was already following what God wanted, but Jesus taught and showed what repentance looked like through his parables and the way he lived his life.
Forgiving-ness—When we are willing to offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us when they seek it. To not necessarily forget what has been done, but no longer hold onto it with feelings of vengeance or revenge…Jesus offered forgiveness…He offered it to the woman caught in adultery, he offered it to Zaccheus, he offered it to Peter, he offered it to the thief on the cross…And he offers it to you and to me today…
Forgiven-ness—When we seek forgiveness from those that we have wronged…When we apologize, repent, and make amends for what we have done…Jesus did not need to seek forgiveness, but modeled his life to show others what forgiveness looked like.
Justice--“God’s justice is God’s grace and fairness that restore human dignity, human rights, and civil rights.” Over and over again, Jesus sought to bring justice to those who had none and he was accused of terrible things…He ate with sinners, he touched those who were unclean, he broke the Sabbath laws…He challenged the systems of injustice so that all people might be seen as individuals of sacred worth.
Justification—is what Jesus did through his life, death, and resurrection and offered to us salvation, something that we couldn’t and can’t earn on our own.
All of those lead us to this morning as we approach the tomb…When the Sabbath was over, the women came to the tomb where their teacher was laid…They had watched him being laid in the tomb after his crucifixion which caused his death…They watched all this happen and then it was Sabbath, a time when we are to spend time in communion with God…And they grieved their loss…And when the Sabbath was over, they came to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body with spices and oils for burial…And as they approached the tomb, the saw that the stone was rolled away…
The stone was rolled away…This stone was not some small pebble or some small boulder. This stone would have closed the entrance to the tomb, which was like a cave…It would have been large enough to cover the entrance and thick enough not to let any stench out of the tomb…This was a big stone and the women were trying to figure out who was going to roll the stone away when they got there and when they arrived at the tomb, the stone was rolled away…
This was a big deal because it meant that someone must have been there before them! And what happened to Jesus’ body? He was such a radical and threat to every authority that it wasn’t unfair to assume that someone had stolen Jesus’ body…So; they saw for themselves the empty tomb… The Gospels according to Mark & John record what happened at the tomb differently…According to Mark, the women left and were didn’t tell anyone what they saw…According to John, the women told the disciples and the story spread…It’s the same choice that we have when we come to the tomb…
When we come to the tomb…when we are in the tomb…Because sometimes our hurts can be so crippling that we are in our own tomb…and we don’t want to come out…We want the stone to be sealed and to be locked in our tomb forever with our hurts and our pain…Or the tomb is our guilt over what we have done to someone else and we want to be sealed in the tomb forever, punished for what we have done…Oh that tomb is a comfortable place because it’s the place that we know oh so well…we’ve been there for so long…the grave clothes fit nicely…the tomb has become our home…And suddenly…The stone is rolled away and we are blinded by light…No more in darkness do we sit and dwell, but we have seen the light…The light that has come into the world and is so bright that the darkness cannot hold it…And the light beckons to us…Jesus calls us out of our tombs into life…into healing…into hope…And where are we? Do we stay in the tomb because it’s comfortable and it’s become home or do we go out because the stone has been rolled away? It’s unknown what’s outside and it’s scary…Hope is scary because it promises things that we can’t even begin to imagine and it threatens to change everything about who we are…That’s exactly what Jesus did…He changed the fabric of creation! He changed everything about everything! Nothing can possibly be the same because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection…The stone has been rolled away! Jesus calls our name on the outside of the tomb to join Him and work on building the kingdom of God. To shed those layers of grave clothes…To shed our shame…To shed our guilt…to shed our anger…To shed our hurts…to shed our pain…to shed what we have done to others…And join with Jesus…The stone has been rolled away! The light shines brightly on the Easter morning as the whole of creation has been changed forever! Jesus has risen from the dead! What was once dead is now alive and is forevermore different and changed…What has been abused and left for dead has been raised and brings forth new life. The stone has been rolled away!
Outside of the tomb…the women who are there are left with choices…to share what they have seen and heard or keep it quiet…The Gospel according to Mark says that they kept quiet…John says they went and told the disciples and word spread…Oh the choice that we have in that…To be terrified by what we have seen and leave the tomb in fear and in silence…or to leave the tomb to tell others what we have seen and heard.
There’s a desire to keep Jesus safe if we don’t say anything…A desire to protect Jesus…Protect him from what? From everything…We lost him once, we don’t want to lose him again! We watched him being tortured and beaten and crucified and we don’t want to see it happen again…We need to protect him! We need to keep him safe! We need to put him back in that tomb! Roll that stone in front again…
My brother always has interesting insights into faith and his witty comments help me to understand my faith more…Knowing that it was Holy Week, he sent me a message on Thursday saying, “Tell Jesus to watch his back.” And I thought…Yes! Why didn’t anyone tell Jesus to watch his back! Why didn’t anyone tell Jesus to be careful? If I had been there, I sure would have told him to watch his back…Heck, I would have watched it for him! And I thought about all the times that I have watched his back for him now…When I have made sure that no one is going to touch My Jesus…No one is going to threaten my Jesus…And when I have said…Jesus, get back in that tomb because what you’re doing is making people uncomfortable…What you’re doing is making people angry…What you’re doing is threatening people…Get back in that tomb! I need to keep you safe! And instead of proclaiming Jesus message and allowing to change me…I have tried to protect Jesus and change his message to what I want it to be and not what it really is…I was reminded on Thursday morning…Jesus doesn’t need my protection…Jesus needs me to proclaim…Jesus doesn’t need our protection…Jesus needs us to proclaim Jesus…Jesus doesn’t need to be shoved back in the tomb…Jesus needs to be outside of the tomb. Jesus can take care of himself really well…Much better than I can take care of him! He was raised from the dead after all!
I worked with a man named Pete once…Pete and I never really got along…He was an intimidating person just based on his size—he was at least a foot taller than me and quite a large man. I think he knew his size was intimidating and he seemed to use it to his advantage quite often by trying to get what he wanted…If it was a project done or a project done the way he wanted it done. He was offensive in his language and occasionally spoke down to me…To put it quite honestly, I really didn’t like him at all…Pete and I would have conversations about faith and God and we really didn’t agree on a whole lot…Well, we agreed on the principles, but our debates would often cloud those agreements that we had. When I was starting to accept my calling into ministry, before I had said anything to him, he shared that he thought women shouldn’t be pastors and he knew that I had a woman pastor, so he wanted to make sure I knew what the Bible really said. I got so angry, both because I thought I was being called into ministry and because I thought he didn’t know what he was talking about! Time passed and I found that I could no longer work at the place where Pete & I worked together. I was in my last week of working with him, and in a conversation with him and others, I shared that I was feeling called into youth ministry, but I sure wasn’t going to be a pastor. We all laughed and then went about our business…A few minutes later Pete came around the corner and looked me in the eyes and said, “Who are you to tell God what you will and will not do? If you are called into ministry, you answer.” I was completely taken aback by what he said and shocked at what he said…and I would be lying if I said that it didn’t help me to accept my calling in full….
When we push Jesus back into that tomb, we don’t allow him to provide the healing that we so desperately need and crave…when we roll that stone in front, we limit what Jesus can do for us because we tell him to stay out…When the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb and the stone was rolled away…The grace and healing God provides through Jesus Christ can’t be hidden away or put into a tomb…No matter how hard we try…The stone will be rolled away…Christ the Lord is risen…He is risen indeed..Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!
Christ the Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia! What a journey this Lent has been as we have made this journey with Jesus to the resurrection. Our Lenten journey for these past 6 weeks—40 days has been from hurt to healing as we have acknowledged the places in our lives where we have been hurt and where we have hurt others. This journey has taken us through a variety of emotions and themes as we work ultimately towards healing. I have no grandiose notions that we all fully experience healing and have become healed of the wounds that have been a part of us for so very long. But I do hope that this series has been a beginning to feel the healing that God has for each and every one of us. I also hope that through this series you have been able to see where Jesus experienced each of the emotions and themes that we have explored during Lent.
Shame—the emotion that those who are sinned against feel when they have been wronged and it has been against their control…Jesus felt this as he was slapped across the face and beaten before his trial. Jesus’ crucifixion itself was a shameful act as Jesus was the victim of the unjust systems that put him to death…And as each of his disciples abandoned him and left him alone at the cross…Jesus felt shame.
Guilt—what those who are sinners feel when they realize that they have done something wrong and feel bad about it. This one is a little tricky because Jesus himself was not a sinner, but Jesus took guilt upon himself…He who knew no sin put on sin…
Anger—Anger in and of itself is not a problem, but how we react to our anger or let our anger fester is the problem. What we are angry about is also key…Are we angry about injustice or are we angry that our pride has been hurt…Jesus’ anger was always righteous anger…He was angry and tossed the tables in the temple because of the injustice of the money changers…He yelled at Peter because Peter questioned everything about what God was doing…Jesus got angry, but he got angry about injustice…
Resistance—how we claim ourselves as individuals of sacred worth and refuse to allow others to treat us as less than individuals of sacred worth…Jesus taught to turn the other cheek which doesn’t mean to be a doormat, but rather to stand up for yourself with non-violent actions. When Jesus was slapped in the temple courts during his trial, he said to the guard, “If I have done something wrong, accuse me of it…but if you have no accusation, stop.”
Repentance—when we treat others as less than individuals of sacred worth and we feel bad about it, we repent or turn completely around and go the opposite direction. Because Jesus did not sin, he really had no reason to repent…he was already following what God wanted, but Jesus taught and showed what repentance looked like through his parables and the way he lived his life.
Forgiving-ness—When we are willing to offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us when they seek it. To not necessarily forget what has been done, but no longer hold onto it with feelings of vengeance or revenge…Jesus offered forgiveness…He offered it to the woman caught in adultery, he offered it to Zaccheus, he offered it to Peter, he offered it to the thief on the cross…And he offers it to you and to me today…
Forgiven-ness—When we seek forgiveness from those that we have wronged…When we apologize, repent, and make amends for what we have done…Jesus did not need to seek forgiveness, but modeled his life to show others what forgiveness looked like.
Justice--“God’s justice is God’s grace and fairness that restore human dignity, human rights, and civil rights.” Over and over again, Jesus sought to bring justice to those who had none and he was accused of terrible things…He ate with sinners, he touched those who were unclean, he broke the Sabbath laws…He challenged the systems of injustice so that all people might be seen as individuals of sacred worth.
Justification—is what Jesus did through his life, death, and resurrection and offered to us salvation, something that we couldn’t and can’t earn on our own.
All of those lead us to this morning as we approach the tomb…When the Sabbath was over, the women came to the tomb where their teacher was laid…They had watched him being laid in the tomb after his crucifixion which caused his death…They watched all this happen and then it was Sabbath, a time when we are to spend time in communion with God…And they grieved their loss…And when the Sabbath was over, they came to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body with spices and oils for burial…And as they approached the tomb, the saw that the stone was rolled away…
The stone was rolled away…This stone was not some small pebble or some small boulder. This stone would have closed the entrance to the tomb, which was like a cave…It would have been large enough to cover the entrance and thick enough not to let any stench out of the tomb…This was a big stone and the women were trying to figure out who was going to roll the stone away when they got there and when they arrived at the tomb, the stone was rolled away…
This was a big deal because it meant that someone must have been there before them! And what happened to Jesus’ body? He was such a radical and threat to every authority that it wasn’t unfair to assume that someone had stolen Jesus’ body…So; they saw for themselves the empty tomb… The Gospels according to Mark & John record what happened at the tomb differently…According to Mark, the women left and were didn’t tell anyone what they saw…According to John, the women told the disciples and the story spread…It’s the same choice that we have when we come to the tomb…
When we come to the tomb…when we are in the tomb…Because sometimes our hurts can be so crippling that we are in our own tomb…and we don’t want to come out…We want the stone to be sealed and to be locked in our tomb forever with our hurts and our pain…Or the tomb is our guilt over what we have done to someone else and we want to be sealed in the tomb forever, punished for what we have done…Oh that tomb is a comfortable place because it’s the place that we know oh so well…we’ve been there for so long…the grave clothes fit nicely…the tomb has become our home…And suddenly…The stone is rolled away and we are blinded by light…No more in darkness do we sit and dwell, but we have seen the light…The light that has come into the world and is so bright that the darkness cannot hold it…And the light beckons to us…Jesus calls us out of our tombs into life…into healing…into hope…And where are we? Do we stay in the tomb because it’s comfortable and it’s become home or do we go out because the stone has been rolled away? It’s unknown what’s outside and it’s scary…Hope is scary because it promises things that we can’t even begin to imagine and it threatens to change everything about who we are…That’s exactly what Jesus did…He changed the fabric of creation! He changed everything about everything! Nothing can possibly be the same because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection…The stone has been rolled away! Jesus calls our name on the outside of the tomb to join Him and work on building the kingdom of God. To shed those layers of grave clothes…To shed our shame…To shed our guilt…to shed our anger…To shed our hurts…to shed our pain…to shed what we have done to others…And join with Jesus…The stone has been rolled away! The light shines brightly on the Easter morning as the whole of creation has been changed forever! Jesus has risen from the dead! What was once dead is now alive and is forevermore different and changed…What has been abused and left for dead has been raised and brings forth new life. The stone has been rolled away!
Outside of the tomb…the women who are there are left with choices…to share what they have seen and heard or keep it quiet…The Gospel according to Mark says that they kept quiet…John says they went and told the disciples and word spread…Oh the choice that we have in that…To be terrified by what we have seen and leave the tomb in fear and in silence…or to leave the tomb to tell others what we have seen and heard.
There’s a desire to keep Jesus safe if we don’t say anything…A desire to protect Jesus…Protect him from what? From everything…We lost him once, we don’t want to lose him again! We watched him being tortured and beaten and crucified and we don’t want to see it happen again…We need to protect him! We need to keep him safe! We need to put him back in that tomb! Roll that stone in front again…
My brother always has interesting insights into faith and his witty comments help me to understand my faith more…Knowing that it was Holy Week, he sent me a message on Thursday saying, “Tell Jesus to watch his back.” And I thought…Yes! Why didn’t anyone tell Jesus to watch his back! Why didn’t anyone tell Jesus to be careful? If I had been there, I sure would have told him to watch his back…Heck, I would have watched it for him! And I thought about all the times that I have watched his back for him now…When I have made sure that no one is going to touch My Jesus…No one is going to threaten my Jesus…And when I have said…Jesus, get back in that tomb because what you’re doing is making people uncomfortable…What you’re doing is making people angry…What you’re doing is threatening people…Get back in that tomb! I need to keep you safe! And instead of proclaiming Jesus message and allowing to change me…I have tried to protect Jesus and change his message to what I want it to be and not what it really is…I was reminded on Thursday morning…Jesus doesn’t need my protection…Jesus needs me to proclaim…Jesus doesn’t need our protection…Jesus needs us to proclaim Jesus…Jesus doesn’t need to be shoved back in the tomb…Jesus needs to be outside of the tomb. Jesus can take care of himself really well…Much better than I can take care of him! He was raised from the dead after all!
I worked with a man named Pete once…Pete and I never really got along…He was an intimidating person just based on his size—he was at least a foot taller than me and quite a large man. I think he knew his size was intimidating and he seemed to use it to his advantage quite often by trying to get what he wanted…If it was a project done or a project done the way he wanted it done. He was offensive in his language and occasionally spoke down to me…To put it quite honestly, I really didn’t like him at all…Pete and I would have conversations about faith and God and we really didn’t agree on a whole lot…Well, we agreed on the principles, but our debates would often cloud those agreements that we had. When I was starting to accept my calling into ministry, before I had said anything to him, he shared that he thought women shouldn’t be pastors and he knew that I had a woman pastor, so he wanted to make sure I knew what the Bible really said. I got so angry, both because I thought I was being called into ministry and because I thought he didn’t know what he was talking about! Time passed and I found that I could no longer work at the place where Pete & I worked together. I was in my last week of working with him, and in a conversation with him and others, I shared that I was feeling called into youth ministry, but I sure wasn’t going to be a pastor. We all laughed and then went about our business…A few minutes later Pete came around the corner and looked me in the eyes and said, “Who are you to tell God what you will and will not do? If you are called into ministry, you answer.” I was completely taken aback by what he said and shocked at what he said…and I would be lying if I said that it didn’t help me to accept my calling in full….
When we push Jesus back into that tomb, we don’t allow him to provide the healing that we so desperately need and crave…when we roll that stone in front, we limit what Jesus can do for us because we tell him to stay out…When the Sabbath was over, the women went to the tomb and the stone was rolled away…The grace and healing God provides through Jesus Christ can’t be hidden away or put into a tomb…No matter how hard we try…The stone will be rolled away…Christ the Lord is risen…He is risen indeed..Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Easter Letter 2009
Dear Friends,
Hymn # 364 in the red United Methodist Hymnal is “Because He Lives.”
“Because he lives, I can face tomorrow; because he lives, all fear is gone; because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives.”
For the past 40 days of Lent, we have spent time in prayer, reflection, meditation, and inner searching as we have journeyed from hurt to healing. Those 40 days of Lent lead us to the celebration of Easter, when Jesus rose from the dead! When Jesus rose from the dead, not only were the disciples changed, but the whole fabric of humanity was forever changed!
Because Jesus lives, we can face tomorrow and we face it with a hope that can’t be fully explained in words. This hope is lived out in our individual lives and in our church. We’ve been taking the journey from hurt to healing during Lent as we have been trimming away the places in our lives that keep us from fully experiencing Jesus’ resurrection and all of the emotions and stuff that blocks that hope and how we fully experience Jesus’ resurrection. This hope is not fleeting and does not come every once in awhile, but one that flows through every fiber of our being and every fiber of all of creation.
As we hear the stories of Jesus’ last week throughout this Holy Week, we remember not only Jesus’ last moments, but everything that happened in them. The pain that Jesus felt, the shame and humiliation, the abuse and the torture, the betrayal and abandonment, the anger and hurt…All of these things that Jesus experienced… And yet through all of this pain Jesus was able to show grace and mercy beyond our comprehension. Throughout Jesus’ pain and hurts, he was also able to be a healer. The stories that we share of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are important because they are part of our stories. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow!
As we join in worship this Holy Week, we have an opportunity to share our lives and our gifts with one another and with God. The Easter offering for Sheridan UMC will be used to further the mission and the ministry of the church as we live into our mission statement to share the Word of God through inspiring worship, Christian education, fellowship and mission outreach to our community and the world at large. These ministries include, but are not limited to Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, Monthly Dinners, Worship, Bible Studies, and the Food Pantry. The Easter offering for Norway UMC will be used for the roof & steeple fund.
Life is worth the living, just because He lives!
Blessings,
Pastor Melissa
Hymn # 364 in the red United Methodist Hymnal is “Because He Lives.”
“Because he lives, I can face tomorrow; because he lives, all fear is gone; because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives.”
For the past 40 days of Lent, we have spent time in prayer, reflection, meditation, and inner searching as we have journeyed from hurt to healing. Those 40 days of Lent lead us to the celebration of Easter, when Jesus rose from the dead! When Jesus rose from the dead, not only were the disciples changed, but the whole fabric of humanity was forever changed!
Because Jesus lives, we can face tomorrow and we face it with a hope that can’t be fully explained in words. This hope is lived out in our individual lives and in our church. We’ve been taking the journey from hurt to healing during Lent as we have been trimming away the places in our lives that keep us from fully experiencing Jesus’ resurrection and all of the emotions and stuff that blocks that hope and how we fully experience Jesus’ resurrection. This hope is not fleeting and does not come every once in awhile, but one that flows through every fiber of our being and every fiber of all of creation.
As we hear the stories of Jesus’ last week throughout this Holy Week, we remember not only Jesus’ last moments, but everything that happened in them. The pain that Jesus felt, the shame and humiliation, the abuse and the torture, the betrayal and abandonment, the anger and hurt…All of these things that Jesus experienced… And yet through all of this pain Jesus was able to show grace and mercy beyond our comprehension. Throughout Jesus’ pain and hurts, he was also able to be a healer. The stories that we share of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are important because they are part of our stories. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow!
As we join in worship this Holy Week, we have an opportunity to share our lives and our gifts with one another and with God. The Easter offering for Sheridan UMC will be used to further the mission and the ministry of the church as we live into our mission statement to share the Word of God through inspiring worship, Christian education, fellowship and mission outreach to our community and the world at large. These ministries include, but are not limited to Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, Monthly Dinners, Worship, Bible Studies, and the Food Pantry. The Easter offering for Norway UMC will be used for the roof & steeple fund.
Life is worth the living, just because He lives!
Blessings,
Pastor Melissa
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Justice & Justification
Justice & Justification by Faith
Today is the last Sunday in Lent as we recognize Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. Palm Sunday begins Holy Week with loud shouts of Hosanna and heralds of Jesus as a king and leads us through Maundy Thursday as Jesus shares his last supper with the disciples and prays at Gethsemane where he is arrested and brought to trial and we remember the outcome of that trial on Good Friday as we remember Jesus’ death by crucifixion on a cross. Of course we know what happens on Easter morning as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, but that’s getting a little ahead of everything because we’re only at the beginning of the week…We’re here on Palm Sunday basking in the glow of the palm branches and shouts of Hosanna!
This is the last Sunday in Lent and as we have been on this journey together, we have been making the journey from hurt to healing. This journey has been one that has confronted those places in ourselves and in our lives where we have been hurt and experienced pain and it has also confronted where we have hurt others. And the truth is that we are often both victim and offender…Along this journey, we have explored places of shame—what those who are sinned against feel when they have been wronged; guilt—what those who are offenders feel when they know that they have done something wrong and feel bad about it; anger—which in and of itself is not a bad thing, but left to fester it becomes rage and causes us to lash out in unhelpful & destructive ways; resistance—how we declare that we are individuals of sacred worth and expect to be treated as such; repentance for the times when we treat others as less than individuals of sacred worth and we seek to go a whole new direction; forgiving-ness when we offer forgiveness to those who have hurt or wronged us; forgiven-ness when we seek to be forgiven…and now this is probably the week that everyone has been waiting for…justice and justification by faith! Okay, maybe some have?
The truth of God is that God hears from both the sinned against crying for justice and from the sinners crying for justification…God’s grace is extended to all people—both in the form of justice & in the form of justification.
Let’s start with justice…The prophet Micah says in verse 8 that we are required to do justice, so if this is a requirement from God then clearly we all know what it means to do justice, right? Well, most are probably familiar with the justice system—the system that we have to provide punishment to those who have done wrong…And most people would say that they want justice and for the most part it’s probably very true…but the last time you got pulled over for speeding were you looking for justice or were you hoping you’d get let off the hook? Biblical justice has more to do with the well being of the victims than it does with the offender. Throughout the laws it is made clear that when a wrong is done, both God & victim are wronged together.
In Micah 6:8, the word that is used for justice is the Hebrew word “mishpat” which is God’s action in a compassionate & merciful manner, not necessarily human fairness or even-handedness. As the verse continues, we are to love kindness. The word for kindness is hesed which is translated to mean mercy, steadfast love…Put those two words and concepts together and really you get what we understand to be grace. Walter Brueggemann says that “God’s justice is God’s grace and fairness that restore human dignity, human rights, and civil rights.” Justice is more about equity than equality—it is unjust for anyone not to have access to education, but it that does not mean that everyone should get into Harvard.
When we look at Jesus’ life from the very beginning we see justice from the start. In the magnifcat, as Mary sings after being told that she is pregnant—Mary declares that the lowly have been lifted up and the hungry are filled. Her song is a declaration of God’s justice…The Messiah that had been longed for was one to bring God’s justice. What was assumed was that God’s justice meant that the Messiah would overthrow all the political powers and raise God’s people up into power again…Which is precisely what Jesus did…just not in the way that everyone expected. Jesus defied everyone’s expectations and yet met them all at the same time…The Messiah that came overthrew all the unjust systems and proclaimed the kingdom of God is at hand…God’s justice was nearby…God’s grace was available to all people…And God’s people were raised up into power, just not the power that was expected…It wasn’t power in the sense that we were raised up to rule over others, but instead raised up to serve others.
The parable that Jesus tells in the Gospel according to Luke…It’s one that is probably familiar to most people. It’s the parable of the Good Samaritan—the story of the person who was robbed & beaten and left for dead…In this story, there are 2 people who walk past this half dead man—a priest & a Levite…Both were men who worked in the temple and were considered to be just a little bit holier than everyone else—just a little bit closer to God. Well, we would expect that these men were the ones who helped the half dead man, but in the story that’s not what happens…Now, we can give all kinds of reasons and excuses to these men as to why they didn’t stop and help…It’s very true that touching a person that was as close to death as this man was would make them unclean and if they were going to the temple to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people they needed to be clean and they needed not to come in contact with anyone who was unclean…It’s a perfectly valid excuse and a great one at that…I mean it’s okay to let one person die if it means that the business of the temple goes on, right? The arguments can be made and they can be made with success, and yet at the end of them…if the Samaritan had not come along, this man would be dead. The question that Jesus is answering in this parable is “Who is my neighbor?” Who is the neighbor? Well, Jesus implies that the one who showed mercy was the one who was the neighbor to the one who fell into the hands of the robbers. Jesus says go and do likewise. We are told to be good neighbors…And we are to be good neighbors to the victims. To provide opportunities of justice and restoration. In what we understand justice to be in our society today, the Samaritan may have tried to chase down the robbers or find a soldier in order to get justice, because someone needed to be punished for what happened…instead what he does is provide care and healing for the victim. He put him up in a hotel, gave him medical attention, and took care of all of his needs. Jesus is telling us that as children of God, we should work at restoring the victim rather than forgiving the robber. If there were no victim in this parable, there would no need to answer the question, who is my neighbor?
In helping to provide justice to one, we provide justice for all. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” By seeking to restore the sacred worth of one who has been wounded or hurt, we restore the sacred with for all people.
In the movie Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood plays a man names Walt Kowalski. Walt is a man who has just lost his wife and has watched his world change. His neighborhood looks different, his city is changing, everything is changing around him and he tries to cling to what he knows to be the same while he realizes that he’s just grasping at straws. Walt’s prized possession is his 1972 Gran Torino. His neighbor, Tao is forced into trying to steal the car in order to be initiated into a gang. Tao doesn’t want to do either, but his life and the life of his family is threatened should he refuse. The robbery goes bad and Tao does not steal the car but succeeds in angering his neighbor Walt. The gang challenges Tao again and the fight literally rolls over into Walt’s front yard where he leads everyone away at gunpoint. The neighborhood heralds Walt as a hero, but Tao & his family know that Tao needs to make amends for what he has done. Here is the conversation that they have with Walt on how this will happen. (Clip.) Walt asks, why am I getting treated like the bad guy here? When really what they are trying to do is to restore the dignity to Walt—they are giving him back what Tao took from him. This is what justice should seek to do, restore the dignity, the sacred worth that was taken away.
Jesus’ death was caused by the injustice of the world. Jesus was like the Samaritan—he healed people on the Sabbath, he taught new laws, he broke dietary laws, and preached against legalism…He was a threat to every establishment…Jesus’ death came at the hands of the unjust and at that, there is no one who escapes that blame. The crowd that cried “Crucify him” was full of all people and not one particular ethnic group, religious group, or type of person. Every time we ignore or disobey what Jesus taught, we cry crucify him right alongside the crowd.
What Jesus did through his life, death, and resurrection leads to our justification. Where we understand and realize that Jesus did for us what we couldn’t possibly do on our own…salvation. Andrew Sung Park says in his book From Hurt to Healing, “Salvation is not something we can put into our pocket as a possession. Nor does salvation mean securing a ticket to paradise or heaven. Salvation is the restoration of a loving relationship with God and neighbors…Salvation brings about true fellowship with God and others.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God and God cannot deny that we are indeed God’s creation. Faith affirms that we are God’s no matter what happens to us and God embraces us unconditionally. That’s grace and our acceptance of that is faith. But this is not cheap or easy grace. The grace that God gives is absolutely free, that’s the very nature of what grace is. Justification is our entry into this restoring relationship with God. Our justification by faith is deeply connected with accountability. That means that we are encouraged and expected to repent—to turn completely around from what we have been doing and follow what God requires of us—to do justice, to love mercy, and walk humbly with our God…To love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and love our neighbor as we love ourselves…
Just as Jesus’ death shows justice, it also shows justification. Jesus’ death was not to appease some angry God or heal God’s pride, but instead it was to redeem humanity. It was something that we could not seem to do on our own and God did it for us. That’s what we understand in justification—it is something that we can’t possibly do on our own, but something that we trust in from God and only God.
Jesus’ death is for both victims and offenders… Park sums it up this way, “To offenders, Jesus’ death points to the suffering of the oppressed and victims, calling the offenders to repentances…For the wounded, Jesus’ crucifixion signifies God’s woundedness with them. It shows God’s love for both the oppressed and the oppressors. To the oppressed, it shows God’s solidarity with their suffering. To oppressors, it demonstrates God’s love in calling them to repent of their sins and thus reclaim their humanity.” God wants to forgive our sins if we repent of them…if we don’t repent, meaning that we do things in the opposite of how we have been doing them, then God’s forgiveness through the crucifixion really doesn’t mean much…Justification by faith happens when the sinners or oppressors accept the fact that Jesus died on the cross because of their sin and that Jesus challenges them to be the people that God created them to be.
Our Lenten journey from hurt to healing has been created in order to create time and space to experience God’s love and grace for yourself. I know in talking with many of you that this has not been an easy journey and has been difficult and challenging. But I also hope that you have been able to feel God’s justice and justification at the same time—that you know that you have not made this journey alone, but have made it with God. And as Holy Week begins, we remember the final days of Jesus’ life before everything changed. Not just Jesus’ life, but the whole world…What happened on Easter morning didn’t just change the disciples, but it forever changed the fabric of humanity…As we grow ever closer to Easter, keep the ending in your sight as we take the final steps of this journey together.
Today is the last Sunday in Lent as we recognize Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. Palm Sunday begins Holy Week with loud shouts of Hosanna and heralds of Jesus as a king and leads us through Maundy Thursday as Jesus shares his last supper with the disciples and prays at Gethsemane where he is arrested and brought to trial and we remember the outcome of that trial on Good Friday as we remember Jesus’ death by crucifixion on a cross. Of course we know what happens on Easter morning as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, but that’s getting a little ahead of everything because we’re only at the beginning of the week…We’re here on Palm Sunday basking in the glow of the palm branches and shouts of Hosanna!
This is the last Sunday in Lent and as we have been on this journey together, we have been making the journey from hurt to healing. This journey has been one that has confronted those places in ourselves and in our lives where we have been hurt and experienced pain and it has also confronted where we have hurt others. And the truth is that we are often both victim and offender…Along this journey, we have explored places of shame—what those who are sinned against feel when they have been wronged; guilt—what those who are offenders feel when they know that they have done something wrong and feel bad about it; anger—which in and of itself is not a bad thing, but left to fester it becomes rage and causes us to lash out in unhelpful & destructive ways; resistance—how we declare that we are individuals of sacred worth and expect to be treated as such; repentance for the times when we treat others as less than individuals of sacred worth and we seek to go a whole new direction; forgiving-ness when we offer forgiveness to those who have hurt or wronged us; forgiven-ness when we seek to be forgiven…and now this is probably the week that everyone has been waiting for…justice and justification by faith! Okay, maybe some have?
The truth of God is that God hears from both the sinned against crying for justice and from the sinners crying for justification…God’s grace is extended to all people—both in the form of justice & in the form of justification.
Let’s start with justice…The prophet Micah says in verse 8 that we are required to do justice, so if this is a requirement from God then clearly we all know what it means to do justice, right? Well, most are probably familiar with the justice system—the system that we have to provide punishment to those who have done wrong…And most people would say that they want justice and for the most part it’s probably very true…but the last time you got pulled over for speeding were you looking for justice or were you hoping you’d get let off the hook? Biblical justice has more to do with the well being of the victims than it does with the offender. Throughout the laws it is made clear that when a wrong is done, both God & victim are wronged together.
In Micah 6:8, the word that is used for justice is the Hebrew word “mishpat” which is God’s action in a compassionate & merciful manner, not necessarily human fairness or even-handedness. As the verse continues, we are to love kindness. The word for kindness is hesed which is translated to mean mercy, steadfast love…Put those two words and concepts together and really you get what we understand to be grace. Walter Brueggemann says that “God’s justice is God’s grace and fairness that restore human dignity, human rights, and civil rights.” Justice is more about equity than equality—it is unjust for anyone not to have access to education, but it that does not mean that everyone should get into Harvard.
When we look at Jesus’ life from the very beginning we see justice from the start. In the magnifcat, as Mary sings after being told that she is pregnant—Mary declares that the lowly have been lifted up and the hungry are filled. Her song is a declaration of God’s justice…The Messiah that had been longed for was one to bring God’s justice. What was assumed was that God’s justice meant that the Messiah would overthrow all the political powers and raise God’s people up into power again…Which is precisely what Jesus did…just not in the way that everyone expected. Jesus defied everyone’s expectations and yet met them all at the same time…The Messiah that came overthrew all the unjust systems and proclaimed the kingdom of God is at hand…God’s justice was nearby…God’s grace was available to all people…And God’s people were raised up into power, just not the power that was expected…It wasn’t power in the sense that we were raised up to rule over others, but instead raised up to serve others.
The parable that Jesus tells in the Gospel according to Luke…It’s one that is probably familiar to most people. It’s the parable of the Good Samaritan—the story of the person who was robbed & beaten and left for dead…In this story, there are 2 people who walk past this half dead man—a priest & a Levite…Both were men who worked in the temple and were considered to be just a little bit holier than everyone else—just a little bit closer to God. Well, we would expect that these men were the ones who helped the half dead man, but in the story that’s not what happens…Now, we can give all kinds of reasons and excuses to these men as to why they didn’t stop and help…It’s very true that touching a person that was as close to death as this man was would make them unclean and if they were going to the temple to offer sacrifices on behalf of the people they needed to be clean and they needed not to come in contact with anyone who was unclean…It’s a perfectly valid excuse and a great one at that…I mean it’s okay to let one person die if it means that the business of the temple goes on, right? The arguments can be made and they can be made with success, and yet at the end of them…if the Samaritan had not come along, this man would be dead. The question that Jesus is answering in this parable is “Who is my neighbor?” Who is the neighbor? Well, Jesus implies that the one who showed mercy was the one who was the neighbor to the one who fell into the hands of the robbers. Jesus says go and do likewise. We are told to be good neighbors…And we are to be good neighbors to the victims. To provide opportunities of justice and restoration. In what we understand justice to be in our society today, the Samaritan may have tried to chase down the robbers or find a soldier in order to get justice, because someone needed to be punished for what happened…instead what he does is provide care and healing for the victim. He put him up in a hotel, gave him medical attention, and took care of all of his needs. Jesus is telling us that as children of God, we should work at restoring the victim rather than forgiving the robber. If there were no victim in this parable, there would no need to answer the question, who is my neighbor?
In helping to provide justice to one, we provide justice for all. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” By seeking to restore the sacred worth of one who has been wounded or hurt, we restore the sacred with for all people.
In the movie Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood plays a man names Walt Kowalski. Walt is a man who has just lost his wife and has watched his world change. His neighborhood looks different, his city is changing, everything is changing around him and he tries to cling to what he knows to be the same while he realizes that he’s just grasping at straws. Walt’s prized possession is his 1972 Gran Torino. His neighbor, Tao is forced into trying to steal the car in order to be initiated into a gang. Tao doesn’t want to do either, but his life and the life of his family is threatened should he refuse. The robbery goes bad and Tao does not steal the car but succeeds in angering his neighbor Walt. The gang challenges Tao again and the fight literally rolls over into Walt’s front yard where he leads everyone away at gunpoint. The neighborhood heralds Walt as a hero, but Tao & his family know that Tao needs to make amends for what he has done. Here is the conversation that they have with Walt on how this will happen. (Clip.) Walt asks, why am I getting treated like the bad guy here? When really what they are trying to do is to restore the dignity to Walt—they are giving him back what Tao took from him. This is what justice should seek to do, restore the dignity, the sacred worth that was taken away.
Jesus’ death was caused by the injustice of the world. Jesus was like the Samaritan—he healed people on the Sabbath, he taught new laws, he broke dietary laws, and preached against legalism…He was a threat to every establishment…Jesus’ death came at the hands of the unjust and at that, there is no one who escapes that blame. The crowd that cried “Crucify him” was full of all people and not one particular ethnic group, religious group, or type of person. Every time we ignore or disobey what Jesus taught, we cry crucify him right alongside the crowd.
What Jesus did through his life, death, and resurrection leads to our justification. Where we understand and realize that Jesus did for us what we couldn’t possibly do on our own…salvation. Andrew Sung Park says in his book From Hurt to Healing, “Salvation is not something we can put into our pocket as a possession. Nor does salvation mean securing a ticket to paradise or heaven. Salvation is the restoration of a loving relationship with God and neighbors…Salvation brings about true fellowship with God and others.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God and God cannot deny that we are indeed God’s creation. Faith affirms that we are God’s no matter what happens to us and God embraces us unconditionally. That’s grace and our acceptance of that is faith. But this is not cheap or easy grace. The grace that God gives is absolutely free, that’s the very nature of what grace is. Justification is our entry into this restoring relationship with God. Our justification by faith is deeply connected with accountability. That means that we are encouraged and expected to repent—to turn completely around from what we have been doing and follow what God requires of us—to do justice, to love mercy, and walk humbly with our God…To love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and love our neighbor as we love ourselves…
Just as Jesus’ death shows justice, it also shows justification. Jesus’ death was not to appease some angry God or heal God’s pride, but instead it was to redeem humanity. It was something that we could not seem to do on our own and God did it for us. That’s what we understand in justification—it is something that we can’t possibly do on our own, but something that we trust in from God and only God.
Jesus’ death is for both victims and offenders… Park sums it up this way, “To offenders, Jesus’ death points to the suffering of the oppressed and victims, calling the offenders to repentances…For the wounded, Jesus’ crucifixion signifies God’s woundedness with them. It shows God’s love for both the oppressed and the oppressors. To the oppressed, it shows God’s solidarity with their suffering. To oppressors, it demonstrates God’s love in calling them to repent of their sins and thus reclaim their humanity.” God wants to forgive our sins if we repent of them…if we don’t repent, meaning that we do things in the opposite of how we have been doing them, then God’s forgiveness through the crucifixion really doesn’t mean much…Justification by faith happens when the sinners or oppressors accept the fact that Jesus died on the cross because of their sin and that Jesus challenges them to be the people that God created them to be.
Our Lenten journey from hurt to healing has been created in order to create time and space to experience God’s love and grace for yourself. I know in talking with many of you that this has not been an easy journey and has been difficult and challenging. But I also hope that you have been able to feel God’s justice and justification at the same time—that you know that you have not made this journey alone, but have made it with God. And as Holy Week begins, we remember the final days of Jesus’ life before everything changed. Not just Jesus’ life, but the whole world…What happened on Easter morning didn’t just change the disciples, but it forever changed the fabric of humanity…As we grow ever closer to Easter, keep the ending in your sight as we take the final steps of this journey together.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Forgiving-ness & forgiven-ness
Forgiving-ness & Forgiven-ness
Today is the 5th Sunday in Lent—the 40 day season in the church that prepares us for Easter. Lent is a time of trimming away all of the distractions or things that keep us from fully recognizing the power of Easter & Jesus’ resurrection. In Jesus’ resurrection we experience life abundantly as Jesus defeated death. So, Lent prepares us for that abundant celebration of life. Our series during Lent has been “From Hurt to Healing.” Each week we’ve explored an emotion, a topic, or a theme related to the hurts we have or the ways in which we have hurt others. We have looked at shame—what those who have been sinned-against feel when something has been done to them. We have looked at guilt—what sinners feel when they have done something wrong. Anger—which in and of itself is a good thing, but when it is left to fester and turns into rage, that is a problem. Resistance is the way in which we declare that we are an individual of sacred with and deserve to be treated as such and not as someone less than a human being. Repentance is what we feel when we recognize that we have done something wrong and need to make amends and turn our life completely around. Last week, we began to make the turn from identifying our hurts & the ways in which we have hurt others into healing. This week we look at what it means to offer forgiveness or forgiving-ness and receiving forgiveness or forgiven-ness.
Christianity is a movement based around forgiveness—Jesus proclaimed God’s forgiveness to all people and the church was meant to continue to carry on that message of forgiveness. Most people experience forgiveness often…The truth is that holding a grudge is self destructive. Bonnie Weil says it this way, “If you don’t forgive a grudge, there is a part of you that dies inside. You lose your optimism, your enthusiasm, your zest for life.” Oftentimes we discuss the need to forgive or be forgiven, but ignore what forgiveness really is…Forgiveness isn’t just a word tossed around, but it means to give up a resolve to do something or giving up resentment or claim to requital for or to pardon an offense. Forgiveness does not require feelings of love or acceptance, but it makes room for those feelings for both victim & offender. Pastoral counselor John Patton describes forgiveness not as something that we do, but as something we discover. To forgive the one who injures us, we need to discover ourselves in them…Forgiveness is a humble process by surrendering one’s own power to forgive rather than holding onto it.
In his book From Hurt to Healing, Andrew Sung Park chronicles theologian Lewis Smedes’ 6 steps for forgiveness.
1.) Forgiveness is a redemptive response to having been wronged and wounded. Only those who have wronged and wounded us are candidates for forgivness.
2.) Forgiveness requires 3 actions: first—surrendering our right to give even. When we forgive we place the outcome of the matter in God’s hands. Second—we rediscover the humanity of our wrongdoer—the person who wronged us is not different from us, but just as complex, fragile, and confused person as we are. Third—we wish our wrongdoer well—giving up revenge and actually wanting good things to happen to them.
3.) Forgiving takes time. God can forgive in a single breath, but we need time.
4.) Forgiving does not require forgetting. We can refuse to let a harmful incident control our lives.
5.) Ideally, forgiving leads to reconciliation—but that doesn’t always happen…Sometimes the forgiven person does not want to be reunited with us. Forgiving happens in our hearts—there can’t be a reunion without forgiving, but there can be forgiving without reunion
6.) Forgiving comes naturally to the forgiven. Nothing enables us to forgive like knowing in our hearts that we have been forgiven.
When we truly forgive someone, we don’t attack their personality, but focus on issues. Which can be hard sometimes…There are really two dimensions to forgiveness—internal & external.
Internal forgiveness is forgiving our offenders before they ask for it. In our Gospel lesson this morning, Peter asks if it is okay to forgive 7 times which was more than the Jewish tradition said was necessary…The Jewish tradition said that 3 times was enough, so by asking for double that Peter thought that would be okay! But Jesus says that 77 times is how often we forgive which is just beyond understanding. The sooner we forgive the better, but forgiveness can’t be forced too quickly. Before forgiving, there are some things that we will need to sort through in our own hearts & souls. Andrew Sung Park identifies these steps in internal forgiveness: brokenness with sorrow & grief, a willingness to let go, and the courage to envision a fresh image.
Those who have been sinned against can’t easily forget their deep pain & grief. There is no exact formula for this and some offenses take longer than others to work through. Park says it this way, “It takes courage to acknowledge our wound & pain. The process of forgiveness starts when we demonstrate the courage to put ourselves in the vulnerable position of acknowledging our wound & weakness and undergoing sorrow & grief over pain. This spirit of grieving over pain opens the process of healing by transcending its own helplessness.”
Giving forgiveness or forgiving-ness means letting go—letting go of our woundedness, sorrow and anger. This is not easy. But forgiveness enables us not to dwell on the pain of shame, but to transcend it for food. Park continues by saying, “Forgiving others is forgiving ourselves. Retaliating against others injures ourselves again…Without forgiving our offenders, we become captives of the destructive force of anger & hatred…In this sense, forgiving is not a choice, it is a must. Every unforgiving moment causes us damage.” Now that doesn’t mean that forgiving is cheap or easy, but quite the opposite…it is very costly.
When we are wronged, it is easy to look at our offenders as demons or to dehumanize them. We need to separate an individual’s personhood from their actions because all individuals are individuals of sacred worth. “A forgiving heart foresees a redeemed, good, and accountable image of the offenders, which not forgetting their past.”
In addition to internal forgiveness, there is external forgiveness. In an ideal situation, the offender would ask forgiveness and seek to make up for what they have done. If the offender fails to seek forgiveness, the injured person is not obligated to offer it. External forgiveness announces the offender forgiven when they have sought it. If the offender has no intention of seeking forgivness, the offended should begin the process themselves. The first step would be confrontation—to challenge the offender to admit their wrong. When the offender has repented, this brings both parties to neutral ground and offers a way to reconciliation. The offended then should engage the offender to repay whatever damage has been done. External forgivenss restores a mutual relationship. Reconciliation can only happen if both parties agree to restore their relationship. If it is possible, reconciliation is what we should aim for. However, it is not always possible to do that—as Christians we should always try to get to reconciliation. “True forgivingness is not to overlook the wrongdoing of offenders, but to challenge them to change their ways and encourage them to rectify what they have damaged.”
Steven Curtis Chapman is an award winning Christian singer. He and his wife Mary Beth have three biological children, Emily, Caleb, and Will Franklin and have adopted three girls from China—Shohannah Hope, Stevey Joy, and Maria Sue. On May 21, seventeen year old Will Franklin was driving his SUV in the driveway when Maria Sue ran to greet him. He didn’t see Maria and hit her with his car…As the Chapman family reacted to what happened, and called 911 and held on to their 5 year old daughter as she struggled to live…As the ambulance took Maria Sue to the hospital, Will in anguish tried to run from what happened when his older brother Caleb tackled him and held him to the ground and just held him…As Steven Curtis Chapman followed the ambulance to the hospital, he made the driver stop as he shouted out the window… “Will Franklin! Your dad loves you! Will Franklin! Your dad loves you!” Maria Sue died from this tragic accident…As the family continues to grieve the loss of the youngest child and come to grips with what happened…Will Franklin struggles to forgive himself. At Maria’s funeral, Caleb share that God healed Maria in ways that the family didn’t really like, but Caleb knew that God was going to heal Will in ways that everyone would really like…Mary Beth & Steven Curtis Chapman said in an interview that not once did they ever blame Will or do they hold what happened against him…They called it a tragic accident…
If forgiving-ness is offering forgiveness, then forgiven-ness is receiving forgiveness. Beverly Flanigan suggests these 8 ways to promote forgiveness.
1.) Admit quickly and openly when you are wrong.
2.) Apologize to the people you have wronged. If possible, issue your apology in the presence of others to demonstrate that you are not afraid to return power to those you have hurt.
3.) Praise those close to you when they express regret about hurting someone. Encourage them to admit wrongdoing & apologize to the injured person.
4.) Respect the attempts of others to forgive someone.
5.) When it is true, tell people who have modeled forgiveness to you that you respect their achievements. By the same token when other people’s nonforgiveness contaminates you, tell them.
6.) Avoid litigation until you have heard each other’s views of the injury. Forgiveness is more likely when people are not adversaries.
7.) Teach that life is not fair. One person will have more gifts and opportunities than another person and fewer than others. Envy or greed should never be the basis of nonfogiveness.
8.) To forgive is to choose to move forward into the future. Show others thant you choose the future, not the past, as the focus of aspiration in your daily life.
In Christianity, divine forgiveness is deeply connected with human forgiveness. When we are forgiven by those we have wronged, our relationship with God is put right. At the heart of Christian forgiven-ness is repentance and restoration of relationships with God & with the offended. Last week, we talked about repentance as an act of contrition and confession as the beginning of the forgiveness process.
First, repentance begins with contrition…which is an internal transformation. It is the decision before God to not repeat the sin. The act of contrition should come because God loves us and not out of fear—but love that leads us to love God & love others.
Confession is the next step…confession is an important step in being forgiven, because one needs to know what they’re asking forgiveness for! It can be uncomfortable to admit you were wrong or that you did something that was wrong, so this is a step that many people are unable to do. We’ll look at this more next week as we discuss forgiveness.
Repentance means changing one’s behavior…It is the turning around and going the other direction of what you were doing. It is the concrete response to the contrition—in contrition, we promise not to sin again and in repentance, we actually work on not sinning again. If there is not a change in lifestyle, there has not been repentance. If every time I see John Doe, and I kick him in the shins…then I tell him I feel bad about it, but continue to do it. I’ve not really repented. If someone says that they’re sorry for doing something, but continue to do it…they’re really not repenting.
Fourth, recompense—repentance is only genuine when it offers compensation…What can I do for what I have done? If you are not willing to sacrifice to make up for what you have done, you’re not willing to repent. Now, we can’t make anything up to God—seeing as how God is infinite and all…We do not possess the power to repay God, which what justification is…we’ll talk about justification next week. But, what God does require is for offenders to compensate human victims of his or her offense. As Park says, “This compensation does not depend on the status of the one offended. Rather we need to attend, heal, and recompense the injuries of the offended with all our hearts, as if we were making restitution to God. In fact, as we offend our neighbor, we injure God. By restoring our neighbor’s dignity, we restore God’s dignity as well.
Fifth, asking for forgiveness. Forgiven-ness can only be offered if it is asked for. First, asking forgiveness from God and then from the wronged. Having already done works of repentance, openly admitting wrong, and asking in humility for forgiveness. When we do this we are not asking the offended to forget what has been done, but we ask to cease remembering it with resentment and a heart of vengeance. “The offended can forgive the offender, or delay forgiving-ness at this point. If the offended is not ready to forgive the offender, the offender must wait patiently for their forgiving in due course.
Forgiven-ness becomes consummated in reconciling with the offended. A genuine act of repentance leads to an opportunity to live in positive relationships once again. A genuine act of asking for forgiveness may lead the offended & the offender to reconcile. But there is little the offender can do if the person hurt does not want to be reconciled.
Why is forgiveness so hard? Why is it something that we deny to others or deny to ourselves? Why does it make the stories like the Chapman family seem so extraordinary? There are really lots of reasons why…Sometimes the circumstances are just so extraordinary…Sometimes the people are extraordinary…Most times it’s because the grace of God flows freely…Forgiveness is given freely to us…It only seems right that it should flow freely from us…There may be something or someone that you are thinking about right now that you need to forgive…Maybe you’re not ready to admit what you have done wrong or what you’d like to do to make amends…Maybe you’re not quite ready to repent…You can say that… Or maybe you’re thinking about someone that you need to ask for forgiveness…Someone that you have hurt in some way…And you might be thinking that too much time has passed or you don’t know how to get in touch with that person…Those are really good excuses…About a year ago I went to lunch with a friend and as we caught up on life, I shared with her that I thought that I may have hurt her in a particular situation and they only reason that I thought that I may have caused her that pain was because I had felt it myself…As we recounted the situation that had happened almost five years earlier, I apologized for any hurt that I may have caused her. She said that there was none, but she appreciated the apology…I could have not said anything and I could have not offered apology…But I can’t tell you how much better I felt to have known how she felt and that we could be honest…An apology can come at anytime…Studies have shown that people who forgive more often are usually healthier…less heart problems, less stress…The longer that you hold on to that forgiveness, the more it eats you up inside…Forgiveness is as much for you to let go as it is for the other person to be forgiven…It is as much about our own humanity as it is about another person’sEvery week, as we pray the Lord’s prayer, we pray—forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Do you really want to be forgiven in the same way that you have offered forgiveness? Do you really want to be treated in the same way that you have treated other people? Maybe if we all truly lived by the ways that Jesus taught, there would be less need to seek forgiveness…But we are still waiting for the Kingdom of God to come…So, how many times should one forgive? 3 times? 7 times? 490? How many times have you been forgiven? 3 times? 7 times? 490? As you have confessed your sins to God, God hears your prayers and in the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven…Thanks be to God…You have been forgiven freely…Freely give…
Today is the 5th Sunday in Lent—the 40 day season in the church that prepares us for Easter. Lent is a time of trimming away all of the distractions or things that keep us from fully recognizing the power of Easter & Jesus’ resurrection. In Jesus’ resurrection we experience life abundantly as Jesus defeated death. So, Lent prepares us for that abundant celebration of life. Our series during Lent has been “From Hurt to Healing.” Each week we’ve explored an emotion, a topic, or a theme related to the hurts we have or the ways in which we have hurt others. We have looked at shame—what those who have been sinned-against feel when something has been done to them. We have looked at guilt—what sinners feel when they have done something wrong. Anger—which in and of itself is a good thing, but when it is left to fester and turns into rage, that is a problem. Resistance is the way in which we declare that we are an individual of sacred with and deserve to be treated as such and not as someone less than a human being. Repentance is what we feel when we recognize that we have done something wrong and need to make amends and turn our life completely around. Last week, we began to make the turn from identifying our hurts & the ways in which we have hurt others into healing. This week we look at what it means to offer forgiveness or forgiving-ness and receiving forgiveness or forgiven-ness.
Christianity is a movement based around forgiveness—Jesus proclaimed God’s forgiveness to all people and the church was meant to continue to carry on that message of forgiveness. Most people experience forgiveness often…The truth is that holding a grudge is self destructive. Bonnie Weil says it this way, “If you don’t forgive a grudge, there is a part of you that dies inside. You lose your optimism, your enthusiasm, your zest for life.” Oftentimes we discuss the need to forgive or be forgiven, but ignore what forgiveness really is…Forgiveness isn’t just a word tossed around, but it means to give up a resolve to do something or giving up resentment or claim to requital for or to pardon an offense. Forgiveness does not require feelings of love or acceptance, but it makes room for those feelings for both victim & offender. Pastoral counselor John Patton describes forgiveness not as something that we do, but as something we discover. To forgive the one who injures us, we need to discover ourselves in them…Forgiveness is a humble process by surrendering one’s own power to forgive rather than holding onto it.
In his book From Hurt to Healing, Andrew Sung Park chronicles theologian Lewis Smedes’ 6 steps for forgiveness.
1.) Forgiveness is a redemptive response to having been wronged and wounded. Only those who have wronged and wounded us are candidates for forgivness.
2.) Forgiveness requires 3 actions: first—surrendering our right to give even. When we forgive we place the outcome of the matter in God’s hands. Second—we rediscover the humanity of our wrongdoer—the person who wronged us is not different from us, but just as complex, fragile, and confused person as we are. Third—we wish our wrongdoer well—giving up revenge and actually wanting good things to happen to them.
3.) Forgiving takes time. God can forgive in a single breath, but we need time.
4.) Forgiving does not require forgetting. We can refuse to let a harmful incident control our lives.
5.) Ideally, forgiving leads to reconciliation—but that doesn’t always happen…Sometimes the forgiven person does not want to be reunited with us. Forgiving happens in our hearts—there can’t be a reunion without forgiving, but there can be forgiving without reunion
6.) Forgiving comes naturally to the forgiven. Nothing enables us to forgive like knowing in our hearts that we have been forgiven.
When we truly forgive someone, we don’t attack their personality, but focus on issues. Which can be hard sometimes…There are really two dimensions to forgiveness—internal & external.
Internal forgiveness is forgiving our offenders before they ask for it. In our Gospel lesson this morning, Peter asks if it is okay to forgive 7 times which was more than the Jewish tradition said was necessary…The Jewish tradition said that 3 times was enough, so by asking for double that Peter thought that would be okay! But Jesus says that 77 times is how often we forgive which is just beyond understanding. The sooner we forgive the better, but forgiveness can’t be forced too quickly. Before forgiving, there are some things that we will need to sort through in our own hearts & souls. Andrew Sung Park identifies these steps in internal forgiveness: brokenness with sorrow & grief, a willingness to let go, and the courage to envision a fresh image.
Those who have been sinned against can’t easily forget their deep pain & grief. There is no exact formula for this and some offenses take longer than others to work through. Park says it this way, “It takes courage to acknowledge our wound & pain. The process of forgiveness starts when we demonstrate the courage to put ourselves in the vulnerable position of acknowledging our wound & weakness and undergoing sorrow & grief over pain. This spirit of grieving over pain opens the process of healing by transcending its own helplessness.”
Giving forgiveness or forgiving-ness means letting go—letting go of our woundedness, sorrow and anger. This is not easy. But forgiveness enables us not to dwell on the pain of shame, but to transcend it for food. Park continues by saying, “Forgiving others is forgiving ourselves. Retaliating against others injures ourselves again…Without forgiving our offenders, we become captives of the destructive force of anger & hatred…In this sense, forgiving is not a choice, it is a must. Every unforgiving moment causes us damage.” Now that doesn’t mean that forgiving is cheap or easy, but quite the opposite…it is very costly.
When we are wronged, it is easy to look at our offenders as demons or to dehumanize them. We need to separate an individual’s personhood from their actions because all individuals are individuals of sacred worth. “A forgiving heart foresees a redeemed, good, and accountable image of the offenders, which not forgetting their past.”
In addition to internal forgiveness, there is external forgiveness. In an ideal situation, the offender would ask forgiveness and seek to make up for what they have done. If the offender fails to seek forgiveness, the injured person is not obligated to offer it. External forgiveness announces the offender forgiven when they have sought it. If the offender has no intention of seeking forgivness, the offended should begin the process themselves. The first step would be confrontation—to challenge the offender to admit their wrong. When the offender has repented, this brings both parties to neutral ground and offers a way to reconciliation. The offended then should engage the offender to repay whatever damage has been done. External forgivenss restores a mutual relationship. Reconciliation can only happen if both parties agree to restore their relationship. If it is possible, reconciliation is what we should aim for. However, it is not always possible to do that—as Christians we should always try to get to reconciliation. “True forgivingness is not to overlook the wrongdoing of offenders, but to challenge them to change their ways and encourage them to rectify what they have damaged.”
Steven Curtis Chapman is an award winning Christian singer. He and his wife Mary Beth have three biological children, Emily, Caleb, and Will Franklin and have adopted three girls from China—Shohannah Hope, Stevey Joy, and Maria Sue. On May 21, seventeen year old Will Franklin was driving his SUV in the driveway when Maria Sue ran to greet him. He didn’t see Maria and hit her with his car…As the Chapman family reacted to what happened, and called 911 and held on to their 5 year old daughter as she struggled to live…As the ambulance took Maria Sue to the hospital, Will in anguish tried to run from what happened when his older brother Caleb tackled him and held him to the ground and just held him…As Steven Curtis Chapman followed the ambulance to the hospital, he made the driver stop as he shouted out the window… “Will Franklin! Your dad loves you! Will Franklin! Your dad loves you!” Maria Sue died from this tragic accident…As the family continues to grieve the loss of the youngest child and come to grips with what happened…Will Franklin struggles to forgive himself. At Maria’s funeral, Caleb share that God healed Maria in ways that the family didn’t really like, but Caleb knew that God was going to heal Will in ways that everyone would really like…Mary Beth & Steven Curtis Chapman said in an interview that not once did they ever blame Will or do they hold what happened against him…They called it a tragic accident…
If forgiving-ness is offering forgiveness, then forgiven-ness is receiving forgiveness. Beverly Flanigan suggests these 8 ways to promote forgiveness.
1.) Admit quickly and openly when you are wrong.
2.) Apologize to the people you have wronged. If possible, issue your apology in the presence of others to demonstrate that you are not afraid to return power to those you have hurt.
3.) Praise those close to you when they express regret about hurting someone. Encourage them to admit wrongdoing & apologize to the injured person.
4.) Respect the attempts of others to forgive someone.
5.) When it is true, tell people who have modeled forgiveness to you that you respect their achievements. By the same token when other people’s nonforgiveness contaminates you, tell them.
6.) Avoid litigation until you have heard each other’s views of the injury. Forgiveness is more likely when people are not adversaries.
7.) Teach that life is not fair. One person will have more gifts and opportunities than another person and fewer than others. Envy or greed should never be the basis of nonfogiveness.
8.) To forgive is to choose to move forward into the future. Show others thant you choose the future, not the past, as the focus of aspiration in your daily life.
In Christianity, divine forgiveness is deeply connected with human forgiveness. When we are forgiven by those we have wronged, our relationship with God is put right. At the heart of Christian forgiven-ness is repentance and restoration of relationships with God & with the offended. Last week, we talked about repentance as an act of contrition and confession as the beginning of the forgiveness process.
First, repentance begins with contrition…which is an internal transformation. It is the decision before God to not repeat the sin. The act of contrition should come because God loves us and not out of fear—but love that leads us to love God & love others.
Confession is the next step…confession is an important step in being forgiven, because one needs to know what they’re asking forgiveness for! It can be uncomfortable to admit you were wrong or that you did something that was wrong, so this is a step that many people are unable to do. We’ll look at this more next week as we discuss forgiveness.
Repentance means changing one’s behavior…It is the turning around and going the other direction of what you were doing. It is the concrete response to the contrition—in contrition, we promise not to sin again and in repentance, we actually work on not sinning again. If there is not a change in lifestyle, there has not been repentance. If every time I see John Doe, and I kick him in the shins…then I tell him I feel bad about it, but continue to do it. I’ve not really repented. If someone says that they’re sorry for doing something, but continue to do it…they’re really not repenting.
Fourth, recompense—repentance is only genuine when it offers compensation…What can I do for what I have done? If you are not willing to sacrifice to make up for what you have done, you’re not willing to repent. Now, we can’t make anything up to God—seeing as how God is infinite and all…We do not possess the power to repay God, which what justification is…we’ll talk about justification next week. But, what God does require is for offenders to compensate human victims of his or her offense. As Park says, “This compensation does not depend on the status of the one offended. Rather we need to attend, heal, and recompense the injuries of the offended with all our hearts, as if we were making restitution to God. In fact, as we offend our neighbor, we injure God. By restoring our neighbor’s dignity, we restore God’s dignity as well.
Fifth, asking for forgiveness. Forgiven-ness can only be offered if it is asked for. First, asking forgiveness from God and then from the wronged. Having already done works of repentance, openly admitting wrong, and asking in humility for forgiveness. When we do this we are not asking the offended to forget what has been done, but we ask to cease remembering it with resentment and a heart of vengeance. “The offended can forgive the offender, or delay forgiving-ness at this point. If the offended is not ready to forgive the offender, the offender must wait patiently for their forgiving in due course.
Forgiven-ness becomes consummated in reconciling with the offended. A genuine act of repentance leads to an opportunity to live in positive relationships once again. A genuine act of asking for forgiveness may lead the offended & the offender to reconcile. But there is little the offender can do if the person hurt does not want to be reconciled.
Why is forgiveness so hard? Why is it something that we deny to others or deny to ourselves? Why does it make the stories like the Chapman family seem so extraordinary? There are really lots of reasons why…Sometimes the circumstances are just so extraordinary…Sometimes the people are extraordinary…Most times it’s because the grace of God flows freely…Forgiveness is given freely to us…It only seems right that it should flow freely from us…There may be something or someone that you are thinking about right now that you need to forgive…Maybe you’re not ready to admit what you have done wrong or what you’d like to do to make amends…Maybe you’re not quite ready to repent…You can say that… Or maybe you’re thinking about someone that you need to ask for forgiveness…Someone that you have hurt in some way…And you might be thinking that too much time has passed or you don’t know how to get in touch with that person…Those are really good excuses…About a year ago I went to lunch with a friend and as we caught up on life, I shared with her that I thought that I may have hurt her in a particular situation and they only reason that I thought that I may have caused her that pain was because I had felt it myself…As we recounted the situation that had happened almost five years earlier, I apologized for any hurt that I may have caused her. She said that there was none, but she appreciated the apology…I could have not said anything and I could have not offered apology…But I can’t tell you how much better I felt to have known how she felt and that we could be honest…An apology can come at anytime…Studies have shown that people who forgive more often are usually healthier…less heart problems, less stress…The longer that you hold on to that forgiveness, the more it eats you up inside…Forgiveness is as much for you to let go as it is for the other person to be forgiven…It is as much about our own humanity as it is about another person’sEvery week, as we pray the Lord’s prayer, we pray—forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Do you really want to be forgiven in the same way that you have offered forgiveness? Do you really want to be treated in the same way that you have treated other people? Maybe if we all truly lived by the ways that Jesus taught, there would be less need to seek forgiveness…But we are still waiting for the Kingdom of God to come…So, how many times should one forgive? 3 times? 7 times? 490? How many times have you been forgiven? 3 times? 7 times? 490? As you have confessed your sins to God, God hears your prayers and in the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven…Thanks be to God…You have been forgiven freely…Freely give…
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