Sermon from Luke 9:37-43a for November 25

So…

What haven’t we done because we have been too afraid to try? Or thought we didn’t have the resources? Or were too busy doing much less important things to do the stuff that really matters?

Churches are famous for focusing on minutia so that they don’t have to deal with the really big important stuff. Of course, they would never talk about it that way. They just worry about the roof or the color of the Advent candles or which way we should serve communion.

One pastor at a meeting the other day said that she had spent six years trying to convince the session to get rid of the purple candles in the Advent wreath, since we no longer think of Advent as a time of penitence (that is asking for forgiveness for our sins) but instead as a time of preparation for the comings of baby Jesus to the manger and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to earth in his end of time arrival.

Six years! In response another pastor pointed out that the rest of the church has gone to royal blue candles and another pastor suggested red candles since Christmas is the Holy Spirit’s work and a Pentecost moment.

Cliff Acklam, the interim pastor at Middletown United, is from Scotland, and he pointed out that the mother church (Presbyterianism comes from Scotland by-the-way) use four white candles and a different taller one in the center that is often another color, red or gold or something, just because it looks good.

Hey it’s all good.

But I must admit I thought (being my rather cynical self) why are we worried about Advent candles?

It seems to me that the church and it’s leaders of all kinds ought to be focused on getting more people to come and follow Jesus, become disciples and then change the world for the better.

Let’s make baskets and buckets and boxes and then get up and go clean flood ravaged house and preach good news to kids and teens and families and invite everyone to the table of the Lord?

Why in heavens name worry about the candles. Worry about people, the people for whom Christ died, the people Jesus so much wants us to love into wholeness!

But maybe, we haven’t done that because we have been afraid to try, and possibly to fail.

Like the disciples. All they needed to do was cast out a demon. Easy peasy!

Remember these are the folks who got sent out on preaching missions! They were fearless, or so we suppose.

But remember, these too are the followers of Jesus. We assume, that unlike us, they are clear about who they are, what they are to do, and how to do it, and then they are like an unstoppable machine working to make the kingdom just pop.

Except they aren’t!

Instead, they are very much like us, a group that I’m sure Jesus sometimes felt like was a herd of cats! Rounding them up and setting them on task was near impossible.

We know that the call to us as disciples is to make more disciples. But we get distracted, off mission, lost in the weeds, until we get to the point that while the harvest is huge, there just aren’t enough workers.

Not a lack of people who love Jesus and want to follow. Just a lack of disciples who want to do what Jesus wants; to go get more folks just like you!

I said on Thanksgiving Eve that there is a church in NJ that has decided it needed some new thinking about fulfilling the “harvesting” call.

It turns out that the fastest growing demographic in town was seniors. The church had been trying unsuccessfully to get together a Sunday School and Youth group for years because youth are the future of the church, but were failing miserably.

So, the new pastor suggested a creative strategy. Instead of trying to get kids to come to church, maybe they should be the church that buckled down and got every grandparent to come to church.

A silver church! Crazy, right?

But they began to think it out. What would they have to do to be attractive to seniors?

Well, perhaps better lighting so everyone could see, because, you know. And a better sound system so everyone could hear.

But then it occurred to them they needed a fun, engaging program, that instead of being all about kids, was all about senior fun.

Traveling and mission and bible studies and quilting, and other hobbies, a hiking group, a walking group in the gym, ideas for food prep for a smaller family or single person. Fellowship events for grandparents, and even child care for grandparents watching grandkids.

Their first attempt at a harvest of children wasn’t successful!  So change the harvest plan!!!!

So now, seniors are stuffing (get the joke) the church full. And guess what? Some children and teens of grandparents attending worship, so many that they now need to figure out how to do children and youth program!

The disciples couldn’t cast out the demon, not because they were bad people, or because they didn’t understand how, it was, Jesus said because they didn’t have enough faith! They weren’t putting the Holy Spirit’s power to work. They were caught in the weeds again, not centered in their faithful commitment to Jesus!

They were like most church folks, well meaning, but not empowered, and so worried about the Advent candles, instead of whether everyone who could be in worship was in worship.

Next Sunday begins Advent.

Four Sundays and then Christmas. I think Advent candles are great, don’t get me wrong, but what I care about even more is about how many people will be in worship those four Sundays and on Christmas Eve.

I care about how many people will be able to watch one of our Christmas Eve services in high def at home or on the road or even in the hospital because we have a better camera set up and people to run it and money to pay for it!

I care about how many lives will be touched, and how many people will feel God presence close to them this Advent, because we the disciples have quit worrying about how to do the details right and have started getting to the business of harvesting; extending the Kingdom of God with passion and integrity.

This church is amazing. We can do this!

So, what haven’t we done because we have been too afraid to try? Or thought we didn’t have the resources? Or were too busy doing much less important things to do the stuff that really matters?

That is the stuff we need to start doing, right now, in Jesus name. Amen.

Sermon from Luke 9:10-17 for November 18

Sometimes Jesus disciples must have thought he was crazy.

He just said things that made no sense.

Here they were wildly concerned that there were a whole lot of people out in this fairly barren place listening to Jesus speak, and that was cool and all, but it was getting late in the day, and the dinner hour was approaching, and really, there was nothing around there to eat, and no place to stay and, well they just weren’t sure what to do so …

They did what they always did, actually a great pattern for us, they went to Jesus and shared their concerns. I’m sure doing that was always a bit of an adventure.

Because, let’s face it, they never quite knew exactly how Jesus was going to answer their concerns.

You tell him the boat is rocking and the storm is a bit much and he sends the freaking storm it away. You tell him that folks are at the door with a paralyzed man and he heals him. You meet a person with demons in him and Jesus send them into the pigs! The un-kosher issue solved!

But stuff like that had to be wildly unnerving. Jesus just did stuff, said stuff, made stuff happen. But this had to take the cake! Because, you see, Jesus doesn’t solve the problem. He tells the disciples to solve the problem!

  

I assume that some of you folks pray. It seems like a fairly normal part of the practice of a Jesus’ person. You hear about a situation, you encounter some troubles, you bow your head and give God a moment of your time.

Maybe you are truly devout about it, or maybe, the pastor, you are a bit more glib. But at least for most of us we pray and the prayer goes something like, “Thanks God for being there, thanks for all the blessings I’ve received, and, by the way while we are talking, Briana, Steve, and Liliana need an extra dose of your love, protection and healing. Amen.”

Great! It’s all good. God’s got this!

What you don’t expect is an answer back from God, “No, you’ve got this!”

“Um, say what? I’ve got this? Whoa! Really? No! Really?”

“Yes!”

In this story, that’s what happens!

Jesus says, out loud, “You give them something to eat”!

You all hear this? Pray! Go for it. God’s got this – through you!

Now I realize this wasn’t exactly a prayer, but for goodness sake, Jesus was right there. Certainly, he could have waved his hand and made plates of food, or had a herd of beef on wick sandwiches come down from the hills or popped in a falafel stand!

He is the Lord of the universe. God can do this!

But no, right here, right now, Jesus establishes a principle that the answers to prayer begin with those praying, with his disciples doing what they can do right then, right now!

You see a situation, certainly pray, certainly ask the master of all for wisdom and direction, and resources; but you better be ready to also empty your pockets and see what resources God has already placed in your control to do something about what is happening in front of you.

“You give them something to eat!”

Are you worried about the folks in the Carolinas and Florida and back in Texas who have been flooded? Then, yes, pray! Ask for God to intervene. Are you worried about the folks right here in our community that won’t have much of a Thanksgiving? Then, yes, pray and for God to intervene.

Are you worried about the folks in the California fires and the Rohinga in Yemen, and the children dying in was torn Syria? Then, yes, pray! Are you worried about children who won’t have Christmas presents in Cuddebackville and in other places around the world? Then, yes, pray!

Are you worried about the folks in Port Jervis who need a warm place to get off the streets and get a hot meal and in Middletown too? Then, yes, pray! Pray to the Lord of Heaven ask for help!

But right after that, empty your pockets, your attic, your shed, your basement, and see what God has already entrusted to you , that the Master of the universe intends you to us to Make a Difference in Jesus name!

You could fill a flood bucket, or give some money for someone else to make one, or you could plan to go on the next mission trip this spring to rehab a house. You could fill up a Thanksgiving basket or add food to the food pantry right here or give to the CROP Walk to help hungry folks around the world.

You could dream up a way we could help the folks in fire ravaged California, you could fill an Operation Christmas Child box, or you could take a Jesse Tree list and make sure a kid without the basics for Christmas has a new set of clothes, a hat and gloves, and a present.

You could come December 2 and help us cook a meal for the Warming Station in Port Jervis or figure out a way we can help St. Paul’s in Middletown with the cost of that new heating system they needed to keep the warming station there actually warm.

Jesus said, “You give them something to eat!”

But Lord, all we have is….

“Bring it here and watch and see what I can do with the things I have entrusted to your care.”

“But it’s only five loaves and two fish!”

“I didn’t ask you to bring what you didn’t have…

I only need what you do have.”

You see in some ways the greater miracle of the feeding of the five thousand wasn’t the feeding of the five thousand.

It was the opening of the hands and hearts of the disciples. “With just this,” Jesus seems to say, “With just your faithful willingness to be the means of my love, my grace, my provision - I can do miracles.”

None of us can match the problems in this world by ourselves. But by God’s grace, and our open hearts and hands, God can move mountains.

And everyone ate all they wanted, and what was left over filled twelve baskets.

God’s people, Making a Difference, in Jesus name.

Amen.

Sermon from Luke 7:44-50 for November 11

So…

Have you noticed?

One of the great things about our amazing brains is how incredibly efficient they are at straining out unnecessary information.

Think about it. When you wake up in the morning, it is your brain that wakes you. And from that point forward it uses a process of selective information gathering and output to get you through the day.

Imagine iof you had to consciously think through every step of the process of getting out of bed in the morning. Open right eye, open left eye, breathe. Now turn head, look at clock, lift arm, drop it on alarm clock.

Now bring arm back, turn head, close eyes, go back to sleep. And that’s not mve the sheets, lift leg, move body, or brush teeth or put on clothes, or feed dog. It would all take an immense amount of time.

So our brain short cuts it all and creates routines, habits, that allow us to hear the alarm, get in the car, brush our teeth, eat breakfast, go to work, get out of bed, drink a cup of coffee, put on clothes, take a shower, start the coffee, and get all those things and the million component parts of them in the right order.

The problem with the process, with habits, it that sometimes that they don’t work. They don’t take into account new information. We drive to work only to remember half way there that the meeting this morning is in a different place in exactly the opposite direction.

We do things the same old way, the habitual way, and don’t notice.

Habits un-examined can lead us down a dangerous path, like when we decide to play football with the kids when we are grandpa’s age only to discover our backs don’t flex that way.

A body at rest can’t eat the calories like a body in motion can. A bedtime of 2am may work when you are 21, but at 61 a bedtime past 10pm is dangerous.

 Routines and habits allow our brain to work quickly and efficiently until faced with a change. It is necessary to work quickly and efficiently, because otherwise our brains would struggle and stop to pause trying to decide to have us walk, breath, talk, have a heartbeat, process food, and see the car headed for us at break neck speed all at the same time.

So, it is no wonder we don’t notice things, changes, sometimes to our detriment.

And it is why Simon the Pharisee might not have noticed the woman.

But of course, he had, but not in the way Jesus felt he needed to.

What Simon noticed was her gender and her status. And putting those two facts into his habit computer what he came out with was that she shouldn’t be there where she was, that she should be doing what she was, and that Jesus should be wildly upset over it all.

Simon thought these things because in Simon’s world as a Jewish man and as a Pharisee he believed that women, should be at the table except to serve it with food, that women shouldn’t be touching a man they were married to or children or immediate relatives with, that women should not be anointing anyone, and that as a woman of, as they say, ill repute, she should be far a way from a holy man, if indeed that was what Jesus was.

“Simon,” Jesus asks, “Have you noticed this woman?”

I’m sure Simon’s eyebrows were about on top of his head at this point! He might have replay, “Ah yeah!” But Jesus was already teaching.

And what he wanted to teach about was a failure of habits of routine, a routine where dismissing the woman was key, instead of seeing her as evidence that the Kingdom of God was present.

How would it change our community, our worship, our fellowship, if the routine became, if the habit became that we could not begin worship, or the Kafe, or a prayer meeting, or a bible study until at least one new unchurched person was in the room, because we believed the Kingdom of God wasn’t yet present until they were there?

“Simon,” Jesus asks, “Have you noticed this woman?”

Because she is doing all the Kingdom things you neglected. She wilding grateful for a God who has forgiven her. She is thinking of herself as lowly in the presence of a Holy God. She is living sacrificially by doing what could get her in trouble, because of her heart’s yearning to worship.

She understands what she has been forgiven. Do you? Have you noticed? Or are you so caught up in your habits and routines that you can’t see the new thing God is doing:

·      Accepting the lowly

·      Lifting up the downtrodden

·      Forgiving sinners of all kinds

·      And offering them a seat at the table in the Kingdom of God

Have you noticed?

Habits allow our brain to function. But hear Jesus, sometimes habits get in the way of the Kingdom of God.

Amen.

Sermon from Luke 7:36-43 for November 4

So…

Ever since Sue and I came to this church in 1983 our mutual understanding has been that I get to teach and preach what I believe, and that you get to disagree with me.

I gotta give you all credit. You have been amazingly gracious even when I know I make some of you crazy!

But, it seems to me that it is one of the things that has made this congregation so amazing. Yes, there is respect for the pastor’s teaching and at the same time respect for the followers of Christ, who can listen, search the scriptures themselves, and respectfully disagree.

It is not something that exists much in our modern culture, but it is in fact one of the things that makes this and any church amazing when it happens. Why?

Because it is clearly the model Jesus himself uses even though he is the Messiah, God incarnate. He teaches, the disciples listen, and then they try to figure out how to understand what he is saying, even when they may really disagree.

They even at times tell Jesus what they disagree about. But they listen first, think second, and then formulate their opinions.

Jesus has no interest in forcing people to believe. He talks with them, tells them stories, even teaches, but then he lets people figure out for themselves what they are going to do about it.

He doesn’t compel them, he just invites folks to a new way of thinking, believing, and doing.

Like in this encounter with the Pharisee, Simon.

For those not familiar with Pharisees, here is a short primer. According to the dictionary, a Pharisee is a member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law.

They followed the writings of the Torah, the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, as well as the prophets, and the writings of the Rabbi’s contained in the Mishna.

Unlike the Sadducees who were part of the priestly cast in Israel, and who only followed the Talmud, the Pharisees were layman and scribes, who were trying to apply the Law of Moses to contemporary life.

There were Pharisees who followed Jesus both before and after his death and resurrection. Jesus arguments with them seemed to be primary focused on their legalism, making laws wildly strict, failing the law of love, or hypocrisy, applying the laws to others, but not equally to themselves.

So, Jesus, decides to dine at Simon’s house. Even though he has criticized the Pharisees, he is still open and welcoming to table fellowship, where a real conversation and discussion can take place.

There Jesus enjoys the food and friendship and open conversation, until a woman with a bad reputation decides to anointing his feet. Knowing what Simon is thinking, he challenges Simon to come to terms with a short story, inviting the Pharisee and keeper of the law to think differently about the Kingdom of God.  

And in the story, Jesus suggests the quite radical idea that the Kingdom of God is not a place where only the holy live!

Now I know this is going to be a complete shock just days before our annual ritual of bloodletting called an election, but in the Kingdom of God, there are lots of  folks, including Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and even, dare I say it, Patriot’s fans.

Did any of you notice that the last time I picked on the Patriots they won big on Monday night! I preach and God laughs, evidently.

So, I am turning over a new leaf. No more picking on the Patriots. Squish the fish! (For non-football folks, the fish are the Miami Dolphins. Oh, how I miss the American Football League!)

In any case we often assume either consciously or unconsciously that the Kingdom of God has in it only people who are not sinners. And by sinners we mean people not as righteous as us. I know, you do not of yourself as righteous. You are not a Pharisee. But those people (take your pick) really are bad.

That certainly seemed to be Simon’s assumption; sinners need not apply!

And he believed that no real Godly man would ever allow himself to be touched by a woman, no less anointed by her, and certainly not by a woman who had a bad reputation, whatever that means.

So, in the story, Jesus decides to introduce Simon to an aspect of the Kingdom of God he was not expecting: The Kingdom is a place God is inviting sinners to come and be part of!

You know, Jesus and that whole tax collectors and sinners thing!

Simon, he asks, who loves the master more? The one who has been forgiven a little or the one who has been forgiven a lot? To which Simon answers with the obvious answer: the one forgiven a lot.

So, who should we expect to love God more, those who are holy (or think they are) and love God, or those who know they aren’t holy, but find out they are wanted and accepted by God?

And why wouldn’t we who truly love God with our whole hearts, not want God to be loved by those who think themselves unworthy! God wants everyone to love him, and we want everyone to love him!

So, shouldn’t we be out finding more sinners, who finally understanding that God loves them - love God in return!

Isn’t that what we are all about?

Isn’t that the result we want?

Not two teams, us and them, but all of us praising God together!

We, all of us, are invited to drop our pretensions of being right, of being holy, of being on the right team, and gather at Jesus feet and worship, with every sinner we can think of!

May it be so, to the Glory of God.

Amen.