So…
What great spiritual contest is the Lord preparing you for?
In some ways the story of Jesus testing in the wilderness doesn’t help us much. Most of us aren’t headed out to a desert any time soon, and none of us plan to fast for forty days, no less two.
And we aren’t going to be tested by the devil in such a straight forward fashion. There was no point in the devil’s hiding from Jesus, Jesus knew he was there and was unafraid of him, so a straight forward contest ensued.
But for us, events that can seem like wilderness ones can and do occur. Sometimes the wilderness comes in the form of a job loss, or the death of a loved one that takes us out into the desert of grief. Sometimes it’s illness, one that changes the landscape of our lives.
And sometimes it is just a period of time where nothing is going right. We have a job, but the attitudes at work are all bad, or ours is. We have a house but it seems it is just always falling apart.
We are in a significant relationship, but he forgot Valentine’s Day, or perhaps our kids or our parents are in relationships that are falling apart and we feel like the roof in caving in.
Desert come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, colors and textures. But we all go through them, and when we are in them, we are often quite spiritually dry, as tough we are fasting from water, our thirst not quenched by the flowing of God’s spirit, our hunger unrecognized for God’s presence as if we were fasting for days on end, and so in our dryness and fasting state, tempt-able.
There is a solution.
But you have to understand you are parched, famished, and in a hot dry place!
And often, we just don’t.
We don’t see the landscape changing. We don’t notice that our water bottle is empty and that we haven’t eaten or eaten healthy in a long time.
In cardiac rehab the other day the nutritionist was explaining the difference between eating a bagel for breakfast and a pouch of oatmeal. Her presentation was very good and very helpful, and we all learned a lot.
But we all cracked up when one of the old codgers asked if the staff knew the closest bagel shop for us to stop at the way home, since we were all now craving bagels!
Sometimes we don’t really plan good healthy meals. Sometimes we feel or are too busy to prepare, to busy to notice, too busy to care, too overwhelmed, to see we are getting farther and farther away for safety.
And that is when the tempter starts his siren song, inviting us to think, and feel, and act in ways we know are not good for us, not good for those around us, inconsistent with what we say we believe and should practice.
But that is why we prepare.
That is what Lent is all about. The community of faith practicing for the crisis ahead as a community, so that when the crisis hits, we all know what to do.
Like Jesus then, already fortified with God’s love, and God’s word, and God’s spirit, and in the case of the church, God’s people, ready to join us in the battle. Seeing the wilderness in our own lives, or even in the lives of others, we begin the work of traveling back to a safe place.
Satan offered options; Jesus deferred to God’s word.
He could because as weak as he may have felt, as overwhelmed, God’s presence was strong in him, and in temptation after temptation he could respond, “but God has said.”
Why not make this Lent a great one, by preparing you heart and your life for the inevitable times of journeying in the desert.
Decide to pray every day. Write each day in a blessings journal. Gather with others who know the Lord more intentionally so your spirit can be strong and flexible, your life resilient and ready. And invite others to do the same!
Make it a holy Lent, by following the example of Jesus!
Amen!
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Black Heritage Sunday
History of Black Heritage Sunday
For those who may not have been part of this congregation for a whole lot of years, you may not know why we celebrate Black Heritage Sunday.
It is in fact a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our congregation’s history, as well as take a moment to reflect on what our African American sisters and brothers have lived through that is remarkable different than the experience of many of the rest of us.
Our congregation, you may recall, has been in existence in one form or another since the 1790’s. A church was erected on the land where the Mount Hope Plains Cemetery is now, called the Deerpark Four Corners church. It was followed by the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Hope, and then the First Presbyterian Church of Otisville. In the 1930’s the two churches merged into the Otisville – Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church.
Meanwhile, on the property where the state prison is and on land closer to 211 behind the firehouse, the United States Army made a hospital for soldiers returning from WWI who had been mustard gas victims. Later a State run tubercular hospital was there, and after that there was what was called a Boy’s Training School, a state facility for delinquent boys.
And during those years, then Superintendent Benjamin Hill recruited African American staff to come and work there, including educators, many from the American South, many from prestigious black colleges. That group included folks like Dick and Gerri Cash from North Carolina, Adam and Annie Battles from Alabama, and Sam & Ernestine Tucker from North Carolina, as well as many others, some like the Manns and the Hunters, who grew up locally.
When those staff members began to buy houses in Otisville, they also began to look for a church, and while many churches were segregated in the late 1950’s, the Otisville – Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church opened its doors, beginning a wonderful period of growth and learning.
By the 1980’s and 90’s it seemed to Sam Tucker and Adam Battles, that it was time to take one Sunday during Black History Month and celebrate the rich gift African Americans had brought to this congregation, and to join in some of the stories that the African American heritage offered.
So we continue this tradition, not only as a way to say think you to the members of our congregation that have taught us so much about the bitter and blessed experience of African Americans in the United States, but also as a way to say thank you to God for considering us worthy of such a gift.
May the blessing continue in a multicolored future! Amen.
For those who may not have been part of this congregation for a whole lot of years, you may not know why we celebrate Black Heritage Sunday.
It is in fact a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our congregation’s history, as well as take a moment to reflect on what our African American sisters and brothers have lived through that is remarkable different than the experience of many of the rest of us.
Our congregation, you may recall, has been in existence in one form or another since the 1790’s. A church was erected on the land where the Mount Hope Plains Cemetery is now, called the Deerpark Four Corners church. It was followed by the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Hope, and then the First Presbyterian Church of Otisville. In the 1930’s the two churches merged into the Otisville – Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church.
Meanwhile, on the property where the state prison is and on land closer to 211 behind the firehouse, the United States Army made a hospital for soldiers returning from WWI who had been mustard gas victims. Later a State run tubercular hospital was there, and after that there was what was called a Boy’s Training School, a state facility for delinquent boys.
And during those years, then Superintendent Benjamin Hill recruited African American staff to come and work there, including educators, many from the American South, many from prestigious black colleges. That group included folks like Dick and Gerri Cash from North Carolina, Adam and Annie Battles from Alabama, and Sam & Ernestine Tucker from North Carolina, as well as many others, some like the Manns and the Hunters, who grew up locally.
When those staff members began to buy houses in Otisville, they also began to look for a church, and while many churches were segregated in the late 1950’s, the Otisville – Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church opened its doors, beginning a wonderful period of growth and learning.
By the 1980’s and 90’s it seemed to Sam Tucker and Adam Battles, that it was time to take one Sunday during Black History Month and celebrate the rich gift African Americans had brought to this congregation, and to join in some of the stories that the African American heritage offered.
So we continue this tradition, not only as a way to say think you to the members of our congregation that have taught us so much about the bitter and blessed experience of African Americans in the United States, but also as a way to say thank you to God for considering us worthy of such a gift.
May the blessing continue in a multicolored future! Amen.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Writing on the Wall: Daniel 5
So…
What is the writing on the wall saying to you?
Recently I had a writing on the wall experience. Well actually it was a stress/echo test, but you get the point!
If God were to stop by your house today and write a message for you on the wall, what do you suspect it would say?
And as a congregation, if God were to get out his biggest sharpie and write us a note that would in just a few words make clear what God thinks of what we are doing as a church and what we should be doing as a church, what would God write?
It’s really important to take time to think about this, because quite often God has been doing an awful lot of communicating of both his concerns and his hopes for us, but until the sharpie comes out, we just don’t pay attention.
I told the story a while back of a congregation that spent almost $1,000,000 on renovations, paint, even an elevator. It had 30 people in attendance before all the work. It now has 25 after several deaths.
Perhaps all the renovations didn’t have much to do with what God was trying to tell the good folks about what it meant for them to be the church. Perhaps, they painted over the writing on the wall.
And since we do not want to be like those folks, but rather have our eyes and ears, and perhaps more importantly our hearts open to the movement of Gods’ spirit, what might God be saying to us, to you about God’s plans?
It’s pretty clear from the fifth chapter of Daniel that, Belshazzar, the king who followed Nebuchadnezzar had no idea what God wanted. For one, he was not the son of Nebuchadnezzar, either physically or spiritually, and two, he clearly did not know of Daniel.
As I mentioned last Sunday, the stories in Daniel are often separated by years, and here is a good example.
What is the writing on the wall saying to you?
Recently I had a writing on the wall experience. Well actually it was a stress/echo test, but you get the point!
If God were to stop by your house today and write a message for you on the wall, what do you suspect it would say?
And as a congregation, if God were to get out his biggest sharpie and write us a note that would in just a few words make clear what God thinks of what we are doing as a church and what we should be doing as a church, what would God write?
It’s really important to take time to think about this, because quite often God has been doing an awful lot of communicating of both his concerns and his hopes for us, but until the sharpie comes out, we just don’t pay attention.
I told the story a while back of a congregation that spent almost $1,000,000 on renovations, paint, even an elevator. It had 30 people in attendance before all the work. It now has 25 after several deaths.
Perhaps all the renovations didn’t have much to do with what God was trying to tell the good folks about what it meant for them to be the church. Perhaps, they painted over the writing on the wall.
And since we do not want to be like those folks, but rather have our eyes and ears, and perhaps more importantly our hearts open to the movement of Gods’ spirit, what might God be saying to us, to you about God’s plans?
It’s pretty clear from the fifth chapter of Daniel that, Belshazzar, the king who followed Nebuchadnezzar had no idea what God wanted. For one, he was not the son of Nebuchadnezzar, either physically or spiritually, and two, he clearly did not know of Daniel.
As I mentioned last Sunday, the stories in Daniel are often separated by years, and here is a good example.
Nebuchadnezzar, whose heart seems to have been turned toward God, is followed by a king who is delighted to throw a banquet that uses the holy hardware from the temple for a wild and crazy party.
Toasts are even made to statues, idols, representing all kinds of gods, but no mention is made of Yahweh, until the giant hand appears and the words, mene, tekel, parsin, are written.
The words don’t seem to make sense, don’t mean anything and need interpreting.
The king calls in his advisers, who claim they could talk with the spirits of the dead and understand the meanings found in the stars.
He tells, “The man who can read this writing and tell me what it means will become the third most powerful man in my kingdom. He will wear robes of royal purple and a gold chain around his neck.
But they can’t. And then the Queen remembers Daniel!
He is the one who interprets dreams. And it is Daniel, faithful Daniel who understands the writing on the wall.
And right there is one of the most important lessons of the book of Daniel!
One of the most valuable things we can be and do for God’s kingdom is be faithful. God can always use faithful disciples.
There is no need for flashiness, we just need to be where God wants us!
The words written on the wall are mene, which means “numbered,” tekel, which means “weighed,” and parsin, which means “divided, or Persia.”
Daniel tells Belshazzar that God has numbered the days of his kingdom and has brought it to an end. God has weighed the king on his balance scales, and he falls short of what it takes to be king.
So, God has divided your kingdom between the Medes and the Persians.
And that night Belshazzar dies, and Darius the Mede takes his place!
It is an amazing story, a miraculous story, but also a story for us!
It’s clear! We are to remember who we are, what we have called to be and do, and to be sure to listen for God’s direction.
So, what do you think God would write on the walls of your bedroom, or living room, or your room at work if God wanted to catch your attention, redirect your energy, time, and talents?
And as a church, what is God communicating to us about who we should be, what we should do, how we should at work for God’s kingdom.
Go, and check the walls, and let us all know what God is telling you!
Amen!
Toasts are even made to statues, idols, representing all kinds of gods, but no mention is made of Yahweh, until the giant hand appears and the words, mene, tekel, parsin, are written.
The words don’t seem to make sense, don’t mean anything and need interpreting.
The king calls in his advisers, who claim they could talk with the spirits of the dead and understand the meanings found in the stars.
He tells, “The man who can read this writing and tell me what it means will become the third most powerful man in my kingdom. He will wear robes of royal purple and a gold chain around his neck.
But they can’t. And then the Queen remembers Daniel!
He is the one who interprets dreams. And it is Daniel, faithful Daniel who understands the writing on the wall.
And right there is one of the most important lessons of the book of Daniel!
One of the most valuable things we can be and do for God’s kingdom is be faithful. God can always use faithful disciples.
There is no need for flashiness, we just need to be where God wants us!
The words written on the wall are mene, which means “numbered,” tekel, which means “weighed,” and parsin, which means “divided, or Persia.”
Daniel tells Belshazzar that God has numbered the days of his kingdom and has brought it to an end. God has weighed the king on his balance scales, and he falls short of what it takes to be king.
So, God has divided your kingdom between the Medes and the Persians.
And that night Belshazzar dies, and Darius the Mede takes his place!
It is an amazing story, a miraculous story, but also a story for us!
It’s clear! We are to remember who we are, what we have called to be and do, and to be sure to listen for God’s direction.
So, what do you think God would write on the walls of your bedroom, or living room, or your room at work if God wanted to catch your attention, redirect your energy, time, and talents?
And as a church, what is God communicating to us about who we should be, what we should do, how we should at work for God’s kingdom.
Go, and check the walls, and let us all know what God is telling you!
Amen!
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Sermon for February 16 Daniel 4
So…
Has anyone ever said about you that you were “too big for your britches”?
Maybe I am dating myself, but I remember hearing it used more than once referring to folks my family or neighbors knew who were too full of themselves, thought they knew more than other people, or were just generally not very humble.
After noting in my sermon preparation that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream suggested he was thinking way too much of himself, the saying came to mind and I was curious where it came from.
According to grammarist.com, the first known use of the saying is in Davy Crockett's work published in 1835: An Account of Col. Crockett's Tour to the North and Down East. It suggested over confidence and even conceit in one’s abilities or position in life.
Amazing, back then with Davy Crockett and well before that there were those who have though way too well of themselves and truly had no idea that their confidence may have actually been overconfidence.
And it seems Nebuchadnezzar was exactly one of those people.
No matter how many times God tried to warm Nebuchadnezzar though Daniel, that though he was a really good king of a really amazing nation, humility is a fruit of the spirit, and minus humility, maybe the fruit on this amazing tree the king had dreamt of, was not spirit fruit!
So, have you ever thought a little bit too much of yourself, have you ever been puffed up, or maybe even overconfident?
Humility is a huge gift for a leader!
In interview after interview it’s clear that some of the most successful leaders in the world - while confident of their abilities - are humble enough to surround themselves with really amazing other leaders.
Maybe I am dating myself, but I remember hearing it used more than once referring to folks my family or neighbors knew who were too full of themselves, thought they knew more than other people, or were just generally not very humble.
After noting in my sermon preparation that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream suggested he was thinking way too much of himself, the saying came to mind and I was curious where it came from.
According to grammarist.com, the first known use of the saying is in Davy Crockett's work published in 1835: An Account of Col. Crockett's Tour to the North and Down East. It suggested over confidence and even conceit in one’s abilities or position in life.
Amazing, back then with Davy Crockett and well before that there were those who have though way too well of themselves and truly had no idea that their confidence may have actually been overconfidence.
And it seems Nebuchadnezzar was exactly one of those people.
No matter how many times God tried to warm Nebuchadnezzar though Daniel, that though he was a really good king of a really amazing nation, humility is a fruit of the spirit, and minus humility, maybe the fruit on this amazing tree the king had dreamt of, was not spirit fruit!
So, have you ever thought a little bit too much of yourself, have you ever been puffed up, or maybe even overconfident?
Humility is a huge gift for a leader!
In interview after interview it’s clear that some of the most successful leaders in the world - while confident of their abilities - are humble enough to surround themselves with really amazing other leaders.
And humble enough to thank them, make sure they are well compensated, and that they have lots of space to become even better at what they do.
I have been trying to finish a book called Leading Tigers.
It’s a play on the old saw that working with groups of leaders can be a wee bit like trying to lead cats, and you don’t lead cats.
So, what happens when those leaders are highly skilled, highly successful, amazing leaders in their own right?
You are leading tigers. And you either have to get r.eun over by them, fire them all, or…
Your humility allows you to see their gifts, talents, and abilities, as well as their motivations, so you can help them succeed at an even higher level than before when you weren’t their leader.
Think about Jesus?
Humble, yet powerful and confident, assembling around him disciples who would change the world! Jesus, leading as he always has, tigers, you and I!
I know. You don’t think of yourself as a tiger. But God does! Talented, spirit filled, and clear about your calling to follow Jesus, right? Disciples ready to change the world one day at a time. You and I, God’s people, doing it every day!
Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt a dream that shook him up so much that he called on Daniel to interpret his dream - at least eventually.
I am pretty sure it was not the part about being the grand tree that was taller than all others, the one that grew amazing fruit for the world, you know, the tree that provided shade for all the animals.
No, it the part where it was chopped down by angels that stirred up the king.
Now remember, Nebuchadnezzar is sharing this story in a letter he has sent to the kingdom of Babylonia after the story has played out. He has learned an invaluable lesson that he wants to share with everyone who will listen.
Pride comes before you fall!
Or as Proverbs 16:18-19 says, “Too much pride will destroy you. You are better off to be humble and poor than to get rich from what you take by force.”
Seven years of living like a cow evidently can change a man!
And now, Nebuchadnezzar is that changed man! A king who has been touched by the hand of God, by the Most High God, by Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has invited this king to become a man of humility, a man of grace, a man still with some amazing leadership skills, but one who acknowledges that he is not the center of his universe.
How about you?
Are you a man or woman of humility and grace, respecting the talents, gifts and abilities of others, or is there a whole lot of salad in your near future?
Leading Tigers. I really need to finish that book.
To God be the glory.
Amen!
I have been trying to finish a book called Leading Tigers.
It’s a play on the old saw that working with groups of leaders can be a wee bit like trying to lead cats, and you don’t lead cats.
So, what happens when those leaders are highly skilled, highly successful, amazing leaders in their own right?
You are leading tigers. And you either have to get r.eun over by them, fire them all, or…
Your humility allows you to see their gifts, talents, and abilities, as well as their motivations, so you can help them succeed at an even higher level than before when you weren’t their leader.
Think about Jesus?
Humble, yet powerful and confident, assembling around him disciples who would change the world! Jesus, leading as he always has, tigers, you and I!
I know. You don’t think of yourself as a tiger. But God does! Talented, spirit filled, and clear about your calling to follow Jesus, right? Disciples ready to change the world one day at a time. You and I, God’s people, doing it every day!
Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt a dream that shook him up so much that he called on Daniel to interpret his dream - at least eventually.
I am pretty sure it was not the part about being the grand tree that was taller than all others, the one that grew amazing fruit for the world, you know, the tree that provided shade for all the animals.
No, it the part where it was chopped down by angels that stirred up the king.
Now remember, Nebuchadnezzar is sharing this story in a letter he has sent to the kingdom of Babylonia after the story has played out. He has learned an invaluable lesson that he wants to share with everyone who will listen.
Pride comes before you fall!
Or as Proverbs 16:18-19 says, “Too much pride will destroy you. You are better off to be humble and poor than to get rich from what you take by force.”
Seven years of living like a cow evidently can change a man!
And now, Nebuchadnezzar is that changed man! A king who has been touched by the hand of God, by the Most High God, by Yahweh, the God of Israel, who has invited this king to become a man of humility, a man of grace, a man still with some amazing leadership skills, but one who acknowledges that he is not the center of his universe.
How about you?
Are you a man or woman of humility and grace, respecting the talents, gifts and abilities of others, or is there a whole lot of salad in your near future?
Leading Tigers. I really need to finish that book.
To God be the glory.
Amen!
Monday, February 10, 2020
Sermon for February 9 on Daniel 4:1-18
So…
A few weeks ago, I asked about whether you all have dreams.
All of us do, although most of the time we don’t remember them because they happen during a portion of our sleep that if uninterrupted usually means we won’t remember them.
When we do, they can be pleasant or weird or scary. Sometimes they make some sense, other times no sense at all. A common dream some folks have is a dream of flying. Some dream interpreters suggest it may mean that we feel a need to escape or perhaps need a bird’s eye view of our lives.
Another dream is one where a person is swimming under water and can’t get to the surface. From family experience, I can tell you that you may need to get yourself a sleep machine, because it can be a sign you are holding your breath and could be sleep apnea.
One of my dreams in my teenage years was that of (and this dates me for sure) two “rockem-sockem” robots battling it out with acetylene torches. Just saying. The one psychologist I talked with later on, pointed out that adolescent brains are filled with conflicting feelings and ideas, and it is no surprise that our brain interprets that in pictures as a battle.
Yes, he was a bit concerned about the acetylene torches!
And yes, he still said I could be ordained as a pastor, so there.
So, what if you dream about being a tree? And that tree gets chopped down? Should you be worried?
Well, Nebuchadnezzar had exactly that dream. And Daniel was brought in to tell him what it meant. And Oh boy.
One of the things about the book of Daniel we discover as we read it over time, is that while we often read books sequentially, as if the story flowed chapter by chapter in a short period of time, books like Daniel are often more collections of stories over a long period of time, and the stories are not necessarily in order.
Daniel came to Babylon as a young man, say in his early twenties. At the end of the book of Daniel, he is a man in his 80’s. The stories we read here happened over those many years, and tell of his interactions with many of the kings of Babylon and then Media-Persia. They also record the stories of the Kosher food, and the lion’s den, and the fiery furnace, as well as the dreams of royalty and Daniel’s own dreams.
For us it seems odd to read of about Daniel becoming an adviser to Nebuchadnezzar at one point, and then at another the king having to be reminded that Daniel existed, and in another consulting other magicians and only belatedly remembering he can call Daniel.
While Daniel may have been a trusted official in some capacity in Babylon, he was never ever one of the inner circle group of leaders, like a cabinet member, or a special advisor to the king always at the king’s right hand.
Rather, he was a man of who did his job, worshiped his God, and was called on from time to time to interpret what God was saying to the king, when someone remembered he was there.
And it happened that way in this story. Nebuchadnezzar called for Daniel after it appears forgetting about Daniel, and… Forgetting about Daniel’s God.
Listen to what Nebuchadnezzar says in his own words about his conversation with Daniel: “I said, “Belteshazzar, not only are you the wisest of all advisers and counselors, but the holy gods have given you special powers to solve the most difficult mysteries. So, listen to what I dreamed and tell me what it means….”
By the king’s own admission, he still does not know who Yahweh, the God of Israel, is. He believes Daniel is led by the holy gods, but is not aware of Yahweh, and why he should worship him.
Of course, all that is about to change. And it is a great reminder to those of us who may be riding high, thinking all is well, and may not yet understand who the ultimate ruler of this world is.
Just because you are doing amazing things and appear have it all together, doesn’t mean what you may think it means!
Unless your relationship with God is right, and you are living out a just life, it all may just mean that you are just getting ready for a good grounding!
Keep in mind that being blessed is primarily a spiritual condition, not a material one.
Did you hear that? It’s a tough one for those of us who have grown up in western civilization where we measure ourselves by what we have accumulated. Here it is again… Being blessed is primarily a spiritual condition, not a material one.
You can accumulate all the stuff in the world, be the most powerful, most popular, most admired, the tallest tree in the forest from whom all others benefit, and still be spiritually bankrupt.
And to be sure, God doesn’t care about your stuff. God can make more stuff than you have ever dreamed of in a blink of an eye. It is more difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom than a camel trying to get through the eye of a needle. Why?
Because what matters is our spiritual condition, our relationship to God, our humility, our acceptance of God’s grace and our actions to pass it on.
Our blessedness is revealed in how we treat others, how we think of ourselves, what we value, and whether we see God at work in us.
Nebuchadnezzar didn’t.
But he would! Next week!
How about you? Amen!
A few weeks ago, I asked about whether you all have dreams.
All of us do, although most of the time we don’t remember them because they happen during a portion of our sleep that if uninterrupted usually means we won’t remember them.
When we do, they can be pleasant or weird or scary. Sometimes they make some sense, other times no sense at all. A common dream some folks have is a dream of flying. Some dream interpreters suggest it may mean that we feel a need to escape or perhaps need a bird’s eye view of our lives.
Another dream is one where a person is swimming under water and can’t get to the surface. From family experience, I can tell you that you may need to get yourself a sleep machine, because it can be a sign you are holding your breath and could be sleep apnea.
One of my dreams in my teenage years was that of (and this dates me for sure) two “rockem-sockem” robots battling it out with acetylene torches. Just saying. The one psychologist I talked with later on, pointed out that adolescent brains are filled with conflicting feelings and ideas, and it is no surprise that our brain interprets that in pictures as a battle.
Yes, he was a bit concerned about the acetylene torches!
And yes, he still said I could be ordained as a pastor, so there.
So, what if you dream about being a tree? And that tree gets chopped down? Should you be worried?
Well, Nebuchadnezzar had exactly that dream. And Daniel was brought in to tell him what it meant. And Oh boy.
One of the things about the book of Daniel we discover as we read it over time, is that while we often read books sequentially, as if the story flowed chapter by chapter in a short period of time, books like Daniel are often more collections of stories over a long period of time, and the stories are not necessarily in order.
Daniel came to Babylon as a young man, say in his early twenties. At the end of the book of Daniel, he is a man in his 80’s. The stories we read here happened over those many years, and tell of his interactions with many of the kings of Babylon and then Media-Persia. They also record the stories of the Kosher food, and the lion’s den, and the fiery furnace, as well as the dreams of royalty and Daniel’s own dreams.
For us it seems odd to read of about Daniel becoming an adviser to Nebuchadnezzar at one point, and then at another the king having to be reminded that Daniel existed, and in another consulting other magicians and only belatedly remembering he can call Daniel.
While Daniel may have been a trusted official in some capacity in Babylon, he was never ever one of the inner circle group of leaders, like a cabinet member, or a special advisor to the king always at the king’s right hand.
Rather, he was a man of who did his job, worshiped his God, and was called on from time to time to interpret what God was saying to the king, when someone remembered he was there.
And it happened that way in this story. Nebuchadnezzar called for Daniel after it appears forgetting about Daniel, and… Forgetting about Daniel’s God.
Listen to what Nebuchadnezzar says in his own words about his conversation with Daniel: “I said, “Belteshazzar, not only are you the wisest of all advisers and counselors, but the holy gods have given you special powers to solve the most difficult mysteries. So, listen to what I dreamed and tell me what it means….”
By the king’s own admission, he still does not know who Yahweh, the God of Israel, is. He believes Daniel is led by the holy gods, but is not aware of Yahweh, and why he should worship him.
Of course, all that is about to change. And it is a great reminder to those of us who may be riding high, thinking all is well, and may not yet understand who the ultimate ruler of this world is.
Just because you are doing amazing things and appear have it all together, doesn’t mean what you may think it means!
Unless your relationship with God is right, and you are living out a just life, it all may just mean that you are just getting ready for a good grounding!
Keep in mind that being blessed is primarily a spiritual condition, not a material one.
Did you hear that? It’s a tough one for those of us who have grown up in western civilization where we measure ourselves by what we have accumulated. Here it is again… Being blessed is primarily a spiritual condition, not a material one.
You can accumulate all the stuff in the world, be the most powerful, most popular, most admired, the tallest tree in the forest from whom all others benefit, and still be spiritually bankrupt.
And to be sure, God doesn’t care about your stuff. God can make more stuff than you have ever dreamed of in a blink of an eye. It is more difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom than a camel trying to get through the eye of a needle. Why?
Because what matters is our spiritual condition, our relationship to God, our humility, our acceptance of God’s grace and our actions to pass it on.
Our blessedness is revealed in how we treat others, how we think of ourselves, what we value, and whether we see God at work in us.
Nebuchadnezzar didn’t.
But he would! Next week!
How about you? Amen!
Tuesday, February 04, 2020
Sermon for February 2 on Daniel 3
So…
Do you know what a holocaust is?
Recently, the anniversary of the liberation of the German execution camp, Auschwitz, was remembered. It was liberated on January 27, 1945, by the Red Army as it worked its way across Poland.
Seven thousand Jewish prisoners were left behind as the Nazi’s forced another 60,000 men, women, and children to march to other death camps inside Germany.
Those left behind included mostly middle-aged adults and children under the age of 15, too sick to march. There were also 600 corpses.
The Holocaust is the story of the nightmare perpetrated during the Second World War by the Nazi’s to exterminate Slavs, Soviets, people with disabilities, political and religious dissidents, Gypsies, Gay men and six million Jews, two-thirds of all the Jews in Europe.
It is a stain on human history that if forgotten will be repeated, and has been repeated, again and again around the globe.
Now the term “holocaust” while well used for the destruction in Europe, comes from a biblical source. It comes from the Hebrew word “olah” and refers to the smoke rising from the sacrifice to God.
It is the complete consumption by fire of a sacrifice burnt on an altar of a bull, goat, sheep, turtle dove, or pigeon, depending on the reason for the sacrifice.
A sacrifice by fire is a theme often repeated in scripture as our God is presented as a consuming fire, into whose presence you would die as you are consumed by God’s holiness, like the fire in the burning bush with Moses, and the pillar of fire that traveled at night before the children of Israel as they fled Egypt.
Do you know what a holocaust is?
Recently, the anniversary of the liberation of the German execution camp, Auschwitz, was remembered. It was liberated on January 27, 1945, by the Red Army as it worked its way across Poland.
Seven thousand Jewish prisoners were left behind as the Nazi’s forced another 60,000 men, women, and children to march to other death camps inside Germany.
Those left behind included mostly middle-aged adults and children under the age of 15, too sick to march. There were also 600 corpses.
The Holocaust is the story of the nightmare perpetrated during the Second World War by the Nazi’s to exterminate Slavs, Soviets, people with disabilities, political and religious dissidents, Gypsies, Gay men and six million Jews, two-thirds of all the Jews in Europe.
It is a stain on human history that if forgotten will be repeated, and has been repeated, again and again around the globe.
Now the term “holocaust” while well used for the destruction in Europe, comes from a biblical source. It comes from the Hebrew word “olah” and refers to the smoke rising from the sacrifice to God.
It is the complete consumption by fire of a sacrifice burnt on an altar of a bull, goat, sheep, turtle dove, or pigeon, depending on the reason for the sacrifice.
A sacrifice by fire is a theme often repeated in scripture as our God is presented as a consuming fire, into whose presence you would die as you are consumed by God’s holiness, like the fire in the burning bush with Moses, and the pillar of fire that traveled at night before the children of Israel as they fled Egypt.
It is also evident in the many presentations of the Holy Spirit, appearing as flames of fire above the heads of the disciples in the upper room on Pentecost. And in depictions of God’s holiness in much of apocalyptic literature, as we will see later in Daniel.
Holocaust can be a glimpse into the holiness of God.
But it can also be a glimpse into the nightmare of human nature, like in the furnaces of the Nazi’s, or the horrors of nuclear war, or the long history of burning witches and heretics by religious zealots.
And for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three faith friends of Daniel, it was to be their fate, because to the golden statue, they would not offer worship.
Last week we talked about Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The statue of gold, silver, bronze, and iron mixed at the toes with clay. Nebuchadnezzar heard Daniel tell of the dream and its interpretation and honored Daniel for his ability to see the picture God had painted.
But, as I said then, he didn’t understand it.
He worshiped Daniel for a moment, but didn’t see the hand of God cutting out of the mountain a stone that could destroy kingdoms, his kingdom, did not see the implicit call for Nebuchadnezzar to worship the God of Daniel, did not understand how his choice of building an almost identical statue of all gold of himself, could result in God destroying him.
He saw only what he wanted to see, that he was the most important of all kings in all the kingdoms, and that everyone should worship him. And he decided to destroy his opponents by fire.
One of the most obvious marks historically of a despot, be it Hitler, or Stalin, or Pol Pot, or Idi Amin, is the deep desire to destroy opponents. It has been so throughout history. Defeating them is not enough. Destroying them becomes an obsession.
It is why George R.R. Martin in the Game of Thrones TV series has the character played by Emilia Clarke send her dragons to burn the city she has already defeated. Destruction has become an obsession.
And for Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s, unwillingness to worship him lights the fire.
But they are unmoved! And as Joe and Jim and Mike and Phil and Bob and Mike reminded us last Sunday, the three friends will not bend, they will not bow, and they will not burn!
Their faithfulness is the vehicle by which God makes it clear to Nebuchadnezzar that there is a King above all Kings who can stand in the fire and not be destroyed. Praise God.
But this story of a miracle of grace even has another gift for us beyond God’s protection of his people. Did you hear it?
It’s not just that they do not burn, though that is certainly miraculous. Nor is it that God himself becomes present with them in the fiery furnace though that is worthy of praise and worship.
The best part is what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say to the king before they become the day’s burnt offering, “but even if he doesn’t”.
They are remarkably powerful words of faith.
You heard as the scripture was read earlier when they said the king, “Your Majesty, we don’t need to defend ourselves. The God we worship can save us from you and your flaming furnace. But even if he doesn’t, we still won’t worship your gods and the gold statue you have set up.”
Oh, for that kind of faith, where no matter what we face, we will not be moved.
As we come to the table of the Lord, be sure to ask God for growing faith, that no matter what is ahead, you will remain strong and committed to the God of grace and the God of glory.
Amen!
Holocaust can be a glimpse into the holiness of God.
But it can also be a glimpse into the nightmare of human nature, like in the furnaces of the Nazi’s, or the horrors of nuclear war, or the long history of burning witches and heretics by religious zealots.
And for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three faith friends of Daniel, it was to be their fate, because to the golden statue, they would not offer worship.
Last week we talked about Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The statue of gold, silver, bronze, and iron mixed at the toes with clay. Nebuchadnezzar heard Daniel tell of the dream and its interpretation and honored Daniel for his ability to see the picture God had painted.
But, as I said then, he didn’t understand it.
He worshiped Daniel for a moment, but didn’t see the hand of God cutting out of the mountain a stone that could destroy kingdoms, his kingdom, did not see the implicit call for Nebuchadnezzar to worship the God of Daniel, did not understand how his choice of building an almost identical statue of all gold of himself, could result in God destroying him.
He saw only what he wanted to see, that he was the most important of all kings in all the kingdoms, and that everyone should worship him. And he decided to destroy his opponents by fire.
One of the most obvious marks historically of a despot, be it Hitler, or Stalin, or Pol Pot, or Idi Amin, is the deep desire to destroy opponents. It has been so throughout history. Defeating them is not enough. Destroying them becomes an obsession.
It is why George R.R. Martin in the Game of Thrones TV series has the character played by Emilia Clarke send her dragons to burn the city she has already defeated. Destruction has become an obsession.
And for Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s, unwillingness to worship him lights the fire.
But they are unmoved! And as Joe and Jim and Mike and Phil and Bob and Mike reminded us last Sunday, the three friends will not bend, they will not bow, and they will not burn!
Their faithfulness is the vehicle by which God makes it clear to Nebuchadnezzar that there is a King above all Kings who can stand in the fire and not be destroyed. Praise God.
But this story of a miracle of grace even has another gift for us beyond God’s protection of his people. Did you hear it?
It’s not just that they do not burn, though that is certainly miraculous. Nor is it that God himself becomes present with them in the fiery furnace though that is worthy of praise and worship.
The best part is what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say to the king before they become the day’s burnt offering, “but even if he doesn’t”.
They are remarkably powerful words of faith.
You heard as the scripture was read earlier when they said the king, “Your Majesty, we don’t need to defend ourselves. The God we worship can save us from you and your flaming furnace. But even if he doesn’t, we still won’t worship your gods and the gold statue you have set up.”
Oh, for that kind of faith, where no matter what we face, we will not be moved.
As we come to the table of the Lord, be sure to ask God for growing faith, that no matter what is ahead, you will remain strong and committed to the God of grace and the God of glory.
Amen!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)