What is the most amazing thing you have ever experienced?
Although there have been quite a few, including the births of Brian and Katie, one absolutely amazing experience was going with Sue and Allison Wilbur to Mount St. Helen’s in Washington State.
Mount St. Helen’s as you drive to it seems much like any other mountain, that is until you approach the parking lot and look at a Stratovolcano stuck there in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest, one volcano’s of the ring of fire that surrounds the Pacific Ocean.
And as you look on it slowly, with the help of the photos, and video footage, and the stark view before you, slowly you begin to realize what a wonder it is.
Because there, on May 18, 1980, the volcano exploded, blowing off its side after weeks of small eruptions, during the days and weeks before.
The top of the mountain had still been snow covered and with the violence of the explosions and the emitting of hot gas and rock, the snow was turned to water which rushed down the mountain side into the Teutel river and eventually raised the riverbed with silt in the Columbia river fifty miles away so high it blocked water traffic on it, until it could be dredged.
The eruption killed 50 some people, mostly on the river where it destroyed 17 bridges. It also killed including a US Geological Survey team member, David Alexander Johnston, who while manning an observation post six miles away was the first to report the eruption, transmitting "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!".
It filled in Spirit Lake nearby, moving it up in elevation and back hundreds of feet, and still when we looked over it a few years ago, was 1/3 covered with the remnants of the logs blown down by the blast.
As a national monument, Mount St. Helens is an area where no one is allowed to walk on the ground, and nothing is allowed to be changed, except by very few scientists.
Yet, the area, much of it still barren, has coming back to life by natural succession, a term Sue and other biology minded folks can explain. But in simple terms, tiny green stuff grows leading to more green stuff which leads to tiny insects, worms, then small mammals, and in a word, resurrection.
Even Spirit Lake, which Kathy Krogslund studied, went from water that looked like a thick chocolate milkshake over forty years, to water that supports rainbow trout, though no one knows how they got there.
It is simply amazing!
Overwhelming!
And terrifying in its enormity and power!
Literally the mountainside blew out and slid down taking everything with it. The pyroclastic flow incinerated the woods and everything in it that wasn’t below ground. Beyond the burn zone was a blow down zone where every tree was flattened to the ground.
In a matter of seconds, everything changed.
Now imagine that fishing boat, not small by most standards, but tiny compared to Galilee, being tossed and turned by winds that came funneling out of the surrounding hills turning the water into a frothy, churning, whirlpool of death from which these fishermen knew there was no escape.
It was their worst nightmare come to pass, a little friendly trip across the lake turning into a complete disaster. They, men who worked on the water, experienced, bold and brave, now realizing it was all about to end, and end badly!
And then seeing Jesus standing up in the boat in the midst of the storm and telling the mountains of water, and the billowing winds to quiet…
And you begin to see Jesus though the eyes of the disciples.
They were in a natural disaster as horrible as any they knew. They lived on the water, but like most people of their age, they feared it. It was dark, and moving, and they knew it was alive with beasts of all kinds.
And they knew if they fell out of the boat or the boat capsized it was all over.
There is good reason in John’s Revelation to tell us that at the end of time there will be a new heaven and a new earth, but that there will be no sea, for the sea was deadly and dangerous and to be feared.
Unless you were in the boat with Jesus!
What are some of the best questions you’ve ever been asked?
Will you marry me? Would you like to work here? Does this shirt make me look fat?
What is the best question you have ever asked someone ?
Can I be your friend? What if I helped you with that? What would you like for dinner?
But never, ever have I been asked or asked such questions. Questions like these at the end of today’s reading.
One from Jesus, one from the disciples.
Where is your faith? And, who is this?
Jesus asks the most important one, I think. To the disciples: You who have been with me, seen the miracles of healing and even resurrection, what is it you believe?
Haven’t you yet figured out yet who I am?
Why would you fear if I am with you?
Don’t you yet understand that the Lord of all has your life and your eternity in his hands, and you are safe?
To which the disciples can only respond in awe as it begins to slowly dawn on them who is in their boat.
Not a great prophet.
Not a great healer.
Not a great teacher.
But the very presence of God.
So, in your life, who is in the boat with you?
Amen.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Monday, June 22, 2020
Strange Faith: Simon for June 21
So,
I gotta say, one of my all-time favorite sermons here at the church was the recent one on “do not judge, lest ye be judged”!
As you can tell I learned that verse a long time ago and remember it in the language of the King James Version.
The Contemporary English Version puts it a bit more smoothly “Don’t judge others, and God won’t judge you.” Luke 6:37.
But here is the challenge; I like judging others!
I know it isn’t right, but it just comes so naturally. People do weird stuff! People think weird stuff! People are just weird!
And while I know my opinions often reflect some pretty bad prejudices, I still just can’t with men who wear flip flops. Call me a bad person. I can take it. But no. Just no.
And driving… Don’t get me started! Weave left to go right! Go back to driving school!
When Sue and I came to this church way, way back in the last century, I told her I was going to have to rush out and get at least one suit, because in the church I had come from in Boston, every man wore a suit to church. So I assumed…
Then on my first Sunday in the pulpit I looked out and behold, the only one in the whole congregation wearing a suit was Henry Holly, who was ancient, I’m sure he was into his 80’s by then, and said, “oh”!
My perception of how things were and how things were supposed to be, turned out to be faulty, based on faulty information, and certainly not based on my extensive study of scripture in seminary or before.
My fairly mild prejudices were based on my limited experience and my simple interpretation of them. And yes, I said Henry Holly was ancient, don’t judge me! Just because that’s another of my prejudices, doesn’t mean you can judge me, even if I choose to judge you!
So imagine, in this crazy world of ours, what it would be like, if we all stopped judging and gave up some of our cherished prejudices.
And then, consider this story of Jesus and the woman!
If only we all had “judgy” meters on, an app you could add to your phone or your smart watch, much like a Geiger counter, that would click like crazy with all the judging in this room and out in Worship Live land!
Because I know for sure some of your prejudices, and mine, and some of your jugginses and mine are light up with the story of this woman.
Because this story is about the “sinful” woman! And we all know what that means!
Except, in case you miss it, it turns out the story is really about Jesus and Simon!
Did you hear that!
The story is really about Jesus and Simon!
All of us judge. All of us are prejudiced. Sometimes it really doesn’t matter. Sometimes it destroys other people’s lives, sometimes even our own.
The reality is no matter what I think of men wearing flip flops, no one is going to change their choices because of what I think, and I really don’t think they should.
But sometimes our practicing of judging and our prejudices really do make a difference. They cause changes in behaviors. They allow us to confront other people we have no business confronting. We start demanding that the world conform to our views.
Not conform to the Kingdom Jesus teaches us about.
And sometimes, they allow us to construct a reality that excludes people God has no intention for us to exclude!
Like Simon, who thought that if Jesus was really a prophet, he would know what kind of woman was washing and kissing his feet, who then met a prophet who knew exactly what Simon was thinking, and pointed out how his prejudice against the woman put him in the position of not showing hospitality to God!
Let that sink in.
Hospitality, or the lack of it was considered a huge social and religious sin.
Not showing hospitality to God present right before him? That was devastating!
Simon’s prejudices were getting in the way of Simon being in the holy presence.
And our prejudices get in the way of God’s presence in our lives!
Seeing people doing what see as wrong, as sinful and choosing to blaming them, belittle their pain, getting mad at them, and not doing what we have been told again and again and again to do, love them as ourselves, is sin.
Standing in the way of God’s presence in our lives, in our families, in our communities, and even in our churches.
Jesus points out Simon did none of the acts of hospitality that were required of a host. He reminds Simon he didn’t kiss Jesus, didn’t wash his feet, didn’t anoint him. But the woman did.
Instead, Simon looked right past Jesus and saw your own righteousness and her sin and you judged her, and so, in doing so, you pushed me away.
Simon, you need to look very carefully at what you believe and why. And if your belief’s lead you to judge others, then you will be judged.
We live in crazy times. It is easy to see who is bad and why. We make judgments about who gets COVID and who doesn’t, who goes on peaceful protests, and who is there when looting and rioting happen.
We judge others on the basis of their color, or creed, or national background, or lifestyle. And we fail to love them.
But when we choose not to love them, we are choosing not to love God.
This is hard to hear, so hard, that some at Simon’s dinner party judged Jesus right there and then and said, “Who is this who dares to forgive sins?”
But Jesus told the woman, “Because of your faith, you are now saved. May God give you peace!”
Don’t be like Simon! And go in peace!
Amen.
I gotta say, one of my all-time favorite sermons here at the church was the recent one on “do not judge, lest ye be judged”!
As you can tell I learned that verse a long time ago and remember it in the language of the King James Version.
The Contemporary English Version puts it a bit more smoothly “Don’t judge others, and God won’t judge you.” Luke 6:37.
But here is the challenge; I like judging others!
I know it isn’t right, but it just comes so naturally. People do weird stuff! People think weird stuff! People are just weird!
And while I know my opinions often reflect some pretty bad prejudices, I still just can’t with men who wear flip flops. Call me a bad person. I can take it. But no. Just no.
And driving… Don’t get me started! Weave left to go right! Go back to driving school!
When Sue and I came to this church way, way back in the last century, I told her I was going to have to rush out and get at least one suit, because in the church I had come from in Boston, every man wore a suit to church. So I assumed…
Then on my first Sunday in the pulpit I looked out and behold, the only one in the whole congregation wearing a suit was Henry Holly, who was ancient, I’m sure he was into his 80’s by then, and said, “oh”!
My perception of how things were and how things were supposed to be, turned out to be faulty, based on faulty information, and certainly not based on my extensive study of scripture in seminary or before.
My fairly mild prejudices were based on my limited experience and my simple interpretation of them. And yes, I said Henry Holly was ancient, don’t judge me! Just because that’s another of my prejudices, doesn’t mean you can judge me, even if I choose to judge you!
So imagine, in this crazy world of ours, what it would be like, if we all stopped judging and gave up some of our cherished prejudices.
And then, consider this story of Jesus and the woman!
If only we all had “judgy” meters on, an app you could add to your phone or your smart watch, much like a Geiger counter, that would click like crazy with all the judging in this room and out in Worship Live land!
Because I know for sure some of your prejudices, and mine, and some of your jugginses and mine are light up with the story of this woman.
Because this story is about the “sinful” woman! And we all know what that means!
Except, in case you miss it, it turns out the story is really about Jesus and Simon!
Did you hear that!
The story is really about Jesus and Simon!
All of us judge. All of us are prejudiced. Sometimes it really doesn’t matter. Sometimes it destroys other people’s lives, sometimes even our own.
The reality is no matter what I think of men wearing flip flops, no one is going to change their choices because of what I think, and I really don’t think they should.
But sometimes our practicing of judging and our prejudices really do make a difference. They cause changes in behaviors. They allow us to confront other people we have no business confronting. We start demanding that the world conform to our views.
Not conform to the Kingdom Jesus teaches us about.
And sometimes, they allow us to construct a reality that excludes people God has no intention for us to exclude!
Like Simon, who thought that if Jesus was really a prophet, he would know what kind of woman was washing and kissing his feet, who then met a prophet who knew exactly what Simon was thinking, and pointed out how his prejudice against the woman put him in the position of not showing hospitality to God!
Let that sink in.
Hospitality, or the lack of it was considered a huge social and religious sin.
Not showing hospitality to God present right before him? That was devastating!
Simon’s prejudices were getting in the way of Simon being in the holy presence.
And our prejudices get in the way of God’s presence in our lives!
Seeing people doing what see as wrong, as sinful and choosing to blaming them, belittle their pain, getting mad at them, and not doing what we have been told again and again and again to do, love them as ourselves, is sin.
Standing in the way of God’s presence in our lives, in our families, in our communities, and even in our churches.
Jesus points out Simon did none of the acts of hospitality that were required of a host. He reminds Simon he didn’t kiss Jesus, didn’t wash his feet, didn’t anoint him. But the woman did.
Instead, Simon looked right past Jesus and saw your own righteousness and her sin and you judged her, and so, in doing so, you pushed me away.
Simon, you need to look very carefully at what you believe and why. And if your belief’s lead you to judge others, then you will be judged.
We live in crazy times. It is easy to see who is bad and why. We make judgments about who gets COVID and who doesn’t, who goes on peaceful protests, and who is there when looting and rioting happen.
We judge others on the basis of their color, or creed, or national background, or lifestyle. And we fail to love them.
But when we choose not to love them, we are choosing not to love God.
This is hard to hear, so hard, that some at Simon’s dinner party judged Jesus right there and then and said, “Who is this who dares to forgive sins?”
But Jesus told the woman, “Because of your faith, you are now saved. May God give you peace!”
Don’t be like Simon! And go in peace!
Amen.
Monday, June 15, 2020
Strange Faith: A Widow June 14, 2020
So,
As part of my position as a Pastor, I do a lot of funerals. In some ways they are a whole lot easier than weddings, because while the emotions are real and raw, they usually aren’t wild, which they can be at a wedding.
I attended a wedding rehearsal year’s ago, when a bride said to me and her husband to be, “I’ll be right back” and suddenly went off to do something. When she came back, she apologized and said, “my parents are divorced and both brought their new partners today, and they were fighting.
So, I went down there and went all bride-zilla on them and told them to suck it up and play niece or all four of them could go home!”
Ok!
And not that I haven’t been the officiant where a few funerals have ended with parts of the family fighting and yelling, but I have never ever been to a funeral where the deceased sat up and began to talk.
Never! Ever! Strange faith!
In this story about the widow of Nain and her deceased son we see Jesus take faith to a whole new level!
Jesus sees the funeral procession and he sees the widow’s pain and he is obviously moved, and so he commands the boy to get up, acting just like Elijah and Elisha did, and shows that the faith that sustains him is light years beyond our own.
He is not afraid of the dead boy. He is not afraid of death at all. He acts as if raising people from the dead is no big deal, part of the package that comes with believing in the power of a powerful God!
Do you?
And believing in the power of a powerful God he acts!
It is one of the three times in the New Testament that Jesus declares by his actions that he is Lord over death. And then at Pentecost he passes that power over to the church, to the disciples, to us. Whoa!
So, when you are confronted with death, what do you do?
Unfortunately, in the last few weeks we have all been confronted with death, especially on the national scene. 110,000 people have died of COVIC-19 in the United States, many in our area.
And we have watched the death of George Floyd roil the troubled waters of racism, waters that have never been peaceful because we have not yet begun to solve the problems that confront people of color.
As an uncle of five nieces and nephews of color, I know that racism lives at all times and raises its ugly head especially when there is an honest effort to point it out and try to eliminate it.
It ought to send every believer to their knees, as an act of repentance and as preparation for a commission by Jesus to go and change things.
But we are weak, and unsure, and faced with our fear, we instead turn away.
But Jesus instead of running from death, walked up to it and told it to begone!
He said, “Young man, get up!”
When faced with death, do we accept it as a natural part of life and mourn the loss but then go on our merry way unconcerned? Or do we find ourselves stymied, lost, stuck, struggling to deal with the implications of the loss, not really knowing what to do or how?
Do we find ourselves emotionally broken, overwhelmed with grief, unable to offer much in the way of help and comfort? Or are we like Jesus, in tune with the widow’s crushing loss, but ready, willing, and able to step up and step in, to make a difference!
Is your faith that kind of strange faith that upon seeing death, understands not only the loss, but the possibilities of life?
We are resurrection people!
Now, I am not suggesting that we go around trying our best to resurrect everyone we go to a funeral for! The reality is some folks have gone home just because it is time.
But as people of the resurrection, every time we see death or it’s crushing power creeping around, we need to remember that the people of God have been given resurrection power…
That we do not have to leave people in misery and grief…
That we can bring help, and hope, and love…
And even healing presence into all kinds of situations and to all kinds of people who are suffering!
Even those with COVID-19 and those who care for them.
Even those who are being crushed to death by racism, and those who love them.
We can do all that Jesus did by giving food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, love to the loveless, time and energy and intelligence and love in overwhelming amounts, so that those who suffer…
So, they never, ever, suffer alone…
Because, that is exactly what Jesus would do!
If only the church had the power to raise the dead…
Think of the things we could do!
In Jesus presence, tears are wiped away…
And the church is called to be a community that wipes away tears!
And he replaces them with rejoicing…
And the church is called to be a community that is jubilant, people of resurrection power…
Go, in the power of Christ. Amen.
As part of my position as a Pastor, I do a lot of funerals. In some ways they are a whole lot easier than weddings, because while the emotions are real and raw, they usually aren’t wild, which they can be at a wedding.
I attended a wedding rehearsal year’s ago, when a bride said to me and her husband to be, “I’ll be right back” and suddenly went off to do something. When she came back, she apologized and said, “my parents are divorced and both brought their new partners today, and they were fighting.
So, I went down there and went all bride-zilla on them and told them to suck it up and play niece or all four of them could go home!”
Ok!
And not that I haven’t been the officiant where a few funerals have ended with parts of the family fighting and yelling, but I have never ever been to a funeral where the deceased sat up and began to talk.
Never! Ever! Strange faith!
In this story about the widow of Nain and her deceased son we see Jesus take faith to a whole new level!
Jesus sees the funeral procession and he sees the widow’s pain and he is obviously moved, and so he commands the boy to get up, acting just like Elijah and Elisha did, and shows that the faith that sustains him is light years beyond our own.
He is not afraid of the dead boy. He is not afraid of death at all. He acts as if raising people from the dead is no big deal, part of the package that comes with believing in the power of a powerful God!
Do you?
And believing in the power of a powerful God he acts!
It is one of the three times in the New Testament that Jesus declares by his actions that he is Lord over death. And then at Pentecost he passes that power over to the church, to the disciples, to us. Whoa!
So, when you are confronted with death, what do you do?
Unfortunately, in the last few weeks we have all been confronted with death, especially on the national scene. 110,000 people have died of COVIC-19 in the United States, many in our area.
And we have watched the death of George Floyd roil the troubled waters of racism, waters that have never been peaceful because we have not yet begun to solve the problems that confront people of color.
As an uncle of five nieces and nephews of color, I know that racism lives at all times and raises its ugly head especially when there is an honest effort to point it out and try to eliminate it.
It ought to send every believer to their knees, as an act of repentance and as preparation for a commission by Jesus to go and change things.
But we are weak, and unsure, and faced with our fear, we instead turn away.
But Jesus instead of running from death, walked up to it and told it to begone!
He said, “Young man, get up!”
When faced with death, do we accept it as a natural part of life and mourn the loss but then go on our merry way unconcerned? Or do we find ourselves stymied, lost, stuck, struggling to deal with the implications of the loss, not really knowing what to do or how?
Do we find ourselves emotionally broken, overwhelmed with grief, unable to offer much in the way of help and comfort? Or are we like Jesus, in tune with the widow’s crushing loss, but ready, willing, and able to step up and step in, to make a difference!
Is your faith that kind of strange faith that upon seeing death, understands not only the loss, but the possibilities of life?
We are resurrection people!
Now, I am not suggesting that we go around trying our best to resurrect everyone we go to a funeral for! The reality is some folks have gone home just because it is time.
But as people of the resurrection, every time we see death or it’s crushing power creeping around, we need to remember that the people of God have been given resurrection power…
That we do not have to leave people in misery and grief…
That we can bring help, and hope, and love…
And even healing presence into all kinds of situations and to all kinds of people who are suffering!
Even those with COVID-19 and those who care for them.
Even those who are being crushed to death by racism, and those who love them.
We can do all that Jesus did by giving food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, love to the loveless, time and energy and intelligence and love in overwhelming amounts, so that those who suffer…
So, they never, ever, suffer alone…
Because, that is exactly what Jesus would do!
If only the church had the power to raise the dead…
Think of the things we could do!
In Jesus presence, tears are wiped away…
And the church is called to be a community that wipes away tears!
And he replaces them with rejoicing…
And the church is called to be a community that is jubilant, people of resurrection power…
Go, in the power of Christ. Amen.
Monday, June 08, 2020
Sermon "Strange Faith: Centurion" June 7
So,
Sometimes what you think you are going to discover in a bible story is not the thing you find, in this case a man stepping right over the political, religious, economic, and cultural divides to help folks from whom he couldn’t be more different!
Last week I shared a little with you about our Bible & Brew bible study, a rather new group. As I said, it is a lot of fun, as almost 10 of us get together weekly to look at the bible stories in Luke’s gospel. But there are other bible studies, and some of them are just as much if not more fun.
For example, the Wednesday night bible study, which at times has had as many as 20 participants, is studying the life of Joseph, the guy with the multi colored cloak, and oh my, what a study!
I have got to tell you that it is a story of strange faith!
It is a crazy tale, about the second to youngest son of Jacob (who God renamed Israel) Joseph. In the book of Genesis, Joseph, son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, tells his brothers he has had a dream of them all bowing down to him.
They are understandably delighted, and so decide to sell him off to some slave traders who carry him off and sell him to a man named Potiphar, all the way down in Egypt!
Joseph then manages to get thrown in jail after he is falsely accused of an attempted rape of his owner’s wife, and there, in jail, interprets the dreams of some fellow prisoners all while making sure the house of his slave owner and then his jailer prosper, because God is with Joseph.
You heard that, right! God is with Joseph! Strange faith!
The story is just wild. Les and Tammy, Jim and Sue, Mary Colburn and Derrick, Marilyn and Bob, and Sue and I and all the others who pop in from time to time all just look at each other and go, “really”?
Because it is all just crazy. How can a guy in that much trouble with everybody mad at him be blessed? Be under God’s care? Believe that God is with him? And yet, God is, and is moving events and people to line them up for some amazing stuff!
I have no intentions of saying more about Joseph because a fall sermon series is brewing, I can assure you, Joseph’s life is just crazy from start to finish, and no surprise, at the Wednesday night bible study, we have come to assume that what we are about to read on any given week will astound us.
In fact, all of us should assume that whenever we open the bible’s cover, we are going to find a story of strange faith. Because the faith we read about in the scriptures is not the ordinary, run-of-the-mill stuff we keep assuming we will find.
The faith we discover is vibrant, out-of-bounds stuff that leads God’s people on crazy adventures and amazing new relationships with a God who is not boring, not staid, not trapped in a monochromatic world, but rather one out there with his people in bold technicolor, just like Joseph’s coat.
And remember, this bible study bunch is the same group that studied the book of Judges and the woman who pounded a tent peg through a sleeping general’s head! True story!
So, when we hear of Jesus’ encounter with a Roman Centurion, instead of thinking, “oh my, this is going to be boring”, we brace ourselves for the story to go off the rails, for something to happen that is unexpected, unusual, amazing, unbelievable, or possibly, strange.
And the scripture comes through every time!
Because in this story we a man who is no ordinary Centurion, nor is he an ordinary person of faith.
This man is a soldier, either part of the contingent that protected Herod Antipas or the contingent that protected Pontius Pilate, or perhaps was a retired soldier. As such, it would be a surprise right off to find of that he is God fearing - that is a man who respects and to some degree follows the Jewish faith.
He is not a Jew, nor a proselyte (that is a person becoming Jewish) rather he is one who has discovered in the Jewish faith something that he admires and so chooses to help with in the local community.
Here is a soldier who though part of the occupation army, has Jewish friends who respect him and are thankful for his support for their community of faith. Jewish friends, who are willing to go find the traveling Rabbi and see if Jesus is willing to heal the Centurion’s servant.
This is also a man who has gentile friends who respect him, and who on his word also are willing to go and find Jesus and tell him of the Centurion’s respect and faith, with a story that straightens Jesus right up!
Tell me, in your life who on your long list of faith friends, or for that matter just plain old regular friends, would do the same for you? Step out on a mission to find help, get something fixed, or boldly speak about a need in the community that needs help now!
Please, go find the preacher, the healer, the man of God right now and tell him about my suffering servant.
You see, this is no ordinary Centurion!
He is in fact a man of amazing faith, strange as that seems, who because his servant is ill, goes out of his way not only to reach out to Jesus, but to put his own faith on the line!
And even Jesus is taken aback!
This man believes that Jesus can heal his servant! That Jesus has the power! That Jesus has the desire! And that his servant will be made well!
All while we of little faith sometimes struggle to even believe, no less ask Jesus to heal us, to heal those we love, to heal this virus, or to heal the racial injustices that continue to plague our country.
We struggle, but “forget” to ask, all while James 4:2 reminds us that, we “…do not have because (we) do not ask God”.
But not the Centurion, the man most would at first think as least likely to have real, powerful, amazing faith. But he does!
And his servant is healed. Strange faith. Not conventional faith. Not safe faith. Rather it is bold faith! Faith that believes that just connecting with Jesus can being the healing we so much desire.
And so, we who want our land healed, need to go find the master and ask.
Lord, heal those struggling with this virus!
Lord, heal our nation and help us root out the racial injustice we tolerate!
Lord, heal all those who are scared!
Lord, heal us!
In Jesus name. Amen.
Sometimes what you think you are going to discover in a bible story is not the thing you find, in this case a man stepping right over the political, religious, economic, and cultural divides to help folks from whom he couldn’t be more different!
Last week I shared a little with you about our Bible & Brew bible study, a rather new group. As I said, it is a lot of fun, as almost 10 of us get together weekly to look at the bible stories in Luke’s gospel. But there are other bible studies, and some of them are just as much if not more fun.
For example, the Wednesday night bible study, which at times has had as many as 20 participants, is studying the life of Joseph, the guy with the multi colored cloak, and oh my, what a study!
I have got to tell you that it is a story of strange faith!
It is a crazy tale, about the second to youngest son of Jacob (who God renamed Israel) Joseph. In the book of Genesis, Joseph, son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, tells his brothers he has had a dream of them all bowing down to him.
They are understandably delighted, and so decide to sell him off to some slave traders who carry him off and sell him to a man named Potiphar, all the way down in Egypt!
Joseph then manages to get thrown in jail after he is falsely accused of an attempted rape of his owner’s wife, and there, in jail, interprets the dreams of some fellow prisoners all while making sure the house of his slave owner and then his jailer prosper, because God is with Joseph.
You heard that, right! God is with Joseph! Strange faith!
The story is just wild. Les and Tammy, Jim and Sue, Mary Colburn and Derrick, Marilyn and Bob, and Sue and I and all the others who pop in from time to time all just look at each other and go, “really”?
Because it is all just crazy. How can a guy in that much trouble with everybody mad at him be blessed? Be under God’s care? Believe that God is with him? And yet, God is, and is moving events and people to line them up for some amazing stuff!
I have no intentions of saying more about Joseph because a fall sermon series is brewing, I can assure you, Joseph’s life is just crazy from start to finish, and no surprise, at the Wednesday night bible study, we have come to assume that what we are about to read on any given week will astound us.
In fact, all of us should assume that whenever we open the bible’s cover, we are going to find a story of strange faith. Because the faith we read about in the scriptures is not the ordinary, run-of-the-mill stuff we keep assuming we will find.
The faith we discover is vibrant, out-of-bounds stuff that leads God’s people on crazy adventures and amazing new relationships with a God who is not boring, not staid, not trapped in a monochromatic world, but rather one out there with his people in bold technicolor, just like Joseph’s coat.
And remember, this bible study bunch is the same group that studied the book of Judges and the woman who pounded a tent peg through a sleeping general’s head! True story!
So, when we hear of Jesus’ encounter with a Roman Centurion, instead of thinking, “oh my, this is going to be boring”, we brace ourselves for the story to go off the rails, for something to happen that is unexpected, unusual, amazing, unbelievable, or possibly, strange.
And the scripture comes through every time!
Because in this story we a man who is no ordinary Centurion, nor is he an ordinary person of faith.
This man is a soldier, either part of the contingent that protected Herod Antipas or the contingent that protected Pontius Pilate, or perhaps was a retired soldier. As such, it would be a surprise right off to find of that he is God fearing - that is a man who respects and to some degree follows the Jewish faith.
He is not a Jew, nor a proselyte (that is a person becoming Jewish) rather he is one who has discovered in the Jewish faith something that he admires and so chooses to help with in the local community.
Here is a soldier who though part of the occupation army, has Jewish friends who respect him and are thankful for his support for their community of faith. Jewish friends, who are willing to go find the traveling Rabbi and see if Jesus is willing to heal the Centurion’s servant.
This is also a man who has gentile friends who respect him, and who on his word also are willing to go and find Jesus and tell him of the Centurion’s respect and faith, with a story that straightens Jesus right up!
Tell me, in your life who on your long list of faith friends, or for that matter just plain old regular friends, would do the same for you? Step out on a mission to find help, get something fixed, or boldly speak about a need in the community that needs help now!
Please, go find the preacher, the healer, the man of God right now and tell him about my suffering servant.
You see, this is no ordinary Centurion!
He is in fact a man of amazing faith, strange as that seems, who because his servant is ill, goes out of his way not only to reach out to Jesus, but to put his own faith on the line!
And even Jesus is taken aback!
This man believes that Jesus can heal his servant! That Jesus has the power! That Jesus has the desire! And that his servant will be made well!
All while we of little faith sometimes struggle to even believe, no less ask Jesus to heal us, to heal those we love, to heal this virus, or to heal the racial injustices that continue to plague our country.
We struggle, but “forget” to ask, all while James 4:2 reminds us that, we “…do not have because (we) do not ask God”.
But not the Centurion, the man most would at first think as least likely to have real, powerful, amazing faith. But he does!
And his servant is healed. Strange faith. Not conventional faith. Not safe faith. Rather it is bold faith! Faith that believes that just connecting with Jesus can being the healing we so much desire.
And so, we who want our land healed, need to go find the master and ask.
Lord, heal those struggling with this virus!
Lord, heal our nation and help us root out the racial injustice we tolerate!
Lord, heal all those who are scared!
Lord, heal us!
In Jesus name. Amen.
Monday, June 01, 2020
Sermon "Strange Faith: Drunk" May 31, 2020
So,
The first questions from Thursday Night’s Bible & Brew was a doozy.
Yes, we have a Bible & Brew Bible Study. And yes, it is fun. And yes, it gets more fun as the evening goes on, just saying!
The Brew part is always interesting.
This past week among the members, we had sweet tea, wine, mead, and beer. We should have also had hard cider, but I left my glass of Awestruck, Pears and Apple,s on the counter and had to settle for sweet tea, which was good, but not apple cider good.
In any case, we usually follow the inductive bible study pattern of asking a particular passage from the bible a series of questions.
This week the passage was Luke 8:1-18 and yes, they are studying the Sunday morning preaching passages a few weeks in advance. Then we followed the normal pattern of questions: observation questions (what does the passage actually say), interpretation questions (what do you think that means) and then application questions (what do you think you or we should do about what we just discovered).
It turns out to be a great way to study scripture, plus when people get into it, you can have a lot of fun as people reveal all kinds of crazy ideas!
In some of the study guides I get for us, there is often a starter question for group discussion, to kind of prime the pump. (Go online and find out what priming a pump is, we’ll wait!)
This week it was, “What one or two factors initially influenced your first response to the Christian faith?”
I know, it sounds complex, but really all it is asking is “how did you become a disciple of Jesus”?
For some of us that was a good long jog down memory lane!
I mentioned my father and his insistence on going to church and living one’s faith.
On some Sunday mornings I remember him headed out to warm up the car when I was a teenager, and him coming back in the house and announcing that he was leaving for church and we had two minutes to get in the car or he was leaving without us!
To him, the fellowship, the worship, and the learning about our Christian faith was essential. You didn’t miss, because you wanted to grow and become more like Jesus!
Others in the group had different stories including Sheila and Barry Moore. Ask them sometime about working with folks who turned out to be practicing disciples and also about El Paso, Texas and a baptism.
The key to it all, though, is that faith, when we find it, is often unexpected, and extraordinary. And sometimes strange.
Not so much because it is odd in itself. But because when we see encounter it, we are surprised.
Just like in this story from Acts chapter 2. It is a story of strange faith, that gets stranger the more we hear about it and compare it to the background faith from which it emerges.
Consider…
The disciples and all the followers of Jesus have gathered in an upper room (and what a huge room it must have been) praying and waiting to see what God is going to do.
They have already seen the resurrected Jesus, all of his miracles, spent quality time with him, eaten with him, and then seen him ascending through the mist of God’s Glory cloud into God’s Eternal presence.
They had no words. He was just gone!
But now they are ready for whatever comes next and I assume they must have wondered what could possibly be more than what they had already been through.
They knew the Holy Spirit was coming, but what did that mean?
They knew they were to go to the whole world with the good news of the gospel, but how was that going to happen?
They had no words, no ideas, only hopes and aspirations as Bill Noha used to say.
What did happen was strange! What came to them was strange faith!
The Holy Spirit came not like a dove as it did to Jesus, but as a rushing wind, much like the Genesis story of creation. And what followed it was fire much like a reverse of Elijah’s being carried off into heaven.
They now sat around the room, filled and on fire, and instead of stopping, dropping and rolling, they did exactly what you are not supposed to do and ran!
Filled to bursting with joy, nf fire such that they were burning with energy like the sun, they ran into the street of Jerusalem swollen with the Pentecost celebration, 50 days after Passover, of the wheat harvest and all that went with it.
And then they began to tell folks in their own native languages all about Jesus, and all about who Jesus was and what Jesus had done and about why they were on fire!
I’m telling you this is strange faith! This is not Saturday going to synagogue or Dad’s going to leave in the car without you faith!
This is not, oh, we have to drop our tithes and offerings off at the Temple, so Chuck Krogslund can pick it up and use it to pay the electric bill faith!
This is not the Pharisees rules, or the Sadducees smaller list of rules, or the priest’s sacrifices, or the scribes jots and tittles (the dot above the small letter “I” is a jot, the slash across a “t” is a tittle). Sigh!
This was power, this was change, this was renewal, this was grace, this was passion – and this was God present in the lives of his people!
And folks…
That power…
That change…
That renewal…
That grace…
That passion…
Is…
In…
Us…
Strange faith! Amen.
The first questions from Thursday Night’s Bible & Brew was a doozy.
Yes, we have a Bible & Brew Bible Study. And yes, it is fun. And yes, it gets more fun as the evening goes on, just saying!
The Brew part is always interesting.
This past week among the members, we had sweet tea, wine, mead, and beer. We should have also had hard cider, but I left my glass of Awestruck, Pears and Apple,s on the counter and had to settle for sweet tea, which was good, but not apple cider good.
In any case, we usually follow the inductive bible study pattern of asking a particular passage from the bible a series of questions.
This week the passage was Luke 8:1-18 and yes, they are studying the Sunday morning preaching passages a few weeks in advance. Then we followed the normal pattern of questions: observation questions (what does the passage actually say), interpretation questions (what do you think that means) and then application questions (what do you think you or we should do about what we just discovered).
It turns out to be a great way to study scripture, plus when people get into it, you can have a lot of fun as people reveal all kinds of crazy ideas!
In some of the study guides I get for us, there is often a starter question for group discussion, to kind of prime the pump. (Go online and find out what priming a pump is, we’ll wait!)
This week it was, “What one or two factors initially influenced your first response to the Christian faith?”
I know, it sounds complex, but really all it is asking is “how did you become a disciple of Jesus”?
For some of us that was a good long jog down memory lane!
I mentioned my father and his insistence on going to church and living one’s faith.
On some Sunday mornings I remember him headed out to warm up the car when I was a teenager, and him coming back in the house and announcing that he was leaving for church and we had two minutes to get in the car or he was leaving without us!
To him, the fellowship, the worship, and the learning about our Christian faith was essential. You didn’t miss, because you wanted to grow and become more like Jesus!
Others in the group had different stories including Sheila and Barry Moore. Ask them sometime about working with folks who turned out to be practicing disciples and also about El Paso, Texas and a baptism.
The key to it all, though, is that faith, when we find it, is often unexpected, and extraordinary. And sometimes strange.
Not so much because it is odd in itself. But because when we see encounter it, we are surprised.
Just like in this story from Acts chapter 2. It is a story of strange faith, that gets stranger the more we hear about it and compare it to the background faith from which it emerges.
Consider…
The disciples and all the followers of Jesus have gathered in an upper room (and what a huge room it must have been) praying and waiting to see what God is going to do.
They have already seen the resurrected Jesus, all of his miracles, spent quality time with him, eaten with him, and then seen him ascending through the mist of God’s Glory cloud into God’s Eternal presence.
They had no words. He was just gone!
But now they are ready for whatever comes next and I assume they must have wondered what could possibly be more than what they had already been through.
They knew the Holy Spirit was coming, but what did that mean?
They knew they were to go to the whole world with the good news of the gospel, but how was that going to happen?
They had no words, no ideas, only hopes and aspirations as Bill Noha used to say.
What did happen was strange! What came to them was strange faith!
The Holy Spirit came not like a dove as it did to Jesus, but as a rushing wind, much like the Genesis story of creation. And what followed it was fire much like a reverse of Elijah’s being carried off into heaven.
They now sat around the room, filled and on fire, and instead of stopping, dropping and rolling, they did exactly what you are not supposed to do and ran!
Filled to bursting with joy, nf fire such that they were burning with energy like the sun, they ran into the street of Jerusalem swollen with the Pentecost celebration, 50 days after Passover, of the wheat harvest and all that went with it.
And then they began to tell folks in their own native languages all about Jesus, and all about who Jesus was and what Jesus had done and about why they were on fire!
I’m telling you this is strange faith! This is not Saturday going to synagogue or Dad’s going to leave in the car without you faith!
This is not, oh, we have to drop our tithes and offerings off at the Temple, so Chuck Krogslund can pick it up and use it to pay the electric bill faith!
This is not the Pharisees rules, or the Sadducees smaller list of rules, or the priest’s sacrifices, or the scribes jots and tittles (the dot above the small letter “I” is a jot, the slash across a “t” is a tittle). Sigh!
This was power, this was change, this was renewal, this was grace, this was passion – and this was God present in the lives of his people!
And folks…
That power…
That change…
That renewal…
That grace…
That passion…
Is…
In…
Us…
Strange faith! Amen.
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