Preaching is an awesome task. It demands the most from us and never lets us rest. It often needs 'a spark to get a fire going". I offer these thoughts from sermons preached to spark your thoughts and get you going. No one should put words in anyone else's mouth. We each have our own unique way of preaching. We all need something to get our thoughts going, something the Holy Spirit can use to inspire our creativity and originality. I hope this will be helpful for you in the challenging task of preaching God's Word.

Unless otherwise stated, the sermon gleanings are on the Gospel for the day.

ADVENT 1

Jer. 33:14-16; Ps 25:1- 10; I Thess 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36

Dec 11, 1960 "Christ's Coming Against Men"

God's judgment implies a manifestation, a revelation, an uncovering of what is hidden in us.

It is also a sign that our redemption is drawing near. It is a time of anticipation more then fear; for even this end of time is in the hands of a loving God.

Dec. 5, 1971 "The Second Coming"

There is much speculation regarding the return of Jesus Christ, the second advent.

The truth is, IT IS GOING TO BE A SURPRISE!

To try take the surprise out of the second coming by predicting when it is going to happen is the highest form of idolatry known to man. It is playing God!

The important question for us is not "when will the Kingdom of God come?", but" has it come to us already?" and, "How can it come through us again?"

The answers to these questions are, "Yes, in Jesus ." "Yes, in the human drama of love and forgiveness; compassion and caring even to the point of dying for others."

And "Yes, if we let Christmas be more then an observation. Let Christmas live through us. For wherever two humans touch in a meaningful way, God is also present."

Dec 2, 1973 "In A Celebrating Mood?"

The issue of when Jesus is coming again is mute; it is a dead end street.

What is important today is not the content of our text, but the mood set by the text.

For our mood is vital to our relationships. And the mood of our text is a "positive, joyful hope of redemption." Celebration - the mood of the Gospel. There is great heresy in correct theology without correct mood.

The power of Jesus Christ Super Star" and "Godspell" is the mood they set.

"To celebrate life at all times and in all places. To see the good surrounded by the bad. To be thankful when all is going wrong. To be hopeful when all seems lost. This is the mood of the Gospel. This is the mood of Jesus. Celebration of life, for it is good."

"We communicate best when we celebrate most."

Nov 28, 1976 "Surprise!"

When ever and how ever it happens, it is going to be a surprise! When ever God has broken into our world it has come as a surprise.

Moses - Joseph - Prophets- Zechariah - Mary - Joseph

We dare not let our faith or any thing else take the surprise out of life.

The key to life in Gods Kingdom is to be open to surprise. Open to new discoveries, possibilities, insights, delights of body and spirit, even new tastes and sounds yet to be experienced. The surprises of life which haven't happened yet!

For God is in the surprise!

Dec 2, 1976 "Getting Ready For A Surprise" Lk 21:25-36

When ever and how ever it happens, it is going to be a surprise! We have to be ready or we will miss it.

Prepare for that which has happened before and will happen again. And prepare for that which has never happened before and may never happen again. Surprise!

For the surprising presence of the Christ child, God in human flesh, even our flesh, is possible again as little miracles of kindness, gentleness, helpfulness and love are shared.

God still is hidden somewhere in human flesh - even our flesh - even as God was in Jesus.

Dec 1, 1991 "How Near Is It?"

(This sermon was preached shortly after my return from Amman Jordan and Calcutta India.)

God is love. What ever we say about God, whatever we do for God, must contain this awesome truth or it is all empty words and meaningless action.

This is the truth we prepare again to celebrate in Christmas. The awesome truth that God chose to dwell with us, so we might more clearly see what God is all about and what we are to be all about!

As the second lesson says, we are to "increase and abound in love to one another and to all." Not having "our hearts weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life."

We have much. It takes little to be happy. (I saw this on my journey.)

Mother Teresa: "The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have, the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is joyful freedom. I find the rich much poorer. Sometimes they always need something more. I don't say all of them are like that. Everybody is not the same. I find that poverty hard to remove. The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."

How strange that this season which of all times should be the most quiet, unassuming and peaceful has become for us such an intense time we fall exhausted before it is over and are glad when it is over.

Advent helps us balance our preparation for this great celebration. It begins with a strong reminder that he who came will come again even as He is coming in our midst now, nearer then we thought, closer at hand then we imagined.

These words call us to an awareness that we don't need to know when, we only need to trust the One who is to come and be alive with his presence now. Daring to believe - and this is an awesome, fearful, exciting thought - that the dominion of God is near whenever, where ever, in whom ever something of the love of God is shared.

i..e. A physical therapist in an orphanage in Amman Jordan said to us following a loving touching of all the children in the orphanage - children who were severely mentally and physically handicapped - "If I were a good Muslim I would be in the mosque praying. (It was Thursday, their day to go to the Mosque) I come here instead. This too is prayer."

And I saw the love of Jesus in the touch of his hands!

Our call is to love...let love flow in me, through me, from me, letting something of the dominion and power of God's love come near to us and to all.

The Dominion of God is near...how near is it? As near as the act of love done for the least, who are the most in God's Kingdom!

ADVENT 2

Mal 3:1-4;Lk 1:68-79;Phil 1:3-11; Lk 3:1-6

Dec 3, 1967 "All Flesh Shall See"

We have always desired "to see God."

Christmas proclaims that we have and can see God, in a Baby born in a barn, in an obscure town called Bethlehem. Emmanuel - God has come to dwell with us!

Let us prepare to celebrate!

By repentance, looking within. Seeing my need for God so I can see the God I need.

Repentance is a means of discovery. It is more then just good resolutions; it means going home. It means committing and entrusting ourselves to he who came that we might see God..

Dec. 6, 1970 "All Mankind Will See"

John the Baptist makes a bold statement - we will see God's salvation.

To believe this we first have to take it serious, for we see only what we want to see.'

Two men discussing this. One held the other under water until he was gasping for air. "When you want to see God as badly as you wanted air, you will see Him."

We see when we hurt enough to be open to see what we missed before. i.e. prodigal son. Dr. Geo. Aus, "I cannot see the Savior I need, until I see my need for a savior." Seeing begins with confession and repentance. It begins at the palace of my deepest need, and opens my eyes to see home again, and to be able to rejoice again.

Blessed indeed are those who hurt, for they shall see God.

Dec 2, 1979 "Prepare to See"

Preparation is important. When I am ready, I am more able to experience, more able to see. Ironically, I can also be more spontaneous, more open to chance; call it planned spontaneity, prepared enough to be free to be spontaneous.

Song writer: "Tunes simply pop into my head all the time. But of course, your head has to be arranged to receive them!"

Louis Pasteur- "Chance favors the prepared mind."

This is what Advent is all about. Arranging ones self so as to be able to receive the surprises when they come. Tradition is great, but not if it blinds us in the past. We celebrate Christmas because something great has happened and something great is going to happen! Some unexpected things are going to happen, human things, like getting the wrong number and have a visit with a lonely old person, or being touched by a need in some ones life and then doing something to meet that need. God has some surprises in store for those who are ready to see them. Are we prepared to see the salvation of God happening in our midst, in with and through us?

Dec 5, 1982 "All Mankind Will See God's Salvation"

Preaching - a means of seeing God's salvation; the power of the spoken word combined with the Spirit of God is limitless.

As John did, we preach repentance unto forgiveness, that we might know we are loved.

The Word of God is limitless, and it is always trying something new.

Listen to these words from Paul Scherer, a great preacher of our day:

"If preaching is the mediation of divine truth through personality - and perhaps with all definitions lame we may accept this as being not more lame than the rest - then the one thing you have to contribute toward the transaction is yourself. The human heart is not new, the need is not new, the truth is not new, the method is not new. You are new. You are a bit of God's unrepeated handiwork; and what he means to accomplish by you, he must accomplish through you.
You have nothing else but you. Give it reverence and give it freedom. To cut through all artificiality's of bearing, to put off all the pompous habits of a false dignity, to hang somewhere on a look all the seeming which is so far other than being, and to let that essential you, redeemed and enabled in the love and fellowship of Jesus Christ, do its proper work in the world - that is to turn loose something God has never tried before; and He will never try it again: make what you please of that!"

Dec 4, 1988 "Preparing for Christmas"

Our preparation for Christmas is distracted by the litany of commercialism and the litany of indulgence. To offset this we need to "discern what is best" about this celebration by going deeper and deeper into the mystery which is Christmas.

This means we do things which enable us to love more, for Christmas is love.

The measure of how successful our Christmas has been is not in how exhausted we are at the end of the celebration, but how excited we are about living Christmas all year long, as we share the mystery of God's love.

The word repent is an appropriate word for our Christmas preparation. A careful look inward is a necessary part of" discerning what is best and pure and blameless", what is " filled with righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ."

Dec 8, 1991 "Prepare to See"

We see only what we want to see.

We are open to see what we are ready to see what we are prepared to see.

To see something we don't want to see takes some doing, some opening of ourselves to something new and different.

Advent is a time to prepare to see something we have never seen before. And remember, "what we sees is what we gets".

To see what we have never seen before requires repentance. For we don't always want to see what we need to see if we are to see the salvation of God coming again.

i.e. Seeing the masses on the streets of Calcutta and seeing joy, happiness, aliveness in the place where I thought I would only see poverty and sadness.

We must dare risk out of our need and not just our surplus. Tomorrow night I am asking the church council to write a check for $40, 525 to the ELCA now, before we have the money to cover it. So we can see it does work; giving in joy brings more gifts of joy.

ADVENT 3

Isa. 12:2-6 (Ps); Zeph 3:14-20; Phil 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18

Dec 23, 1962 "The Drama Of Joy" Phil 4:4-7

Christmas time "is a time for joy and a time for cheer".

It would be easier to talk about joy today, if I had not attended the funeral of a friend of Fri., whose sudden death left a wife and 4 small children.

If I were not aware of the loneliness in the hearts of many, had not seen a woman weeping as we sang Christmas carols for she lost her husband last Christmas. If I could forget about the Berlin Wall.

Yet we must talk about Joy for that is what Christmas is all about and that is what God is all about. Paul reminds us that the joyful person is one who is without anxiety; is a forbearing person; is a praying person, a thankful person; and a person of inward peace.

If there is one mark of distinction which should forever separate the follower of Christ from the scoffer or the indifferent, it is the joy of life in Christ! Joy which comes from our faith in Jesus Christ as God's Son, our Lord and Savior.

Dec 16, 1979 "Bear Fruit that Befits Repentance"

Repentance means changing from the inside out.

To be authentic from the inside out? How?

Share...be honest...be fair.

When I share with someone I identify with them; this is how we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

The mark of a religious person is that he/she can be trusted to keep their word.

Being fair is being aware of more then just what is right; it is being aware of what the effects of a given acts are on someone else, and not taking advantage of that person.

To live lives which show that are hearts are really changed is the on going task of repentance. For to repent is to turn around again and again and again, and be opened to change; open to becoming who we never thought we would be.

Dec. 15, 1991 "What Then Shall We Do?"

John got their attention. He broke through their blindness, pricked their conscience, penetrated their hearts so they asked, "What then shall we do?"

It is a question we must ask too, for it is never enough to talk the talk; we must walk the walk.

We must let God get to our hearts and change our way of being, or at best were just sincere hypocrites, "honoring God with our lips while our hearts are far from God,"

And what is it we are to do?

"Share with those who have none."

"Collect no more than is appointed you." That is, be fair.

"Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be contented with your wages."

Be kind.

ADVENT 4

Ps 80:1-7 or Lk.1:47-55; Mic 5:2-5a Heb 10:5-10; Lk 1:39-45 (46-55)

Dec 22, 1968 "Advent Fulfillment"

Anticipation, yearning, even judgment give way to fulfillment, and with fulfillment comes celebration. We celebrate Christmas because it is a day of fulfillment. God's fulfillment of God's plan.

An amazing thing about all this is how human it is. God always seeks to take on human form when God comes among us. Might this be why Luther once said, "A man cannot understand the love of God unless he also experience the love of a woman."

Fulfillment may well not mean having much; it does mean I give much.

Dec 22, 1985 "Journey Into Blessing"

Mary is called "blessed" because she allowed herself to be used as a blessing. She humbly believed what the Lord said to her and let it be accomplished.

God needed Mary to do God's will. God couldn't have done it, at that time in that way, without Mary.

God needs us to do God's will in our world. As unbelievable as it sounds, there are some things God can not do at this time without us. To follow God's lead is to discover God's blessing. It comes in the doing. Blessing is a serendipity. Something which happens in the process of surrendering to God's will. There will always be a blessing in doing God's will. For that is where it all ends up with God!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Isa 9:2-7; Ps 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 1:1-14 (15-20)

The shepherds were not the most welcome people in the society of Jesus day. It wasn't as romantic as we make it sound. They were isolated for long periods of time out in he fields with the sheep. They smelled like the sheep. They were not considered very important people. They probable were seldom if ever seen in the Synagogue. They were considered ignorant; certainly not up on what God was all about.

This is where God turned to first announce his big surprise! Unbelievable! This is too unlikely to be made up; it had to have happened to everyone's amazement.

The first miracle of Christmas is that the Shepherds believed and went to see this thing that they were told happened. What an amazing act of faith!

It is the same for us. We too have to go and see for ourselves; we have to dare to go to Bethlehem and see this which happened long ago - "when Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas day."

The shepherds didn't stay in Bethlehem. They went back to their sheep.

We can't stay there either; we have to go back to our lives and live as those who have been to Bethlehem and believe what happened there was for us and for all.

The miracle God looks for in each of our lives is not that we will all be famous, important, popular, or powerful. But that we will go about doing usual things in unusual ways because we too have been to Bethlehem, glorifying and praising God who came to dwell among us, with us., in us, for us, full of grace and truth.

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Christmas Eve is the story night of all nights. The story of the Baby Jesus born in a manger warms the hearts of young and old It has also inspired countless stories all of which reflect something of the mystery of the Christmas story.

About 1981 I quit preaching on Christmas Eve. I looked long and hard for a story to tell/read, with a brief commentary following. It quickly became a tradition which made Christmas Eve service special. People looked forward to the story, inspired by THE STORY.

Two books I found helpful: "The New Guideposts Christmas Treasury" Augsburg. 1989.

"The World's Christmas" Olive Wyon

Also used: "The Martin Luther Christmas Book" Roland A. Bainton
(This one more for preaching.)

It is not easy to find a good story, short enough to tell/read; clearly expressive of the Gospel. It would be easier to write a sermon.

I recommend you try story telling on Christmas Eve - but start looking early!

Here are the stories I used.

1981 "The Holy Night" Selma Lagerlof

A story from Sweden, in "The World's Christmas, p.26

We must see for ourselves what kind of night this is.
It is a night filled with mystery and beauty, love and joy.
As it touches our hearts we too are caught by the truth of this
night - that God did become human and dwell among us! And we
are moved to acts of love and kindness though which we see the
Glory of God in the manger of Bethlehem and in our own city streets.

1982 "A Shepherd" Heywood Broun, Collected Edition of Heywood Brown, 1941

Christmas can be joyful and joyless; beautiful and painful.
Trying to celebrate Christmas in the face of life's hard blows
can be hollow and empty. It may not be in our heart to be joyful,
as it wasn't with Amos. (The Shepherd in the story.)

God comes to us, often in a whisper, when we don't have it in us to come to God. Listen for the whisper of God's love hidden in human form and discover the wonders of God's love!

1983 Martin Luther on Christmas

Used the Martin Luther on Christmas book to develop a message based on what he said about Christmas. (This was the 450th year of his death.)

1984 "A Long Way, Indeed" Arvid Lydecken in "Arvilyn Satvja"
From Finland, translated by K. C. Pihlajamaa

The mystery which is Christmas is that our God comes to us
hidden in human form to do his acts of love and peace. On this
night the energy of God's love was turned loose in our world.
We are reminded what it means to be truly human; to be kind
gentle, compassionate, filled with God's love.
Christmas reminds us again and again that God has come to dwell
with us and through us. For Christmas happens again and again
when something of God's grace moves through us into our world.

1985 "The Gift Of The Magi" O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) (With a story of this length it is necessary to edit it or tell it by memory.)

Many great words have been written, many scores of music composed, many pieces of art have been created, because of this night. And many, many stories have been written which reflect the mystery and majesty of this Story.

This is one such story. A classic about the Classic!

To give from the heart is Christmas.
To give 'til it hurts is Christmas.
To give because we love is Christmas.
To give because we have first been loved is Christmas.
Love came down at Christmas!

1986 "The Doll On The Mantel" Eva Gibson

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, in his book "God In Search Of Man", was writing about the Bible and the Prophets. His words also set the tone for our story. I am substituting "Christmas" for "Bible" or "Prophets".

"The divine quality of (Christmas) is not on display, it is apparent to an inane, fatuous mind; just as the divine in universe is not obvious to the debaucher. When we turn (Christmas) with an empty spirit, moved by intellectual vanity, striving to show our superiority to the (event); or as souls who go sight-seeing to the (glitter of Christmas), discover the shells but miss the core. It is easier to beauty then to sense the holy. To be able to encounter spirit within (Christmas), we must learn to crave for (hidden God in the surprises of life which come our way).

Story

May the real Christmas come to each of hidden in the surprises of the Holy hidden in the sharing of God's love in human hidden in the Baby Jesus, with us, for us, in us, always!

1987 " Is There A Santa Claus?"

A Happy Book Of Happy Stories

Scripture often moves from the lesser to the greater to the mystery of God's love and presence. From a humble baby a glorious King; lowly shepherds to the Good Shepherd; birds lilies to the awesome providence of a loving God.

This story moves from the lesser figure of Christmas - Claus/St Nicholas - to the greater figure - the Christ child.

Story

How do we know there is a God who loves? We have met Him - in a baby born in a stable in a Word become flesh in our midst
in the testimony of those who walked with Him
in the lives of those in whom He dwells.

Tonight we celebrate with great joy his coming. Nothing is beyond the scope of HIs love - which is everywhere and for everyone.

1988 "Christmas Day In The Morning" Pearl Buck

The Worlds Christmas, Olive Wyon, p. 125

Christmas is a love story. It is a story which has moved people to do beautiful things and cold people to let others up in their love. It has stopped war, inspired great music, and warmed the heart of many a lonely, lost person. Our story tonight helps us touch something of the mystery and majesty of this night.

Story

There is no greater gift than the gift of love. The gift of Christmas is the gift of love which warms our hearts and causes us to do strange and wonderful things as we pass it on.

1989 "The Empty Room" Betty Banner

The New Guideposts Christmas Treasury, p. 31

 Christmas happened...and it happens.
It was a one time event and it is a many times event.
It has its place in our history and its place in our hearts.

Story

It happened -

"A long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible say
Mary's boy child Jesus Christwas born on Christmas day."

And it happens - for the miracle of Christmas is the miracle of Immanuel - God with us, always, touching our lives in love, giving us peace and hope.

1990 "Trouble In The Inn" Dina Donohue

The New Guideposts Christmas Treasury, p. 75

 The mystery of this night is hidden in the simple story which grips our hearts, stills our minds, and quiets our spirits. It's power is hidden in the ordinary; it's secret is revealed to the heart.

"How silently, how silently,the wondrous gift is given,
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heav'n.
No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in."

1991 "O Lord, Watch Over These Your Special Children"

Sybil Roberts Canon

The New Guideposts Christmas Treasury, p.71

We celebrate Christmas not just so we can have but can also give.
We celebrate not just so we are God's children,
but can also become something of God's love to others.

Our story captures something of the Christmas story as it
tells about something special done for one lonely girl, because
the love of Jesus was in their hearts. It reminds us what this
night is all about!

1991 (11 pm service) "The Cobbler and His Guest"

Anne McCollum Boyles

 A classic story about how Jesus comes to us in the poor, the sick, the needy. "What so ever you do to the least of these my brethren you do unto me. "

1992 "Waiting...Waiting For Christmas" Elizabeth English

The New Guideposts Christmas Treasury, p. 57

 The mystery and miracle of Christmas is not only that it happened, but that it happens still.
In moments we can't fully explain, in urges we seldom consider to be of God,
in people we least expect to be sent by God.

 God is with us! God was born in human flesh and God is
born anew in our lives of faith, hope, and love!

1993 "Why The Chimes Rang" Raymond MacDonald Alden

(Not sure of where I found this one.)

"A Song For Elizabeth" Robin Kurtz

The New Guideposts Christmas Treasury, p,127

Christmas is the celebration of the sacred sign given to us human form, that God is love, and whoever loves is of God  God is of them, and "God does, in fact live in them..." as John tells us: "God is love, and the (person) whose life is lived in lovedoes, in fact, live in God, and God does, in fact, live in (them)." I John 4:16 (Phillips)

Our stories tonight remind us of this and that God isn't moved bypower, prestige, fame, or fortune. God's isn't impressed by what we do to show how holy, righteous, or important we are. God is moved and impressed by how we love!

As Mother Teresa has so well put it: "We are not called to do great things for God; we are called to do small things with great love."

 What we celebrate tonight is love for

"Love came down at Christmas
love all lovely, love diving'
love was born at Christmas,
star and angles gave the sign."

Therefore:

"Love shall be our token ,
love be yours and love by mine,
love to God and all (people)
love for plea and gift and sign."

 CHRISTMAS DAY
Isa. 52:7-10; Ps. 97; Heb. 1:1-9; John 1:1-14

 1985 "The Word Became Flesh"

Christmas is here; and will soon be past. The celebration of Christmas, which begins earlier each year, will soon be over. Yet Christmas is never over. It never ends. It is hidden in every day, every word, every deed of our lives.

 As we celebrate the Word which became flesh and dwelt among us, we also celebrate the Word becoming flesh - our flesh - and dwelling still in our midst.

 Henri Nouwen: "The most important question for me is not, 'How do I touch people?' but, 'How do I live the word I am speaking?"

 Indeed, Christmas is not just once a year. It is yesterday, today, and forever, as the Word becomes flesh in us and dwells among us.

Indeed, Christmas is every day!

 CHRISTMAS 1
Ps 148; I Sam 2:18-20,26; Col. 3:12-17; Luke 2:41- 52

 Jan 7, 1962 - "Jesus Increased"

"Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man." Lk 2:52

He had to grow up like any other person. He grew physically, mentally, spiritually. He was not a super-boy; he was a human boy.

Development is a part of God's creation. We have to become who we were created to be. This does not happen quickly, nor perfectly; it does include faith, and the confession of sin. Perfection begins with the confession of our inability to be perfect. And our trust that Jesus was perfect for us.

 No one is too bad to be a child of God and no one is too good to not be in need of Christ's grace and forgiveness. Luther: " I am at the same time sinner and saint."

 As Jesus grew in his consciousness of who he was as the Son of God, we too have to grow in our consciousness of who we are as sons and daughters of God.

Jan 10, 1965 "The Child Jesus"

 Those who heard the boy Jesus in the Temple were amazed at his understanding. His parents were astonished that he would treat them so. And they were anxious as they looked for him.

 When man meets God something amazing is bound to happen. Like the camel driver in Pakistan to whom V-Pres Johnson said, "Come and see me sometime." God's invitation to come and see is amazing!

 Then sometimes God seems to be astonishingly indifferent to us. His words of promise sound hollow -" all works together for good"; "my grace is sufficient". Yet the promise remains and the truth is God can, if we let God, take the most tragic experience of our lives and bless us through it!

We are an anxious people - as Auden wrote;

"Faces along the bar, cling to their average day;
The lights must never go out, the music must always play.
Lest we should see who we are, lost in a haunted wood '
Children afraid of the night , who have never been happy or good."

The answer to our anxiousness is the grace and love of God in our hearts.

Jan 10, 1971 "The Child Jesus"

 Amazed - astonished - anxious - much as in 1965, but with a bit more human touch.

i.e. "There are times when we get caught up in things which scare our parents, not because they are wrong, but because there is danger as well as beauty in what we are doing."

Jan 6, 1980 "The Child Jesus"

 Jesus wasn't the perfect child if we think of being perfect as always obedient, always predictable, always meeting his parents expectations.

 He gave them some anxious moments, fearful moments, bewildering moments. Something burned within Jesus (God's plan) which he may not have understood as a child of 12 but which led him in ways which left his family anxious.

 He had to find out who he was and what he was here for. (Don't we all?)

No one can do this for us - we have to each do it for ourselves and it will create anxious moments for those who love us.

 To parent is to love when we are anxious and let our children grow - in wisdom and stature with God and us. Even Jesus had to do this!

 Dec. 26, 1982 "A Stirring Within"

 "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away." Thoreau

 Jesus listened to a different drummer- he marched to different music. This is bound to create conflict and anxiety.

 To be about our Father's business leads to all sorts of strange things. For example, my being a pastor. Who would have guessed it?

 God's business is anything which brings health, happiness, wholeness, and fulfillment to people and to our planet.

We are called to be about God's business and we will be restless until we find our rest and purpose in Him.

Dec. 29, 1991 "Becoming Who I Am"

 Some see this story as evidence that the family is made for conflict. "Attempting fidelity to the will of God will always bring painful separation; there is no way around it." ( Proclamation 3, C,1991, p. 50)

 Others hold that this story is an incomplete interlude between the birth account and the baptism by John. Luke is the only one to include the story. It hints at what is to come, as do all good stories.

 And again, this story is seen as a pronouncement, telling us that this boy is God's son, called to a unique mission for God -"to become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people". As such the boy Jesus "must choose...obedience to the...will of his father over against the claims of his earthly family." (Proclamation 2, C, p.40

 Jesus was not playing a game with the teachers in the temple, nor was he being indifferent to his parents. He was discovering who he was. He was waking up to his calling as the Son of God. This makes him truly human as well as truly divine. For all humans have to" become"; struggle to discover and become who I am to be.

 Jesus lost himself in the moment and forgot about his parents.

There are times when we are called to loose ourselves in others - "waste time with people" (Henri Nouwan) and discover what might happen in their lives and ours when we do. This too is a part of being merciful and faithful servants in the service of God as we become all we can be.

 NAME OF JESUS
Num 6:22-27; Ps 8; Gal 4:4-7 or Phil 2:5-11; Luke 2:15-21

 Jan 1, 1987 "Thank God For Erasers"

 Jesus name, (in Aramaic, Yeshua, in Hebrew, Joshua) means "Yahweh is salvation" or "Yahweh saves us". It points us to the reason Jesus came: to save us from our sin. To take the brokenness of our lives and make us whole again and again and again.

 We need this reminder on this beginning of a new year. We don't need to be reminded that we am not perfect; we don't need to be chastised again for our blunders; we don't need to be told what we ought and should do.

We need to be told that nothing we do is beyond being redeemed. That we can try and fail and try again. That there is forgiveness with God (Jesus saves!) that God might be feared and adored!

 We need to know that we can make mistakes and be forgiven. Not so we become foolish and reckless, but so that we dare live and risk again what didn't work out the first time. Thank God for erasers! Thank God that Jesus saves even a wretch like me!

BAPTISM/EPIPAHNY I 

ISA 43:1-7; PS 29; ACTS 8:14-17; LK 3:15-17,21-22

 JAN 13, 1974

Jesus baptism was a means of identification...his credentials if you please.

It was clear what God said, "This is my beloved Son in whom i am well pleased." Yet Jesus continued throughout his life to have an identify problem. Because he wasn't who they expected the Messiah to be.

Our expectations do have a way of getting in the way of our seeing, believing, trusting.

 God goes beyond our expectations, and only as we dare to go beyond too, will we be able to see, believe, and trust in what God has done for us through an unexpected Baby in Bethlehem.

Jan 9, 1983 "Baptized To Bring Justice"

 Jesus was baptized to bring justice to all.

"I, the Lord, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth." Is 42:6

 There is lots of injustice in our world. We all dodge the issue of doing something about it. Justice has to do with what we do with the powerless. Pres. Reagan suggested the churches all adopt 10 poor families; then no government programs would be needed.

Lars-Erick Nelson, a syndicated writer for the NY Daily News suggested that maybe every bank should adopt 10 poor families, or members of Congress, or Reagan's millionaire friends, or the oil companies. Indeed, it is not easy to even decide who are to work for justice let alone do it.

 We are called to bring justice, as those who follow Jesus. This means we must dare identify with them, which is how compassion begins; and advocate for them, which is how they get their voice heard.

At the heart of religious faith is the issue of the powerless and what we do with them. We are called to be about the saving of our world, and that means making it a better place for the least and the lost. We do this through becoming a covenant church in the Bread For The World organization and Refugee sponsorship, as well as individually in many less conspicuous but deeply meaningful ways.

Jan 12, 1986 "Jesus Baptism"

 Jesus was not baptized for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus was baptized to identify with the people of his day;
to set the direction of his life;
to be reassured he was indeed sent for this reason.

 Jesus is for all people; not against us. As is the God he represents.

Jesus came to be a suffering servant; to bring justice and to raise up compassion as the best way to live in a troubled and hate filled world.

 Regarding justice, Rabbi Abraham Heschel in The Prophets makes this bold statement.

"There is a point at which strict justice is unjust." Then speaking of biblical justice he says, "Justice was not equal justice, but a bias in favor of the poor...for beyond all justice is God's compassion." p.201 "A father is disqualified to serve as a judge. Yet the judge of all (people) is also their Father. He would be unjust to His own nature where He to act in justice without being compassionate." p. 220

Jan 8, 1989 With You I Am Well Pleased"

 Jesus baptism was a powerful moment for him. He needed this moment, this experience, this voice, this assurance to even dare begin to walk this earth as the Son of God, the servant of God.

 There was struggle for Jesus in knowing his divine call. For he is going to have to walk as a stranger among his own kin and an outside among his own people. He will be hated, despised, rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yet as one in whom God delights. He is to bring a new brand of justice which is directed by compassion.

 His baptism set him apart for servant hood. And so does ours! To 'walk wet' means we cannot be indifferent to injustice and must bring mercy, compassion and kindness into our world through who we are and how we are.

 It was no small thing for Jesus to be baptized. It is no small thing for us either! It does not mark us as God's favorites; it does commission us as God's servants!

EPIPHANY 2

 Isa 62:1-5; Ps 36:5-10; I Cor 12:1-11; John 2:1-11

 Jan 14, 1962 "The First Of His Signs"

 "Gas ahead - 5 miles" the sign said. I was empty and making 10 miles to a gal.

I believed the sign and was immediately relieved. I hadn't seen the gas station, nor could I be sure it was open, but I believed the sign and was at peace.

 There is no logical reason to believe in God; we only have signs which tell us God is; faith is believing the signs.

The signs or miracles of Jesus are not proof of his divine sonship; they are signs of the in breaking of the Kingdom of God in our world.

The proof of the sign lies not in itself but in the faith which believes it and acts on it.

It is not enough to analyze the sign; we have to believe it and act on it. I had to believe the sign and drive 5 miles to experience it - to fill my car with gas. To believe the sign is to trust it and act as if it is true. Then we discover how true it really is!

Jan 17, 1965 "The First Of His Signs"

 A sign has to be believed, trusting that it is true.

i.e. my seeing a sign which said gas 5 miles ahead when I was running out of gas in WY.

 There is no logical, fool proof, scientific reason to believe that there is a God above us or around us, except for the signs which do exist in our midst and in our history. Signs which point to God. These are the tracks of God in history.

 We can choose to say with the atheist: 'I have swept the heavens with my telescope and have not found God." Or we can choose to say with the Psalmist: "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork." Or again, "We have examined the brain of man and have not found the soul." Or "Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name."

 The difference between believing the truth to which the signs point or not, lies not in the sign, but in us. In our seeing our need for God and then our seeing the God we need. That's the way it works for we mortals! Jesus is a sign of God's great love for all people!

Even you and me. Believe it! Trust it! And live in the joy it brings!

 Aug 2, 1964 "By The Holy Spirit" I Cor 12:3

 Do you believe in God because you want to or because you have to?

Is faith something you do (did) or is it something which has happened to you?

Do you possess your faith or does your faith possess you?

 Faith is not our doing; it is the work of the Holy Spirit. "No man speaking by the Spirit of God can say, 'Jesus be cursed', and no may can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit. Faith begins with God and ends with us, not the other way around. "I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ nor come to him..." The faith to believe all things is a gift of God; it is not our doing lest any of us should boast!

Jan 17, 1971 "A Sign For Us"

 Miracles are signs. Not proof of God but signs of God. Faith is taking the risk that the sign is true.

Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding; that seems to say something about celebration.

Dare we say, celebration is a part of the God-pleasing life. It is good to celebrate life together as a family, as a congregation. Hard work is necessary and celebration is good.

It is a part of the joy of knowing Jesus as the One God sent, and celebrating life with Him.

Jan 20, 1974 "They Have No Wine"

 Jesus first sign was to turn water into wine at a wedding feast.

Jesus didn't come just to save our souls; He came that human joy may be full, that "human happiness might not untimely close in shame", that we "might have life and have it abundantly."

 Celebration is a part of the God pleasing life.

The celebration which comes when we know we are God's children now.

God's forgiveness is greater than our capacity to sin.

God's love is more then our ability to destroy in hate.

We can drink deeply of life and live it all the way to the better end -in celebration!

 Jan 16, 1983

 The miracles are signs - signs of God's great love.

Jesus came "that human happiness might not untimely close in shame." Expositors Greek NT, p 706

 Jan 19, 1992 "A delightful Opportunity Of Grace"

 This miracle tells us what Jesus is all about. Gospel not law, grace not demands, love not wrath, laughter not somberness. The God Jesus came to reveal was not a God hung up on shoulds, oughts, and musts, but a God hung up on love, grace and forgiveness.

 Turning the water into wine was a delightful opportunity of grace for Jesus. It set the stage for what he is all about and what we are to be all about - to love and laugh our way into the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven and let its grace flow through us into virtually everything.

 EPIPHANY 3

 NEH 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; PS 19; I COR 12:12-31a; LUKE 4:14-21

 Nov 30, 1969 "At the Point Of Need"

 This is Jesus first trip; home following his baptism and 40 days in the wilderness. It is the beginning of his ministry. He is announcing who he is and why he has come. And he is doing it in his home synagogue.

 It sounded good, for a moment, then the skepticism started to come. "He came to his own home and his own people received him not." (John)

Skepticism - it dogged his heels. He was not who they expected or wanted. They did not need what he had to give.

 Skepticism is a part of our lives of faith as well. The mystery of God coming into our world is not something we believe because it makes sense or is logical, but because it touches our deepest human needs and fulfills them.

 God enters human life - yours and mine - at the point of need. I need forgiveness, before I can live as a human being. I need to be released from the captivity which is mine, before I can be free.

Faith is letting God forgive us, and set us free.

 I also need to have my eyes opened to be able to see God.
God has made himself 'seeable' to us' ; we need eyes to see God.
Faith is these eyes.

Jesus came to show us that God exists and to give us a God we could see. He also came to open our eyes so we could see and behold the glory of God in the midst of our world, and even our lives.

Faith is seeing God in the only way He can be seen, through the eyes given to us by the Holy Spirit and it is seeing other humans through the same eyes.

It changes our way of seeing - everything!

Dec 1, 1963 "Is Not This Joseph's Son?"

It sounded good; but was it true. They were suspicious about who he was, and what he said, did. "Is this not Joseph's son? How can he be the Son of God?"

 They rejected him, because he was just Joseph's son; because he was blaspheming, and because he was pointing to them as being in need of what he had to give, God's saving grace.

 There skepticism is our skepticism; the only way to ever know how true Jesus is, in his words and deeds, is to follow in faith and see!

Jan 23, 1977 "Trouble In The Temple"

 Jesus should have stopped before he got himself thrown out of town. But he didn't.

He went on to say what they didn't want to hear. When we don't hear what we want to hear, we get angry and fight, or leave.

Paul Rees:

"I shall go to my grave firm in the feeling that one of the most frequent undetected sins of Christians is idolatry. Customs, tradition, forms, ideologies, organizations, institutions, precedents, structures, titles, clichés - in every one of them there is a potential idol. They arise, it well may be out of historical necessity. We cling to them, or kowtow to them, or somehow perpetuate them, out of lethargy, or bigotry, or stupidity, or vanity."

Redemption only happens when I am disturbed enough to let it happen. When I let God at my life, even those places where I most want to keep God out! I need forgiveness before I can give forgiveness. I need to hear what I don't want to hear before I can hear what I want to hear. I hope you don't like everything which is said from here (pulpit), for that may well be a sign that His Word is being fulfilled in our hearing too!

Jan 27, 1980

 Jesus was sent to offer hope where there is no hope. He was anointed and sent to do something about the conditions in which people find themselves "to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty the oppressed."

 We can go two ways with this.

1. Social action in the church - to be a follower of Jesus is to risk helping the powerless, no matter how difficult and how defeating it can be.

 2. See it as descriptive of me - our spiritual condition. It is as I get in touch with my own powerlessness that I am able to see, touch, and discover a power I never know before. It is the power of being loved for who I am not what I am or what I have. It is a power which sets us free to live the abundant life, no matter what.

Jan 13, 1983 "Good News To Those Who Need It"

 Jesus is the Good News; in him the scripture is fulfilled.

He is good news to those who need it. Those who don't, don't hear him.

Dr Aus, "I must see my need for a Savior, before I can see the Savior I need."

Faith is saying "I need it! I need the good news to sustain my in my living."

Jan 26, 1986 "TODAY: This Scripture is Fulfilled"

 Jesus is letting the secret out in his first sermon, in his home congregation, and it is too much for them to hear or believe. They didn't take him seriously and rejected what he said.

 We do that. We hear only what we want to hear and believe only what we want to believe. We take from a sermon only what fits our belief system, not what challenges us to a new belief system. Religion becomes something which keeps us from living the Gospel, and changing our ways so they more closely alien with God's ways.

And the bite comes with the word 'today'. Had he said 'someday' it would have been easier to take. For we live in the somedays more then today.

 Yet we are called to be today people: fulfilling the scripture today!

We are to make a difference today. Martin Luther King did. We can. Someday is not enough. Today something of God's love and Jesus compassion would be fulfilled in us, through us in our world.

Make what you can of that - Today!

Jan 26, 1992

 Jesus spoiled a nice service by pushing the word "today'. He opened a can of worms by shaking them up and trying to get them to see what they had never seen before - God's love in human form. They needed what they sought to give to others. We do too.

Jesus would have us follow him into a changing world and risk even our faith in doing what has to be done. And we will get it wrong; but that is the only way we ever will get it right; by getting it wrong enough that we find the right way. The good news is that God is always there to help, and to welcome us home. Faith is a struggle to find our way with Jesus and as Alan Jones says, "In a world where there is no room for doubt, ambiguity, or questioning, there is no room for genuine faith." p. 116, "Soul Making"

 EPIPHANY 4/PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD

 Jer 1:4-10; Ps 71:1-6; I Cor 13:1-13; Lk 4:21-30

 Dec. 3, 1972 "What's Christmas All About?"

We have always assumed that God is different from us. God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, a bulwark never failing. His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. He neither slumbers nor sleeps.

 The shock of this text is that God is one of us!

In Jesus God takes leave of his differentness and takes on our sameness.

God is truly human. This is what Christmas is all about.

It is no sin to be human; to have feelings, passions, desires; to get angry, feel hurt, be disappointed. Our humanness is not perfect. Sin is our inability to be truly human.It is anger which becomes destruction; passions which become lust; desires which go array.

Christmas says it is okay to be human - God was! And it is in the human form of God - Jesus - that we come to grips with the God who is and who loves us beyond our human understanding.

Feb. 3, 1974 "Not Just Nice Sounding Words"

 Jesus 'blew' his first sermon in his home synagogue. He really blew it! He said some things which he could have left unsaid. More then just nice sounding words which we like to hear. He told them they were way off base, and he, Joseph son, was here to set them straight. ( If you want to get the 'bite' of his words, read them in Clarence Jordans "Cotton Patch Version". It sets the words in the context of the deep south before integration. And the words bite!)

I doubt they were singing, "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds".

 So what was he saying?

He was saying that God's goodness and mercy does not limit itself to a chosen few; it goes out to all, even strangers and aliens. We can reject God's goodness but we can not stop it. It will find a receptive heart and there it will do its work.

 God can and does use the 'unorthodox' as instruments of his goodness and mercy. Our sin, in not wanting to believe this, is that we put our faith ahead of God's grace. We say that before God can act we have to believe in Him. As if we are in control. God can use those who know Him not to bring about his will; to be instruments of goodness and mercy.

i.e. The Midnight Cowboy - the relationship between Ratso and the Cowboy. God was in that relationship, and something of God's goodness and mercy came into being because of that relationship.

Jesus didn't come to just talk about God. Jesus came to be God . It is not enough when we talk about God; it is only enough when we become little Christs as Luther said and be something of God's goodness and mercy with those we meet on the street, as well as those we live with.

 It's not just a matter of the right words, but the right living which counts with Jesus.

Feb 2, 1986

 No prophet is accepted in his home town, or country, or people. For to be a prophet is to have to say what doesn't want to be heard and to keep saying it until it is heard even if it doesn't want to be believed.

 "The prophet is human, yet he employs notes one octave too high for our ears. He experiences moments that defy our understanding. He is neither a singing saint' nor 'a moralizing poet', but an assaulter of the mind. Often his words begin to burn where conscience ends. The prophet is an iconoclast, challenging the apparently holy, revered and awesome. Beliefs cherished as certainties, institutions endowed with supreme sanctity, he exposes as scandalous pretensions." Herschel, The Prophet, 99 9,10

Jesus was such a prophet. We are such people.

We didn't want to heard what George McGovern said about Viet Nam;

Martin Luther King said about segregation;

Bishop Tutu said about apartheid in South Africa.

 The truth is, the prophet has to say what the people don't want to hear. And say it with love. Herschel again: "The words of the prophet are stern, sour, stinging. but behind his austerity is love and compassion for humankind. Almost every prophet brings consolation, promise, and hope of reconciliation along with censure and castigation. (They) begin with a message of doom; (they) conclude with a message of hope." (see Jer 33:10,11)

Date unknown - "Tough Love" (Possibly in the 80's)

 Jesus words are spoken out of love - tough love, which seeks to make a difference in lives.

A love which does bear, believe, hope, endure all things but does not try to be all things. that is, does not try to take over living for others; taking responsibility for them, and manipulating them. This is a love which is able to stand by and be tough, endure anger and hostility as it confronts and challenges, but does not seek to do for others what only they can do for themselves.

Our struggle is to love as Jesus did, with a tough love which does not try to live someone's life for them but seeks to encourage them to stretch and reach for the greatness God placed in them. Our love is to open up life for those we love, not control and manipulate it.

 Tough love says "No!" Tough love refuses to enable; endures hurt; sits on its hands so it won't try do for others what only they can do for themselves.

This love is a reflection of God's love!

Jan 29, 1989 "Privileged To Love"

 The message is clear - and offensive!

To be among the 'privileged', to know God intimately; to carry the mark of privilege (baptism); is to be privileged to be God's presence in the world; to serve, not be served; to be a vessel of God's love, any time, any place, with any one.

 To know God's love is to live God's love. It is to be religious by how we risk loving at all cost. There is no greater power, need, resource to heal the world. We are called to live as those who are privileged to love, as we have been loved.

 PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD

I Sam 1:21-28; Ps 84; Heb 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40

 Dec 27, 1987 "Mine Eyes Have Seen Thy Salvation"

 It is not enough to be romantic about Christmas. God came to be redemptive, not sentimental. To over come evil and make forgiveness possible for all people.

To open heaven's doors and welcome sinners.

To give us faith that we might live and die in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

Dec 30, 1990

 What this child has come to do is not going to be liked by many. "discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart". We don't like it either. We don't want anyone getting that deep into our inner selves. Yet that is what Jesus did and does. So that Christmas becomes more then a sentimental moment in our lives.

 Walter Brueggeman:

"It will strike us immediately that an ethics of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, patience is quite a vulnerable way to live in the world. But these qualities are not rooted in romanticism. They are rooted in the vulnerability of God, who took this way of an innocent child to overcome the rulers of this age, to immobilize Herod and finally to undo Caesar. God in God's own self has given like the poor widow, not out of abundance, but out of the very risk of life."

 God's greatest attribute is not God's power and might. God's greatest attribute is God's love which chose to dwell with us, in weakness, so that we n=might know God's dazzling grace which always is, and God's love which never ends!

 EPIPHANY 5

 Is 6:1-8 (9-13); Ps 138; I Cor 15:1-11; Luke 5: 1-11

 July 18, 1965 "But At Your Word"

 The big task for you and me is to dare take God at his Word. To dare encounter God in His Word. Faith begins when we risk taking God at hs word, like Peter. There will be doubts; plenty of them. Faith is always taking a risk; trusting what we cannot see or fully know to really be true. When we do act in faith, miracles do happen, both great and small. Our task is not to create the miracles. Our task is to take God at His Word and let the miracles come!

July 11, 1971 "But At Your Word"

 The miracle is not that they caught a lot of fish. The miracle is that they saw who Jesus was . Miracles happen through us when we take God at His Word and dare act upon it.

 Miracles don't just happen. They are caused by taking God at His Word.

There is a risk involved - it is the risk of faith. Which sees more then just water in Baptism, more then just bread and wine in Holy Communion, more then just kindness in forgiveness, and more then just a chance happening in the gift of faith itself.

The miracle is, sickness becomes opportunity, tragedy blessing, problems opportunities, money something to be used, people objects of concern, and live becomes an adventure full of joy and celebration. This is a miracle indeed!

Feb 10, 1974 "They Left Everything And Followed Him"

The Danish theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, related a homely parable about a flock of geese that milled around in a filthy barnyard imprisoned by a high fence. One day a preaching goose came into their midst. He stood on an old crate and admonished the geese for being content with this confined, earthbound existence. He recounted the exploits of their forefathers who spread their wings and flew the trackless wastes of the sky. He spoke of the goodness of the Creator who had given geese the urge to migrate and the wings to fly. This pleased the geese. They nodded their heads and marveled at these things and applauded the eloquence of the preaching goose. All this they did. But one thing they never did. They didn't fly. They went back to their waiting dinner, for the corn was good and the barnyard secure. (Barriers to Christian Belief, Griffith, p. 183)

 It is not easy to risk; to risk rejection in order to discover friendship; failure in order to discover success; security in order to discover something new; faith in order to discover God.

 The call to follow Jesus is a call to risk.

"The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity, from a life which is observable and calculable into a life where everything is unobservable and fortuitous, out of the realm of finite and into the realm of infinite possibilities."

Bonhoeffer, "The Cost Of Discipleship. p.51

 To risk is to come alive; it is to find life by loosing it; it is to discover what otherwise remains hidden. As Albert Schweitzer said, as an" ineffable mystery" out of the risk of following Jesus "we shall learn who He is" and who we are!

Feb. 10, 1980 "The Miracle Of Grace - Our Faith"

 What we don't first hear in the words of Jesus to Peter is permission to doubt...to make a mistake...to be afraid. The human condition makes it impossible not to doubt, make mistakes, be afraid.

 Jesus tells Peter and us - "I will not reject you just because you are afraid. Your fear is a part of your faith."

Faith doesn't mean there is no doubt; no mistakes; no fear. It means that we trust that Jesus doesn't not reject us because of it; rather will still use us and our doubt, mistakes, fear to do something beyond our wildest imagination. A bigger catch!

Jesus wants us - as imperfect as we are - to join with him in living in grace and living graceful lives. This is the miracle f grace, which creates faith and discipleship in the live of mortals such as you and I!

Feb. 6. 1983 "Evangelism - A Risk of Faith"

 To risk is to discover and experience what it means to be a discipleship.

We are to be what we say we believe. It is to be changed into His likeness by living His words in real ways. It will change us so we are never the same again. Once we have tasted the thrill of following Jesus, we will never settle for pious platitudes again.

EPIPHANY 6

 Jer 17:5-10; Ps 1; I Cor 15:12-20; Lk 6:17-26

 Feb 13, 1977 "The Great Reversal"

 Jesus reverses how it is with us - we think we can find life by taking it; Jesus says we find life by loosing it. It is out of the depths of life that we discover life. It is when we are poor that we learn to trust; hungry that we learn to appreciate and be thankful; weep that we discover the joy which cannot be taken away.

 Life is not found in being rich; it is found in being needy and then having someone fill that need for us. Then we discover what friendship and love really is.

 Life is not found in being full; it is found in being hungry for the deeper things of life, even hungry for God's love.

 Even aloneness can offer us the gift of life, for it is when I stand alone that I find out who I really am. Not who others think I am or say I am, but who I know I am.

 Indeed, this is of the great reversal Jesus speaks of in our gospel for today.

 EPIPHANY 7

 Gen. 45:3-8a,15; Ps 37:1-12,41-42;I Cor 15:35-38a, 42-50; Lk 6:27-38

 Feb 23, 1992 "Be Compassionate"

 We may not want to hear what has to be said this morning. We may not want to be caught and convicted, challenged and changed by this Word. We would rather hear a word which comforts, soothes, reassures us that we can have it our way and still be doing it God's way.

We don't want to be disturbed by our religion; we want to be appeased.

 Jesus words are a simple and profound reversal of the values we live by and a challenge to dramatically change how we look at life and how we act as those who seek, as Luther said, "to live in his kingdom and serve him with prayer, praise and thanksgiving."

 It all hinges on the word merciful..compassionate.

 To be compassionate is to be the best we can be. It means a willingness to suffer with, to undergo with, to share solidarity with...those who are without, ungrateful, and even wicked.

 Even when we act in judgment we must do it as those who are struggling to be compassionate. Judgment must never be the last word nor is it ever the best word! It is a sign we have failed; we have given up. Compassion does not give up!

 As Ellie Wiesel says, we are to "live obsessed with passion for compassion".

June 21, 1964 "Be Merciful"

Something in life cannot be taught by words; they must be caught by experience.

Mercy is one of these things.

We only become merciful when we experience mercy.

We don't generate mercy; it is generated in us by experiencing mercy.

 God's mercy is greater then God's judgment.

His mercy does not seek to hold us down; it seeks to lift us up.

Forgive as you have been forgiven. Judge not, condemn not, forgive, give - for you have received mercy. Be merciful because God has bee, is and always will be merciful.

July 4, 1971 "Be Merciful"

 We are not to judge or condemn. The first act of mercy is to get rid of such an attitude.

Mercy comes from receiving mercy. This we resist, for it exposes our vulnerability.

The hardest part of receiving mercy is admitting that we need it.

The best part is having received it, we can pass it on. We can let go of being judgmental and become instruments of mercy, as our God is merciful toward us.

TRANSFIGURATION

 Ex. 34:29-35; Ps 99; 2Cor 3:12-4:2; Lk 9:28-36 (37-43)

 Feb 24, 1974 "They Told No One"

 It was too good to share; they had to keep it to themselves. Because:

 1. It is not always possible to fully know the meaning of an event when it happens, and thus able to share it correctly. Often it is necessary to have a perspective from which to view the event. To share it too quickly is premature at best and distorted at worst. It can easily sound like we know it all because of the experience when in reality we also are struggling to understand.

 2. To share something intimate too casually and quickly scares people off. It creates division rather then unity. It is best to let the experience be seen and felt in other ways, and only later may it be shared and understood.

Feb 20, 1977 "They Told No One"

 It was a mystical, spiritual, psychic, weird, crazy, spooky experience; too big, too powerful, too unreal for them to talk about. It couldn't be communicated with words. Words could not contain it, describe it, pass it on. So they said nothing.

 I'm glad they couldn't talk about it. To talk about it would cheapen the experience and make it less real for others. Something this sacred you don't cheapen with words. To do so is to end up worshiping the experience rather then the God who created it.

 It is to have pride in our great experience with God; and even gloat over it, rather then be humbled by God's grace. This is why speaking in tongues always splits believers into two groups - those who do and those who don't. And you know who feel the most spiritual pride.

What is needed is genuine human beings whose lives reflect that something great has happened to them. They may not be able to talk about it; but their lives reflect it. It is felt more then heard. This is what really counts for God. What we do outwardly, because of what has happened to us, often in secret.

Feb 17, 1980 "A Holy Moment"

 A holy moment in my life - standing with Dad on the silent prairie of ND, with no sound - pure silence for just a few moments.

 Our text shares with us a holy moment. A moment which cannot be captured with words but can only be lived out with deeds. Holy moments are not so much to be talked about as lived out. And we all have them if we will only stop and see them.

 They also are not to be lived in; we can't stop the world and just stay in the holy moment.

This would make an idol of that experience. Rather they are to be windows through which we see more clearly the road we are to travel and the presence of a loving God for our journey.

 Lent 1

DEUT 26:1-11; PS. 91:1-2, 9-16; ROM 8b-13; LUKE 4:1-13

MARCH 3, 1974 "GOOD - AND TEMPTING"

 It would be easy to say that the way to deal with temptation is to not really live. Not really affirm the appetites and passions of life as beautiful. Not really affirm the ambition of life as good. Not let the spirit of life out of its cage to really fly. The church has implied this in the past by making the holier less passionate (celibacy), the purer less ambitious, the righteous less in touch with the real world. (Bob Jones University)

But it ain't necessarily so!

 It is the good, the beautiful, the precious which tempts us, not the ugly, bad, valueless.

Ours is the task of learning how to overcome temptation without destroying the good which is ours to experience and share. Learning how to live with passion, ambition and the desire to get all we can out of life. And doing this in a way which does not destroy but enhances life. For we do not live by bread alone and we do not live alone. We cannot continually put ourselves first and come out on top.

FEB. 24, 1980 "TEMPTATION: TO DOUBT IDENTITY AND TAKE SHORTCUTS"

 Jesus temptation was to doubt his identity and to take shortcuts in his vocation. So is ours.

 Our identity comes from God who loves us and claims us as his own. To live knowing I am God's child is to live and even suffer many defeats, but know I can never be destroyed. It is to be an eternal optimist!

 Suffering love is much more then taking the easy way out. Some of life's most precious moments are found in times of suffering love. It also is when we discover our deepest self, and learn to lean on the God who will never let us down.

MARCH 4, 1992 - "JESUS TEMPTATION AND OURS"

Jesus is ready to take on the world and all that needs changing therein. He knew God better then any mortal before him, and was more ready to do God's will then anyone had ever been. And yet, he is still temptable.

The battle with evil begins at the moment when he is sure he is the One sent of God.

 It is the temptation to take the easy way out. To sell his soul for a bite of bread. We too are tempted to think that we can live by bread alone.

 It is the temptation to believe that the end does justify the means; idolatry is okay if it is for the right reason. I can keep my faith separate from the rest of my life, bowing to God on Sunday and doing what I have to do to make it the rest of the time.

Our faith is to lead us to do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with our God" (Micah 6:8) Nothing less is enough.

 It is the temptation to prove God's goodness by trying to control what God does - by thinking we can be in charge of God's miracles.

 And the temptations keep coming as long as we live; as well as the challenge to make our faith a "power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of our lives."

FEB 20, 1983 "TEMPTED TO BELONG TO THE WORLD" Part 1

 Jesus first temptation was to go for it big. As Henri Nouwen says, "The whole life of Jesus of Nazareth was a life in which all upward mobility was resisted."

With Jesus the first are last, the wise are the foolish, the powerful are the weak, the rich are the poor, and the free are the slaves. He reverses the order of things. He comes down to us. He didn't go for the biggest and the best in the eyes of this world.

 This is our temptation too. "In (our) technological and highly competitive society we are characterized by a pervasive drive for upward mobility....The result is a spiral of increasing desire for power which parallels a spiral of increasing feelings of weakness." Nouwan

 We do not belong to the world. We belong to God. But we are tempted to belong to the world. To worship power. It is for this reason that we need to repent many times and say with Jesus, "Be off Satan, I must follow the downward way of the cross, for I worship the Lord my God and serve only Him. In my powerlessness his power and love are made perfect."

FEB 27, 1983 "TEMPTED TO BELONG TO THE WORLD" Part II

 We belong to God. Satan wants us to forget this, even for a moment; maybe many moments. We belong to God. We are God's not by choice alone but by creation and redemption; by God's great mercy and love. God calls us to live the way of Jesus which is the downward way of the cross. The way of the servant where small is beautiful, little counts for much, the unnoticed is noticed, and that which is done unto the least is done unto Him.

 We are tempted to be relevant to the point of loosing our spirituality; and we are tempted to be spectacular to the point of being dishonest. We are called to trust in God's goodness and walk the way of Jesus, the way of the downward mobility where the least is the most.

LENT 2

 GEN. 15:1-12,17-18; PS 27; PHIL 3:17-4:1; LUKE 13:31-35

 MARCH 6, 1977 "I WOULD - YOU WOULD NOT"

 One of the most destructive things we can do is try force our way on someone else. We can weep for them but we can't live for them.

The best we can do is model - try influence someone into wanting what we have.

Jesus did a lot of modeling as he walked among us. He didn't force anyone to follow him; he modeled Gods love and it drew people to him.

 His weeping over Jerusalem is modeling that love. A love that will not let us go, but will not force us to come either. A love which wants the best for us, and is willing to risk our not wanting it, and weeps for us when we don't. O what a love!

Feb 23, 1986 "It Is Necessary"

 There are times when it is necessary to suffer in order to accomplish what it is I want to do.

It is necessary to suffer to redeem, to become compassionate, to let go and let God.

Suffering does produce endurance, endurance character, character hope and hope does not disappoint! (Rom 5:3-5)

It is necessary to suffer to love. There can be no love without suffering. Jesus suffered because Jesus loved as God loves. We can do no less!

 March 15, 1992 "Agents of Love"

 God wants to love us more then we want to be loved.

God wants his love to be a living power and passion in our lives, sustaining us when we are down, challenging us when we are off course, directing us when we are confused and loving us into joyful obedience and hopeful servant hood, no matter what.

 We don't want that!

It is scary to loved by God that much, for it "demands our life our soul our all."

Being loved this much means I can no longer play at being religious - I have to become real. Like Mother Teresa who is an agent of God's unrelenting love in the midst of unrelenting odds.

LENT 3

 Is 55:1-9; Ps 63:1-8; ICor 10:1-13; Lk 13:1-9

 March 13, 1977

When ever I judge someone else's innocence or guilt I am:

1. saying more about myself then them;

2. staying clear of my need to repent, keeping the focus out there so it won't have to be in here;

3. keeping myself from being much good to anyone, God included.

 There is always a second chance with Jesus - and we need it!

March 2, 1986 "Suffering and Faithfulness"

 We do bring suffering upon ourselves; but all suffering is not a sign of evil. We cannot always sort it out nor can we be inoculated against suffering, not even by our faith.

Bad things do happen to good people. Pat answers are no good to resolve this mystery.

The challenge of faith is to be faithful even through suffering. And trust God's love through it!

Jan 1, 1989 "One More Year"

 God does not give up easily; in fact, God does not give up, ever!

Though God punishes, God also forgives. Though God lets bad things happen; God does not abandon anyone.

We begin the new year with a strong reminder that our God is a God of Grace who waits to give us another chance, and another, and another. Who does not give up on us - EVER!

 With this word of grace secure in our hearts, we are challenged to produce the fruit God is looking for from all of us - compassion.

March 22, 1992

 Whatever else this parable is about, it is about grace - God's grace.

 We have only once place to stand in this parable - we are the barren fig tree.
And the meaning is that no matter what, God is first, last and always a God of grace;
"whose love will over rule his anger and whose mercy is stronger then her logic."

 Grace = "God never lets us go; God never lets us down; God never lets us off."
I can blow it but I can't lose it!

And we are to live as those who have be so graced; we are to be graceful in all that we do.
(see Ps 103, Micah 6:8; Micah 7:18-20; Eph 2:4-8)

 LENT 4

 Josh 5:9-12; Ps 32; 2 Cor 5:16-21; Lk 15:1-3,11b-32

 Oct. 3, 1976 "Come On And Celebrate"

 The elder son did not want to celebrate. To enter the house meant he would have to serve the guests, including his younger brother who was the honored guest. This he could not do. To celebrate his return was uncalled for.

 We too have difficulty celebrating. We have lots of reasons why we shouldn't celebrate and often fail to express the joy of life. Celebration is an affirmation of life and faith; forgiveness and reunion. It expresses some of the deepest truths of human life; we cannot live fully human without celebration. A funeral is a good time to celebrate. It is the affirmation of life and the goodness of our God. It keeps us from going sour on life and on God.

March 9, 1986 "The Foolish Father"

 The Father was a foolish man and in his foolishness is hidden the wisdom of God.

Both sons disobey in their own way. Both deserve to be disowned. Both are loved and forgiven. How foolish can God be? God loves both the sinner and the righteous for all sin and fall short; only God's grace cam save - the worst and the best!

March 29, 1992 "Welcome Home"

 The best of Jesus stories.

It is all we need to know about God and grace; this God who "will not let us go, will not let us down, will not let us off."

 It is a story about a love and grace which is willing to die in order to give life.

It's about death and resurrection and the grace which comes to those who are dead and know it. And this requires celebration!

 "There can be no compassion without celebration and there can be no authentic celebration that does not result in increased compassionate energies. A person or persons who cannot celebrate will never be a compassionate people. And a person or a people who do not practice compassion can never truly be celebrating. Such people only wallow in superficial feelings of pious and pitiful energies."

Matthew Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion, p.4

 Nobody will be kicked out for having a rotten life;

Nobody will be refused because they are not good enough'

Nobody will enter because they are good enough.

It is by grace that we are saved - all of us- and nothing will stand in God's way of being a God of grace, and of celebrating that grace!

LENT 5

 Is 43:16-21; Ps 126; Phil 3:4b-14; Jn 12:1-8

 March 31, 1974 "We Reject Christ When We Practice Justice Instead of Love."

 There are times in our lives when justice does far more harm than injustice. We are to be more loving then just.

In the name of justice people are being abandoned. Jesus never did that!

Dare we stand as a church which is not against injustice as much as we stand as a church which is for love; for not abandoning any human being.

 PASSION SUNDAY

 Is. 50:4-9a; Ps 31:9-16; Phil 2:5-11; Lk 22:14-23:56

 April 7, 1968 "Not A Thing To Be Grasped"

The history of religion records man's search for God.
The history of Christianity records God's search for man.

For religion, God is a thing to be grasped if you can.
For Christianity God is a person to be encountered in human form.

 Our attitude is to be Christ's attitude: humility, servitude and obedience.

We are to live now, not trying to be religious so we will go to heaven, but as servants of a God who sent His son to dwell with us and would love the world through us!

April 12, 1992

 The road to Easter goes through Good Friday.
The joy of celebration has its roots deep within the agony of defeat.
There is no resurrection without a cross.

 This is the beginning of the most horrible and the most glorious week in human history.
We hear the words "Crucify him, crucify him!" before we hear "Alleluia, He lives!"

 Douglas John Hall - "When the crucified Jesus is called 'the image of the invisible God', the meaning is that this is God, and God is like this. God is not greater than he is in this humiliation. God is not more glorious than he is in this self-surrender. God is not more powerful than he is in this helplessness. God is not more divine that he is in this humanity."
(God And Human Suffering, p 112)

 This is the way of redeeming love - "love so amazing so divine I demands my life, my soul, my all."

EASTER SUNDAY

 Acts 10:34-43; Ps 118:1-2,14-24; ICor 15:19-26; John 20:1- 8 or Luke 24:1-12

 1960 - Luke "Is It Just An Idle Tale?" 24:1-11

 It is not easy to believe good news. It is not easy for us and it was not easy for the Apostles to believe that Jesus had risen. Yet believe it we do for without it there would be nothing! It is the core and rock of our faith; it is the door which opens our eyes to see how much God does love us. And it is a fact of history! A fact born witness to by the very existence of the Christian church over the centuries - an idle tale could never have lived that long and done that much!

We do not have to understand something to believe it. We will never understand the resurrection; but we believe it! And in believing it, discover our eternal destiny as well as our motivation for life now; life lived in the hope of eternal life.

April 11, 1971 "Anything Can Happen Now!"

 We live in a world where almost anything can happen. We travel to the moon and beyond. We transplant kidneys and hearts. We travel so fast we can arrive before we left. We control rivers and remove mountains. We can do most anything, sometimes to our good, sometimes not. Almost anything can happen. Little seems to be impossible anymore.

 We also live in a world where the impossible has happened. A world where the most incredible, unbelievable, fantastic, breath taking event has taken place which still causes us to gasp with amazement and say, "I don't believe it." For it is in this our world that God chose to dwell and it is in this world that a resurrection happened!

Anything CAN happen now. The tomb is empty, the future is open!

In this there is hope for our living and our dying.
Because Jesus lives life is an open door, never to close.
Because Jesus lives we are free to drink deeply of life today, as well as trust in life eternal.
Because Jesus lives we are free to forgive over and over again; forgive even ourselves!
Because Jesus lives we are free to try and fail and try again. To learn, change and grow.
Because Jesus lives we are even free to die - in peace.

Indeed, anything can happen now!

April 14, 1974 "Easter Is..."

 Easter is...hope.

What oxygen is for the lungs, hope is for the spirit.

Without it suffocation takes place; despair takes over; paralysis sets in. Without it, as Jean Paul Sartre put it, "man is a useless passion".

Without hope there is no meaning to living.

Easter is hope! Hope born of an event and a promise which touch the very core of human yearning. The event is a resurrection; the promise is eternal life. Both so incredible they are difficult to believe yet so powerful that nothing can overcome them.

 As Paul Tillich writes, "The courage to be is to live hopefully in the face of the threat of non-being; recognizing that the very fact that man is uneasy about it, means that he is some way beyond it."

 Easter is hope! The hope which adds to the love of living and will never disappoint.
The resurrection says there are no closed doors, the future is open, anything is possible.

For Jesus lives and we live in God's eternal love!

1977 - "It Seemed An Idle Tale"

 Many a beautiful and powerful truth seems like an idle tale. Too good to be true. And sometimes they are; sometimes they aren't. To discard without seeking is to doubt and never believe.

This "idle tale" is for today. To believe it is to live in it now and discover how true it is.

It is to become an eternal optimist, seeing possibilities for good which never end.

Easter is the first day of a new creation. To believe it is to live it - discovering how incredibly alive, exciting and full life can be now, and all the way to the better end.

April 6, 1980 "The Ongoing Mystery Of The Resurrection"

 For those who wrote these words, who first believed them and lived them, the resurrection was the bedrock of their faith. The Church was born with the words, "This Jesus God raised up and of that we are witnesses."

This word is for the heart more then the head; just as love is first and foremost of the heart.

It has to be experienced before it can be understood, felt before it can be known, shared before it can be identified.

Our task is not to debate the resurrection but to discover its dynamic power for our living.

The ongoing mystery of the resurrection is all around us. We only need to open our eyes of faith and see it. It is seen where ever something of hope and love are at work in our world, defying despair and refusing to give in to hate.

To see resurrection moments in our daily living - moments when the mystery of the resurrection touch our lives and lift our spirits - is to discover and experience "as an ineffable mystery" the truth that He does live! He is risen! Alleluia!

1983 "And The Women Remembered"

 They remembered; and then they believed. We too have to remember to believe. It is a beautiful and powerful thing to remember. It helps us believe what we otherwise would never believe.

It is in remembering that we are given the deepest insight, the clearest vision, the strongest motivation for setting the priorities of our lives and knowing what is really important in our lives.

We are here not to prove the resurrection but to remember it. And to be remembered by it that we too might believe this incredible story!

March 30, 1986 "They Remembered His Words"

 They were no strangers - the first to believe the resurrection. They were friends who remembered his words. They believed; they remembered.

It is a powerful thing to remember. It not only makes a connection between the past and present, it also serves as a guide, moves us to be more honest about ourselves, and warms our hearts with thankfulness. It also enables us to hear what we could not hear, see what we could not see, believe what we could not believe. It gives focus and meaning to the mysteries of life!

 Today is a day to remember that God's steadfast love endures for ever - even longer than his judgment. That is how Jesus rose from the dead - by the power of God's love and that is why Jesus rose from the dead - that we might believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ!

March 26, 1989 "Working Wonders"

 God is in the business of working wonders.
Easter is the greatest wonder God ever pulled off...the wonder of the resurrection.
It stands as a mark of excellence and a place where something too wonderful to believe happened.

 As we prepare to enter the 21st century we need to come to grips with the truth that the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God is such an exclusive event that it excludes no one. It is so powerful a truth that even those who do not believe it happened benefit from it.

 As the Catholic Dutch theologian Hans Kung has said:

God "not only demands but gives.
does not suppress but raises up
does not punish but liberates,
(and) makes grace instead of law rule unconditionally." (p.115, Eternal Life)

 "For God so loved the world that he worked the wonder of a resurrection into it, so that all might know that at the heart and center of the universe, love is reigning...and it is for all!" Dr. Al Rogness

April 19, 1992 "Not Among The Dead"

 The women going to the tomb were thinking only of death. "for them the death of Jesus was real, final defeat, the ultimate tragedy...they go to the tomb to tend to the dead." Proclamation. 3, C, p.10

 Then something strange and bewildering happened -"awesome in splendor", too wonderful to understand. He was gone. Risen!

Then they remembered - and believed.

 We too need to remember so we can believe.

Remember that Jesus lives - death is not the final word, nothing can separate us from God's love, there is a dazzling grace which never lets us go.

We also need to be reminded that life is full of opportunity for resurrection - that "the most difficult thing we will ever do is not die, but live" - live as those who believe in the resurrection and therefore as those who hope against hope and confront a living Lord in all sorts of places and people which cross our path.

Death is not the final word; and we are to live as those who know this, believe this, dare trust this above all things.

2 EASTER

Acts 5:27-32; Ps 118;14-29; Rev 1:4-8; Jn 20:19-31

April 18, 1971 "It's Really True"

Good news is often hard to believe.
Faith is letting it come.
Faith is not running away from the possibility that it is true.
Faith is holding open the possibility of a Resurrection.

 Thomas doubted, but he also kept himself open to be overwhelmed by the truth. And discovered it was too good to not be true.

In the words of a young college student, we "stake our life on the Resurrection."

We cling to it by faith and dare believe it is true!

April 17, 1977 "Believing Is Seeing"

 Doubting Thomas is with us as one of us.

It is hard to believe what I cannot 'see'.
It is hard to accept as true what I cannot prove.

Even our beliefs keep us from seeing - seeing what we don't want to see or believe.
Yet our beliefs are meant to open life up. To do this they must be beyond our control.

The truth is, we see what we believe.

To believe in the resurrection is to see beyond human understanding, discovering new horizons and becoming new people. It leads us where we never wanted to go and opens up truths we never dreamed possible. It is resurrection living!

 Cellar in Cologne after WWII -

"I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining.
I believe in Love even when I feel it not.
I believe in God, even when He is silent."

April 21, 1974 "Too Good To Not Be True"

 Good news is not always easy to believe.

Faith is not running away from the possibility that the impossible really is possible.
Faith is being open to the impossible, open to change, daring to risk.
It is saying, "Lord I believe, help mine unbelief."
And then living as if the resurrection really happened.

As we do the impossible becomes possible, even in our lives.

April 10, 1983 "Our Lord and Our Doubts"

What we say we doubt may well be what we most want to believe.

What we say we believe may be the very thing which keeps us from seeing the greatest glory of God.

It is no sin to doubt. Our doubts not only keep us honest and humble, they also are
openings for God's spirit to touch our lives.

Our doubts open us to believe what is too good to be true, and confess with Thomas, "My Lord and my God!"

April 6, 1986 "Faith In Doubt"

We don't get very far into the Easter season before we run into Thomas -doubting Thomas.

 He is the one who grounds the resurrection in the physical appearance of Jesus. He is, as one person put it, "...a pioneer of the faith through whose persistency we are given a message of grace and joy."

He is also the one who reminds us that doubt is a part of faith. It is often on the growing edge of faith.

As Luther said, "There is more faith in honest doubt then in all the creeds of Christendom."

Doubt helps us be real - with ourselves, others and God. It is healthy to doubt - and believe!

April 2, 1989

 Thomas doubted; but he also believed.

Had he never believed he would never have known the joy of faith.

Then his parting words would have been those of Ernest Hemingway in Old Man And The Sea - "It's a dirty trick; it's an empty existence; it all adds up to nothing."

 We don't make up our own faith; it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. But we can keep it from happening in our lives. To doubt is human; to make our doubts into creeds is to miss the point of it all; it is to stop before we have the whole story and keep the miracle of faith from happening. When we dare keep on trying to believe and keep letting the Spirit of God into our lives we end up saying, 'Hurrah!' and life ends up at the better end.

3 EASTER
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20); Ps 30; Rev 5:11-14; Jn 21;1-19

April 17, 1966 "Follow Me"

 The essence of the Christian faith is contained in these two words - "follow me".

Jesus didn't come just to tell us about God's love; he came to involve us in God's love.
It is not enough to know it, believe it, we have to do it.

A Christian is a person who follows Jesus Christ.
He leads; we follow. As mortals we need someone to follow.

Following means faith has more to do with a direction we are moving then a level to which we have attained.

George Bernard Shaw: "I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one's business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continued becoming, with a goal in front and not behind."

To follow also means I can't always have my own way. The One I follow sets the agenda.

There are times I have to do what I otherwise would never do, because I am following the one who calls me to put love at the heart of my living.

April 20, 1980 "They Knew It Was The Lord"

 There is a knowing which is too deep for words; a knowing within which defies logic.

Such knowing comes from living with and discovering in the experiences of life the knowing which is too deep for words. Which comes out of life's experiences. Of such is faith, a knowing which comes out of experiencing the richness of God's grace and the depth of God's love.

May 3, 1992 "I'm Going Fishing"

 Going fishing is a way to get away; yet we never get away from what has happened to make us who we are and to believe what we believe. God's Word has touched us in Jesus. We cannot run away from that! We cannot live as if there is no resurrection, no baptism, no church, no sacrament, no grace to live by. We cannot live as if it never happened.

We live as resurrection people! Even when we go fishing!

This means we have to struggle to forgive when we don't feel like forgiving.

We have to associate with those we don't always like to be around, seeking to be inclusive not exclusive. We have to be gracious when we don't feel like being gracious and would rather be judgmental. And we have to give something of our material possessions, even when we don't have much to give.

4 EASTER
ActS 9:36-43; Ps 23; Rev. 7:9-17; Jn 10:22-30

April 25, 1983 "The Plain Truth"

 Jesus treats there question, "How long are you gong to keep us in suspense?' as an insincere request which doesn't deserve an answer. They don't believe because they don't want to believe. They are not his sheep and do not want to be his sheep. They have closed their ears, eyes and hearts to anything he says.

 They wanted their truth not the plain truth. They wanted an answer without a commitment.

And the truth is, this cannot be. The answer comes in the living; in the discovering, in the risk of faith. We can know it only be living it.

"The claim to 'be saved' in Jesus is not a badge to wear but a commission to fulfill."
And to those who believe, who follow, who risk all on Jesus his promise is that he will not forsake them , ever!

May 10, 1992 "Tell Us Plainly"

 The request sounds legitimate, fair, reasonable, even honest. But it isn't.
It is loaded, bias, suspicious, deceptive. A trap to catch Jesus and prove his blasphemy.

 To look for the plain truth may well be a way to not have to face the truth.

Our answers can keep us from hearing the truth. For when we know the answer we want to hear only what fits our answers. We are not open to the truth which is beyond what we believe. This is self-righteousness in full form!

Jesus tells them to look at his works and the truth they testify to.
And what is the plain truth?

God loves you and me and everyone - "red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight."

God is like a shepherd who knows his sheep and cares for them.

God is a God of grace who will never let us down, go, off; and who is more ready to forgive then we are to confess.

And of this truth it must be said, "The plain truth cannot be known in isolation, it is known (discovered and believed) in relationship." It is discovered in the context of our loving and passed on in the context of our living.

5 EASTER
Acts 11:1-18; Ps.148; Rev. 21:1-6; Jn 13:31-35

March 27, 1966 "A New Commandment - Love"

 Distinguishing mark of OT - obedience to the law of God.
This developed formalism or rituals - keeping the law became an end in it self.

Jesus changed all this: a command is to be obeyed within the context of love.

The summary of the law is love.
The distinguishing feature of faith in NT is love.
The old commandment is swallowed up by the new

Love cannot be commanded unless it is first given.

Love cannot be command but love is commanding. When we are loved, the one who loves us has commanding power in our lives. We respond to love with obedient love.

Once loved, I have to love. "The love of Christ controls us" and leads us into service in His name.

March 19, 1972 "Becoming Vulnerable"

 To be a disciple is to be a vulnerable human being. It is to love one another and become open to an others pain. It is to be truly human, vulnerable, and alive in love.

May 12, 1974 "Love One Another"

We have been taught to hate rather then love; even in the church.
yes, hate, and fear, and stay clear of those who are different from us.
All of which is contrary to one of the clearest commandments our Lord gave us.

We are to model Jesus love by how we treat each other - especially in the church.

To love is not to demand 'sameness' but to affirm 'differentness'.

May 8, 1977 "Love One Another"

 These are private, intimate words spoken by Jesus to his disciples, and to us. They cut through all the pretense and get to the heart of the matter - what really counts - love!

Love bears and endures all things. It can live with and respect differences. Love listens even when we don't like what we are hearing. Love hangs in there when there is little to be received in return. Love endures all things!

One of the greatest things we can do for our children as they grow up is not give up on them.

Love has the unquenchable capacity to believe the best in the midst of the worst.

May 4, 1980 "Love One Another"

 Some times it takes a few words to say a lot.

"There is no free lunch."

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

"Actions speak louder then words."

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

To love one another is to model God's love for all. What we do in private becomes a strong influence on who we are in public.

Dr Jaffee: "The most outstanding successes are those who are role models."

May 1, 1983 "As I Have Loved You"

 These words, spoken by Jesus to his disciples in a critical time in their relationship and written down by John many years later at an equally difficult time for the struggling church,
are a tough word about love and discipleship.

The code of Jesus love is : love as we have been loved - by HIM!
Unconditionally, sacrificially, forgivingly.

The word above all other words which Christianity holds up to the world is LOVE!

 "Love implies forgiveness. It is hard for us to realize, but actually the only requirement the loving Father places on us, ...is that we forgive as we have been forgiven." Morton Kelsey

 Movie " - "Gandhi" - A Hindu has killed a Moslem boy because his boy has been killed. Asks Gandhi what he should do. Gandhi tells him to adopt a Moslem son and raise him as a Moslem.

That's loving as we have been loved!

April 23, 1987 "Love One Another"

 This is a place of no distinction. No competition. Where we come as we are to be loved as we are. Where hospitality is greater then hostility - where we love one another.

This is not a place where we come with no mistakes; know all the answers and compete with one another for a religious star. This is a place we come because we are loved- and we love one another. Imperfect as our love is, we still come, for God's love is perfect.

6 EASTER
Acts 16:9-15; Ps 67; Rev. 21:10,,22-23; Jn 14:23-29

 May 11, 1980 "A Time To Celebrate"

Henri Neuwen: "So celebrating means the affirmation of the present, which becomes fully possible only by remembering the past and expecting more to come in the future."

 To celebrate is to remember what has been and to be warmed by that memory;

to learn even more from that memory (we never get it all the first time!); and it is to live expecting even more from the future. Much more!

May 24, 1992 "Remember"

 Love - our love and God's - begins with a word and then we spend the rest of our lives trying to keep that word, learn more about that word, remember that word, and live that word.

Soren Kierkegaaard: "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

 It is probably impossible to remember God's Word without remembering some one in whom that word lived; someone who made it come alive for us.

 7 EASTER
Acts 16:16-34; Ps 97; Rev. 22:12-14,16-17,20-21; Jn 17:20-26

 May 30, 1967 "To The Word"

The Church is the result OF the Word of God.
The Church lives IN the Word of God.
The Church is consecrated TO the Word of God.
We are the Church!

For the Word to get into the world, someone has to speak it, live it, be it.
This is our task as the Church.

 What ever else this means, it does mean we have a word of love to carry to a world of hate. Bertrand Russell, a very vocal opponent of Christianity said it well:

"There are certain things that our age needs...The root of the matter is a thing so simple that I am almost ashamed to mention it for fear of the derisive smile with which wise cynics will greet my words. The thing I mean - please forgive me for mentioning it - is love, Christian love, or compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide in action, a reason for courage, and imperative necessity for intellectual honesty."

To be the Church in the world is to be caught by the Word love and compelled to 'meddle" in the world's affairs with this Word.

May 20, 1973 "What In The World Is The Church Doing?"

 The Church has a spiritual responsibility. It also has a social responsibility.
It is called to be both reverent and relevant. Saving souls is not enough; loving people is!

To be spiritual is to be human; to be human is to be spiritual.
Even as we love to tell the story, we must love to live the story.

 May 26, 1974 "One-ness"

 One-ness is not a matter of theory or theology - it is a matter of experience. It is not sameness, it is respect for differentness in the unity of love. It is to be an individual who trusts and hopes with others. It does not mean we are to be all alike; it means we are to be together in being loved by Jesus and our love for one another.

May 15, 1983 "A Prayer For Change"

 "The Gospel for Easter 7 is a prayer for change."

Yet change often brings conflict, separation, disagreement, even alienation and disunity; the opposite of what Jesus is praying for.

This is a call for us to be open to the movement of the Spirit and have our attitudes and motives changed by His Spirit into His likeness, day by day.

Change is a sign that the spirit is at work in our lives, and in the life of the church. Unity comes as we change into His likeness and love as we have been loved.