Pentecost Sunday Acts2:1-21;Ps.104:25-35,37; Rom 8:14-17; John 14:8-17 May 25, 1969 ÒBut You Know HimÓ John 14:15-21 Confirmation ItÕs not what you know but who you know that counts. It makes a difference - knowing Jesus - it really does! It makes a difference in what we see when we look around. For we see only what we are prepared to see. Faith is a great perspective for life. To know Jesus is to be able to see His hand at work in the affairs of life around us. It is to see Jesus with us in the good times and the bad. It is to know I will never be alone nor will I ever be forsaken by a God who loves me so much. Who you know determine who you are. ÒYou know him, even the spirit of truth who remains with you and lives in you.Ó Let this determine who you will be! Trinity Sunday Prov. 8:1-4,22-31; Ps 8; Rom 5:1-5;John 16:12-15 June 1, 1980 ÒGuide You Into The TruthÓ When I go fishing in Canada I want a guide with me but I do not want the guide fishing for me. Even if Iose the big one. Life islike fishing - we often need a guide but the guide cannot live for us. Truth is something we discover in the process of living. We learn truth as we live. We have to experience what we know before we can know it. We have to be vulnerable to make discovery. The Holy Spirit guides us into the truth of life lived in GodÕs name, confessing Jesus as Lord. As we go we discover what it all means - and it is far beyond our wildest imagination. Pentecost 2 Prov. 8:1-4,22-31; Ps 8; Rom 5:1-5;John 16:12-15 Aug 14, 1966 ÒEmpowered To LoveÓ (Was Trinity 10) Before it is possible for us to truly love God, it is necessary for us to experience the love of God. Simon was not aware of his need for forgiveness; thus he was not able to be forgiving. The woman was - and could. What ever love he might have had was self-generated; hers was forgiveness generated. To be loved is to be forgiven. To be forgiven is to be able to love, beyond human imagination. June 22, 1980 It is the nature of God to forgive, not to condemn. To accept, rather then dismiss. To reconcile, rather than reject. God forgives first - as much as needed - grace sufficient to cover what ever sins - then waits for something beautiful to happen. Those who are forgiven much (and know it) will love much ( and show it). It is not moral perfection which pleases God - perfection which creates an attitude of condemnation rather then compassion. It is being forgiven much which pleases God, for then our lives will make a difference and the Kingdom of God will come - through us! June 19, 1983 Two stories about forgiveness: David and the Woman at Simons house. Simon reminds us that we are as guilty as the next person - even the worst person. David reminds us that we can never forget the bad which happens because of our sin - which others have to bear. To be forgiven is to know we have sinned - much. To be forgiven is to be opened up to love - much. To be forgiven is to remember - and hurt because of what our sins did - but not without hope. It is to also not forget how much we have been forgiven! July 5, 1992 ÒLove Rooted In ForgivenessÓ (Was Pentecost 4th after) Without forgiveness, nothing can make us happy, (OT Lesson) With forgiveness, nothing can keep us from being happy, (Gospel) As King David thought he had a right to Bathsheba. He took her. We do the same, living by our ÒrightsÓ rather then seeing all of life - including our rights - as a gift. A gift to be received and a gift to be given. We as a nation need to hear this! A forgiven person (gospel) is a happy person who does crazy things to express great love and gratitude. June 5, 1983 ( alternate text: Luke 7:1-10) Ò A Miracle Of FaithÓ This is a story primarily about faith, not faith healing. It is an example of someone from theoutside whose faith put the shame those on the inside. He was a Roman, a centurion, yet a sensitive man who was open to the mystery and miracles of life. He cares about his slave enough to go to Jesus to see if something might happen which could be called nothing short of a miracle. Such faith is a miracle! He presents his case and Jesus is impressed. Impressed by his honesty, compassion and faith. Jesus commends the man for his faith and does as he requests. It is a miracle of healing which points to faith as that which is to be remembered and duplicated. A strong faith which is open to miracles and leaves room in life for the mysterious presence of a loving God. Sept 13, 1964 ÒGod Has Visited His PeopleÓ Luke 7:16, was Trinity 16) It is no small thing to say and believe that God has visited his people. It means God reveals who God is; we believe as God is, not as we would have God be. It is no small thing to say Jesus is God; it is with fear and awe that we say such a thing. Faith is not a matter of understanding God; it is a matter of recognizing my need for God, and then recognizing the God I need - who has revealed himself in Jesus. Faith is not a possession; it is a possessor. It is, as P.T. Forsythe so ably describes lit, ÒA power andpassion in authority among the powers and passions of life.Ó Oct 3, 1965 ÒGod Has Visited His PeopleÓ (Luke 7:11-17, was Trinity 16) The secret of resolving the dilemma of death lies in faith; in daring to believe the message and promise which God has made to us in the face of death - fear not! The gift of God is life; the enemy of life is death; the gift of God is victory over death through Jesus Christ. Sept 26, 1971 ÒTouching and TrustingÓ (Luke 7:11-16, was Trinity 16) God cares about people; all people. God touches us with healing grace and trusts us to live as a child of grace. Touch is so important in our lives; as is trust. There is no better way to commmunicate caring then to touch. It is a beautiful thing to be touched. It also is beautiful and powerful to be trusted. Youth once said, ÒIf you donÕt have trust you donÕt have anything.Ó June 4, 1989 ÒNo Human InventionÓ Luke 7:11-24 (was 3rd of Pentecost) We didnÕt invent God. God created us, and God comes to us in the mysteryof revelation, in the mystery of grace present in Word, Sacraments, and people. The only thing which keeps God our of our lives is US. Our egos, wills, pride. Albert Einstein: ÒThe most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. In is the source of all true art and science. ( We can add religion.) He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and be rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.Ó Einstein also said, religion Ò consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding can comprehend of reality.Ó GodÕs promise is that He will wait us out, and come to us for the awesome truth is, God cares about us andtries His hardest to intervene in our live with the miracle of a love which never dies and a dazzling grace which always is! June 21, 1992 ÒAll Are Welcome: Luke 7:1-10 Jesus came with what sounded like a different Gospel then what the Israelites heard and knew. No one is excluded! (Acts 10:35) Grace is always unmerited and undeserved. Mercy is not getting what I deserve. Grace is getting what I donÕt deserve. God is a God of grace who does and will and wonÕt stop until He can - love us all! Pentecost 3 Pentecost 4 I Kings 19:15-16, 19-21; Ps 16; Gal 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9:51-62 July 10, 1977 ÒFollow MeÓ Discipleship is following Jesus. He calls, we follow. Nothing can stand in the way of our commitment to follow Him. No conditions to our following; just trusting that he knows the way. July 6, 1980 Single minded devotion is demanded of those who would be disciples of Jesus. this is not narrow mindedness, which leads to judgment and condemnation rather then understanding and compassion. Thisistobeservants of one another through love. To trust one another and trust the spirit of Christ., and walk in love. June 29, 1986 ÒFree To LoveÓ Hans Kung: ÒTrue religiousness, in whatever faith, functions not to enslave but to free, not to injure but to heal, not to destabilize but to stabilize.Ó True religion lives by grace which sets people free. Free to be who we are. Free to struggle with our purpose in life. Free to choose without fear of reprisal, yet with responsibility for our choices. Free to live knowing that I will always be loved, and also knowing that I have to choose how I am going to use my freedom - as an excuse to indulge in self-gratification at the expense of others, as a license to destroy myself and others, or as an opportunity to love my neighbor as myself, to love as I have been loved! Free to do good to all people! ThatÕs what freedom in Christ is all about. For Ò...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. There is no law against such things.Ó Gal. 5:22,23 And there is no stopping those who live by the spirit! June 25, 1989 We are called to total allegiance, but not blind allegiance in the call to discipleship. Ollie North was guiltyof blind allegiance; as was Nazi Germany. A man who supervised Ollie North in the Marine Corps said, ÒOllie North needed boundaries set every month.Ó What are our boundaries for our call to discipleship? 1. We are not to call down damnation on anyone. 2. We are not just to talk the talk, but walk the walk. 3. We are not to get stuck with the dead. Life is a gift. Live it to the better end. 4. DonÕt look back; let go and press on. Ògod will know how to draw glory even from our faults.Ó p. 208, Daily Prayers July 19, 1992 ÒFollowing JesusÓ Whatever else it means to follow Jesus, it is a radical departure from what has been to what is yet to be, and it is an all consuming adventure which is full of uncertainty, vulnerability and openness to GodÕs surprises as they come upon us at the most unexpected moments, in unconventional ways and ask us to be ready to Ò proclaim the Kingdom of GodÓ in the very essence of our being. It means being a servant, a steward, a slave. We cannot do it our way - wehave to do it His way. We cannot consume one another, we are to serve one another in love. Òthrough love become slaves to one anotherÓ. cf Douglas John Hall, The Steward, pp.255-257 Pentecost 5 Is.66:10-14;Ps66:1-8; Gal6:(1-6)7-16;Luke10:1-11,16-20 March 6, 1966 ÒOur Reason For JoyÓ Joy is a central theme in the Bible. Look up the word in a concordance; the Bible abounds with joy. It is also the keynote of the Christian faith, the heart beat of the Christian life. A lady once said to me, ÒYou canÕt be a Pastor; you smile too much.Ó There is a lot to smile about when Òour hearts leap for joy!Ó (Lk 6:23) This joy comes not by our own doing - we donÕt create it. It comes by GodÕs doing - it is a gift! A gift of grace. We rejoice knowing that our :Ónames are written in heaven.Ó Repentance is the joy of returning home. Suffering ends in joy, for we can be defeated but not destroyed. Discipleship becomes a joyful duty, serving long and hard in the kingdom labor force. Life takes on a different perspective as we dare believe that God is for us, not against us, and Ònothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Ò Rom 8:38 This is our reason for joy! Jan 22, 1967 ÒPray Therefore...Send LaborersÓ (Evangelism Sunday) There is no question about the need; the harvest is plentiful. There is no question about the importance of prayer as a part of the task; the question is, who are the laborers we are praying might be sent out? Praying was never meant to be a substitute for doing. It is ÒmeÓ who is to ÒgoÓ! To pray for the harvest is to pray that I might be one of the laborers sent out to struggle in the hart of the day whit the task of reaping the harvest. This is a dangerous prayer for we might be caught up in the answer. George Eliotinhis poem ÒStradivariusÓ puts it this way: ÒThis God gives the skill But not without menÕs hands; He could not make Antonio Stradivarius violins Without Antonio.Ó Feb. 27, 1972 ÒRejoice For The Right ReasonÓ Do not rejoice in what you areable to do, even in Jesus name. Rejoice rather in what has been done for you - by sheer grace your name is written in heaven! We are not saved because we believe so strongly; We are not saved because we are religious; we are not saved because of who we are; we are not saved because of what we do for Jesus; we are saved Òby grace through faith, it is not our own doing; it is the gift of God-not the result of works, so that no one may boast.Ó Eph 2:8,9 Rejoice not in what you can do; rejoice for the right reason - rejoice in what has been done for you - by grace your name is written in heaven! July 21, 1974 It would be easy to hear these words as permission to judge others. This would be to hear the wrong thing. What it says is that unless the Gospelbecomes human it cannot be divine; it cannot truly give hope. No judgment implied in shaking off the dust of feet - no force intended. What counts is the relationship through which the Gospel can be expressed and lived. If this is not possible -wait until it is! In hope! Sept 29, 1974 Luke 10:17-20 Jesus feels the same towards us whether we are important or not. We are to rejoice not in what we can do but in what has been done for us. Rejoice that we are of value without our successes. We donÕt have to succeed to be loved. In fact, our value can best be discovered not through our accomplishments but through our failures. Children need to know they are loved when they are failures. So do we. This is what grace does. Loves no matter what! July 17, 1977 ÒGodÕs Great NeverthelessÓ God doesnÕt delight in judgment. God delights in grace. There is a great nevertheless which never gives up; always holds open the possibility that grace will happen and mortals such as you and I will see that the Kingdom of God has come near - to us. The Kingdom of God can be rejected but it cannot be stopped. It comes near, like it or not. The eyes of faith see it, embrace it, even extend it as it comes among us in human form still. July 10, 1983 ÒRejoice That Your Names Are Written In HeavenÓ The Good News today is not that we can do remarkable things in Jesus name but that our names are written in heaven no matter how much or little we do. God possesses us; we are His. We belong to His Kingdom. God has seen to that. No matter what, we do not have to worry about the end. It is in the hands of a loving Father who will not let us go. No panic necessary. Our urgency is for living each day as GodÕs child, not trying to become GodÕs child. Confessing and forgiving; caring and giving; celebrating and being compassionate; - being spiritual in the finest sense of the word. July 2, 1989 Discipleship is not just for the professionals; it is for all who would follow Jesus. Who can count the good done by themultitudes of those who go about doing good, in the name of Jesus. We are not responsible for the harvest; God is! We are not to judge; that is GodÕs doing and God even used judgment to save. With God nothing is impossible; and grace is the last word. We are not to rejoice over our success stories but over our own salvation story. We exist for mission. To announce that the Kingdom of God is near. July 26, 1992 ÒBeing A DiscipleÓ It is no easy thing, being a disciple. Listen to the second lesson for list of what a disciple is to be like. We are to announce by word and by life style that the Kingdom of God has come near to us - we are not to condemn anyone - just let the good news out. The call to be a disciple is a call to take risks and open doors; become vulnerable to the challenges and conflicts of life. See Douglas John Hall, The Steward, pp122,127,130-32 The joy of it all is not in what we accomplish but that our names are already written in heaven. Pentecost 6 Is.66:10-14;Ps66:1-8;Gal 6:(1-6)7-16;Luke10:1-11,16-20 March 6, 1966 ÒOur Reason For JoyÓ Joy is a central theme in the Bible. Look up the word in a concordance; the Bible abounds with joy. It is also the keynote of the Christian faith, the heart beat of the Christian life. A lady once said to me, ÒYou canÕt be a Pastor; you smile too much.Ó There is a lot to smile about when Òour hearts leap for joy!Ó (Lk 6:23) This joy comes not by our own doing - we donÕt create it. It comes by GodÕs doing - it is a gift! A gift of grace. We rejoice knowing that our :Ónames are written in heaven.Ó Repentance is the joy of returning home. Suffering ends in joy, for we can be defeated but not destroyed. Discipleship becomes a joyful duty, serving long and hard in the kingdom labor force. Life takes on a different perspective as we dare believe that God is for us, not against us, and Ònothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Ò Rom 8:38 This is our reason for joy! Jan 22, 1967 ÒPray Therefore...Send LaborersÓ(Evangelism Sunday) There is no question about the need; the harvest is plentiful. There is no question about the importance of prayer as a part of the task; the question is, who are the laborers we are praying might be sent out? Praying was never meant to be a substitute for doing. It is ÒmeÓ who is to ÒgoÓ! To pray for the harvest is to pray that I might be one of the laborers sent out to struggle in the hart of the day whit the task of reaping the harvest. This is a dangerous prayer for we might be caught up in the answer. George Eliot in his poem ÒStradivariusÓ puts it this way: ÒThis God gives the skill But not without menÕs hands; He could not make Antonio Stradivarius violins Without Antonio.Ó Feb. 27, 1972 ÒRejoice For The Right ReasonÓ Do not rejoice in what you are able to do, even in Jesus name. Rejoice rather in what has been done for you - by sheer grace your name is written in heaven! We are not saved because we believe so strongly; We are not saved because we are religious; we are not saved because of who we are; we are not saved because of what we do for Jesus; we are saved Òby grace through faith, it is not our own doing; it is the gift of God-not the result of works, so that no one may boast.Ó Eph 2:8,9 Rejoice notin what you can do; rejoice for the right reason - rejoice in what has been done for you - by grace your name is written in heaven! July 21, 1974 It would be easy to hear these words as permission to judge others. This would be to hear the wrong thing. What it says is that unless the Gospel becomes human it cannot be divine; it cannot truly give hope. No judgment implied in shaking off the dust of feet - no force intended. What counts is the relationship through which the Gospel can be expressed and lived. If this is not possible - wait until it is! In hope! Sept 29, 1974 Luke 10:17-20 Jesus feels the same towards us whether we are important or not. We are to rejoice not in what we can do but in what has been done for us. Rejoice that we are of value without our successes. We donÕt have to succeed to be loved. In fact, our value can best be discovered not through our accomplishments but through our failures. Children need to know they are loved when they are failures. So do we. This iswhat grace does. Loves no matter what! July 17, 1977 ÒGodÕs Great NeverthelessÓ God doesnÕt delight in judgment. God delights in grace. There is a great nevertheless which never gives up; always holds open the possibility that grace will happen and mortals such as you and I will see that the Kingdom of God has come near - to us. The Kingdom of God can be rejected but it cannot be stopped. It comes near, like it or not. The eyes of faith see it, embrace it, even extend it as it comes among us in human form still. July 10, 1983 ÒRejoice That Your Names Are Written In HeavenÓ The Good News today is not that we can do remarkable things in Jesus name but that our names are written in heaven no matter how much or little we do. God possesses us; we are His.We belong toHis Kingdom. God has seen to that. No matter what, we do not have to worry about the end. It is in the hands of a loving Father who will not let us go. No panic necessary. Our urgency is for living each day as GodÕs child, not trying to become GodÕs child. Confessing and forgiving; caring and giving; celebrating and being compassionate; - being spiritual in the finest sense of the word. July 2, 1989 Discipleship is not just for the professionals; it is for all who would follow Jesus. Who can count the good done by the multitudes of those who go about doing good, in the name of Jesus. We are not responsible for the harvest; God is! We are not to judge; that is GodÕs doing and God even used judgment to save. With God nothing is impossible; and grace is the last word. We are not to rejoice over our success stories but over our own salvation story. We exist for mission. To announce that the Kingdom of God is near. July 26, 1992 ÒBeing A DiscipleÓ It is no easy thing, being a disciple. Listen to the second lesson for list of what a disciple is to be like. We are to announce by word and by life style that the Kingdom of God has come near to us - we are not to condemn anyone - just let the good news out. The call to be a disciple is a call to take risks and open doors; become vulnerable to the challenges and conflicts of life. See Douglas John Hall, The Steward, pp122,127,130-32 The joy of it all is not in what we accomplish but that our names are already written in heaven. Pentecost 7 Gen 18:1-10a; Ps 15; Col 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42 Jan 31, 1972 ÒDonÕt Just Do Something - Listen!Ó Martha was busy doing something; Mary was busy listening to Jesus. It is easy to get caught up in being busy and not have time to listen. ÒIt is impossible to overemphasize the immense need humans have to be really listened to, to be taken seriously, to be understood.Ó Paul Tournier Children need to be listened to; husbands and wives need to be listened too (by each other); we need to know that God listens to us. One thing is needful: to listen and be listened too. For it is in so doing that we discover the mystery of another person and the meaning of our lives together with each other and with God. DonÕt just do something. Listen...listen...listen! July 31,1977 ÒOne Thing NeedfulÓ It is not MarthaÕs actions which are chided, but her attitude. The one thing needful is an openness to the presence of God when ever and where ever and how ever God chooses to touch us in our lives. Openness to that which is ever new; willingness to be stretched, to be different, to be surprised. The one thing needful is to be open to God in our lives NOW, and let nothing keep us from this. July 27, 1980 There are times to be like Martha; organized, efficient, concerned about the basics. There are times to be like Mary; spontaneous, free, flowing with. The struggle is to find the balance between the two to find Òplanned spontaneityÓ. The challenge is to be open to the presence of God when God comes into our lives, often in forms we do not quickly recognize, and then embrace it. To be open to receiving God as well as serving God. July 21, 1986 ÒAnd Sarah LaughedÓ Gen 18:1-15 Sarah and Abraham laughed at the notion they would have a baby. It was preposterous at their age. We laugh at what we find hard to believe. Our laughter is in amazement at something too wonderful to believe, too astounding to comprehend; so we laugh our way into believing it. This is healthy laughter - good for the soul. It Òflushes out the nervous systemÓ and the belief system. It reminds us that the wisdom of God is hidden in what we can only first laugh at. Then believe! We might even say, ÒAll things work together for good for those who laugh with God.Ó Aug 9, 1992 It is easy to pick on Martha and praise Mary. The problem with Mary was not all her good work, but that she was too busy to experience the moment and savor the specialness of what was happening. She was distracted. This is how we miss God present in our lives - by being toobusy. ÒWe...need to practice the Ôart of no agendaÕ - to live in such a way that we begin to respond to the rhythms of life around us rather than control or initiate all of them. We must, in prayer, seek to be open to and content withwhatever the days brings. We must allow ourselves to be ÔinterruptedÕ for God visits in interruptions.Ó Otherside, July-Aug Ô92,p.11 Take time to listen for the still small voice of God. Be quiet and sit at the feet of Jesus; take time to do nothing. ÓThe question that must guide all organizing activity in a parish (and in a family) is not how to keep people busy, but how to keep them from being so busy that they can no longer hear the voice of God who speaks in silence.Ó Henri Nouwen, The Way Of The Heart, p. 47 Pentecost 8 Gen 18:20-32; Ps 138; Col 2:6-15 (16-19); Luke 11:1-13 May 15, 1966 ÒThe Mystery of PrayerÓ There is something mysterious about prayer. About unanswered prayer and answered prayer. And about our inherent need to pray. There is mystery in the power of prayer which defies explanation. Jesus directs us to enter into the act of prayer, to break into this mystery and let what will happen happen. It all begins by asking; and being persistent about it. Then follows being opento hear the answer. The answer God would give, not the answer we would have. The gift of the Holy Spirit, and the grace sufficient for all days and all needs. May 11, 1969 ÒThe Mystery of PrayerÓ The mystery of prayer is that it always works, sometimes better than we dare believe. Prayer is always heard and answered; sometimes in ways different than our asking. Prayer takes a lot of nerve. Like banging on a neighbors door at midnight to ask for something to eat. Jesus is telling us to bug Him, pester Him, bother Him with our needs for he is a friend who will not leave us standing along in the dark. He will give you what you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking! What a Friend we have in Jesus! We can take anything and everything to him in prayer!He will choose what is right for us and answer accordingly. Not always what we ask for; but always more than we asked for! July 31, 1983 ÒHow Much MoreÓ This is a dangerous text. It seems to give us the power to get what we want from God, rather then be open to what God wants to give us. God does not just give us what we want; God gives us more then we want. God gives us the Holy Spirit which means we can never do lit our way again and also that we never have to go it alone again. How much more this is then what we ask for or expect! July 27, 1986 ÒHow Much MoreÓ Pray with shameless persistence and then watch out! For as Mother Teresa reminds us - ÒPrayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing godÕs gift of himself. Ask and seek - (take trouble to pray, love to pray, feel often during the day the need to pray) and your heart will grow big enough to receive (God) and keep him as your own.Ó A Guide to Prayer, p. 233 Prayer of an Unknown soldier from the Civil War: ÒI asked God for strength that I might achieve, I was made weak, that I might learn humility to obey. I asked for health, that I might do great things, I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy;Õ I wasgiven poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing I asked for - but everything I hoped for; Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men, most richly blessed! July 23, 1989 ÒPray With Shameless BoldnessÓ Importunity is to pray with a shameless boldness like Abraham in OT Lesson. Prayer is more then something we do to get our way with God. Prayer is something we do to discover GodÕs way with us, and discover how true it is that GodÕs grace is sufficient for all our needs. Mother Teresa:; ÒPrayer enlarges the heart untilit is capableofcontaining GodÕs gift of himself. Ask and seek, and your heart will grow big enough to receive God and keep God as your own.Ó Harry Emerson Fosdick, Ò Importunity in prayer is not needed to coax God, but to deepen our eagerreadiness for the good we seek.Ó Prayer is one of the most important spiritual disciplines by which we open ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Henri Nouwen: Ò ÒIt is impressive to see how prayer opens oneÕs eyes...prayer makes (us) contemplative and attentive. In place of manipulating, the (person) who prays stands receptive before the world (and before God). He no longer grabs but caresses, (she ) no longer bites, but kisses, (they ) no longer examine but admire.Ó Prayers for Servants, p. 234 Prayer is a joy, not a dutyÕ a privilege, not an obligation; it is talking to PAPA - who loves us and will give us more then we ask for. Pentecost 9 Eccles. 1:2, 12-14, 2:18-23; Ps 49:1-11; Col 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21 May 28, 1967 ÒPronoun ProblemsÓ Thetwo men use the possessive pronoun freely, but never the pronoun which points to a relationship - ÔourÕ.You can to a large degree determine a personÕs theology by the pronouns used. Pronouns give direction to life. They point to what is important in oneÕs life. Mine...yours...ours...Thine. What a difference it makes when we are able to look at our possessions and say ÒThineÓ. Then our possessions fall into their rightful place in life. Then they are not ours in a selfish way, but ours to use in a redemptive way. May 31, 1970 ÒRich From GodÕs Point Of ViewÓ Possessions do enhance our freedom to enjoy life. Yet how dangerous they are when they take possession of us. The rich man was a fool because he failed to keep a clear space between himself and his possessions. As well as between himself and others. He tried to live by bread alone; pile up riches but be void of meaningful relationships which enrich life. ÒAh, there is only one problem, only one in all the world. How can we restore to man a spiritual significance, a spiritual discontent; let something descend upon them like the dew of a Gregorian chant...donÕt you see, we cannot live any longer on refrigerators, politics, balance-sheets, and crossword puzzles. We simply cannot.ÓAuthor unknown Aug 7, 1983 ÒThe Rich FoolÓ There is a subtle twist in the texts for today. Gospel is a warning. Epistle a word of admonition OT an antidote of greed or covetousness. What it really is saying is Òlet go and let God.Ó Anyone who thinks they can live alone even with great wealth is a fool. It is a fool who thinks he/she can be greedy and happy at the same time. The truth we all have to discover is until we share we will not be happy. Happiness is a by-product of how we live - it is a serendipity. Happiness is not found in grabbing all we can grab; but in giving all we can give. Aug 23, 1992 ÒGive The GiftÓ We were created for more then just abundance. We were created to know and be known by God. Our spiritual needs cannot be satisfied with material goods - no matter how hard we try. Jewish proverb: ÒWhen you have everything, something is missing.Ó We were created to be rich toward God which means to accept life as a gift and give the gift! Life is a gift. Life is found andexperienced in giving the gift. Pentecost 10 Gen15:1-6; Ps33:12-22; Heb 11:1-3,8-16; Luke 12:32-40 Jan 5,1964 ÒThe Gift Of The KingdomÓ God wants to give us a great gift - a tremendous, valuable, priceless gift. We are not sure we want it. God wants to give us His Kingdom! We are afraid to accept it for the gift cannot be kept to ourselves - we in tern must give it. GodÕs Kingdom is a free gift, but God is never thrown at you for free; it costs us our lives given in thankful service for so great a gift, freely given. For GodÕs Kingdom, freely given, joyfully received, becomes not a possession we have but a possession which has us! We become possessed by the gift and all of life becomes a means of giving the gift. Aug 25, 1974 It all begins with a gift; not with our faithfulness.ÒFearnot little flock, for it is your FatherÕs good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.Ó Gifts are special; GodÕs gift is very special. Once GodÕs love and grace become our treasurer, everything else is secondary. Life with God is not just a matter of being religious; it is a matter of falling in love and being possessed by that love, living it our in our lives. ? GodÕs goodness is a gift. Seeing GodÕs goodness is not a matter of deserving it, it is a matter of tuning into it, and being awake and ready for the surprises which will come. Aug 14, 1983 ÒOur Treasurer and Our HeartsÓ What we live for is what we become. I will end up - my heart will lend up - where I put my energy and hope. We become possessed by what we set out to possess. i.e. addictions of all sorts. We need to remember that life is a gift not a possession; and so is the Kingdom of God. To lose life is to find it; to be possessed by the gift of the Kingdom is to become a servant in the work of the Kingdom. Aug 6, 1989 ÒTo Live By FaithÓ Gospel feels like a double whammy. It contains grace pure and clear - God is pleased to give us the Kingdom. It contains a warning - we can miss the kingdom by living for the wrong reasons. To live by faith is to live in openness to God as the faithful promise maker and promise keeper. It is to live in readiness for the unpredictable arrival of GodÕs grace; it is to journey through life seeing more then can be seen and certain of that which cannot be seen. Aug 30, 1992 ÒThe Form Of A ServantÓ In the Kingdom of God the servant is center stage. We donÕt want the Kingdom God wants to give us. For to relieve such a gift is to have to live our lives giving the gift! Being a servant wherever we are and whatever we are doing. The right resources and the right people together in the right place equals the kingdom happening on earth as it is in heaven. Pentecost 11 Jer 23:23-29; Ps 82; ;Heb 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56 Sept 16, 1973 ÒLive In The NowÓ It is possible to miss what is happening in our midst when we fail to see the uniqueness of this moment. It is possible to miss God in our midst when we fail to see God present in this moment and in those we never expected to be God for us. For Godstill comes in human form even as God came uniquely and completely in Jesus. Aug 28, 1977 ÒDivision not PeaceÓ This text is about ÒThe fire of a new faith or religion, a burning enthusiasm in believers creating fierce antagonism in unbelievers; deplorable but inevitable.Ó When what we hold sacred is challenged - no matter what it is - division is going to result. Jesus challenged a lot of sacred cows in his day - and there was division! Yet Jesus did not let this keep him from the sacredness of life. He did what he had to do to show GodÕs love and mercy to all and let no religious tradition keep him from entering into the sacred of life. To be redeemed by Jesus is to not need to have any sacred cows anymore. It is to not have to create division but to live in harmony even with those with whom I donÕt agree, yet still respect and even love in the name of Jesus. Aug 24, 1980 The Bible doesnÕt contradict itself - we do, by how we use the Bible to defend our beliefs. Prime example: ÒKill a Commie for Christ.Ó Jesus calls us to live with a different set of rules for the game of life - Òlove your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.Ó He is our centering point and love is our calling. Leave the judging to God - who sees more, knows more, and loves more! Aug 17, 1986 ÒIs not My Word Like Fire? There are things we do not want to hear. Even in GodÕs Word! The Prophet Jeremiah (and other prophets) got in trouble because of what they said what God wanted them to say. GodÕs word is not only a word of peace; it is also a word of challenge which brings unrest. It is not just to comfort the afflicted; it is also to afflict the comfortable! It does create division among people between those who hear and those who donÕt want to hear. This is true because GodÕs Word is fireandit creates adangerous spirit - the spirit of love! The kind of love which brings GodÕs kingdom to this world in ways which make it a different and better place for all. Sept 6, 1992 ÒFire On EarthÓ A difficult text.Jesus is the Prince of Peace, not of division. What we forgot is that GodÕs Word is like fire and like a hammer which seeks to create in us a dangerous spirit - the spirit of love - and calls us to a radical way of living - as those who forget not the name of God no matter what price has to be paid. To live as GodÕs chosen people does not mean we can have our cake and eat it too! That we can presume on GodÕs generosity and take it for granted; keep our faith and our love private; live off the fat of GodÕs love with little thought for others; judge and condemn those who are different; gloat over what we have and condemn those who have not. To live as GodÕs chosen people is to live as radicals who dare believe in love as the most powerful and most important thing in all of life. Nothing, not even our most honored and sacred relations must keep us from living as those who are servants of love; disciples of a God of love. i.e. Young man down south: ÒI wasnÕt brought up to love integration; I was brought upto love Jesus. ... ThatÕs why I am here, standing up for integration.Ó Teilhard de Chardin...when we harness for God the energies of love, Ò then, for the second time, we will have discovered fire.Ó Pentecost 12 Isa. 58:9b-14; Ps 103:1-8;Heb 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17 Pentecost 13 Prov. 25:6-7; Ps 112; Heb 13:1-8; Luke 14:1, 7-14 Oct 3, 1971 Luke 14:1-11 Is it a trap - set by the PhariseeÕs to discredit Jesus? This is what PhariseeÕs do - then and now. Could Jesus have waited until the Sabbath was over to heal the man? Yes, but why? There was no reason to not do it now. There is no religious reason to not enjoy life right now. Jesus was a rebel; to follow Jesus is to be a rebel. Sept 15, 1974 Jesus is doing more then changing social customs. He is challenging the games we play; the sham which is ours because we donÕt know how to be real with each other or with ourselves. We find it hard to affirm our strengths and acknowledge openly our weaknesses. Being humble is often a cover up for our feelings of pride. Yet, the best thing we can do for ourselves, others and even God, is to be ourselves and accept ourselves as a child born in the image of God. It is good to be human; we donÕt have to play games to try hide our strengths or weaknesses. We can be who we are, in the grace of God. A forgiven sinner who is loved by a gracious God. Jesus died to show us our value, our priceless value to God our Creator. Our challenge is to be real with ourselves, others and God in the light of this awesome truth! Sept 11, 1977 ÒHumility - Power To Be MyselfÓ Humility is a sigh of strength. It is a fruit of healthy ego-strenth; liking myself but not hung up on myself. It comes out of the honest struggle with my weakness; and the gracious acceptance of forgiveness.It comes when I forget myself and remember who I am - a sinner - and who my God is - a gracious, loving, forgiving God. Humble people like themselves and donÕt need the acclaim of others to do so. They just go about being their forgiven selves. Sept 7, 1980 ÒDoing More For LessÓ The point of the parable is: we re not to become so closed in our thinking, so self serving in our good deeds, that we exclude those whoa re different from us. Especially those who are less fortunate. We are not to keep what we have to ourselves and use it only in self serving ways. His words confront us with our ulterior motive syndrome, our interest in what we can get out of life rather then what we can give to live. Time reveals the truth of our words and our self interest. The Kingdom of God challenges us to do more with less; to give more and take less;l to lose ourselves so we can find ourselves and really be happy. Sept 4, 1983 ÒHe Enjoys UsÓ The parable has to do with the intent of our actions; whatÕs in the heart? WhatÕs behind what Iam doing? The Kingdom of God challenges us to not live the lie but to be fair and honest, even if it costs the prize. This is almost un-american but it is the way it is with God and in GodÕs Kingdom, where each one of us is a special guest and God actually wants to be with us, actually enjoys us. So be all you can be - be yourself by the grace of God. Sept 20, 1992 These words are about how it is in the Kingdom of God and how God would have us be. With God there are no ÒgreatsÓ; no Ò inner circlesÓ; no Òless or more importantÓ; no social status. No game playing, pretending to be humble so we can be great. ÒHalf of the harm that is done in this world, is due to people who want to feel important. They donÕt mean to do harm - but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.Ó T. S. Elliot _ÓThe Cocktail PartyÓ We live by grace not by our accomplishments. Humility is our key word. cf. Phil 2:3,4; Col 3:12; Prov. 3:34; James 4:6; I Peter 5:5; Micah 6:8; Phil 2:8 ÒTrue humility doesnÕt consist of thinking ill of yourself but on not thinking of yourself much differently from the way youÕd be aptto think of anybody else. It is the capacity for being no more & no less pleased when you play your own (bridge) hand well then when your opponents do.Ó Buechner, ÒWishful ThinkingÓ, p. 40 Humility is loosing oneself in living and not keeping score. It is letting the love of God consume us until nothing is more important then the privilege of being a servant. It is getting lost in doing good. And letting God keep score, if God want s to, which God probably doesnÕt. Pentecost 14 Deut 30:15-20; Ps 1; Phil. 1:10-21; Luke 14:25-33 June 4, 1967 ÒThe Cost Of DiscipleshipÓ These words can hardly be said to be tactful. Nor can they be misunderstood. They are too clear and blunt for that. It costs to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. 1. For to be a disciple is to be called,and the price paid is my own right of choice. No one chooses to follow Jesus. We are chosen to follow. It is not our doing. We are not in control of our life. Nothing comes before being a discipleship - not even the most intimate relationships of our lives. 2. For to be a disciple is to have to obey, and the price of obedience is the renunciation of self. Renouncing, that is what we most do not want to give up. 3. For to be a disciple is to suffer and the price to be paid is Ôbearing oneÕs own crossÕ. That is, to endure suffering which would not be ours if we were not a disciple. It costs to be a disciple. But the rewards far exceed the cost - the crown of life! June 7, 1970 ÒOur DiscipleshipÓ These are radical words designed to set us free from that which really destroys the joy of living - luke warm religion. To play with religion is worse than no religion at all. To want a little bit of God, but not enough to make us have to change our ways, is worse then having no God at all. At least then we are honest! Jesus is not advocating that we ÔhateÕ in his name. He is advocating that we place first things first - and that means discipleship! July 1, 1973 ÒOur DiscipleshipÓ These words were spoken at a time when Jesus was popular. As such, they were designed to shatter the illusion that discipleship is a mass movement. Jesus would have us go where we donÕt want to go and do what we donÕt want to do. Many drop out. There are times when to be near Jesus is the most dangerous place to be. i.e. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. There is no relationship as complete as our relationship with Jesus. No human relationship is 100%; our relationship with Jesus is. Follow Jesus and discover who you are and the joy of life abundant. Sept 3, 1989 Possessions and people can possess us. They can smother us with love, paralyze us, dominate us so we never become the person we were created to be and never answer the call to live out our God given destiny. Our love of self can also cause us to miss the secret of life -to lose oneself inlife is to find life. Discipleship demands something from us; it demands much from us. We are not here to avoid suffering but to redeem suffering by entering into the suffering with a redeeming love.Being a disciple is not something we do because it is convenient; it is something we do because we have to - no matter what the cost. Sept 27, 1992 ÒThe Cost Of DiscipleshipÓ The Kingdom of God is here to challenge us to live for more then personal gain. It is not only a blessed assurance...it is also a blessed disturbance for I am His and that means I cannot live as if only I count. Jesus first - a demand both scary and consuming. Take up your cross - suffering there will be. Give all our possessions - all can be used to Kingdom glory. We will never know how well it works until we try it. Pentecost 15 Ex. 32:7-14; Ps 51:1-11; I Tim 1:12-17; Lk 15:1-10 Sept 25. 1977 ÒGod Of The LostÓ We who are religious like to see repentance first, then God will forgive. God forgives - or offers love and forgiveness to the lost - to help them repent. God is open to the lost and rejoices on their being found. It is in the process of the celebration that repentance takesplace. It is done because I have been found, when I didnÕt think anyone, certainly not God, would want me. What a joy to be found and loved before I could do anything about it; to have a party thrown for me before I could even mumble my repentance. To be saved is to trust that God loves me enough that I dare get lost again, for He will surely find me! It is risky living - as only love enables life to be. Oct 4, 1992 ÒBe Lost - Be FoundÓ The heart of the Gospel is in Luke 15. These two parables are about how it is with God and how God is with us. Problem is: we have to be lost to see it. And we donÕt want to admit our lostness. We are more interested in having our religion keep us from ever thinking we are lost then we are in having it help us be found when we are lost. Weare afraid of that much grace! And we miss the joy of being found; the joy of living each day knowing that we are loved by a God who will not let us go, and will not stop looking for us when we are lost, and who rejoices with uswhen we are found. Pentecost 16 Amos 8:4-7; Ps 113; I Tim 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13 Aug 11, 1963 ÒA Bad ManÕs ExampleÓ Jesus parables come out of real life. This one is very baffling. It only becomes clear when we discover that the theme of this parable is not the man but money - Òunrighteous mammonÓ. It should be used to make friends. That is, used for something constructive and good in the lives of others. Money is not an end in itself; it is a means to a greater end. It is to be used to build relationships and make the Kingdom of God come - on earth as in heaven. Jesus never justifies what the unrighteous servant does. Sin does not parade around in the name of good. What he did was wrong; how he did it was an example of how we should do it - hallow the unrighteous mammon of this world by the way we use it. ÒOur pocket books can have more to do with heaven, and also with hell, than our hymnbooks. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.Ó Helmet Thielicke Sept 15, 1965 ÒMoney - Idol Or Servant?Ó The theme of this parable is money - Òunrighteous mammonÓ. How is it to be used by a person who seeks to be obedient to God? Money is power; we have a power struggle here. It can easily become our idol; we are called to make it be a servant. Money can isolate us from even ourselves as well as others and God. Money has the power to cause us to forget about God. It appears to be able to do what God cannot do. It appears to be the answer to our problems in life. Money is to be a servant in our lives, binding us to God and each other. Make friends with money - not buy but bind together. Use it in a way which builds friendship. People who have been helped seldom forsake the helper. When we have been given a gift we trust the giver, and have a strong bond of friendship betweenus. ÒOur pocket bookshavemoreto dowith heaven, and also hell, then our hymnbooks.Ó Dr. Helmut Thielicke. Oct 6, 1974 ÒMoney: Idol or ServantÓ ÒThis is the most difficult of all parables and no interpretation is whollysatisfactory.Ó (?-who) To discover its meaning we have to risk being wrong. Or at best only partially right, as we do the best we can. The key is not the man who is a negative moral example. The key is money - which plays such an important part in our lives. Does it use us or do we use it? The first clear point of the parable is that money is to be used! Used to make friends! That is what it is really for; to be used in ways which bind us together and deepen our trust and friendship. This is not to say we can buy friendship; it is to say that money can create genuine friendship, deepen relationships, and strengthen love and trust. Money is a powerful tool to be creatively used to build lifeÕs relationships. There are times when I canÕt afford to not spend it. (HowÕs that for a double negative.) I can use it to draw people to me and I even have to risk using it to help when the results are not sure. ÒOur pocket books can have more to do with heaven and also with hell, then our hymn books.Ó Helmet Thielkie Sept 28, 1980 ÒMoney: Idol or ServantÓ Money - do we use it to isolate ourselves from others or bind ourselves to others? To manipulate others or to serve others? ÒIf a purely materialistic child of the world like the dishonest steward can manage on his level to compel money to serve his own ends and thus give it its relative importance, how much more - and at the same time, how differently - should the children of light do this on their level.Ó Thielkie, ÒThe Waiting FatherÓ p. 101 In GodÕs Kingdom even money can be a means of grace; can be used redemptively. Sept 23, 1983 ÒMoney: Master or ServantÓ Money can make us alone forever or it can gain us friends for the Kingdom, It is an enigma; a mysterious riddle. ÒThe point of the parable is not to approve what the steward did wrong, but to applaud how rightly he did it. We are to do rightly what is right, even as he did rightly what was wrong.Ó Proclamation, Pentecost 2c, p.53 Money is to be used. If it isnÕt it will use us. It isto be used shrewdly, wisely, creatively, faithfully, with mercy and compassion. Sept 17, 1989 Is the servant acting as shrewdly as the master would have, had he been in the same situation? Is the master actually more dishonest then the servant and thus admires such dishonest action? What Jesus is dramatically laying before us is that we are to be as shrewd and cunning as those who donÕt care - and we are to do it as those who do care. Money is the theme of the parable - how we use it or it uses us. Money is to be used or it is no good. ÒOur destiny with God is rarely decided by our reflecting upon dogmas and all kind of otherworldly problems, Our destiny is rather decided by what we do with the altogether real worldly questions and temporal problems which play a part in our life,such as sex, money, and personal relations. Use money to make friends. Pentecost 17 Amos 6:1a,4-7; Ps 146; I Tim 6:6-9; Luke 16:19-31 June 13, 1971 ÒFaith Is For LivingÓ The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus does nottell us it is a crime to be rich. Or that those who have a good time of it here will get their suffering in eternity. It sounds like it does, but it doesnÕt! Nor does it give us a clear picture of the way it is in heaven. Anymore then our jokes abut heaven do. ÒTo use this story as warrant for a doctrine of a brimstone hell, or to deduce from it the dogma of the absolute and irrevocable separation of the good and the bad hereafter, is to transplant it violently from its native soil of parable to a barren literalism where it cannot live.Ó Parables of Jesus, Geo Buttrick, p. 140 The point of the parable is that life is to be lived, not evaded. The rich man was guilty of evasion; running away from real life into his pretend world where he didnÕt have to see Lazarus - really see him. He was afraid of the smell ofpoverty andused his riches to evade facing the poverty all around him. Like it or not, we are the rich man. We too run away from life, evading those places and people where our God has chosento meet us, even as God meets us in the man Jesus who said, ÒWhat so ever you do for the least of these, you do it unto me.Ó Living in the Kingdom of God is not a matter of having heaven all figures out; or the mysteries of death and eternity solved. It is a matter of loosing oneself in life, giving oneself away, hurting with those who hurt, weeping with those who weep, laughing with those who laugh, and discovering that life comes not by evading but by jumping in. This takes faith; faith which comes by hearing the Word of God, and doing it. Faith is for living, not just for dying. Oct 9, 1977 ÒLet Them Hear ThemÓ What this parable is about is not first of all riches, but taking the right attitude toward the Word of God. The Word of God which leads us to consider how our richeskeep us from life as well as help us in life. The Rich man hid behind his riches. His riches were not a gift; they were his curse. They helped him not to have to see life and the LazarusÕs of the world. They helped him stay an arms distance from the human need which cried out for someone to care. GodÕs Word will not let us stop with our riches. It pushes us into the business of caring and loving with little time left to even worry about heaven or hell. That is in the hands of God and God is gracious and merciful! GodÕs Word is to be trusted; itÕs promises are sure. It is enough. And it seeks to make us more human, not less, it opens life up not closes it down; it enlarges not confines, increases not decreases; it is positive and affirming, not negative and judgmental. It is a word of Life for all who dare believe it. It is enough! Oct 2, 1983 ÒRich And ...Ó We canÕt get away from talking about money today. All three texts deal with it. Amos: when money leads to indifference it makes forevil. Paul: money is a trap; to love it is to be in danger of being led into all sorts of evil. Jesus: Excess money leads to wanting more and enjoying it less; or at least properly using it less. It is not enough to berich; this does not make for happiness or a sense of joy and purpose in life. If all we can say about a person is that he was rich; that isnÕt much! It is not a sin to be rich; it is a sin to be indifferent. The rich man didnÕt even see Lazarus at his door. He was an idle, indifferent, care - less man who didnÕt use the gift of wealth in the work of GodÕs Kingdom on earth. He was a selfish man interested only in making it and enjoying it - not in sharing it and giving it. Sept 28, 1986 ÒNot Indifferent To GodÕs WordÓ This parable is radical. It was then and it is now. It stands as a bold Ôslap in the faceÕ to all who saw/see GodÕs wealth as a sign of GodÕs blessing and poverty as a sign of GodÕs curse. Thus justifying indifference towards the LazarausÕ of this world. This parablemakes us face our indifference which keeps us from trusting GodÕs Word as we have it and living it our in our lives. Indifference Elie Wiesel says is to Òobserve without emotion.Ó It is a passive, destructive force whichlets evil prevail because it has no mind to get involved, to make a difference. The sin of the rich of Samaria in our text from Amos is not that that were rich, but their gross indifference to what was happening around them. The sin of the rich man in our parable is not his wealth, but his cold indifference towards Lazarus. Abundance can make us indifferent. The call of this parable is to not let what we have and enjoy keep us from hearing what GodÕs Word says and who God places at our doorstep, whom to serve is to serve God himself! Our sin is not having wealth but what we do with our wealth. ÒMaterialism and over consumption are tow of the clearest characteristics of twentieth-century American life. Indifference to the needs of others, the responsibilities of the nation, and the Word of God continues in newforms, butits consequences are no less severe.Ó Proclamation, Pentecost, 1986. What can we do to not become indifferent? allen Boasak, who spent 10 years in prison in South Africa, tells usto pray. Pray until we can no longer sleep, no longer be indifferent, no longer fail to see the injustice of what is happening. Then we will know what we have to do and we will have the energy to do it! The Word of God today reminds us that we are called not just to live as those who are save and save in GodÕs grace. It also reminds us that we are called to live as servants of this God of mercy, justice, love. And this means we can no longer be indifferent about the least of GodÕs children - who are everywhere! Pentecost 18 Heb. 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Ps 37:1-10; 2 Tim 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10 Oct 12, 1980 Luke 17:1-10 Three distinct messages for us from these words: 1. The life of faith demands avoidance of actions that may harm others, and forgiveness of others whose actions harm us. 2.Faith is not only conciliatory; it is also daring, risking, doing big things with little resources. 3. Servants are called to selfless performance: getting the job done the master wants done, with little concern for getting the credit. ÒThere is no limit to what a good person can do if they donÕt care who gets the credit.Ó We are called to be servants not celebrities. And to be thankful that we can b e JesusÕ servants. Oct 5, 1986 ÒOnly Done Our DutyÓ When we have done every thing we can do we have only done our duty, and even then we are not worthy to be called children of God. We are never good enough to be worthy of that! It is our duty to do what God calls us to do - to forgive as we have been forgiven! ÒThose who live by forgiveness must in fact live by it.Ó That means we donÕt just receive it; we pass it on. Grace brings duty; duty becomes grace. This is what the Kingdom of heaven is all about, and those who are servants of the Master are duty bound to be faithful instruments of grace.Pentecost 19 2 Kings 5:1-3,7-15; Ps 111; 2 Tim 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19 Sept 23, 1962 ÒWhere Are The Nine?Ó We expect much from life; we take much for granted. The secret to having much is to be thankful with what wehave. Thankful people are happy people. Turn back and thank God. God becomes real when we return to thank Him. Thankfulness leads to thankful service. Oct 27, 1974 ÒRemembering To Say Thank YouÓ Take time to be thankful! It enriches and deepens life at its most important places. Dr. Rogness: ÒI feel sorry for the person who feels a great surge of thankfulness, and has no one to thank.Ó Life tastes better when we are thankful. It takes the bitterness out of life. Oct 16, 1983 ÒJust healed...Or Made Whole?Ó It is easy to pray when we hurt; and forget about God when all is well. To be whole is to be thankful enough to be changed and see life in a new way. Even in bad times; to see life with hope and thankfulness. It is a healthy thing to give thanks; it is a sign we have beenmade whole. Pentecost 20 Gen. 32:22-31; Ps 121; 2 Tim 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8 Oct 30, 1977 ÒPray Like YouÕre Worth It!Ó She persisted until she got what she wanted. He gave in to get her off his back. She is our example; he is not. We are to pray like the woman. To do this we have to believe that I am worth it and He will do it. To go through life feeling like a nobody or at least somebody who doesnÕt deserve much is to end up a looser. A nobody does nothing but whine, and blame others. And end up a scoffer. A somebody goes after what he/she wants. And persists until he/she gets it. What I hear Jesus saying to us is that God doesnÕt want us going around whinnying about the dirty tricks life pulls on us and doing nothing about them. he wants us to fight for the best we can get out of life and to take our case all the way to His throne of mercy, expecting great things from God. For God will do lit and even more then we ask! God is like the Judge in only one way; He doesnÕt give us what we want until we ask, and that persistently. It hasno valueto us if we donÕt want it. The truth is, God waits for us to want the best from Him before God gives us what he wants to give. For it is while we plead faith persistence that our patience is perfected, our humility is deepened, and our purpose in life is clarified. We need to want deeply before we can appreciate the gifts God is waiting to give us. So prayer becomes a Òtireless beseeching, before God can richly reward it.Ó Oct 26, 1980 ÒPraying From The HeartÓ This parable is about more then persistent praying. It is first of all about faith. About not loosing heart when all seems lost and God seems silent. What do we do then? Persistent prayer is not our trying to convince God to do it our way; but trusting that God is still with us and cares even when everything seems silent. It is faith which dares to trust God when there is no intimation that God even cares or hears or will respond. It is meditative prayer - a lost art in our hectic world. It will be good for our blood pressure as well as our souls! Oct 23, 1983 ÒAlways Pray And Do Not Lose HeartÓ This parable is not about God and how God answers prayer. It is about us and how we pray. It is notabout God and what God will do for us if we beg him long and hard enough; it is about us and what we can do to not lose heart, and all around us goes smash. We can pray! And keep on praying until something good happens! And it will! It may not be a healing: it may be the strength and faith to match the burden. It may not be a solution to a problem, solving it for us; it may be the strength and insight and determination to solve the problem ourselves. It may not be a bolt of lighting, like Martin Luther; but it may be a gradual awareness of a pull and tug towards GodÕs will for four lives which will not stop until we go with it. Something happens when we pray. Our faith is strengthened, our hope is encouraged, and we do not loose heart. It gives a sense of balance and perspective to ourlives. Again, meditative prayer is the way to go - if we only dared believe it enough to try it. Oct 19, 1986 ÒWill He Find Faith?Ó This parable is about the faith which is behind persistent praying. The faith which will not give up, give in, throw in the towel no matter how impossible things seem to be. The faith which is able to hang in there, persisting in GodÕs goodness, justice, fairness, love, mercy and kindness even when there seems to be no evidence that God even exists! As Elie Wiesel says: ÒThere were many periods in our past when we had every right in the world to turn to God and say, ÔEnough. Since You seem to approve of all these persecutions, all these outrages, have it Your way: let Your world go on without Jews. Either You are our partner in history, or You are not. If you are, do Your share; if You are not, we consider ourselves free of past commitments. Since You choose to break the Covenant, so be it.Ó And yet, and yet...We went on believing, hoping, invoking His name...We did not give up on Him...For this is the essence of being Jewish; never to give up--never to yield to despair.Ó A Jew Today, p. 164 This is also the essence of being a Christian! To never give up no matter how bad it gets,to confess with the unknown person in a cellar in Cologne during the bombing of WWII, ÒI believe in the Sun even when it is not shining; I believe in love even when I feel it not;l I believe in god even when He is silent.Ó The point of this parable is that God is much more then the unjust judge. (It is, in the Hebrew way of thinking, an argument from the lesser to the greater. If this unrighteous judge can be moved to act, how much more will God respond to our persistent prayers with not just justice, but grace and mercy as well. God is a God of grace whose steadfast love endures forever! This we can count on no matter what! Pentecost 21 Jer 14:7-10,19-22; Ps 84:1-6; 2 Tim 4:6-8,16-18, Luke 18:9-14 Sept 2, 1963 ÒThe Pharisee and Publician - In UsÓ This parable seems to be simple, black or white, right or wrong. Butit isnÕt.And we haveto see ourselves in both; take the good with the bad. For there is good and bad in both. The pharisee is everything we might wish to be in terms of religious commitment and dedication. But it carries him to self righteousness, the last thing we want to be. The Publican is everything we donÕt want to be in terms of life style yet his prayer of the heart is the best he or we can pray. Both need GodÕs grace; neither deserve it; both get it. One appreciates it. LetÕs be like that one! Aug. 22, 1971 ÒThere Is Wideness In GodÕs MercyÓ IsnÕt goodness good for anything in the eyes of God? Not when it is falsified by hidden motives; done in order to gain attention; done out of pride or arrogance. It is possible to be bad yet forgiven and it is possible to be so good that we see no need of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the door which opens GodÕs Kingdom. Guess who gets it! Our goodness isnÕt good enough. GodÕs forgiveness is! Nov. 15, 1992 Parable is to wake us up to the truth that Ònothing, nothing, nothing I can bring can earn, deserve, be worthy of, or pay off my debt, - it is all grace. Grace is not reserved for those who are close to God; grace is for alland those who admit they need it are the first to receive it. Grace is not about a nice God being nice to nice people. It is about a loving God being gracious to hurting people, no matter who. ItÕs about receiving what I do not deserve and never can deserve no matter how holy I become. To live in GodÕs grace is to never stop praying the prayer of the tax collector even as I live with the zeal of the pharisee - knowing that a God of grace will never let me down, never let me go, nor never let me off. Pentecost 22 Is 1:10-18; Ps 32:1-8; 2Thess.1:1-4,11-12; Luke 19:1-10 Oct 13, 1977 ÒTo Seek And To SaveÓ One thing worse then being lost; having no one to look for you. It is important that I want to be found - climb the sycamore tree with Zaccaheaus. It is important that we say ÒI am lost; I need help.Ó Rather then choose to stay lost. i.e. - ÒMidnight CowboyÓ - ÒThereÕs got to be a better way to make a living.Ó God waits for us to want to be found; waits for us to want what God wants to give us. Godrespects us enough to let us be lost and wait for us to want to be found. God loves us enough to never stop looking for us, and hearing even the faintest cry for help. To lives our lives so cautiously that we never risk getting lost is to live only a fraction of what God intends for us. To live thinking we will never be lost and never admit it if we are is to miss the joy of being found - the joy of salvation coming to our house. Nov 9, 1980 ÒJesus and ZacchaeusÓ Zaccaheaus does two foolish things. 1. He climbs a tree to see Jesus pass by; and thereby opens the possibility of something redemptive happening in his life. He was sensitive to a restlessness within which left him less then happy and he took responsibility to do something about it. He was lost and he opened himself up to being found, rather then wallowing in self pity. 2. He becomes overly generous; his money became a symbol of his heart. It proved that what had happened was real. Money does say something about who we are and what has happened to our heart. Where a personÕs money is - there is his heart. Nov 6, 1983 ÒJesus and ZacchaeusÓ What ever happened in Zacchaeus house before he started giving his money away - one thing is for sure - it was something powerful - described by the words Òsalvation has come to this house.Ó We canÕt can what happened and make it happen again and again in the same way. We can seek that which brings wholeness and joy to our lives. We can admit we are lost and let ourselves be found. That we do try live by bread alone. Spiritual lostness is a condition we all experience. To confess it is to begin the process of being found. To climb the tree with Zacchaeus is to open ourselves to the possibility that the impossible is possible in our lives. And then nothing is tied down anymore - not even our money! Pentecost23 Job 19:23-27a; Ps 17:1-9; 2Thess 2:1-5,13-17; Luke 20:27-38 Nov 13, 1983 ÒGod Of the LivingÓ It is dwarfed minds which want detain rather then vision; specifics rather then promise. Their trap questions reveal how small of mind they are. They want to know in human terms what cannot be put in human terms - it is too big to be made so small. When we try to put the mysteries of heaven in human terms - trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together in logical sequence, or throwing up our hands and saying it canÕt be done so it doesnÕt exist - we end up with nothing worth anything. If we try live too much for heaven we will not live for today. If we live only for today we have no hope for tomorrow. The key is to live with a loving God today letting tomorrow be in GodÕs loving hands. This is the source of our sure and certain hope. Eternal life cannot be reduced to conditions of temporal life. We are in GodÕs loving hands. God of the living and of the dead; God ofyesterday, today and forever. We live in love and with love waiting for the day when all things will be new and only love will remain. Nov 9, 1986 ÒGod Of The LivingÓ Jesus is running up against - again - the religious who were of a different kingdom. They didnÕt want him to be the final answer; they wanted to be the final answer. They wanted to keep God in the box of their own making, so God would not ask of them more than they were willing to give. Jesus didnÕt fit in their Kingdom! Just as Mother Teresa didnÕt fit for the ÔreligiousÕ man who spoke these words when confronted with the possibility that Mother Teresa was close to what Jesus taught. ÒSomeone should tell Mother Teresa about triage. In battle the medics donÕt work on what they judge to be hopeless cases. They work on the ones who have a chance to make it. Mother Teresa is impractical. Think how much better it would be if she helped people who were going to live and taught them a skill that would enable them to earn a living and maybe even help others. She needs some business training.Ó The Kingdom of God as seen in Jesus (and those who follow him) is impractical. Yet it is what Jesus was all about and what we are to be all about - being merciful as our God is merciful! Do we dare believe that who we are and what we do, say, give, and how we live and treat even the least can be a part of GodÕs impractical, unexpected, and creative acts at work in our world through which GodÕs Kingdom does come on earth a small bit like it is in heaven? They we will be impractical, yet loving as we have been loved! Our religion will not be in our rituals, but in our living! Pentecost 24 Mal. 4:1-2a; Ps. 98; 2 Thess. 3:6-13; Luke 21: 5-19 Nov. 16, 1986 ÒNot A Hair Will PerishÓ The American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald once said: ÒThe test of first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them better.Ó This certainly is the mark, of faith which often has to hope against hope and act in love in spite of all the hate. This is what this text is all about. It is about the faith which is sure of what it hopes for and certain of what it cannot see. It is about the love which dares to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things. It is about being witness to the truth in the face of evil and daring to believe that not a hair on our heads will perish. As one writer put it: ÒChrist risen from the dead shows that there is nothing rebellious creation can do to cause something to perish that God wants to preserve.Ó It is not the evil which shall prevail; it is faith in the goodness of God which will prevail! Indeed, not a hair will perish of what God wants to preserve! Christ The King Jer 23:1-6; Ps 46; Col 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43 Nov 24, 1974 Jesus didnÕt spend much energy trying to be the Messiah; he spent it being his authentic self. Therefore he didnÕt have to wear amask -pretending to be someone he was not. DonÕt try to be someone...just be! Be you. The beautiful you that is uniquely you. The you that is different from every other you in the world. The you that has something to offer no other you can offer. Just be you! Nov 20, 1977 ÒThe Gift Of HopeÓ Jesus gave the their on his right the gift of hope and this changed even his dying. We need hope to live today; it sets us free to be able to experience this moment. To live in hope is not to live in tomorrow; it is to live not fearing tomorrow - no matter what! Our calling as those who have been given the gift of hope is to give this gift to others; and our challenge is to find ways to do this - every day with anyone. Nov 23, 1980 Seems strange to end Pentecost with Good Friday. What a contrast between what we think should be and what is! For the King of Kings and Lord of LordÕs is of another Kingdom and his power is made perfect in weakness. His power to forgive and therebytake away the destructive guilt which robs life of its joy and peace. Forgiveness - which reaches to the depth of the heart and soul and there does what nothing else can do - releases one from Òsin, death and the power of the devil.Ó It is the gift of gifts given by the Lord of Lords! Nov 23, 1986 ÒA Different KingÓ What ever we say about Jesus and his Kingdom, however we try to understand the manifestation of power and glory which was his as the King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right; how ever much we are moved by the powerful words of the Hallelulah Chorus which shouts ÒKing of Kings and Lord of Lords, forever!Ó We are reminded today that Jesus Kingdom is not of this world and is not like anything else in this world. It is not made up of that which makes up our kingdoms. it is as different as night is from day. For it is not a matter of power politics; nor of deceptive promises. It is not a matter of domination and manipulation to owns one gain. Jesus Kingdom is made up ofcompassion, kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, joy, peace and is found in places of weakness and foolishness, where the power and wisdom of God is revealed in all its power and glory. Robert MacAfee Brown relates the following life experience. ÒThe story is a true one. It takes place on the roof of one of the crematoria at Birkenau, the death camp of Auschwitz, on a gray, cheerless day in the summer of 1979. A group of us are standing on ruins the Germans tried (unsuccessfully) to obliterate, to hide evidence that sex million Jews had been shot and gassed and burned in such places, solely because they were Jews. I reflect: if Golgotha revealed the sense of God-forsakenness of one Jew, Birkenau multiplies that anguish at least three and a half million times. for the rest of my life, this crematorium will represent the most powerful case against God the sp;ot where once could -with justice-denounce, deny, or (worst of all) ignore God, the God who was silent. On what use are words as such a time? So many cried out to God at this spot and were not heard. Human silence today seems the only appropriate response to divine silence yesterday. We remain silent. Our silence is deafening. And then it comes - first from the lips of one man, Elie Wiesel (standing in the camp where thirty-fife years earlier his life and family and faith were destroyed), and then in a mounting chorus from others, mostly Jews, the great affirmation: ÔShema Yisroel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai echod, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.Õ Ò Oct 18, 1992 The parable of The Rich man and Lazarus is about indifference and idolatry; about how easily we Ômiss the markÕ for which life and possessions are intended. We prize winning, having, owning, possessing, controlling, dominating, enjoying, yes,even wasting. With Tivia we Òwish I were a rich manÓ and live the illusion that money will solve all our problems. Yet nothing could be more false. For, Òthe love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.Ó The purpose of life is NOTto acquire wealth; the purpose of lifeis to Ôpursuerighteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. to take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and for which you were made.Ó I Tim 6:11 That is, do something which makes a difference in the Kingdom of God; not just makes a buck. The rich man lived his whole life for the wrong reason. He became an indifferent, cold hearted man who couldnÕt see or hear GodÕs call through Lazarus to live for more then being rich. See Robert Capon, The Parables of Grace, pp. 156-157 Jesus is challenging our indifference which leads to idolatry which leads to a whole life of wasted energy, of missing the mark, or living for the wrong reason. And calling us to live by grace; that is, to live, as Mother Teresa says, not doing great things, but doing small things with great love. Pentecost 18
Theological Reflections of Pastor Larry Dahlstrom, ret.

Understanding the Bible ... Email Me


SPARKS FOR PREACHING

(Gleanings from a preacher to preachers on the assigned texts)

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 ... Christmas ... Epiphany ... Lent ... Easter ... Pentacost

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.

*******************************************

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!

 

 Epiphany

 

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

 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

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.

The Dahlstrom Family




Top Row: Solveig, Connie, Larry, Sarah.
Bottom Row: Marc, Sonia and Jon.