Sticks & Stones

Sermon as preached August 12, 2012 at Lambs UMC & Evington UMC

Scripture: Ephesians 4:25-5:2

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” How many of us remember saying this phrase as a kid? I know I did. This saying claims that words have no power to hurt us. That we can feel pain from the beatings of sticks and stones, but that words cause us no pain. As we grow up we realize that this little children’s rhyme is absolutely wrong. Words can and do hurt us. It hurts when someone completely disrespects us, it hurts when words are used to embarrass us in front of others, and it really hurts when words of hate and anger are flung in our direction. That’s not the only way that words hurt us. Words that come from our own lips have a way of hurting us as well. How many times have you said something only to immediately regret it, or to think about it a few days later and wish that you had never said it at all? How many times has something flown loosely from your tongue and damaged a relationship with someone that you truly cared about? If someone who didn’t know you listened to what you said on a daily basis, what would they think about you? Would they hear God’s love in your words, or would they hear something else? Unlike what our familiar children’s rhyme tells us, words have a great deal of power. After all there is another famous saying which says, “ The pen is mightier than the sword.” Words can do more damage than physical attacks. I think that the children’s rhyme should instead go something like this, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words cut even deeper.

            This is the power of words, and Paul addresses this power in this passage to the Ephesians. If you remember a few weeks ago we looked at an earlier chapter of Ephesians. In that chapter Paul focused on the theological concept that the church neither belonged to Jews nor Gentiles, but instead belonged to God. That chapter focused on unity in the church, and the reconciliation between the Gentiles and Jews. Well here were are, two chapters later and this focus on the unity of the church is still front and center in Paul’s writings. Except now Paul is not talking about some broad theological reason for why the church is and should be one body, but instead he is diving into everyday, practical advice, including advice on how we use our words.

            Paul begins this passage by reminding us that we are all one members of Christ’s body. He says, “So then putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are all members of one another.” We are all members of one another. Paul is reminding us that the words that come out of our mouths do not only affect us, they do not only affect the person that we are talking to, but he reminds us that our words have a greater purpose. He reminds us that we are all one member of Christ’s body, and so our words affect the body of Christ. This is why Paul takes so much time to write about our speech in the church, because our speech directly affects the church. Words that are guided by anger, words that are spoken with malice or ill intent, and of course false or slanderous words are all like sticks and stones beating at the body of Christ. So often we don’t even know the damage we are doing. We tells stories about that we heard about someone else because we find them to be fascinating and full of drama. We speak out against someone else in the company of others, but do not speak these things to the person with whom we are displeased. We all like to think that gossip was something that we left back in high school, but the truth is that gossip happens with every age group.

            There is a wonderful play called Doubt, which a few years ago was made into a movie. In the movie the priest of the Catholic story, was giving a sermon and told a powerful story about gossip. He says that once there was a woman who went to confess her sins to the priest, as is custom in Catholic tradition. She tells the priest, “Father I have sinned because I have spread gossip around the church.” The father listens to her confession and is quiet for a moment but then tells the woman, “Tonight I want you to go home and cut into one of your feather pillows and leave it on the doorstep.” The woman did not understand how this would help her repent of her sin, but she went home and did what the priest had told her to do anyways. The next week she returned to the confessional very confused. She told the priest, “I have done what you said, I have cut the pillow and left it outside on my front steps, but I do not see how this helps my situation.” The priests replies, “Now I want you to go back and collect every feather from that pillow and bring them to me!” The woman was stunned, she replied, “But father, the pillow has been outside for a week, who knows where the wind has taken all of the feathers, there is no way I can get them back.” The priest boldly responded, “Words are like the feathers in the wind, once they are taken away you never know where they will go, and you can never get them all back.”

What a powerful story, that reminds of how words can take wings even when we don’t intend for them to.

            While Paul tells us about how words can hurt others through the use of malicious, angry, deceitful, and petty words, we must not forget that words are not always a bad thing. That the power of words can also build up the kingdom of God, through speaking truth, speaking with love, and speaking for and about God. After all, one of the most central elements of this worship service is the reading and the proclamation of the word of God. And within this Bible, this word of God, we can read about the awesome, amazing works of God. You can read the Magnificat, Mary’s beautiful prayer in which she praises God for giving her the honor of bearing Jesus. You can read David’s beautiful psalms expressing his pain and his joy and love for God through it all. We are able to of the day of Pentecost where words in different tongues were able to be understood by all, and we can read in Revelation about the great multitude around the throne of God praising the Lamb. We read about the heavenly choir singing, and we join with them during Communion saying Holy. Holy. Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory, Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest! There are so many powerful uses of words in the Bible, that lead us to celebrate and worship our Lord Jesus Christ. And let us not forget that our very existence is because of words. “And God said let us create mankind in our image.” There and in the rest of the creation story we see that pivotal phrase, and God said. And God said let there be light, And God said let the land produce vegetation, And God said, let the water teem with living creatures, Creation began through God speaking.

            The question then becomes, how are we going to use our words? Are we going to use them to tear down others, through speaking with malice, through speaking with deceit, through speaking in anger and rage to each other? Will others hear the message and love of Christ through our speech, or will we as Paul puts it, “make room for the devil” through our words. Will we let the sun go down on our anger, or will our words be used to for reconciliation, amends, and healing? Paul is laying out two paths for us in our passage, one path in which our words are destructive and are attacks against the Kingdom of God, and the other path in which our words become mighty tools for building up the Kingdom of God. There is no doubt which path Paul prefers, he says, “ Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those to hear.”

            Paul’s message to us may sound like simple moral advice. Many of us probably hear his words with a harsher tone. His words can sound like condemnation for the way we live. All of this talk about how we shouldn’t lie to one another, or speak maliciously to each other, or how we shouldn’t let the sun go down on our anger, seems to at best be everyday advice, and at worst can make us feel utterly judged, condemned, vilified, and evil, and worthless. While Paul’s letter is advice on how we should and shouldn’t speak to each other, it is also a letter of hope. Hope? You may be wondering to yourself how this is a letter of hope, and if you are I completely understand. I felt the exact same way as I read through this passage over and over again until that hope, “jumped up and bit me” as Forrest Gump would say. In this whole passage Paul is telling us about the power of words, and the emotions that are behind. He tells us that power of words can be used to tear others down, but the hope lies in that passage that I read a little while ago, “but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those to hear.” Since words can hold so much power, so much can be done through them. Paul tells us that our words can help to build up each other and the body of Christ, and that our words, our words can give grace to those who hear.” What an awesome power is that! The way we talk to each other, the way we speak to the cashiers in grocery store, the servers in the restaurants, the way we speak to those we love and the way we speak to  those who we would rather not be around,  can be used to build up the Kingdom of God, and to help others hear the grace of God. This is why Paul spends this much time talking about how to use our words because there is so much power wielded in them. It’s like the classic Spiderman phrase goes, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” We have great power in our words, in with that we have a great responsibility with how we use them.

            I was once asked by a pastor who had been preaching for many years if I was nervous when I got up to preach, and I truthfully told him that I usually am. He just looked at me and said, “Good, me too. When you stop feeling nervous about proclaiming the word of God, then you shouldn’t be proclaiming the word at all.” It is difficult to carry the burden of using our words to show God to others. It is even harder because it is something that we do anytime we open our mouths. All of our interactions with others can either tear down or lift up Christ. With all of this pressure, it is difficult for us to even know at times how to go about using our words to build up the Kingdom, but Paul knew that and gives us the ultimate guideline for our speech. He says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” How do we use our speech to build up the body of Christ? We do it by following the example of Jesus Christ, by living, acting, and speaking in love. How do we use our words in love? By following the Word, the only Word that matters. Remember the introduction to the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is the Word, the Word who was  there at creation that spoke all beings into existence, and Jesus in the Word that became flesh, who sacrificed himself for us. How should we use our words?  Our words should imitate the Word made flesh, our words should imitate Christ.

Man in the Mirror

Sermon as Preached 8/5/12 at Lambs UMC & Evington UMC

Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13

You are the man. You’re the Man! In our culture today, this is a phrase that you want to be said about you. The phrase can be used in many different ways, but it is almost always good. A friend can say that “you’re the man” and they may mean that they think you are fun to be around, or the life a party. If you helped someone to do something, they may say, “you’re the man” as an informal way of saying thank you. When applying for a job, the boss may tell you, “you’re the man” meaning that you are the man that they want for the job. Whenever we hear someone say that phrase about us, it makes us feel happy, appreciated, and respected. However, in our scripture today, “you’re the man” is the last thing that David wanted to hear come out of Nathan’s mouth.

            To better understand what exactly is happening in our scripture lesson today, we may need a little recap of what has happen just prior to this. We start with the beautiful Bathsheba, bathing naked on a roof, where David sees her and lusts over her. David uses his power as King, and sends a messenger to get her, and when she comes he sleeps with her, and Bathsheba becomes pregnant, and oh yeah did I forget to mention that Bathsheba was married, and that her husband was away fighting in King David’s army? So David invites Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband trying to convince him to sleep with his wife, but he refuses because he is a noble soldier and sleeps outside out of respect for all of his comrades who are still out in their tents fighting. David even tries to get Uriah drunk so that he will sleep with Bathsheba, but Uriah stays committed. So David, afraid that his deed will be found out, sends Uriah back out to battle, puts him on the front line, and tells his commander to pull back as they charge the enemy so that Uriah will be killed in battle. That is exactly what happened, and so David takes the new widow Bathsheba to be his  wife, and the child is then born in marriage.I don’t about you, but I don’t think that Jerry Springer has anything on this story right out of the Bible.

            And so that leads us to Nathan, a prophet of God and someone who was well respected by David, telling David a parable. He tells him that there was once a rich man who had a large amount of sheep and cattle, and a poor man who owned only one poor lamb.  One day a traveler came to town, and it was the custom to prepare a meal for the traveler out of hospitality, but the rich man refused to use one of the many sheep or cattle that he had. Instead, the rich man went to the poor man, took his only lamb, the lamb that the poor man loved so much, the only thing that he had, and gave it to the traveler.

            When David heard this story he was furious. He could not believe that a rich man who had so much would take the only lamb the poor man had. David was so angry he cried out, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” If there were ever a foot-in-mouth moment this was it, because Nathan simply looks at David and says, “You are the man!" Nathan goes on to tell him that the Lord will make his house be filled with calamity, his wives will be given to other men, for the whole nation to see, and now this child that he just had with Bathsheba, was going to die; A very tough, embarrassing and painful punishment.

            How did this happen, I mean this is David after all. This is the King of Israel, the boy who with a small stone killed the giant Goliath, the man who on multiple occasions was proclaimed to be favored by God, and anointed as the King of Israel. This is one of the most revered men in the Old Testament, still even to this very day, yet how could he do something like that?  As we read the story of Nathan confronting David, it becomes quickly evident that David was somehow blinded to the wrong that he was doing. That David so easily saw the despicable act of the of rich man in the parable, and even called for that man’s death, yet David was absolutely blind to the fact that he was that man. David was blind to his own sin

            If the great King David, the man appointed by God to lead all of Israel, can be blind to such an egregious sin, how much more likely are we to be blind to our own sins? I was a psychology major at Randolph-Macon, and I remember one of the things that we talked in one class, is how we perceive a person’s actions. We are as humans usually will see a wrong action of another person as something that is due to an internal character flaw. In other words if someone does something bad, it is because they are a bad person. If we were to do the same action however, we are far more likely to blame it on external factors. We may say that we were provoked, or I wouldn’t have normally done that, but because of __________  I had to. We try to rationalize our sins, we tell ourselves that they are ok, or that they weren’t that big of a deal, or we even ignore them so that we become blind to our sins. We see both of this in the story, first David is blind to his own sin, probably because he had rationalized it as being for love or some other excuse, but then we also see David calling the rich man out on his sin, viewing him as an evil man deserving of punishment.

            So what does this passage tell us about how we should live our own lives? It tells us two things. First, this warns us against pointing the finger at someone else. It is so easy to see the faults in someone else, and we love to tell people when they are wrong. We are quick to call for the punishment of someone else, yet we are so slow when it comes to looking in the mirror. The first thing that this Bible passage tells us, is that none of us are blameless. That we need to be aware that so often we are pointing to the faults and the sins of someone else, we are also pointing to our own faults and sins.

            That leads to the second to the second thing that this passage teaches us, and that is that we need to truly reflect upon our own sins. Instead of trying to hide from our faults, we need to stand in front of that mirror and truly recognize our sins. When Nathan revealed to David that the man in the story was David, David did not try to defend himself. He didn’t try to rationalize why he did what he did, he simply said, “I have sinned against the Lord.”  David accepted his sin, and accepted the punishment for his sin. When we look at ourselves in the mirror and recognize our sins, we like David must also take responsibility for the wrong that we have done, but at the same we do not look in the mirror to demean ourselves, to berate ourselves, or to belittle ourselves, after all when David confessed his sins Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sins.” We have a God of grace, so when we truly stand before our own sin, it so we may change and lead a life more like the life of Christ. In Christ there is forgiveness, in the Holy Spirit there is grace, but we must also do our part, we need to face the man in the mirror and say, “You are the man.”

Do We Have Enough?

Sermon as Preached July 29, 2012 at Lambs UMC & Evington UMC

We live in a culture that is obsessed with worrying. We love to worry, simple as that, we love to worry. I may be the biggest culprit out there when it comes to worrying. I worry about finances, about loans. I worry about my family and my friends; anytime something happens in their life I worry if they are going to be ok, especially when I know that there is nothing I can do about the situation.  Every time I say something I worry if I offended someone, or if I just said something stupid, or committed a heresy. I worry about little things, like is my sermon too short, or is my sermon too long. I worry whether or not I will be able to get between the churches in time for worship. You should see me when I leave here (Lambs). It’s like I’m sitting on the pole position at a NASCAR race and the green flag just waived. Sometimes I think I can even hear Darryl Waltrip screaming in my ear, boogitty, boogitty, boogitty, let’s go racing. I worry about everything. For this reason I try to have everything completely planned. I time out my sermons so I know how long they, I plan out what I’m going to eat for the day based upon calorie intake so that I can watch my figure. And of course my greatest friend is my iphone which has all of the events on my calendar at touch of fingertips and synched with the computer so that if anything changes, my calendar changes with it. To stop my worrying I try to plan out everything.

            So I can imagine the horror of the disciples in our story today. Think about this scene. Jesus after healing people at the pool, has now traveled across the sea of Galilee, where he and the disciples are expecting to spend a little time together. They retreat up on a mountainside, when all of sudden they notice that a multitude of people have followed Jesus and are now gathered around Jesus and the disciples. They were about to celebrate a Passover meal together but now realized that they had to feed the crowd as well. Now the story says that there were 5000 people there present, but when counting people in those days, they generally only counted the men. That means that in all likelihood counting women and children there were actually far more than 5000 people present. Phillip, trying to be proactive and think about how they were going to afford to buy food for everyone figures that in order to just get everyone to have one bite, they would need more than half a year’s wages. Andrew on the other hand finds a small boy with five loaves of barley and two fish and simply says, this is what we have Jesus, do we have enough?

            Can you imagine how stressful that would be as one of the disciples? Let’s try to put it into a modern day scenario and see how you would feel. Imagine that last week your church had a very active week. They worked down at the DAWN and had been meeting a lot of people and giving them food. Then last weekend there was a great gospel sing, and the preacher gave a wonderful sermon. It was such a busy week that now you, the pastor and a few of the other members of the church are gathering for a small Bible study. Ya’ll had decided that you would have a little cookout before the study so you put that in last week’s bulletin, the same bulletin that was handed out at the gospel sing and service. As you all gather together, realize that word has spread about this church, and there are 5000, ok maybe let’s just say 500 hundred people outside who want to join in on the Bible study. Think about the logistics nightmare. First where are they all going to park? Where are they all going to sit? Most of them didn’t bring their own Bibles, where are we going to find enough Bibles. When it was just the 12 of us we’d sit around the table but now the pastor might not even be able to be heard? Do we move into the sanctuary, so that we can use the microphones? What about the food though, we can’t bring that into the sanctuary.  The food!! We have 20 hamburgers and 50 hotdogs, how are we going to feed all of them. It would cost us six month’s worth of the educational budget to feed all of them?  While you are running all of these things through your head, the pastor simply turns to you and asks, “What are we going to do about this?”

            How are you going to respond? I don’t just mean how would you respond to this hypothetical situation,  but in the entire life of the church when a goal, a vision, a chance for evangelism, a chance for mission, a change for developing disciples of Christ is there before, how will you respond to this daunting task? In our scripture today we see two different responses to the situation. The first response was from Phillip. His response was what many of our responses would have been, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” In other words Phillip’s response was that the task before him was too daunting, That they did not have enough.

            Too often this is our response as a church to our own challenges and needs. We say that we would love to have a thriving children’s ministry, but that we do not have enough kids, or that we do not have enough money, or that we do not have enough volunteers to make it happen. We say that we want to reach out to the community more, but we are not in the best location to do that, or we don’t have the same resources as other churches like Thomas Road Baptist Church, and that there is  some much need that there is nothing that we can really do. We say that we don’t have the same talents in worship that other churches have. We don’t have a large organ, or praise band, we don’t have a projector screen where we can show inspirational videos, we don’t have a massive billboard on 29 to advertise our Vacation Bible Schools, and Bible Studies and other activities in the church. We look around at our church and see that we simply don’t have all the things we may need to perform that daunting task of going forth and making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

            Personally, we often respond to God’s call on our lives the same way. We say, “God, I would be a better disciple if I just had more time in my day to do it. Lord I would read scripture more but I just don’t understand it that well.  Lord, I would love to help out the church by visiting the sick and serving those in need in our community, but the pastor and some of the other members of the church do that, and they do it better than I could ever do it. Lord I want to pray more every day, but I just don’t know how. Like Phillip, our response both in the church as well as our personal response to God so often is, “God we want to, but we just don’t have enough to do it.”

            But our scripture for today show us a different response, and it is not really that dramatic of a response. While Phillip is telling Jesus that they don’t have enough to feed the crowd, Andrew simply asks the Lord, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many people? Andrew didn’t act as if he had the solution to the whole problem, Andrew  didn’t fix the situation, but all he said was, Jesus, this is what we have do we have enough?

            This is what we have, do we have enough? What a simple yet powerful question.  As many of you know I was away part of this week in Blackstone for a Conference continuing education seminar. The whole focus of the seminar was on our being, not on our doing. We focused throughout the two days on who we are, why we are called to ministry, what gifts we have, and how we can nurture these gifts. In one of the workshops that I attended we were given a long list of skills that are important for a pastor to have, from self-awareness, to conflict management, to being inspirational, to being well organized. We were then asked to honestly reflect upon each trait and whether it was one of our strengths or one of our weaknesses. I have to admit as I was going through those skills, it was so much easier to focus on my weaknesses rather than focus on the strengths in ministry. It was difficult not to wonder, how much better of a minister could I be if I were better at X,Y and Z. I could be such a better pastor if I had some of the same skills as my colleagues here. Honestly, at times while comparing myself to what I could have I forgot about the many gifts I do have. Then sometime incredible happened. We went around the room and shared what our gifts were and what our weakness were. As expected, many of weaknesses were strengths that others had, but at the same time many of their weaknesses, areas at which they wished they could improve, were my strengths. In fact as we went around the room every skill needed for ministry was someone in that rooms strength.

            Our church is no different. Sitting here in each of these pews are people with different strengths and weakness. We have some who are great at visitations or great at outreach. We have may not have a fancy organ or praise band, but we have a wonderful choir, pianist (flute at Evington) that does an excellent job of praising God through music. We have very dedicated members of our UMW who do so much go work, and we have so many members who do the grunt work around the church making the area that we gather such a beautiful place, often without any recognition for their hard work. What if instead of saying, Lord we don’t have enough to reach out to others, to evangelize, to be in mission, to develop thriving youth and children ministries, to enhance worship, we were to say, Lord this is what we have, do we have enough?

            If we left it there we would be missing the whole point of this scripture. As I said, Andrew’s response to Jesus was not that dramatic or that drastic of a response. He simply gave him 5 loaves and two fish and said is this enough? As we read the story though we know that it was not Andrew who fed the 5000 people gathered, but that is was a miracle performed by Jesus Christ. We have heard this story since we were kids and we know about this miraculous act by Jesus. We have wondered to ourselves how did he do that? Not only did he feed them all but there were leftovers! It is a feat so great, that we know that there is nothing else we can call it besides a miracle, and that there is no one else who could do it besides Jesus.

            Yet, in our churches how often do we forget this in our everyday ministries. A) That miracles happen and multiply ministries by more than we could have ever imagined, and B) that only Jesus can do it. We may be wise enough to ask Andrew’s question, do we have enough, we may even be wise enough to gather our resources together and try to set small manageable goals, just big enough so that we can be proud of the results; ministry that allows everyone to have a small bite. How foolish are we though when we forget that it is Jesus, not us, who performs these miracles. That through Jesus, our ministries may not only provide a bite of something to eat, but a full meal. That it is Jesus that multiplies what we have and then allows us to collect the extras. That our gifts that we bring to the table are just that, gifts, that have been given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, and who better to get the most out of these gifts, than the one who has the owner’s manual. Jesus shows us that when we are presented with a daunting  goal, or vision, or simply a tough situation, that all that is required of us is to say this is what we have, is it enough, and then watch how Jesus uses us to feed the world.

Somewhere I Belong

Sermon as Preached July 22, 2012  Lambs UMC & Evington UMC



Scripture Ephesians 2:11-22

I love the movie Finding Nemo. For those of you who have never seen the movie it is about two clown fish, and father and his son Nemo. Nemo has a bad fin, and because of  his dad is very overprotective. To the dad’s horror, one day Nemo is captured and so his dad sets out on a journey to get him back. All of this leads to one scene where the dad and his new friend Dory have finally made their way to Sydney, Australia, where Nemo was taken, and they have been spit out onto a pier by a pelican. The pelican starts talking to them telling them that he know where Nemo is when all of the sudden he looks up and gets very quiet. The camera pans out and there is a huge flock of seagulls staring at the fish, and suddenly one goes, Mine! The whole flock then chimes in Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine. The fish jump into the pelican’s mouth and chase ensues as all of the seagull follow the pelican crying mine. Finally the pelican makes a quick maneuver in between the sails of a boat, and all of the seagulls fly right into the sail. All you can see is their beaks sticking through, but still, they cry, mine, mine, mine.

            As humans, we aren’t that much different from these seagulls. We love that word, mine. We love the idea that something belongs to us, that we have ownership over something, that we have control over something, that something is ours. There are many cases in which it is appropriate to use the word, mine, my. Some of us may be able to say, this is my house, or this is my car. We can say, this is my family, or this is my hometown. We can say this is my farm, or this is my garden, or this is my workplace, or this is my school, or this is my alma matter, this mine , mine, mine, mine, mine. We even often use the phrase, this is my church.

            What do we say when we say this is my church? Do we mean to claim that we have ownership over the church? Do we mean to say that we have full control over the church? If so, what do we do about all of these other people sitting around us also calling this, their church? Are we to become like the seagull all scream mine, mine, mine, and chasing whatever we want, all working against each other for our own control of the church? I don’t think that this is the case with most of us. I think what we really mean when we say that this is my church, is that this is where I am a member, or this is where I attend, and most importantly, this is where I belong. After all isn’t this what all of us want, somewhere we belong?

            Our scripture lesson today,  is perhaps a difficult lesson because it reminds us of something that I think most of us have forgotten, and that is that we have not always had a place where we belonged. In this lesson, Paul is writing to the Ephesians, many of whom were Gentiles, which are non Jewish people, and he is reminding them that until Jesus came, Gentiles had not been a part of the salvation narrative. At the time of this letter, the New Testament was still in the works of being written. People had heard about Jesus’ works and miracles, and about his death and resurrection through ministers like Paul, and Peter, but for most of these people, the Bible as they knew it, was only what we would refer to as the Old Testament.  Think about what that would feel like to read as a Gentile. First you read about Abraham and God’s promise to him that from his off springs will come a great nation. You read about Jacob’s name being changed to Israel, and the Lord establishing the 12 tribes from his 12 sons. You read about God’s favor with Moses and the Israelites, leading them out of Egypt, and guiding them through the wilderness. You read about all of the military battles in which God favored the Israelites over the others, the Gentiles. You read about David, the great King, and how the Messiah will come from his lineage and save the Jews. Even the psalms, would be tough to hear, for example the psalm 89, the psalm that was our responsive reading for today. After all its says, “You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, and I will make him the first-born, the highest of the kings of the Earth. I will establish his line forever, and his throne as the days of the heavens, His line should endure forever, his throne as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever; it shall stand firm while skies endure.”  Imagining being a Gentile and believing in this God of Israel, imagine believing in this Messiah and reading all of this. The question would certainly arise in your mind, where do I belong in all of this?

            This is what Paul is talking about in this passage today. He says, “So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision” —a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands—¹²remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Paul is telling the Gentiles that through Jesus Christ, they have been grafted in to that salvation narrative; that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, now they were able to experience the mercy, the love, and the grace of God. Paul is telling them that God has invited them in to that chosen family, and that this was done through the extreme hospitality of Jesus Christ. But Paul is also reminding them of something else. Paul reminds them that not too long ago, they were outside of this grace; that they do not have the same markings such as circumcision that for centuries have identified men as chosen people of God. Paul reminds them that the stories of the Old Testament are not their family stories. In essence what Paul is really telling the Gentiles, is that salvation is a gift, not something we deserve.

            So what does this mean for us as the church today? Everything.  I don’t know about you, but Wray is not a very Jewish name. I would venture to guess that most of us here were not born Jewish. What this story reminds us today, it that we are the Gentiles. Paul is talking to us directly in this passage. He is telling us that at one time, we were not the chosen people that the Bible tells us about. Paul is telling us that the Old Testament is the wonderful word of God that can teach us more about God and about salvation, but that it is not our family history. Paul is telling us that our salvation is not something that we deserve, but rather that out salvation is a gift through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Paul tells us that we had no church, nowhere belonged, nothing to call ours, until Christ opened up the doors to us. That means that this church today is not ours, it is God’s yet through his son it is somewhere we all of us can say we belong. This is what Paul is telling the Gentiles in the passage, and it is also what Paul is saying to us today.

            But Paul does not stop here. Paul goes on to tell the Ephesians, that though the Gentiles may not have always been part of the salvation story they are now. He says,  “For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.¹⁵He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,¹⁶and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.¹⁷So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;¹⁸for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,²⁰built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.²¹In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;²²in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

            Paul is telling us that through Christ we are no longer Jew or Gentile, but rather the church is one body. He is telling us, us, that we are no longer strangers in the land, but citizens. We are no longer outside observers of the church, but rather we are members. Paul is writing this because though salvation has been opened up to all through Christ, there was still division in the church. Gentiles and Jews were still fighting for power, for control, fighting so that they could call the church theirs. Yet as mentioned before, Paul reminds the Gentiles that their salvation was a gift through the grace of God, but he is also telling the Jewish Christians something as well. He is telling them that though these newer members have not been there throughout the struggle of Israel like you have, they are still your equal. That you are no better, nor more deserving of God’s grace than they are. That you and they are now one body who have been built together spiritually. There is no room for division between the church because the church neither belongs to Gentiles nor Jews, the church belongs to God. Paul is telling the church to reconcile, to get over their differences, to work through their pain together, because the church is somewhere where all belong.

One thing you’ll find out about me is that I love the sacraments. Last week I spoke about Communion and how part of Communion points us towards victory in Christ and feasting at the heavenly banquet. This week I will once again talk about Communion, and this time an aspect of Communion that has often been overlooked and forgotten. If you remember a few weeks ago when we had communion prior to the elements being blessed we had a time to pass the peace. While often this becomes a time of fellowship today, that was not the original function of the passing of the peace.  In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he gives details on how Communion should be done. In that passage he says, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.²⁸Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. In an attempt to follow these directions of examining oneself before Communion, early church leader started this passing of the peace. The original purpose of this passing of the peace was to thing about if you were harboring ill thoughts about someone, to actually go to them and offer peace towards them. This is so that when we partake of the same bread, we really are unified with all those who are also taking communion Think of all the words that share that same root word as commion: commune, community, common. The passing of the peace is actually a radical act to make sure that Holy Communion really is a communion of those who are present. Of course we will all fall short, and we need the grace received in communion to shape our faith, but the passing of the peace does help us to approach communion in a more holy manner.

            Through Communion we our differences are no more, because we all take from the same bread, and that is the bread of life. It reminds us, just as Paul does, that there should no longer be division in the church. It reminds us that we are no longer Jew nor Gentile, but now we are the body of Christ. It reminds that it is not us who has possession over the church, we are not able to sit back and say that this is mine, or that is theirs, but it reminds us that power only belongs to Christ, who does sit on his heavenly throne and through his grace and mercy points to everyone of us and says, you are mine, mine mine, mine.

The Unheavenly Feast

My Sermon as Preached July 15th, 2012 @ Lambs UMC & Evington UMC


Scripture Mark 6: 14-29

Our scripture lesson today is not an easy one. It is a dark and gruesome story, first of the arrest and imprisonment of John the Baptist. We then have the manipulating and conniving Herodius, who is bitter at John the Baptist and plots to have him killed. We then have the seductive daughter of Herod, who entertains the dinner guests and tricks Herod into granting her a fateful wish, and all of this leads to the beheading of John the Baptist and his head being offered on to the King on a platter.  What a sad, sick story to be found right in the middle of Mark’s gospel. Many of you are probably wondering why would he pick this passage to preach on? To be honest, at first I asked myself the very same question, yet God kept telling me to dig deeper, to look harder. Finally I stopped asking myself why preach on this passage, and begin to ask why is the passage here in the Gospel of Mark?

            This is a very important question to ask. Why is this story about the beheading of John the Baptist here in the gospel. You have to admit, it is a very peculiar story, in a very peculiar location of the Gospel. In the Gospel of Mark we first meet John the Baptist in chapter one, out in the wilderness, with his crazy hair and eating locusts, and of course baptizing many followers. Yet after this encounter with John in the first chapter of Mark, we do not hear anything about him until this story about his death in chapter 6. Jesus has already healed the bleeding women, raised Jarius daughter from the dead, been back home and rejected, and right before this passage, he has sent out his 12 disciples to go into mission. Right after this story is not very different. This story is directly followed by Jesus feeding the 5000 with the few loaves of bread and fish. This story on the surface seems out of place. Why would Mark find it necessary to put this story here, right in the middle of the actions of Jesus’ ministry? I believe that Mark is reminding us that throughout his ministry, John the Baptist has been preparing for the coming of Christ, and leading people to follow Chirst. In the first chapter of Mark, John is proclaiming Christ’s coming. Let’s read what it says, “John the baptizer appeared^* in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins…He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with^* water; but he will baptize you with^* the Holy Spirit.” John’s entire ministry was about preparing the way for Jesus. It was not about all the followers that he gathered, and it was not about how many people he baptized. For as he says, “I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John the Baptist’s ministry was, and always had been soley about preparing the way for Christ.

            So now we look back to our passage for today, and I don’t know if you noticed it or not at first reading, but Mark tells us why this story is here. The very begging of our passage today says this, “King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’^* name had become known. Some were^* saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’¹⁵But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’¹⁶But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’  Word of Jesus had been spreading throughout the land, and now even the King Herod had heard of all the miraculous things that he had done. Now everyone is starting to ask who this Jesus fellow is. Who is this guy bringing back people from the dead? Who is this guy that now has many followers, including 12 who are serving as his right hand men? Isn’t this the son of Joseph the carpenter in Nazareth? Who could possibly have this sort of power? It must be John coming back to haunt me, but no, that can’t be I had John killed. Maybe its Elijah, or maybe it’s one of the other prophets as of old, but no he speaks of the same things as John the Baptist, he talks about repentance and forgiveness, John the Baptist must have come back from the dead!

            This story is kind of ironic, because we know who this Jesus fellow is, and now Mark be delivering one of the biggest “I told you so’s” in the Bible by putting this story here.  Mark is saying, remember when John the Baptist told you all that someone greater than he was coming? This guy Jesus  has just healed a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, and raised a little girl from the dead! That someone greater is here, and its Jesus. Remember John told you that he baptizes with water but the coming Christ will baptize with spirit. Well, this Jesus guy has been going around teaching and baptizing people in a way that has drastically transformed their lives like you have never seen before. That spirit is here, and it is found in Jesus. Remember when you killed John yet even to his dying breath he had faith in the one who was coming? Well Herod, you may have been able to kill John, but that Messiah that he has been telling you about is here, and it’s Jesus. John’s whole ministry has been about preparing the way for the Messiah, and this story today affirms that Jesus is that Messiah.

            As Christians and as the church, we should be following in the footsteps of John the Baptist. We too should be anticipating the coming of Christ, and preparing the world for that coming. The way we live our lives should always point towards Christ, and others should be able to know Jesus through us. Our daily task should be telling others about the love of Christ, and as John puts it, “preparing the way for the Lord.” In essence, our lives as Christians and as the church should be like that of John the Baptist, pointing forward to the coming of Christ.

            But the question still remains, why the story of John the Baptists death. Why put that gruesome story here. If Mark wants us to realize that John’s prophesy is fulfilled in Jesus, why not use stories of John’s teachings or of his healings, or even better yet, of the baptisms that he has done? First, Mark is showing us the cost of discipleship. John’s terrible death shows us that at times being a faithful witness comes with a price. Even the most dedicated and righteous Christian men and women will face scorn, ridicule, pain, and sometimes as was the case with John. Listen to what the Bible says about John. “So Herodious nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled, yet he liked to listen to him.” John was such a fateful servant that even Herod liked him. Herod respected him and feared him, but even with this, John was beheaded for his standing up for his beliefs.

            One man who knew something about the cost of discipleship is the great theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer; a man who literally wrote the book on “The Cost of Discipleship.” Bonheoffer was a Lutheran pastor, who grew up in the era of World War I. He studies for a while in Germany, and then came over to the United States, to attend Union Theological Seminary in New York. In 1931, around the time when the Nazi party started to gain some power and popularity, Bonheoffer returned to Germany. Not only did he return to Germany, but as a Lutheran pastor, he began to openly oppose the Nazi regime. As the Nazis gained more and more power, Bonheoffer could have easily have left and gone back to America where he would have been safe, but he felt the call to stay and Germany, and faithfully oppose the Nazis. As the Nazis started to become more powerful, and now started to send many Jews to concentration camps to be killed, Bonheoffer became even more vocal with his outcries. Bonhoeffer did leave to come to come to America when the war broke out, but quickly realized that God wanted him in Germany, and he quickly returned. Bonheoffer because a public enemy of the Nazi regime and was forbidden from printing or writing any material, as well as forbidden to speak in public. Bonheoffer still defied, and was imprisoned by the Gestapo. A year and a half later he was convicted and hung in Flossenburg concentration camp. Figures like Bonheoffer and John the Baptist show us that at times there does come a great cost for faithfully following Christ.

            The story of John the Baptist’s death, is also important, because as I have said before, it points toward victory in Christ. The irony in this story is chillingly beautiful. I invite you to really picture the scene set in this passage. Picture a large, well decorated, ornate room, one that displays the power of King Herod. In this room are some of the most powerful and wealthy guests of the King, all gathering to celebrate at this feast. I can imagine a huge spread of food, probably much of it lavish and exotic food that only the King could prepare. I can hear the music and the laughter as the party gets going, and then there is Herodius, dancing for the enjoyment of all the guests. Now imagine that the party continues and the guests continue to wine and dine until finally, a platter is brought into the room. I can almost imagine the top of the platter being lifted and on the platter is the head of John the Baptist. Imagine the joy on Herodious’ face and on the face of her mother. I can even picture the devil, dancing in delight for he had killed one of the great followers of the Lord. This story paints the picture of a morbid and unholy banquet. It depicts a sick and unheavenly feast.

            Yet even  this unheavenly feast points towards the coming of Christ, because as we see in the passage, Herod realizes that though he may have beheaded John the Baptist, the truth and spirit of John has now come in almighty glory through this man, Jesus, the Messiah. The death of John the Baptist also foreshadows the Jesus’ very own death, but in Jesus’ death the devil can not dance for Jesus rose and conquered death, Jesus died for our sins, and the devil’s power was destroyed for now salvation was made possible for all. Now as followers of Christ we able to gather at our own feast, a feast of bread and wine, of body and blood that is no longer a sign of Satan’s work in the world, but rather of the redeeming grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through Holy Communion, we are able to remember the life and sacrifice of Jesus, we are able to experience his presence with us, and like John the Baptist, we are able to point towards that coming of Christ. Hear what our United Methodist Liturgy for Communion says, “By Your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.”  This is what the Bible story today in pointing us towards, that time where Christ comes in final victory. It directs us to be made one with Christ, it tells us to be made one with each other and in ministry to all the world, even if the cost of that discipleship is great. But as our own feast that is Communion reminds us, this unholy banquet, this unheavenly feast that we read today, points us towards that day in which Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

A Way Late Post

So I know it has been a long time since I've last posted and I wish I could say that there was a good excuse for it, but the truth is that I have just been caught up in reading a couple of books the past few nights. This post then is long overdue, so let me jump into what I have been up to the past couple of weeks.

Last Monday, the four of us Duke students arrived at the early morning worship at the seminary and were then told after the service that we had the rest of the day and Tuesday off to celebrate July 4th. We then decided to call Edgar, another one of the Duke students who was placed in Durban, and asked if we could come visit him. Edgar said yes and amazingly found accommodations for all four of us to stay. When we arrived we picked up Edgar, and went to the waterfront to have dinner. The city felt like a smaller American city much like a Jacksonville or Daytona. When then ate and celebrated the 4th while looking out at the Indian Ocean.

Later that night we went back to the living arrangements that Edgar made for us; John and Joan went to stay at the house of Edgar's supervisor Anna, who was a former Duke divinity intern who came back to serve in South Africa. Jamison and I stayed with Edgar where he was staying at a place called Boys Town. Boys Town is an organization that houses boys either from troubled households, or from impoverished households, and raises them as a family, teaching them both academically and socially. It was such a great experience to be there, and the three Dukies and about 6 boys had a very good time playing laughing and playing Uno together.

The next day we went to a famous Market downtown and took a tour. They showed us around to all the areas including an herbal market, in which we got to help grind the herbs into the fine powder. We also went to the meat market where they serve some interesting food, including cow head which they chop and cook right there in the market. Apparently in Zulu culture cow head is a delicacy which in the past was only eaten by men because it shows power because it's still a very patriarchal where men are supposed to be the head of the household (i.e. eating a cow's head) I did try the cow head and was surprised that although it was a little gamy  like venison it actually had a very good flavor. After the day we returned back to Pietermaritzburg.

The very next night we had the honor to go to dinner with the Reverend Peter Storey. Rev. Storey is a former professor at Duke and is our liaison between Duke and South Africa, but is so much more than that. Rev. Storey is the former bishop of the Methodist church in South Africa, yet still this is not what makes him so remarkable. Rev. Storey, was one of the leading religious figures in the fight against the Apartheid regime, so much so that he and Desmond Tutu are good friends. He was even the chaplain to Nelson Mandela while Mandela was in prison. At dinner he told us some about his struggles, and how he had been arrested many times fighting for the cause. It was a very inspiring meal.

The rest of the time we have spend participating in what the seminary calls intensives, which are short but intense sessions that are geared to help the seminarians engage in practical discussions in ministry. The great thing about them is that they are not for a grade, therefore the seminarians can't really wrestle with ideas and delve into discussion without the fear of being graded. Last week we sat in on lectures by Peter Storey himself, since he helped form Seth Mokitimi Seminary. He spoke about some many powerful issues, but in particular he gave a lecture on prayer that blew my mind. There isn't enough room to talk about details but if you are interested ask me about it when I get back. This week we were in classes with John Van de Laar who is a South African liturgist. He gave amazing lectures about the intimacy of worship and how the packaging of worship (i.e. contemporary vs traditional) is the least important aspect of preparing worship. Once again there is not enough room here to talk about it or explain what he meant by this, but ask me and I'd love to tell you.

So that is what I have done the past two weeks. What the last couple of weeks hold for me I'm not sure, some more intensives probably, but other adventure I'm sure as well. Until then, God Bless.
 

Collar ID

There was an interesting phenomenon that happened while were out in Bulwer, one that I can only describe as Collar ID. As I mentioned the three of us ministers had to wear shirt and collar in order to be recognized in the Zulu community, and recognized we were. In fact we were treated like royalty. Everywhere we went while we were in our collars we were given the seat of honor, served food, and sometimes even given a gift of money. Even Mrs. Violet Mosiea, the lady who offered her house for Jamison and me to stay at, treated us like kings. We had three course meals for breakfast and supper, and even when we offered to help in the kitchen or cleaning dishes, she refused to let us help. It was very hard at first to accept this hospitality, not to mention that we got fed so much that at times we avoided the house so we wouldn't have to eat. After all, we didn't do anything that warranted this generosity.

After a while I learned to accept the generosity as an honor, not one that I deserved, but one that I was fortunate to take part of. It also added to the situation that we were white, and foreigners. At every event we were the only white people, and at most events we were the only white people who had ever attended. Their generosity then became a sign of both recognizing that we are ministers, and thanking us for taking the time to even be there, since so many white South Africans do not take time to associate with them. The only thing that we could do is accept the hospitality as our way of saying thank you for letting us be a part of your community.

Now before you start judging the white South Africans for their lack of participation in these worship groups, think about how few white Americans go and worship in African America or Hispanic, or Asian communities. The experience has really made not judge the sawdust in the eyes of the white South Africans, but rather realized the log in my own eye. How can we call ourselves a community of believers if we don't worship together? I know that the American context is different, and that there are many factors to go into the division, but it at least makes you think that if we are all children of God, then why are we not worshiping together in our father's house? God Bless