August 4, 2019

Scripture

Hosea 11:1-11

11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

11:2 The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols.

11:3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them.

11:4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.

11:5 They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

11:6 The sword rages in their cities, it consumes their oracle-priests, and devours because of their schemes.

11:7 My people are bent on turning away from me. To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up at all.

11:8 How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

11:9 I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

11:10 They shall go after the LORD, who roars like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west.

11:11 They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the LORD.

Intro

The book of Hosea is an interesting book. It is the first of the 12 books of the minor prophets which just means the books are short. In fact, in the Hebrew bible they are lumped together as one book called The Twelve. 

The message in Hosea is a cycle of betrayal and idolatry, judgement, repentance, redemption, and restoration.

Hosea is the story of a prophet who is commanded by God to marry a prostitute. He marries Gomer. She leaves him for another and he goes and brings her back. The story is a picture of God’s relationship with the Israelites. Hosea is a prophet during the reign of Jeraboam who was king of the northern ten tribes of Israel.  If Jeraboam had obeyed God, his family would have been established like King David but he set up a couple of golden calves and led the people into sin and they turned their backs on God.

So God gives Hosea a message for the people but instead of saying the message, Hosea is to LIVE out the message. God tells Hosea to marry an adulterous wife. There will be children and God tells Hosea what to name them.

Names

There will be a son – Jezreel which means scattered, a daughter named Lo-ruhammah which means not loved, and another son named Lo-ammi which means not my people. These names might seem unimportant but we will come back to them.

Hosea married Gomer who was a prostitute before the wedding, and an adulterer after. Gomer represents the Israelites who have turned away from God and worshipped false gods.  God speaks to Israel through Hosea about the coming consequences if they don’t repent. 

How Do We Feel About The Story of Hosea and Gomer?

I come to this story carrying some sympathy for this young pastor, Hosea. Hosea hears God’s call and I wonder if he doesn’t imagine himself preaching some glorious sermon that will cause the people who hear him to turn back to God. Maybe he was a little nervous, maybe he was humbled to receive such a calling. Whatever he was feeling, I doubt he imagined what would come next. This man of God, through obedience, finds himself in a situation that sounds a lot like the headline in one of those magazines by the check-out counter at the grocery store.

I don’t know about you but I didn’t feel the same sympathy for Gomer when I first read this story. I might have felt sympathetic for the prostitute. I mean, it was difficult for a woman in those days. If you were poor and had no male family member to take care of you then you just did what you had to do to survive. But then Hosea loved and married her and she was unfaithful! My judgemental self probably responded in a similar manner to Hosea’s friends. I’m sure they had a lot of advice for him and in human terms it would have made perfect sense. Don’t do it Hosea! She is not good enough for you. Think of your career as a pastor! She will break your heart! Some people may have just been mean and gossipy but others may have spoken out of genuine concern for their friend. They would have seen this as a huge mistake.  Here she was – living what seems a terrible lifestyle and Hosea as we say, “made an honest woman out of her”. Not only did he marry her, he LOVED her. So he not only changed her name from prostitute to wife. He changed it to beloved wife. And Gomer goes right back to her old ways. Hosea not only brings her back – again! -he pays a ransom to do so.

Why would Gomer go back to this life?

Maybe Gomer had named herself a prostitute by her life before Hosea. 

You can change your address and call yourself something else but do you believe it in your heart? Maybe she still felt that the old name applied. Maybe that voice on repeat in her head told her that she was unworthy so many times that she came to believe it and no matter how much Hosea professed his love, she couldn’t shake the name or the shame she had given herself.

Is Jesus in Here Somewhere?

Let’s look at the new testament for some insight into this whole name business.

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus and God names and claims His son – “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Then just a few short verses later, we come to the temptation of Jesus. In Matthew 4 what does the devil say? If you are the son of God. Three times the accuser gives reason for doubt about the name that God has just given Jesus. 

Doesn’t it often happen that way? As soon as we have a spiritual experience – a God moment, feel convicted by a sermon, do something selfless for someone else – immediately following one of those experiences it seems like something happens and other things try to tell us that we belong to them. Our spouse does something irritating and our anger says it owns us. Bills come in the mail and the washing machine breaks and the car starts making a funny noise and our money (or lack of it) and our stuff claims us. We buy a burger for the guy near the overpass carrying a sign that says “will work for food” and as we drive away we watch in the rear view mirror as he throws the burger in the trash and our heart for the needy grows cold.  We are owned by an unforgiving and critical spirit. In an instant we went from better to bitter.

The accuser, the father of lies, uses the very things that bring us closer to God against us. 

But only God can truly name us because only God can see who we were created to be IN HIM. God has the final say!

God has named us sons and daughters, so loved that He put on flesh, walked among us healing and teaching, suffered and hung on a cross, died and three days later defeated death…everything else that the world names us is a lie of temptation that only becomes true when we listen to it. 

Maybe that is what happened to Gomer. Maybe she couldn’t accept the grace of forgiveness from Hosea because first she would have to admit once and for all how broken and in need of forgiveness she was and after all, isn’t that precisely why grace is so hard?  And sometimes, harder than admitting how broken she is or …we are, is having hope that we could actually be something other than what the world names us. Hope. Grace. The very things we need the most can be the hardest for us to accept. Maybe it is not true for you, but for me it is always easier to extend grace, to forgive someone else, than it is for me to accept it myself. I think we all sometimes deep down, want so badly to feel safe, to belong, that we run in the opposite direction from hope and grace because our doubt gets in the way and the accuser says we are not worthy and we forget that the good news of the gospel is exactly the answer to that lie. 

Remember the names of the children?

Hosea 1:10-12  “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’  The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel. (which not only means scattered but also means God plants!)

and

Hosea 2:23 I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

God doesn’t wait for his people to “come around”. He meets us right there in the midst of our sin and that is where grace happens. 

Where Are We?

No longer scattered, no longer unloved, people of God. 

The story of Hosea is a picture of sin and brokenness and separation from God but it is also a picture of Jesus, a ransom for sin, for being made whole, and of us being given a new name.

For while we were yet sinners (our old name), Christ died for us. (Redeemed – our new name!)

Galatians 3:26-28  So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,  for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (emphasis mine)

The accuser can’t name you. The world can’t name you. 

There is a story about Martin Luther, the Catholic priest who was responsible for the beginning of the reformation (the beginning of the protestant church). In his time, you could purchase what were called “indulgences” from the church. In other words, if you had sinned, you could sort of buy your way into heaven. Martin Luther said, no we are justified not by anything we do in ourselves, but by faith in Jesus Christ through grace. One story says that when he felt temptation he would shout these words. “I am baptized!” It was sort of a way of saying “Evil – you think you can tell me who I am? You should meet my dad!”

Last week, in his sermon on prayer, Mark said that the name of God should always be set apart as holy. As he spoke, I was thinking about one of the names of God. I AM.

When we begin a sentence about ourselves, We start out by saying I am (whatever – angry, hungry, a Methodist,) and in a way, we have started our sentence with the name of God. Maybe that is meant to be a reminder of who (and WHOSE) we are. 

God is holy and we are grafted onto the family tree as sons and daughters and so through Jesus Christ, we too are holy, precious and redeemed children of the living God. That is what the power of the transforming love of God is like. That is what God is like. That is what love is like. We are loved. We belong. THAT precious people is our name. Amen.

Let Us Pray

Father, we thank you for your creation, for breath, and for Your Son, Jesus, the Christ. We see ourselves and each other as the world names us. We thank You because You see us as beautiful, beloved.

 Ephesians 2:10 says that we are your handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which you have already prepared in advance for us to do. 

Help us to remember the God moments where we feel close to you so that when we find ourselves wandering in the dark valley we can shout “I am baptized” and know we are just passing through on our way home to you.

Amen

SCRIPTURE

21:1 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way.

21:2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.

21:3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

21:4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

21:5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.”

21:6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.

21:7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.

21:8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

21:9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.

21:10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”

21:11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.

21:12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.

21:13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

21:14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

21:15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

21:16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

21:18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”

21:19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

___________________________________________________________

INTRO

From the creation of the entire world, God has been moving. I’m no pastor, but I’ve been going to bible studies for over twenty years. Reading the bible and reading what others say about the bible in between. Nothing I have read leads me to believe that God has stopped moving. I believe that the bible is the ongoing dialogue we are invited to have with God. Through scripture, corporate worship, fellowship, and service, we are invited to walk and talk with God as He moves and if we decide at any point that we have read the bible, been to church, and are done, then the only thing we are going to have a chance at seeing is a glimpse of God’s back as He continues to move.

So when I speak from this pulpit, my words are just a part of my journey with God and that changes as I learn and think about what I am learning. It means I may say something you don’t agree with or that you see differently. I may even feel differently about something I’ve read a year from now because I too, am moving, as are all of you. We are all on a journey and we change and grow. We go to the bible with the same kinds of questions that have been asked by people since the beginning. Why do bad things happen to good people? Will evil and death continue to have the upper hand? Does God see and hear us? Is He good? Is He still working? How are we to live?

CHANGE

Today we are going to look at how Peter handled change and how we might see ourselves sitting next to him.

Imagine what was going through Peter’s mind. He has just seen his friend and teacher crucified. He has seen the Risen Savior and Jesus has breathed on the disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit and given them a commission so they got busy and went to work, right?

No they didn’t. They went fishing. That just didn’t make sense to me. At first…

But then I thought about how I handle being upset. Dale used to say if he wanted the house cleaned all he had to do was invite company over or pick a fight with me.

Now when company was coming I would clean the house but when I was mad? It was super clean time. I would polish the washing machine. I just had to be left alone until I worked it out of my system. I retreated to the familiar and the physical labor helped me get my mad out.

After Dale was sick and in the hospital for several months, we came home and I tackled a stump that was in the backyard by our air conditioner. I dug and I wrapped a chain around it and pulled and fought with the thing until I finally got it out. That stump had nothing to do with Dale being sick, but my response to the stress was to tackle a challenge. Life had been out of control and in both these situations, I needed something to help me feel in control again.

So Peter has had several shocks, one right after the other. And underneath all of it is the deep disappointment he carries in himself for denying Jesus.

We have all done things that we feel guilty for. Maybe we accidentally hurt someone. We can go apologize and hopefully that resolves the situation. We feel better and the relationship is stronger. But sometimes there is no fix. Sometimes we carry that weight around for a long time, and like anything you carry, the longer you tote it around, the heavier it seems. When that happens, sometimes we get stuck.

So maybe Peter retreated to the familiar, tried to tackle a challenge that he could control. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Peter and the other disciples fished all night and didn’t catch anything! So now on top of everything else they are tired and hungry and have no fish. Now there is some man on the beach telling them to drop their nets on the right side of the boat. I picture Peter scratching his head and then shrugging his shoulders. What could one more try hurt?

They dropped their net and and it filled up with so many fish they couldn’t even haul it into the boat!

WE ARE PETER

Imagine you are standing in that boat with the disciples. What have you poured your heart and sweat into and ended up with nothing but aches and pains and darkness? Watch for dawn. Listen for Jesus voice. Then do what He says.

John 15:5

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

To quote Tom Wright: “Jesus after all, has given his followers a strange and striking commission in chapter 20. They are to work for him. They are to be filled with God’s breath, and be sent into the world as Jesus had been. But if they try it their own way, they will fail. They will toil all night and take nothing. The only way is for them to admit defeat, to listen afresh to Jesus voice, and to do what he says.”

BACKGROUND

Now if we go back to Luke 22:54-62

Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance.  And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.  A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”

But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.

A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”

“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.

About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”

Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.  The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”  And he went outside and wept bitterly.

So, back at the beach…

The mysterious disciple whom Jesus loved recognized Jesus and when he said so, Peter threw on his clothes and jumped into the water. The other disciples stayed in the boat, dragging their big old net full of fish. When they got to shore, there was a campfire with fish cooking and bread!

Remember when Peter first denied Jesus? It was near a fire. Peter walked out of the ocean to his savior and smelled the cooking fire. Maybe the same smell as another long night, the night he denied Jesus.

What did Jesus do? He fed Peter and the others. He cooked them breakfast! He told the disciples to bring their fish but he already had fish cooking. He didn’t need their fish, did he? So why does John include this information? I think John wanted us to learn a lesson. Sometimes we get caught up in thinking we must do it all. We think it’s our responsibility to organize, to clean, to lead, to tell others the good news of the gospel. God NEEDS us!

Of course when we serve we are to serve in a mighty way. But it isn’t all up to us. The same God who created everything in the world is still on the throne and we are invited to be a part of the kingdom and we are created for a purpose and to fulfil that purpose is built into us. God doesn’t need what we have or what we can do. But we need Him.

STUCK

In my mind, Jesus sees Peter’s heart. He sees how he is stuck in his guilt and his “stuckness” keeps him from moving forward.  After they have eaten breakfast Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. He answered him yes and Jesus gave him instructions. “Feed my lambs.”

Jesus asked him again. Peter once again answered that he loved him. Again Jesus gave him instructions. “Tend my sheep”

I wonder if it all came flooding back to him.

Imagine how Peter’s heart must have been pounding. How he must have been shaking. I wonder if he was thinking, here it comes. Jesus is going to let me have it. I failed Him. I deserve whatever I get.

One more time, Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. This time Peter said “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Jesus is the passover lamb, who takes away the sin of the world including Peter’s sin. How often do we find that the hardest person for us to forgive is ourselves. I’m not making light of what Peter did. And sin always has consequences. In Peter’s case, maybe his sin was keeping him from what Jesus had commissioned him to do. Jesus went right to the hurt and each time the question is asked and answered, Jesus doesn’t pat Peter on the shoulder and tell him it’s okay. He doesn’t even use the words “you are forgiven”. He gives him his commission again. Time to get to work Peter!

John 10:11 says “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

TRUST

Back in John 20:21 Jesus told the disciples “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”

Jesus shares His ministry with Peter. He entrusts Peter with the care of His sheep. Peter was not just forgiven, he was restored. Jesus is not just putting Peter back to work. He is sharing His own work with him.

I have experienced “stuckness” in my life when I felt guilty or worried or hurt and couldn’t move forward in my life until I figured out why I was stuck and dealt with it. That’s a lot of MY and I and when we are stuck, I would venture to say that our focus is pretty much on ourselves (at least that is how it is for me) and sometimes the only way out is to change that focus and do something for someone else. A part of this seems to be Peter being told to put on his big boy pants and move on. Yes Peter, you messed up. It’s done. Now go take care of others.

Peter got refocused.

LOVE

I asked myself why this question? Of everything Jesus could have said in this exchange, why did he ask Peter if he loved Him?

Maybe because real ministry, whether you are a pastor, a lay person, a committee leader, a teacher, whatever you do, deep down, it begins with a love for Jesus. It’s not so much the work – it’s the heart. We aren’t earning grace. We are responding with relief and gratitude to something that is already complete. Even though we have all let Jesus down probably many many times, Jesus wants to help us find that love and to express it and be healed and be restored. He wants us to hear His voice as He gives us new work to do.

Will we fail? Sometimes. Will we let Jesus down? Repeatedly! But along with Peter’s greatest failure Peter holds another memory. He remembers a time when he heard the masters voice and literally stepped out of the boat in faith and even when his own lack of faith would drown him, the Jesus he loved, held him up. So if we will listen for the voice of Jesus, and act on what He tells us we may get wet….but occasionally we may get to walk on water!

I cannot remember the author of this quote but the words – We are not to be just recipients of salvation, but also bearers of salvation. Three times, Jesus tells us how to do that. Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, care for the flock.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

We live in a different world than the one we grew up in. Anyone with a phone has access to data and can look up any scripture, any commentary, any article written by anyone in minutes. We are no longer isolated in our church or anywhere else. What is done or said in view of others can be seen and heard by everyone almost instantly and the world is watching. And questioning. Will they see this loving shepherd Jesus in us? Will they get a glimpse of me walking on wave tops and want to climb out of the boat and join me?  Or will they see a judgemental, punishing Jesus who sees their failure and has written them off as unworthy and decide their safe, comfortable boat is just fine, thank you very much!

I just recently discovered an author and yesterday she died. I am surprised at how I am grieving for someone I never met She was 37 and leaves behind a husband and two small children. This quote resonated with me. I ask that you join me in praying for her family and friends.

“This is what God’s kingdom is like: a bunch of outcasts and oddballs gathered at a table, not because they are rich or worthy or good, but because they are hungry, because they said yes. And there’s always room for more.” ~ Rachel Held Evans

Prayer

Father help us to hear the voice of our shepherd. We know that we have let you down and we know that only your great love can restore us. Open our hearts to let Christ heal what hurts and keeps us stuck and give us new work that you have prepared for us. We gratefully receive salvation and we want to extend it to others and so we ask that you fill us with your spirit because we know that we can’t do anything good apart from you. Help us to be Jesus loving, water walking, bearers of salvation. As you sent Jesus and Jesus sent the disciples, send us! AMEN.

The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6

“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

   who will shepherd my people Israel.”

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Merriam Webster defines Epiphany as: January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles

also:

a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something

an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking

an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure

a revealing scene or moment

I think an epiphany happens when your brain stops thinking because suddenly your heart understands!

So who were these guys anyway? These wise men, magi? Matthew’s gospel is vague. They were from the east. If you look back in the old testament, Nebuchadnezzer of Babylon had a bad dream and called his magi and enchanters to interpret it with major threats if they couldn’t. Daniel saved the day with an interpretation and dream from the Lord.

Pharaoh of Egypt also had a bad dream and when his magicians couldn’t interpret it, it was Joseph, a Hebrew exile in prison that gave him God’s interpretation.

So the ancient Jews who heard this story wouldn’t have blinked an eye at the idea of magi.

There is a joke about a little boy who returned from Sunday School with a new perspective on the Christmas story. He had learned all about the Wise Men from the East who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus. He was so excited he just had to tell his parents: “I learned in Sunday School today all about the very first Christmas! There wasn’t a Santa Claus way back then, so these three skinny guys on camels had to deliver all the toys!” And Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with his nose so bright wasn’t there yet, so they had to have this big spotlight in the sky to find their way around.”

The gifts that the wisemen brought to the manger must have been very costly but a bit impractical. It seems to me a crib and diapers and maybe an actual room would have made more sense. They came to the manger, worshipped for a short time and left their gold, frankincense and myrrh and went back home. Doesn’t it seem odd that they left so quickly? If you were truly wise, wouldn’t you have wanted to stick around? I mean, I don’t think you could have pried me away with a crowbar! The most important child ever to be born and you don’t stay to see what happens next? How foolish these wise men seem!

They were sent by Herod and it didn’t occur to them that his motives might be a bit suspicious? Luckily for the baby Jesus, they had a dream and knew to stay away from Herod. Of course Herod was crazy mad when they didn’t return to tell him where to find the child and to quote Frederick Buechner on Herod “For all his enormous power, he knew there was somebody in diapers more powerful still.” He was so mad that he ordered every boy child under the age of two killed. What an illustration of the wisdom of the foolish.

Can we find ourselves in this story? Are we the ones who come to discover Christ only to spend a short time worshipping and then go back to where and who we were? Do we bring our gifts to the manger and leave them thinking they are somehow important – forgetting that what Jesus wants most from us is our heart? Our life? Our everything? Are we wise in our own eyes? We have so much more than the wise men in this story. We have the benefit of the New Testament, preachers and books galore written by those who have spent years of their lives studying the bible and hours writing their thoughts about what they have studied. We have the whole story and yet how many of us would make a long journey on a camel on the chance we might catch a glimpse of a baby in a manger and then risk the wrath of a powerful king so that this baby would live.

But maybe, for all their wisdom. it was in the moment that they came to the manger, that they recognized who this baby was. Maybe they came face to face with the foolishness of their own wisdom and left forever changed by what they saw with their hearts.

I remember walking down a snow covered street at night in Michigan. How snow muffled sound and the sparkle from the moon on that snow. How the sky was so clear and in the silence it seemed like you could actually hear the stars. And how small and insignificant it made me feel.

I remember evenings in summer – that time before sunset but right where the light begins to change as the sun gets lower in the sky and the reflection on the lake that stretched to the horizon. I remember the sense of peace and security, the day winding down, knowing I would sleep and that same sun and lake would be there in the morning.

I remember the sound of my mother’s voice, calling us in from playing and how she looked, standing at the sink washing dishes while I dried and we had some of our most important conversations. A constant presence that anchored my life.

I can describe those things to you but I live somewhere else now and my mother has been gone for years. They are just foolish stories. They are words and facts. But in my heart these are truths. I can close my eyes and see with my heart and be right there.

I think of Thomas in the bible. We all know the story.

John 20:24-29

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

It doesn’t say that Thomas actually touched Jesus’ wounds. I picture him standing there face to face with the resurrected Christ. Hearing the sound of Jesus’ voice, close enough to touch him. And I think, in that moment, Thomas stopped seeing with his eyes and saw his Savior with his heart. Jesus became real and alive for him. Thomas wanted facts. What he got was truth.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 says

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Men who thought they were wise, journeyed to a stable and found wisdom in a story that should be considered foolish. A poor young couple with nowhere to stay bringing a child into a world of poverty, pain, oppression, danger….who’s purpose in living was to go from the manger to the cross for you and I and inbetween, loving, teaching, feeding and healing.

So as we turn from Christmas and move into the new year, we too have left our gifts and walked away from the manger. The Christmas decorations and nativity scenes have been packed away until next year. We no longer hear the bell ringing Salvation army volunteers outside the stores and in fact, the stores were already stocking Valentines cards and candy before the New Year celebration had ended. Family has returned home and the weather is cold and compared to the noise and busyness of Christmas, there is silence. In that silence, may we all be able to close our eyes and with our hearts, return to the manger. May we meet again and again, this tiny new baby and have our hearts so changed that we drop our gifts and run to tell the world about this hope. Camels are optional…May we read the stories about Him in the bible and see ourselves in those stories so they become alive for us. May I rediscover that I am the prodigal son, welcomed back by the Father with open arms after I have gone and made a pigsty of my life; that I am Zacchaeus the thief who climbed up a tree hoping to get a peek through the leaves at this Jesus and found myself with an amazing dinner partner. That I am the disciple who had enough faith to step out of the boat onto the waves, but not enough to keep me from sinking without Jesus. May we, like Thomas, discover our risen savior and recognize the truth of Him with our hearts even when the wisdom of the world would tell us that none of this makes sense. It makes no sense that God would be born into a manger, walk the earth and suffer and die and be resurrected for ME! For YOU! But my heart tells me it’s true. My Lord and my God!

Father may we bring the gifts of our doubts, our foolishness, our homesickness for something we can’t even articulate and lay them at the manger and walk out into the world with the wisdom and truth that is Jesus Christ, your Son who comes to take away the sin of the world, to make us righteous, holy and redeemed. Help us live as a grateful people who love you and through our words and actions, to live every day as your foolish and broken but beloved children in our own walks from Christmas to Easter.  Amen.

In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy has to pass through three booby traps to get to the grail. His father is mortally wounded by bad guy Donovan to force Indy to to risk his life in the traps. In one scene Indy is standing in the opening of the side of a mountain with nothing but sheer cliff face above and below him. He needs to get across a chasm and there is nothing but air. He closes his eyes and quietly says to himself, “it’s a leap of faith”. He then steps out on air and it becomes solid under his feet! A bridge is now visible and he can now see his next step. But until he took the first step there was nothing.

Some of us are planners. Some of us spend a lot of time flying by the seat of our pants. My husband likes order. He will ask me in the morning before I have finished my coffee, what do I want for supper. I don’t know! In fact I don’t know much of anything before I have my coffee! I get tickled at Mark (my pastor) and Marion (I’m probably going to get in trouble now!) But Mark is definitely a planner. He likes order. He amazes me how he will usually even have the timing down. And Marion? Well it is not that she doesn’t plan because I know she does, but her general approach to life is take the next step and then see what comes after that.  In fact, I remember her family saying – the plan unfolds as it happens! What tickles me is watching them together. I have found that Marion and I tend to make Mark a little crazy sometimes.  I KNOW I make my husband a little crazy! But today I am going to see a little validation for just taking the next step.

Maybe one day I will be able to stick with the snippet of scripture we are given in the lectionary readings but so far that has not happened. I get interested in “the rest of the story” Lately I have been studying the old testament through the filter of watching for things that point to Jesus and it has changed the way I see most of the readings.

Today I am going to give the condensed version of  the book of Ruth and I hope you will join me in mining for gold as we walk it out and see if there is anything pointing us to the Jesus who was there at creation, was promised in the old testament, lived and died so that we also could have eternal life, who sent the Holy Spirit to abide with us, and will return for us because our creator has never and will never, ever, ever leave us alone.

Elimelech was married to Naomi and they lived in Bethlehem. They had two sons Mahlon and Chilion. They moved to Moab because of a famine in Bethlehem and Elimelech died there. Their sons married Moabite women – Orpah and Ruth. After ten years both sons died. In that time and culture women alone had no support so Naomi with no husband or sons decides to go back to Bethlehem where she came from and where she had heard that  “The Lord had visited His people by giving the bread.” . Ruth 1:6

**In the future the Lord will visit His people and give them food only then He will not only provide bread, He will BE the bread – Jesus said “I am the bread of life”

Naomi believes the hand of God is against her.  She tells her daughter-in-laws to stay and find themselves new husbands to care for them.

Orpah stays but Ruth refuses to leave Naomi and even though Naomi tries to talk her out of it, knowing she has nothing to offer the young woman, Ruth is determined.

Naomi and Ruth go to Bethlehem at harvest time. In those days, the harvesters would leave a little in the field and the poor could come along and pick it up.

 Ruth asks Naomi to let her go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain. As it turned out she was “gleaning” in the field of Boaz. Boaz was a wealthy relative of Naomi’s husband. Boaz finds out who Ruth is and tells her to stay with the women who work with him – apparently this could be a dangerous undertaking for a woman alone  and Boaz tells the men to not touch Ruth so she will be safe as she picks up the grain. Ruth is grateful but asks why he is being so kind to her. Boaz had heard how Ruth had stayed with and cared for her mother-in-law. He makes sure Ruth has something to eat and drink and plenty of grain to take back to Naomi. In 2:12 Boaz says “The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

**God’s provision often comes through the love and faithfulness of His obedient servants!

When Ruth comes home with all this grain Naomi asks where the field was that Ruth got the grain from and when Ruth tells her where and how Boaz had been kind to her, Naomi blesses him and tells Ruth it is good that she stay in that field because she might be harmed elsewhere. She tells Ruth that Boaz is their relative and their “guardian-redeemer”

The phrase guardian-redeemer is a legal term for someone who has the obligation toredeem a relative facing extreme hardship Leviticus 25:35-37 says  ‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.  You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.  I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

Naomi sees that Boaz likes Ruth and tells Ruth what to to and Ruth obeys. Boaz ends up marrying Ruth and Ruth has a son – Obed who grows up to be the father of Jesse who is the father of David. The son is born in Bethlehem.

**Boaz redemption of Ruth foreshadows Christ’s redemption of His people .

In Chapter 4 verse 15 the women of the town bless Naomi, saying the son of Ruth and Boaz “shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourish of your old age”

**The renewal of Naomi’s life is only a foretaste of the complete restoration of eternal life that would be accomplished through God’s son.

So, while Ruth is a short book – only 5 and a half pages in my large print bible, there are many things that point us forward to the New Testament and Jesus Christ.

We finish with some of the most famous and beautiful words in the book of Ruth – Ruth 1:16-17

“Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people will be my people, and thy God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also. if anything but death parts you and me.”

What a beautiful picture of abiding in Jesus. This world brought trials to Naomi and Ruth but Ruth became more than a daughter-in-law to Naomi. She chose to become her daughter – truly her family. The logical, worldly thing to have done would have been to remain in her homeland and find a husband to care for her but she chose to stay with and care for Naomi and to step out in faith, to accept Naomi’s God as her own and her life was completely changed.

**God’s family is built on faith – not nationality. Ruth, a non-Israelite from Moab is an ancestor of Jesus

She was more than Naomi’s daughter in word, she went to work to see that there was food. She acted on her faith and her love for Naomi. She listened to and obeyed her mother-in-law and that obedience lead to her having a husband, a son and a new life that blessed her and Naomi and at a future time – all of us!

Like Naomi’s daughter-in-laws we are free to choose. We can stay where we are comfortable and safe and I am not saying that is completely bad…or we can take that first step on an adventure with our faith and the more I read my bible the more I see how true a description the word adventure is. God will always surprise me.

At the climax of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade they reach the Grail chamber only to find dozens of cups – all different. Only the true grail brings life. The antagonist chooses a princely grail, gold and student with jewels and when bad guy Donovan drinks from it, he ages into dust. Indy chooses the true grail, a plain pewter cup and after being warned by the ancient knight who has been guarding the grail that it cannot be taken beyond the temple entrance, Indy carries it to his father who is instantly healed when he drinks from it. Elsa who had been hanging out with bad guy Donovan tries to leave with the grail and falls to her death. Indy nearly falls into the same trap but his father persuades him to let it go and they escape the temple and ride off into the sunset. Often what looks like the good choice from worldly perspective is the opposite and sometimes we hang on to things to tightly. Our faith wasn’t meant to be something we hoard – it was meant to be shared. Some things are meant to stay in the temple but we aren’t. We are supposed to go out to a world that needs us to be Ruth, to be Naomi, to be Boaz.

How would we be changed if we pursued God with the determination that Ruth had? What if we made the choice to leave the world we are familiar with behind and how would our world change if we were all to choose to make that kind of commitment to abide in Christ – to go wherever Christ would go, for Christ’ people to be our people, to be Jesus for those in need in a broken world.

When Ruth determined to stick with Naomi, she had no idea how things were going to turn out. She didn’t know that she would marry and have a son. She just saw the next step and she took it.

Deuteronomy 33:27 tells us “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms”

Father help us to remember your everlasting arms. John 15:6 reminds us that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches and that we can do nothing without staying connected to and having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

We know that there will be trials, famines, and loss, but your Word assures us that underneath – your everlasting arms are there holding us and all we have to do it trust you and take that first step in obedience. You have already provided the bridge across the chasm.

It’s a scene – it’s not the story!

Since I started speaking I have read commentaries and watched preachers online, just kind of trying to find my lane. I recently watched a video of a pastor preaching and a phrase he used resonated with me. It’s a scene – it is not the story. How often do we think that the situation we are in right now in the present feels like it is our forever place?

I love to read. Have you ever gotten so caught up in a book or a movie that you found yourself holding your breath and thinking that the main character will never get out of this?

Scholars do not all agree but many think that Job may be the oldest book in the bible. It tackles the thorny issue of theodicy or divine justice. The thought that God rewards virtue and punishes sin. Job was my least favorite book of the bible. It doesn’t fit my picture of the loving Father, waiting to welcome me home with open arms, to dry my tears, and give me my heavenly assignment (which is probably going to be heavenly garbage person but that’s okay – long as I get in the door!)

The story of Job always left me with more questions than answers. Why would God give so much grief to this good man? Just because satan challenges him? It seems very unfair, arbitrary. Is this one of those lessons in trust? I know that for me, very often, the problem is not with God, but with the limitations of my understanding.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him,  and he will make your paths straight.

Isaiah 58:8-9 reminds me:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

So I decided I needed to dig a little deeper.

You all know the story but here is the condensed version. Hopefully you can picture some of this story in your mind always keeping in mind – this is a scene – it is not the story!

We start out with Job. He has a good good life. He has a good wife, a beautiful home, livestock, servants and kids. He loves the Lord and the bible tells us he is blameless.

There are two confrontations between God and satan. God points out his faithful servant Job and satan says if you take away his blessings he will curse you. God gives satan permission to do that only not to harm him physically. Job loses his livestock, his servants, his home, and his children, but he doesn’t blame God, in fact he praises him. He said “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

So God points this out to satan – Job has lost his earthly blessings and he is still faithful. Satan says take away his health and he will curse you to your face. God gives satan permission to take Jobs health but not to kill him and so Job is covered now with boils from head to toe. He sat in ashes scraping himself with a piece of pottery. Even his wife said “curse God and die” She gave up fast!

Now Jobs’ three friends enter the story and they see this awful sight and sit down in the ashes with Job and they stay there for a week with him, not speaking. Finally Job breaks his silence. What does he do? He complains. Well wouldn’t any of us? He wishes he had never been born, and if he had to be born he wishes he had died at birth. What good is living if it brings so much pain? He, like any of us would, was crying out. Why?

Do his friends offer sympathy and support? Nope. They point out to him that he used to encourage the weak. He should take his own advice. If all these trials have come upon him he must have sinned. He needs to confess his sin and repent so the Lord will restore him.

Job defends himself and pretty much tells these guys they are “fair weather” friends.

At about verse 36 apparently there is a storm. One of Job’s friends, Elihu compares God to the majesty of the storm and makes a speech. God speaks to Job out of the storm and asks him a series of questions and Job admits his understanding is too limited to answer and he repents. God rebukes Job’s friends/critics and tells them to make a sacrifice and that Job will pray for them so that God won’t give them what they deserve for not telling the truth about Him. Not too happy with their theology. After Job prayed for his friends, God restored him and blessed him in the latter part of his life more than He had in the former.

Wow.

So what if we walk this out looking for signs or comparisons with Jesus? Where is Jesus?

Job as one of the oldest books in the bible happened a long time before the birth of Jesus…but!

John 1 says  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 8:12 says When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

And John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We saw at the beginning – Job was blameless. The most upright man on earth suffers the most.  Remind you of someone else?

Job said “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return there. (Job 21). Jesus died naked on a cross.

Eliphaz at one point started just making up stuff that Job never actually did. (Job 22:6-9) Jesus was falsely accused by false witnesses at His trial before the high priest.

Eliphaz taunted Job – told him to call out to God for help. Matthew 27:43 says “He trusted God; let him deliver Him now if He will have Him.”

At one point Job cried out “Why do you hide your face, and regard me as your enemy? Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

At the time that Job needed his friends the most, they failed him. Peter denied Jesus 3 times. I have failed people I love. Not intentionally but it caused pain none-the-less.

Job was raised up from his suffering when he interceded for his friends. After Jesus’ suffering, He was raised up as our intercessor.

So…Picture Job, a good and happy man, livestock, servants home, children – picture it. Beautiful life. The scene, but not the story.

Now see Job sitting in ashes, disfigured, bereft. At first too sorrow-filled to speak for a whole week! Still…A scene, not the story!

Then? Job still in ashes but his three so-called friends pointing fingers and lecturing him. Looking all high and mighty while Job is still crying out to God – asking why?

A storm, God speaks! Job in awe, realizes how little he understands. I can just picture this. Darkness, clouds and thunder and lightning and Job with his face turned to God’s voice while his friends are standing to the side, arms crossed, feeling pretty smug. Boy, Job is going to get it now!  And God proceeds to ask questions.

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Tell Me, if you have understanding.

5 Who determined its measurements?

Surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

6 To what were its foundations fastened?

Or who laid its cornerstone,

7 When the morning stars sang together,

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

And more, so much more. You have to read the book of Job – the pictures of the glory and power and majesty of God are some of the most beautiful verses I have ever read….and Job is humbled and repents.

And then God turns just a bit and there is that moment when the three friends realize that oh oh….now they have their arms behind their backs and their heads bowed…

When I was a kid we had a glassed in porch called a breezeway. The kitchen door going to the porch had a square window covered in curtains my mama made. Those curtains were ALWAYS closed. I had just gotten a whipping for something. I don’t even remember what. I went out the door and turned around to face that window and stuck my tongue out. The curtains were open and there stood my mama – frowning and crooking her finger at me. I imagine those friends having that same feeling I had multiplied by a gazillion.

A scene but not the story.

After Job prays for his friends, God restores Job’s health and blesses him with a house and more livestock and children and his life is different. You can’t go back and losses are losses but there are new blessings.

Jesus arrested, tried and crucified. You can’t judge a story by one scene.

When you are sitting in the ashes? Well if you give up when you are in the pit, you will never see the palace!

The health scare? That job you didn’t get? That problem with your marriage? Worries for your children?  A layover, not the destination!

The storm? The set up for the story!

It can be real and hard and painful, but it doesn’t define you – there is more to the story!

There are hard things that happen in this life. Sometime we cry out to God and there doesn’t seem to be an answer. We wonder how can God allow bad things to happen to good people?

There is pain, trials, suffering…death. Scenes.

There is grace, restoration, resurrection. The story!

Phillippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ

When trials come – you can sit in the ashes and you can cry out to God. Just don’t stay there. Look for Jesus. Amen?

Unity in the Body of Christ

Ephesians 4:1-6 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Psalm 133:1 

A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

When Dale and I first started coming to Powderly Methodist Church we experienced having lay speakers on a regular basis for the first time. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Ironic? I mean, it’s not the pastor so you don’t have to pay as close attention right? I’ll admit that sometimes my mind wandered. I’d think boy is it hot up in the choir loft today and wow, I hope no one heard my stomach growl..I can hear God telling me “Little girl you are mine but sometime you need a whooping!” But then one day it hit me. I had a ring side seat to what God was doing in someone else’s life! I have come to view it as a gift. Not because every sermon is perfect. Nobody hits it out of the park every time. Sometimes I might not even agree with the speaker. But I have found that if I try to see beyond the words being spoken to what God wants me to hear, I can look for what God is doing in this person’s life as they prepare to speak. I try to find one “take-away” – something I can think about in the upcoming week. I can think on how I would have approached the lesson and marvel at how scripture can speak to each of us right where we are at any given time. As time passes I grow to love each of our lay speakers for what they bring to us, their prayers, their thoughts as they wrestle with God about what He wants them to say and praise God for what He does in their lives and in ours as we share.

I am reading a book called The Message of the New Testament by Mark Dever. In his book Mr. Dever suggests that you read the Old Testament with the view that everything points to Jesus. Then read the New Testament to answer the question – did the deliverer that was promised in the old testament come?

The author describes the New Testament as three concentric circles. The circle in the center is Christ. That is the gospels and Acts. Jesus is the new covenant – a covenant is used biblically to make a new relationship. Jesus came to make a new relationship with God’s people because our relationship had been destroyed by sin. So now you have the next circle – as the church spread you read about God’s covenant people and how they are to live out this new relationship. The first letters are to the brand new baby churches that were just trying to figure everything out and then to individuals who have been instrumental in spreading the gospel. Next is the outer circle as the Church grew and spread to the rest of the world.

The book of Ephesians is one of those letters and in the first three chapters we are given a picture of what biblical unity looks like. In today’s scripture, Paul makes the case for unity. Now you and I when we study the bible even today, we may interpret things differently. Meanings seem to change with the perspective of where ever we are right now. Not our core beliefs but the details. At the time this letter was written, the Jews and Gentiles were dealing with coming together as one church so you had Jews “US” who brought their Old Testament laws and traditions that were so ingrained coming together to worship with brand new Christians who came from other faiths and had traditionally been “them”.

Paul makes a case for Christian unity with these two groups. Not that they were expected to agree on each and every little thing. But to remind them that if they were focused on each other and their differences they were not focusing on God.

Paul lists seven ways that unity has already been given by God for the church to walk in.

1. There is one body – Christ’s body
2. One spirit – the Holy Spirit
3. One Hope – Eternal Life
4. One Lord – the Triune God
5. One Faith – the Christian faith
6. One baptism – the baptism of the Holy Spirit into Christ’s body
7. One God & Father – The heavenly Father

What do all these things have in common? The unifyer – the work of Christ’s death on the cross ties all these things (and us!) together

Notice – no where does is say we have to agree on everything – that we all have to be the same. Paul just asks that we WALK worthy of our calling.

This week as I prepared my talk, I was thinking about baby Jessica and the well. Do you remember? It was 1987 and it seemed that the entire world was watching and praying. People sent money and prayers and equipment and for 2 days we were all united in the hope of one thing – that that baby would be rescued and be okay. For two days it didn’t matter what your location, your politics, your religion, everyone was united in the hope that this story would have a happy ending. Maybe if we stretch this a little, it gives us a picture of what Christian unity can look like.

All of the people who were involved, from the folks actually present all the way to the ones like me that were glued to their tv sets and praying – all focused on one thing and one thing only – a happy ending, a human life being saved.

People brought different things to the table, some had equipment and knowledge of drilling and geology and all that goes in to safely making a way to Jessica. Some had money to help transport the necessary people and equipment and some could offer food and showers and places to stay and some were there just to share the story with the world as it unfolded. They were not all copycat robots who looked and thought and spoke the same, but their differences paled beside the rescue of one tiny soul and so they used their individual gifts to help each other focus on that and a miracle happened. Jessica McClure was brought out of a deep dark hole into the light. (And I am sure there was a lot of light –  photographers flash bulbs and the lights for the video cameras! Wow.)

And then, the whole word rejoiced. We rejoiced.

God’s covenant people, storming heaven with prayers for one thing and then not just waiting for prayers to be answered, became Christ’ hands and feet and saved someone. Paul doesn’t say you have to be a member of this or that denomination, this or that political party, be male or female, rich or poor, just walk united in Christ, coming alongside brothers and sisters in the hope that all will be saved.

In 1st Timothy Paul writes: “ First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,  for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

In Galations 3:26-28 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Our Father knows we are different – He knit us together in the womb and He knows we will not all agree all the time. Some of us won’t agree ANY of the time…on some things. But what matters is how we walk this out and this preaches to me.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

it’s not about who we are, it’s about who we are in HIM

It’s not about what we want to do, but it is about what He has done for us

It’s not about what we want out of this life, it’s about what He wants for us in the next

It’s not about who or what we hear on a Sunday morning – it’s about how we live every day until He comes back for us

My challenge to all of us this week is to take that one person that is getting on your last nerve, that hurt you for no reason, that really pushed your buttons…and look at them through the lens of Christ and the sacrifice He made for THEM as well as us. Look at them from the perspective of God desiring all meaning them as well as us to be saved. It’s my prayer that while we still most likely will not agree with them, our perspective will have changed. It can’t hurt,  and maybe, just maybe, someone will be saved.

I have recently started a new chapter in my life. I have started being on the rotation as a lay speaker at two of the four churches in our district. I have spoken a few times before but just as a sort of pinch hitter – I was a little afraid to commit to a regular schedule at least until I got my feet wet.

It’s both a joy and a scary thing for me – the joy is that I am passionate about teaching from the bible and being a “regular” makes me more intentional about studying the Word myself. The scary thing is actually doing it! I’m always afraid that I may make someone angry or say something that causes someone to stay away on the Sunday’s that I speak. I have seen people do this with other lay speakers so it isn’t totally me being neurotic.

The next Sunday I am scheduled to speak I will talk from Ephesians on Christian unity. The last few times I have written what I would say in the weeks proceeding the actual Sunday and then I would wake up at 4 in the morning that day and rewrite the entire thing. I would ask for prayers that if God has something for me that He would help me see it sooner so that I have time to run through it several times beforehand so I will feel more prepared!

So far my process is to read through the scripture multiple times, read a couple commentaries, look for outlines online and pray for God to give me insight and clarity. If you are reading this and you are a praying person I would ask for prayers for this ministry. I’m not altogether sure what a calling is but this feels like a calling and so I am also praying for affirmation and direction.

Do you have a story that you feel illustrates a time or situation where God spoke to your life? Something you would be willing to share and let me use? I would love to hear it.

Peace!

John 4:1-26 and 39-42

I Love the pictures the bible gives us. Pictures of Jesus and pictures of God’s people wrestling with how to live out their faith in the real world. Regular people just like us. The story of the woman at the well is one of those kind of stories.

Sometimes stories become so familiar that I think I know them and because of what I think I know, sometimes I miss details.

God orchestrates ordinary circumstances to accomplish extraordinary things.

In this scripture there is a little passage, kind of a side note that caught my attention. Jesus HAD to go through Samaria. Some translations say Jesus needed to go. Jews at that time had as little to do with Samaritans as possible. They would take the long way around to avoid going through Samaria. So that makes me wonder…why did Jesus, a Jew, HAVE to go through Samaria?  So, if we walk this out –  Jesus did His Father’s will. So if Jesus had to go through Samaria, then logically, it was His Father’s will that He go that way. If he had not obeyed His Father’s will, He would not have met the Samaritan woman. (sometimes when we listen to the prodding of the Holy Spirit we may go through unfamiliar and even uncomfortable territory.

If you have an encounter with Jesus, you might do something out of the ordinary (like leaving your water jug behind)

So here we are. Jesus, wholly divine and fully human is sitting at this well, tired and hot. A woman shows up at the well to get water. She must not have been rich or she might have had servants to fetch water for her.  But Jesus listens to her. He SEES her, right to the heart of her life. Maybe his words caused her to see herself through His eyes, and made her realize how badly she needed grace. I’m not sure what His words meant to the woman but we know from the text, they were personal and He revealed Himself to her as the messiah! The words must have had a profound effect on her because she was so excited that she went off and left her water jar. In the desert. Left. it. THAT is what an encounter with Jesus can do to you. I imagine if I went to Walmart for milk and was gone several hours and came back empty handed, Dale and I would be having a conversation. Now notice what happened. She went back and told the others that this man told her everything she had ever done and they BEGAN to believe. Something about what she said or maybe just how she was, made them want to meet him.

Sharing our faith doesn’t convert anyone. We just have to point them to Jesus. Jesus does the heavy lifting. It is their own encounter with the Christ that changes them.

Whatever effect Jesus had on this woman, something about her caused the people she spoke to, to have a desire to meet this Jesus for themselves and once they met Him, they wanted to hang out with him and because of their time with Jesus, Christianity spread throughout that part of the world. Pretty extraordinary!

So what are we to do with this? How does this story speak to each of us? For me, it reminds me we are all walking through a desert. It can be beautiful but also it’s dry and dusty and just harsh sometimes. On Sunday morning we come here – to our well where we can rest and be refreshed.

We are tired and thirsty. Maybe we have spent the week wrestling with our faith, trying to work out how to live as one of God’s kids. Maybe we have had one of those weeks where we resembled the Samaritan. We have worshipped on a different mountain and hung out at different wells, and our own beliefs have gotten muddied. Maybe it was wonderful and we just need to say our thanks and praise the one who sustains us. Whatever the week was like, we are here now with with our empty cups held out.  We need an encounter with Jesus. We need that thirst to be quenched. We need to be filled with living water.

But just showing up at the well isn’t enough. Like the woman at the well, we have to seek Jesus for Him to reveal Himself to us and ASK Him for that water. If we walk into the sanctuary with our empty cup held out, asking Jesus to fill it, to fill US with living water then it isn’t going to matter who is behind the pulpit. It isn’t going to matter that our favorite hymn wasn’t sung. It may not even matter what team’s playing or where we are eating after church because we will have in some way met Jesus and we will be changed. And maybe, just maybe, if we are paying attention, there will be someone we encounter in the next week that needs to meet this Jesus and we will have a conversation, or perform a kindness, or just seem different and it will point them in a new path in the desert, not just to fill a pew at our church, though that would be wonderful; but because every single person needs to know that they are not alone in the desert, needs their own encounter with the risen Christ, and needs to know that at the end of that long walk through the desert, Jesus is waiting for them.

I have been inactive here for too long. My dry spell for writing began with the election but while shocked at the results, the continuation of that dry spell has been more a response to the willingness of people to not only strongly take sides, but spew hate without even seeming to be aware of what they are saying. I fear for this world, not for myself, but for my children and their children. There are hard times coming.  Some writers can take their pain and turn it into poetry. My poetry comes from a place of peace in my soul and that is what I have been working on, but it has taken my thoughts in a different different.

Next Sunday I will give the message at church for the first time. I will post it here after Sunday. I am speaking on John 4, the story of the woman at the well. Walking though the desert to get water and meeting Jesus seemed a good place to start. I would appreciate prayers. I am not a public speaker and this is so very far out of my comfort zone. Luckily I will have a stool to sit on as it makes it even more difficult to concentrate on your words when your knees are shaking!

I’ve also had some ongoing health concerns this year and as of this post, I have a shiny new grand daughter – Nola Mae. So cares and blessings. Life moves on.