Father Hagan's new assignment

I thought it was worth mentioning that our beloved pastor, Father John Hagan, has moved on to a new parish.  Father Hagan -- thank you so much for sharing your sermons with us, and we wish you all the best at your new assignment.  Your new parishioners are lucky to have you!

-"The High Water Mark"

Sermon-Year B Proper 16-August 26, 2012-"The High Water Mark"


The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

An old woodsman gives this advice about catching a porcupine: "Watch for the slapping tail as you dash in and drop a large washtub over him. The washtub will give you something to sit on while you think about what you’re going to do with a very angry porcupine."

John 6:56-69

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father." Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."



In 1863 the Civil War had been going on for two years and the South had won almost every major battle. The leader of the Confederate forces Gen. Robert E. Lee had a vision of how to end the war. He would invade the north and defeat the Union forces on their own ground. At a small town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg Lee attacked dug in union forces and almost won the war for the South. On the 3rd day of the battle, the southern forces attacked up a long hill. At a place that became known as The Angle the confederate forces almost broke through the northern lines. But they didn’t. It became the greatest Union victory and was the beginning of the end for the South. This point in the wall, The Angle, has been called famously, “The High Water Mark Of the Confederacy”-it was the nearest the south came to winning. It was their high water mark-and the beginning of the end.

For the last 5 weeks we have been hearing about Jesus feeding the 5000. It was The High Water Mark of Jesus’ popularity. People have been chasing Jesus, stalking him. Mark 6: “32And Jesus and the disciples went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.33Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.” The people have been so smitten with Jesus that 5000 hungry people with no food have spent the day just trying to be near him. And he fed them! But then, he told them who he was. Why he came. And what following him would mean. And slowly and inexorably, painfully, embarrassingly –they drifted away. Until we come to today’s gospel. It is within hours of the high water mark of the feeding of the 5000 hungry adoring. And today we hear that the only people left surrounding Jesus were his few closest followers.

The Rev. Dr. David Lose professor of Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary writes

“No wonder, then, that many of those following Jesus now desert him. And at this point we need to be careful, for it's always tempting to write off those who gave up on Jesus as people too stupid or lazy or unfaithful to believe. But note that John calls these folks not simply "the crowds," as in earlier passages, but rather "disciples." The people in today's reading who now desert Jesus are precisely those who had, in fact, believed in Jesus, those who had followed him and had given up much to do so. But now, finally, after all their waiting and watching and wondering and worrying, they have grown tired, and they can no longer see clearly what it was about Jesus that attracted them to him in the first place, and so they leave...and who can blame them?”

What do you think those followers are saying as they walk away? “It’s not what Jesus said, it’s the way he said it!” or , “he seemed so good, too bad he blew it with that crazy teaching his body being food for us” or –make one up yourself. Think about the ways that Jesus has failed you. Think about the suffering you’ve seen. Or the injustice and unfairness of life. Think about how little God seems to show up in your life, or all the ways you are a spiritual person not even needing Jesus. Think about how you are struggling recently, and God seems ….nowhere. That’s the people close to Jesus-the last to leave.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" … Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"

Doyou think it’s hard being a follower now? Imagine watching 4988 people walk away and only you and 11 others are left. When Jesus asks "Do you also wish to go away?" you know what Peter wanted to say, “CHRIST YES! Of course I want to go away. Who wants to stay here???”

If you take your faith seriously, if being in relationship with Jesus is important, if following Christ is a high priority for you, there are going to be times when you say, “Christ ,yes, I want to leave!” Remember 99% of the people drifted away. But when we are in a serious, life changing relationship, there are times when we want to leave. Jesus wanted to run away when he was in the garden. Nicodemus, Peter, Thomas-those closest to Jesus at one time or another wanted to leave. How many times I have listened over the years to people who wanted to drift away-because love was just too hard. How many times have you felt that life/relationships were just too hard? When Jesus asks, "Do you also wish to go away?" Peter is dying to leave. He is so disappointed, angry at Jesus for his teaching, his failure, his missed opportunity. Jesus was at his high water mark-how could he blow it like this????

“In the Preface to her book Amazing Grace, subtitled “A Vocabulary of Faith,” Kathleen Norris tells of an evening when she was making a presentation on this “vocabulary of faith” when a question was addressed to her concerning the real value of these “words of faith.” “I don’t mean to be offensive,” her questioner said, “but I just don’t understand how you can get so much comfort from a religion whose language does so much harm.” Taken aback momentarily (Ms. Norris understood the question all too well, for she had, herself, been distanced from faith and its vocabulary for many years), she struggled to respond when in a moment of inspiration it came to her that the problem lay in the word “comfort.” “I said that I didn’t think it was comfort I was seeking,” Ms. Norris said, “or comfort that I’d found. Look, I said to her, as a rush of words came to me. As far as I’m concerned, this religion has saved my life, my husband’s life, and our marriage. So it’s not comfort that I’m talking about-but salvation.” (pp. 3 and 4).

(This is from Craddock Stories 2001)

Famous preacher Fred Craddock was invited in 2000, in mid-October, to the University of Winnipeg in Canada to give two lectures, one Friday night and one Saturday morning. I went. I gave the one on Friday night. As we left the lecture hall, it was beginning to spit a little snow. I was surprised, and my host was surprised because he had written, “It’s too early for the cold weather, but you might bring a little windbreaker, a little light jacket.”

The next morning when I got up, two or three feet of snow pressed against the door. The phone rang, and my host said, “We’re all surprised by this. In fact, I can’t come and get you to take you to the breakfast, the lecture this morning has been cancelled, and the airport is closed. If you can make your way down the block and around the corner, there is a little depot, a bus depot, and it has a café. I’m sorry.” I said, “I’ll get around. I put on that little light jacket; it was nothing. I got my little cap and put it on; it didn’t even help me in the room. I went into the bathroom and unrolled long sheets of toilet paper and made a nest in the cap so that it would protect my head against that icy wind.

I went outside, shivering. The wind was cold, the snow was deep. I slid and bumped and finally made it around the corner into the bus station. Every stranded traveler in western Canada was in there, strangers to each other and to me, pressing and pushing and loud. I finally found a place to sit, and after a lengthy time a man in a greasy apron came over and said, “What’ll you have?” I said, “May I see a menu?” He said, “What do you want a menu for? We have soup.” I said, “What kind of soup do you have?” And he said, “Soup. You want some soup?” I said, “That was what I was going to order – soup.”

He brought the soup, and I put the spoon to it – Yuck! It was the awfulest. It was kind of gray looking; it was so bad I couldn’t eat it, but I sat there and put my hands around it. It was warm, and so I sat there with my head down, my head wrapped in toilet paper, bemoaning and beweeping my outcast state with the horrible soup. But it was warm, so I clutched it and stayed bent over my soup stove.

The door opened again. The wind was icy, and somebody yelled, “Close the door!” In came this woman clutching her little coat. She found a place, not far from me. The greasy apron came and asked, “What do you want?” She said, “A glass of water.” He brought her a glass of water, took out his tablet and said, “Now what’ll you have?” She said, “Just the water.” He said, “You have to order, lady.” “Well, I just want a glass of water.” “Look. I have customers that pay – what do you think this is, a church or something? Now what do you want?” She said, “Just a glass of water and some time to get warm.”

“Look, there are people that are paying here. If you’re not going to order, you’ve got to leave!” And he got real loud about it, so that everyone there could hear him.

So she got up to leave. And almost as if rehearsed, everyone in that café got up and headed to the door. If she was going to have to leave, they were as well. And the man in the greasy apron saw this happening and blurted out, “All right, all right, she can stay.” Everyone sat down, and he brought her a bowl of soup.

I said to the person sitting there by me, I said, “Who is she?” He said, “I’ve never seen her before.” The place grew quiet, but I heard the sipping of that awful soup. I said, “I’m going to try that soup again.” I put my spoon to the soup – you know, it was not bad soup. Everybody was eating this soup. I started eating the soup, and it was pretty good soup. I have no idea what kind of soup it was. I don’t know what was in it, but I do recall when I was eating it, it tasted a little bit like bread and wine. Just a little bit like bread and wine.”

Jesus comes to us in bus stations and being asked tough questions. There are lots of times when we want to leave, and get away. It will be difficult and sometimes we will look around and realize that everyone else has just drifted away. But this is not about comfort. It’s about salvation, and hope, and sometimes it’s about a warm bowl of soup. Where else can we go? These are the words of eternal life. Amen.

-“What drains you?”

Sermon-Year B Proper 12-August 9, 2009


The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

John 6:35, 41-51



Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

In seminary we had Eucharists every day of the week. Usually there would be a saints day at least every other day, so the readings and theme for the sermon would change regularly. But one week, for some reason, there were no saints days, no changes. So every sermon that week had to be on the same 3 lessons. By Friday we all were dreading ONE MORE SERMON on the same lessons. We’d just heard 4 sermons already on the same lessons in 4 days. The professor preaching on the 5th day stood up and we all groaned realizing we were going to hear a 5th sermon in 5 days on the same thing. And he started off saying, “ some day YOU will have to preach a sermon 5 times on the same lessons. And people will groan when you stand up to preach and there’s not a thing you can do about it. God help you.”



Ok, two weeks ago we heard the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. A familiar story, everyone knows it. But then the lectionary jumps from the 6th chapter of Mark, to the 6th chapter of John for 4 weeks. That’s where we went last week. And each of these 4 weeks Jesus is trying to use this miracle, this “miracle” to help people understand who he is and why he came. But it doesn’t work. The harder Jesus tries to explain, the more angry-or confused-or dumb-everyone in the story becomes. Some of the people, like the ones in today’s reading, just don’t like Jesus. Some don’t want to understand. Or they’re not going to comprehend anything Jesus says because they think he’s just a bad Jew. No matter what he says, they will argue with him.

So forget Jesus for a moment, let me come at this a different way. Do you know what drains you? Do you know what sucks the life right out of you? Think about it. I’m not asking what are your pet peeves, I’m asking what things exhaust you. Deb and I were having a disagreement about money the other day, and I told her that talking about money always reminded me of arguments my parents had when I was a little boy-and how scared I became when I heard them arguing. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that arguing, fighting itself, was a real bugaboo of mine. I will go way out of my way to avoid an argument, because they drain me. Think about it, what events, situations, make you feel most uncomfortable, most anxious, most unnerved?

Ok, I wanted to start there because I thought it would make the next question easier for you to think about-what feeds you? What strengthens you, what lifts you up, makes you feel better no matter how bad things are going? What situation, event, relationship, whatever, always makes you feel stronger, more capable, more gifted? I’ll give you another couple of examples. I love the Olympics-not because of the gold medals. I love the stories of the athletes-what they’ve overcome, what sacrifice they had to make, what other people did to help them make it to London. I am fed when I think impossible things are possible, when I see something incredibly noble or hopeful or inspiring happen. I am lifted up when I see another person do something that I didn’t think I had the strength to do. When I’m having a bad day, or week, or month, I will find a story about someone overcoming the odds, and I am always fed. I know that sounds simplistic but that’s what works for me. And if you listen to my sermons, you will hear one of those stories almost every week. Here’s one:

At the foot of a great mountain in China lived a father and his three sons. They were a simple and loving family, whose great joy was sitting, eating a meal together and sharing their lives. The father noticed that travelers came from great distances eager to climb the dangerous mountain. But not one of the travelers ever returned. The three sons heard stories about the mountain, how it was made of gold and silver at the top. Despite their father’s warnings, they could not resist venturing up the mountain. Along the way, under a tree, sat a beggar, but the sons, ignoring him, did not speak to him or give him anything. One by one, the sons disappeared up the mountain, the first to a house of rich food. The second to a house of rich wine. The third to a house of gambling. Each became a slave to his desire, and forgot his home. Meanwhile, their father, more and more depressed at his sons’ absences, missed them terribly. “Danger aside, “ he thought, “I must risk everything and find my sons.”

As he climbed the mountain he reached the summit, he found indeed that the rocks were gold, and the rivers ran with wine. But he hardly noticed, so intent was he on recovering his sons. He only wanted to find them and help them remember the love they had once shared. On the way down the mountain having failed to discover them, the father encountered the beggar under a tree. He asked the beggar’s advice. “The mountain will give you your son’s back,” the beggar advised, “only if you can bring something from home that will cause them to remember their father’s love.” The father raced home, grabbed a bowl of rice. He returned up the mountain, and gave some to the beggar. He then found the three houses where his sons were living. Carefully he placed a single grain of rice in the mouth of each son. And as the rice touched each boy’s tongue, each son realized how stupid he had been, how empty his life truly was, and that he wanted only to return to his father’s home. One by one the sons and the father walked down the mountain, and returned to their house.

Jesus says to the people, I am that which feeds you. I am like bread. Every day you live in me you will be lifted up, strengthened, nourished, inspired-fed. The people didn’t get it. I think he should have started by asking people what drained them.

Do you know what feeds you? Do you know what gives you life? Do you know what strengthens you for the journey? Do you know what things, events, miracles actually give you hope? Have you ever thought about it? The phrase Jesus uses is “living bread”. He’s trying to get people to understand that being in relationship with him, will feed them, give them life forever.

Listen to this piece from Brian Peterson, Professor of New Testament

Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary Columbia, SC , about today’s gospel.

" A diet of bread, week after week, may get rather tiresome and stale – unless careful attention is paid to the movement of John 6. … In last Sunday's text, the center of attention was upon Jesus as the gift from the Father for the life of the world. Building on that claim, this Sunday's text focuses on Jesus as the center of faith to which the Father draws people. The movements within chapter 6 for these two Sundays, and for the one that will follow, are certainly interconnected, but they are not identical. Jesus is not simply repeating himself, and John is not writing in circles…. The crowd concludes that Jesus has not come from Heaven, because they know his parents. Familiarity is breeding contempt. One who has been among them cannot possibly be what Jesus claims to be. …The truth is not found in knowing the human parents who have nurtured Jesus' childhood. Rather, the truth is found in knowing that Jesus has come from the Father in Heaven. The crowd's self-assured "knowledge" stands in their way of seeing the truth. ….The only way out of such deadly unbelief is to be drawn into faith by the Father, and this activity of the Father is a



major focus of today's text. …. Faith is not simply a human choice to be made, but is the activity of the Father drawing people to Jesus. …. We must be dragged into faith by God; there is no other way to come. …. there is promise and hope in this text's declaration that God does in fact draw people to faith in Jesus. God is busy doing that right ….Even to the grumblers, Jesus comes as the bread of life, opening our eyes and hearts to new possibilities. ….. As conversations go on and objections are raised, Jesus does not seem interested in making it easier to swallow. ….If the crowds have been offended by trying to reconcile Jesus' heavenly claims with Jesus' familiar parents, what will happen when they are faced with the brutal reality of the cross? The bread from Heaven will give life to the world, astonishingly, by dying for it. This bread of life from Heaven is no "free lunch;" it will cost Jesus his life. Feeding on this bread will bring us as well to the cross (12:32).”

The story continues. It will be easy to think of the things that drain you, empty you. But think of the things that feed you, strengthen you-even challenge you. Think of the single grain of rice that has been put on your lips, wakes you up, and draws you back home. Amen.

“Up the Ante”

Sermon- Proper 13B/Ordinary 18B/Pentecost 10 August 5, 2012


The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.



Alyce Mackenzie, a Methodist preacher that I like a lot, says that she never watches “America’s Got Talent” but she “eaveswatches”. So that when someone else in her family watches it, she sort of, you know, watches it from the other room. She writes: During each performance the three judges sit at their desks with control buttons. If at any time during the performance they become bored they push an X button and a giant buzzer sounds, testing the mettle and concentration of the hapless juggler, singer, ventriloquist or dog trainer on stage. After each act the judges give feedback. It's always the same advice: "Up the ante. Make it bigger. Make it better. Make it more dangerous. Wow us more or you won't go through to the next round."

Her point is, that’s the people at the feeding of the 5000: “So the crowd says to Jesus, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?” Come on, wow us!

In the gospel of John, people were always trying to get Jesus to give them what they wanted. And every single time, he refuses. He says, I’m not just a miracle worker. I don’t just feed your stomachs. I am more than that. I came to change who you are. They just kept saying, “"Up the ante. Make it bigger. Make it better. Make it more dangerous. Wow us more or you won't go through to the next round."

There is an ancient parable about a holy man who rested beneath a tree at the outskirts of a city. One day he was interrupted by a man who ran to him saying, “The stone! The stone! Please give me the stone!” The man told how in a dream an angel had spoken to him of a holy man outside the city who would give him a stone and make him rich forever. The holy man reached into his pocket and pulled out a large diamond. “Here,” he said, “the angel probably spoke of this. I found it on my journey here. If you want it, you may have it.” The diamond was as big as his fist and perfect in every way. The man marveled at its beauty, clutched it eagerly, and walked away from the holy man. But that night he could not sleep, and before dawn he went back and woke the holy man saying, “The wealth! The wealth! Give me the wealth that lets you so easily give away the diamond.”

That’s the crowd. We have the bread, now we want to be fed every day. Give us the wealth behind the bread! Give us more, feed us every day. Wow us, up the ante!

John liked people being confused in his gospel-it gave Jesus an opportunity to teach. If you looked back a couple of chapters in John you would hear a very similar story about the woman at the well. She wanted to drink of the water forever-and Jesus explained that she didn’t understand that he was the living water. In today’s story, he explains that the crowd doesn’t understand that he’s the bread of life. Each story Jesus takes something common, every day, normal and tries to stretch people’s understanding of who he was and what he’s about. Water. Bread.

Jesus tells them-I am like bread. Only when you eat bread you get hungry again. But when you believe in me, you will be fed for the rest of the journey and feel full the rest of your life. And they tell him, “You don’t understand, Give us the wealth, the wealth.”

“Fred Craddock writes that "they [the people]still want to be in charge, even of faith itself. Show us a sign[they say], we will see, we will weigh the evidence, we will draw the conclusions, and we might even decide to believe (v. 30).”

But we can’t be too hard on the crowd. Remember who they are in the gospel stories-they’re supposed to represent you and I. We struggle with belief, we struggle with faith-we want Jesus to give us what we want, right? They are us.

From Alyce Mackenzie again, “Nothing will change in this story until the crowd gets in on the act. We have to come up out of the audience and onto the stage. We have to vacate our judges' seats. And when we do, we don't have to juggle flaming knives or do graceful acrobatics from a silken rope high above the stage. We just have to believe.”

It seems like such a simple story, such a simple choice-simply believe. But it’s not. Believing that Jesus is the bread of life is not just about believing-it’s about living a different kind of life. It’s not easy and it requires A LOT. It means that we decide to live another way.

Charles Hoffman writes: “In one way or another, each of us is challenged by a personal wilderness: painful loss, physical suffering, financial reverses, betrayal or bereavement. These are roads that we travel not by choice, but by necessity. A Spanish proverb speaks to this condition: "With bread and wine you can walk your road." For us, Jesus is that sustaining bread.”

These are the roads we travel by necessity. When we want the water, when we want the bread-this is what we do. We believe-and in believing-we live. It is not always, easy. Or convenient.

One last story: “It was the year 1917. The place was an Armenian hospital in Mezre. Day after day, Elizabeth Caraman, a nurse in that hospital, cleansed and bound up the wounds of Turkish soldiers who had been wounded on the battlefields. Often when the soldiers came to her, hastily applied bandages were dried on to a gaping wound. It was extremely painful to remove them.

One day Elizabeth was working on an especially bad wound. To help the young soldier think about something besides the pain, she told him a little about her own history. "My father and I were deported from our home by the Turks," she said bitterly, "and my father was thrown into prison. In 1915 they took him out of his cell, rolled him in a carpet and hoisted him up on a donkey. Together with other Armenian men they sent him away to die." At this moment, Elizabeth, for some reason, looked up. To her surprise the young soldier was staring at her with a look of horror in his black eyes.

"What is the matter?" Elizabeth asked.

"I [was the one who]killed your father," he said in a low voice. Elizabeth could only gasp. With a super human effort, she went on cleansing the wound. "I rolled him off the donkey onto the ground," the soldier continued. "With one jab of the bayonet I killed him. I have never been able to forget it. The whole business of killing [himhas sickened me."

Elizabeth felt a wave of hatred and sorrow sweep over her. Here was the murderer of her father. In some strange way, the enemy had fallen into her hands. She had the power to destroy him. At this moment Elizabeth thought of her mother. What would she have done? Her mother loved Christ and tried to follow him. She would have tried to help this young man.

The power and light of her mother's life reached out to Elizabeth.

Gently Elizabeth turned to the soldier lying in front of her. "Christ says we must forgive our enemies. For his sake, I forgive you." she said. The soldier stared at her in amazement. He could not say anything. Every day, when Elizabeth came to his bed to dress his wound, she saw him looking at her with awe and wonder in his eyes.

Finally, one day, he said to Elizabeth, "Your Christ must be very great! He surely is the bread of life. His teachings really live in your heart, for I see them in your life."

We can be the crowd that demands more signs. We can be the man who wants the wealth behind the jewel. We can be the judges who say to Christ: “"Up the ante. Make it bigger. Make it better. Make it more dangerous. Wow us more ….."

Or we can be the nurse who forgives. We decide what this bread will be-bread for a day-or bread for life.

Amen.

John 6:24-35



So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal."



Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.



John 4

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

4Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’—2 although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized—3he left Judea and started back to Galilee.4But he had to go through Samaria.5So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’.8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)9The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)10Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’11The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’13Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’15The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

16 Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’17The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”;18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’19The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet.20Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’21Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’25The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’26Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

27 Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’28Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city. She said to the people,29‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’30They left the city and were on their way to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’32But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’33So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’34Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.35Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.36The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.37For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.”38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’

39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there for two days.41And many more believed because of his word.42They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour

“They’re Closing In”

Sermon-8 Pentecost-Proper 11-July 22, 2012

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Another passage from Mark-another sandwich.  Two short episodes with a big piece missing in the middle. 

Story of the man in the suit.

Sometimes the people who set up the lectionary, the weekly decision on what readings we will hear, look like the man in the suit.  Notice in the gospel for today we have five verses, then a gap of 20 verses, then 4 more?  It’s convoluted for reasons that you’ll get more of next week.  But see if you can remember 2 weeks ago.  Jesus had a bad time in his home town.  Essentially he “failed” as a prophet when he went there.  So what does he do?  He puts the disciples in teams of two and sends them out to proclaim the good news.  Remember that?

Then Mark, the gospel writer interrupts that story with the story of the death of John the Baptist.  Today’s gospel comes back in with the disciples returning after their stint as apostles:

So the disciples are back.  And they mob Jesus to tell him stories about their adventures.  And Jesus says, “listen you need to rest, and eat.  Let’s go across the lake and get away from people and get some r and r.”

Before anyone had ever heard of “compassion fatigue” Jesus is trying to take care of his tired and weary do gooders.  Taking time out to take care of ourselves is important,  Carving out room in our lives for quietness, and thoughtfulness is critical in a 24 hour world. Time for sabbath and rest are Christian values. 

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Then, when the crowds followed Jesus and his friends, who were trying to go off and be by themselves, the crowds were actually waiting for them when their boat landed.  And it says in verse 34 that Jesus “began to teach them many things.” 

Mark Hoffmann, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg  points out that when Jesus really wanted to show compassion to the people he “taught them many things” .  His point being that teaching can be a form of compassionate evangelism.  Hoffmann goes on t say,  “I so like this verse that when we offered an evening worship service that focused on Bible study, we set the time for it at 6:34!).But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

Or how about Mark the gospel writer being such a good Jew, that he wove  the Old Testament into every story about Jesus that he recounted.  Tim Slemmons points out that :  “the occasion for Jesus' compassion, namely, that the crowd was like sheep without a shepherd" and again, his response is to teach them (6:34; Num 27:17) was from the Old Testament book of Numbers . ¹⁶‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation¹⁷who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd. The second recalls the original purpose of the fringes that the Israelites wore from Numbers 15:38: "You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God" (Nu 15:39-40).

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

The thing about listening to the Gospel of Mark, is that it makes more sense if you listen with your eyes closed and simply see the picture that is described.  Close your eyes, and listen:” ³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.”….. ³³Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.³⁴As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd;”… ⁵⁴When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him,⁵⁵and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.⁵⁶And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed…”

What’s the image that you get?  People are chasing Jesus, surrounding him, pressing against him..  First his disciples “gathering around”, then the crowds.  The sick, the needy.  What does this make you think of?  The first image I had was the counselors at last week’s Day Camp.  How about the paparazzi following around a movie star?  There is this constant picture of Jesus being pursued, chased, hounded.  Canon David Lovelace once wrote:” I was recently with a group of clergy when one person observed that in Mark's Gospel it seems like people are always rushing after Jesus wanting to be made whole.” 

That’s the sense that you get in Mark-hungry, hurting, needy people constantly encircling, pressing, closing  in on Jesus.  Even the disciples are portrayed this way.

Why does Mark show the people like this ? Why is the crowd in Mark always running after Jesus? Is this passage more about the people-and how desperate they are?  Or more about Jesus-his authority, his peacefulness at the center of great needs? 

Think about your own life, your own faith for a moment.  When are you most open to faith-when things are rolling along?  Or when you are hurting?  When do you most feel the need to be in church-when you are struggling?  Or when you are feeling self-sufficient and strong? When do you most think about Jesus-when things are going well-or when they aren’t? 

Mark has collected all these stories about Jesus and put them in such away to help his own church.  The people in Mark’s church weren’t always hungry, or needy, or hurting.  But when they were, when they were facing great threats or unspeakable violence-they needed a shepherd, they wanted a leader, they hungered for someone who could show them the way out. They sought a savior, they required a calm center in the midst of the chaos of their lives.

Mark wrote this gospel-so the people of his church would know that Jesus was there.  Mark didn’t promise an end to evil.  Mark’s Jesus didn’t guarantee that justice would prevail.  Mark’s Jesus never pledged that life would be fair.  In fact, just the opposite.  Mark devoted a whole chapter to the senseless beheading of Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist-on a whim of a young girl.  The biggest part of Mark’s gospel will be the crucifixion.  Mark was a realist.  Mark stared life in the eye, and he didn’t blink.  Mark understood what his church needed, and why Jesus came.  And he showed that Jesus.  The Jesus Mark revealed was someone who made people whole especially in a broken world-and taught them not to be afraid-despite the fear and tragedy in their life.

Listen to a cousin of one of the Aurora shooting victims: "I hope this evil act ... doesn't shake people's faith in God," .  Mark would say that evil acts are what drive people to faith-not away from it. 

This is the gospel story for today, it’s a story about people who are hungry, tired, hurting, and needy who rush at Jesus looking for healing and hope. 

It can be a tough world at times.  It can be senseless, and angry, and random.  It can be overwhelming and daunting. Mark’s church knew this.  His church knew how difficult life could be.  And so when they heard Mark’s stories about Jesus-they knew that the center would hold, and that they would find wholeness-even when surrounded by brokenness.

It was a tough week.  We saw yet another example of pain and evil.  It hurts us to witness these-it hurts us as Americans, it hurts us as Christians.  Mark knew that people hearing his gospel would encounter weeks like these-and so he put down in writing the story of Jesus.  It is especially for weeks like these that we gather with one another and listen to the story of people who went looking for a shepherd.  Amen.

“Preparation for failure”

Sermon-6 Pentecost-Proper 9-July 8, 2012

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mark 6: 1-13
He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

There is a famous story about a 3^rd year seminarian.  He’s about to be ordained and then assigned as an assistant at a new church.  So he’s meeting with the bishop about what church he should go to.  The seminarian says, “Bishop, I am open to any church  you want to send me-except the church at New Canaan.”  The Bishop asks, “why not New Canaan?”  The seminarian says, “well, that’s where I grew up-and you know a prophet is not without honor except in his home town.”  The bishop pauses for a moment, and says, “don’t worry son, no one is going to confuse you with being a prophet.”

I have been telling you that Mark the gospel writer loves these “sandwich” stories about Jesus.  Last week was kind of a club sandwich, this week is open face.  But what Mark enjoys doing are presenting 2 stories that build on each other, connect to one another-and especially reveal each other.

If you have been married for a long time, or you have adult siblings, or if you have parents, a single word or phrase can carry a lot of meaning.  I heard a story about  a couple a million years ago who were meeting with a marriage counselor.  The husband was explaining to the therapist what the problem in the marriage was.  “When I walk in the door at night my wife says “hello, honey, how was your day?”  And I can’t take all the judgement and accusation that she means by that.”

Jesus goes to his home town, and his neighbors, the people who have known him all his life ask, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary….”

We’re so used to thinking about  Jesus as Lord, that we don’t hear all the snide references in this simple passage. “Where did ‘this man’ get all this? “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary…?”First they call him, “this man”.  A little subtle.  Then they refer to him as “the carpenter”-a little stronger-this is like saying, “this common laborer”, and then they turn nasty, “son of Mary”. This is a patriarchal society.  Calling someone by his mother’s name was akin to saying he had no father.

So, ok they have insulted and snubbed Jesus.  He couldn’t do any of his miracles there. Barbara Brown Taylor “ compares it to the experience of trying to light a match to a pile of wet sticks”. Things aren’t going well with Jesus in his home region. We’re in the 6^th chapter, earlier In the 3^rd chapter of Mark his family thought he was crazy. A few verses later in that chapter his family tried to remove him from his teaching ministry. 

Jesus has come home-and people don’t give him any respect. This isn’t what we usually expect, but here is the hard news- Jesus is failing. 

So what happens next?  He commissions his 12 friends to go out in his name and spread the good news.  This is bizarre.  Jesus is rejected so he sends out his friends in his name?  And what does he tell them?  “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them."

I know I keep reminding you of this, but you have to remember the context of these stories. Mark the gospel writer has collected these stories so that his church can hear all about Jesus.  So when Mark’s church hears first that Jesus was unwanted in his home, that his disciples might be rejected when they take the good news out, and that bearers of the good news often fail-how would his church take this?  They might be discouraged (why try), they might be disappointed (why don’t people like our words), or they might be ….COMFORTED!  “SEE EVEN JESUS STRUGGLED, EVEN HIS DISCIPLES WERE PREPARED TO FAIL!”  Mark wants his church-and all who read his words about Jesus to understand that rejection, discouragement, even failure happened to Jesus and his friends-but they weren’t deterred.  They tried new strategies, they attempted new plans, they imagined new ways to take out the good news.  They believed God was with them.

Years ago we had a Weight Watchers group that met in our parish hall.  The woman who ran it was thin, svelte, beautiful.  But then over the years she put on a little weight.  Then she had a baby.  She never lost those pounds.  She wasn’t obese but she was a little overweight.  I remember asking one of our parishioners who attended the group for a long time how they felt about attending now that the leader was no longer the perfect image.  She answered “The group is more popular now than it’s ever been-everyone knows that they won’t be judged when they attend.”

I think Mark puts these two stories back to back to say to the new Christians in his church, “listen, it will be hard to convince people that what you have is good news.  It was hard for Jesus.  The first disciples found it tough.  Everyone was prepared for being rejected. “  Does that make you feel a little better about your , um, “inadequacies” as a Christian?  Do you feel a little better about what a miserable evangelist you are? 

Let me finish with a few quotes and a story about failure-just to make you feel better.

“the only thing worse than having God speak to you through your spouse is to have God speak to you through your teenage daughter.” Markquart

“Even on our worst days, we can be as effective as Michael Jordan. On his  television ad [several years ago]Jordan said: ‘I've lost over 300 games, I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.’” Rev. Kirk Kubicek

Here’s the story from The Rev. Anthony Robinson.“ Not long ago I visited a once prominent church, a church that had for decades been known far and wide as the home of great preachers and a center of great social causes. Like many, however, this church had declined in recent decades.

When I arrived to give a lecture there, I was met by an officer of the church. As I was early, he asked if I would like a tour of the grand facility. As we walked he told me that twenty years ago he had feared for the future of his church. In fact, he said, "I was pretty sure than by now we would have closed our doors. You see, we were just fifty elderly people left in this great sanctuary." Then he brightened. "But something has happened. Something has changed. We're experiencing a kind of renewal, a revival."

"Really," I said, "that's wonderful." "Yes, these days we have four or five hundred people in church. We have new ministries in the community. We are seeing new people, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight."

"How do you explain this?" I asked.

He thought for a moment, his hand on his chin. Then he said, "Well, it wasn't all our new minister, but he has made a difference."

"What's he done?"

"Well, he got us studying the Bible . . . yes, our minister gives a wonderful Bible Study. In fact, he can give you the entire message of the Bible in just six words."

Inwardly, I groaned. "Another fast operator?" I thought.

"And what might those six words be?" I asked skeptically. My host, ....grinned broadly. "The six words that summarize the entire message of the Bible? 'I am God and you're not.'" We both laughed.

"I am God and you're not."

Don’t worry about your insufficiency, your inadequacy, your success as a sharer of the gospel, Mark tells his church.  Jesus didn’t always hit a 1000,  and the disciples died thinking they had failed.  Be prepared to face opposition.  Don’t get discouraged when people shut the door in your face.  Shake the dust off and move on.  Remember, God’s in charge, and we’re not.

"The Kingdom of God is a weed”

Sermon- Proper 6B/ Pentecost 3/ June 17, 2012

The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

First things, Jesus loved a good story.  He loved to teach using stories.  Stories teach without seeming to teach, and they help us to remember the point.  Katherine Huey writes that: “Parables, however, are more than just a good story, or a simple and useful illustration to make things clearer. If anything, they may have made things more obscure to the hard-hearted and the close-minded. Parables make us think, and think hard.”

So in today’s gospel Jesus tells us two short stories, two brief parables to help us understand his teaching.  “In the first three chapters, Jesus brought God’s healing and wholeness through his miracles. Now it was time to explain what was going on. These are Mark’s first parables, and he grouped together several about things that grow.”Rosalind  Brown

“Let me tell you a story”,  Jesus is saying in chapter 4, “let me tell you what the kingdom of God is like.”

And so Jesus begins telling us how strange and unexpected the kingdom is.  It’s like  a seed, a tiny, unbelievably small seed that is planted deep in the earth-where it grows slowly, gradually, relentlessly –but we, as a rule, don’t like tiny, and slow.  Alyce Mackenzie tells this story: “A friend told me about her young son who was doing a science project in his elementary school class. He planted several seeds and was supposed to monitor how quickly they grew. A problem arose, however. Seeds don't grow when chubby, little hands dig them up every day to see how they're doing.”   What if we dug up the Kingdom of God every day to see how it was growing?  What if you charted your faith every day and ask, “ok, am I more faithful today?  Am I more spiritual?”  Look at a child growing inside of a person, it is so slow, so unpersonlike.  Recently a young woman told me, “the fetus is at 3 months, we can hear a heartbeat-I can tell people now.”  For 3 months the kingdom had been growing before it even had a heartbeat. 

Look at your life.  How is the kingdom growing in you?  Is it taking forever?  Do you wish God would hurry up and get you “there”?  Jesus’ first story is that God is developing his kingdom in us and through us-whether we hear the heartbeat or not.  God is moving, the kingdom is growing .  The heartbeat will come.

The second story is the one we like-the mustard seed.  One writer I read said that Americans love this story because we love underdogs.  This tiny seed becoming a huge shrub would appeal especially to us.  But 1^st century Hebrews listening to Jesus’ parable about the mustard seed would have laughed at the first story.  Why, you ask?  Because they knew their Bible.  The great prophet Ezekiel had a prophecy that when the people of Israel returned from exile Israel would be like a huge majestic Cedar tree, beautiful and noble, where the birds of the earth would nest.  Instead, Jesus tells them, that the kingdom of God would be like a giant wild plant.  They would have been amused that God’s kingdom would be like a weed-the mustard bush.  People stand at the edge of the ocean, or look up at the Redwoods, or stare at the mountains and we talk about how it makes us think of the power and grandeur of God as the creator. “How Great Thou Art!” How many times have you looked at that shrub in front of your house, that ugly, growing, impossible-to- kill-bush and thought about the kingdom of God?

The story of the mustard seed was supposed to make people think-and think hard-about how the kingdom looks-and grows. 

The kingdom of God is that seed that surprises, that seed that seems impossible ever  to become something alive, that tiny unbelievably small germ that takes forever to have a heartbeat-and ne day grows into a living breathing force that cannot be quenched. 

There's a scene in the recent blockbuster film The Hunger Games …President Snow, the totalitarian ruler of futuristic Panem, asks his chief Games-maker -- the one charged with creating a spectacle as entertaining as it is barbaric -- why they must have a winner. The answer? Hope. He wants to give the oppressed people of Panem hope that maybe, just maybe, the odds will be in their favor and they may win the Hunger Games and escape their life of slavery. "Hope," he explains, "is the only thing more powerful than fear." But for that very reason is as perilous for a dictator as it is useful: "A little hope," he explains, "is effective- a lot of hope is dangerous."  A spark is fine-as long as it’s contained.”

The mustard bush, the seed planted deep, a spark that cannot be contained, the kingdom of God growing, is this force, this power developing , budding, emerging and one day you wake up and you hear a heartbeat.  Jesus tells stories to shake our world, to shape our vision, to make us think, and think hard about what we’re expecting, what we’re waiting for, where we believe God is.  The kingdom is small, insignificant, hidden, but it is emerging, it is breaking forth into the world and when we finally see it, hear it, feel it we wonder at it. Martin Luther once said: "If you truly understood a single grain of wheat, you would die of wonder."

Jesus tells stories.  He tells stories to help us understand and to make us think hard.  Today’s stories are about growth and hiddenness and underdogs and breaking expectations. 

One last story about the kingdom of God:

“That's what happened with Mr. Ballantine. The day the elderly man was shoved out of a car and deposited on the doorstep of a homeless shelter, another homeless man named Denver offered to help. In response, the drunken Ballantine spat out curses and racial slurs. Denver helped him anyway.
Even more than he hated people of color, Mr. Ballantine hated Christians...so much so that he would rather have starved than endure chapel sermons to obtain a free meal at the shelter. When Denver went through the serving line, he'd always get a second plate and take it upstairs to Mr. Ballantine.
Denver continued taking meals to Ballantine even after the older man had been moved to a government-run nursing home two miles away. When Ballantine's room was messy and unclean, as it often was, Denver cleaned the room and its occupant. Each time he came to visit, Mr. Ballantine cursed Denver and called him names.
One day a friend went with Denver to visit Mr. Ballantine. He asked the old man if he could get him anything. "Ensure and cigarettes," the man said. Denver and the friend went to a nearby drugstore to purchase the items. The friend sent Denver back to the nursing home alone.
Here's how Denver relates his conversation with Mr. Ballantine in the book titled Same Kind of Different As Me:

When I went back to Mr. Ballantine's room, he asked me who paid for the cigarettes and I told him Mr. Scott. "How am I going to pay him back?" he asked. I said, "You don't." "Why would that man buy me cigarettes when he doesn't even know me?" "Cause he's a Christian." "Well, I still don't understand. And anyway, you know I hate Christians."

I didn't say [anything] for a minute, just sat there in a ole orange plastic chair and watched Mr. Ballantine lyin there in his bed. Then I said to him, "I'm a Christian."
I wish you coulda seen the look on his face. It didn't take but a minute for him to start apologizing for cussin Christians all the time I'd knowed him. Then I guess it hit him that while I'd been takin care of him--it was about three years by then--he'd still been callin' me names. "Denver, I'm sorry for all those times I called you [names]," he said. "That's okay."
Then I took a chance and told Mr. Ballantine that I'd been takin care of him all that time, 'cause I [knew] God loved him. "God's got a special place prepared for you if you just confess your sins and accept the love of Jesus."
I ain't gon' kid you, he was skeptical. Same time, though, he said he didn't think I'd lie to him. "But even if you aren't lying," he said, "I've lived too long and sinned too much for God to forgive me."
He laid there in that bed and lit up one a Mr. Scott's cigarettes, starin' up at the ceiling, smoking and thinking. I just kept quiet. Then all of a sudden he piped up again. "On the other hand, I'm too...old for much more sinning. Maybe that'll count for something!"
Well, Mr. Ballantine stopped callin me [names] that day. And wadn't too long after that I wheeled him through the doors at McKinney Bible Church...We sat together on the back row, and it was the first time Mr. Ballantine had ever set foot in a church. He was 85 years old. After the service, he looked at me and smiled. "Real nice," he said. (Ron Hall and Denver Moore, Same Kind of Different As Me. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006, 162-3.)”

The kingdom of God is like a young woman who finally hears a heartbeat. or an 85 year old man who finally hears the voice.  The kingdom of God is like a weed that crawls into our lives and grows, develops,  and changes until it is our lives   It may take  3 months or 85 years but that heartbeat, that call will one day be a living breathing spark, that will not be contained.  And that is the story of the kingdom of God.

v           The Kingdom of God is a weed”