sermon-Jan. 27, 2008

Sermon-Year A-3rd Sunday after Epiphany-1-27-08
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."
Two guys are out fishing in a small boat in the ocean a couple of miles off shore. Suddenly a large wave comes along and throws the fishermen into the water. Suddenly a shark fin of the great white appears a 100 yards away. They’re dog paddling, trying to figure out what to do, when one of them all of a sudden starts swimming furiously for the beach. The guy left behind yells out, “you can’t outswim a great white shark this far from the shore!” The first guy, swimming swiftly away says, “I don’t have to-I just have to swim faster than you.”
You all know your Bible at least a little, right? Remember the story of the man born with leprosy who was healed by Jesus. (Don’t confuse this with the story of the 10 lepers, and only one turned back to give thanks). Remember the story of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the exorcism of the man named legion who was possessed, the woman at the well who had been married 5 times, the man born blind, the healing of the man who sat by the waters for 38 years, the man born deaf, Lazarus, Mary, Martha-you know dozens of Bible stories where people experienced the power and the charisma of Jesus, right? So how come only 12 followed him? Over and over we hear the stories of Jesus changing lives, rescuing people from themselves, saving people from their afflictions-and yet we hear pretty clearly that there were only 12 disciples called to follow. How come? Where were all these other people? Why weren’t they running after Jesus, too. Were the disciples smarter, better, more faithful than everyone else?
You know what got me started thinking about this? Years ago I was in a Bible study, and several of the people were older in the group, and they wanted to know- “whatever happened to poor Zebedee, the father of James and John?” The boys jump out of the boat and leave their father Zebedee-and what happens to him. And that’s what started me wondering, we know lots of stories of Jesus salvaging lives-where were all those “other” people-why did Jesus only call 12 to be fishers of people? Why not all those other folks who were changed so deeply?
I have to be careful here, I don’t have an answer, but I have a guess.
My experience is that people who come to church often are usually (not always) but usually, pretty good people. You’re not perfect, but you are trying who are trying hard to be better. And when you hear a gospel story like the one for today lots of you don’t feel inspired, you feel-(what)--guilty. You hear about Peter and Andrew, James and John leaving their lives, in a moment, dramatically, impulsively, and you think, “I could never do that”. More often than not when this gospel story is told, Christians, you and I, think to ourselves, “if I only had more faith, if I only was stronger, if only I had what they had/knew what they knew/felt what they felt-IF ONLYI HAD THEIR FAITH!-I could do this-too.” But then we walk out of church, and we walk away from the story, but we don’t forget the guilt. And we wish we could be more like these four strong faithful amazing fishermen.
Remember the 5000 who were fed with fishes and loaves, how about all the people at the wedding in Cana, the woman who bled for 12 years, the people who heard the sermon on the mount, the widow of Nain’s son who was raised, the woman with the costly nard who anointed Jesus’ feet? Where were all those people, how come they weren’t jumping out of boats to follow? Why were there only 12? Do you think Israel in 30AD was filled with thousands of people, like you and I, who were changed and revived and then sat around feeling guilty because they just didn’t have what it takes to get out of the boat? Think about it, why, out of all the people who were touché, heard, saw, experienced, felt the nearness of the Kingdom of God, why only these 12 were asked to fish for others?
In fact of the 12 who followed Jesus, none of them, as far as we know, not one was ever healed, revived, resuscitated, or for that matter, even baptized by Jesus. So why did Jesus call these twelve and no one else followed him? Starting to feel a little bit better about yourself? It’s not just you.
I think maybe Jesus wanted all these other people to stay exactly where they were. J.H.W. Rhys writes, “God calls us all to salvation-but to different vocations. Zebedee and his crew’s job is to go on securing food for others.” I wonder if Jesus called everyone he met-it’s just that a very few were supposed to walk along behind-everyone else-wasn’t. All the rest were to simply supposed to live lives that proclaimed that “the kingdom of heaven has come near”. I wonder if all those other people were told to stay put, live their lives, do their jobs,raise their families, be noble, and faithful, and lifechanging, bringing the good news of the kingdom of God- to all those around them? I don’t know, but I do know that Jesus touched hundreds if not thousands of people-and they didn’t follow. So what did they do? I think they simply told other people about Jesus. And lived their lives where they were.
One thing that helps make this clear for me about today’s gospel, is that Jesus wants his followers to fish for people. As K.K. Oehmig says, “the call to follow is not just about personal fulfillment. We are called for the sake of others. The church exists for mission…”People weren’t healed, forgiven, rescued and saved just so they could go back to their old lives and stay the same. Staying in the same place, and staying the same-AREN’T THE SAME THING. They were meant to be changed, they were meant to fish where they were. Maybe there were other ways to follow than just walking with Jesus.
This is what I do know, most of the time, when we hear the story of the four who jumped out of the boat-we don’t feel inspired, motivated, moved. We just feel inadequate-others can do it-I can’t. But I don’t think that’s true. What about the centurion at the cross, Simon of Cyrene, the man who offered his donkey, or the man who gave away his upper room for the last supper. How about all the people in the last verse in today’s gospel- “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people”. Were these people all failures too, because they didn’t walk behind on the road? I don’t think so. I just think that they had other fishing to do-catching people where they live. I think that most of the people Jesus encounters, people like you and I, are supposed to be changed-and then we are called to fish exactly where we are. There are two ways to follow-one is to jump out of the boat-and the other it to stay in it-and keep fishing where we are. I think we’re all called to follow, some on the road-some in the boat. Amen.
Matthew 4:12-23
4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 4:13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 4:14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 4:15 "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles 4:16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." 4:17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 4:18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. 4:19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." 4:20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 4:21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 4:22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Sermon Jan. 13, 2008

Sermon-Year A-1st Sunday after Epiphany-1-13-08
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."
to provide plenty of cookies and cakes for all of our guests."
In 1st century Israel, the famous person wasn’t Jesus-it was John the Baptist. There are many references of him in Jewish literature, and hardly any about Jesus. John was very popular, thought of as a holy man. John was greatly respected and admired by the people. Not Jesus. Then, In the early days of the church, after Jesus died and rose, people kept asking, “why did Jesus need to be baptized by John?” It was scandalous, disgraceful. If Jesus was the Son of God, why did he need John to baptize him. It probably doesn’t rank up there with Brittany Spears and Lindsey Lohan for you, but it was very difficult for early Christians. Why does the Son of God need to be baptized by someone else? Why? What sins does he have? No one could answer that. It wasn’t quite as embarrassing as the cross, but there were so many things about Jesus’ life and ministry that didn’t make sense. Early Christians were walking around telling people that Jesus was the Christ, and people kept coming back at them saying, “well, if he’s the Son of God, how come…” Here’s another question people were asking, “what had Jesus been doing all his life?” He’s 30 and now and we’ve heard nothing of him. Til now. What was he waiting for?
Before performing a baptism, the priest approached the young father and said solemnly, "Baptism is a serious step, my son, are you prepared for it?" "I think so," the man replied very gravely. "My wife has made appetizers and we have a caterer coming at 1.
We hear nothing of Jesus’ life up til now. Last week he was 2 and this week he’s 30 and getting baptized. Matthew the gospel writer doesn’t seem at all interested in what has happened inbetween-only in what happens from this day forward. Jesus comes to John and asks to be baptized-like everyone else. And when he comes up out of the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
We don’t know what Jesus was doing up til now. But we know what happens next. Jesus gets baptized-and his journey begins. Baptism is when everything begins.
Diane Borg writes: A watermark is an interesting thing. It's usually a mark on some piece of property that indicates possession and ownership by someone.
That’s what baptism is. It’s our watermark. It's a public declaration to anyone watching that we belong to Jesus Christ and we are his followers John is baptizing people as a symbol of repentance, a washing away of the old life. But when Jesus comes up out of the water, something new happens. God doesn’t say, “you’re forgiven”. He says, This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
He identifies Jesus as someone special, and unique. We don’t know what happened up til age 30, but from now on, Jesus’ life will never be the same.
Fred Craddock, a seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN. One night they found a quiet little restaurant where they looked forward to a private meal—just the two of them. While they were waiting for their meal, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting guests. Craddock whispered to his wife, “I hope he doesn’t come over here.” He didn’t want the man to intrude on their privacy. But sure enough, the man did come over to their table.“Where are you folks from?” he asked in a friendly voice. “Oklahoma,” they answered.“Great to have you here in Tennessee” the stranger said.“Oklahoma is a splendid state, I hear, although I’ve never been there. What do you do for a living?”“ I teach homiletics at the graduate seminary of Phillips University,” he replied. “Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I’ve got a really great story for you.” And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with Craddock and his wife. Craddock groaned inwardly and thought to himself, “Great! Just what I need…another preacher story!” The man started, “See that mountain over there,” pointing out the restaurant window. “Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, ‘Hey boy, who’s your daddy?’ Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, ‘Who’s your daddy?’ He would hide at recess and lunchtime from other students. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so bad. When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. The boy would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, ‘Who’s your daddy?’ But one day, the new preacher said the final benediction so fast he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, ‘Son, who’s your daddy?’ The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, ‘Who’s your daddy?’. This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that scared little boy…‘Wait a minute!’ he said, ‘I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.’ With that, he patted the boy on his shoulder and said,’ Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’ The boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, ‘Who’s your Daddy?’ he’d just tell them,’ I’m a child of God’ ”.The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, “Isn’t that a great story?” The professor responded that it really was a great story! As the man turned to leave, he said, “You know, if that new preacher hadn’t told me that I was one of God’s children, I probably never would have amounted to anything! That was the most important single sentence ever spoken to me,” and he walked away. Craddock and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over and asked her, “The man who was sitting at our table and just left, do you know who he is?” The waitress grinned and said, “Of course. Everybody here knows him. That’s Ben Hooper. He’s the former governor of Tennessee!”
We believe Jesus was sinless, but he still went to be baptized. We don’t know what he had been doing the last 30 years, but we do know what he did the next three years. God spoke to Jesus, his child and said, “you are my beloved, I love you.” And from that day forward, Jesus was a on a mission.
We are all children of God. We have all been adopted by God. We have all been chosen. We have an inheritance to claim, a mission to declare. Jesus was told that he was God’s beloved, and from then on nothing was ever the same. We, also, are God’s beloved.
We have a great inheritance. Go and claim it.
Matthew 3:13-17
3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 3:14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 3:15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 3:16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
The Greek Festival of Epiphany, or 'The Blessing of the Waters', is held every year on January 6 throughout all of Greece. This is the special occasion when many daring young Greek men brave the chilly waters to dive for a cross after it has been blessed by a priest and thrown into the water. For his gallantry, the first man who recovers the cross is said to have good luck throughout the coming year.

don't lose the star

Sermon-Epiphany Jan. 6, 2008
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."
You’ve heard this one: If it had been Three Wise Women, instead of Three Wise Men, they would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, brought practical gifts, and looked great while doing it.
Let me clear up briefly a few things-The gospel of Matthew never says that the magi were only men. It never says that there were 3. They arrive in Bethlehem when Jesus is about 2, not when he’s born (as we show in every creche scene). And the family is living in a house-not the stable. Mark, Luke, and John never mention the magi-only in Matthew.
Let me tell you about Herod. his quest was to become King of Judah. He became king by making a deal with Rome. Herod was responsible for the end of the Hasmonean Priesthood, the people of power in Jerusalem, by having the High Priest attacked and having his ears cut off. Priests could not be handicapped and serve as high priests, so they were discredited. Herod would dress as a commoner, mingle with the crowds and talk about the King and his government. When someone indicated disapproval, they would be arrested and never heard of again. Herod was so suspicious that many of his court and even his family was executed after rumors of disloyalty were scattered. Eventually, gossip about his dear wife planning an overthrow caused him to have her killed. Herod was so vicious, Caesar even summoned him to Rome and told him not to be so violent.
It is a wonderful story though. A child in danger, wise astrologers seeking the child to honor him, an evil king out to get the child. Gifts of gold for a king, frankincense for worship, and myrrh the oil used for anointing the dead. Deception, betrayal, murder. Hollywood couldn’t have done any better.
But here is what captures me about the story-it is a story of wise people, searching people, seeking a star. That grabs me. I think most of us at one time or another in our lives have seen the star, had a vision, perceived a light that catches us, and holds us-if even for a short while.
There is a story told of a little girl whose mother had just given birth to a baby boy. The girl insists on being alone with her new brother when he is brought home. The parents, a little concerned, open the door a crack as their daughter goes into the baby’s room and moves up close to her new sibling and whispers, “Tell me again what God is like, I am starting to forget.”
There are times in my life when I am so sure, so certain that I am seeking Christ, that I am on the road, and I set my course and head out. And then one day I look around and I ask myself, “wow, was I going someplace? I think we are always being grabbed by guide posts, road markers, maps that take us towards Christ-but then-life gets in the way, a king invites us to dinner, we put things off for awhile, something happens and then –we wake up one day and wonder- was I really following a light? And we forget about the star and move on.
I bet you've heard the old joke about the guy on his hands and knees on the sidewalk one dark night. He is crawling around under a streetlight. His buddy comes up and says, “Hey, whatcha doing?” The first guy says, “I dropped my keys.” The buddy gets down on his knees, too, and says, “Well, about where did it happen?” The first guy says, “Oh, I lost them over there in the grass.” The buddy gets up and yells, “Then WHY are you looking HERE?” The first guy says: “But This is where the light is!”
The magi see the star and make it as far as the king’s palace. But it’s after dinner that the star appears again. This is what I learn, the star has to keep arising in our lives. We are so easily distracted, diverted from following the light, that if the star stops shining even for a little while, we stop following. We get lost in the dark, looking for the keys.
Matthew writes, (after talking with Herod)” they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.“ I think the magi lost the star for awhile. Just like we do. We all lose the keys at times We all get sidetracked and lose our way. The star has to keep rising. The light has to keep coming back into our lives, we need those reminders shining over the house in Bethlehem. I’ve told you before, but do you remember what Bethlehem means? “House of Bread”. We all forget at times where to go to get fed.
The story of the wise ones, the astrologers from the east on a expedition to Bethlehem is supposed to represent all of us, all who live a long ways away who get easily lost, easily distracted and forget about the star while on life’s journey. The star is always shining, the light is always leading, sometimes we just lose our way. That is why we mark our doors every year, so that when we come in or go out, we will remember that a star is leading us home-sometimes by a different road. But always a light is taking us to the place where we can be fed.