8/2/15---It's Relational: Samson

Many of us probably haven't heard a sermon on Samson before. He is not one of the more popular Old Testament characters, I don't think. This may be because he has a difficult story to tell. His life is tattered with sin---lust, selfishness, and a general attitude of disobedience, along with a thirst for revenge and violence.

As we march through some of the stories of these Old Testament characters, I hope we can see the story of God working through imperfect people. Folks back then, like now, are prone to sin (and the variety of sinning is quite noteworthy). Yes, God uses us despite ourselves, but I think it goes even further than that. God wants to show us that we can be redeemed through God's action in the world. God continues to show us that God is working in the world, and that is good news, my friends. When God works, there is still hope for redemption and grace to be active in the world. 

Despite Samson's attitudes and dispositions, we have a story through him that is a story of God working through an imperfect person. We can relate so Samson. Hopefully we aren't out there killing people for revenge, but if we are honest with ourselves, we do tend to be selfish and fickle people. But we have something else in common with Samson: God uses us to show the love of God to folks that need God. God uses us despite ourselves, and God uses us to tell a story about his love and redemption. 

And when we come to the Table of Love and Grace, we remember God's story. God turned something terrible (the death of Jesus on the cross) and uses it to write a story of love and grace. 

Are you willing to be a part of God's story? 

See you Sunday. 

7/26/15---It's Relational: Moses

Moses, like Abraham, is one of those characters in the Old Testament that most of us are very familiar with. We know his impact was and is great to this day, even in our own faith. One of the reasons I think that is, or could be if we look at him with a fresh perspective, is because we can relate to him. Yes, he was a great man and did incredible things for God and for God's people. He delivered them out of slavery for goodness sake. The great things that he does not does not take away the fact that he was a human being, with struggles and excuses.

Like most of us, Moses did not, at first, think he could do the things he set out before him. He made excuse after excuse, highlighting his uncertainty, fear, and limitations. When Moses met God on the mountainside of Horeb, God enlisted Moses to free the Israelites from the Egyptians. Moses...did not think he was the man for the job.

God's answer to Moses was that "I will be with you." God did not argue or bargain with Moses, rather, God assured Moses that God would be with him. Moses, then, could overcome his weaknesses with God.

None of us are perfect, but God is. When we realize this, God can work through us in incredible ways. Not because God takes are weaknesses away, but because, for God, our weaknesses do not define us. Our commitment, faith, trust, and obedience to God, does. Our love for our community defines. Our love for God and neighbor defines us.

So God can use you despite your weaknesses, and perhaps even because of them. We'll never know unless we follow God into those opportunities where God leads us.

God is good, and God works through us. Praise God! See you Sunday!

7/19/15---It's Relational: The Life of Abraham

This past Sunday I began a series called "It's Relational." This will be an 8-week series that highlights the lives of several Old Testament characters. Last Sunday, the sermon was about Adam and Eve, whose story reminds us that God's grace adjusts to us, is creative, and steps in where our sins step out...

We are created for relationship with God, and with another ("it is not good that man is alone..."). This is the basis of this preaching series. We can be reminded of this and relate to this through the stories of these Old Testament characters.

This week I will move to Abraham, who is called the father of the faith. Galatians 3:6 cites Genesis 15:6 when it says  "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." Paul uses Abraham as an example to say that our faith is the basis of our salvation, not our works (this is not to say that what we do is not an appropriate outcome of our faith). Our faith saves us; our faith is counted as righteousness. For Abraham, his faith was so strong that he was willing (although not without struggle, I imagine) to sacrifice his firstborn son, because God commanded it. God ended up saving Isaac because Abraham was faithful. Thus, hos covenant with Abraham would stand.

Speaking of that covenant, where God promised to be Abraham's God and "make you exceedingly numerous," it is also the basis for Abraham's name. He used to be named Abram, but when he took on God's covenant, he was named Abraham. God changed his name because God made him the ancestor of a multitude of nations. God changed Abram (many, multitude) to Abraham (father of many) because he accepted God's covenant relationship with him.

The impact Abraham had on others is hard to miss; his decision to follow God and accept God's relationship with him had a deep and wide impact on a culture, on generations to come, and on our faith as well. We lift Abraham up for his faith and obedience to God. So Abraham teaches us that God wants a relationship with us that impacts others. Praise God for that reminder! See you Sunday!

Sunday June 28th, 2015---Shake it Off

This Sunday, we come to the time in Jesus' travelings where he comes back home to Nazareth with a rather cold welcome. Actually, it wasn't really a welcome at all....

Does this ever happen to you? Do you ever go somewhere and expect one thing and get another? Are you ever disappointed in how someone receives you? Do you ever think "how could someone think they are so great?"

I imagine that Jesus was not very pleased in how he was received in his own hometown. There he was, teaching in the synagogue, and the townfolk thought "where the heck did he get so smart?" They were suspicious and surprised. They were repulsed, thinking "who does this guy think he is!?" And this appalled Jesus. Yes, he was disappointed to the point where he was only able to heal "a few people."

When we don't believe in Jesus, in God's work through Christ, this limits the impact God may have on someone. God uses us to reach and even heal people (although this does not mean God needs or relies on us wholeheartedly; Jesus is still able to heal without the faith of the people).

Jesus knows that a prophet will not be accepted in their hometown; he cites scripture and fulfills there in Nazareth. And he uses this moment to teach his disciples, and us today, a lesson:


"If a place doesn’t welcome you or listen to you, as you leave, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.”

I'm sorry, but I can't help but think of that catchy Taylor Swift song "Shake it Off." The song definitely speaks to different circumstances than the ones Jesus faced in his hometown, but it does invite us to simply be ourselves and be confident in who we are. If we take that a bit further---I think we can be led to a self-confidence that is grounded in the faith that God has uniquely shaped us, and has called us each to be who we are.

Jesus called his disciples to shake off the dust of the town that refused their message of the gospel. He called them to be confident in who they are as Christ followers, even if it means that some may not accept them or what they have to say. This is part of what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus...to be willing to shake off the dust; shake off the shame; shake off the rejection...and follow Christ, speak the gospel; to turn your life around (repent) for God.

See you Sunday!

Sunday, June 21st, 2015---Jesus the Multi-Tasker

Jesus multi-tasked even before it became the norm of our fast-paced 21st century culture. Mark 5:21-43 tells the classic story in which Jesus comes across the sea of Galilee (where he just calmed the storm) on a boat, where a group of people are waiting for him. Among this group is a leader from the synagogue, Jairus. His daughter is in some serious trouble and is at the point of death. So Jesus, with the crowd following him, goes with Jairus to heal his daughter at his house.

On the way there, a woman was so desperate for healing that it was all she could just to brush the edge of Jesus' clothes. She, too, needed healing. Jesus stops the caravan and says "your faith has healed you."

Jesus continues on and heals Jairus' daughter, too.


So Jesus multi-tasked. He problem solved. We can relate to Jesus in this way. So many times in life, something unexpectedly pops up and we have to take care of it, even if it interrupts our original plans. Although we do not have the power to heal people quite like Jesus did, we do know how it feels to deal with "problems" as they come up like Jesus did that day.

This story lies in a crucial portion of Jesus' ministry in Galilee. In chapters 3-6 of Mark, stories are shared with us where Jesus healed people around this lake-front town. What seemed like an interruption that day, is actually included in Jesus' ministry as one of the most significant healing acts he ever did. And it was on the way to do something else. Jesus healed on his way to heal someone else. He ministered on his way to minster.

So, when something unplanned happens in your life, it, too, may be an opportunity for you to minister to someone. Jesus stopped the caravan of people in order to speak life into this woman who needed healing. He did not simply continue on, he was present for this woman.

Unexpected things happen all the time: car trouble, deaths, chores, interruptions, accidents, disasters, you name it...Jesus is showing us, telling us, to be present in those moments for others so that we may show others that their faith heals them; that Jesus is there for them.

Ephesians 2:8

You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith.

Amen! See you Sunday!

Sunday June 7th, 2015---"Give us a King"

Coming off of Pentecost, you may be thinking of the birth of the church. The Holy Spirit came that day, and the church as we know it began with a bang, a rush, a wind...a fire. When we think about that day, it seems pretty dramatic! What it must have been like to see the fire, to feel the wind, to hear everyone in their different languages. It seems very different than what we see and experience today.

Although that may be the case, the God who gave the spirit to those gathered there on that day remains the same. God remains the source of all we do in the church. God remains the one who leads, protects, and loves us. God's Spirit is still with us.

In  a sense, God is our King. God is the one we serve, and God is the one who provides for us. In our world; in our country, we do not have kings. America never did; we were founded on the idea of democracy, not monarchy. So the image of kingship may not mean the same to us here in the U.S. as it may in a country that has had kings and queens. Even for countries like England, Australia, and Canada, who name Elizabeth II as their queen, may in fact treat her position as a mere title.

Still, there are many countries in the world who are ruled by queens or kings . Kings ruled in the days of the Old Testament (and the NT, too).

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 tells a story where David gets anointed as the next king by the prophet Samuel. The people of Israel desired, expected, and needed a king. It takes the rest of the 1st book of Samuel for Saul to die, and David becomes king in the 1st chapter of the 2nd book of Samuel. We know David as a great and mighty king, a "man after God's own heart," even though he had his, shall we say, "lesser" moments (he pretends to be crazy, and we all know about his encounter with Bathsheba). We will talk more about David later this summer.

This passage introduces two kings of Israel, Saul and David, but now God is the King of our lives. We worship God and we depend on God. God's love is more than anyone can ever give us. God's care is more complete than anything anyone can ever give us. God provides us with more than we could ever need. So, will we turn towards God and accept what God has for us? Will we accept God as our king?

I will admit, this "kingly" language does strike me as a bit of an odd analogy to God. The idea of being ruled by a king or queen is an earthly, human-made concept that is carried out in a variety of ways that end up oppressing people and, ultimately, not providing what God give us. God gives us life, hope, salvation....love. I take comfort in that, because God is more than we see in kings. No king can measure up to God. That's good news, friends.

See you on Sunday.

Sunday, May 31st, 2015: Tri-Unity

The understanding of the Trinity is a unique one. There is no teaching on it in the Bible, but it permeates the New Testament. The idea of the Trinity came from Scripture and seeing God at work in the world. In the NT, we see reference to the Trinity in baptism (e.g. Matthew 28:19) and benediction (e.g. 2 Cor. 13:13), and in daily life we experience the revelation of God in different ways. God is one, understood in 3 "persons." In God, we see a tri--unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The NT readings for this Sunday, Romans 8: 12-17 and John 3: 1-17, reference this this tri-unity of God by using all 3 terms. This same God is at work in the OT readings of Isaiah 6: 1-8 and Psalm 29, which would be considered sacred text for John, Paul, Jesus, and Nicodemus, whose voices are heard in these NT readings.

At Pentecost  last Sunday we celebrated the coming of the Spirit, which unites us in our different "languages," backgrounds, cultures, etc. This same Spirit has been with God and in the world since the beginning. The Spirit is referenced in the Old Testament (i.e. Genesis 1:2; Exodus 31:3; Numbers 27:18; Job 33:4; Psalm 104:30; Nehemiah 9:20), so the understanding of God having this form has been known for thousands of years.

I myself have trouble "understanding" the tri-unity of God. Maybe that is the point. We cannot fully understand God, but God still shows up in mysterious and powerful ways in this world and in our lives. The point of this doctrine is not so we can fully understand God, but so that we may open our lives to God in many ways. We may also understand that God represents the relationship we should have with each other and with this world. God is powerful, God is mysterious, God shows up, God is perfect, and God is for us. Praise God!