The Choice is Ours / Based on John 14:23-29 / Delivered on May 1, 2016

The Choice is Ours

Based on John 14:23-29
Delivered on May 1, 2016
Delivered to Christian Community Home, Hudson Wisconsin

John 14:23-29
14:23 Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
 14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
 14:25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.
 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
 14:28 You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
 14:29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Today’s is a powerful scriptural passage.  It is a reply to a question from Judas.  Here are a few “bonus” verses that come just ahead of today’s scripture. 

Verses John 14:18-22
 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
 14:19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
 14:20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
 14:21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
 14:22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

Jesus isn’t choosing to ignore some in preference to others.  The opportunity to follow him is open to all, but only those who make that choice will experience the rest of the passage.  In our passage today Jesus makes it very clear his gift is open to all who follow.  The decision to follow is ours.

I am going to take the passage out of order.  The ideas I’m grabbing from this scripture are:

Be a good receiver (of Jesus’ peace)

Be a good keeper (of Jesus word)
Be a good student (of the Holy Spirit)

Be a good receiver.
I’m going to start toward the end of the passage.  I need this scripture to be repeated often.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  I often let my heart be troubled and I am often afraid.  Yet Jesus is telling us here very plainly that his gift to us is peace.  Not peace like the world gives, but his peace. There is a wisdom story of a monk who was berated by a man day after day.  When one of his students asked how he was able to put up with the treatment he said, “If a man gives you a gift and you do not accept the gift to whom does the gift belong.”  Of course an unaccepted gift does not belong to the one it was intended for but stays with the giver.  That is quite clever for negative gifts, but my heart brought that to mind because I know it is also true for positive gifts.  If Jesus gives us peace before he goes to be with the Father, and I do not feel peace, that is a sign I have a gift yet waiting to be accepted.

As I read this scripture again it causes me to question why it isn’t automatic to accept this gift of peace.  How do we set aside anxiety and fear?  By learning to trust in his word.  The “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” are his directions to you and I.  The part that calls for our trust is that those feelings will be replaced by internal peace.  I’m still working on this.  One of my watch-phrases for the year is, “let there be peace in me.”  I believe it is true that peace on earth begins with peace in each of us.

Be a good keeper.

Now back to the beginning of the passage.  What does it mean to “keep” Jesus words?  From my thoughts above I think partly it is to accept them, believe them, obey them, and trust them.  I also know it is to act on them, to keep them alive in my life.  Certainly that can be to share them as well, but “keep” feels more like an internal word.  His words have power when I keep them as my center. 

I work in a corporate setting.  When my boss has meetings that conflict now and then he will make me his delegate for a meeting.  That means he replaces his name with mine in the invite list and I am to represent his thoughts during the discussion.  In most things I know how he feels and thinks.  If it is a topic I’m not familiar with I make time to get his thoughts and goals before the meeting so I can represent him well.  We are Jesus delegate here on earth.  When we pray “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” we must remember that is through us as the keepers of his word.

A companion scripture for today was Revelation chapter 21.  It was a description of heaven.  The verse that pulls toward this thought is 23, “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the lamb.”  My spirit tells me that if we keep Jesus words, which are God’s words, inside us we will shine.  It isn’t a sun or moon thing.  It is being part of who God is.  God shines, so if I hold his words given to us through Jesus they will make me “home”.  I can be a vessel that holds God’s light.  Just like a lamp that contains oil and a wick.  If I light it – it shines.  If I fill my heart and mind with Jesus words and do them, I can shine too.

Be a good student.

Now to the center of the passage.  Jesus taught through his word and his actions for three years.  We have the opportunity to study and learn of those three years via the scriptures.  We also have a private tutor to help us directly.  “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”  The disciples needed the tutoring even though they had direct teaching.  The lessons Jesus taught put their old religious training into question.  The disciples based their lives living by the rules in the old way, but Jesus taught a path where loving God and loving each other was the heart of his message.  We might consider ourselves lucky that we don’t have all that unlearning to do.  Still for both the disciples and us we live in a world that doesn’t always support this path of love.  It is the leading of the Holy Spirit that will help us follow and ‘keep’ Jesus teaching.  It is the Holy Spirit that will remind us to accept the peace Jesus offers and rejoice in the mystery that we will be joined with him.

All of this from the question, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

Jesus answer is a reminder it is not really his intention at issue, but rather our choice.  He is not going to force those in the world to see him.  Jesus will reveal himself to those who chose to follow.  It begins with “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

Choosing to follow Jesus isn’t always easy in this world.  This passage gives importance to study of the scripture where his words are captured as a starting spot.  We can’t keep his words without knowing what they are.  It also brings out the importance of acting on what we learn.  The image that comes to mind for me is of a person that studies hard to learn CPR.  It is one thing to pass the test and have the card in your wallet.  It is quite another to be willing to jump into action to save a life with the training you’ve done.  God is asking us to impact lives, not just read words.   “Thy will be done on earth” is a promise we make back to him as we pray the prayer Jesus taught us.

The scriptures can be confusing, but we aren’t left alone to figure them out.  The Holy Spirit was sent to us to help us understand what Jesus taught.  Some of the names for the Holy Spirit are comforter, counselor, and advocate.  You and I didn’t walk the earth with Jesus, but if we are sensitive to the teaching of the Holy Spirit we are connected to his teachings.  The image of the Spirit in many faiths is a flame.  In our Methodist teachings we learn of John Wesley having an experience where his heart felt warmed after experiencing teaching on grace.  To me that was the flame of the Holy Spirit telling him he had heard truth taught that night.  That same teacher is within each of us if we have invited the spirit in.

My final thoughts are on a different sort of action.  Jesus offers a beautiful gift.  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  We can choose to accept this gift today, or we can leave the gift unopened and continue to live in conflict and fear.  This is a gift to those who keep Jesus words with the help of the Holy Spirit.  It isn’t always easy to be a good receiver because we can let our sense of deserving get in the way.  As we ponder these scriptures today this is also a choice we can make, to let go of fear and confusion and choose peace.  May we choose well.

Amen

Thoughts on Change / Based on Actis 9:-20 / Delivered on April 17, 2016

Thoughts on Change

Based on Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)
Delivered on April 17, 2016
Delivered to Christian Community Home, Hudson, WI

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20) Easter 3C
 9:1 the Lord, went to the high priest
 9:2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
 9:3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
 9:4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
 9:5 He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
 9:6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."
 9:7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one.
 9:8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
 9:9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
 9:10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord."
 9:11 The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying,
 9:12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight."
 9:13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem;
 9:14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name."
 9:15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel;
 9:16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."
 9:17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
 9:18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized,
 9:19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,
 9:20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."

This is a pretty well-known story to many of us.  The person called Saul here is renamed Paul and that is how I know him so forgive me for using his second name here.  I’m going to put this story in a nutshell.

Sometimes when you are protecting old ways that you think are right you are actually blind to what has changed and need to be knocked off your high horse and set straight.  I don’t know if those terms came from this passage of scripture, but they sure could have.  Paul still called Saul at this point, was blind literally but also figuratively.  My assumption is he was riding and was knocked off his horse, and he was on Straight Street.  Rather poetic to me.

Today I want to explore these three topics:

Accept changes in your world
Accept change in other people
Humbly be willing to change yourself

Accept changes in your world
Paul was a strong believer in the Jewish faith.  He was a Pharisee himself.  Jesus had said he would show the disciples “the way” so the movement was often called “The Way”.

Paul’s life was his faith.  Their belief about what God wanted in worship had been built over generations.  He had the commandments from Moses that spelled it out and then years of wise people that had interpreted them by adding more laws to keep people safe from God’s anger.  You were Jewish by birth as well as belief.  This was a very strong faith.  This new Way was causing people to question the old ways.  It was causing families to break apart.  Jesus warned it would set brother against brother and it was.  Plus, it caused danger from the current political leaders.  Paul wasn’t fighting a personal battle.  He felt he was fighting for his people.  Plus, he had letters from the high priest to support him.  He wasn’t alone in his beliefs.

Yet Paul was blind to who Jesus was.  Those years of refining scripture into hundreds of laws had missed the mark.  Through Jesus God was setting them straight again.  Jesus taught it was about love, not law.  Some of the wise people that added to what God had said had caused the commandment to love one another to be lost.  Paul was so attached to what he believed to be true that he was attempting to kill off what was actually true.  It took a fall from a horse, blindness, and a booming voice in the dark to help him rethink his version of truth.

Accept change in other people

Ananias had a different sort of struggle when he heard the voice of the Lord. He first protests as if he needs to tell God what the real situation is:

9:13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name."

The voice explains patiently that he’s not calling Ananias to heal someone that will then continue to hunt down and hurt the Christians.  Paul will be changed.  He will be a servant of God and be willing to suffer for the cause of Christ.  Even more amazing for such a strong willed and powerful Pharisee, he will be the one to bring the Way to the Gentiles.

This was describing a radically changed life.  Ananias was asked to accept this man who had stood by approvingly when Stephen was stoned, and was still breathing threats of murder.  Going close to him could put Ananias in physical danger if the change wasn’t true.  Ananias believed that change was possible and he did as he was told.  The disciples in Damascus took the risk to support this changed man as well.  They taught and cared for him for multiple days.  The man who had wanted them stopped was now their partner.

Humbly be willing to change yourself

Paul had a lot invested in his beliefs.  They were his whole life and he seemed to be living a good life.  Granted it took a lot to show him he was wrong, but once he knew the truth he immediately changed.

9:20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."

He had used all his intellect and powerful connections to persecute the followers of Jesus.  He now uses all his intellect and connections to convert others to become followers.  It is an amazing transformation.  It isn’t truly a 180 degree turn.  His love of God was unwavering from the beginning and remained.  It was his understanding of Jesus relationship to God that had changed.  Paul had to humbly admit he was wrong.  Jesus wasn’t a danger to the faith, he was actually a fulfillment of the prophesies of the faith.  Jesus didn’t come to pull people away from God.  By his sacrifice he restored the relationship to God.

No doubt Paul lost most, if not all, of his former friends.  He lost his place of power.  He lost his original purpose.  Yet he regained friends, purpose, and more by changing his direction.

It is a fascinating story, and being a non-Jewish person myself, I have the ministry of Paul to thank for spreading the Way Jesus taught to the Gentiles far and wide.  Beyond that, I believe there are lessons for us from this scripture too.

Accept changes in your world

Change is hard.  The self-help books abound on the subject of coping with change.  Companies either succeed or fail based on their ability to recognize and adapt to change.  Change often means our comfortable way of life has become disrupted.  Change can be frightening and upsetting. 

Change is often a reminder that I’m not fully in control of what happens to me.  Sometimes I choose change and even that is hard.  But it is much harder when it is beyond my control.  I’m pretty confident most of you feel the same.  Change can bring feelings of fear and anger which was what drove Paul’s desire to stamp out the newly forming Christian movement.  It can cause us to act out of fear and anger.  Fear and anger are not emotions that result in acts of love.

The only constant in our world is change.  Recognizing it and learning to embrace it takes away those feelings of fear and anger.  The unknown becomes the known over time if you accept the change and work with it. 

Accept change in other people
People change too.  I can look inside myself and see amazing changes in attitude and behavior over the years.  I’m sure you can look inside yourself and see this as well.  Now turn that outward and realize the same thing is happening to other people too.

I didn’t go to a High School class reunion until 25 years had passed.  I went thinking I would have the same one or two people I could talk to.  Much to my amazement I had a great time.  Some classmates had faced similar challenges in life and we connected with each other because of it.  I stayed up late in the night chatting with people that I hardly knew in High School.  We had all grown and changed.  Being open to those new relationships gave me the gift of new friends out of old classmates.

Humbly be willing to change yourself

Very often we deny change, or try to wish it away, or argue it away.  It takes humility to move from a state of anger to a state of acceptance.  It isn’t easy to admit you are wrong.  If you have acted out of fear and anger, you may also have to ask for forgiveness from others.  That also isn’t very comfortable.  Humbly allow yourself to recognize when you are wrong and know that is part of growing as a person.  Think about the change of attitude and behavior Paul went through.  We can do this.

A popular book from the 90’s on change was called “Who Moved My Cheese”.  It is a short book about mice and men in a maze.  They enjoy a spot in the maze with cheese, but then the cheese is gone.  The book explores the different ways to deal with this change.  Do you accept the fact the cheese is gone and start looking for a new spot, or do you starve to death because it isn’t fair that it is gone?  The book leaves us with a few clear points.

Change Happens, we must Anticipate Change, Monitor for Change, Adapt to Change Quickly, Change ourselves, learn to Enjoy Change, and finally Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again.

Because…

They Keep Moving the Cheese.

Granted, there are some changes that need to be fought back, but I have learned in my life that the majority of changes that happen around me require acceptance so I can adapt and move forward.  That forces me to change and also helps me grow.

If you recognize a situation that causes you to be stuck in anger pause and realize it may be out of fear of change.  Let Paul’s experience guide you.  Sometimes you aren’t as “right” as you think you are, and sometimes change is a good thing.  One final thought; through all the changes thrown at us remember we are not alone.  Paul had God’s unchanging love.  We do too.  We can face the changes ahead tomorrow with God by our side.

Amen

Choose Your Battles / Based on Luke 19:28-40 / Delivered March 20, 2016

Choose Your Battles

Based on Luke 19:28-40

Delivered on March 20, 2016 – Palm Sunday

Delivered to the Christian Community Home residents in Hudson WI

Luke 19:28-40

 19:28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
 19:29 When he had come near Bethpage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples,
 19:30 saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
 19:31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'"
 19:32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them.
 19:33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
 19:34 They said, "The Lord needs it."
 19:35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
 19:36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.
 19:37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,
 19:38 saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"
 19:39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop."
 19:40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

The gospel of Luke contains a very well-known story.  Jesus riding the colt into Jerusalem.  I’ve heard the story since my youth, and often thought about how some people were disappointed because they thought Jesus would be a leader to bring down Rome.  They were being short sighted.  They were only focused on a small patch of earth.  Jesus came to bring down sin for the entire planet.  They were worried about their generation and their children’s generation.  Jesus came to provide a way to God for all of eternity. 

I want to explore three ideas:

Obedience independent of understanding
Seeing beyond your personal battles
Praise in the midst of struggle

First idea that I experienced in the scripture today was to have obedience independent of understanding.  Jesus asked them to go steal a colt that had never been ridden.  The disciples knew there was a price on Jesus head.  He’s been getting in trouble for doing positive things like healing others because he did it on the Sabbath which was against the commandment “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  With this request he’s apparently going after “Thou shalt not steal” as his next commandment to break.  Some would say he’s only borrowing it, but he doesn’t tell his followers to ask permission.  That would have made me feel very uncomfortable, yet they did not pause and ask for justification.  Instead we see in verse 19:32 "So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them."

To be there at all was dangerous.  Peter had tried to talk him out of heading toward Jerusalem, but then affirmed he was ready to die with him.  Traveling beside him now meant they were all ready to die with him.  They didn’t understand his decision, but obeyed anyway.  Their level of trust is more amazing given their lack of understanding.  He was their teacher and leader.  They had followed him for three years.  He had earned their obedience.

This is the obedience a good parent expects of their children when facing danger.  It’s fine to take time and explain the ‘why’ of a command when the situation is relaxed, but it can be crucial for a child to obey without a pause when an order is given during a dangerous time.  This was a dangerous time and no doubt they could all feel it.  It called for obedience independent of understanding.

Seeing beyond your personal battles – is my second topic.

There was unrest in Jerusalem.  They were occupied by the Romans and treated like second class.  Not quite as bad as slavery was in Egypt in the Old Testament, but still not what they wanted for their life.  They wanted a warrior king to defeat the Romans and restore their lands to the tribes.  The followers cried "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”  believing this was Jesus plan. They were echoing the praise in Psalm 118 “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” and added in the title “king” to make the meaning clear.  Riding on the colt or donkey was also a part of a prophesy for the coming messiah.  In just a few days the plaque above his head on the cross will read “King of the Jews” to mock those honoring him this day.  It is true there was a battle ahead, but it wasn’t the one the people thought.

I work in a corporate setting.  When we identify something that didn’t go according to plan, before we design a plan to fix it, a root cause analysis is done.  If you don’t get down to the real problem, the root of the problem that caused the issue, you will not prevent it from happening again.  Sometimes you see something wrong that is only a symptom of a bigger issue.  You then get into a loop of fixing the same symptom over and over without resolving the core or root cause of the problem that would stop it from happening again.

Yes, the people were in a rough situation, but it was not the root cause of their failure to thrive.  There would be multiple issues that made life hard.  The root of the issue was separation from God because of sin.  Rome was not the enemy Jesus was riding to meet.  He had a bigger battle plan.  He was about to lay down his life to pay the price for sin once and for all, and pave the way for restored relationship to God.  For all of eternity.  For all people.

The people saw the battle of the day.  God was dealing with the root cause.  We need to see beyond our initial thoughts of what the battle is. 

Finally, to find praise in the midst of struggle.

When the Pharisees told Jesus to order his disciples to stop singing it was most likely out of fear.  The Roman presence was high during the festival and their request may have been to keep the people safe.  Jesus responded “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

This was the promised one coming into the city to fight a battle beyond what anyone there could see.  All of creation would be part of the praise.  We sing King of Kings and Lord of Lords because that is his title for his battle won over sin and death.

The rest of the story is also well known to most of us.  He celebrates the Passover with his followers, then goes into the Garden of Gethsemane.  There his path is set.  Though he prays for the task to be lifted his obedience of ‘not my will but thine’ is what shines through.  He’s taken that night, a night we call Maundy Thursday, and stands before the Roman authorities exchanging words about what truth is and whether or not Jesus really is a king.  On Friday he is killed.  He’s killed as a threat to the Roman rule.  We know today that wasn’t the battle he was fighting.  He fought the true battle by becoming a sacrifice for us.  As he dies the veil in the temple that separated the place God dwelt from the space the people gathered was torn in two.  It was a symbol his death removed our separation from God.  Three days later the praise rings out once again.  Victory over sin and death has been accomplished.  The battle was won.

That’s this next week in a paragraph.  Our lives now are continuing to create the story.

Do we act when Jesus asks? Do we trust and obey?

I don’t hear commandments from God as a voice from a burning bush.  Jesus has never knocked me off a horse and told me directly what he wanted me to do.  Yet I do feel the gentle tugs that lead me to follow his teaching.  Coming here and speaking with you is a result of responding in obedience to those gentle tugs.

If you go inside and listen to your heart you may feel gentle tugs too.  We have his words to guide us, Love the Lord your God with all you heart mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.  How you display love to the world is your act of obedience.  If you feel moved to do a kind deed, do it without knowing why it is needed.  If your heart is focused on love the spirit will guide you.  You don’t need to know the details.

Are we sometimes shortsighted and miss the bigger picture?

We all have our personal battles.  At times we may be frustrated because it feels God is not responding to our prayers.  Ponder the idea that you may be focusing on a symptom and not the root cause.  This is not to discourage you to come to God in prayer with your struggles.  God’s asks us to bring our full selves to him in prayer.  We are told we can come to Him with anything and should know we are heard and loved.  God cares about our details.

God’s love is actively at work in our world.  Scripture reveals often the core battle is restoring our relationship to God and to each other.  That restored relationship may not take away the struggles we face, but it can transform them from something that weakens us to something we gain strength from.

What is our response to Jesus sacrifice – even in the midst of struggle? 

We are blessed that we live in a country where we can gather together today without fear of arrest or harm.  But there are days we still face fears of different kinds.  Do not let fear or any other emotion prevent you from offering praise.  May we shout Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  Today and every day.

Amen.

The Ins and Outs of Love / Based on John 1:1-18 and Ephesians 1:3-14 / Delivered January 3, 2016

The Ins and Outs of Love

Based on John 1:1-18 and Ephesians 1:3-14

Delivered January 3, 2016

John 1:(1-9), 10-18

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1:2 He was in the beginning with God.

1:3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being

1:4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

1:7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.

1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

1:9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.

1:11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.

1:12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,

1:13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

1:14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

1:15 (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'")

1:16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

1:17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

1:18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

Here we are on the second Sunday of Christmas. The scriptures for today still focus on Jesus Christ’s entry into the world.  I will be pulling from Ephesians as well as the Gospel of John.  Both scriptures share in poetic detail who Jesus is and the lavish gifts given to us through Christ’s coming to earth.  I call my message for today “The Ins and Outs of Love”.  We’ll explore together:

The Ins of love – which are the blessings given to us from God

Love itself – which is shown in the person Jesus, and

The Outs of love – which are our responses

We understand breathing.  We must both breathe in and breathe out.  Our breathing is part of a cycle to nourish us, and nourish the plants.  In and out.  Receiving and giving is also a cycle.  It is often said it is better to give than receive, but that is not quite true.  We must both receive and give.  Like breathing we need to both to continue the cycle.  Hold that idea in your heart.

The Ins of Love:

I read the scripture from John a few minutes ago.  Here is the scripture from Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:3-14

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

1:4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
1:5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
1:8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight
1:9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
1:11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
1:13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
1:14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.

God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.  The scriptures make it clear he didn’t just give a gift, he ‘lavished on us’ which means to give something in generous or extravagant quantities.  God chose us in Christ to be His children by adoption.  We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, the Holy Spirit as our guide, and the pledge of our inheritance.  My favorite definition of redemption is, clearing a debt.  Christ cleared out our debt so we can stand holy and blameless before God in love.

John also says “without him not one thing came into being”.  Our life itself is a gift.  I think we can agree we have all received, grace upon grace.  The passage of John sounded like the beginning of Genesis.  “In the beginning…”  One brought life, and the other brought eternal life.  Those are some of the “Ins” of love.

Love itself:

On New Year’s Eve a friend of mine spoke of watching the movie from the ‘70’s called Ice Castles.  The theme song has the phrase, “’til I found you…looking through the eyes of love.”  Of course in the movie it was about the mushy romantic form of love, but the phrase works with our scripture today.  For God so loved the world, he sent Jesus, and as John 1:18 says, No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. “

We can see God by looking through the eyes of Jesus, who is the incarnation of God’s love.  God worked with his children on earth through sharing his word through the prophets in the Old Testament.  Yet God still remained a mystery to us.  We couldn’t quite understand.  Some call Jesus a prophet, but those of us who are called Christian believe he was much more.  In Jesus, God wrapped His word in human flesh so we could more easily see who God is. 

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.”  Seeing Jesus is the closest humanity will ever come to actually seeing God.  God put skin on the light, glory, grace, and truth of His nature. What does it look like to live as a ‘light in the darkness?’ Look at Jesus, and see how those divine qualities sound and act.  Jesus is our model as well as our savior.

So what is our response to this incredible gift?  We’ve reached the section I call the “Outs of Love”.

God has lavished his love on us.  Step one is to receive it.  John 1:12 “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” 

Remember I said in the beginning giving and receiving is a cycle like breathing.  Air in, then air out.  Love in, then love out…repeat.  Our ego cannot stop God’s light and love from pouring down on us, but it can stop it from shining through us.  Do not let it!

One of the most powerful and hard to believe scriptures for me is John 14:12 “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Yes, Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, but he is not God’s only child.  You and I have been selected for adoption.  Are we willing to be children of God in response to God’s willingness to be born a child for us?  This means choosing to let the light and love of God flows through us.  We are called to share the mind of God, and Ephesians tell us God has a plan to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Love came down at Christmas, we see God through the eyes of that love; through Jesus.  When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was in Luke 10:27 He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'  How do we learn to love like that?  Let Jesus mentor you.  He can demonstrate it in human terms.

So that is the Ins and Outs of Love.  Take God’s love in, and let it pour through you to heal the world.  In and Out.  It is so simple.  When someone asks what God is like you can point to Jesus, but my prayer for each of us in this new year is that the world can also see what God is like through us.

Amen

I am a lay speaker, not a pastor.  I have begun to volunteer to lead services for our senior living center called Christian Community Home.  I started by providing a message once a quarter and now it is often once per month.  A friend gently pushed me to share what I prepared so she could read them.  So here I am.

I take one or two of the scriptures from the lectionary and pick three ideas I want to express to the residence.  My audience is made of up of people ranging from semi-assisted living to full nursing home care, and some family members that attend with them.  On an average Sunday I have between 30 to 50 people attend.  The service is 30 minutes long so the message is kept under 10 minutes long.

Now and then I am asked to take the pulpit at my church as well.  I feel enlivened when I study and create my thoughts into this form.  My goal is to provide love and encouragement with just a little bit of challenge toward self-improvement. 

I am nervous to put myself out as a blog.  Read if you like or move on.  I will just be me.  Beams to you.