2 Epiphany—1.15.12—John 1:43-51

A certain Miss Murphy taught third grade in a parochial school in Massachusetts. She had taught her class the 23rd Psalm and asked them to recite it for her. As the little voices chorused out the words, she detected a false sound. She heard the children one by one to find out what and where the trouble was. She found it when little Jack, concluded the Psalm by saying, "Surely good Miss Murphy will follow me all the days of my life."

The correct rendering is, of course, "goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." But was he wrong? Perhaps Good Miss Murphy did follow Jack Kennedy all the days of his life! You can never tell what may come from small and humble beginnings.

When Jesus calls his disciples, in the first century or the twenty-first century, he offers the invitation to “Follow Me.” Not, “Let’s walk together.” Not, “Why don’t you lead the way.” Not, ”Let’s make this a team effort.” Accepting the step of faith in Christ requires putting yourself in second place.

 The Twelve thought they knew who and what they were talking about. But it took their discipleship journey with Jesus to reveal to them they did not know, did not understand, did not have a clue, about the greater plan that God had going.

 Following in faith does not mean making the “smart choice,” or working the “best option,” or applying the “best practice.” Following in faith means also stepping back from the controls, stepping down from a position of ultimate authority and giving up control. Faith looks ahead to God’s unfolding vision, not at what we want to do.

By nature we do not want to be led. We want to lead. But, in the church, it is imperative that we have followers. In fact it is imperative for all of us to be followers. And so today we have the invitation: “Come and see.”

Nathanael learned this. He was skeptical at first but he was transformed. He became a follower because Phillip invited him.

Let me ask you: What was it that Phillip saw in Christ that moved him to follow, that stirred him so to invite his friend Nathanael. Come and see what? What did Phillip see in Jesus of Nazareth? Come and see what?

Phillip asked Nathanael to come and see the souls redeemed. The day before Andrew followed Jesus and invited Peter. Then Phillip invited Nathanael. There were eight others who would become Jesus’ inner circle, 12 in all. This was just the beginning. Soon there was 70, the Scriptures tell us, that comprised an outer circle. The net of redemption that was cast was large even in those early days. Hundreds were soon following, by the end of the century, half a million. Today souls are being redeemed in South America and Africa at ten times the rate of North America and Europe. The church’s work is not yet done. The church is exploding.

But it was Andrew who made the first invitation to his brother and Phillip who made the second to a friend. They were watching as people began to place their lives in the hands of Jesus. They listened as Jesus spoke to people in a way that made them understand their lives better than they understood them themselves. They had seen souls redeemed just as they had seen their own redeemed. So when Phillip asked Nathanael to come and see, he knew Jesus would redeem Nathanael as well. Come and see, he said, just come and see, that's all I ask you.

I know that every Christian here believes that God can redeem a soul. I know you believe that. So I ask you from this moment on to live like Phillip. Go out and ask someone to come and see. Invite to bible study, invite them to Sunday school, invite them to worship service, invite them to a church activity. 

I like the story of the two robins sitting in a tree. "I'm really hungry," said the first one. "Me too," said the second one. "Let's fly down and find some lunch."  

They flew to the ground and found a nice plot of plowed ground full of worms. They ate and ate and ate and ate 'til they could eat no more. 

“I'm so full I don't think I can fly back up to the tree," said the one. "Me either." said the second. "Let's just lay here and bask in the warm sun." "O.K.," said the first robin. They plopped down, basking in the sun. No sooner had they fallen asleep than a big fat cat snuck up and gobbled them up. As he sat washing his face after his meal, he thought, "I love baskin' robins."  

Will we be people who have eaten so much of God's good food that we sit and bask? Or, will we invite others. Will we go out of our way to say to people, "Come and see?" That's all I ask, just come and see and you will learn that something good can come from Nazareth!

Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if each one, at least once a month, invited another human being to "Come and See?” Wouldn't it be wonderful if "Come and See" became a natural part of our life and relationships?

Which brings us to the words of Nathaniel in our Gospel lesson today when he is told about Jesus of Nazareth. He says, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” It is just a humble, unimportant wide-spot in the road. Probably has its welcome signs back to back on the same pole!

You can never tell what may come from small and humble beginnings. Think of a boy wearing a coonskin cap, and trousers made out of a deerskin, driving four cows down a woody pathway in the wilds of Kentucky. Not much culture, not much of a home, not much possibility of an education. Yet, when you look for the unforeseen you see a President's name - Abraham Lincoln.

Or, consider a drunkard in a town in Germany, who courted and led to the altar a tubercular girl. People in the village shook their heads sadly. "What a pity!" they murmured. "Nothing will come out of that family." But a baby was born to those parents. His name was Ludwig—Ludwig Beethoven. He composed some of the greatest music that ever inspired the human heart and mind.

Or think of that man, 38 years old, at the zenith of his strength and influence who, within a period of three weeks, became completely blind. They moaned, "How sad! His future is now dead." But that man, blind, wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, some of the greatest poetry in all the history of the English language. The unforeseen brings hope in a time of despair.

No matter what we have been, no matter what we are, no matter what burden of sin we carry, no matter how filthy of mind and heart we have been, there is something more for us. God intended it so and by His presence He can make us new creatures through faith in Him. No one can measure the potential of a man, a woman, a young person dedicated to God who is ready and willing to be led by His spirit.

You perhaps remember the story of the twice-owned boat? A little boy fashioned a crude sailboat out of scraps of lumber his dad had left on his workbench. Attaching fishing line to his boat, he took it to a nearby lake and, holding the line, pushed the boat from the shore. It sailed beautifully, but somehow the line was severed and the boat sailed out on the lake beyond the boy's sight. He was heartbroken.

Some days later he discovered his little boat in the window of a local pawnshop. Entering he learned that he would have to pay a certain price to regain the cherished boat. He worked hard and raised the money, purchased the boat, and held it close to his heart as he walked home.

Adoringly he patted the boat and said: "Little boat, I love you. I love you because you have been mine twice. First, because I made you, and second, because I bought you."  You may be small; you may feel you’re too young or too old; you may be ordinary and seem insignificant; but you were made by the almighty God and you were purchased with the blood of his own dear Son.

The potential for goodness is in you. The potential for Godliness is in you. Rather than thinking in terms of unforeseen tragedy, recognize now what can happen if in this moment God takes over your life. The unforeseen glory of what God can do will be demonstrated tomorrow and in every tomorrow. Amen.

Christmas Day 2011

Recently, three men were nervously waiting in the Father's room at the Good Samaritan Hospital as their wives prepared to give birth to their first children. The men were too scared to go in.

Soon the head nurse arrived with good news from the birthing rooms. She said to the first father-to-be, "Sir, you are a father of twins!"

"That's great," he said. "I'm a baseball player and I am going to sign a contract with the Minnesota Twins. This will be good press."

Soon, the nurse arrived and said to the second father-to-be, "Sir, you are the father of triplets."

"Fantastic," he said, "because I work for the 3M Company. This will be great press."

The third father-to-be got up and ran out of the room. He was moving so fast that he did not bother to take the elevator. Finally, the nurse yelled out the window as the man entered the nearby parking lot. The nurse cried out, "What's wrong? Where are you going?"

He said, "I've got to resign real fast. I am Vice-President of Seven-up!"

That poor father-to-be was feeling a might bit overwhelmed. I suppose many people feel that way especially during the Christmas season. They are ready to tender their resignation from it all—ready to "hang it up."

I wonder if you sometimes get the feeling that you've had just about all the bad news you can stand. I know that I do. There are times when bad news just seems to keep coming at us like a tidal wave. Before you can recover from one disaster, there's already another one headed in your direction.

We have had a heavy diet of bad news in the past several months. We have seen fighting and bloodshed all over the Mideast. Drugs continue to hit our major urban areas like a plague, and this war is one we are losing not winning. And a struggling economy which politicians cannot agree on how to fix.

We have seen continuing growth in the incidents of domestic violence and child abuse. The newspapers, magazines and nightly news shows continue to immerse us with reports of various and sundry misfortunes until it almost leaves you numb. You begin to understand the man who said, "I used to be an incurable optimist, but now I guess I HAVE BEEN CURED."

I am sure, if there is anything that all of us need to hear it is good news for tough times. Our scripture readings certainly brought a proclamation of good news for tough times in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. On this Christmas Day, we are going to examine exactly what the Good News of Christmas was for that time and how it still can provide hope and meaning for us today.

A certain father declared that Christmas was going to be different this year. The father called a family conference and challenged his family to be more disciplined in the management of their time during the busy Christmas season. They had to curtail excessive spending on gifts. He talked about better relations between visiting relatives and a more congenial atmosphere around their home. He brought his speech to a crescendo with his final rally cry, "Let's make this the BEST Christmas EVER!” His little second grade son countered the big motivational speech by noting, "But dad, I don't see how we could ever improve on the first Christmas."

We certainly cannot improve on what happened that first Christmas but we can improve on the way we celebrate it today. I want to share two truths that pulsate from the first Christmas story that can never be improved upon.

FIRST, GOD HIMSELF ENTERED INTO TIME AND SPACE.

The gospel writer, John, boldly declares the word became flesh and dwelt among us Full of GRACE AND TRUTH.

No longer is God just a theological nicety or an abstract concept. GOD BECAME HUMAN IN JESUS CHRIST. It is so unfortunate that Christmas cards never really give us a picture that adequately describes this miracle. We sanitize and romanticize the stable, and we forget the pain and agony of childbirth by a frightened, teenage peasant girl named Mary. This was a real event with real people experiencing pain and unspeakable joy and fear that eventually drove them from their homeland.

Max Lucado, in his book entitled God Came Near, so descriptively writes: "The omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger that the universe had become an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl."

"God as a fetus. Holiness sleeping in a womb. The Creator of life being created." It takes a poet to do such an event justice. How can we make it so it grabs hold of our lives? God has come into human life. For many of us, this is an uncomfortable thing to accept. It is easier to keep God at a distance. That way God won't mess with my life. I can stay the way I am. I can be a victim of my circumstances!

As Max Lucado further goes on to say, "Let him be as human as he intended to be. Let him into the mire and muck of our world. For only if we let him in can he pull us out!"

This is why the Christmas story is the Good News that always stays Good News. It's message never falters or fades away. This is the oxygen needed for the exhausted and weary soul. God has come into our world.

THE SECOND REASON THE CHRISTMAS STORY IS GOOD NEWS FOR TOUGH TIMES IS THIS: THE PEOPLE WHO WALKED IN DARKNESS HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT.

Fred Buechner, the distinguished Presbyterian Pastor who shares ministry primarily with his pen and pencil writes, "We are, God knows, a people who walk in darkness . . . If darkness is meant to convey a sense of uncertainty, of being lost, of being afraid . . . If darkness suggests conflict between races, nations or individuals . . . If darkness depicts a world where we cannot see very well (because of sin), then we know enough about the darkness." However, God in Christ does not run away from the darkness. God sets up residence right smack in the middle of the darkness. If you have light, then you are not scared or worried about the darkness.

Bret Harte, in his classic short story "The Luck of Roaring Camp," tells of the birth of a baby on the American frontier—a baby that made a radical change in a rough-and-tumble mining camp. The only woman in the camp, Cherokee Sal, a disreputable woman at best, died in childbirth, leaving a healthy young baby boy to be raised by the now all-male camp.

These rough, hard men made a decision that would reflect changes that would come later. They considered hiring a woman nurse to care for the baby but eventually decided not to. Their logic was this: a nice nurse would not come to their camp, and they did not want any more women who weren't nice hanging around their baby. And so the work of regeneration began in Roaring Camp.

The cabin assigned to little "Tommy Luck," as they called him, was kept scrupulously clean and whitewashed. The beautiful rosewood cradle that they purchased for the baby made the rest of the cabin look wretched, so they had to fix up the rest of the furniture in the room. Then a quarantine was imposed on those who wanted to hold little Tommy Luck, so they had to clean up for that privilege.

Each act of cleanliness exposed that much more dirt and filth in the vicinity, so that new measures were taken to keep an ever-wider expanse of the camp clean. Since the baby needed rest, the camp became quieter and more dignified, less noisy and boisterous, no longer the "Roaring Camp" of the story's title. The story of the baby of Roaring Camp is the story of the regeneration of a people. A baby changed the whole atmosphere of the Roaring Camp. So it was two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. A babe change the atmosphere for all who have come to know him.

I agree with Carlo Carretto who says, "If Jesus is truly God, everything becomes clear to me. If I cannot believe this, everything becomes dark again." In Jesus Christ, light has come to a darkened world. Jesus said later in his adult ministry, "I am the light of the world." He commissioned his disciples to share the light of the world.

Someone has put it like this: "Christmas is a joyous day for children. For parents, peace on earth comes several days later when all the batteries wear out!" Well, the message of the first Christmas is that "Peace on earth comes to everyone when Christ enters into our lives—into the muck and mire of it all. He came to us—HE DID NOT RUN AWAY!”

His message never wears out, but is offered to all who seek peace with God. His light shines in the darkness—all who follow it go home praising God for the gift of life they have received. This is the encouraging word that comes to those of us who, like the Seven-Up man, feel overwhelmed by our circumstances. Truly the Christmas story is for today what it was in Bethlehem two thousand years ago—Good News for Tough Times. Amen.

pastor tom's sermon

4 Advent—12.18.11—Luke 1:26-38

There was a story years ago in the Canadian version of the Reader’s Digest of a large moose that wandered into a residential area in Calgary, Canada. The moose ended up on the lawn of a lady named Lorna Cade. A Fish and Wildlife officer was dispatched to try to coax the magnificent animal back into the wild. After two hours of absolutely no progress, the officer finally shot the moose with a tranquilizer dart. The moose bolted down a lane and eventually collapsed on another nearby lawn.

The reporters who had been following this event interviewed the lady at the house where the moose collapsed. They asked her what she thought about the moose which had passed out on her lawn. “I’m surprised,” she answered, “but not as surprised as my husband will be. He’s out moose hunting.”

Her husband had gone out looking for moose and a large moose had come to him.

That is the message of Christmas. While humanity spends its time seeking after God, God comes to us in the babe of Bethlehem. Christmas is a God-thing. We could not reach up to God, so God came down to us. That’s the good news for today.

Michael Hendrix tells about a dinner party he once attended during the Christmas season. The house was properly decorated, including an electric train set up around the base of the tree. One of the children was running the train too fast and it derailed. She was bent over the train trying to put it back on the track. The host noticed what she was doing and went over to help. He said to her, “You cannot do that from above; you have to get down beside it.” Then he lay down on the floor beside the train where he could see to place the train back on the track.

“What a wonderful way to think about the incarnation,” Hendrix says. “The human race had derailed and needed to be put back on the track of life. It could not be done from above; God had to come down beside us in order to put us on track. That’s what God did in Jesus Christ. God came and lived among us in the person of His Son Jesus to show us His love and to put us back on the track of life.”

That’s what God did for us. When we could not reach up to God, God came down to eat our food, wear our clothes, live level with us. We call that Incarnation. God took on human flesh in the manger of Bethlehem.

Just imagine God’s dilemma. God sought to communicate His love and His purpose for humanity through the Law and through the prophets, through Scripture, and through the worship of the Hebrew people in the Temple of Jerusalem. But still the people did not get it. We did not know how much God loves us and that God’s ultimate plan was for us to love one another. So God did the only thing left. God became one of us in the babe in the manger. God came to us when, intellectually, we could not reach up to Him.

But that was not the only way we could not reach up to God. We also could not reach up to God morally. That is, before the coming of Jesus the Jewish people believed that the way to God is through right living. If you could just follow the Law and keep all its ordinances, then you could be saved. But salvation by righteousness did not work. For some, their devotion to the Law deteriorated into an odious legalism. They looked down their noses at others who were not as righteous as they. While others, feeling that they had no hope of fulfilling the Law, simply threw up their hands in despair and did not bother to try.

They were like the little girl who was Christmas shopping with her mom. The little girl, about three years old, was obviously beginning to get tired. The long line at the register was moving slowly. Her mother’s patience also was stretched to the breaking point, and her voice sounded irritable.

“Straighten up and be nice,” the mother said as the child began to cry and whine.

“Mommy, I’m all out of nice,” came the response.

Well, sometimes adults run out of nice, too, and it is not a pretty sight to see.

“Nobody’s perfect,” we say at such times. And, of course, it’s true. But sometimes when we give in to our imperfections, sad things happen.

Dr. Samuel Massey tells of watching a World War II movie once. In this particular movie one character is giving lessons to another character about how to destroy a dam. The pupil anticipated that, if you packed the dam with enough dynamite you could send the entire dam skyward. But the teacher explained that far less explosive power was needed. “Place a few sticks in critically vulnerable places, blow them up, and then wait patiently,” he said. “Silently, but certainly, the pent-up water would do the rest of the job washing the dam downstream.”

What’s true of a dam can also be true of a family or a reputation. One time of “running out of nice,” can sink us. One seemingly minor indiscretion can blow a hole in a life. Who will help us? Who will save us when we’ve blown up our life? We know the answer to that, don’t we? the Savior of the world.

I love something that author Max Lucado said in one of his books. “It is unfortunate that most of us see ourselves as a composite of all our failures,” writes Lucado. “When we look in the mirror we may only see our failures. Even though many of us cannot see beyond the failures, this is not the way God views us. As a loving God, he looks past our failures. Can you imagine a loving parent introducing their children by saying, ‘This is my daughter Meagan, who stained the carpet with grape juice when she was two,’ or ‘This is my son Myles, who broke a valuable vase last week.’ If loving parents do not have a need to memorize their children’s failures, you can rest assured our loving heavenly Father has no use for such memories either.”

Jesus showed us God’s amazing grace. He helped us by understanding that grace is not something you earn, but is a free gift. We could not reach up to God intellectually . . . or morally . . .

We could not even reach up to God with our good deeds or good works. Even now, 2000 years after the birth of Christ, we know what God wants of us. God wants us to love one another. God wants us to take care of the least and the lowest. God wants us to lay down our lives for others, even as He lay down his life for us. But time after time we fail the test of love and compassion, just as we failed the test of keeping all the ceremonial and moral laws. We do not have it in us to love as Christ loved us.

There’s a story about a disheveled Hispanic man who showed up at the rear of a church after midnight service on Christmas Eve. The pastor of this particular inner city congregation, named Mark, was a man who was devoted to serving the homeless, but he was getting weary and this final Hispanic gentleman was almost “one homeless person too many” for him. Mark knew that his commitment to being a “caring” pastor had put him in this position, but he was starting to feel sorry for himself. On the way to the shelter, he stewed in his own anger at himself, at the man, and ultimately at God.

Finally, realizing he did not know the stranger’s name, he asked. The man answered, “Hayzoos,” which is, of course, the Spanish pronunciation for “Jesus.” The ironic humor of the whole situation suddenly washed over Mark’s mind and heart. Here he was griping to God about taking a man named Jesus to a shelter on Christmas Eve! He felt as if it were a huge cosmic trick. The comic aspect of it both judged his anger and redeemed him out of it. “Leave it to God to beat us at our own game,” he thought to himself. And so, gratefully, that Christmas Eve he provided shelter to a homeless man named “Hayzoos,” Jesus.

Anyone who seeks to do good, burns out at some time or another. It’s inevitable. We are not Jesus. There are many loving and devoted people in this congregation. I know that you serve God in our community. I am so thankful for each of you. But none of us, no matter how much good we do, can keep it up forever. We cannot love as Jesus loved. Our love is a drop in the ocean compared to the love Jesus showed for us on Calvary.

We cannot reach up to God . . . intellectually . . . morally . . . or even in terms of our good works. And that is why the world needed Christmas. Christmas is the celebration of God reaching down to us when we could not reach up to Him.

And that is the good news for this final Sunday of Advent. When we could not reach up to God, God reached down to us. God became as we are that we might know God’s love and be led to love one another as Jesus has loved us. Amen.

pastor tom's sermon

1 advent—11.27.11—Mk 13:24-37

Margaret was all ready for her date. She was wearing her best outfit, her hair was fixed, her makeup was perfect. Imagine her disappointment when her date didn’t show up! After an hour of waiting, Margaret decided that he wasn’t going to come. She changed into her pajamas, washed off her makeup, gathered up a bunch of junk food, and parked herself in front of the television for the evening. As soon as she got involved in her favorite show, there was a knock on the door. She opened it to find her handsome date standing on the doorstep. He stared at her in shock, then said in disbelief, “I’m two hours late, and you’re still not ready?”

Welcome on this First Sunday of Advent. This is the Sunday we begin getting ready to celebrate Christ’s birth. The choir is preparing its music, we’re in the process of decorating the church, special services have been planned.

It’s always amazing to watch our society gear up for the celebration of Christmas. The placement of lights. The playing of carols even before Thanksgiving. The Black Friday holiday sales. It’s an enormous job getting ready for Christmas for many of us. We’ve barely finished with Thanksgiving and we’re already getting ready for Christmas. Children especially are already getting anxious about opening their presents. How long will it be?

None of us knows the future. That’s the first thing we need to see. As the popular saying goes, “If you want to give God a laugh, show Him your Dayplanner.”

It’s only prudent that we make plans and that we keep to schedules, but no one really knows what tomorrow will bring. Be careful driving home today. You never know . . . And, of course, that’s just the point of this First Sunday of Advent. We wonder what God has in store and we wait.

The Savior came in the babe of Bethlehem, but still the world waits. That is the meaning of Advent. Advent is the celebration of what has been and what is yet to come. The Savior of all the world came to us in the babe of Bethlehem, but this was simply the beginning of God’s redeeming work. A beachhead was established, but the war over evil and darkness still has not been won. That victory will only be complete when the Savior returns and the kingdom of God is established in this world even as it is in heaven.

It is so easy with our comfortable lives to focus on the beauty and the joy of Christmas. It is much more difficult for us to focus on Advent, that season when the world groans with birth pangs as it awaits God’s final victory over sin and suffering.

A couple from the United States spent some time serving as missionaries in one of the former Soviet republics. They were caring for children in an orphanage and, like anyone who has been involved in ministry with such kids, they were simply overwhelmed by the tragedy of so many children who’d been abandoned.

On one occasion this missionary couple was teaching the children about Christmas. They told them all about Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and wise men, and about the baby Jesus. They told them all about the stable, and the manger, and the star in the sky. They told them all about God’s love for the world embodied in the birth of Jesus. And after teaching the children the Christmas story, this couple invited them to draw some pictures of the manger scene.

All of the pictures were wonderful! But one in particular caught their attention. It was drawn by a little boy named Misha. And what made Misha’s drawing distinctive was that there was not one, but two babies lying in the manger.

“Misha, what a wonderful picture!” said the woman missionary. “But who is the other baby in the manger with the baby Jesus?”

Misha looked up with a lovely expression on his face. “The other baby is Misha,” he smiled.

“Oh? How is it that you added yourself to the manger scene?” she asked.

And this is what Misha said. “When I was drawing the picture of the baby Jesus, Jesus looked at me and said, ‘Misha, where is YOUR family?’ I said to Jesus, ‘I have no family.’ Then Jesus said to me, ‘Misha, where is your home?’ And I said to Jesus, ‘I have no home.’ And then Jesus said to me, ‘Misha, you can come and be in my family and live in my home.’”

That’s a lovely story, and we are so thankful that Misha was introduced to Jesus. Two thousand years after the coming of Christ, millions of children still come from situations like Misha’s. They are still awaiting a Savior. You’ll find them right here in our own community.

It is our responsibility to reach out to these little ones, to show them the love of Jesus this Advent season. Their hope is that Christ will return and usher in the kingdom promised in Scripture, a world where there will be no more suffering; where people will live in peace and harmony, where in Isaiah’s beautiful imagery, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.” The Savior has come, but much of the world still awaits a Savior.

Here is the promise of scripture: Christ will return and truly the day will come when no child will be left behind. There will someday be peace and justice in this world. Sin and suffering shall cease. It is the promise of Scripture that one day the nations of the world will beat their “swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4).

Dr. Tom Long tells about the congregation he is a part of in Atlanta, GA. It is a Presbyterian church across the street from the state Capitol. Homeless people mill around outside the doors of the beautiful gothic structure that houses this congregation. Fortunately, this is a caring church and some of the homeless have found a spiritual home in the church. They have become a part of the worshipping community.

But others living on the streets will not come inside. They distrust any institution. They prefer their current circumstances. So, when these homeless would not come to them, the church decided to go to the homeless. One of the associate pastors took her guitar and moved out on the sidewalk to have worship services on the street for the people who would not come inside. And the homeless responded to this unique outdoor ministry.

It was just before Lent when this pastor to the homeless announced that on the upcoming Wednesday in the small chapel of their church they were going to have a very special service. In this service, she explained, the pastor would be taking the ashes of some palm branches and making a cross on the forehead of people in the service and they would, in turn, make the cross on the forehead of their fellow worshippers, until everyone was marked with the cross of Jesus on their face.

Remember, she was speaking to people who had resisted coming inside the church, but something about how she explained this Ash Wednesday service evidently struck a positive chord with her homeless congregation. When the Ash Wednesday service came about sixty of them crowded inside the little chapel for the service.

Coincidentally, a member of the Georgia legislature across the street invited his colleagues to participate in the church’s Ash Wednesday service as well, and about forty of them showed up. Can you see the scene? Forty men and women from the State legislature and other members of this prominent church crowded into this small chapel, rubbing shoulders with sixty homeless people. Can you see them taking the palm ashes and placing them on one another’s foreheads in the name of Christ? This was a preview of how things will be in the Kingdom of God.

This is what Advent is really about. It’s not about lights and carols, and buying presents. True, it is about preparing ourselves to celebrate the birth of the Savior more than two thousand years ago, but it is also about preparing ourselves and our world for the Savior’s return at the end of days when things in this world will be set right.

No one knows when that day will be, but I do know this, the cries of God’s children will not forever be unanswered. “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down . . .” Our Savior has come down in the manger of Bethlehem, and he is coming again to answer the cries of his children for peace and justice and the end of all suffering and pain. We can have a part in making that happen. Amen.

pASTOR TOM'S SERMON

Christ the King—11.20.11—Mt 25:31-46

What does God look like? Who does God resemble? And can you really see the face of God?

The news the past couple of years has been filled with several stories about the appearance of the face of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in some of the oddest places.

Fred Whan, of Kingston Ontario, with the help of his son, found the face of Jesus on a fish stick.

Diana Duyser of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, declared she had found an image of the Virgin Mary on her decade-old burnt grilled cheese sandwich. She auctioned it off on Ebay for $28,000.

Or there was the guy who saw the face of Jesus in the frost on his car window.

Searching the Internet, I found photos and stories of appearances in bathroom tile, bathroom stains, potato chips, and even ultrasounds.

So, where do we find the face of Jesus? Where do we see the face of Christ the clearest. The passage for this morning explains where we can find the face of Jesus. Or, at least, where we ought to be looking.

You and I have been blessed beyond measure. We know the Good News.

We were created in the image of God. From the very beginning of time God has claimed us as his very own. Even when we disobeyed and were rebellious, God sent His only Son to bring us back home. We are the children of God, brothers and sisters with Jesus.

We know the Good News. It flows through our soul like blood flows through our body. We have been blessed beyond measure and we're called to be a blessing for others simply by living like Christ. And by looking at the world and the people of the world through the eyes and heart of Jesus. If we can do that, then we will bless those around us and we will see the face of Christ, not in toast or tiles or doughnut holes but in the faces of each other.

We'll be enabled to see the face of Christ in our family, friends, and neighbors and even in the faces of strangers.

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. Most of us will gather with family and friends and share a huge meal of turkey and dressing and all the fixings. And it will be a great time of fellowship. Oh, there will be the tension of family issues that have been put on the back burner. But still there will be laughter and stories and a fairly jovial attitude. Everybody will get stuffed and then find a comfortable spot to let the Tryptophan work its magic and lull you into a nice little nap.

If your Thanksgiving needs some extra spice or needs to be livened up a little, Leonard sweet has a couple of suggestions. During the middle of the meal, turn to Mom and say, "See, Mom, I told you they wouldn't notice that the turkey was four months past its expiration date. You were worried for nothing."

Or, when everyone starts sharing what they are thankful for, say, "I'm thankful I didn't get caught" and then refuse to say anything more.

Better yet, look at your family through the eyes of Christ. Treat each of them as if they were Jesus, the honored guest in your home, even if you're in someone else's home. Remember, they might only be family, but they too are a child of God. So, in a quiet moment, when no one is watching you, look at your family through they eyes of Jesus, and give thanks. Do the same thing for each of your friends and neighbors. Look at your family, friends and neighbors through the eyes and the heart of Jesus and you'll see the face of Christ.

But especially, we're called to look at strangers through the eyes and the heart of Jesus. Because you never know when Jesus might appear.

There is an Irish legend about a king, who had no children to succeed him on the throne. So, he had his messengers post signs in every town and village of his kingdom inviting qualified young men to apply for an interview with the king. This way the king hoped to be able to choose a successor before he died.

Two qualifications, especially, were stressed. The person must have a deep love for God and a deep love for his neighbor.

A young man saw one of the signs. He indeed had a deep love for God and neighbor. He felt a kind of inner voice telling him to apply for an interview.

But the young man was so poor that he didn't have decent clothes to wear to an interview. He also didn't have any money to buy provisions for the long journey to the king's castle.

So the young man prayed over the matter. He finally decided to beg for the clothes and the provisions he needed. When everything was ready, he set out. After a month of travel, one day the young man caught sight of the king's castle. It sat high on a hill in the distance.

At about the same time, he also caught sight of a poor old beggar sitting by the side of the road. The beggar held out his hands and pleaded for help. "I'm hungry and cold," he said in a weak voice. "Could you give me something warm to wear and something nourishing to eat?"

The sight of the beggar moved the young man. He stripped off his warm outer clothes and exchanged them for the tattered old coat of the beggar. He also gave the beggar most of the provisions he had been carrying in his backpack for the return journey. Then, somewhat uncertainly, he walked on to the castle in tattered clothes and without enough food for his return trip.

When the young man arrived at the castle, guards met him at the gate. They took him to the visitors' area. After a long wait, the young man was led into see the king.

He bowed low before the throne. When he straightened up, the young man could hardly believe his eyes. He said to the king. "You were the beggar beside the road."

"That's right," said the king.

"Why did you do this to me?" asked the young man.

The king said, "I had to find out if you really did love God and neighbor." And then the king told him he had proved himself and was the new heir. What a surprise.

A fellow pastor tells about being seated on the living room floor reading when his little four-year-old daughter came running up wanting his attention. Holding a tube of flavored chap stick in her hand she asked, "Do you want some?"

"Of course," he replied. Promptly he carefully spread the soft lip balm on his lips while reading his book. It was an extremely sour chap stick, but it felt good, so he put another generous layer on his lips just as the girl's mother came calling through the house, "Kortney, what did you do with my glue stick?"

What a surprise. But then, what a surprise for everyone of the characters in the parable, both the sheep and the goats. They'd met Jesus in the face and presence of strangers and didn't even know it.

We meet Jesus and can see the face of Jesus every day in the face of family, friends, neighbors and especially in the face of strangers. You never know when one of them or all of them will be the King. So, we're called to treat them all as if they were our King, Jesus.

Give thanks that you have been blessed with the Good News that allows you to live like Christ and see Him in the lives and faces of others.

I saw a cartoon a long time ago that showed an old woman, sitting on a porch, reading the Bible. Two kids were walking by. One said to the other, "That's my grandma. She's cramming for her finals."

A lot of people have the same attitude. But most of them are working on stuff that won't even be on the test! It won't make any difference what you study, if you can't see the face of Jesus in family, friends and neighbors. And if you can't see the face of Jesus in the face of strangers, then it won't matter what you've learned. Or how much Bible trivia you know.

You know the Good News. You've been blessed to be a blessing to others. All you really have to know, is Him. All you really have to do, is live like Him and share the blessing. Amen.

Pastor Tom's Sermon

All saints—11.6.11—Mt. 5:1-12

"Life is a mystery Charlie Brown," says Lucy, "Do you know the answer?"

Charlie Brown answers, "Be kind. Don't smoke. Be prompt. Smile a lot. Eat sensibly. Avoid cavities and mark your ballot carefully . . . Avoid too much sun. Send overseas packages early. Love all creatures above and below. Insure your belongings and try to keep the ball low . . ." 

Before he can get out another platitude, Lucy interrupts: "Hold real still," she says, "because I am going to hit you a very sharp blow upon the nose!" 

This is All Saints Day. This is the day we celebrate the lives of special people who have enriched our lives. And like Lucy, we might sigh and say, "It's a mystery," Charlie Brown. "What is a saint anyway?"

And Charlie Brown might answer: "Well, a saint is someone who is kind, doesn't smoke, is prompt, smiles a lot, eats sensibly, avoids cavities and marks their ballot carefully . . . Avoids too much sun. Sends overseas packages early. Loves all creatures above and below . . ." 

Is that your definition of a saint—a nice person who abides by all the rules? Well, they aren’t. They are people of action and conviction. They are people who paint outside the lines of accepted practice. They are people who make a lasting impact on the time in which they serve. Let's give some thought to sainthood and determine what kind of people we would need to be if we were to qualify. 

First of all, Sainthood is a lifestyle. It is an alternative lifestyle, we might say. Saints are people who take the teachings of Jesus seriously. Consider our lesson from Matthew's Gospel—the Beatitudes. Blessed are the merciful . . . Blessed are the peace makers . . . Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness . . . Blessed are those who are persecuted for my name's sake . . ." There is nothing here about financial security, nothing about classy threads, nothing about driving the right car . . . none of the things the world seeks after. Saints are people who march to a different drummer. People who dare to be different. 

A traveler reported a sign on the wall of a restaurant in Wyoming, "If you find your steak tough, walk out quietly. This is no place for weaklings." Sainthood is not for weaklings! Felix Adler put it like this: "The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by. The saint is the man who walks through the dark paths of the world, himself a light.”

Saints are people we look up to. They are people of integrity who will stand their ground regardless of the standard the world may set.  

Joseph Stowell asked a Russian pastor why he thought Gorbachev lifted the oppression from Christians in the Soviet Union. He replied that the major problem facing the Soviet Union is its faltering economy. Gorbachev reportedly told Russian leaders, "Why do we oppress the very people who do not absent themselves from work, who are not alcoholics, and who give us a productive day's work? We need their strength." After decades of oppression, the light of a persistently righteous community of Christians shone forth and opened the Soviet Union to the gospel. Sainthood is a lifestyle. 

Sainthood is also a living testimony, a testimony to Christ's place and his presence in our lives. 

A popular theme among Christians a few years ago was the simple question, "What would Jesus do?" This is the question that is constantly on the lips of every saint: What would Jesus do? This is why saints live an alternative lifestyle. They have a different standard for their lives. Their lives are a living testimony to the Lord whose name they bear. 

Dr. Henry Poppen, who spent over forty years as a missionary to China, once told Dr. Robert Schuller of his experience of going to a remote village, where presumably missionaries had never been. There he told the people about Jesus, how he was gentle and kind, and that he was able to forgive easily and loved even those who were unlovable. When Dr. Poppen finished telling them about Jesus, some of the men came to him and said, "We know Jesus! He has been here."

"No," said Dr. Poppen. "He lived and died in a country that is far away from here."

"No, no," they replied. "He died here. Come. We'll show you his grave." They led him outside the city to a cemetery where they showed him a grave of an American. On the tombstone was the name of a Christian medical doctor, who, all on his own, felt called by Jesus Christ to go there, live there, and die there. The people so admired him that they thought he was Jesus, the very person Dr. Poppen told them about.

Would anyone confuse your life with that of your Lord? Sainthood is a lifestyle; it is a living testimony. And one thing more: Sainthood is a legacy to the world. That is, saints have only one reason for walking this earth: That when they have finished their sojourn, the world will be a better place because they have been here.

Anthony de Mello, in one of his books, tells of such a man. According to his story, this man was so godly that even the angels rejoiced at the sight of him. But, in spite of his great holiness, he had no notion that he was holy. He just went about his humdrum tasks, diffusing goodness the way flowers unselfconsciously diffuse their fragrance and streetlights their glow. His holiness lay in this—that he forgot each person's past and looked at them as they were now, and he looked beyond each person's appearance to the very center of their being, where they were innocent and blameless and too ignorant to know what they were doing. Thus he loved and forgave everyone he met and he saw nothing extraordinary in this, for it was the result of his way of looking at people. 

One day an angel said to him, "I have been sent to you by God. Ask for anything you wish and it will be given to you. Would you wish to have the gift of healing?" 

"No," said the man, "I'd rather God did the healing himself." 

"Would you want to bring sinners back to the path of rightenousness?" 

"No," he said, "it is not for me to touch human hearts. That is the work of angels." 

"Would you like to be such a model of virtue that people will be drawn to imitate you?" 

"No," said the saint, "for that would make me the center of attention." 

"What then do you wish for?" asked the angel. "The grace of God," was the man's reply. "Having that, I have all I desire." 

"No, you must ask for some miracle," said the angel, "or one will be forced on you."

"Well, then I shall ask for this: let good be done through me without my being aware of it." So it was decreed that the holy man's shadow would be endowed with healing properties whenever it fell behind him. So everywhere his shadow fell—provided he had his back to it—the sick were healed, the land became fertile, fountains sprang to life, and color returned to the faces of those who were weighed down by life's sorrow. But the saint knew nothing of this because the attention of people was so centered on the shadow that they forgot about the man. And so his wish that good be done through him and be forgotten was fulfilled. 

This is the saint's reason for living: that the world will be a better place because he or she has been here. So, what is sainthood? Sainthood is a lifestyle, sainthood is a living testimony to Christ's presence in the world, sainthood is a legacy by which the world becomes a better place. And what has this to do with you and me? Just this, every follower of Jesus is called to sainthood. We are called to live merciful lives, peace making lives, lives of integrity and justice and generosity. We may not wear a bracelet that says W.W.J.D., but that is to be our credo, "What would Jesus do?" And we are to leave the world a better place because we have been here. 

Author Kurt Vonnegut said something quite profound sometime back in USA TODAY. He wrote: "I got a letter from a woman a while back. She was pregnant, and she wanted to know if I thought it was a mistake to bring a little baby into a world as troubled as this one is. And I replied what made being alive almost worthwhile for me was the saints I met. They could be almost anywhere. By saints I meant people who behaved decently and honorably in societies which were so often obscene. Our own society is very frequently obscene," Vonnegut concludes, "Perhaps many of us . . . regardless of our ages or power or wealth, can be saints for her child to meet."

Rock of Ages—3.19.11—WELCA Convention

I read a quirky little item sometime back. It seems that the Main Library at the University of Indiana sinks over an inch every year. It seems that when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building. And so the library is sinking. Obviously some heavy reading takes place at the University of Indiana.

It is a foolish person who does not take into account both the weight of a structure, and its contents, as well as the foundation on which it will stand before beginning construction.

On more than one occasion Jesus used the example of constructing a building to make a serious point. On this particular occasion Jesus says that anyone who hears his words and does not do them, is like a man building his house on the sand. The storms come and that house is destroyed. It brings to mind all the very disturbing pictures coming out of Japan this past week. It makes you want to build your house on some solid rock.

The point of this parable is clear: Wise people build their lives on a solid foundation. Every architect knows that. However, it happens from time to time, that the principle of a solid foundation is ignored, with disastrous consequences.

Joe Emerson in his book I Wanted the Elevator, But I Got the Shaft tells about a skyscraper called the Columbus Building that was erected nearly a hundred years ago in Chicago. Chicago sits on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan.

When the Columbus Building was erected it soared above the city, but slowly it began to sink into the sand upon which it was constructed. When it was shored up on one side, it would sink on the other. Finally it had to be torn down. It was impossible to find any way to save it from the shifting sands.

Fortunately, by the time the next skyscraper, the Prudential Building, was erected geologists knew what it took to build a skyscraper in Chicago. Pilings were driven 108 feet down into the ground. In fact, 187 such pillars were driven down that way until they came to rest on a sheet of solid rock called the Niagara Shelf, which runs all the way to Niagara Falls. Then, and only then, did the Prudential Building rise. It is still standing today. It’s one of the self-evident truths of life: it’s important to build on a solid foundation.

The Greek mathematician Archimedes understood that principle. In fact, he asked for only one fixed and immovable point and he said he could move the whole earth. As he put it, “I may have great hopes if I find even the least thing that is unshakably certain.”

Ah, that is the problem, isn’t it? Where do we find that which is unshakably certain? Even the most solid bedrock can be shaken if subjected to an earthquake of sufficient force.

Of course, Jesus was not talking about building skyscrapers in Matthew 7, but building lives. Where do you find that point that is unshakably certain upon which to build a life?

You find it, of course, in Jesus’ teachings. Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock . . .” The Word of God is the foundation on which we build our lives. Jesus is the Word which became flesh. Both Old Testament and New testify to him. Fill yourself full with the teachings of scripture. That is the first step in building a firm foundation.

Dr. James C. Brown tells about a patient of his, a five-year-old boy named Bobby. Bobby had been diagnosed with leukemia at age four. His cancer was now in remission. Still he had come to the hospital for a series of diagnostic tests that were a routine part of his treatment plan.

Bobby had bright blue eyes and a shy smile, says Dr. Brown, that at first glance did not reveal the wisdom gained through his one-year struggle against cancer. Bobby had lost all of his hair while undergoing chemotherapy. Chemo often left him nauseous and unable to eat. Bobby had experienced numerous painful procedures and this day was to be no exception. Bobby would undergo a procedure that was extremely painful. He had been through it before, so he knew what to expect.

Dr. Brown explained to him what they were going to do, and why, and the importance of him remaining very still. Bobby assured his doctor that he would be very still, and he promised that the nurses and technologists in attendance would not need to hold him down.

As they began, Bobby asked, “Dr. Brown, would it be okay if I say the Twenty-third Psalm while you stick me?”

“Of course, that would be fine,” Dr. Brown said, and they began the procedure.

Bobby recited beautifully. There were no tears and he stayed perfectly still. The procedure went well. Afterward Bobby said, “Dr. Brown, that really didn’t hurt much.” The doctor and the nurses knew better.

Then Bobby caught the doctor by surprise. He asked, “Dr. Brown, do you know the Twenty-third Psalm?”

“Well, sure,” Dr. Brown answered.

“Can you recite it like me?” Bobby asked.

“Well, I don’t know. I think so,” Dr. Brown said, realizing that he was going out on a limb.

“Let’s hear you,” said Bobby.

So Dr. Brown proceeded to stumble through the Twenty-third Psalm. His performance was quite shabby in comparison to Bobby’s, and he did not have a needle sticking in his back like Bobby did. As he recited the Psalm, Dr. Brown noticed all the other white-coated professionals in the room trying to disappear as they feared being called on next.

Then beautiful and bald Bobby said to all of them, “You know, you really should learn the Twenty-third Psalm by heart. Because when you say it out loud, God hears you and he lets you know inside your heart that He is being strong for you when you can’t be strong for yourself.”

Wow! There’s a young man whose life is built on a strong foundation. The first step is to fill yourself full of the Word of God. Many people have found great strength in that Word.

Secondly, you build a strong foundation when you put Christ’s teachings into practice. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock . . .”

We all know it’s true. You can attend Bible studies six days a week and twice on Sunday, but if you do not practice Christ’s teachings, you are building on shifting sand.

This is a word you and I need to hear time and time again. We live in a world of shifting sand. Society needs people who can be depended on. Our church needs people who can be depended on. Little children need parents who can be depended on. We need people who not only hear the Word, but people who live by that Word.

Charles Plumb was a jetfighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, Plumb’s plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. He ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He spent six years in a Communist prison. He survived that ordeal, and then began to lecture about lessons he learned from that experience.

One day, Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant and a man at another table came up and said, “You’re Charles Plumb! You flew jetfighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

“How in the world do you know that?” asked Plumb.

“I packed your parachute,” the man replied.

Plumb was surprised and thankful. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!”

Plumb assured him, “It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb could not sleep that night thinking about that man. He says, “I kept wondering what he might have looked like in uniform. I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said “good morning” or anything else, because you see, I was a fighter pilot, and he was just a mere sailor.”

He thought about the many hours that sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship unseen by everyone carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands the fate of someone he did not know. That lowly sailor was unseen and unsung, and yet, because he did his job men lived who would have otherwise died. What would have happened if that lowly sailor had decided that he did not want to do his job anymore? What if he said, “If I can’t be a fighter pilot then I just won’t do anything?” It would have been a disaster . . .

You see, it does not matter if you are a fighter pilot or a lowly sailor packing parachutes, the question is, are you doing it with integrity? Are you faithful in your task? Are you living according to the teachings of Jesus? If so, then all of us are better for it. “Everyone who hears these words of mine,” Jesus said, “and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock . . .”

What kind of foundation are you building for your life and for those you love? Are you building it on the Rock of Ages? Fill yourself up with God’s Word, then put that Word into action. Amen.